I don't own Percy Jackson or ay characters associated with PJO. Rick Riordan does

Annabeth's POV

I ran to the entrance of the labyrinth with the metallic spider in my hand. As stood about to release the spider I heard it.

Percy's screams echoed across the cavern. I turned around. Percy stood there as a storm comprised of water and lava rose around him while a dozen telkhines watched. The ground shook beneath my feet. The storm expanded and suddenly the telkhines were sucked into the storm. The ground shook again with more force. I looked on in horror as Percy was blasted out of the volcano.

I dropped the spider and ran.

I followed the spider as it wound through the narrow corridors. My footsteps pounded on the ground. Tears streamed down my face. That explosion...no one could survive that type of explosion. Could he? He could. He would. He had to. He had to be alive. I needed him to be alive. Percy was my best friend. I couldn't lose him. I kept running. I kept telling myself that he was alive.

I ran for twenty minutes. I didn't run into any monsters. The spider lead my down a corridor and a recognized it as camp's entrance to the labyrinth. The spider reached the slope that would lead me back to camp and stilled. The spider became a silver disc and vanished. I stared at the slope that would lead me up to camp.

I felt the salty tears on my face. I dreaded going up. I dreaded telling everyone that I had failed. That I had lost my entire team. But I had too. Kronos was still rising. Luke's army was still threatening the camp. I was a daughter of Athena. I had to stand strong. I had to be strong for my camp. I wiped away my tears and went above ground.

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I was met with a sword at my throat.

Beckendorf and two other kids from the Hephaestus cabin were on guarding the entrance to the labyrinth when I appeared above ground. Beckendorf lowered his sword when he realized it was me.

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said with a grunt.

He looked behind me. When he saw no one else seemed to be coming up he turned to he and asked, "Where's Percy, Tyson, and Grover?"

I tried to speak, but the words escaped me. All the confidence from my mini pep-talk was lost. I struggled to prevent the tears from falling.

Beckendorf looked at my face and seemed to understand.

"Jake, Nyssa. You guys take over while I take Annabeth to the big house," Beckendorf barked.

"Come on, Annabeth," Beckendorf said to me softly. I nodded as Beckendorf held my elbow and lead me away.

As Beckendorf led me to the big house I felt like a ghost. It seemed as if I was going through the motions, but my head wasn't really there. The pain from loosing Percy had left me numb.

We reached the front steps of the big house and found Chiron and Dionysus playing pinochle on the front porch. Chiron saw us approaching and set us cards down to greet us.

"Annabeth, child, your back," his brows creased and he frowned as he noticed that Percy, Tyson, and Grover were missing. "Come inside, child," he said sadly and we entered the big house.

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Twenty minutes later, I sat at the Ping-Pong table we used whenever we held camp meetings. All of the other head counselors were present.

"Annabeth tell us what happened in the labyrinth," Chiron said solemnly.

I started to speak. I told them about the encounter with Janus and Hera, the fight at Alcatraz, the stables at Triple G-ranch, the sphinx, and our arrival at Hephaestus workshop. My voice wavered as a started to tell them about our encounter with Hephaestus. I told they about Grover and Tyson splitting off to search for Pan. I had to pause before I could tell them about the events at Mount St. Helens. It was still so painful, so raw.

I sucked in a breath and told them about the telhkines and the weapon they were creating. My voice cracked as told them about leaving Percy behind (I left out the part about me kissing him) and then watching the explosion. My voice then trailed off.

The room was silent for a few minutes. No one spoke, not even the Stolls.

Finally Chiron spoke up.

"This is all very disconcerting. I'm afraid with that type of expolsion..."

"NO!" I yelled.

"Annabeth, I have spent most of my life in forges. Withstanding that type of heat..." Beckendorf said.

"NO!" I yelled again. "Percy is NOT dead."

I jumped from my chair and ran out of the room. I heard voices calling behind me, but I didn't care. It couldn't to true. I refused to believe it. I sprinted from the big house to my cabin. I threw myself on to my bunk and started sobbing.