You're Not Getting Away From Me

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: And the Long Lost Friend Is...

Percy's POV

"Atlas," I growled, my eyes burning with anger.

"Hello, Percy Jackson. It's been a while," he replied, a maniacal grin playing on his lips. "Ah, Annabeth Chase. Have you missed me?"

Annabeth was wearing a steely expression with a killer glare in her eyes, but I could sense her tension. She didn't answer his question, instead she asked, "What do you want?"

"Oh, you both know what I want..." He drew out the last word and created a short silence. "Revenge. I think I speak for all of the creatures gathered outside of this room when I say that we are sick of demigods ruining our plans. So what better way to hurt them all than to destroy the leaders of the pack?"

"Leaders of the pack?" I asked. "I'm blushing."

Atlas snarled at me and walked forward. He began to circle Annabeth and there was nothing I could do about it. She didn't move but followed Atlas with her eyes. She was keeping the same hard expression but her fingers twitched nervously. I knew she was weaponless and hated it. I kept my pen gripped in my hand but hesitated to uncap it. I didn't know what kind of shape Atlas was in and whether or not my sword would even be able to do any good. Also, the space was so cramped that I was afraid of Annabeth being hurt if I tried to fight with the long blade. I couldn't remember ever being so helpless since Jason and I met the goddess of storms and I was trapped in the poison, unable to assist Jason and slowly suffocating. It's one of the worst feelings in the world, being helpless.

Atlas stepped away from Annabeth slightly and examined the ring held between his fingers.

"How cute," he mumbled, "the lovers that escaped from me as children so many years ago will finally die here, at my hand, an unfinished tale, a sob-story that will be told for generations." He looked straight at me with a crooked grin. Anger tinted my vision red. I opened my mouth to say something, I have no idea what, when a voice behind me beat me to it.

"Oh sssweetie, I wouldn't get sssso mad," hissed Kelli in my ear. I didn't even have to turn around to know it was her. "It wouldn't be good for either of you." I tried to swallow the bitter taste in my mouth.

"Keep this somewhere safe," Atlas commanded Kelli as he tossed my fiancee's ring. Kelli caught it and purred, "Of coursssse."

"Now," Atlas began. Annabeth and I had positioned ourselves so we could see both of our enemies, not that it probably mattered anyway. The four of us made an awkward square in the minuscule room. "We have to go... check up on something real quick, but we'll be back soon. Don't worry, the fun will begin then." With a barking laugh, the titan disappeared. Kelli stayed around long enough to flash me a taunting smile and then also disappeared.

I looked over at Annabeth but I couldn't see her face in the dark. I hadn't noticed until he was gone, but Atlas had his own light source, like his body had a built in nightlight. I made my way towards where I knew she was standing, but only made it about half a step before colliding with her. Apparently Annabeth was thinking the same thing as me. The slight crash sent pain shooting up my spine. I tried to ignore it as I wrapped my arms loosely around her. She did the same and put her head on my chest. I rested my throbbing head on top of hers and tried to calm down. Annabeth's breath against my chest was faster than normal. I kissed the top of her head and she squeezed my torso tighter.

The two of us stayed like that for a few minutes, not saying anything because we didn't need to. There was nothing to be said, we were in a pretty hopeless situation. There was a voice nagging in my head, telling me we were giving up too easily, and I knew it was true but part of me didn't care. I was tired of all the prophecy crap. I just wanted to spend every minute with my beautiful fiancee. We'd been in bad situations before but this was different. I didn't have the energy like before. I was just tired of all this. Was it time to give up?

A flash of silver light appeared right beside me, cutting off my thoughts. I stumbled back a few steps with Annabeth still wrapped up in my arms. She must have recovered faster than I did though, because she gasped and said "You made it!"

"Wha..." I started but the words died in my throat when I saw who was standing in front of me. "Zoe?"