Annabeth

The shot had made the already chilly air colder than it could possibly get. The loud sound of the shot was still in the air, ringing back and forth. Everything was still around it. It was as if everything had suddenly turned to stone, hard and cold. The brown coat of the blue-green eyed stranger flapped against the snowy ground as the wind blew with a slur.

Annabeth opened her eyes which she had squeezed shut before. She wondered where the bullet had hit her and moved her eyes around while keeping her head still to look for blood. But the snow was as white as before, if not for the occasional muddy patches but spotless other wise. How could have he missed? The gun was practically on her head there is no way he could have-

Then she realized that the gun was still on her head. There was a sharp click as the boy brought another bullet and stretched his arm out to take aim again. Annabeth looked up at him, confused as he aimed above her head and fired again. This time she covered her ears with her hand and ducked towards the ground. What was happening? She shifted her neck a little and dared a look behind her. The sight horrified her. Behind her on the ground, where she remembered a swing set had been earlier, lay a body of a blonde man. His blue eyes were open and so was his mouth as he was killed in mid scream. His skin was white as blood poured out from the middle of his forehead. It was a clean hit. She could see that the first bullet was for his knee as it bled too.

Annabeth gave out a choked yell. She quickly brought her knees close to herself and scrunched back from the boy. How could he have just killed a man? As if on que, He turned on her and clicked a bullet in place in his gun again. His hair was the same color as that of the night. Black as the starry sky, or should she say, black as hell. Small locks of his hair fell on his tanned skin which had certainly not seen the sun since last summer. His long coat was covering him completely. Only a little of his neck was visible. Now if Annabeth had spotted him yesterday while out on a shopping spree with Vera with his hard set jaws and thin but complete lips, she would have given him a second look and Vera would have swooned over his solid body with perfect legs and built. But now all she could think about was how perfectly he personified death with his raven-black hair and glowing sea-green eyes which were too busy glaring down at her.

She had never ever felt small in her life before but at that moment, she wanted to get so small that she would disappear from his glaring sight. What had happened? That seemed to be the question of the day. And suddenly as the boy flexed his wrist to point the gun back at her, Annabeth became aware of the other people surrounding them. They were watching as he killed, looking out for more to kill, and probably that wasn't their first kill of the night. She caught a sight of a dark haired girl with striking electric blue eyes from her periphery. Her blue eyes seemed to widen as their eyes met.

"Say your prayers." The boy muttered yet again as he pointed the gun straight at her head and put his finger on the trigger.

"STOP!" The girl with blue eyes came forward swiftly with her own revolver trained on Annabeth.

Annabeth noticed how her hair barely touched the base of her neck. She had always wanted short hair like that but maybe now wasn't the moment to imagine herself with short hair. But why not? If she was going to be killed by that pretty boy in front of her she might as well as think aloud. Luke had always asked her to get a nice trim but she had always resisted. Maybe she had not loved him all that much after all. The thought of Luke brought back the image of his betrayal which stirred an angry fire within her. This was all his fault. If not for that cheating bastard she would have been safe and sound and she would have never seen Leo's time machine-

Leo's time machine! Her head snapped up as she looked at the boy. He was looking at the blue-eyed girl with slight irritation.

"What Thalia?" His voice was smooth and calm Annabeth noticed, too calm for someone who had just killed another human. But then again this must not be the first time he is doing this. She scooted further away from him on that happy note. She desperately wished that all of this was just a big bad dream and nothing more. A nightmare that would end any moment. Not something freakish to do with Leo's time machine.

"Her eyes. They are not at all blue. They are grey!" Her gun was still trained on her but Annabeth realized that the bullet was not in the counter, she was not going to shoot Annabeth, well most probably. A bulky boy with beady black eyes and buzzed hair scratched his head before saying,

"Maybe it's some genentical defect? That noble appeared right after she did."

Noble. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and Leo's time machine.

Her head snapped up as a realization hit her hard like falling stones. Maybe Leo wasn't bluffing after all. Her head snapped up again and she found her voice for the first time since this had all begun,

"Which year is this? What is today's date?"

The boy knelt down before her and grabbed her shoulders roughly and tilted his head, staring hard into her eyes.

"I don't believe it. She could be a spoiled princess and that could have been her guard." He said jerking his head in the dead man's direction, ignoring her feeble voiced question.

Was she in the middle of the war of revolution of Kyte 1914? Right when the World War was going on their country had achieved complete freedom. Could this be... could this be...

All the things that Annabeth had studied about the revolution came crashing back into her mind. The tyrannical Noble's class. The people of the city who have been crushed under their shoes for since the beginning of time maybe. The Lost Wings, the revolutionary group which was finally successful in assassinating the king and taking over power and adopting rules and rights and duties from the constitutions of France, USA and other democratic countries of then. It was when they became kind of democratic from monarchy and everyone lived happily ever after. There is a catch of course. The members of the Broken Wings were never discovered after the great assassination. Their information was strictly confidential before that too but after the revolution... it was said that they just went AWOL. Their flag, ironically a huge bird flying freely in a clear blue sky, was taken as the nation's flag to honor their great contribution to us.

But it didn't have to be 1914 now. It could be 1913 or 1912 or even 1812 for all it's worth. Annabeth knotted her fingers into fists as she thought about all this. Only if she had never met that cheating jerk called Luke... She really needed to know what date it was today.

"What is today's date?" she tried again.

There was no answer. The boy still had his hands on her shoulder as he bickered with the dark-haired girl. The earlier wanted to shoot her then and there and the later wanted to hold her prisoner till they became sure of what she was. Both suggestions horrified Annabeth but she didn't have a choice did she?

"I am telling you she is a Nobel-"

"WHAT IS TODAY'S DATE?" She shouted as she swatted the boy away, pushing his chest so hard that he fell on the snow on his back. And suddenly, everyone there was eager to shoot a million holes in her body, all their guns were trained straight at her and from the looks in their gleaming eyes and hard stances, she knew that they rarely missed and even if one of them did, the others would get her for sure. She gulped. She just wanted to do that since forever but on a different person, namely Luke, but now she was going to die.

"It is fifteenth of December... of 1913 of course." The girl named Thalia said, her blue eyes were shining with mirth at Annabeth's action.

Annabeth looked away from her and caught a glance of the black-haired boy lying on the snow. He was kneeling on his knees now and for a split of a second she saw his sea-green eyes go soft and wide. And then they were hard and set again. Annabeth wondered if she had just imagined it but then thought to drop the topic all together. But she wished the boy would stop glaring at her though, his soft eyes would be a lot prettier after all.

"Thank you and I am s-sorry or pushing you." She said. Her voice had gone stiff from being quiet all this while but she had to break the ice.

She sneaked another glance at the boy who was getting up now. He stood up in all his glory as another cold breeze made his coat sway slightly along with his hair. He looked at her and extended his hand. Annabeth thought that he was going to offer his hand to her for helping her up. The thought stupidly made her feel slightly relaxed but then his hand snapped in a sharp wiz as he wiped his forehead instead. She could have sworn that he wasn't sweaty but well... who cared. All she could think about was what a huge egotistical jerk he was, maybe even worse than Luke. She hated the dull disappointment that was started to build up in the pit of her chest.

Well if this guy thought he was so great and mighty then he was free to think so wasn't he? Not that it mattered to her in any possible way.

she felt someone grab her shoulder and lift her up. It was Thalia. Annabeth tried to smile at her but as soon as she tilted her head, she slipped and fell face first on the snowy ground.

"Hey Blondie are you okay?"

She heard someone jeer as the others joined in with short busts of laughs and giggles. Were they seriously laughing at her? They were after her blood a moment ago. And no one was helping her up and her arms were freezing. She doubted if she could get up solely on her legs which were getting number by the minute. Everything felt so wrong and discouraging. All these people's laughter, her not being able to get up on her own...

It all just seemed like a nightmare that just refused to end. Hot, tears stung her eyes as she thought about all those things. What was she going to do now? Unless she was dreaming there was no way of getting out of this mess. She had just lost her boyfriend and now she was going to lose it all, her family, her friends, her perfect grades, her chance to be Kyte's best architect, her life... everything, just because Leo's freak invention malfunctioned now her life was over. It would have been better if they had actually pulled those triggers. At least then she wouldn't have had to think about her depressing life. Why had everything come to this? Why has everything been taken from her in return for absolutely nothing!

Just when that thought crossed her mind she felt something soft, warm and a little heavy fall gently on her back. It was like a blanket was covering her up and though it might have been just a blanket, at that moment, she felt wonderful and grateful for it. It was as if the cover was a warm bubble of hope engulfing her when she needed it the most, when she was about to break down. Whoever the person was, her or she surely-

Strong arms went around her waist and pulled her up. There was a sudden splash of torch light, then Annabeth felt someone brushing something off her coat lapels. Her eyes adjusted to the brightness and then she saw him. He was wearing a loose black shirt with full black pants. His blue-green eyes looked too green up close as he was standing so close to her with his hands on her waist. She just looked at him. Few upturned locks slipped and fell over her eyes. His grip on her waist tightened for a second and then he dropped his hands. Annabeth had stupidly thought that maybe he would push her bangs behind her ear but that was ridiculous. Why would a random guy even think about touching her hair. Maybe she had hit her head too hard while... well magically appearing here.

The boy turned and flexed one of his arms and looked at the people who were dead quiet now. Annabeth hadn't noticed when they had gone all that silent.

"What are you all looking at?" His voice was loud and clear and for the first time Annabeth felt like she wasn't dreaming, like this was really happening and even though the weight of reality was pushing around the corners, fully ready to land on her shoulders, at that moment seeing him like that, so sure of himself and his way broad back sort of shielding her, she felt like she was really there.

"Don't get too friendly with her yet cousin." Thalia chuckled, "there is a huge probability that she is a Nobel."

But he wasn't looking at Thalia or maybe not even listening to her. He had turned around and now he was looking straight into Annabeth's stormy grey eyes. She just couldn't look away from his stony, cold, sea-green ones because even though they were hostile, it felt like he was seeing right through her, her deepest secrets, her darkest mistakes and all her regrets. It was as if he was sensing that somehow she didn't belong in this time period. His eyes flickered and then he turned away before saying.

"Let's hope you don't eat your words later Thalia."

Thalia smiled slyly then took a ones-over at the crowd and shouted, "The hunt's called out! We have a prisoner!"


Annabeth almost didn't recognize her school. The once authentic and properly painted and groomed building was now looking like an abandoned warehouse. Where the huge garden was supposed to be standing with its fountains, statues and everything was just yet another patch of maple trees. In fact the whole building was concealed by barriers of maples. She understood why it was a good hideout. It was sort of low ground with trees covering the soon-to-be school and without being on choppers, it seemed almost impossible to locate it unless you knew it was there.

As Thalia pushed her inside the huge tin gates, she looked around in awe. Tens and hundreds of older kids and kids her age were wandering around in jerseys and mostly dark-colored tops. They laughed together as they passed her by, not even giving her a second glance. She could see the occasional glints and clicks on kids loading and unloading their guns. There were different kind of stalls everywhere as kids crowded around them. Annabeth caught sight of a few girls who were surely not much older than Malcolm, shooting balloons in one of the stalls and missing absolutely none. There were groups of armed people everywhere and as she passed the entrance door people finally started noticing her. Some threw her a curious look while the others plainly glared at her. Well this was the anti-noble camp after all and for all they knew she perfectly looked like any tyrannical noble.

Ones inside the building Annabeth kept staring straight ahead. Sure the hallways looked dark and kind of haunted without the lockers and the display boards and paintings but still... it kind of made her feel familiar? She just didn't know the right word but it did make her feel really homesick. Walking ahead of her was Thalia and behind her was the guy with stony sea-green eyes and two other guys were flanking her so that she couldn't make a run for it. All this seemed insane. Entering her own school like a prisoner...

She wondered if the blue-green eyed guy was staring at her. He must be, that was what he was hear for after all. To watch out for if she tried to escape. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he find it weird that she appeared out of nowhere about an hour ago? Or had he even seen her appearing from thin air. Anyway, a big bad time machine won't surely be the first thing that he would have thought of even if he did see her falling out of the sky.

That's when Annabeth realized that she couldn't tell anyone about it. They would surely think she was crazy or worse... lying and then they would publicly execute her maybe. She dared a side way glance at her blue-green eyed jailer. He was staring sideways outside the huge tinted windows. It was night and the atmosphere was surely cold. She was just glad that she had got that brown long coat on her...

And then she really did turn her head to look at him. His coat was gone while her other three captors still had theirs on. He had covered her while she was shivering back there? Maybe he wasn't that big of a jerk after all.

His eye-balls slid back and caught her looking at him. Suddenly she felt like turning around and hiding her face in her coat. What was she doing? Staring at them could raise their suspicions. But she didn't turn around. She just kept on staring at him. Finally a muscle in his neck moved as he turned his head towards her and raised his eyebrows. She wondered what his name was.

"What?" He said with a hint of irritation in his tone.

"You gave me your coat. Thank you." She said carefully, not wanting to say anything upsetting.

"Whatever. Just keep on looking ahead." With that he tilted his head away from her.

Annabeth went back to staring at Thalia's head. Maybe she was right earlier. That guy, whatever his name was, was surely a jerk.

And then finally they reached a door. And not just any door, it was the door to the schools treasure room where they earlier used to keep all their trophies. There had been about a hundred and eleven trophies of her kept inside that room. Now she wondered what was in there.

"Okay uh... What's your name?" Thalia, asked while turning back to look at her with her arms crossed in front of her.

"It's-" She wondered if she should fake it but then immediately dismissed the thought, "I'm Annabeth, Annabeth Chase,"

"A Chase?" Thalia said thoughtfully while tapping her cheek with her finger, "I don't know any noble with that name. Do you?" She raised her eyebrow at her cousin who just shrugged. Annabeth couldn't help but notice how well toned his body was even though there were far more important things to worry about than that.

"At any rate. You should meet Chiron. I mean you obviously already know him." She perked up as she put her hand on the door knob.

"The one who taught Hercules?" She asked in disbelief.

"What? No!" Thalia dramatically widened her eyes in shock and put her free hand over her heart.

"Were you living under a rock till date? You just can't be a noble if you don't know Chiron."

She just stared at her. She had never read about anyone called Chiron in Kytian revolution chapters.

"So go." Thalia said, while opening the door for her.

"You are not coming?" Annabeth asked confuse.

She shook her head and said, "There are other guards inside."

Annabeth nodded and took a bold step forward and then just as she was going to go inside completely she turned around and faced the sea-green eyed guy.

"What's your name?" She asked.

His eyebrows scrunched together as he sized her up.

"You don't have to tell me." She said with a sigh. He turned around and started walking away.

Annabeth just looked at him, thinking what his problem was. But then he stopped and glanced over his shoulder, his eyes almost looked to be a flashing green.

"Perseus Jackson."

"It's just Percy." Thalia said as she shut the door behind her.

Percy huh? It was a good name.

So how was this chapter fellaws! Please tell me if this is going good and if I should finish it. So enjoy!