My story | PJO x male reader

Chapter 32: Don't Watch Documentaries With Annabeth

Percy and Grover had their mind set on playing games. On the other hand, I just wanted to get some rest and watch TV.

"Come on," Percy whined.
"Just go, I'll be fine here."
"Your loss ." He said as he and Grover bolted out the door.

I turned back to Annabeth and saw her unmoved on the couch.
"I think they might need adult supervision," I told her.
"Probably, but let me finish this." She gestured towards the T.V

I turned my attention back to the TV to see a documentary about snakes and invertebrates. This should be interesting. I started watching but my throat felt like someone took a rake through it, so I quickly got up and grabbed a jug of water, and started pouring myself a glass.
"Annabeth, you want something!" I yelled back to the living room.
"Yeah, I'll take a water!" Well, that's convenient.

After finishing pouring the glasses I brought them back to the couch. I handed her the glass and took my seat on the couch, next to her.
"Thanks."
"No problem."

We then fell into a comfortable silence as we continued to watch the show. Sometimes the audio was super low, so I kept having to turn it up. During the show, she kept listing off facts about snakes, beetles, etc. Sometimes I don't understand how people can retain so much information.

After a few minutes of watching, I looked off to the side of the room towards the balcony and looked out the window. Weird enough I couldn't see the moon. What? There should be a half-moon or at least something out tonight. Unless there's a new moon out but that shouldn't be a thing for another 2 days. I made my way over to the glass door and looked out, making sure I wasn't missing anything.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of screaming. I immediately turned my attention to the source of the noise and saw that Annabeth was screaming at a spider that was on the T.V. The volume was high enough so that you could hear the mouth moving and the camera was super focused on the eyes.

Note to self do not watch anything bug related with Annabeth. I quickly ran back to the couch, grabbed the remote, turned off the TV, and just turned all of my attention to her.

"Hey, hey. The spider's gone." I got on my knee, in front of the couch. "You're alright. I'm right here." I just kept trying to reassure her until she calmed down. I didn't even know I was hugging her for most of it but as soon as I realized my mind started racing.

"You alright?" I asked her. She only nodded.
I went to move but she had a hold on me like a vice grip. I took that as a sign that she wasn't.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" She looked up at me. She looked up at me and opened her mouth as if she was about to say something but seemed to realize our position.

Her face quickly reddened, and she let go of me and quickly ran out of the room.

After a second or two of processing whatever just happened, I just started to talk to myself.
"What the fuck just happened?"
I waited for a response from Artemis but didn't hear anything. Huh? Guess she's used to my language now.

I looked out the window and saw the sun coming through. What? Just a few minutes ago...but. What?

Is time faster here? I gotta find the others.

I practically ran out of the room and went into the elevator. I was bouncing on the balls of my feet like a 2-year-old, just waiting for the doors to open. While I waited I just kept replaying the same question, 'What could she have done in 10 minutes? Hopefully nothing stupid.'As soon as they did I went straight to the arcade area, in hopes of them being there. I ran straight through and found Percy walking around with a wary look plastered on his face.

I walked up behind him and tapped his shoulder.
"We've to get out of here." Those weren't the first words I was expecting but I nodded in agreement.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"I've only seen Grover a few times."
"Go find him, I'll grab Annabeth. Meet me at the exit."
He nodded and ran off. Ok, where would Annabeth be.....

I looked to my left and saw a city builder. On the train, she told me how she wanted to be an architect. Let's hope she's there.

I walked around until I saw blonde, wavy hair.
"Annabeth, we have to get out of here."
No response.
Oh, she's ignoring me now.
"Annabeth?" I walked a little closer and saw that she was completely absorbed by the game.
I shook her. "Annabeth?"
She looked up, annoyed. "What?"
"We need to leave, now."
"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers-"
"This place is a trap."
She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?"
"This place is a trap. I have watched the sun and moon go up and down in the span of an hour. You stay here forever."
"So?" She asked. "Can you imagine a better place?" I leave her for 10 minutes and this happens. I got fed up with it.

I grabbed her wrist and yanked her from the game.
"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even gave us a glance.
I grabbed her by the shoulders, stabilized her, and made her look straight into my eyes.
"Spiders. Big hairy, eight-legged spiders."

That cleared her head.
"Oh my gods," she said. "What happened? How long have we—"
"I don't know, but we have to get out of here."
"Where's Grover?"
"Percy's grabbing him, he's meeting us at the exit."

She nodded and we speed-walked over to the exit. All of a sudden a bellhop came out of nowhere.
"Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"We're leaving," I told him.
"Such a shame," he said, his voice full of sadness as if he needed us to stay.
"We just added an entirely new floor full of games for platinum-card members."
He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I could practically feel the war in my mind but I could just imagine the pain that would be felt if I didn't finish this quest.
"No, thank you," I told him.

We got to the door to see Grover and Percy already waiting there, waiting for us.
"Let's go," I told him. Each step was getting harder and harder to make as the smell of the food was getting harder and harder to resist but I knew if I turned around I would never leave this place.

We burst through the doors and ran down the sidewalk. The sun hung in the sky, about the same way it did when we came here but the weather was drastically different. It was stormy, with heat and lightning flashing out in the desert.

I was frantically looking for anything that would have the date on it until out of the corner of my eye was a newspaper stand. I ran over there looked at the date and threw the paper down on the ground. I ran my hand through my hair.
"What day is it?" Percy asked.
"June twentieth."