νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 1-18: I discover something strange about Tempest

ANNABETH

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Tempest came back down about an hour later. I pretended to be asleep. The whole time I'd been thinking of the things she'd said, wondering what might've happened to her, but I think I didn't want to know. I just knew what I needed to know. Specifics would just make me feel bad.

For some reason, Tempest still took the hammock next to me, but she didn't even close her eyes. She was holding something. It looked like it was a Rubik's cube. She lamely fiddled with it, not even trying to solve it.

"I know you're up, stupid."

I rolled my eyes and flopped onto my back. "Thank you for that."

"I told you to go to bed. You know, so you can get some rest and keep fighting tomorrow?" Tempest said sarcastically.

"Uh-huh." I sat up fully. "You never asked your question."

"I told you. I don't have one," she replied monotonously.

I don't know why it offended me so much. Oh no, Annabeth! Tempest doesn't want to pry into your life! It was wildly offending. You guys wouldn't get it.

I crossed my arms and huffed. "You're annoying."

"Yeah, I think we covered that."

"Please? Just ask a question. Any question."

"Why does it bother you so much?"

"It's not fair."

"Oh no. I do not feel the need you to ask a perfectly open and honest question," Tempest deadpanned, and the put her hands on her cheeks and dropped her jaw like Kevin in Home Alone. Then she rolled her eyes and turned back to her Rubik's cube.

"Tempest-"

"Oh my gods, if I ask you a question will you shut the fuck up and go to bed?"

"Yes."

Tempest sighed. "Fine. You... You're scared of Cyclopes. And it has something to do with Thalia."

I stiffened.

"What happened?"

I hesitated. I guess I brought this one myself. It took me a minute to get my thoughts together.

"We... We were all runaways. Luke was fourteen. Thalia was twelve. I was seven. We were on our own, and then a satyr named Grover found us. The one we're saving right now. The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops's lair in Brooklyn."

"They've got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?" Tempest asked.

"You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point. This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Tempest. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda. He lured us, one at a time. Thalia thought she was running to save Luke. Luke thought he heard me scream for help. And me... I was alone in the dark. I was seven years old. I couldn't even find the exit."