𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

꧁𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐜𝐡𝟓𝟓꧂

Annabeth

Percy shot upright, eyes opening wide.

While he'd been sleeping, I'd sat in the loud silence, thoughts all over the place. Every now and then, there'd been a creeping sensation in my spine, and my hand would fly to the hilt of my sword. Nothing.

I wondered if Styx was on our side. She could be sending us into a trap, wanting to get us killed. But that wouldn't make any sense; she could've let the army killed us, and she could have tried to kill us herself. I still felt uneasy. But of course I was uneasy - I was in Tartarus, for the gods' sake! It was darkest part of this world, an unspeakable realm where the gods don't dare go.

"Nightmare?" I said, gripping his arm to remind him I was here. His eyes focused, but they seemed to be somewhere else. He looked lost in thought- and scared. We all got nightmares. Percy and I's worst than most, though.

"Percy?" I said again, and he shook his head.
"Demigod dream. The- the rumours were true. Kronos is alive."
Something lurched inside me, bile creeping up my throat.
"What?" I said, voice cracking. He nodded grimly.
"And we can't trust Apate anymore. She's betrayed us."
"That- "
"I know," he said, fist curling. "But we didn't expect much else, did we? When have any immortals ever wanted to help us?"
I stayed quiet for a beat. "So... what happened?"
He hesitated. "They were just talking, she seemed to be giving a report. He got mad we weren't captured. Kronos said that he would allow Apate to the outside world."
I grimaced. "Great."
"Yeah. You get some sleep, I'll keep watch."
"No, we have to get going."
"You need to sleep," he insisted.
"Nope. I'm fine." Actually, I was tired. Really tired. I just wanted to get out of here, though. I wanted it all to be over. My head just told me A to B. We just had to get back. Sure, we were taking a detour for Styx, but that could help us defeat the main goal. I just wanted to be as efficient as I could.

I wanted blue skies.

"Come on, Annabeth!"
"Last time we were here you let me sleep." I pointed out.
"And?" he said, exasperated.
"So i'm doing the same."
"You're really pulling an uno reverse about sleep."
"Yep," I grinned, climbing to my feet.

My body was littered with bruises and cuts, but we already had the last bits of ambrosia and nectar. We didn't think we'd need this much... and we lost the other half. And, as stupid as it was, I began a quick stretch, my muscles felt like they'd been put in a meat grinder, then compressed together. Every turn of my shoulder made a crack or a pop. I was like a machine Leo would want to fix.

"Fine." he said, rolling his eyes. I grabbed his hand and his face broke into a hesitant smile.

Not far away, sat the forest of curses. It was creepy and menacing, like a much more disturbing version of a scary forest from a kids book. To the left, a dark structure loomed over the glassy plains in the distance. The architecture was designed to evoke horror.

"So... I've been thinking-"
"Really?" he said incredulously. I raised an eyebrow, and resisted a smirk.
"Uh huh. And- uh. About the powers you have- picked up."
He tensed again.
"Some things aren't meant to be controlled. But... I also believe that everything happens for a reason and-" I trailed off.

The backpack. The shoes attached to it began to slowly fly it away from us. They seemed to be veering off to the left.

"Hey, why are they doing that?"
Percy frowned and glanced as the shoes dragged the bag slowly off. He snapped his fingers. "Maia. Get back."