𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲; 𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺𝖻𝖾𝗍𝗁 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗌𝖾

Party!

Ivy didn't know how Nico managed to do it. Shadow travel sucked.

It couldn't have been more than just a couple of seconds, but it was more than enough to make her despise it.

She could feel the shadows trying to latch permanently to her and pull her towards the darkness. If it weren't for Annabeth's hand still in her's during the whole ride, she wouldn't have been able to tell is she was still there or if she had faded completely into the blackness.

And the exhaustation and dizziness didn't help much either.

Nico had told her he slept for a week when he had first done it, but she hadn't understand the feeling until then.

She could recognize the building where they landed through her drowsy mind. Plaza building, their improvised headquarters.

Someone caught her as she stumbled to the ground.

"Ivy, what? Annabeth!" Silena's voice rang in her ears as she fought to keep her eyes open.

More hands tried to get her to move in the "infirmary's" direction, but she waved them off as best as she could.

"I'm fine. Annabeth. She-" She managed to start. "You hav-you have to. . .tell Percy to bring Will"

Then she couldn't help it anymore. Her vision darkened, and she passed out.

               ∆ ~•••••••••••••••••••••••~ ∆

She woke up with a start and immediately flinched away when someone tried to grab her.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, sis" She calmed down at her brother's voice and regained her breath.

All the sleepiness she still felt went down the drain when the past events flooded back to her brain.

"Where's Annabeth? How long was I out?"

She prayed to all the gods, even the ones she hated, that the girl was okay and she hadn't been out for long.

"Woah, easy" Pollux helped her when she stumbled after standing up abruptly. "You were only asleep for a few minutes. We fed you a lot of Ambrosia. And Annabeth, she's. . . better."

Ivy didn't like his hesitation. "Take me to her"

He looked like he wanted to protest, but her stern look kept him from doing so.

They bumped into Percy and Will on their way there, and Pollux had to reluctantly leave her with them in order to go help other campers.

"Ivy, thank gods you're okay. How did you do that thing-" Percy started.

"Later." Ivy caught him off. "Annabeth first"

They finally reached the terrace, and despite loving admiring landscapes she could possibly paint in the future, she gave no second glance at the view.

Annabeth lay on a lounge chair. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat, and even though she was covered in blankets, she shivered. Silena was wiping her forehead with a cool cloth.

Will, Percy and Ivy pushed through a crowd of Athena kids. Will unwrapped her bandages to examine the wound, and Ivy wanted to faint again.

The bleeding had stopped, but the gash looked deep. The skin around the cut was a horrible shade of green.

"Annabeth . . ." Ivy choked up as she knelt next to the chair.

She was in danger because she'd taken that knife for her. How could she'd let that happen?