You're Not Getting Away From Me

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: It's Over

Annabeth's POV

I heard the monster before I saw it, even though I was facing it's direction. Percy was blocking my view, and I stood on my tiptoes to look over his shoulder. It annoys me that he's so much taller now, but he loves it.

Percy whipped around and held his sword out in front of him. I reached for my dagger, but of course it wasn't there. I cursed and stepped to Percy's side. He gave me a funny look, like, you're going to fight without a weapon? You're insane! But I gave him a reassuring nod and he faced the monster again... but it wasn't just any old monster.

"Was two times being turned to dust by me not enough, beef brain?" Percy growled. The Minotaur huffed, snot dripping from it's slimy nose. It's eyes were bloodshot and it's lips were curled into a snarl. Definitely not a happy cow. Percy lunged forward, probably to run the Minotaur threw with his sword, but it just disappeared. Percy stumbled when there was no impact and turned around angrily.

"Why the Hades does everything keep doing that?!" he demanded.

"Percy, we have bigger problems." I ran my hands through my hair, my brain kicking into high-gear. "Now they know we've escaped. The space we're in is all open, they'll surround us before we can hide anywhere. The fighting chance is-"

"What did you two do?" Zoe interrupted me in a shrill voice.

"Where did you even come from?" Percy shouted exasperatedly. Zoe and I ignored him.

"What did we do? What did you do?" I retorted sharply.

"Well, I went and got your dagger back." She flung something at me, and fortunately (thanks to my training and quick reflexes) I caught it without being impaled. My dagger from Tartarus. I looked and Zoe and softened my expression slightly.

"Thanks," I muttered.

Zoe gave a barely-noticeable nod and asked again, "So what did you do?"

"The Minotaur came," Percy cut in. "But he vanished before I could slice-n-dice him."

"That's how they know you're here," she muttered to herself. Then she spoke to us. "The fight will be beginning soon. They've been ready this whole time, they were just..."

"Having fun?" I offered. Zoe nodded gravely. She opened her mouth to say more, but Percy stopped her.

"Speaking of a fight..." 

I followed his gaze to a horde of monsters swarming the sides of the mountain. It was pretty hard to miss.

"We need to get to Atlas. Run," Zoe ordered. But Percy and I were way ahead of her.

The three of us tore up the mountain, not looking behind us. Zoe, who was dead and didn't need to breath, was filling us in on the plan again. It was a conscious effort to not roll my eyes. She said Atlas would want us as far away from him as possible so he could pass off the sky to a fellow monster. I had asked earlier why he wouldn't want one of us to take the sky. She said that, one, he just wanted to kill us, and two, he didn't want to take the chance that we would get out like last time. I'll admit, I felt a little pride for everyone that was at the fight here last time when she told me that. But back to the plan: she was going to somehow harness all of his spirits together for good and he would remain trapped under the sky for eternity, never to bother anyone again. Yeah, right. But whatever. She said it had be her because she knew how to do it and Atlas wasn't expecting her. Valid reasons, I suppose. Zoe wanted me and Percy to each take a side of the mountain to stop all the monsters. But I have a different thought. The only problem is telling Percy without Zoe knowing.