Annabeth was woken up by a voice much too bright for this early in the morning. "Morning, sunshine! Let's get going."
"The sun's barely risen," She grumbled stuffily, opening her eyes a crack.
"Yes, and I want to get home as soon as possible. It's only about three days journey away from here," Piper spoke, bustling around their makeshift campsite.
Blinking the sleep from her eyes, the princess got up and went to a nearby stream to wash up and then change into something more sensible for traveling. She returned to a cave that looked exactly as it had before they had arrived.
"I did a nice job, right?" Piper boasted, her tone not even asking for reassurance, just knowing that she did well.
Annabeth nodded absentmindedly.
"This is one of the last places where there will be safety, the rest of the way there is riddled with dangers. You'll see, it's fun!" The brunette bubbled, getting into a lighter set of armor for going through the upcoming tough terrain. "It really is horrible that we lost Midnight."
"What?" Annie questioned.
"Midnight, my horse. Your stupid dragon killed him," Piper's face was sad for a split second before brightening. "But it's okay, I have others."
"Oh, alright," the blonde spoke, not really getting into the conversation.
They traveled, like the other day, in quiet for some time.
Annie looked at her surroundings as they changed from a normal forest to darker and more mysterious. The little that the two girls did talk was quiet, whispered as not to disturb any of the creatures in the forest.
"You never travel the same trail through this forest twice," Piper whispers. "The forest is just as alive, dangerous, and magical as it's inhabitants."
"That's not at all reassuring!" Annie hisses, already getting paranoid by every little noise that she heard.
Finally, as dark was beginning to arrive, they searched for a good spot to sleep for the night. They found a rock with an inward curve, not exactly a cave, but covered up with enough vines to protect them. Piper grabbed a few sticks to make a very small fire and began to light it as Annabeth took out a couple apples. Just as a spark lit up the wood and started to burn it, a roar ripped through the woods and the rock started to move. Both girls clung to a nearby hanging root desperately as they were picked up.
"Who burnt my foot?!" was the roar heard from above the two girls.
"It's an ogre," Piper whispers quietly. "Hold on tightly, we just need to wait this out and he will forget that anything ever happened. Ogres have horrible memory."
But then, a large stony hand reached down and found the two girls who had been hanging off of him.
"Oh! A midnight snack!" he exclaimed in a voice that was so stupid sounding that it would have been funny under different circumstances.
"No, sir, we are not food! Merely travelers passing through this forest," Piper spoke again, looking at Annie for help. Annie, however, was silently panicking.
"You look plenty good to eat to me," the ogre said, lifting them above his mouth.
"You wouldn't want to eat us unseasoned, would you? Just let us gather some herbs, and we'll be right back for you to eat. We'll taste even better," Piper pleaded desperately, but you would never realize, for her face had not changed at all from it's usual confident smirk.
"Well… if you would taste better… but I am really hungry," the ogre pondered. "Fine, but be quick! I want to eat!"
"Oh, we'll be quick all right," Piper muttered under her breath, dragging Annie along by the hand. Once a safe distance away, the two girls broke into a sprint. They found a smaller cave, and set up without a fire, with hopes of actually getting to sleep.