AN: Hello again!
To My Bright Is Too Slight: hi! to answer your question, people want to kill Annabeth (actually only 2) but its because they have their own reasons which i cannot tell you the full detail but yeah, they don't like her for something shes going to do in the future. Thalassa doesn't know the reason herself, but her mistress does.
To prince of the seas: Thank you again!
To FandomsUnite98: yay! thats good! thanks for reviewing! (plus i might have percabeth in the next chapter)
To Guest: hi! annnd, I'm giving no secrets! :D but yeah, poor Seb! he has to choose between his mother or this girl he barely knows! thanks so much for reviewing!
Hope you like this chapter!
Love y'all! see ya!
Sebbie froze in horror.
"No..." he choked, looking away from her. "No...Anything but that. W-why would you – "
"You made a promise," Thalassa reminded him in a cold tone. "You cannot go back on it."
He snapped his head up to her, his eyes flashing with anger.
"What sort of mission is this? She's done nothing to you – "
As quick as a flash, he found the edge of a knife pushed against his throat.
"This isn't my decision. This isn't about whether I like it or not. This is what my mistress has commanded me," she hissed, pressing the blade deeper into his flesh.
"Then you're working for the wrong person," Sebbie tried to say. "It's murder – you can't just kill my m – I mean, innocents."
"I did not choose who I work for. She chose me, she gave me this task in exchange for my life. My memories. My family."
"I'm sorry but I c-can't help y-"
"Then you've already broken your promise. Tell me, why do you care so much? It's one life. Just one. I've seen the way she follows her head instead of her heart, I've seen how she can break men's hearts over and over again. Am I not ridding the evil from the world?"
Sebbie bit his lip, wondering what she meant. He had never heard his mother being described that way...to him, she was everything good in his life. B-but now?
He shook the thoughts from his head. Nevertheless, she was still his mother and he'd rather die than kill her.
"I- I can't..." he squeezed his eyes shut.
Whichever path he took he would feel the same amount of guilt.
"She'll die even if you help me or not," Thalassa whispered. "Because I want nothing more than to find my family again."
"She's my mother," Sebbie replied softly. "I can't help you kill her."
He expected her to shout at him or stab him to death...probably both at the same time. But instead, she just raised a perfectly angled eyebrow and stared at him emotionlessly.
"If she really loved you, then why did I find you alone? Surely no mother can leave their child on their own – particularly in a human city," her voice was hushed and persuading...
"I – I don't know," he said.
"My mistress tells me that the Annabeth fights in the war. Not by force but by her own free will."
Slowly, she drew thee knife away from him without leaving a mark. "She wants glory. She doesn't care of the consequences she'll cause if she dies. She does not care how greatly it will affect everyone around her. You, her father, her friends...her lover."
"Her lover?" Sebbie perked up.
Thalassa grinned. "Yes, her lover. I've lost count of the times she broke his heart. Yet the sad thing? He still loves her."
Sebbie thought back to the conversation he had had with his mother on the hill by the camp.
"She told me that he was evil," but he didn't believe himself, even when he said it out loud.
"You think he's evil? Why? Because he's not fully elf?" Thalassa laughed in disbelief. "Your mother let her prejudices blind her. Surely you know that you can't judge a person before you understand their true personality?"
"She's evil?"
The truth slammed into him and right then he knew that it was true.
"So will you join me?"
Sebbie couldn't reply. No...He couldn't do it...she was his mother. How could he just kill her? The guilt it would cause him, for the rest of his immortal life.
But one look at the Thalassa's face, the hidden loneliness that he could see in her eyes and the yearning to have her freedom.
"Yes," though his heart was already torn in two pieces.
Annabeth slowly sat up in the silk woven four poster bed, her eyes widening at the room around her. Graceful pillars soared up to the high ceiling above her that arched elegantly in the middle with stunning patterns carved into the sides.
Golden light shone into the chamber from the large windows that were void of glass, though somehow she didn't feel cold. The faint roar of a waterfall could be heard from outside and the sweet laughter of children playing in the meadows.
She got up from the soft white bed and stared disbelievingly at the world around her, which was so untainted by war and bloodshed, it felt like it was from a dream.
"Annabeth."
She spun around suddenly, immediately on her guard.
A tall handsome elf with straight blond hair looked at her. There was a certain aura of grace that he held, the way he stood...even by the one word he had said. A quiver of silver arrows was slung neatly over a shoulder and she could see his perfectly crafted bow lying on a mahogany table in the room. He was dressed in light, yet well made armour with a dark green tunic underneath. Something about him...felt almost familiar, like she had met him before but she couldn't think when.
"Who are you? Why am I here?" she questioned swiftly.
The elf smiled slightly, approaching her slowly.
"Don't you recognise me?" he asked.
"No, I've never seen you before," she replied.
"Then let me refresh your memory," he stepped closer and his eyes flashed a blinding white.
Her vision went black.
"Anniebeth, Anniebeth."
"Castor! Wait for me!" she yelled, chasing after a tall elf with honey long blonde hair. Suddenly the woodland floor met her as she tripped over a log lying in the path.
"Awww, you're too slow, Anna," the elf named Castor picked her up.
"Don't call me Anna!" she told him in her high pitched toddler voice.
"Whatever you say," he laughed.
"Where's Mama?" Annabeth demanded, pulling on his hair viciously.
Castor smiled. "You're such a baby Anna. I can't believe that someone as tough as you would back out of a simple little race."
Four year old Annabeth frowned and poked him in the eye, making him stumble backwards and drop her...into a pile of horse manure.
Castor roared with laughter at the sight of her. "That's what you get for being violent, little sis."
The memory faded into darkness, until another image started appearing in her mind.
"Dada!" Annabeth ran hurriedly up to her father, who was talking to a strange woman on his throne. "Mama and Castor have disappeared, they've been ages!"
"I shouldn't worry, darling," the King told her gently, tearing his eyes away from the woman that stood in front of him. "They'll be back soon, I expect."
"But Dada! Mama said she would be back by noon and they haven't got back and it's the evening!"
The king considered it. "I'll send out a search party, shall I? Though it's probably nothing to worry about."
"They went into the misty forests over there!" Annabeth pointed wildly out of one of the grand hall windows.
Her father stood up suddenly, his eyes darkening.
"How long has she been there?"
Annabeth thought about it, counting the hours on her fingers.
"Ten hours!" she said. "You have to find them!"
He nodded and gestured to a knight in the hall. "Saddle my horse and alert your patrol. I want you down in the courtyard fully equipped in ten minutes."
"Yes, my lord," he replied quickly.
"Dada, can I come too?"
"No, Annabeth. Stay at home and wait for my return. Promise me you won't follow me."
Annabeth hesitated and then agreed reluctantly.
"Good."
The memory shifted into another, echoing inside her head.
Annabeth leaned forwards, craning her neck to hear what the two elves were saying.
" – the forest is dangerous, I swear it's – "
"It's just superstition. The cart will be fine, you'll have the tax by tonight."
"Yeah, I better. If you don't come back with that money, it's the king you're dealing with."
The other elf snorted loudly. "Yeah, as if I don't know that you steal half of what's there and then give the rest back to the king."
"Get on with your job, peasant," the tall elf snarled, walking away from him.
The shorter elf rolled his eyes and jumped onto the front of the cart and gathered up his reins. Annabeth sprinted forwards, as quietly as possible and climbed into the back of the cart, just before the horses started pulling it forwards.
She held her breath as the cart rattled over the cobble stoned streets and down an empty path into a tall black forest where the trees were hauntingly silent and bare. Annabeth clutched the side of the cart fearfully, hating the white mist that half concealed her vision. But she wasn't going to back out of finding her Mama or Castor.
Summoning her courage together, she leaped off the back of the cart and landed heavily in the dirt path. Annabeth had to bite to lip to stop herself from crying because her hands were bleeding and her knees were dirty and grazed.
Ignoring the pain, she leapt up swiftly and ran into the fog, calling out her brother's name as she went.
Through the white mist, she could just make out some dark shapes and she could hear people talking from that direction.
Excitedly, she ran through the trees and burst into a clearing.
"Mama!" she yelled excitedly, when she saw her standing there.
Suddenly, she felt hands pull her backwards. Fearfully, she looked up and saw the soldiers from the palace with expression that said 'Do not try to struggle'
"Castor!" she called out. Her eyes widened when she saw him trying to struggle away from a group of soldiers, who were binding his hands behind his back. "Get off him!"
She looked around and saw her Mama kneeling down at her father's feet with her hands also tied behind her back.
Her father was shouting at her Mama in a voice she had never heard him use. She didn't understand what was going on, but she didn't like it.
"Let them go!" she cried, her eyes filling up with tears. She tried to pull away from the soldiers that held her, but they wouldn't let go.
"Stay back, it is best that you don't interfere," one of them told her.
Another soldier picked her up, though she hit out and struggled in his grip. "Castor!"
She looked over the soldiers shoulder, as he carried her away, and met her brother's dark grey eyes. His gaze never left her as she got further and further away, his face disappearing in the fog.
The memory dissolved and another reappeared.
"Dada says he's going t – to destroy you and Mama." she sobbed, clutching on the thick iron bars.
"He's a fool, Anna," Castor told her in a low voice. "But I don't hate him."
"Why not?"
"Because he's my father and it's because of his love for our mother that he feels so much hatred."
"I don't understand. He was very scary and he keeps saying that you betrayed him, but you didn't, did you?" she choked, holding his hand through the bars.
Castor shook his head. "I would never betray anyone."
"I don't understand," she whispered again, brushing the tears from her eyes. "Doesn't Dada know? Can't I tell him that?"
"He wouldn't believe you," Castor said sadly. "He never looks for an explanation. His mind rules over his heart."
"My mind doesn't, does it?"
He smiled and squeezed her hand gently. "No. You've got a good heart. Keep it that way."
"I promise, Castor," Annabeth told him. Another torrent of tears trickled down her face again.
"Don't cry for me, Anna," he whispered, reaching through the prison bars and wiped her tears away.
Footsteps suddenly clattered behind her, making Annabeth jump up to her feet in alarm. Soldiers armed with swords and spears came marching round the corner, with faces as cold as ice.
"Princess Annabeth, you should not be here," one stated coolly.
"I have every right to be here. He's my brother and not a criminal," she replied loudly, anger welling up inside her.
The soldiers ignored her and open the prison door and dragged her brother away. Annabeth rushed after them, her heart beating with terror, where were they taking him?
She followed them out into the wide spacious courtyard, which was for some reason, full of elves from noble birth to peasants.
An ear – splitting scream full of agony made her gasp in shock and more tears run down her face.
"Mama!" she cried, pushing through the soldiers and people to the middle of the courtyard. "Mama!"
Her father stared down at her with anger in his eyes, he stood in front of a stone statue of a woman kneeling on the ground, wearing a ragged dress and cloak.
"Mama..." Annabeth felt like every breath had been taken from her body and scattered in the wind. She felt soldiers pull her away, but she was too petrified to struggle.
There was a sudden cry behind her, and she whipped her head around to see. Through the crowd, she could see her brother whirling round and attacking the soldiers around him, unarmed but with pure fury in his eyes.
"Castor, run," she whispered.
He jumped up, catching hold of the edge of the balcony, that went all around the courtyard, and pulled himself up onto it.
Soldiers started shouting and chaos suddenly erupted, people were being pushed around as the soldiers tried to catch up with Castor, who stumbled to a stop at the balcony edge.
He stared down at their father with sadness and hatred, before leaping across and landing onto a roof below.
Annabeth could see her father coming towards her as she started screaming and crying for her Mama.
"Wipe her memory, my lord," a soldier said.
Her father nodded sternly. "She must never know the truth. She must never search for the answers."
He placed his hand on her forehead and she felt her body falling to the ground.
"I'm sorry, my child," was the last thing she heard.