The Labyrinth (percabeth)

Chapter 16

Annabeth

It's not a monster. Or a god.

It's a girl.

A little girl. Only about ten years old.

She stumbled along, rubbing her eyes. She's quite obviously confused and tired. But I get a glance of her, and my breath nearly stops.

It's Sophia.

In my mind, I know I'm being incredibly irrational, that it can't be her. Sophia died three years ago. I saw it with my own eyes. I was the cause of it.

But this girl is a carbon copy of her, down to the curly black hair, coffee-colored skin, and warm eyes. She looks just like Sophia did when she was 10.

We all immediately dropped our weapons and dismount, and Percy dismounted off of Blackjack, running up to Sophia-no, the girl.

"Hi there. Are you ok?" He asked her gently, reaching his hand out.

She shied away at first then takes his hand. Instead of grasping it tightly, she shook it.

"I'm fine, thank you."

"What are you doing out here all by yourself? What's your name?" Percy asked kindly.

"I'm Rissa. I got separated from my school group. We're out here on a field trip, but I accidentally wandered too far into the forest."

"Hi Rissa. I'm Percy." He said. "Do you know where your school group last was?"

She nodded, and points to the shrubbery in the direction she came from. "They're down that way. I'm going to get in so much trouble once my teacher finds out that I wandered away."

"Let's not worry about that, ok? We'll take you back to where you were lost." I said, coming up to her, smiling kindly.

Percy looked back. "Hey, Jason, we've got about three hours of riding left, right?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah."

"Ok. Since It's simply a waste of time for all us to go and get Rissa back to her group, Annabeth and I will go, and meet you guys in three hours."

Percy nodded at Nico. "Hey, Death Boy, you remember the clearing we were in last time we went out and how to get to it?"

Nico scowled. "Don't call me that. And yeah. Here." He tossd a map to Percy from his satchel. "Take this."

Percy effortlessly caught it. "Thanks. Nico and Jason will lead you guys to the clearing where we'll spend the night. Annabeth and I will meet you guys in three hours."

I nodde. "Hey Rissa, want to ride with me? My name's Annabeth." I ask her, holding out a hand.

She nodded and took it. I lead her over to Porkpie. "Here, you can pet him."

She stroked the horse's coat, and glances \dup at me. "I love horses."

I smiled sadly. So did Sophia. It's kinda creepy how similar these two are. I decide to take a jab at.

"Hey, Rissa, do you have a sister?"

She glanced up at me. "Yeah. I have a twin brother, and I had an older sister. She died a few years ago, though."

"What was her name?"

"Sophia. She was the greatest person in the whole world."

I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my lungs. How did I not recognize Rissa from when I went to apologize for Sophia's death? She was only 7 at the time.