Beyond the Shining Lights (Percy Jackson Barbie's Mariposa AU)

Chapter 5

"So what now? We made it across the water." Silena asked helplessly.

"Will you give me a minute?" Annabeth asked exhaustedly. Flying over the vast ocean had been hard with Silena whining every two seconds about how leaving home wasn't the smartest thing ever. "I need to get out the map."

"Well hurry up!" Silena hissed.

Clarisse fluttered in front of Silena. "Give her some time."

"How long is this gonna take?" Piper asked anxiously, looking up at the night sky. "Flying here almost took us the entire day. It's gonna get dark soon."

"Well, maybe if someone had given me the map, we'd be there right now." Silena said angrily, glaring at Annabeth.

"Oh please!" Piper said, crossing her arms. "You just want the map so that you can say that you were in charge when clearly, Prince Perseus gave this job to Annabeth."

"So would you!"

"Both of you, knock it off!" Annabeth screeched, quickly flying between them. "We won't be getting anywhere if you two keep fighting."

"We won't be getting anywhere unless we can read that map, but it's getting dark!" Silena complained.

The fairies heard noises in the distance as Annabeth grabbed the small orb out of her shirt, hovering it above the map.

"Annabeth, whatever you do, you better hurry!" Clarisse said, looking on the distance. "Titans ahead."

"Hide!" Annabeth said, stuffing the orb back into her shirt as the fairest hid under a giant mushroom.

"What are we gonna do, hide here all night?" Piper asked anxiously.

"Of course not! There's no time!" Annabeth said, breaking off one of the giant flowers and handing it to Silena. "Take this."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do with a giant flower?" Silena asked, grabbing the stem of the flower in confusion.

"Titans are blind. They rely on their sense of smell." Annabeth explained as she passed out more flowers. "As long as we hold these flowers, they should cover up our smell. They won't know we exist."

The fairies nervously followed Annabeth's lead, flying under the flowers and under the noses of the Titans flying ahead.

"What are you, part Titan?" Clarisse asked, giving Annabeth a surprised look. "Even my dad doesn't know this."

"How do you know this anyway?" Silena asked, growing more and more curious.

"Well, that answer is simple, Silena. I like to read." Annabeth said, looking at the map. "Looks like we'll be coming up on a fork in the road..."

Piper accidentally bumped into Annabeth, causing her to drop her flower and the map.

"The map!" Piper yelled, diving down to grab it as both the Titans and Silena and Clarisse turned around and looked at the two other fairies hovering in the air.

"Butterfly fairy..." One of the Titans said, zooming towards Piper.

"Piper, there's no time!" Annabeth said, quickly flying down and grabbing Piper by the arm, dragging her back up as the Titans ate the map in one bite. Annabeth looked up at the others in terror. "FLY LIKE YOUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT!"

"But where do we go? We don't have the map anymore so where are we going?" Clarisse asked as the four fairies flew in a random direction.

Annabeth thought for a moment as the fairies maneuvered their way between the giant plants, avoiding the Titans whenever they could. "On the map, there was a picture of a sun. A rising sun."

"Okay, but it's dark!" Piper asked in a panicked voice. "I don't really see how the sun is gonna help us when there's so many stars above our heads!"

"No, Piper." Clarisse explained. "What Annabeth is trying to say is that the sun rises in the east. We just need to head east."

"How are we gonna find that without the map!?" Silena cried.

Annabeth's face lit up. "Orion!"

"Or-who?"

"The archer! It's a pattern in the stars, a constellation! Orion's arrow always points due east." Annabeth said, scanning the sky until she found the three stars making up Orion's belt. She quickly found the tip of the arrow, then pointed in the same direction. "That way!"

The three other fairies followed Annabeth's lead as two other Titans got into their path. The four fairies dove down to get lower to the ground.

"What's that?" Piper asked, pointing to a giant wall of thorns in the distance.

"Might be where we need to go!" Annabeth yelled, flapping her wings a little harder.

"Can we even make that?" Silena asked.

"We gotta try!" Clarisse said, grabbing Silena's arm and flapping her wings as hard as she could until all four fairies were well through the wall of thorns.

As soon as they were sure there was no more danger, the four fairies collapsed on the ground.

"That... Was the most flying I have ever had to do." Piper said, collapsing on the ground exhaustedly.

"We have to keep going." Annabeth said, landing on the ground as she continued walking east. "We can walk for a little bit, give our wings a rest, but then we need to keep going."

"Annabeth, we just flew-"

"Silena, I don't have time to argue with you." Annabeth said, grabbing the orb from her shirt and holding it out. From the last time she had taken it out, the small orb had already started to fade. "If we don't hurry, Halfling is as good as dead."

"Annabeth's right. That orb thing is fading quickly." Clarisse said, hoisting Silena off of her spot on the ground as Piper begrudgingly sat back up. "We gotta keep going. Come on!"

The four fairies started navigating their way through the thorns, not knowing what dangers lay ahead of them.