Disclaimer: I don't own any of Rick Riordan's work.
Annabeth
"Luke?" I called. "Thalia? Grover?"
My footsteps echoed on the floors of the maze. From the outside, it had seemed like an abandoned warehouse where we could stay for the night. However, Luke didn't want to take any chances so, as soon as we entered, he told us to stay there while he checked if it was okay. We waited 5 minutes. Then, 10. 15. 20.
"I'm going to check what's going on," Thalia declared. "Stay here."
Again, we waited. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. Suddenly, I heard a loud scream that sounded like Thalia. Ignoring Grover's warnings, I bolted down a corridor, knife out.
Soon enough, I was completely lost. What had seemed like an abandoned warehouse was actually a very complex maze and I had lost Grover very early on. Even though I tried calling their names every now and then, I would never be answered. What if they've left? I thought. What if they made their way out and decided that I wasn't worth waiting for?
The mere thought made me want to collapse on the floor and sob. I hadn't felt this alone since I met Thalia and Luke. They're here, I told myself. I just need to find them.
"Annabeth! Annabeth!" I heard Luke's voice calling from behind a door.
"Luke!" I cried, pushing the door open.
But I didn't expect what I saw when the door opened. Luke, Thalia and Grover were chained to one of the walls and gagged. In the middle of the room stood a towering giant. No, I corrected myself, seeing the one eye, it was a cyclops. I understood how he must have captured us. Cyclopes can imitate voices and he must have used that to lure all of us here.
"Annabeth," the cyclops began in my father's voice. "What are you doing here?"
I was confused. What was the monster trying to do?
"Why did you come back?" he continued in the same voice. "We were so happy with you gone. A perfect family at last."
The words hurt me like a shard of glass. I'd often imagined my father saying just that. But hearing it in his voice was ten times worse.
"Yes, we were very happy," he said in my stepmother's voice this time. "Without your nonsense about the spiders. Why couldn't you have been normal?"
I finally found my voice, "You're wrong! I don't need to be normal. I don't need to be part of your family. Because I have my own now."
The cyclops smirked. "But do you really?" he asked in Luke's voice this time. "We only tolerate you, but really, you're just a massive burden."
"No," I whispered.
"Of course you are," Thalia's voice continued. "You can't fight, you can't get food, so we have to do everything while you just enjoy it."
"No," I whispered again, weaker this time.
Finally, Grover's voice said, "We would already have made it to camp, without you. Without having to drag you along."
My dagger started to drop. It was true. Luke, Thalia and Grover did everything important and I was always just tagging along. Why did they even keep me with them? Only because they're too good to leave a half-blood on the streets, not because they like me.
Looking up at the cyclops' face, I saw him wearing a triumphant smile. He had won. No, I thought to myself. No matter what the others think of me, this monster could not be allowed to win. I brought my dagger above my head and stabbed him in the foot. He let out a massive roar of pain and clutched his foot.
Quickly, I rushed to my friends and cut them loose. With the three of them working together, it didn't take long for the cyclops to be completely defeated. Meanwhile, I just collapsed on a heap on the ground.
"Hey, Annabeth. What's wrong?" Thalia asked. "You don't really believe what the monster said do you?"
"But it's true!" I choked out between sobs. "What can I do? Why do you need me? Why do you want me? I'm useless."
"Annabeth, you are not useless," Luke told me firmly. "Do you call stabbing a cyclops in the foot useless? You're smart, you're brave-"
"You're just saying that," I dismissed.
"No I'm not Annie. We chose you to be part of our family remember? Would we have done that if we didn't want you? You're the most amazing 7 year old ever and we need you. Don't let anyone tell anything different."
I nodded, drying my tears. Family isn't always the family you're born with.
