νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 3-13: Tempest is a chatty captive

ANNABETH

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"So, what's the horsepower on this thing?"

Geryon glanced at Tempest like she was clinically insane (she probably is). "It's... a trolley... a kids' trolley for a farm..."

"Just trying to make small talk."

I frowned at her. "You hate small talk."

She gave me the side-eye. "Shush."

Eurytion was holding Nico stable in the back. Nico was fighting him a whole lot less than he had been fighting Tempest. Orthus was right next to Grover, keeping one of his heads on Grover, and the other one on Tyson. Probably to make sure they didn't do anything.

"So, your mom's Hecate?" Geryon said, continuing with the small talk.

I felt panicky as Tempest said, "Uh-huh. What's it to you?"

"Well, Hecate, as I'm sure you know, is serving Kronos right about now."

"I'm fully aware. Stop talking down to me like I'm stupid."

"I don't think you're stupid."

"Liar."

Geryon narrowed his eyes slightly. Tempest refused to break eye contact with him. "You seem good at sniffing out lies."

"When you're surrounded by them, it's pretty easy to figure out."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Surprised you survived this long."

Tempest looked out at the rest of the ranch, leaning her arm on the door. I frowned, wondering why that suddenly made her shut down.

We arrived at the house, stopping by the front deck. Geryon, Eurytion, and Orthus all herded us out in a single-file line. One by one, they wrapped our hands and feet in rope and put gags in our mouths before calmly telling us to sit down in the corner. It was the weirdest, most gentle, most organized hostage-taking I'd ever seen or been part of.

Rather than accept the gag in her mouth, Tempest used her sharp teeth to bite through it. Eurytion frowned at her as she shook the broken rope and it rested neatly on her neck. "So, son of Ares?"

"You're quite the chatterbox."

Even I was confused. Tempest really doesn't like talking to people. "So, son of Ares?"

Eurytion must've realized she wasn't letting up. Geryon got the grill running. "Uh-huh."

"I met Ares last winter," Tempest said. I blinked in surprise. One look at her face told me this wasn't a lie. Why hadn't she said that? "He's actually kinda chill. I don't think he gets enough credit." Also not a lie. What the fuck?

Eurytion looked a little impressed. He opened a big box and started blowing up a bunch of balloons. "Believe me, I'm well aware. He's kind of annoying, though."