νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 3-7: We meet the god with two faces and I have a gay panic

TEMPEST

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Just after dawn, the quest group met at the Poop Pile.

I'd packed my backpack- thermos with nectar, baggie of ambrosia, bedroll, rope, clothes, flashlights, and lots of extra batteries. I wouldn't need most of that stuff, but it was for my living friends. I also brought some tin cans for Grover and scrap metal for Tyson to play with.

It was a clear morning. The fog had burned off and the sky was blue. Campers would be having their lessons today, flying pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall. Meanwhile, we could be heading underground.

Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for Grover's sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his rasta cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt. Since we had no idea what we would encounter, he was dressed as a human, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and sneakers to hide his goat legs. It was cute, I'll admit, to see a girl worrying so much over Grover.

Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs. O'Leary stood with the other campers who'd come to wish us well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided we needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

I broke off from Annabeth and walked over to Tyson and Percy, the latter looking worse than I'd ever seen him, which is saying a lot, since I've even seen him in guinea pig form. "Percy, you look like dog shit."

"Percy killed the water fountain last night," Tyson confided.

I stared at the smaller boy. "What?"

Before he could explain, Chiron trotted over. "Well, it appears you are ready!" He tried to sound upbeat, but I could tell he was anxious.

Percy looked sick. "Hey, uh, Chiron, can I ask you a favor while I'm gone?"

"Of course."

The two walked away, and I frowned as I stood next to Tyson. "Yo, Ty, what happened?"

Tyson shrugged. "Don't know. Woke up to a big mess. Broken rocks, flooded..." he sighed. "Brother doesn't look good."

"He never-" I cut myself off. "Yeah, you're right. We should look out for him."

Tyson looked at me with his big, milky brown eye. "Afraid of the Labyrinth?"

"No," I told him, peering at the crack in the rocks. "I'm afraid of what might be in it."

"We will protect," Tyson said, patting my shoulder. "Me and you will protect the others."

I grinned. "Right on."

Annabeth walked over, looking slightly better than she had this morning. Looking at her made my heart race as I thought about how close she had been to finding out I was dead. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Tyson and I are just hanging out," I told her, turning my body to face hers. "You look a little better."

"I drank some water and had a bagel," she told me.