Alternatively

Once Upon A Dream (i)

"No, I'll be back soon, oh," she growled, losing grip of her umbrella. "Great."

"I don't think you realize how much trouble I can get into just by helping you."

She ignored Grover, swiping her wind whipped hair from her eyes. The umbrella disappeared behind the store front, tumbling out of sight.

"See, they told us that there's always one student who ends up ruining it for everyone. You're gonna end up dead or worse, you're gonna come back to find every policeman in the country is looking for you, the embassy has been alerted, and our president is bargaining for your return on international news stations across the globe. Then study abroad programs will be canceled nation wide. Do you want these programs to be canceled nationwide?"

"Imma be honest with you," Annabeth huffed, jogging around back. "You're freaking out."

"But are you listening to me?" he stressed.

"Grover, I will call you back, I promise. I just have to use the last of my battery to get back."

"But-"

"Love you bye!" she rushed, hanging up before he got another word in edgewise.

The dreary clouds continued to spit rain, stinging her skin as she searched the edge of the forest backing up the shops. It was a fair distance back to her hotel and she would be dumb enough to forget a warmer jacket. That umbrella was vital in the face of the rumbling storm rolling over the town.

She tucked her phone in her pocket and squinted into the greenery, hoping it hadn't ended up too far in. Unfortunately, inconveniences were being handed to her left and right. She ended up with food poisoning in Paris, she left her wallet in Munich, and the one museum she wanted to visit in all of Denmark, the whole reason she risked her neck and education, was closed.

So of course, her cute red umbrella was caught in a gnarled tree yards deep in the spooky woods.

Annabeth checked to be sure no one was around to witness her glory before high stepping over drenched underbrush, fighting against wind and rain to get into the forest. It began to pour in buckets, soaking through her clothes and severely ruining her day. All she had wanted to do was check out the Hans Christian Anderson collection, one of the original prints that had been on her list of sights since the trip had been announced, and she was certain it would be worth the reprimands ditching a school sanctioned event in another country would entail.

"Under construction," she grumbled, raking wet locks of hair from her eyes. "Won't open until fall, ha!"

She sat through tour after tour of food processing plants only to barely get a glimpse of the Little Mermaid statue and contract pneumonia from her fruitless adventure.

"Next time," Annabeth tugged on a lower branch with a grunt. "I will stop at that bakery. At least then I would have had food."

She pulled on the branches, testing their strength and strategizing just how she would rescue her useless umbrella fro the cruel clutches of the plant. Any jostling further sunk the spindly twigs into the fabric and it was just out of her reach when she stood on her toes. Water squelched in her shoes as she attempted to scale the slight slope of the trunk. Wet hair would slap back in her face when she tried shaking it out grabbing hold of a lower branch in hopes of loosening the grip.

Said branch would proceed to snap and send her stumbling further into the creepy forest lining the back of the shops.

She growled, whipping back her hair and glaring at the offending, overgrown, outlandish shrub. Of course, it did nothing but wave in the wind and she took that as gloating. It was then determined she would bulldoze the tree if need be, if not just to exact petty revenge.