I was gonna wait 'til tomorrow to update, but this chapter's pretty short, so I'm throwing it up a day early.

Thanks for the reviews, everybody. Enjoy!

XIV
ANNABETH

"Annabeth!" someone shouted, shaking Annabeth out of her stupor. She turned to her right to see Grover gripping her arm, his expression serious. "Annabeth," he said again, "take Percy and Hazel and run. I'll get Reyna and Leo."

"You want to split up?" Annabeth said in surprise. "Are you crazy?"

"We'll catch up to you guys!" Grover argued, shaking his head. "Besides, maybe if we spread out for a while, he'll have a harder time tracking us down." He looked over his shoulder toward the hunter, who was advancing on Reyna as she tried to drag Leo away from him. They were too far away for Annabeth to tell whether or not Leo was alright—or even alive—and she felt panic well up inside her.

"We're not going anywhere, Grover," Percy said adamantly. "The only chance we have at this is if we fight him together."

Grover rolled his eyes impatiently. "Yeah, because that's worked out great so far," he said sarcastically. "Percy—you and Hazel are hurt. You can't even fight right now!"

"So are Leo and Reyna!" Percy pointed out, a tone of desperation in his voice that clenched at Annabeth's heart and made her even more anxious.

"That's why they need me!" Grover argued. "Look, we'll meet up with you, okay? I promise. Just get out of here and get safe!"

"But… I…" Percy said helplessly, gaze shifting between Grover and the hunter.

Annabeth looked over at Hazel, who was standing beside Grover and biting her lip with a frown. She looked like she wanted to argue, but she saw the sense in what the satyr was saying. She fixed questioning eyes on Annabeth, who knew the decision would be hers to make.

"Grover, please—just please be careful," Annabeth said, watching guiltily as Reyna blocked an attack from the hunter with her dagger.

"Annabeth, GO!" Grover yelled, before he turned away from them and sprinted back toward the others, pulling out his reed pipes as he went.

Annabeth let out a frustrated yell and with great difficulty, she turned away from her friends and ran into the trees, holding tight to Percy's arm to make sure he followed her. She saw Hazel beside her, weaving in and out of the darkness between the trees and still gripping her shoulder. She heard another gunshot and wanted desperately to turn back, but Grover had been right—if they stayed together, chances of them all getting caught or killed were higher. She just hoped he'd meant it when he'd promised to catch up to them. If she never saw Grover, Leo, and Reyna again, Annabeth didn't think she could ever forgive herself. But she had to trust them. They would make it. They had to.

Running through that thick forest was incredibly difficult, as Annabeth was quick to realize. One of them tripped and fell or collided with something in the darkness more times than she could count, and after a while she still felt as though they'd hardly travelled far at all. In no time Annabeth was covered in small cuts and bruises, her clothes torn and dirty from hitting the ground or from branches that grabbed at her as she ran past. She thought she heard something behind her once, but when she glanced over her shoulder there was nothing there, and she was rewarded for her paranoia with a nice bruise on the side of her face from running smack into the trunk of a tree.

Though she knew it only made running more difficult, Annabeth never let go of Percy's hand. She could feel how tired he was from his injury and knew that if she didn't hold on, chances were he'd fall behind and she'd never be able to find him again. Annabeth had already left three of her friends behind—she wouldn't add the boy she loved to that count no matter how many extra scratches and cuts it gave her.

As they ran, Annabeth kept shooting glances to her left whenever she could to make sure Hazel was still with them as well. A few times she lost sight of her in the dim lighting, but before she could make the decision whether or not to go back, Hazel would come back into view and Annabeth would turn her head and continue running.

One such time, however, when Hazel didn't reappear after a few long seconds, Annabeth began to panic. "Where's Hazel?" she asked breathlessly, shooting a glance at Percy and slowing her pace fractionally.

He ducked a nearby tree branch and scanned the shadows around them. "I don't know, she was right there," he replied, looking agitated and worried. Then his gaze turned forward and his eyes widened. "Annabeth, stop!" he shouted, stumbling a bit and pulling on her hand to slow her down.

Annabeth whipped her head around to see that just ahead of them, the ground suddenly sloped down into a steep hill. She dug her feet into the ground, but her momentum was too great, and instead of stopping she felt herself fall forward. Percy gripped her wrist with both hands, but it wasn't enough. With an alarmed yell, Annabeth tumbled over the sloped edge, dragging her boyfriend with her.

Immediately she felt Percy's hold on her hand disappear and in the confusion she lost sight of him altogether. Annabeth tried to grab onto a branch or a root or something to stop her, but she was rolling too fast down the hill. Miraculously, she didn't collide with any trees and instead tumbled head over feet between their trunks, trying to ignore the pain that shot through her limbs every time her skin scraped against something sharp. Then suddenly as the ground leveled out, the back of her head hit something hard and flat, and she saw stars before the darkness closed in around her.

Sorry for the nutty cliffhanger last chapter, but as many of you know, I love a good cliffhanger between chapters. Just wait 'til the one at the end of Chapter 15... Heh heh.

Anyway, I know this chapter was short, but the next one's more than twice this long. Review for me and I'll update sooner! Love ya all - later days!

-oMM