Percy snapped his eyes open. A surge of panic pounded in his heart. He kept his eyes fixed on the color of the ceiling-an unfamiliar dark purple.
Oh gods, where am I?
He tried to recall the last memory that brought him to this room, yet in vain. His whole body was screaming 'danger!' and he just couldn't shake the feeling that he got himself into trouble, again. He frowned and cursed himself inwardly, yet the next second, what subsequently-almost immediately-came to mind terrified him so much more than the first.
Annabeth. Where is Annabeth?
He winced at the mere thought of someone holding her captive, or hurting her before doing so. He shut his eyes tightly. How could he not remember what happened? The strange purple ceiling was starting to freak him out.
Despite feeing confused, unsure of wherever he was currently at, Percy could feel his arms and legs tense, his whole body ready to act for battle. With the slightest move, he slid his right hand into the pocket of his sweatpants for Riptide as he scanned the room with the corner of his eyes. He sat up slowly.
Just when he was about to jump out of bed and scream 'Show yourself! Nasty monster! Let Annabeth go!' an arm appeared suddenly, waving toward his face as if it had set its aim on Percy's nose, knocking its target right on.
It slammed into him so hard that he fell backwards and could barely prompt himself up with his elbows. He didn't even have the time to dodge. What the-
"Come on," A lazy voice said, muffled with a heavy dose of sleepiness. The arm that had just smacked him now reached down from his face to his neck.
"It's like 5 now, Seaweed Brain." The voice complained.
It was the voice Percy would never mistake as any other person's; it was the voice he'd do anything for and go anywhere with.
Annabeth. He heard his heart chanting the name.
Percy turned to his left and saw her. She was smiling, eyes closed. Her fingers left Percy's collarbone and spread into a palm pressing on his chest, pushing him downwards gently. Percy's back landed on the soft mattress and made a small Humph.
"We don't have training today, you know." She whispered, her hand crawling upwards as it curled into a fist on his chest.
Percy lifted his own hand and covered Annabeth's. "I'm sorry." She sighed contently and nudged closer beside him.
For a moment Percy was amazed at how his hand compared to Annabeth's; his was large, rough and calloused, hers was rough alike, yet much smaller, longer, and more delicate. Those are marks of years of training and fighting. He silently thought about how Annabeth's hands would feel like if she weren't a demigod and led a normal life. But he knew what she'd say; he wouldn't change anything about his demigod life either. That'd inevitably erase all the memories he had with Annabeth. He knew it was the same for her. They wouldn't want to change anything.
If they were to die, they'd either die together or die for each other. If they were to survive and live and grow old, they'd experience it regardless of the wounds they might unintentionally scar each other, physically or mentally. Everything would heal as long as they were by each others' sides.
Percy held her hands, laced his fingers with hers and turned to face her. He knew she wasn't sleeping. She was waiting for him to say something. He didn't know why, but this girl seemed to have the ability of reading his mind. He smiled despite himself. They could read each others' minds, after all.
"The moment I woke up..." Percy started slowly. "I thought we were kidnapped. I thought you were hurt, or even worse, gone." He hesitated over the words.
It didn't occur to him earlier, since he was so tense and alarmed about fighting whatever he thought was about to harm him, but it dawned on him just now that in the back of his mind, he had thought he lost Annabeth already.