Alternatively

The Prince's Price

The parchment fluttered in her grip, gold etching glowing in the moonlight. It only showed landmarks as they neared them, appearing to guide her this way or that. The enchantment was old, much older than she was used to handling, but she managed to crack it within the night. With a starting location bled onto the paper, she quickly rounded her friends up and left without a moment to spare. The good thing was, with the stone missing, there weren't any snitching gargoyles to rat them out for being out past curfew.

Thalia groaned. "Are we there yet? I feel like we've been flying forever."

A mess of ruins appeared after the forest of barren trees on the map. "I think so..."

"You said that ten minutes ago."

"Nothing showed up after the trees ten minutes ago," she glanced back at her friend. "But I think we're close."

She pursed her lips, eyes locked on the dark blue horizon. For someone so adept at flying, you wouldn't imagine her to be as afraid of heights. It was why they didn't ascend higher to catch a air current, even though it'd get them to the lair faster.

Her wand shuddered at her hip as it's reserves were drained again and she frowned. If they didn't get the stone in time, all the students would lose their powers until their eighteenth birthday at least. Late bloomers could always take more time to develop their souls, which made it even more dangerous for the stone to be missing. No amount of acrophobia or impending death by dragon would deter her from her mission.

"What the hell's that?"

Just beyond the edge of thorny tree tops was a shimmering veil, sparkly violet against the navy sky. She could feel the magic radiating across the space between them and while it was foreign, it felt oddly familiar.

"We are not flying through that," Thalia firmly decided.

"No," she agreed, already descending as the forest began to thin. "We have to walk."

The three of them were students, just kids. Technically, they weren't supposed to practice magic off school grounds; who knew what the headmistress would say if she caught them trying to recover a sacred artifact. Not even the professors made moves to attack or discuss trade with the dragon prince, hanging back and waiting for something she never could discern. She knew it was risky on all sorts of levels to attempt a heist, but she figured as top of her class, she could handle it.

Gods, she hoped she was right.

"I've never felt something like this before," Piper was saying, the purple blockade glimmering in her eyes. "It's so creepy."

Thalia draped her arms over the broomstick across her shoulders. "Maybe it's your instincts saying, 'Hey! Get away! You're about to get eaten alive!'"

"Dragons haven't eaten a witch in years though."

"That you know of," she waggled a finger.

The map erased itself before Annabeth's eyes, a lot like a factory reset, and she shoved it in her bag with a heavy exhale. "We have our charms, right?"

They both patted the lumps where the necklaces hung below their shirts, almost mockingly.

"You've asked like, ten times, Mom."

She propped her hands on her hips. "Just covering my bases, since apparently some of us like to forget important things at home."

"Ah, that was one time and it was just Potions," Piper retorted.

"Yeah, and you forgot your potion!"

"That's just how it be sometimes."

Annabeth rubbed her forehead. "Whatever, let's just go."