Enjoy =)


Chapter Eight: Annabeth

Annabeth was confused. Truly confused. It's been longer than a week, and every day more people were disappearing. Thalia had come and gone this morning, then Reyna vanished. A few hours later, Hazel. And now Frank is devastated. Piper and Jason, well, still no news about them. Yesterday Chiron called a meeting for the counselors, he said that there was no point in retaining everyone in their cabins because they're all going to keep disappearing. Or getting kidnapped. Nobody knows.

It was evening time now, and Annabeth was with Percy. They had just finished dinner, and they decided to take a walk for an hour or so. "Wise Girl?"

"Yeah? Yeah, Percy?"

His grip tightened on her hand. "Are you okay?" They stopped walking. "Annabeth?" Tears had gathered in her eyes. "Are any of us okay, Percy? Piper is gone, and Jason, and Hazel, and Reyna, and, and, this is just too much. And I don't know what to do and I feel like it's all my faul—"

"Don't say that, Annabeth." He embraced her, wrapping his arms around her tightly as she cried into his chest. "None of this is your fault. You have nothing to do with this, alright? Please don't say that."

"I know, it's just, what if they're not fine. What if they ki-killed Piper, o-or Jason a-and, I just can't live with myself if something happened to them."

"Hey, hey, hey. What are you saying? Annabeth. Do you have anything to do about the kidnappings?"

"I-no I-what?"

"Do you?"

"No, Percy! What kind of question is that?" She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes, frowning.

"Relax, I'm trying to prove a point to you. If you have nothing to do with it, which I know you don't, then you have nothing to feel bad about. Piper and Jason will be fine. And Reyn—"

"To Tartarus with Reyna! Okay! I just need Piper back, then I'll be able to breathe. Besides, Reyna's a bit—"

"Hey! No! Why would you say that? Annabeth, I thought you guys were friends?"

"Well, yes, but, she hates Piper just because Jason picked her and if she hates Piper then I hate her."

"You sound like you're obsessed with Piper. You weren't always like this, Annabeth. What's going on?" Percy raised a brow.

"Well, I guess you don't really know how much a person means to you until they're taken away. Piper is like my sister, and I think I just used to take her presence for granted."

"Huh. Well, you should go rest, sleep, settle down, calm yourself. We have another meeting tomorrow, early, so I'm going to go to sleep early."

"Okay, I love you, Percy."

He smiled, his green eyes twinkling. "I love you more, Annabeth. My favorite Wise-Girl."

"I better be your only Wise-Girl." She raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, no one to play the role of my girlfriend better than you."

"Except I'm not playing it."

"Exactly." He kissed her, then led her to her cabin. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Seaweed Brain." She hugged him quickly, then headed to her cabin to get ready for bed. She walked into Cabin Six, noting that almost everyone was asleep. She opened her chest and took out a comfortable tee-shirt and black leggings, then went to the bathroom to change. Annabeth undressed, showered quickly, then put on her clothes. Looking into the mirror, she dried her hair with a gray towel. She closed the bathroom door behind her when she was done, and walked over to her bed, grabbing a book from the shelf. When she pulled her blanket up to lay down, she stopped. The moon her only light, she saw a white envelope, with her name scribbled on it, laying on her bed. She took it, went into the bathroom, closed and locked the door, and snapped on the light. She ripped open the envelope, her heart beating fast. She took out a letter, in the same scribbly font.

Annabeth,

You're probably confused as hell. I apologize for all of this. But everything is necessary if we want to win. This is for the best of everyone. Listen, if you want to try and do something that will help, I highly recommend you come to this location at midnight. Do you remember the place where Jason and Piper were last seen? Come there. Wear clothes fit for walking, something you can move in. Bring your weapons. Stay alert. Make sure no one follows you. And, don't. Tell. Anyone. About. Anything. Or you will regret it. I really wish we didn't have to do this, but it's the only way. Again, bring your sword, make sure you're there on time. Everything will be fine, as long as you can trust this. We're not trying to hurt you but to protect. You'll know everything when you come to meet me. I'll see you soon, Annabeth.

-T.Z.G.

What in Zeus? Annabeth thought. T.Z.G.? Who is that? Midnight. It was around eleven, so Annabeth left the bathroom, taking the letter with her, hiding it in her pillow. She got into bed and tried to sleep.

She couldn't.

At around 11:50, she got up. She changed into something fit for moving. Well, she didn't really change. She stayed in her shirt and leggings, she just threw a hoodie over them due to the nice chill. She grabbed her sword and headed out. Walking through the nightly atmosphere, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering slightly. She thought about waking Percy up, just in case, but, she realized, if anyone else was needed, they would be informed. She walked near the border of the camp, nearing the tree and the high bushes surrounding it. She stood, waiting. A bit later, she felt someone's presence behind her. She tensed, her hand landing on the hilt of her sword. The person came closer, and she heard metal scraping metal.

Presumably, a knife being unsheathed. Without turning around, she took out her own sword and swung, meeting the other person's hit. The person was wearing black pants, a black tee-shirt, and seemed to have black cloth wrapped around the face as a mask. During the small duel, Annabeth had come to realize that this person didn't mean to hurt her, only to block. This person was good, but, apparently, Annabeth was better.

She judo-flipped the person, knocking the knife out of their hand. She lay the tip of her sword against the person's neck, then crouched down and pulled off the make-shift mask. What she saw, or rather who, was not who she was expecting. She gasped, "Thalia?!"

Hello! So, uh, the last chapter was kind of depressing. Well, for me at least. I ship Jasper, and, the only reason I had them break up was for the development of the plot. They will reunite as lovers, however. Though, unfortunately, not now. But it will be worth it when the time comes ;)

And, due to my not updating in like, a month, to which I give my sincerest apologies, I gave you two updates today. Chapter eight of this story and chapter three of From All Around. So, I'll see you all in the next chapter, I hope you enjoyed this one! Leave a review on what you think will happen next! I mean, only if you want to. Hehe.