Aroma ~ A Percabeth Story (ongoing): Book 3 - Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen ~ ANNABETH

Chapter Thirteen
ANNABETH

Annabeth took a deep breath. She entered the Oracle's cave.

The Oracle wasn't there.

Annabeth moved swiftly through the cave, briefly searching Rachel's belongings. She had her old Yankees cap, the one that turned her invisible, but she had yet to put it on. She had a feeling Rachel would, somehow, be able to see her in it anyway. She also carried a sword, the same sword she had carried at camp for the past few days, because something didn't feel safe.

Quickly, she darted over to the art easel. A new picture had been painted; it was of Carlie - no, Esme - lying in her bed in the infirmary, her face bloodied and bruised. Annabeth unclipped the painting and folded it neatly into her satchel. She headed towards the bench in the corner, where Rachel often doodled in her sketchbook. Luckily, the sketchbook rested there, just waiting for Annabeth to skim through.

Annabeth moved to grab it, but froze. Voices were close. Annabeth jammed the cap on her head and ducked behind the art easel, just in case.

Chiron, in his full glorious horse form, trotted in the cave, followed by Rachel. Rachel's wild red hair was tied off her face in a frizzy ponytail, and she wore a red t-shirt with dark Tipex-scrawled skinny jeans and sneakers. She was crying.

"Miss Dare, please, calm do-"

"They're going to find out, Chiron! Look, she-she came in and she, she... she saw the drawing, Chiron!"

Chiron stopped in the middle of the room and surveyed the cave. "You need to be more careful, my dear," he said gently, not looking at her. "We did this to help them. We did this to make things better. We did this -"

"We were wrong!" Rachel screamed. She ran to stand in front of Chiron, her back to Annabeth and the easel. "We deprived them of their own kids!"

Annabeth realised, with a cold shiver, that they were talking about her and Percy, and Esme.

Another thing floored Annabeth: kids? We're there more than one?

"And then those kids turned up," Rachel spat through her tears. "How could that happen, Chiron? How?!"

"I do not know," Chiron admitted, his voice tinged with sadness. "They were never supposed to return. They were never supposed to exist. I took away their children to make them happy, Miss Dare, I had to."

"What?" Annabeth cried. She stood up and knocked the easel over in anger. Chiron and Rachel spun round. Rachel's mouth was wide open.

Annabeth threw her cap down. "You two took away my children!" she thundered.

Rachel gulped. "Annabeth, I'm -"

Before Annabeth realised what she was doing, she had unsheathed the sword from her belt and was pressing it against Rachel's throat. "You traitor!" she yelled.

Chiron pulled her back. "That is enough," he chastised. "You've been in enough fights recently."

That hurt Annabeth. She hadn't fought anyone. Andrew had hurt her - she had a huge bruise covering one side of her face, a cut above her eyebrow, a black eye and a broken jaw which had just about been healed by ambrosia and nectar - but she had barely fought back. She had felt like nothing made her strong anymore.

And now, she knew why.

"You both weakened me," she snarled. "You destroyed my life - and Percy's too. How could you? And don't tell me bullshit about trying to help me. You both did this for yourselves."