Three Worlds Clash

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Sophie Foster's POV

I worked with Will and George at the archery range until dinner.

Will was trying to teach me how to shoot, and he said I was picking it up pretty fast, but I still couldn't get too close to the bullseye.

George got really excited when one of my arrows hit the center, but it fell off just as quickly. He was still smiling though.

"Hey, George, mind if I ask you something?"

He nodded.

"What's a Patronus? The thing Annabeth was talking about?"

Don't blame me, I have questions. Although I regretted asking this one when Georges's face fell.

"Sorry, you don't have--"

"No, it's okay."

Will took the hint and busied himself picking up the used arrows to pretend he wasn't listening.

"A Patronous charm is a shield against dark forces called dementors. They suck out your soul. If the charm is performed by twp related people at the same time, it can ward off just about any dark force. To do one successfully, you need a really happy memory."

His eyes trailed over the strawberry fields as if he was lost in a memory. 

"I-I haven't been able to do one since the war. I can't think up happy memories."

He didn't say anymore, but I had a feeling it had to do with what Ginny was seeing when the black mist attacked us. I stacked my wooden bow and sheath of arrows back on their holders.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your... I mean, I..."

He trailed off. In the distance, the conch horn blew, signifying dinner. George walked away without another word, leaving Will and I alone.

"Was it something I said?"

I asked as we walked down to the pavilion from the archery range. I could see George ahead of us meeting his siblings at the Hectate cabin.

"No. I think he's not used to talking to people, and you being the first one to ask how he was doing, he didn't know what to say."

Will shrugged, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"You should be a therapist."

Will smiled.

"Me? Nahhhh, I'm just good at reading people, that's all."

I spotted Nico waiting for Will in the shadows of the pavilion, so I waved goodbye to Will and set off for the Athena table. Annabeth wasn't there yet, she was lecturing Percy about eating blue cookies before dinner. Their voices carried across to the Athena table.

"Come on, Annabeth, we've only got a few days to live! Might as well, right?"

Annabeth just slapped his arm and hugged him.

I'll admit, their relationship is very strange.

Percy gave her a kiss and she stole one of his cookies before slipping onto the bench next to me. She put her arms on the table and laid her head in them like a pillow, looking completely defeated.

"You okay Annabeth?"

"No. We might all die. Quests are supposed to only have three people, and there's a jillion of us that want to go, and we don't have enough time to really plan good, and--"

I cut her off right there.

"Too much negativity. The three people on a quest were one of Chiron's rules, right? Chiron's not here right now. Everyone else knows, right?"

Annabeth nodded, her head still buried n her arms.

"Kiara said sometimes a plan won't work. we've just got to be spontaneous."

Annabeth picked her head up and took a bite of the cookie.

"Sponteintey is not an Athena child's favorite thing."

"Well, I'm an Athena child, and I burned down a Neverseen store house a few moths ago without a plan. It was totally worth it."

Keefe gave me  thumbs up from the Aphrodite table, where he was clearly eavsdropping on our conversation.

"You burned dow a storehouse without a plan? Do you know how dangerous that is? Add that to the fact that you might have burned some valuable information-"

"See, you're overthinking again."

"I am, aren't I?"

Annabeth looked like she wanted to bang her head on something really hard.

"Don't worry. Tomorrow we'll all meet scary evil guy number one, then scary guy number two, and then we can come back here with Chiron and eat blue cookies."

"I like that plan," Annabeth said. I was about to respond when Dex and Leo came barreling into the pavilion, holding a huge square of metal."

"Annabeth, we did it! IF we leave after dinner, we can find Dusty and beat him up. Oh wait, Dex did you calibrate the spring coil to open only when..."

He trailed off with a bunch of techy words only Dex seemed to understand. Leo dragged the golden square away.

"We built two, actually. tam helped us by triggering it with shadows, but then we couldn't close it and we had to make another one. The inside is stygian iron," ONly Annabeth seemed to know what that was. "So it'll suck him his and trap him in there. Dusty, not the dude who's already got the thingy."

Dex shrugged when Leo yelled for him at there hephaestus table, where he was drawing out plans for tiny weapons that could fit into pockets.

I love pockets.

"Okay then," Annabeth said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "We leave in two hours."