"Annabeth. Annabeth wake up." The muffled voice echoes through my mind as I struggle to open my eyes, my eyelids are heavy. I blink a few times to adjust to the room's brightness. I yawn heavily and look around.
"Annabeth," a clearer voice says beside me, starling me. I snap my head towards the noise and see Grover looking at me with worried eyes. Behind him, there is a tall but lean guy staring down at me, also looking concerned. His jet black hair and his kind expression almost make me yelp out of happiness because I thought he was Percy. Then I notice his deep brown eyes and my hope dies as quickly as it was sparked.
He notices me staring at him and raises an eyebrow.
"Like what you see, Princess?" he says, a smirk creeps in the corner of his lips making him look even more like Percy. I stifle a sob.
"Percy," I begin faintly, "Is he-" I choke on my words. Surprisingly, Grover's expression contorts into a bitter look. His eyes narrow and he gives the Percy look-alike a look as if saying, "has she gone insane?" I finally manage to speak again.
"Is he dead?" I ask. I want them to say no. I want them to tell me they healed Percy in time. I don't think I'll hear what I want.
"Dead?" Grover says coldly. I nod my head violently, anxious for a response. The other guy scoffs and rolls his eyes.
"We wish," he mumbles as he grits his teeth. My mouth drops open and I fight the urge to strangle him.
"Why?" I ask astonished by his bitter words towards Percy, "Grover, why so cold? Percy is your best friend."
"Don't you mean was?" he says monotonously.
"Was?" I ask tilting my head to the side. Grover and the guy look at each other.
"She must have hit her head hard when she fainted," Grover mumbles.
"I fainted because Percy died," I say defensively. The two exchange glances again. I can't figure them out. Grover is acting so odd. Why was he resenting Percy?
"Percy is far from dead," a voice snaps me back into reality. Percy is far from dead. The words echo through my mind. I had to suppress the urge to scream out of pure happiness.
"Where is he?" I spit out desperately. I scramble out of the bed I'm sitting on, ignoring the throbbing from in my head. I turn to the boys who are giving me strange looks as if I had gone insane.
"What?" I demand, "Did one of you draw a mustache on my face while I was sleeping?"
"No," Grover begins slowly, "We're just wondering why you are so anxious to see Percy when he is trying to kill us." I frown.
"Percy?" I ask quietly, "My Percy. Percy Jackson. Why would Seaweed brain try to kill us? We're his friends!" My voice dies out as I say the word friend. I wanted to say they are his friends, but he was more than a friend to me.
The two just shrug and give me an exasperated look.
"B-but he loves me," I manage to stutter out.
"Then why did he betray us?" I scoff and put my hands on my hips.
"What makes you think that?" I ask in an ominous way.
"Oh nothing," the other guy speaks up in a sarcastic tone after being silent for some time, "It's just that he joined Kronos's side."
"Kronos was destroyed," I say matter-of-factually, "Percy help the gods defeat him, remember?"
"You must have had one strange dream."
"What?" My mind spun. I remember the voice after Percy's "death". It said it would turn back time.
Grover rolled his eyes at my question.
"I thought you were supposed to be the daughter of the Wisdom goddess," he mutters under his breath. I shoot him a look which makes him back down a bit. "Hey, I'm just saying you should remember who your allies are and who aren't."
The other boy notices I'm still confused.
"Percy joined Kronos's forces two years ago," he began monotonously, "When he was holding up the sky during the battle with Atlas, he made a deal with Luke. They broke him; made him switch sides. He never looked back."
I wait a while to process that. While I am, I can't help but stare at Grover's friend. He reminds me of a Percy that has been hanging out with Nico Di Angelo too long. He is mysterious and hard to figure out while still looking exactly like a Percy with brown eyes. Maybe my mind is just making him look more like Percy than he really does; that it's just a way for compensating for my loss.
"So, Percy is on Kronos's side?" I mutter, "How can that be possible?"
"Another brilliant question," the same voice from yesterday echoes through the room. Neither of the boys seem to notice it even though when it speaks, it's like an earthquake hit.
"Who are you?" I ask out loud. Both boys look at me as if I had lost my marbles. I probably have.
"You aren't going crazy Annabeth," the voice says coldly, "I'm surprised you haven't guessed already being the brilliant girl you are." Suddenly it all comes rushing back to me; the metallic voice, the manipulation of time.
"Kronos?" I whisper so Grover and the boy can't hear me. Thankfully they don't. The voice cackles which makes me cringe. Unfortunately, that signaled I guessed right.
"You destroyed me once Annabeth. Convincing Luke to stab himself was very clever, but this time, I'm planning to use another demigod; one you aren't going to be so happy with him stabbing himself." I rack my brain until the answer hits me.
"No, you aren't use Percy as a host body," I whisper harshly as I grit my teeth, glancing over my shoulder. I see Grover and the other guy deep in conversation so I know they didn't hear me. "You better not hurt him."
"Don't worry, he will only feel a massive amount of anguish and suffering. Much more than Luke did." That sounded lovely, but I wasn't going to let Percy go through that.
"We defeated you once Kronos and we will again." A louder laugh thunders around me knocking me to the ground.
"I will rise Annabeth. There is no stopping me this time."
