Chapter 34 - Fatal Flaws Can Be, Well, Fatal

That night, I got further in the dreamscape than ever before. I managed to get past my own memories and thoughts and into a forest of other people's dreams. But I hadn't managed to enter any of them. Being so close yet so far made me grind my teeth in frustration as we left the cabin. I stormed over to the old bathrooms. They didn't get used as much anymore, now that each cabin had their own bathrooms, but Jason still used them since the Zeus cabin didn't have bathrooms. And sometimes others would use them if their own bathrooms were busy. But overall, it was a nice quiet place with a very key tool - water. It had become my go-to spot for Iris-messaging those out looking for Percy. I turned on a shower and started the Iris message.

"Tyson!" He turned to me and grinned.

"Annabeth! You are alive!"

I grinned at him. "Yeah, I'm still alive. You and Mrs. O'Leary doing ok?"

He nodded, but looked sad. "I have not found Percy. I have not smelled Percy."

I looked away. There went that bit of hope.

"Thanks for trying, Tyson."

"I will keep trying." He said, determined.

I smiled at him. "Thanks. Grover and I are trying this new idea -"

I told him about the dreamscape work with Clovis. He seemed to find it mostly confusing, but was glad to hear we were also still trying to find Percy.

"Tyson, could you send Mrs. O'Leary back to Camp for a couple days? I….. I want to use her to shadow-travel somewhere." Until I said it, I hadn't realized I was really planning it. But Rachel's mention of seeing Percy arrive at the Wolf House kept coming back to me. I wanted to check it out for myself.

Tyson nodded. "I will send back the doggie. You will send her back?"

I grinned and nodded. "Definitely."

Tyson grinned. "I like the doggie."

We caught each other up on what was going on with the search and what was going on at Camp before the Mist flickered off. I got up, realizing how tired I was. I had barely managed to get out of the bathrooms before a mastiff the size of a garbage truck licked me from my feet to the top of my head.

"Ugh. Hi, Mrs. O'Leary. Thanks. I needed to take another shower. " I wiped the slobber from my face and looked at her. "Get some rest for tonight, girl. I have a plan for us tomorrow."

She bounded off into the woods. I hoped she understood. Then, I went to my cabin to wash off the dog drool.

Before I went to bed, I sat down with my journal to write a few notes. But, after looking at the blank page and trying to get started for a half an hour, I wrote the shortest entry. But it was exactly what I felt.

Dear Percy,

I love you. I miss you. And I'll find you. I promise.

In the morning I got dressed in a simple black tank top and jeans - leaving my camp shirts behind for today. If I was really planning to go to a Roman demigod hotspot, well, I didn't want to be broadcasting my allegiance with the Greeks. I went to find Leo. He was working on the engine, but agreed to my request for the day off. I escorted my cabin to breakfast, grabbed a bagel, and went to pack a bag. I ignored Chiron's questioning look. He'd only try to stop me if he knew what I was planning. I packed my bag and left the cabin, to run straight into Clarisse.

"You weren't at practice this morning."

"I've got a plan."

Her eyebrows arched. "A good one?"

I shrugged. "Something I want to check out that I probably shouldn't."

She nodded and handed me a sheathed sword. "In case you need a different tool."

She turned to leave. "You're not trying to stop me?"

She glanced over her shoulder. "Pretty sure it has to do with Prissy. I don't like the guy, but I'm not about to stop you, either. I've been there. I know what it feels like to want to have something more to do."

I shook my head at her and went to find my ride. Mrs. O'Leary appeared to be in a good mood after a night's rest. I had never shadow traveled before. I climbed onto the dog's back and leaned forward to talk to her.

"Ok, Mrs. O'Leary. We're, uh, we need to go to the Wolf House. It's in California and -"

Before I could finish, she bounded off, straight at a tree. I thought we'd hit it when we ran through something so cold and dark it reminded me of the Underworld. Then we reappeared in what was clearly Northern California. Shadow travel was fast, dark, cold - but mostly, it reminded me of the dreamscapes Clovis was showing to me. Were the dreamscapes part of the Underworld? I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was in dangerous territory now. I couldn't be thinking about things like shadow travel and dreamscapes when I was in Roman territory.

I was outside a large area of ruins. I slid off her back as Mrs. O'Leary yawned.

"Thanks, girl. You rest, I'll scout it out." I slipped my baseball cap out of my pocket and popped it on. Then I walked towards the Wolf House. I had forgotten to account for the time difference - it was still dark. The burned out walls in front of me, which were doubtless creepy in the daylight, were terrifying in the dark. I knew the Wolf House had burned prior to Jack London ever living in it. I knew, logically, that there were probably no spirits or ghosts here. But that didn't mean there weren't any monsters. Suddenly, I wished I had told someone, anyone, my plan. Where I was going, what I was doing. But my dang pride got in the way. I had been adventuring on my own so much, I had thought I'd be able to do this myself. Now? Now I had no idea what was in there, but every sense of my body screamed DANGER! I wish I had brought Jason who might know what I was facing, or Piper who could stop the monsters from attacking us. Heck, I wished I had dragged Clarisse along for backup. But it was just me. And Mrs. O'Leary was too tired to shadow travel us out of there.

I slid the sword Clarisse had supplied me with from its sheath and pulled out my knife for my other hand. Dual-wielding blades wasn't my usual style, but I had a feeling I might need it. I walked slowly around the perimeter of the building. Each burned out hollow felt like it might have a monster, a Roman, or that wolf goddess Lupa that Chiron and Jason mentioned. She sounded fierce and not at all understanding of why I was poking around. I hoped that none of the monsters could see through my invisibility cap. I slipped out three pieces of folded paper - notes that I had written to Percy. I had written each one in Greek, hoping that no tourists would find them and call me. The message inside was simple -

Percy -

It's Annabeth. Your friend. Call me.

Then my cell number, written in a Greek code I hoped Percy would still understand. I didn't want mortals calling my phone all the time, alerting monsters where I was. I had made the painful decision not to call myself his girlfriend in the notes. If Percy didn't remember anyone, well, I figured he was more likely to believe someone calling themselves his friend. He might be scared and not trust anyone, but maybe he'd call to get some help. I hoped so, anyway. Or he'd find the note and hang onto it, calling me when he was ready. I found loose pieces of the ruins to slip them under, in places I thought Percy might look. The reflecting pool, since he loved water. I hoped he'd still be drawn there, even if he couldn't remember why he liked water so much. It was eerie to be there, in this place where the Giant king had risen, where Hera had been caged. I could still see the marks from the battle, though I figured the mortals would assume they were from the fire. I scouted out the entire building, but saw no signs of Percy, or Roman demigods, or the wolves Jason said were there.

I felt watched, all the same. Perhaps the wolves had sensed my presence and vanished, but were all around me. I turned in a tight circle, checking all around me. I couldn't see anything except - wait. Was that a fire? It was. A campfire, in the woods behind the house. I snuck up as carefully as I could, keeping my knife and sword at the ready. I heard voices as I approached the campfire. I heard hooves and smelled something cooking. Perhaps a group of Roman demigods? Could I ask them if they'd seen Percy, or was that too risky?

As I got to the clearing I realized it wasn't demigods. No one was wearing a purple shirt like Jason. No one was even human. In the clearing was a group of centaurs. I relaxed. This must be a chapter of the Party Ponies. So why, then, were my instincts still screaming at me to run? I was confused. If they were Party Ponies, then they were on my side. They'd have been alerted by Chiron to look for Percy. Maybe that was what they were doing here. But still, something felt off. I waited in the bushes, watching them. They were laughing, joking, drinking. Totally normal Party Pony behavior. Then one lifted a spear. And I realized that these were not Party Ponies. The spear was tall and wickedly sharp, but most of all, it looked like a spear. The Party Ponies only had weapons like paintball guns, arrows with boxing gloves, and other silly things. While the weapons had looked silly, they'd been plenty effective against Kronos's armies. But not one of them had carried an actual spear.

I looked around the clearing, spotting bows and arrows - totally normal looking weapons. Axes. A couple swords. These were most definitely not Party Ponies. And I had no way to know if they were on my side, but something about the wicked gleam in their eyes told me they weren't. As I looked them over I realized they had bulls horns. Perhaps Cyprian Centaurs, which had been slain by Atalanta. Perhaps some other creature entirely. I shifted back on my feet, trying to quietly slip away. Unfortunately, my foot slipped in the leaves on the ground. It was a small stumble, but enough to alert the centaurs that someone was in the bush.

"Hey! What's that?" One called out.

"Don't know - so we'll kill it!"

An excited roar went up in the clearing. I heard the snap of a bowstring, then an arrow thudded into the tree mere inches from my nose. I backed up quickly, trying to move as quickly and quietly as I could. More bowstrings snapped and arrows landed all around me as I moved backwards.

"Did you kill it?" One centaur asked.

"I heard no scream." Another countered.

"Shoot some more!" A third declared. Another roar. The centaurs came out of the clearing, bows at the ready. I held as still as I could, hoping that the invisibility cap would save me. And yet, despite seeing nothing, the centaurs shot. One took me, by sheer luck, in my right thigh. Remembering their statement about not hearing a scream, I bit my lip until it bled to keep quiet. I tried to stumble away as quietly as I could.

"I…. smell blood." One centaur announced, sniffing loudly. "Demigod blood."

"Demigod blood!" The others cheered. Well, that answered that. These guys were most definitely not on my side.

I turned to run back to the Wolf House. I made it only a few feet before a centaur caught up with me. I turned to fight him. I caught his spear on my sword and used my knife to slice him right where the centaur and human halves met. It felt awful to do - my surrogate father, Chiron, was a centaur. He had essentially raised me since my arrival at Camp. And yet I was ruthlessly murdering his kind. This is not Chiron, I reminded myself as he fell, gasping, away from my blades.

"There! Ottilie has fallen!"

A gasp came from the group of centaurs. I took that as my chance and ran. I heard a war cry behind me. Whereas the others had been filled with excitement, this one was filled with anger. Thankfully, I was still invisible. I dodged the first centaur as it ran near me. It hurt to run and dodge on my wounded leg. But I did it anyway, knowing I would die if I stopped. As a second centaur ran past me I cut at it's legs, my sword biting into the tendons. It fell with a surprised scream. I launched myself over the fallen centaur, but my bad foot slipped out from under me as I landed.

I crashed into the undergrowth, my baseball cap falling off in the process. As I got up, I realized why I'd slipped - my shoe was coated in my own blood. I looked at my leg and felt woozy - the arrow had gone all the way through my muscle, but missed hitting any big veins. That was a good thing. I could see the Wolf House only a handful of yards away. Perhaps thirty feet, tops. But the centaurs were on me. I could never reach it in time. I had hoped to find Mrs. O'Leary and get out of here, but I was out of time. I turned to face my attackers.

A centaur with plate armor on his chest was firing arrows at me. I managed to slice two out of the air with my sword, then stabbed him through the gut. With a howl of rage, he exploded into dust. I grabbed desperately for my cap in the bushes, hoping to turn invisible and escape. As I turned back to the fight I felt something hit my side. An arrow. Blood coursed down my side and I could only hope it hadn't hit anything vital. Thankfully, the adrenaline from the fight kept me from feeling the pain right now. That was the best I could hope for. I cut down the centaur who had fired the arrow, then turned to my next attacker.

This centaur was big, well muscled, and carrying twin axes. I caught the first on my sword, the second on my knife. He was stronger and larger than I was. He snarled and forced the blades down towards my neck. I wanted to kick his legs out from under him, but my wounded leg would make it difficult, if not impossible, to do that. I heard more attackers coming from the woods, and the one behind me reforming. Great. I allowed the axe on my knife to come down, sliding back so that it only nicked my skin rather than killing me. The centaur was surprised that his blade was suddenly free and in that moment, I stabbed him through the heart with my knife. As I yanked my knife back, I could feel blood coursing down my front. A quick glance told me that I had a shallow cut straight down my middle. Not fun, but not life-threatening. That seemed to be the name of the game tonight.

The other centaurs were almost clear of the trees. In desperation I yanked my cap back on. The centaurs screamed in rage as I disappeared, but that didn't stop them for long. As I ran for the Wolf House with all my might, I heard bows begin to snap behind me. I used my sword to stab the re-forming centaur through the middle. The sword yanked free of my hand as I ran, but I didn't care. It would keep the centaur down and maybe buy me another few seconds to run.

I tried to run in a zig-zag pattern, hoping they would miss me as they shot. An arrow sliced across my arm, causing blood but no real damage. I kept running, the pain in my thigh getting worse with each step. Was it poisoned? I could only hope not - centaur blood is deadly without healing and I didn't have time to stop and heal it, if I was even able to. I felt another arrow hit my backpack and thankfully got stopped by the strong material. I would have to thank Sally and Paul again for the backpack if I got out of this mess. I crossed the boundary of the Wolf House, scrambling inside across a pile of brick ruins. I turned to see where the centaurs were and an arrow grazed my forehead, causing blood to drip into my eyes. Don't ask me how that works while I'm still invisible, I don't really know. All I knew was that I was out of time. The blood loss from my wounds was getting to the point that I was weak, dizzy, and stumbling. I managed to get to the front of the Wolf House, but I was dizzy and confused.

"Mrs. O'Leary. Help." I croaked. The world spun. I remembered hearing a dog barking, and maybe some wolves howling, but perhaps I was hallucinating that. I couldn't tell what direction anything was anymore. I leaned against the bricks beside me and slumped to the floor. Pain from the arrow in my side turned my vision black. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was wondering if Percy would find my body when he arrived at the Wolf House, and if he would even care since he couldn't remember who I was.

/ The End

/ Just Kidding! I'm not that mean. Next chapter will be up soon. I've been working on my fight scenes, what do you think?