The Labyrinth (percabeth)

Chapter 8

Annabeth

Percy was kneeling on the cold dirt floor, clutching his head in his hands. My heart clenched at the sight of him, and more than anything, I wished I could help him out.

"Percy?" I softly asked. "Is it over yet?"

He looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes. Except- they weren't green anymore. They looked like a green so dark it was almost black, hollow and empty.

They looked like they had lost hope.

"I keep seeing him." Percy whispered. "He keeps blaming me. It's all my fault."

"No, Percy, it's not." Grover said, rushing over to help him. "You know Adam doesn't blame you."

So this had something to do with the elusive Adam I'd been hearing about. But who was this kid, and what was his connection to Percy?

What I wanted more than anything else at the moment was be able to comfort Percy, and help him. It felt horrible to see him there, broken and shaken. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Come on Percy," I said, lifting him up. "We've got to go."

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you go, daughter of Athena. Did you really think it was that easy?" Orpheus said. He laughed.

"Young demigods are so full of hope. It's so entertaining to hear their screams of despair."

"You monster!" I seethed. But I knew there was nothing I could do.

"Grover, what are we going to do? Percy is in no condition to fight, and as much as it hates me to admit, I can't take him down by myself."

"I don't know, Annabeth. I don't know. I guess our best guess is for you to just distract Orpheus while I try to get Percy out of here. and then follow us."

"No." Percy said. He had been so quiet, which was so unlike him, I had almost forgotten he was there.

"I have to help you take Orpheus down, Annabeth. We can't let him do to other demigods what he did to us."

His eyes looked at me, sunken and sallow, and I found myself flashback to what Orpheus had showed me.

I grit my teeth. No one should have to go through that. "Percy, are you sure? It seemed to affect you more than me."

"Annabeth, there's no way you're going to talk me out of this. I'm going to do this."

I nodded grimly. "Fine."

Orpheus had been watching the whole encounter with an amused look on his face. He turned to Percy.

"How heroic of you! I suppose you want to do everything you can to protect your little girlfriend, son of Poseidon?"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" "She's not my girlfriend!" Percy and I said in unison.

"Really? You could have fooled me. You two certainly act like a couple."

"He's right. You do." Grover said, smirking.

Percy and I glared at him. "Um, Grover? Not the best time to be agreeing with the enemy!" Percy said.

"It's funny how you think you two can stop me. Oh well. You may as well try."

Orpheus put his lyre to his fingers again, but before he could start playing, Percy whipped out some water from his bottle and tried to grab it. With water distracting him, Orpheus couldn't play, and we had a clear shot. I drew my dagger and ran.

I sliced through the air, careful to avoid the whip of water that Percy was lashing at Orpheus.

While Percy was busy keeping Orpheus distracted with the water, I ran around him and sliced my dagger across his shins. He cried out and fell gripping his leg. His lyre fell beside him. Percy grabbed it and smashed it, then proceeded to put a long cut in Orpheus's arm.

I stabbed him in the gut, which should have caused him to disappear, but it didn't.

"Ok, so since that didn't work, Plan B." I muttered to myself.

"Percy! Follow my lead." I called. I feinted to the right of Orpheus's body, then slashed his left ribcage. Percy did the same, but opposite. He feinted to the left and slashed open Orpheus right torso.

He cried out and slumped to the ground, writhing in pain.

I took my dagger and kept injuring him, along with Percy.

"Not so tough without your lyre, are you Orpheus?" Percy said.

"Fool! I suppose you also forgot I was supposed to have the most beautiful voice of all time too."

And he began to sing.

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Hey guys!!!!!!!!!! How's it going! I hope you all had a great week. I know this chapter's kind of short, but you'll get a bit of backstory on Annabeth in the next one!! Love you all!

Love from a violinist!

~Vi