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Annabeth XXXV

"Annabeth XXXV," Athena read, beaming with pride.

The demigods were still smiling from the last chapter, a few making jokes about the ghosts and all around in high spirits.

Their enthusiasm was infectious, the other gods couldn't help but feel excited for what happens next.

"ANNABETH THOUGHT SHE KNEW PAIN. She had fallen off the lava wall at Camp Half-Blood. She'd been stabbed in the arm with a poison blade on the Williamsburg Bridge. What?" Athena gasped, looking over her daughter for said injury.

Thinking of Ethan Nakamura, Percy and Annabeth winced.

"It's fine now, thanks to Will," Annabeth said, subconsciously rubbing her arm. She gave the son of Apollo a grateful smile.

Will returned it with a strained grin. Thinking about that bridge reminded him of his brother, Michael Yew.

He's still alive... he has to be... he thought. Will knew it was probably stupid to still have hope, but they never found his body and Michael was the toughest Apollo kid he ever met. If anyone was able to survive a bridge collapsing, it would be him. In fact, if he ever found out that there were people who believed he had died, Michael would have them rhyming couplets for weeks.

Will's grin became a bit more genuine.

I have to ask Chiron if we could send a search party for him one more time. Will thought with a small sigh. They never found the body and he clung to that knowledge like a life preserver. For a fleeting moment, he thought about asking Nico before he pushed it away.

No, I shouldn't bother him about that. It's better that I look for him. he told himself, but Will was only fooling himself. He didn't want to hear the truth that the others had accepted.

As if having similar thoughts, Apollo slumped in his throne, letting out a heavy sigh.

Artemis took his hand in hers and squeezed it.

She had even held the weight of the sky on her shoulders.

Nearly everyone in the room grimaced at that.

"Really? We're bringing this up again?" the sun god grumbled tiredly. Artemis rubbed soothing circles in his hand.

But that was nothing compared to landing hard on her ankle. Athena's eyes widened in horror.

That snapped Will out of his daze.

"What?" he gasped, sitting upright so fast, he surprised Chris and Jake. "No! Gods! No!"

Percy's face paled. The demigods gasped, the positive mood they started out with completely gone.

Annabeth tensed, squeezing her necklace so hard the chain had imprinted itself into her hand. Please just be sprained. Please just be sprained.

She immediately knew she'd broken it. Pain like a hot steel wire jabbed its way up her leg and into her hip. The world narrowed to just her, her ankle, and the agony. Athena read out loud with pained sympathy in her voice.

"Gods!" Will exclaimed again, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "I knew something like this was going to happen. I just knew it! And you don't have a First Aid Kit! Annabeth, I swear to the Fates, Olympians, and all minor gods, if you eat an entire ambrosia square like Piper did, I'm gonna-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll bring the First Aid Kit this time, I promise," Annabeth hurriedly swore and she meant it. How could she have been so careless as to forget it? Now she's stuck with a broken ankle with no proper form of treatment! Her mind was swarming with panic, she took a couple deep breaths. "What can I do now? I can't fight Arachne like this!"