Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            That night, I dreamed about Percy and Luke. It was a reoccurring dream, one that I couldn't seem to get away from for more than a few days. It always started out the same. Each night I went to sleep expecting it, trying to prepare for it. Having the dream almost every night didn't help, though. Every time I lived my dream, I felt the panic of having it for the first time.

            Percy and Luke were both hanging from their fingertips on a ledge. The ledge was five hundred feet above the crashing current of a ravine and jagged rocks. The river was churning so quickly that I could feel the spray from five hundred feet above. Something told me that even Percy wouldn't be able to survive this fall. Percy and Luke both gasped and struggled, clawing at the slick stone, not seeing me. Finally, Luke noticed that I was there.

            "Annabeth," he croaked. "Please. Please, you have to help me up."

            I reached out, looking into his welcoming blue eyes, but I hesitated. Luke wasn't the guy I used to know. He was dangerous. "Why should I help you?" I asked. "You abandoned me!"

            "That's right, Annabeth!" Percy said. His face was white under the pressure. "Don't help him! He's a traitor! Please, Annabeth. Just help me up. We can get away from this place. We can be happy together." I looked at him, then at Luke. Who was I supposed to save?

            I knew that Luke was a traitor, but I couldn't just leave him. I still had some sort of feelings for him. And Percy, he was my best friend. Possibly something more.

            "Please Annabeth. Forgive me," Luke said. "I'll take better care of you from now on. I promise." I wanted nothing more than to believe him, to have him hold me in his strong arms, for him to tell me that he loves me.

            "Annabeth, don't listen to him. Please! Annabeth, please, save me, your best friend!" Percy's face contorted into a grimace as one of hands slipped off.

            Janus, the two-headed god of choices, appeared in between Percy and Luke. Only, he wasn't hanging by his fingertips like them. Instead, he was floating above them, to the point where I was the only one who could see him. He laughed, a high pitched chortle. He pulled a key out of his hair and tossed it back and forth between his hands. "Choose," he said. "Choose."

            I looked back down at Percy and Luke. I had to save them, but I could only save one. There was no way that I could haul them both up. My arms were too tired, covered with blood and bruises.

            "Choose, choose," Janus said. I had to choose one. I bit my lip. Only one. I knelt down and reached my hand out towards Percy on impulse, but he was already slipping away, along with Luke. I was too late. I bent down, trying to grab them.

            "I love you, Annabeth," Percy called out, as he fell into the watery depths. Luke smiled at me as he reached out his arm to try and touch my face, but he was already too far away. Within a second, they had dissolved into the mist. I bent down even farther to look into the chasm, but my slippery knees skidded on the stone and sent my falling towards my death.

            I was falling, falling. I rolled in my sleep, and someone turned on the lights. I opened my eyes, seeing spots from the sudden brightness. The effect of the dream slowly melted away, and soon, that was all it was: a dream.

            I felt someone shake my shoulder. "Annabeth. Annabeth, wake up."

            I moaned.