Oh my gods. I'm obsessed. I'm procrastinating on homework just so I can write more and more chapters...
Chapter Eight: On the Run like Outlaws (Percy POV)
Annabeth and I ran out of the school and through the nearby park. We just kept on running in that same direction, until we crashed into a gate. Then we climbed over it and sat down to take a break. My hand felt clammy and sweaty from holding hers for so long.
"Gee, this is great," Annabeth muttered. "We were being chased down by possessed demigods. I think we lost them. Let's just stop to catch our breaths."
"How long have we been running?" I asked.
She checked her watch. "Approximately two hours."
Holy Hera.
"O-kaaaaay," I said, making sure to draw out the "kay" extremely long.
"Well, we can't possibly run around the whole day," she sighed. "This place is pretty nice. Let's just settle here for the night. Hopefully they don't catch up to us by then."
I looked around. We were in an abandoned park. The benches were broken and the trees had fallen to the floor.
"See? Look at all those trees, piled on top of each other. They're positioned in a particular way," Annabeth said, pointing it out to me. "They could make the perfect shelter."
The fallen trees did sort of make a little dome that could fit two people inside. It also had a hidden entrance, so if the possessed demigods did catch up to us, they might not find us. I nodded in approval.
We went into the Tree-Dome and sat down. "Okay," Annabeth said, "now we plan out how long we think we're going to live."
"Fine," I said. "What supplies do you have with you?"
"When I ran from the school with you, I only had my backpack and my lunch box," she replied.
"Same," I said. "I guess now we'll look through our backpacks and lunch boxes and see what we've got."
We both unzipped our backpacks and looked inside.
"There's mostly just textbooks and binders in here," I said disapprovingly, staring at the utter emptiness of my backpack. "I've got a Nintendo 3DS in here, though… you know, I hide it in my book during class and play it secretly…" I also had Riptide in my bag.
Annabeth rolled her eyes. She flipped her backpack upside down and dumped all of its contents out. Whoa. About a million books and blueprints fell out. A flashlight keychain also came tumbling out. I spotted her diary lying amongst the books.
"Geez! How do you carry all that stuff!" I exclaimed as I saw them.
She continued to shake her bag, but nothing else came out. We stared at our pile of stuff disdainfully.
"That's all we've got?" she asked.
"Hate to say it, but it's true," I said.
"Can't say that we're going to live very long," she muttered.
We looked through our lunch boxes next.
"I've got a half-eaten sandwich," I announced, holding up the sandwich.
"I've got fifteen dumplings, and a canteen filled with ambrosia, just in case," she said.
I shrugged. "At least we can use ambrosia to heal ourselves when we're starving to death…"
"The ambrosia won't last forever, though," she warned. "We have to use it wisely. I'd say we save it for if the possessed demigods catch up and they manage to injure us."
"Whatever," I said. "I guess we can make use of the food we have. Each of us can have one dumpling and one small square of sandwich per day. It'll last us around fifteen days. Hopefully we've solved the possessed demigod problem by then."
"Yeah," she said. "Perhaps we should get some sleep now. It's getting kind of late."
"I guess," I said. "What exactly do we sleep on, anyway?"
"Well…" Annabeth stacked 90 books into 15 neat rows to make a platform. She then spread her sweater over the platform and laid down on top of it. "This'll have to do."
I did the same. I had less books, so my bed was way shorter than hers. She rolled over and stared down at me.
"Goodnight," she said.
"Night, Annabeth," I murmured as I shifted uncomfortably and slowly managed to fall into a light slumber.
Annabeth Chase's Diary: Today's Report
We're running like outlaws running from where they don't belong. That's how I feel right now. Like I don't really belong anywhere. Our friends just got possessed. We've been escaping to who-knows-where, and who-knows-when we're going to be coming back. I'm not even sure whether or not I'm doing the right thing. Everyone's being controlled—Clarisse, Grover, Juniper, all my siblings, and the others from Camp Half-Blood. Except Nico. That's weird.
Wait. That is weird. That's really weird. Where was Nico? I didn't see him!
I've got a bad feeling about this…?
-Annabeth.
Morning came much too early for my liking. Before I knew it, I was waking up on top of my hard platform "bed" made of books, and the sun was blinding my vision.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked to my right to see that Annabeth had already woken up. She was reading an architecture book.
"Good," she said. "You finally woke up. You were sleeping so soundly, I thought you were dead or something."
"Mornin'. What's up?" I asked.
"Well, let's just say that we'd better get moving. I can feel a humongous powerful presence nearby. The possessed demigods are near."
I could feel it in the air too—a strong feeling that lingered in the air. It was quite overwhelming, making it hard to stand up. Possessed demigods gave off extreme auras.
Annabeth worked quickly, packing up all 90 of the books into her backpack neatly and walking towards the entrance of the Tree-Dome. "You coming, slowpoke?"
"Gahhhhgggggg…. just wait a second, honestly…" I groaned, trying to stuff all my books back into my bag. She giggled and walked over. "Here, look," she said, organizing my books into tidy piles of five and plopping them into my bag. "Easy. Now let's go."
We headed outside of the door, where the aura was so powerful that there was purple in the air. Annabeth pulled her jacket up to her mouth. "Don't breathe it in," she said. "It'll make you posessed."
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Let's get moving."