Hey, Everyone!

I APOLOGIZE! OKAY? I'M SORRY!

I've been a neglectful author lately, and...I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I have two chapter to update today, so I hope it makes up for it!

I've just been really stressed about school soccer tryouts is all...

Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Annabeth

Annabeth was about to lose it.

Completely, utterly, lose it.

She was alone (again), crippled, angry, tired, sad, and scared.

Yes, the great Annabeth Chase was scared.

She was scared for her Seaweed Brain. She was scared for her friends. But she was scared for herself, too.

But only a little bit.

Annabeth sat up in the bush. She pulled some leaves out of her hair and grabbed her walking stick.

She stood up on it, and looking down on it, it made tears come to her eyes.

Percy… she thought miserably as she started to hobble onto the path.

"Which way do you go, Annabeth?" she asked herself. "Go back the way you came," she looked at the end of the road where she and Percy had come, "or follow the evil horses that stole my boyfriend."

The choice was simple, really.

She started walking down the path, the way the evil horses had forced Percy.

I'm going to find you, she thought, determined. No matter what. As long as we're together.

"Hey, what happened to that, Seaweed Brain?" she called out to no one. "What happened to 'As long as we're together'? Are we together now? NO!"

She stopped talking for a minute, took a small breath, and said, "I just really miss you right now."

Annabeth had taken very few breaks of walking since she started.

And when she did, it was only because she couldn't move anymore, and she only rested for maybe a minute.

What was once a reprieve from the hot sun was now because tedious to bare; she wanted to find Percy, and she knew he wasn't here anymore.

She could just feel it.

And she couldn't hear the footsteps anymore. At all. She was starting to lose hope. She didn't know if he was okay.

But she knew he wasn't dead. That was for sure.

And just because she was losing faith in herself didn't mean she was losing faith in him.

Maybe if she stopped walking and sat by a tree, then he could find her. Maybe.

Annabeth shook off her laziness and kept walking.

She got up again. This was maybe her tenth break. She wasn't ready to stop, not when she was so close.

Or so she hoped.

She covered back up the water hole she made and continued walking.

The temperature was suddenly a little warmer.

A new part of the forest? Annabeth thought with excitement. Finally!

"Keep it together, Annabeth," she told herself. "It's just a small accomplishment."

She continued to hobble, using her cane to the best of her abilities. She couldn't help but feel like an old man, walking along.

She couldn't wait to beat something with her cane.

She saw an opening in the distance that didn't seem quite right. She squinted and leaned forward a little bit.

It was a new environment.

"Okay, now you can celebrate!"

She tried to run but couldn't get enough speed on her cane and broken ankle. She continued to hobble as quickly as she could, a new ounce of vigor in her clumsy steps.

When she finally broke through the foliage, she nearly fell off the cliff.

She stopped abruptly and looked around at her environment. It was a red, clay, rocky area with tons of cliffs that reminded her slightly of the Grand Canyon, but with a lot more cliffs, drops, and steep slopes.

She walked along the edge of the chasm she was standing on the edge of and was careful not to put her cane on any weak spots or in any holes.

When she had finally made her way around the chasm, she decided to rest.

And then she heard it.

It was faint, but it was there.

Thundering footsteps.

There was absolutely no way she was taking a break now.

Her boyfriend was down there somewhere, and she was going to find him.

No matter what.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH! Things just got INTENSE!

I'm going to go see a show at my local high school! Yay, music!

Thanks for Reading!