Percy Jackson- Color

Annabeth's POV IV

*A/N: So I've read Blood of Olympus, and I realize that if I move past House of Hades' plot, my fic will, in less literal terms, fall apart. So, for the sake of Color, we're going to push the date of August 1st to... about 11 days from this chapter. Everything is the same, this just gives more time for development of this story itself. Okay? Okay ;) [end of A/N]

Annabeth's POV

I sat down on a bench, pulling a plate over to me. Everyone was quiet- Frank was staring at his plate, Hazel biting her lip and looking around, Leo fiddling with a screwdriver in his hands, Jason was glaring harshly at Percy, and Piper was watching... me.

I coughed. "Are you done?" I asked, the question directed towards Piper. She frowned, and looked at Percy. "Yeah, sorry." she said to me, although she was looking at him. Anger bubbled up in my chest, and it took everything I had not to yell 'stay away from my man!' at her. Instead, I ground my teeth, poking at my magically formed eggs.

After another silent moment, Piper spoke up. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "Okay, guys. So we all know that lately, we've been playing a little game of 'he-said-she-said.'"

Frank scoffed. "Not really. I've heard one thing-one really sucky thing- and then seen some temper flares. You can't play a game with one player, Piper."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Which is why we don't only have one player."

I froze, my fork in midair, not looking up. I could feel the group's eyes on me as Piper continued. "Unlike you all, I decided to hear Percy's side of the story before basing my judgement on Annabeth's. I heard some pretty interesting stuff-"

Now or never, Annabeth.

I got up, forced tears streaming down my face. I glared at Piper. "How could you? You just want to make things worse, don't you? You Aphrodite kids are never satisfied with what you have. Now you want to turn everyone against me? Is that it?"

Just as I was about to flee the room, a voice stopped me cold.

"Just like you wanted to do to me?"

I turned around to face Percy. His expression was one of utmost hate, and it tore me to pieces. This isn't fair, it isn't fair! Why me? Why do I have to do this?

I didn't respond to him at first- Hazel beat me to it. "Percy? What do you mean? What is Piper talking about?"

"Yeah," I added, trying to make my tears convincing. "Why are you lying, Piper? Do you really hate me-"

Piper scoffed. "Annabeth, you can cut the act. No one believes you anymore."

All eyes were on me again, and I panicked. Gaea hadn't said what I had to do if they didn't believe me...

And then suddenly, my vision turned dark.

~~~~~~~

My head was foggy when I woke up. I sat up slowly, my muscles stiff. I was somewhere different- the walls were wooden and narrow. I was in a sort of cubicle-
The stables.

Why the Hades was I in the stables?

I shot up and called out. "Hello? Anyone out there? Can you get me out?"

After a moment of silence, I began to worry. "Hello? Leo? Jason? You there?"

The lock turned. "Shut up. You're making my migraine even worse."

Leo?

The door opened. Leo and Frank stood in the doorway, their expressions a mixture of anger and disgust. Quickly, Frank grabbed my arms and held them behind me. I struggled against him, and Leo pointed a screwdriver at me. "I said shut up. And hurry up. I wanna get this over with."

I was confused as all Hades, but I kept silent as they led me down the corridor and up to the lower deck. The crew was waiting for me, glowering menacingly from plastic chairs.

I sighed. "What's going on-"

Hazel jumped up and away from me. "Keep her away," she said lowly. "I don't want her near me with that thing inside her."

What?

No.

"What 'thing'?" I asked. When no one answered, panic began to tint my voice. "What thing?! What's inside me?!"

I already knew, even before he said it.

"Gaea is living inside you, Annabeth. You're her little spy."

Percy's glare was filled with hate, and I knew it was over. The game was up. I had thought I would have more time than this, more time to soften the blow...

"Alright. You caught me. I'm a 'spy', for lack of better words. What're you going to do with me now?" I sneered. "Now that Gaea knows everything I know?"

There was silence. And the next words spoken ran chills through me.

"We won't do anything to help you."