You're Not Getting Away From Me

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: This is an Awful Plan

Percy's POV

"'Tis me, Perseus Jackson. Don't seemed so surprised," she said with humor laced in her voice. But her face was serious and determined.

"I... I am surprised. You, like, you know, di... How?" I finally finished lamely. I was beyond confused. How and why was Zoe Nightshade here?

"We're on the brink of war. And my father is leading it. Did you really think I could not intervene?"

"Well, I didn't really think about it, I guess." I scratched the back of my neck. "But I still don't get how you're here."

"I'm not really here." When I gave her a blank look, she sighed. "I'm more of a spirit. That's why I haven't been sensed yet. Someone, who I was told not to name, allowed me to leave the beautiful stars to assist you two."

I was still a little, as my mother would tease me, confuzzled, but I was beyond the point of trying to understand everything that went on in my life. I looked down at Annabeth, who hadn't said anything since Zoe first appeared. She was still holding onto me tight, and I realized I hadn't relaxed my grip on her either, but she let go of me when she saw the perplexed look on Zoe's face. Some hunters just didn't understand it, I suppose.

"Annabeth," my fiancee introduced herself, sticking her hand out to shake with the hunter.

"I've heard a lot about you, Annabeth," Zoe responded while taking her hand.

"You have? From whom?"

"Well, him, for one," Zoe said, gesturing towards me. "When we went on that quest, he did not stop talking about you." I was blushing by the time she finished, and Annabeth was smirking. "Also, Lady Artemis used to say how she wanted you to join. It's really a shame you didn't."

Annabeth shook her head slightly and almost-whispered, "I had my reasons to stay." She glanced over her shoulder at me with a smile. I smiled back.

"I see," Zoe commented quietly. Annabeth came and stood beside me as Zoe started speaking again. "So I assume you know who you are up against. The dreams should have helped."

"Yes," Annabeth responded simply.

"Hold up," I interrupted, making a time-out sign with my hands. "Dreams?" I felt slow, and I wanted to make myself look as good as possible in front of a hunter, dead or not. "Oh," I mumbled as it all started to fall into place. I turned to Annabeth. "Zoe is the one that visited your dreams. She's the long-lost friend that will help us."

"Good job, Seaweed Brain. You figured it," she said teasingly.

"But," I started again. "Why didn't you come to my dreams? You and Annabeth have never met before. What if she didn't know who you were?"

"That is because you are a boy and very dense. I had a better chance with Annabeth... your girlfriend."

"Fiancee," Annabeth and I corrected her together.

Zoe raised her eyebrows. "Oh."

"Wait... did you call me dense?" I asked Zoe. Annabeth snickered almost silently. I glared at her. She blew me a kiss and winked. I just rolled my eyes but couldn't help but to smile.

Zoe waved away my question and started in again. "The monsters are still in a frenzy from the fall of Gaea. The only thing keeping them here is fear of my father. If we destroy them from the inside out, they will flee."

"So you mean we need to take down Atl-" She stopped herself from saying his name. "Your father, and then that's it? The monsters will just give up? It seems too easy."

"Oh trust me, it won't be easy to defeat him."

They continued talking but I was hardly listening. I was thinking about what Zoe had said about the monsters running away. What good would them fleeing do for us? They wouldn't stay away forever. Every time you destroyed them, sooner or later they came back. They always did. You could only eliminate the problem for the time being. Heck, they might not come back in your lifetime, if you were lucky. They would just come and attack someone else. And I had a bad feeling that these monsters wouldn't be in hiding nearly long enough for them to be someone else's fight.

I tuned back into the conversation in front of me when I heard Annabeth saying me name.

"Percy! Are you listening?" she demanded.

"Uh, no, sorry, just thinking." I gave her a look that said I'll tell you later. She nodded and turned back to face Zoe.

"Is he really out from under the sky or are we just seeing... forms of him?" Annabth asked the hunter.

"Forms of spirits is what it is, I suppose. The strongest part of him is still holding up the sky, yes. He's trying to pass it off though, so he can become stronger." Annabeth shuddered beside me, probably thinking about how the sky had been passed off to her years ago. I put my hand around her waist and pulled her a little bit closer. She looked up at me briefly and looked back down. "Once he does that, it will be next to impossible to stop him."

"Great," I muttered. "A time crunch."

"So how do we stop him?" Annabeth questioned.

"Well, unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it, you two can't do anything. It has to be me. I just need you two to play guard."

Annabeth and I made eye contact and had a silent conversation.

Is she being serious?

That's all we have to do?

Really?

"Um, okay," I responded to Zoe uncertainly.

"Now, here's the plan." Zoe then proceeded to map out everything for the rest of the quest. I could feel Annabeth fuming beside me. As much as neither of us wanted to be on this quest, it was still our quest. And Annabeth didn't like not being able to be in charge of it.

By the time Zoe was finished, Annabeth was nearly furious. She opened her mouth to object, but Zoe cut her off. "They're coming," she whispered urgently. "You do not want to be here when they get back. Bad things would come to you."

I looked at Annabeth and we made a decision. We would go with Zoe now, to escape, but we wouldn't necessarily go through with her plan.

"Ok," Annabeth told her. "Get us out of here." 

The next thing I knew, we were outside. I blinked as the harsh summer sun hit my eyes after being in the dark for so long. When I could finally see again, I realized we were on a mountain. Atlas' mountain.

"Stay here, I have to go do something," Zoe ordered and simply disappeared. 

Annabeth growled and said to me, "Now she's just leaving us up here?"

"I guess." I shrugged, not sure what else to do.

"I hate this. We are not splitting up. I don't care what she says."

"Agreed. We're staying together, I promise." I rubbed a tense spot in her shoulders and she relaxed slightly.

"That's what you said before we fell." Her voice was almost inaudible. 

"Well, I meant it then, and I mean it now. I did promise."

"I know you did." She still spoke impossibly soft. "But Percy, please stop promising me things you don't have control over. I love you and I appreciate it, but you know promising is dangerous."

I didn't respond. Instead, I kissed her. For a long time. It was nice. But I was thinking about how she said something pretty similar to me on our one month anniversary, when we had to find Hermes' missing staff. The beginning of the Giant War... we just didn't know it at the time.

"Love you, Seaweed Brain."

"Love you too, Wise Gi-" I tried to say, but my voice as drowned out by a snarl behind us.