Chapter 3: She's got her eye on me

Percy

Flashback

If 'failing to keep a promise' was a course at school, I would only get straight A's for it. Unfortunately for me, it's not and my recently developed talent did not come in handy yet either. I did promise to carry Annabeth around until we found a safe place to hide, I did promise her I'd find a way out of this place and I also did promise I'd heal her ankle – not exactly in that order. And I managed to keep none of these promises.

Right now, we're sitting somewhere in what I believe to be the in the middle of Tartarus, and I'm trying to light a fire. Until this very moment, all my efforts have been in vain. But it's not such a big deal after all – this is hell and just like the stories claim, it's burning hot down here. The real problem is that we haven't been able to see a thing ever since the lights suddenly died about an hour ago.

"Percy?" Annabeths voice pulls me out of my train of thoughts, "It's not going to work." I want to tell her she's right – as always – but I don't. "It must work, without a light, I cannot get a look at that broken ankle of yours," I tell her.

"Sure, but, don't you need to rest a little bit? You carried me for hours, Seaweed Brain. You look exhausted."

"How can you tell? It is dark in here."

"You get the point, mr. Obvious. Just lay down with me for a while. I'm not going to die of some broken bones, alright?" I must admit there is much truth in those words. I finally give in and lay down besides Annabeth, or at least, I hope the breathing thing besides me is her. "Sorry," I mutter, "I tried but…"

"It's not your fault, alright. Let's sleep while we still can. The light in here will return in time, it can't possibly stay dark forever." Annabeth is trying to sound reassured, but I know she isn't.

"I hope it will," I whisper doubtfully. I close my eyes and within minutes, I feel myself slipping away. Annabeths breathing is also getting slower and after a while, she starts to snore a little. The sound of it always annoyed me before, but right now I'm thankful for it. By the sound of her snoring, I can tell she's still there…

Present

"Hazel! Annabeth! Where are you?" Leo's shouting. I do not want to discourage him, but I think it's finally time to tell him they aren't here. Otherwise, they would have shown up when he started yelling ten minutes ago. I open my mouth to say something to him, when an open door catches my eye. It's Annabeths cabins door. Immediately, curiosity gets the better of me. Annabeth would kill me if she ever found out I went through her stuff – at least the old her would - but I decide that's a problem I'd deal with later. Besides, I've been through worse things than one of Annabeths furies.

I walk into her room, only to find out it is as empty and neat as it has always been. No decorations on the wall, not a tiniest bit of garbage on the floor. Just like Annabeth always kept her chamber. I look around a bit, searching for something I can investigate, but there is nothing to find. Maybe because Annabeth has nothing to hide, but probably she hid everything she did not want me to find. Or perhaps … Perhaps she put it in a place so obvious where I would not even consider to look for something. Just to make sure, I lift her blankets and her pillow. Bingo! Underneath the pillow is lying a book. A very old looking book, and also a very large one. It's called 'Inferno' by Dante. Some voice in the back of my head tells me I should know what it's about, but that same voice also tells me it's a good thing I don't. I pick it up, in order to see if anything is hidden underneath – but there is nothing. I open the book – maybe she'd put something inside of it (like those bad guys do in the movies) – but to my disappointment, it turns out to be nothing more than an ordinary book. I sigh and put the thing back where it belongs. I tidy things up a bit and just when I'm about to leave, I notice something near the right corner of the room. One moment it was there, and the other it wasn't anymore. An eye – a stormy, grey eye. Annabeth's eye. It takes a while for me to figure out what actually happened, but then I notice that Annabeths Yankees cap is no longer hanging in his rightful place – on the wall besides her bed. For a moment, I hesitate. Does she know I saw her? Should I tell her I know she'd been here all the time?

I decide not to, even though I really want to know why she's using her invisibility-cap to hide from me. Maybe hiding herself is her way to cope with everything that's happened.

"Or maybe she's avoiding you," a dark voice in my head says. I shake away the thought, and leave.