Hello, all! I has a new chapter for you!

Let it commence.

"Blackjack!" I shrieked.

He extended his wings to full span and banked sharply to the left. I fell against his neck and tightly squeezed. I could have kicked the side of the mountain with my foot.

I thought we were going to make it.

He banked too late. His right wing clipped the mountain, and he and I fell through the air into the forest below.

I crashed through the trees, and I could hear Blackjack above me trying to right himself in the air.
I landed hard on the ground. My breath whooshed out of my lungs for the second time in two minutes.

I curled in a ball, clutching my stomach. I took deep breaths.

"B-Blackjack?" I finally wheezed.

I heard crashing through the underbrush. I sat up, fumbling for my knife.

Blackjack emerged from the bushes, looking horribly scraped up but okay. How he didn't break one of his wings was beyond me.

I stood up slowly, looking around. My knife didn't stab me in the thigh, which was also a miracle. I had made a pretty good-sized hole through the canopy of trees. The branches had painfully broken my fall.

I checked the backpack. Minus the smashed granola bars and sugar cubes, everything seemed fine. I checked my back pocket.

Nothing.

I shoved my hand inside, feeling around, panic building.

A/N: Okay, okay! I know that sounds…weird. Just get past it. She's frantic, okay? You would do the same with a missing cell phone.

My hat was gone.

The gift from my mom. The thing that had helped so many times in the past. I felt like I'd lost a limb.

"No, no, no…" I murmured, tearing through the vegetation, seeing if it had caught on a bush or something.

Nothing.

Blackjack stared at me while I ripped apart the small clearing trying to find my hat.

I rounded on him, feeling suddenly angry. "You know what? You can stare all you want. It's your fault that we're in this mess! You had to get freaked out by that ghost! You had to turn too slow! I don't even know where we are! We could be back in freaking New York and I wouldn't even know!"

He stared at me more, a bit of hurt in his eyes.

I realized what I just did. I'd just yelled at the horse that gave me a ride and saved my life. Twice.

"I-I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I'm just…"

I sat down on a nearby rock, my head in my hands. I took a couple shuddery breaths.

"Okay. Okay, what we need to do is figure out where we are and how to get out of here. I take it you're exhausted, so we'll have to go by foot." I looked at the sky blocked by trees. "If I could just see the sun I'd know which direction we're facing."

I felt almost as helpless as I did in the Labyrinth. Before Rachel got there, anyway.

I stood up and started to pace in a circle, Blackjack's eyes following me.

"That way," I said, pointing almost randomly. I figured that once the sun started setting, I would be able to tell by the shadows of the trees. Then we could change direction. We just needed to figure out where west was.

I tramped through the bushes and started walking, Blackjack in my wake.

I took another backwards glance, just in case I missed seeing my hat in an obvious place.

I didn't.

xXx

We walked for hours. If there were any animals in the forest, they avoided us completely. My nerves were on edge, and I kept a cautious hand on my dagger. The forest was almost completely silent. I hardly heard birdsong. Other than the sound of my feet and Blackjack's hooves on the forest floor, it was quiet.

We stopped every hour so we could drink. I was too wary to eat all my food at once, so I lived with my stomach growling.

I stared at the ground, watching my feet. For some reason, this calmed me down. I was anxious. It could just be my ADHD, but I had an uneasy feeling ever since I crash-landed in this forest. The silence pressed against my ears, and I seriously wanted someone to talk to that could respond. I felt like I was talking to myself whenever I spoke to the pegasus.

Right, left, right, left.

Blackjack was relatively silent. He didn't do anything except for the occasional snort.

Right, left, right, left.

I shuddered. It was starting to get cold.

Right, left, right, left, right, left.

When would the sun cast shadows? I looked up and saw some of the orange-tinted sky.

I stopped and Blackjack almost ran into me. I pointed. "Look! The shadows are pointing this way! We've been going in the right direction." I was practically ecstatic. I wanted to get out of this deathly quiet forest.

I started to run, Blackjack trotting behind me.

He suddenly neighed in alarm. I took a step into open space and fell down a hidden gulch.

xXx

The first thought that ran through my mind was 'Are you kidding me?'

I slid on my butt down the muddy hill and skidded when I hit the bottom. Blackjack whinnied at the top of the hill, prodding the ground with his hoof. I looked up the side. It was a long way up, and would be nearly impossible to climb.

I felt like an idiot. I got so happy about the stupid shadows that I looked up from my feet. If I had been watching them, I could have stopped myself. Now I was stuck at the bottom of a ravine.

Things were really not working out for me right now.

It was like something was stopping me from getting close to finding Percy.

I glanced around, thinking of other options. They were slim. The sun was really starting to set now, and temperatures were starting to drop. I had taken off my coat earlier from all of the walking and had draped it over Blackjack's back.

"Hey, could you get my coat down here?" I yelled to him.

I saw him turn around and buck his legs, and my coat fluttered down next to me.

"Thank you!"

He neighed in response.

"Uh, well, since I'm stuck in this…situation, we might as well get some rest. We can figure out a way to get me out of here in the morning."

I pulled out my bedroll from the pack and laid it out. I put on my coat and crawled inside.

"Um…goodnight…Let me know if anything bad happens."

Gods, I am an idiot, I thought as I drifted off.

I leaned against his chest, breathing in the salt air. I flexed my toes, feeling the sand in between them.

"This is nice," I sighed.

"Mmm," he murmured.

He took my hand and laced it in between his fingers. He suddenly moved backward, making me fall back into the sand.

"Hey!" I grabbed a handful and threw it at him. He laughed, shielding his face.

"What're you going to do about it, Wise Girl?"

"Oho, when I'm done with you…" I trailed off, my grin sliding off my face.

"What?" he glanced around in surprise. I pointed.

Black smoke was rolling across the beach, making its way swiftly towards us. The sunny sky turned overcast, and thunder shook the loose sand. He paused for half a second.

"Run!" he shouted. I scrambled to my feet and ran, kicking up sand, Percy right behind me.

My breathing turned ragged. I couldn't get enough air. It was like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders again.

"Annabeth!" I heard him scream.

I turned. His feet were getting held down by the sand, the black smoke getting closer. Sweat ran through his hair and he had a look of absolute horror on his face.

"Percy!" I screamed. I tried to run to him but my feet wouldn't move. They were also being trapped by the sand. Ribbons of black smoke snaked up my legs.

He managed to break free, and he stumbled. He took several running steps before the mass of the smoke enveloped him completely. I heard him yell in terror before he was choked off.

"No!"

A pen flew from the smoke and landed in between my feet.

I sat up, screaming. I stopped myself suddenly and breathed deeply, calming myself down.

Just a dream, Annabeth. Just a dream, I thought, reassuring myself.

I felt a crawling sensation on my arm.

I looked down slowly.

Spiders. Hundreds of them.

I began to scream again.

For some reason, this chapter was really hard for me to write.

Oh well, it's done!

I had TONS of fun writing Annabeth's dream that she had that night, though.

Whew, it was exhilarating.

Let me know what you think about zis chapter with a review!

I'm done talking now.

BYE.