Weeell HI. Long time, no see. Er, read.

Okay, okay, I can 'splain. Last two weeks of the term completely consumed my life. What with finals and passing classes, I had no time for Annabeth.

Now that I am now going to be a Senior next year, and I have the summer ahead of me, lots more time! Which means more time updating.

YAY.

Okay, I'll stop typing now and let you read.

I clapped my hand to my mouth and scrambled backwards, kicking my bedroll away.

I started to hyperventilate. There were so many.

They crawled slowly towards me from the shadowed gulch.

Thankfully, I had slept with the pack on my shoulder and I flung it open, fumbling for a flashlight. I clicked it on.

Big mistake.

Hundreds. Thousands. I think I almost fainted from complete fear.

"B-Black—" I choked weakly. I swung my flashlight around spastically, illuminating the bottom of the ravine. Light bounced up the sides of the gulch, showing weeds jutting out from the sides that I hadn't noticed before.

I was just about to climb up—abandoning my bedroll—when something caught the corner of my eye.

Something blue.

My hat. My missing hat.

My Yankees hat flopped over the side of the rock, spiders crawling over it. How it had gotten there I had absolutely no idea.

Still the spiders scuttled towards me, and I backed up against the hill. It was like the very ground itself was rolling toward me, but I had only one desperate thought. I had to get my hat.

I sent a frantic prayer to my mother. Anything to help me get my hat.

I got nothing.

I then sent up a prayer to any god that would listen. Anything. Anyone.

Still, not a thing. No vision, no reassuring thought, no sudden glow of light.

I saw my vision fade. I was going to faint.

No.

"No!" I screamed. I leapt forward and sprinted for my hat. I felt stinging pains on my legs. Spiders were biting them, but I surged forward, adrenaline pumping through my veins with the force of a firehose. Webs tangled around my feet. Thick webs. It felt like I was going nowhere, that they were holding me back. The hat seemed to get farther and farther away.

My fingertip caught the brim of the hat and there was a weird rushing noise. It was like the forest itself was inhaling. I fell down in shock as thunder cracked across the sky. Webs tangled around my body and hair. I struggled to get up.

Wind suddenly blasted down the ravine, and spiders flew in every direction and making them disappear into the night. I flung my hands over my face, clutching the hat tightly in my fist. Webs arced up into the sky, brushing my face and getting in my mouth.

Thunder rumbled one more time.

Sudden silence.

I have no idea how long I lay on the ground gasping. I sucked in air, trying to calm my pounding heart.

The sun started to rise. The gulch started to become more blue than black, and I could see without the flashlight again.

Another feeling of helplessness surged over me. First getting lost in the woods, and then the feeling of absolute terror that left me practically paralyzed.

Stupid spiders. Stupid Arachne. Stupid fear.

I finally slowly sat up, the numb feeling that I had got disappearing. I took a few more breaths and then lifted my hat and inspected it.

I brushed off a couple webs and turned it over in my hands. I shook it back into form and placed it on my head.

I watched my shadow on the hill ripple slowly and then vanish. I could still see my own body and my bitten arms and legs, but I knew nothing else could. I opened the backpack and sprinkled nectar on my arms and legs and watched the bites slowly shrink away.

I took off the hat and looked at it again, a small smile on my face.

Was this hat worth spiders?

Definitely.

Yeah, yeah, super short chapter. I need to get back in the groove again.

I wrote this so quickly I honestly have no idea how good it is. The idea suddenly popped in my head and I just typed it up.

Also, this chapter was written over a span of about five days. It was just sitting open on my computer, and I would come back to it every once and a while.

Another reason why I'm not sure if it's any good or not. I didn't binge-type it like I normally do with other chapters

It's a miracle it didn't get deleted, actually.

So, if you wanna, leave me a review! Hope you like the chapter!

Hey, I just wrote this.

And this is crazy.

But here's my chapter.

Review it, maybe?

...

Gah, sorry about that.