Spider Threads
Annabeth took off her slippers, letting her bare feet sink into the humid sand. She wiggled her toes, letting the particles rub against the skin between her toes. A small smile formed on her face, and she looked up at the sound of a surprised yelp followed by a splash.
"I've barely got any change of clothes!" Piper said loudly, the laughter in her voice crisp and clear. Jason offered her a helping hand while laughing, but she swatted it away, getting up on her own. "Trying to be gentle after tossing me like that doesn't count." She splashed some water on his glasses.
"Oh, come on." Jason jokingly whined, taking off his glasses and rubbing them on his shirt. "It takes forever to clean those." Piper splashed more water on him before laughing again.
Annabeth shook her head, her lips stuck in a gorgeous grin. She let her eyes wander to the others, seeing Leo already climbing Frank, and Hazel circling them, trying to pull Leo down. A poke to the back grabbed her attention. She turned around, her grin getting wider.
"Are we going to splish splash too?" Percy asked, eyes shining with excitement. Water was his element, after all.
"Of course we are." She said, poking his chest. "Just go ahead, I'll leave my backpack in the cabin."
"Can't you just leave it here?"
"It got my laptop." She narrowed her eyes. "Of course I won't leave it in the sand and water and wind." Percy nodded.
"Well, hurry up then. We only got a handful of days to relax." He said. Annabeth nodded, before shoving him playfully out of the way. Carrying her backpack, she headed to the wooden cabin a few meters away.
It was one of those cabins; old –really old, creaky and with no actual utilities. The only reason they took it was the fact that it was secluded; far from everyone and everything.
And maybe the fact that they basically got it for free.
But as Annabeth entered the dimly lit space, she found it almost charming. She liked the way the sunrays entered between the cracks in the walls and roof, which were no different than the small window on the opposite wall across the room, in terms of size.
She walked to one of the bunks, if you can really call them that, and laid down her backpack gently. She sat on the edge, letting her hands feel the worn out fabric of the mattress. It was surprisingly soft and smooth.
She sighed. This was exactly what they needed; simplicity.
One of the light beams coming from the cabin's roof caught her eyes as it fell down a few inches away from her. She watched the dust particles as they floated in and out of view, in an almost hypnotizing way. Annabeth brought one of her hands to the column of light and her heart lurched forward in her chest.
Her right hand had collected more spider webs than she thought was comfortable, which was none. Taking a shaky breath, she brought her other hand up, trying to pick off the whitish-grey threads off her skin. She picked at the thickest of the threads, hoping it'll grab the rest with it, but it seemed that she couldn't pinch it off, or get any leverage for that matter.
Her breath was slowly becoming uneven, but she willed herself not to panic. She scratched at the palm of her hand, but the threads didn't move. She didn't even feel them with her other hand. She started rubbing it on her shirt.
"Get off me." She said, startled at how shaky her voice was. Her breathing was panicked, and her heart raced. "Get off." She repeated again, her skin starting to hurt from the friction.
A few seconds later, she started gasping for air, and that terrified her even more. She didn't know why she was reacting like that, why the familiar feeling of heavy, toxic dread was filling her lungs, making breathing such a taxing task. She could still hear the laughter of her friends outside, joyous and excited. She tried calling for them but she gasped instead, looking at her hands.
A door opened in her mind.
She was back at the cliff, covered in cobweb, being pulled down by a single, adamant thread made by Arcane. The terror she felt, hanging there, clutching at Percy's hand for dear life was unmatched. Annabeth started scratching at her palm again, gritting her teeth.
"Get off me." She hissed, her vision getting blurry.
Cobwebs and spiders and threads. These were the things that lead to her hell; the things that started a terrible period of her life and showed her such unfathomable horrors.
She felt it, the burning in her chest. The sulphurous gas that was blistering her skin and rotting her lungs, slowly killing her. The pain that came with every step through Tartarus, in the vain hope that maybe, just maybe, she and Percy could find a way out of there. The helplessness she felt at each obstacle. It was a wretched feeling, one she never wanted to experience ever again.
"Please." She whispered, tears streaming down her face, hitting the dusty floor with muffled thuds. Her skin had broken at some point, and small pools of crimson red liquid were collecting in the narrow gashes her nails had dug. "Why can't you just get off me?"
Annabeth was scared. She was scared to admit that this hellish trip almost broke her beyond repair. She was terrified that it already did, that it was already too late.
She couldn't understand how was anyone expected to endure all this and still continue to live a peaceful life? To have the peace of mind to go for a swim or get a goodnight sleep?
Another memory resurfaced; the few times Annabeth and Percy tried to sleep down there, the fewer times they succeeded. The fear that clutched at her chest every time she was startled awake by a noise, knowing it was something coming to get them.
Annabeth was sobbing, uncontrollable, anguished sobs. Her bloody hand was forgotten, along with the cobwebs that seemed part of her skin now. She closed her eyes, pushing the palms of her hands against her face, muffling her sobs. She hated how pathetic she sounded to her own ears.
She was spiralling down a dark hole, a seemingly endless pit of agony and despair. She couldn't hear a breath but her own, nor see anything but her own utter loneliness. The door that she feared the most snapped open.
Polyphemus' curse and the Arai.
Annabeth trembled at the thought of reliving that nightmare again. Deprived from her senses and completely lost, unable to find Percy. Unable to find a way out of the sudden nothingness she was left in. The sense of absolute dependence on someone she couldn't find; dependence on the last hope that was slowly withering away with every passing second.
She hated it. She despised every moment of it; she would die before she went through it again-
"Annabeth? What's taking you so long-" A muffled voice broke across the thick layer of despair that had coated her, followed by a set of quick footsteps. "Annabeth!" Percy repeated, panic obvious in his voice. In a second he was crouching in front of her, his hands gently peeling Annabeth's off her face. She twisted her neck, burying her face in her arm, muffling her sobs.
Percy said her name again. He kept her hands in his, slowly talking to her. She couldn't make the words but the tone was soothing and calm. A minute later, her breathing was still uneven, but she was considerably calmer.
"Do you want to leave?" Percy asked. "Huh? We could leave and go somewhere else if you don't like it here." Annabeth shook her head, taking another ragged breath. She sat there, wiping at her face every few seconds with the sleeve of her t-shirt.
A few seconds has passed when Percy got up and sat down next to her, gently dropping her hands in her lap. She heard his lips part then close, as if he's going to ask a question but decided better of it. She was glad, since she didn't have the will nor the energy to talk.
Annabeth slowly rotated her hands in the dim light, looking for any signs of the webs. She brought her hand to the slowly fading light, bracing herself. But she only found her scratched palms. She rotated her hand, looked again then dropped it back to her lap. Down at where the light beam hit the floor, there was a small pile of fine threads, twinkling. Percy looked confused, but didn't comment. If he noticed her hand, he didn't bring it up.
"We'll need-" Annabeth coughed, clearing her throat. Her voice was croaky and her throat felt raw. "We'll need to clean the mattresses. It collected dust and things." She said, feeling silly. Silly didn't bother her; she didn't care at the moment.
"Of course." Percy said, giving Annabeth a gentle poke to the arm. She replied with a small smile, before wiping her face one last time. She blocked any thoughts that roamed her mind, hiding them behind doors and labyrinths. She was going to enjoy this brief break, and she wasn't going to ruin it. And she hoped.
She hoped that she would never get caught in this storm, never spiral down with such terrifying speed ever again.