Queen of Atlantis - Rewritten Entirely

Chapter 13

Whether it was luck or not, Annabeth was not returned to the clearing at the edge of the camp. Instead, Nakamura tightened the leather around her wrists and left her alone in Kronos's tent. She was not given a blanket and the ground was cold and hard, but she knew she would not be sleeping anyway.

Even when Kronos had drawn a curtain around his cot and the camp grew quieter, Annabeth sat anxiously in the corner of the tent.

At some point, she nodded off. The last thing she remembered was sitting rigidly straight before her chin dropped to her chest and she jolted awake. A second later, she fell asleep again, only to be woken up by someone grabbing her.

With a gasp, Annabeth's eyes flew open to see Kronos pulling her to her feet. It took her a moment to realise he was speaking to Nakamura and not her.

"—until we arrive."

"And the camp, my lord?"

Annabeth's eyes flitted between them, trying to catch onto what was happening.

"They'll burn it down, no doubt," Kronos hissed. He shoved Annabeth at Nakamura and told him, "Let them think they won."

Stumbling beside Nakamura, Annabeth tried to understand what was going on. As soon as they ducked out of Kronos's tent, however, it became obvious.

All around them, soldiers shouted and ran by in formations. Several were quickly disassembling tents and even though the sun had barely risen, Annabeth knew it was an attack. An attack that had been so sudden and so early in the morning that Kronos's camp had not been fully prepared for it. Percy had used the element of surprise even when they had been expected.

"Let me go," Annabeth snarled, thrusting her elbow into Nakamura's chest. It had the desired effect as his grip on her loosened and she managed to slip free.

"Hey!"

Annabeth ran. Grabbing her skirt with her bound wrists, she ran in the direction of the sea without looking back to see whether Nakamura was following her or not.

Her ankle screamed with every step and her chest burned, but she didn't slow down. The further she ran from the centre of the camp, the more determined she became. She could see Athenian soldiers now and had to duck in order to avoid being hit by a sword, but she didn't stop. Couldn't stop.

"Annabeth!"

She spun in the direction of the voice, coming face to face with Percy. The sight of him almost made her cry.

"Percy." In one step, she was in front of him, dropping her skirt and grabbing desperately at his tunic.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He gently reached forward with one hand and cupped her cheek, pressing a firm kiss to her brow. "You're okay now."

His hand dropped from her face to untie the leather around her wrists. As soon as it fell to the ground, Annabeth threw her arms around her shoulders and clung to him. Around them, soldiers continued to pour into the camp but Annabeth couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so at ease.

"I missed you," she whispered, squeezing him tighter and closing her eyes. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was shaking.

"I missed you too." His voice cracked and Annabeth's gut twisted, but she didn't let him go. "Are you alright?"

He pulled away from her and panic rose in her chest. Frantically, she reached for his arms and didn't let him pull away.

"Don't go," she gasped, pulling him back to her. "Don't."

Dropping his sword, Percy wrapped both of his arms around her. "I'm not going anywhere."

He pressed a warm kiss to a spot under her jaw and her eyelids fluttered. She almost melted in his arms right then, but something caught her attention.