A Scare in the Kitchen

by Smiley612

Annabeth, now 31, is faced with a spider alone, so she takes a risk and calls Percy at work — He has a ball listening to her scream and mess up, and Annabeth thanks the gods she has such a supportive husband to teach her how to kill a spider.

Annabeth Chase, a woman of 31, walked into the kitchen of her house. It was about twelve thirty PM, so normally, when Annabeth was on the job, she'd be having her lunch break right now.

She opened the fridge to expose the amount of food she and her husband, Percy, had. Annabeth grabbed ham, cheese, and tortilla wraps from a drawer in the fridge, humming to herself a popular song on the radio as she closed the door. The light turned black as she set the food on the counter, preparing to make herself lunch.

She turned around to grab herself a small snack, and it happened. Annabeth caught sight of a black spider resting on the wall between two windows and she screamed. To Annabeth, the small black spider seemed to be twice that size.

She ran out of the kitchen to find Percy, but then she remembered that he was at work. Breathing heavily, Annabeth was trying to think of any way to contact him — so she ran into the foyer and hastily grabbed the house phone, quickly dialing the number of the boat docks to where Percy worked.

Only in severe emergencies did she ever use a phone. Even at 31, she was still a demigod. Annabeth's chest was heaving as the rings continued — second ring passed and no answer — third ring passed and no answer — finally, someone picked up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" a voice answered —a voice that was too buff for Percy. It definitely wasn't her husband.

"Yes, um, could I speak to Percy Jackson, please? This is Annabeth, his wife." She was already feeling guilty about using a phone, but Percy usually killed the spiders for her. It was only noon, so he'd return from work in precisely five hours; the spider could disappear by then, and Annabeth wouldn't be able to sleep until it was killed. She couldn't kill the spider herself.

"What?" the voice questioned, but immediately corrected himself. "Oh, yeah. PERCY?" The man yelled off in the distance. "He'll be here in a second." Annabeth pressed the phone between her shoulder and her ear, pacing the hallway. She didn't dare look into the kitchen, where the spider would be waiting for her.

"Annabeth?" Percy's voice questioned; Percy's wonderful, amazing, brave voice that would kill the spider for her.

"Percy!" she cried, relief obviously showing through her tone. "Oh, thank the gods. Look, I need your help." She put the phone on speaker as she carefully wandered back into the kitchen, blocking her view from where the spider originally was.

"What's wrong?" he asked, but Annabeth could catch a hint of amusement in his voice.

Annabeth figured that after being married for how many years, he'd know what the problem was, but Annabeth explained anyway. "So I was making lunch and I turned around and I saw a spider on the wall so I screamed and called you. Gods, Percy, I can't kill this spider by myself. I need your help."

"Well, Annabeth, honey, I'm at work. I can't kill the spider for you this time." he explained.

She set the phone on the table and took a deep breath. "I know. But like I said, I can't kill this spider myself."

Annabeth could almost feel him narrowing his eyes through the phone. "Do you want me to lead you through it?"

"Yes!"

"You just have to promise me that you won't freak out."

Taking another deep breath, she promised, "Yes. I'll try not to freak out. What should I do?"

"Okay, first things first. You need to go upstairs and get a wad of toilet paper."

So she sprinted upstairs, carrying the phone with her, not even looking back at the kitchen. Once she had stepped into the bathroom, she gathered a huge wad of toilet paper in her hand and said into the receiver: "Okay, I have a wad. What should I do next?"

She could hear that Percy was trying not to laugh. She didn't know what he thought was so funny, but the next thing he asked was: "Tell me how big of a wad you have, honey. Judging by real life objects."

"Um . . ." Annabeth turned the wad over and over again, trying to think of something of the same size. "I guess a baseball?"

At this, his laugh was released and Annabeth complained, "Hey!"

Percy immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know you're new at this. A wad the size of a baseball is way too big, so toss it in the garbage. Is it in the garbage?"

Annabeth was amazed at how patient he was being with her. "Yeah, it's in the garbage. How big should I make the wad?"

"Take four sheets and fold it over into twos." Annabeth did as she was told, and when she asked what to do next, Percy responded, "Walk downstairs and face the spider like the tough girl I know you are."

She took a deep breath, walking down the carpeted stairs one at a time. Annabeth knew herself that she was brave (even braver than Percy!), but when it came to spiders, even Annabeth admitted that she could become the ultimate coward.

Percy's voice: "Now, walk up to spider on the wall and squish it against the wad of toilet paper. Show it how you're in charge here! Squish it hard and good until it's dead and toss it."

"Toss it where?" she cried, looking around the kitchen. "The garbage pail? What if it's not dead? What if the two sheets of toilet paper wasn't enough to kill it?"

"Shhh," Percy calmed her, but she could hear him trying to hold in another laugh. "Annabeth, you're freaking yourself out. But I guess you have a point . . . okay, you'll have to go outside and toss it in the garbage outside so it definitely won't come back inside."

"Outside?" she asked incredulously. "That's too far of a walk! Can't I just toss it in the toilet?" she looked longingly at the bathroom down the hall, where the toilet would be waiting for her to throw the spider in.

"No, no, with the toilet paper and the spider in it, it may clog," he explained. "You'll have to go outside and throw it in the pail. Ooh — ooh — I think I'm catching a fish!"

Annabeth sighed, leaning against the wall furthest from the one the spider was on. She heard Percy continue. "Oh — yes! — oh my gods, this is going to be a big one! I guess those fishing trips with Poseidon actually did pay off!"

"Percy."

"Oh — sorry, right, back to subject of killing spiders. Okay, 'Beth, you'll have to run outside. I don't know if you'll be able to kill the spider or not, so putting it outside is the safest way. How big is it?"

Leaving Percy on speakerphone, sitting on the dining table, Annabeth took baby steps toward the spider on the wall. She knew herself that she was brace (even braver than Percy!), but with her arachnophobia screaming in her face, she knew she could be a bit of a coward in these circumstances. "How big is the spider, Annabeth?" Percy asked again, his voice echoing from the phone. Holding her breath, Annabeth leaned closer to see how big it actually was and she started to scream her lungs out.

"Annabeth!" she heard Percy cry from the receiver as Annabeth ran away from spider. "Annabeth, are you okay? Where are you? What happened? Annabeth?"

"It — it — it's not a spider!" she announced, trembling behind the table where she hid. "It's a scorpion! Percy, it's a scorpion!"

Percy's fear quickly turned to laughter, as Annabeth once again heard his laugh through the phone. "Annabeth, sweetie, we're in New York. Scorpions live in places with hot weather, like Australia or Texas or New Mexico. It's not a scorpion."

"Then explain its pinchers!" she exclaimed, moving away from the table and back to the phone. "It has, like, two big legs and it looks like a little scorpion! And besides, we're in summer! It's hot in Long Island in summer!"

Percy and Annabeth, soon after they married, moved to Long Island to be closer to Camp Half-Blood. Sally was still alive and well, but her and Paul wanted the newlyweds to have their own place, away from their parents. Long Island was probably the only island in the world to have such bipolar weather; one day in the summer, it could be a cool fifty degrees with a nice breeze and clouds in the sky; then there were days where it was 90 degrees with no sign of ever cooling down.

"Annabeth, it's okay. It's not a scorpion." he calmed her down once again. "Take a deep breath. Inhale . . . exhale. Are you okay?"

She closed her eyes for a second, but she said, "Yeah. I'm okay." but she was on the edge of tears. Percy and everyone else at Camp Half-Blood knew how much the Athena cabin despised spiders, so they always took care of any wandering Daddy Long Legs for them. After Annabeth had left Camp Half-Blood for good, Percy had been the one to kill the spiders in their old apartment and, now, in their own house. She'd never stumbled upon a spider when she was alone, and she knew that Percy couldn't leave work just to kill a spider for her.

"Annabeth, I'm here on the phone with you. I'll walk you through it."

She smiled through her tears, saying "Thanks" into the receiver. She was so glad she had Percy for a husband; he was always there for her, even when they were miles apart. "All right, what do I do next?"

"The next step is that with the toilet paper in hand, you need to walk up to the spider, smush it against the wall, kill it, run outside, dump it in the trash can and you're free from the scorpion-spider forever."

"Don't say that!" she exclaimed, and Percy chuckled. Annabeth took a deep breath and grabbed the toilet paper. "All right. I'm going in."

"Yeah, go Annabeth!" Percy cheered into the phone. "My wife is the bravest person on Earth. She's so brave she can face her worst phobia even when I'm not home. Annabeth Jackson is the most —"

"Thanks for the pep talk, Percy," she breathed, approaching the creature with caution, "but I'm kind of scared shitless and I think I may cry."

At that, Percy shut his face and Annabeth didn't hear anything else coming from where the phone was sitting. She placed the folded toilet paper in the palm of her hand as she closer and closer to the spider — ten feet away, eight feet, six feet — she was face-to-face with her worst fear — and then she started screaming again.

"Oh, gods," Percy's voice sighed. "What is it this time, babe?"

"It's moving!" she cried. "It's moving! Gods, Percy, it's moving quickly! Ohh, this is bad."

Her breaths started to quicken, and Percy obviously heard it too, because he spoke words of comfort into the receiver. "Annabeth. It's going to be okay. I know you can do this. The spider isn't out to get you and it won't drag you away. Take a deep breath, and count to ten. Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . ." Percy finished his countdown, and Annabeth's breathing rate returned to normal. "Can you see where the spider is now?"

She nodded as she said, "Yeah. I can see it."

"Good. I want you to go back up to it and kill it quickly before it escapes. Can you do that?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Go up and kill it right now. Don't think about it in your palm as you run outside to dump it, just sprint out there like there's a monster on your tail. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear." It didn't take much out of her this time to walk back up to the spider. "Well, it's definitely not a scorpion," she announced, and Percy released a loud guffaw.

After a long silence between the couple, Percy figured that he better speak up, in hopes that Annabeth hadn't been eaten by the spider or it was a descendant of Arachne and it was trying to kill Annabeth for revenge on the time they had fallen into Tartarus together. "Just walk straight up to it and kill it, honey. Pretend the spider is me, in my first few weeks of Camp Half-Blood back when we were twelve. You hated me back then!"

"I didn't hate you," she defended, but when Percy remained silent, Annabeth corrected herself. "Yeah, I hated you." They both laughed at that. Thankful that Percy had eased her worries the slightest bit, she couldn't scream this time. "Percy?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"It's making a web."

"Yeah, sweetie, that's what spiders do," he said uneasily. "Don't mind the web. Just walk a little bit closer to it . . . yeah, that's it . . ."

"You can't even see me!" Annabeth exclaimed, but she already knew what Percy was talking about. When he explained that he knew what Annabeth was doing, Annabeth could pretty much know what Percy's expression was as he spoke.

"Percy, I don't know if I can do this," Annabeth said, walking back the slightest bit.

"Annabeth," Percy began, and she knew she was in for a long talk. "I've known you for a long time. You've taken a knife for me, killed countless monsters, and even fallen into Hell with me; you can't kill a tiny little spider, even when I'm here on the phone with you? By the way, if a monster is attracted to us, I swear to all the gods, I am going to strangle you as if Circe turned you into a guinea pig."

Ignoring his threat, Annabeth listened to his small pep talk; it was true, after all. She'd saved Percy's ass when they were looking for Zeus's Lightning Bolt — she'd saved his ass when they were exploring the Sea of Monsters — she'd saved his ass when they were fighting Atlas on Mount Tam — she'd saved his ass in the Labyrinth — and she'd saved his ass countless times in the Battle of Manhattan. She didn't need anyone to save her.

But she failed many times after that. Percy took a tally and it came out to be that after the pep talk, Annabeth chickened out six more times; ran away because the spider was moving three times; and screamed eight more times — and Percy laughed harder each and every time. Annabeth thanked the gods that she had such a supportive and loving boyfriend.

So she held her breath again as she came face-to-face with the spider for the millionth time. She remembered how much she kicked ass back in her teenage years and faced her ultimate fear of arachnids; she held her breath and closed her eyes as she located the spider — she closed her eyes — and she pinned the spider against the wall, holding it against its will by the toilet paper. Annabeth felt a surge of happiness knowing she was choking the spider, but she didn't dare open her eyes.

"Okay!" she announced, her voice traveling to the phone on the table, her hand still holding the toilet paper to the wall. "I think it's dead."

"Good!" Percy praised her. "Now take it outside."

"I'm not taking it outside! It's going to slip out of my hand and travel down my legs and kill me! It's too far of a walk!"

"Well, you can't throw it in the garbage or flush it down the toilet. I'll come with you by the phone outside . . . just don't think about the spider in your hand."

And that's when Annabeth screamed again.

"Oh, gods, Annabeth, what happened?" Percy cried. He sounded desperate, but for what Annabeth didn't know. "What's wrong?"

"There's another spider! On the floor!"

Percy sighed.