"Percy!" I scream, standing in place.
I don't know whether to run into the fire to him or to back away. All I can do is step back in horror. He did that for me. Tears fall down my face for the fiftieth time tonight, harder than before. I shake again, slowly going insane in this stupid forest.
"PERCY!" my sobs get louder.
The walkie-talkie buzzes and I hear Jason's voice.
"Annabeth? We can hear you from over here! What's going on?"
"What's happened to Percy?" Leo chimes in.
"He's," I start, but I can't finish.
"Annabeth?" Leo persists.
"Gone," I say. I can't bring myself to say dead. He can't be.
"Hey, Annabeth," Piper says. "We passed a river a while back, maybe you can find it and we'll meet you there."
"River!" I exclaim. My voice changes to a whisper as I walk close to the fire. "I'm gonna come back Percy. I swear it on the Styx. You're gonna get through this."
It was a blind hope that I'd hear him, but as I walk away I hear a groan that sounds vaguely like "Annabeth". He's holding out. My Seaweed Brain.
As I turn to run backwards, the fire blazes the bottom of my leg. I grit my teeth, but I can't stop running. It's Percy's only hope. My head flips left, flips right. That river has to be here somewhere. I fall over a rock and fall into some water. Ugh. I get up and realize that I'm in the river. I hold my breath and swim down, trying to find what I need. It has to be here. It needs to be here. That's when I see it. A waterlily floating on the water beside me. I grab it and run back. My breaths are rugged but I'm nearly there.
The fire is still blazing ahead. I lay the waterlily in front of me.
"Percy if you want to do something, now's the time!" I yell.
The water rises out of it and creates a gap in the fire, where Percy falls out. He's covered in water, a burn on his left arm, but he's alive.
He immediately starts running, and I follow him. After an hour, we stop. The fire has burned itself out. Percy collapses against a tree and I lie next to him.
"I'm taking this watch," I tell him, getting out the first aid kit.
He doesn't argue, as he falls asleep, his arm still around me protectively.
YOU ARE READING
The Forest of Athena
Hayran KurguPJO/HOO Fanfiction. After Athena does a half-Hera for the Athena Parthenos (as the kids on the Argo II like to say) on Frank, Annabeth, Percy and the others must go to the Forest of Athena to rescue him. With Annabeth living one of her worst nightm...
