Chapter Three

Woah, I can't believe we're on Chapter Three already. Time does fly when you're having fun *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*

Hey, do you guys remember the early days back in the Too Broken To Fix era? I can't believe how far we've all come and how many friends I've made along the way. I don't say this enough but meeting all of you here and writing for you is... incredible and I'm honoured that out of all the amazing authors here, you all like to read my work. I love you all so much and I just want you all to know that you are beautiful and you are special because people don't get told that enough as they should. Keep being you :)

Love you all!

*Virtual Hugs*

Ro x

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Annabeth tightened her elaborate set of braids and looked around the bustling food hall. Piper had talked her into trying braids instead of her usual pony tail since her pony tails usually came loose and had to be tight so that none of the wild curls came loose. Sometimes, they had to be so tight that they gave her headaches.

The braids, however, were designed in such a gorgeous way with about fifteen small braids delicately woven close to her scalp and then they were all tied back into a larger braid that flowed down her back like a river or gold. And Annabeth could leave them in for a few days at a time and it kept her curls under control. Mostly.

But enough about her hair. As Annabeth's stormy grey eyes scanned the food hall for breakfast, she couldn't catch sight of Percy. He wasn't at the Poseidon table and she couldn't see him amongst the crowds. Which was odd. Percy wasn't usually one to miss out on a chance of food, however he was known for his tendency to over sleep.

Looking back at her table and plate of food, Annabeth took a long sip of her water and shrugged the thought off. In front of her, her plate of toast and jam waited for her, still hot. Annabeth took a bite and got nudged in the ribs by the person sitting next to her.

Her sister (in the Godly way, like Tyson was Percy's brother), Ariel, grinned. Out of all the Athena children, Annabeth had to say that she probably liked Ariel the best. Closely followed by her brother, Malcolm. Ariel was sweet, kind, funny, smart and dependable. And, like Annabeth, she'd ran away from home at a rather young age.

Ariel looked over towards the Poseidon table with one dark brow raised. "Where is he? It's not like him to miss breakfast, is it?" Ariel also tended to worry a lot; it wasn't anything to do with being a demigod or her home life, she was just simply wired in that way.

But, no. It wasn't like him to miss breakfast. Out of all the years Annabeth had known Percy, she'd never seen him miss an opportunity for food. He was skinny and muscled as hell but could eat like an absolute pig.

Usually, Annabeth would pass it off as him over sleeping because that has happened before. Numerous times, actually. Though she wasn't some love sick Aphrodite girl who needed to know everything about their boyfriends twenty-four seven.

Though something felt wrong. Some lurking, dreading feeling in the back of her mind told Annabeth that something about this wasn't right. Maybe it was an Athena thing in which she could sense when something was off or maybe it was just paranoia. Or maybe her past experiences had made her this way; running from home, meeting Thalia, Luke and Grover, finding out about this secret love that her father had had with Athena, and everything that followed.

Sighing through her nose, Annabeth decided that she'd put her mind to rest and go over to his cabin. That way, she could enjoy the day without this feeling hanging over her. He was either still asleep, sick or not even there. The last one sent a chill over her. "No, it's not." She agreed and stood from her table. "Which is why I'm going to go see where he is."

Before Ariel - or anyone else, for that matter - could try to stop her, Annabeth walked out of the food hall and over to where all the cabins were set up.

Without many people here, Camp Half-Blood looked desolate and... rather creepy. Especially as she walked past the Hades cabin with its large shadows framing the view, dust and dirt and cobwebs from years of no use were hanging around the exterior. But Nico was sure to fix that soon. And Hazel, when she came to visit from Camp Jupiter.

Cabin Three came into view as well as the strength of the smell of sea salt coming from the lake. Annabeth waited outside for a few minutes, contemplating what she'd find behind this door. Was Percy even okay? A thousand horrid scenarios ran through her mind, Annabeth growled under her breath. The usually peaceful sound of trickling water slithered its way into Annabeth's ears, the sound echoing her heartbeat.

No. No, she needed to shut down all of those negative thoughts. Percy would be fine, she was sure of it. Annabeth straightened her stance and kept one hand on the hilt of her dagger and pushed open the door with the other. Come on, Annabeth, when did you get so soft?

When I realised that I had so much to lose, an inner voice replied. Annabeth rolled her eyes; to be a demigod meant that you had to stop those thoughts from coming. Otherwise, you'd be driven insane with guilt and worry and stress.

She breathed in sharply, expecting the worst. But, as Annabeth stepped into the room and the door shut behind her, she found that the cabin was empty. Her dagger clattered to the ground.

Nothing was out of place (if anything even had a place with the amount of mess and filth inside Percy's cabin). There was no signs of an attack except an unmade bed with the rumpled covers thrown to one side, but she guessed that Percy had just had another nightmare. Which was completely plausible. But... something burned deep inside of her. Her instincts told her that something bad had happened here.

If he wasn't in his cabin, wasn't in the food hall or anywhere else on camp, where was he? Annabeth grabbed a bunch of Percy's duvet with her fist in anger and threw it to the side to see what was underneath. A flash of white and then came the sound of crunching paper. A note.

Hesitantly, Annabeth picked it up off of the floor. The letters were drawn in a thin, black ink pen and were delicately presented in all capitals. Whoever had written this had took their time over it. But the corners of the paper were crunched up with deep wrinkles and the ink had dried and set, the words settled into the fibres of the paper.

This note hadn't been written recently. Someone had either written it and then set out to complete what it said, or Percy had been taken in the very early hours of the day.

Annabeth felt her heart beat in her ears. She could feel it banging against her rib cage like it was a caged beast that wanted to escape. And, with a burning passion to wreak havoc on whomever had written the line, Annabeth read.

The son of the earth shaker belongs to the earth mother.

Is this a cliff hanger? I don't know but next chapter (or the one after) you can expect a big cliff hanger :)

If you do consider this to be a cliff hanger then damn, that makes for three cliff hangers in three chapters. Wow.

Do I need to stop? Probably.

Am I going to continue? Definitely.

Will I stop? Never.

Hahahahahahahahaha.

I hope you liked this chapter, let me know what you thought :)

I ove you all! *Virtual Hugs*

Ro x