"You," gasped Artemis, and Annabeth knew she needn't say more.

Atlas had suddenly appeared in between the two tallest pillars. He was smiling horridly.

"What have you done to Percy?" Annabeth faltered. Atlas didn't respond, but he ambled slowly up to her and held a small piece of green material in front of her face.

Annabeth paled. "Percy's jacket," she whispered. "No, it can't be. You can't have."

Atlas laughed. "Oh I didn't," he grinned. "I am sure my little friends took care of that though. I'm still not sure he even made it out of the dinosaur museum."

It took a while for her to decipher that one. "Dinosaur museum? Percy's jacket? Dinosaurs, Dinosaur bones, Dinosaur skulls, Dinosaur teeth, Dragon teeth, oh no. No no no no no. Not Percy. Not his jacket."

Annabeth let out a terrible scream as she realized what Percy was up against. She struggled against her chains, trying to tear them from the stone. She had to warn him. She had to tell him how to beat them. She had to help him.

Atlas watched her writhe in her bonds and smiled cruelly. "I wouldn't worry. Whatever danger they're in, you're in more my dear." He jerked her hair back, forcing her face to look at the sky. The pillar she was chained to wobbled. Annabeth stopped struggling from sheer fright.

"Look out!" Luke yelled, diving out of the way. A large chunk of stone fell toward the ground. Atlas didn't move as it shattered, pelting everyone within distance with sharp fragments of stone. Annabeth gasped as one of the bigger pieces slammed against her head.

When the dust cleared, it was clear that Annabeth had taken the worst of it. There were small pieces of rock lodged in Artemis's legs, but she wasn't as close, and the sky somehow blocked most of the bigger pieces. Luke had armor on, but his lip was cut and his hand was bleeding. A dracaena shivered and fell to the ground, then dissolved into dust.

Annabeth was covered with blood. The rock had left a good sized cut on the side of her head. Countless more rocks were scattered all over her skin, some lodged in so far they might not get out without a good bit of tugging. Her lip was torn and her hands looked as if a dog had bitten them. Her clothes were in tatters, but they hadn't done anything to protect her chest from rocks. There were small specks of blood dotting the orange shirt, and scabs were already forming in her hair.

"Annabeth!" Luke gasped, clearly shocked at her appearance.

Annabeth didn't mind it much, her muscles were already killing her. What difference does a few more bits of stone make? Atlas was laughing, a great booming horrible laugh. She hated it. Hadn't he already laughed enough?

"So my dear, how did you like your first taste of Mount Othrys?" Annabeth whimpered.

Mount Othrys? Oh shoot. They were raising Mount Othrys again, and here she was in the middle of it. Well, Percy had better hurry up if he was ever going to get to her in time.

Atlas straightened, and gazed at her dangerously. He seemed to be inspecting Annabeth.

"How long was she holding up the sky? Thirteen hours?" he asked Luke, as if Annabeth had suddenly become their biggest threat.

"Thirteen hours," Luke confirmed.

Atlas narrowed his gaze. "And why would we want to keep a daughter of Athena captive when she's strong enough to hold the sky for thirteen hours and stubborn enough not to cry out when a rock shatters four feet in front of her? If she manages to escape somehow,-"

"She won't," Luke said quickly.

Atlas turned to Luke. "Do you realize how she could become a threat? Remind me why we are keeping her in the first place."

Luke stammered something about bait, but Annabeth wasn't listening anymore. She had to have a plan. She had to convince them to keep her alive. Maybe if they thought she was weaker Atlas would agree to Luke's pleading. Wait, Luke was asking Atlas to keep her alive? But why? Did he-

Nope, she wasn't going to think about that now. Right now, she had to make her plan, and fast. Ok, got it. Now for action.

Annabeth moaned, tugging at one of her chains feebly. Atlas and Luke stopped talking and looked back at her. She turned to Luke.

"Percy? Help me Percy. Help me get these off," she said, in a quivering voice. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp in her chains.

"Annabeth, are you alright?" She heard Luke's shoes scuffing the rocky ground as he ran up beside her. He pulled a lock of her hair back and she was pretty sure he was examining the bigger gash on her head. She wanted to scream at him to stop touching her, but she held her tongue.

"Uh, Atlas?" Luke asked, his voice shaking a little. Annabeth figured the cut looked pretty bad, and for once, she was glad about it. After all, it couldn't be as bad as it looked. She'd had a head knock before, and it wasn't pleasant. It was when Thalia had thrown her shield at a wild boar and it had bounced off and hit Annabeth in the head. Luke had carried her to shelter, but she could barely remember it, because her head had been all fuzzy.

Ugh, why does everything narrow down to Luke? Oh whatever, she'd already decided she wasn't going to care for him anymore, so she might as well leave it at that.

Did Luke really have to start picking out all the pieces of pillar from her head? It wasn't like he actually cared if she lived or died, right?

"Luke, get over here and stop fussing over her. It doesn't matter to us whether she lives or dies, does it Luke." Annabeth never knew she would enjoy hearing Atlas's voice so much.

Luke's hands stopped working, and she heard him turn around and obediently walk back to Atlas. Wind whipped her face, and suddenly she knew they had gone. How they had gone, she had no idea. Maybe she should have kept her eyes open after all. Well, now that there were no secret plans to discover, she might as well get some rest.

Annabeth found the most comfortable spot she could afford, and dozed off.

Author's Notes: This was done faster than I expected! The next chapter is currently under editing, it won't be much longer either. Once again, thanks for the brilliant reviews. Good news! Next chapter involves a riddling sphinx!

And now, I reach the main point of the Author's Notes: REVIEW!

"Ah not this again!" you say.

"HA! YES! But this time, we have a special quiz for the ultimate GREEK MYTH FANS! Notice I said Greek myths, not just Percy Jackson. Whoever includes the correct answer to the question below in their review will have the next chapter dedicated to them!"

"Oh really?"

"Yes! Go ahead and review! NO LOOKING IT UP!"

Question: What killed Orion?

(This is really easy if you know ANYTHING about Orion)