The lost hero rises

5. To have hope

Annabeth's point of view:

We arrived at the boarder of camp.
I saw Clarise with another Ares kid walking patrol.

As soon as she saw me we locked eyes for a second. And I knew she knew that something was wrong.

She and the other kid came walking to us.
"Annabeth, what happened?" She asks looking ready for anything.

"Long story. I need to speak with Chiron and Chaos. Now." I say urgent. She simply nods.

She gave Paul permission to enter camp, and went back on patrol.

Paul looked around in amazement.
Then I realize he has never been here before.
"This is camp half-blood?" He asks. "It's magnificent.."

"Yeah, it is." I answer softly. Remebering all the good and bad times we had gone throug here at camp.

"Annabeth?" I hear someone call me.
I turn around and see a very familiar group of friends comming my way. Nico, Piper, Jason and Hazel. They are all here except for Frank. He's probably in camp Jupiter doing his job.
They all look happy and worried at the same time.

"Hey guys.. I really need to speak with Chrion. Do you know where he is?" I ask.

"I think he is teaching archery right now." Hazel says thoughtful. "Why?"
I don't answer her last question.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" Nico asks seriously while looking around. Probably looking for monsters or threats.

"It's.. It's about Percy. You all should come too." I say thinking back about what had happened. They glance at me, their faces are filled with worry.

"Let's go find Chiron." Piper says looking at me and Paul. I nod and we all start heading for the archery field.

As we are walking some demigods are looking at me and Paul. Probably wondering what is going on. I hear Percy's name drop here and there. Since we are always together.
Every time I hear his name it feels like a needle in my heart.

"Okay. Thats it for now. Good job everyone." Chiron says to everyone as he sees me and Paul comming over.
He knows something happened by just looking at me in my eyes.

The class looks confused about the sudden ending of the class.Chrion came up to us. He looks at me with his concerned eyes.

"Chiron.. It's Percy.." I say with my voice trembling.
I can feel my walls breaking down. I tried to stay strong for the past two hours. But since Percy left I have tried to keep myself together.
Tears blurred my sight. Chiron pulls me into a fatherly hug.

"Let's go to the big house." He says. I nod and we all start walking. We go into his office.
Later Chrion rides in sitting in his wheelchair. He wanted to change quickly before we told him what had happened.

"Okay. Tell me what happened." He says looking concerned.

"Wait. I need to tell Chaos and the others as well. I don't want to tell it again." I say while closing my eyes and praying to Chaos.
'Chaos. Something happened. Please come to camp. Bring luke and the others as well please.'
Not even three seconds later Chaos and my team appear in the room. Luckily it is a pretty big office and we all fit in here.

"Annabeth! What happened?" Luke says worried. He walks up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders. His finger touch the dried blood on my cheek. "Did he do this?" There was absolute rage in his eyes. "I knew you shouldn't gone after him! Especially not on your own."

"It wasn't his fault." I say with a trembling voice. Luke noticed my distress and his face softened. He whispers an apology.

I take a deep breath. All eyes are focused on me and I need to get it together.

"So.. Percy has not been sleeping very well lately. He kept waking up screaming. At first we thought it were just nightmares." I look at Chaos. "Turns out it was much worse. It was Nyx all along."

"Nyx? But why didn't Percy say something?" Selena asks.

"Because he couldn't. Tartaurus and Nyx had taken Sally.. they kept her hostage. If Percy didn't do what they said or told anyone about it they would kill her. You know Percy would do anything for Sally." I explain.
"Percy would get Sally back if he stopped leading the army and quit his position as commander." I say looking sadly at Luke and my team.

"Wait. Percy quite?!" Hazel asks confused.

"Yeah. He resigned this morning out of nowhere." Leo says looking at Hazel.

"He did say it was the only way.." Zoë recalls.

"Yeah. So then he went home to see if his mom was safe." I say looking at Paul for conformation.

"Yeah.. I bumped into him on the street. He asked me if I had spoken to Sally in the past few days. But I didn't. He thought something was wrong. So we went back in and Percy sensed something was off. Then things happened I still don't quite understand.." He says looking at me to take it from there.

"Sally was sitting on the couch and Tartaurus had a sword against her throat. Nyx was there as well. She wanted Percy to do one more thing. That was when I found out that she was behind everything. She wanted Percy to lead their army." I say.

"He would never do that.. Right?" Bianca says.
But I didn't answer. "Annabeth?" I look at her.

"He tried. He tried to resist. But.. Nyx took control over his mind. They have him under her control.." I say quietly. "We were lucky to get out of there alive.." I feel a tear running down my cheek.

It was quiet.
Nobody said a word.

"But.. What happened to Sally?" Nico asks.

"It wasn't her. They probably still have her hostage somewhere else." Paul says. There was anger and sadness in his voice.

I look up to Chaos. He hasn't said a word.
He was standing with his back to us. Hands folded behind him.

"This is bad." He says turning around facing all of us. "But Percy has thought me something very important.. To never give up on people you care about. To have hope." Chaos says.

"We need to get him back. We need to save him." Bianca says.

"Most definitely. The war has become more dangerous. Especially with Percy as commander of their army. And with Nyx and Chaos and probably the others working together.." He says.

"Wait.. others?" Jason asks.

"I believe Nyx and Tartaurus aren't the only ones working together." Chaos says.
I look at him in disbelief.

"Well.. We are pretty much dead then.. " Leo says, wich resulted in Zoë and Selena punching him.

"We need to make a plan. Fast. Who knows how long it will take for them to attack." Chiron says.