𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

꧁𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐜𝐡𝟒𝟎꧂

Annabeth

My lungs felt like they had been blowtorched, then shoved in a blender and back inside of me. The toxic air made my breaths come ragged and desperate. My tan skin was now red, brutal blisters and bloody cuts came in plethoras all over my body.

And I told Kelli we were on vacation.

"Annabeth..." Percy muttered dazedly, and I immediately took all my weight off of him. I hadn't realised how much I'd been leaning, because when I stepped away my legs immediately turned to jelly, and a nap seemed even more appetising than before. And it was a hell of a lot appetising before.

"Percy, it's just there. Don't pass out-" but I knew he wasn't listening. I looked into his sea green eyes and they were blurry, he had a faraway look on his face. I knew he wasn't going to make it. Oh Gods. Oh Gods. Oh Gods. Oh Gods-

And then he crumpled to the ground.

"No, no, no, no-" I rasped. Slowly, I collapsed to my knees and crawled over to Percy. With the little strength I had left, I pushed him into his back. I barely recognised the boy lying before me.

Blood covered his red skin, and welts wound their way up his arms. His hair was long - normally it was 'fluffy', but now it came in bloody clumps. He looked so different to the person I met in the infirmary all those years ago. His face had black shards embedded in it, and his eyes had dark circles below them. That brought a terrifying thought:

Time moves differently in Tartarus. We could've been down there years. We had no way of knowing. Maybe we'd already lost the war. But that's so stupid! It would've taken about an hour to walk the rough three miles, plus the empousa ambush. It must've been around an hour!

I was brought back to my senses when I realised Kelli was screeching in my ear. "ANNABETH! GET TO THE WATER NOW!! GO!"
"No... Percy!" I tried, but it came out more like 'nahsjjdejdperaceyy'
"JUST LEAVE HIM! SAVE YOURSELF!" she cried, in her irritating girly voice.

Hell no. Why don't you actually help? I thought groggily.

"Help. Him," I croaked.
"HOW?!"
"Pull. Him." I said, and made eye contact with the monster, my vision blurry. She glanced at him nervously, scowled, but eventually nodded.

"G-good," I croaked, before I began to crawl.

I felt stupid. I felt so, so dumb. A little innocent toddler crawling over Lego. But it wasn't Lego, it was piercing glass shards, digging into my palms and knees, ripping my jeans to shreds.

5 metres. Just like walking through my bedroom.

Kelli was right next to me, dragging Percy's limp form along by the arms. I winced when I saw the monster roughly drag him over a sharp rock, cutting through his shirt, making his back smudged red. I wanted to punch the monsters guts out for that - despite the fact she was trying to help - but I don't think I would've been able to hurt a fly at that moment.

And then I reached the river.

Percy had joined the swim team in the area near New Rome, and had advanced pretty quickly. Without using his powers, he'd quickly got to counties and regionals level qualifying times in the space of a month and a half. That's when he thought it would be a good idea for me to try out too. Now, before this mess started, I'd only trained for a week - so don't ask how i'm doing - however, the point is, is that this reminds me of that. It's when you know that the water is cold and you don't want to get in the pool. You know you have to swim, so just for a second or two, you hesitate. You could either get in slowly, and adjust to the water, or, you could just get it over with, by jumping straight in (or your boyfriend could just push you, but that's also besides the point).