Pathways

7 Annabeth

I finished my food quickly and Percy still had half a pizza left.  We have been here for forty five minutes already and that's when I noticed him.

He came in the restaurant right after we did and only ordered coffee which he drank slowly. He's been on his phone the whole time and is sitting three tables diagonal of us near the door. He's wearing a baseball cap and glasses. He has honey colored hair and a fit physique. But something is off about him. Aside from having to left or ordered anything. I noticed his eyes moving and glancing at Percy and I ever few seconds. I can also see that the glasses he is wearing are cheap, fakes. The lenses have almost no prescriptive curve nor to they reflect the window light as green like prescription lenses would. The hat also has no insignia and none of his clothes are attention grabbing. He blends in too well.

Percy is going on about his work. I grab his hand to stop him from talking.

"Perce there a guy, base ball cap  to you left, don't look or seem suspicious but he's been following us." I whisper while smiling.

"You know I think I saw him before we walked in too, I saw him as we left the apartment complex." Percy smiles too and kisses my hand. I call the waiter to the table and have him bring our bill and a box. We have to get out of here. I try and think of how to loose him. We can't go back to the apartment he might already know where we live. But we have to get rid of him. Oh I've got it, 'Percy I've got a plan, split up on fifteenth meet me at the ally on Lake Avenue,"

"You sure?" He asks. He holds my hand tighter for a moment.

"Yes, let's see who he's following," I reply then pill him in for a kiss. Then we part ways, je goes left and I go right.

I look again, he's after me. Or both he is at the cross section and seems conflicted from the look on his face. He eventually follows me.

I speed walk over to Lake then sprint toward the ally way. I sneak behind a dumpster and wait for Mr. Suspicious. He comes running around the corner and stops quickly. Percy isn't here yet but should be in a minute or so.

Once his back is turned I jump out and put my new dagger to his neck. Percy got it for me as a going away present, it's celestial bronze so he won't be hurt buy it but usually the mist would make it look like a pocket knife. "Who are you and why are you following me," I sneer into his ear, my voice, which normally isn't very high pitched, lowers another octave.

"Holy gods what are you doing?!" Percy yells from across the ally.  "I thought you'd try and loose him."

I ignore him and slowly back away from the man. I keep my dagger pointed. "Who are you?" I ask again in a dangerously low tone. I inch closer to percy so if need be we can make a run for it.

The blonde guy takes off his cap and glasses like that's supposed to mean something but he still looks like he's at a loss for words. "You're dangerous, now let's put the knife down and talk," he says.

"No," Percy replies. He puts one of his hands in his sweatshirt pocket, feeling for Riptide.

"You two are going to be in big trouble,"

I laugh at him and put away my dagger. So he's the only one who after us. If we're going to be in trouble then we aren't yet.

"And why is that? We're teenagers we literally do nothing," I say to him.

"Oh really. Okay then, Annabeth Chase, you ran away when you were seven and suddenly years later appeared back on the grid. But most of the time you're never seen anywhere. Perseus Jackson, you've been in a lot of trouble haven't you? How many schools have you been expelled from? You also went missing and then we're spotted all over Europe causing havoc," the man says walking over. He seems to drip with confidence. "If the Greek government was able to identify you they would have labeled you as terrorists."

"Yeesh stalker much big guy? Seriously what the hell. If you knew anything you'd know those things were accidents," Percy respinds. I grab his arm to keep him from moving forward.

"That's a lot of accidents wouldn't you say?" The man crosses his arms.

"Jee golly I think it is. Thank you for all of this great new information that we were certainly unaware of before. Shall we go darling Annabeth?" Percy smiles with sarcasm. I laugh and link our arms.

"I think so sweetums."

"You two aren't going anywhere you're coming with me," he says stepping closer.

"You just contradicted your initial statement you idiot!" I say as I ram my fist into the side oh his face. Then, we run.