Of course, the Minotaur showed up when Percy and Annabeth separated. He had only decided to leave the apartment they were living in in New York to go to that bakery across town that made the "only cupcakes that came close enough to my mom's" according to Percy. They had been careful not to be apart from each other for the month that they were living together, but the one day he decided to leave for a few minutes is the day the minotaur came back from Tartarus. They had been having such good luck since they defeated Gaea, something was bound to go wrong.
Annabeth scolded herself. Should've seen that coming. The minotaur was headed right towards the apartment. I have to get him... Her... it... away from the apartments. There are children here. Annabeth opened the back door that lead to the patio and looked down. It would be a ten foot jump, She calculated. She had jumped farther than this. She breathed in and jumped.
Her feet hit the ground, and she bent her knees to absorb the impact. Just like jumping off the lava wall at camp. She heard the minotaur roar and felt the ground shake as he charged. She continued to run in a straight line from the apartment complex. Into the park. Where there wouldn't be a lot of people on a winter day like today.
As she sprinted, she took inventory. Her knife was her only weapon, unless you counted the chapstick she had in the pocket of her jeans. She instantly regretted not grabbing a jacket, as it was hovering slightly above freezing today.
She ran through the trees in the park, which slowed down the minotaur. Annabeth knew that she would eventually be outran. She couldn't fight the minotaur with just a knife, even if it was celestial bronze. That left trickery. But she couldn't turn around and just talk to the Minotaur. He would eat her before she had said a word. And she knew that once the minotaur was set on a goal, like killing the boy who had killed him before's girlfriend, he wouldn't stop until he had finished. So trickery was out, too.
Annabeth had no way of contacting Percy. Her cell phone was on the table in the apartment, and Percy was a few miles away. Right as she was about to loose hope the trees ended. Right in front of her there was a lake. About twenty feet long and ten feet wide.
Annabeth froze for a minute. Would the minotaur follow her into the water? SHe didn't think so. He would be smart enough to know that eventually she would have to come up for air. Unless...
A roar just a few feet behind her sen t a chill down her spine. She was out of time. The minotaur lunged for her, but she took off running and launched herself into the lake. She swam down about twenty five feet until she felt the bottom. Most of her energy was used swimming down, and she was running out of air. Her vision started to go black. She heard the minotaur roar, but it sounded miles away. This would be a stupid way to die, she thought. And I didn't get to say goodbye to Percy.
Percy. With the very last of her breath, she whispered, "Percy." Her mouth filled with the disgusting lake water. But a bubble appeared around her head. She spit out the water and it floated to the outside of the bubble. She smiled. He had heard. She didn't know how, but she was so happy he had heard. She was just glad he saved her life.
She heard the minotaur roar, but this time it was in pain. Yellow dust floated to the bottom of the lake. She heard someone jump in, and suddenly there was Percy. She wrapped her arms around him, and they sat at the bottom of the lake.
"Thank you." She whispered.
Percy kissed her. As they broke apart Percy smiled. "The lake at Camp Half Blood was way more clean than this. But I'll take any underwater kiss I can get with you."
Annabeth smiled. My Seaweed Brain.