Queen of Atlantis - Rewritten Entirely

Chapter 12

The entire walk to the edge of the camp, Annabeth was terrified. Terrified that Nakamura would leave her out in the open; terrified that he would take her to a cramped space between tents. Her mind was running faster than she could keep up with and she was moving on autopilot. If Nakamura hadn't kept his firm hold on her, she likely would have gotten lost.

It was as they were nearing the tree line at the edge of the camp that the first sign of trouble arose. The treeline was thick, but it did not cover the sky enough to hide a large billow of smoke that was rising from the direction of the Princess Andromeda. 

The second sign was when a bloodied and dirtied sailor came crashing into view. He nearly tripped over Annabeth, but he didn't stop running. Even when Nakamura shouted for him to stop.

"Pathetic crewmen," he muttered, approaching a small circle of tents.

Stopping in the center, Nakamura ducked into a nearby tent and came out holding a large metal stake. Annabeth watched silently as he pounded it into the ground then grabbed her bound wrists. Tying one end of a long rope to the stake, he looped the other around Annabeth's wrists and tugged.

Annabeth hissed as the rope pressed into fresh blisters, but Nakamura merely smirked.

"Have fun, doll," he said, turning to walk further into the camp.

"Wait!" Annabeth called, looking down at the stake then up at him.

When Nakamura turned to glance at her, Annabeth realised she had nothing to say.

"Don't worry," he told her, making Annabeth's worry grow. "You won't be alone long."

However terrifying the thought was, Annabeth watched silently as Nakamura disappeared back into the center of the camp. As soon as he was out of sight, she limped over to the stake and tried to pull it up.

Not to Annabeth's surprise, the stake didn't budge. She tugged a bit and kicked it once or twice, but she knew she would hurt herself before she got the stake loose. Glancing down at the rope around her wrists, though, brought a new idea.

She had just settled on the ground and begun tearing at the rope with her teeth when Nakamura came jogging back into view. Fuming, Annabeth dropped her hands into her lap and watched him approach with a scowl.

"Back so soon?" she mocked.

Nakamura wasn't interested. He untied the knot around her wrists and practically dragged her back through the camp. Around them, soldiers were racing back and forth, muttering about an attack and throwing her angry looks. They didn't jeer though.

"What attack?" Annabeth asked Nakamura, craning her head to look at him.

"Nothing," he grumbled.

The way he shoved her into Kronos's tent, however, certainly didn't make her think it was nothing. 

None too elegantly, she went crashing into Kronos and let out a string of curses.

"Did you miss me so soon?"

The response she got was a loud smack as Kronos's hand met her cheek.

"You plotted our camps," he accused, wrapping a hand around her neck. Annabeth gasped. "How many? Where?"

Gasping for air, Annabeth could hardly speak loud enough to say, "Stop."

"Answer me!" Kronos shouted. He pulled her closer, his grip around her throat unrelenting. "Tell me what you told them."

"Can't—breathe," Annabeth rasped.

Kronos let her go and Annabeth inhaled loudly. Curling forward, she coughed as she tried to regain her breath and dropped to her knees.

"You plotted our camps," Kronos accused, towering over her. "Which ones? How did they find us?"

Her heart was pounding in her ears and her brain was a little fuzzy, but somehow Annabeth caught the underlying meaning of his words.

"Percy?" she whispered, daring a glance up at Kronos.

His face darkened and Annabeth knew she had guessed correctly.

"Percy." She turned towards the door of the tent, but Nakamura stepped in front of her. "He's here, then?" she asked hopefully. To herself, she whispered, "He followed the map."

"Tell me what was on it," Kronos snarled. He wrapped his hand in her hair and Annabeth cried out in pain as he pulled her to her feet. "Tell me exactly what you told them."

* * * * *

They burned the Princess Andromeda as the sun began to set. While Percy itched to go ashore and search for Annabeth, they were losing daylight fast and he knew it would be in vain. Unfortunately, Percy had watched a crew member escape the ship and disappear into the tree line. By morning, Kronos would know of their attack if he didn't already.

"We can track them easily on land," Jason assured him. "Based on what Annabeth plotted, this camp is too big to pick up and leave overnight."

"They could leave with her," Percy mumbled, burying his head in his hands. "Leave the army behind to slow us down and take her."

It was what Percy would have done if he were Kronos. It was what he was terrified Kronos would do.

"First thing in the morning, Percy," Jason promised. He dropped a hand on Percy's shoulder before leaving him.

As Jason walked out, Percy shut the door of his quarters and glanced out the small window to where the Princess Andromeda was still smoking.

In the darkness, the ship was merely more than a glowing smear in the water between them and the shore. Attacking the ship first had meant they would need to anchor far enough from shore they weren't in danger, but they were still close enough that Percy could make out the darker line of trees.

Tomorrow, when the sun rose again, they'd go ashore and Percy would take all 600 soldiers with him. It was a large number and more soldiers than Percy was hoping they would need, but he didn't want to risk it.

Until then, though, he would pace in his quarters for most of the night, unable to sleep with Annabeth so close yet unreachable. 

When the first rays of light finally began to stretch over the horizon, Percy had only gotten a few meager hours of sleep. If Jason could tell, he didn't say anything.

"We'll circle the camp," Jason said instead. "The first ship has already unloaded and headed out."

"Do we even know where the camp ends?" Percy asked. He couldn't recall having that much information.

"We have an idea about the boundary, but nothing is confirmed," Jason answered. "We're hoping an attack from multiple angles will be enough to convince them they're fully surrounded."

It was the best they could do without spending several days scouting and strategising.

Percy turned to Jason. "When will we go?"

"Whenever you're ready."

A/N: Hey, everyone! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. We only have four chapters and the epilogue left!

For those of you that have a Tumblr account, you can find me on there as shewritesall. I just started it, but I'm planning on posting updates about new and current books as well as some of my own projects, so you can get to know me a bit more if you'd like! 

Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next Friday!