Khaos Army (HIATUS)

II

If there was one thing she was good at, it was running. Running away like a coward. She's run her whole life- now it was nothing more than a habit.

The one thing she didn't know, however, was where she was running to.

She's been running for half an hour now. She ducked into an alleyway.

The ally was dark and fairly dirty, but she's seen worse. There were two dumpsters and apartment buildings on either side. There was only one entrance: the one she came in from.

The only thing she could think do to now is to sleep. All the running and sobbing and sobbing and running, and sobbing while running was exhausting.

She hid behind one of the dumpsters and shut her eyes.

She hoped for a dreamless rest..

Obviously, Tyche and Morpheus weren't very pleased with her.

She dreamed of her now bittersweet memories of her fri- no.. old 'acquaintances'. The fastest way to get over them is to not even acknowledge that they were close in the first place.

She can still remember the day she met Per- him. She can't even think his name, anymore. She refuses.

***

She was reading a book about architecture, Chiron helping her with some of the words, on the porch of the Big House when a boy with black hair, sea green eyes, and light olive skin, stumbled through the border, carrying Grover over his shoulder. He staggered onto the porch, the two looking down on them.

Eventually, Annabeth finally spoke.

"He's the one. He must be." She said.

"Silence, Annabeth" Chiron said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

Annabeth was tasked to feed him nectar. She slowly fed him spoonfuls of nectar.

When his eyes opened, she asked a question. One that has been bothering her since he arrived:

"What will happen on the summer solstice?"

"What?" he managed to croak out.

She looked around, worried someone would overhear. "What going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I'm sorry" he mumbled. "I don't..."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and she stuffed the boy's mouth with nectar.

When he swallowed it, he passed out, once more.

Annabeth rushes to open the door, only to reveal Argus.

Guess her shift of watching him was over.

***

She blinked the memory away, tears quietly flowing down her face.

Focus on something else. Think about architecture. Calm down.

Sleep.

And so she did.