Happy new year, guys! Have a wonderful start to 2024 :D

Here's your chapter, sorry it's late!

There was a whoooosh, like I was travelling very fast through the air itself.

For some reason, though, the feeling felt familiar.

I scowled.

I'd had just about enough of all this weirdness.

I opened my eyes, and yelled in surprise as I plummeted to the ground, landing hard on my back.

" OW! " I screamed.

Everything hurt.

My shoulder burned from the poison, but at least I wasn't paralysed anymore. My cheek stung and sizzled, and I had the mother of all headaches pounding in my head, like some giant was having a rock concert inside.

"Hey! Is anyone there?!" I heard the blonde girl shout in the distance, and cracked my eyes open, sitting up painfully.

"H-Here!" I called hoarsely , my voice cracking.

A few seconds later, the blonde girl suddenly emerged from the fog, making me startle, clutching my injured arm defensively.

Her eyes widened as she noticed me.

"There you are! You're Callie, right?" She asked. Shakily, I nodded. I let myself by helped up with a wince, suppressing a whimper. "Y-Yeah, that's me," I said, my heart pounding hard against my chest.

At the mere sight of her, my temples began throbbing even more insistently.

I pressed a cold hand to them, trembling all over. "Who are you? Where's Bianca and Nico?" I demanded, my face pale. She regarded me with a sort of sad resignation. "I'm Annabeth," she said. "Your siblings are safe with Percy and Thalia…Unfortunately, I can't say the same for us."

The words made me blanch even more, and Annabeth held out her arms like she was afraid I was going to faint, but I swung my gaze around instead, desperately trying to find a way out.

We were on this sort of dark hillside, shrouded in fog. I couldn't see the sky, and there was a close, heavy darkness, like we were in a cave — and for some godforsaken reason, that made me feel better .

I hissed lowly through my teeth, irritated.

Seriously? Who feels relieved at being trapped in a dark, inescapable cave?!

"Dr. Thorn…" I started. Despite my attempt to sound confident, my voice still came out shaky, my shoulder throbbing in reminder. I winced, correcting myself. "Uh, the manticore. He brought us here, didn't he? What does he want?"

Annabeth was silent for a bit, her forehead creasing like she was thinking something over in her head. Her eyes still looked right at me. Eventually, I had to avert my gaze, feeling uncomfortable. She was staring at me for far too long to be casual.

Her unusually sharp gaze seemed to literally pierce through me, dissecting every body part for her to examine, like I was some sort of —

I coughed. Alright, that's enough.

My fingers were beginning to feel numb, so I stuffed them into the pockets of my coat, trying to steady my breathing. My shoulder screamed at me for the movement, but it was like I had been doused in cold water, numbness filling my entire being.

Maybe I was going into shock , I thought absent-mindedly, but at the moment I really couldn't bring myself to care.

"The manticore did bring us here," Annabeth finally said. "But he's…disappeared." She cast a wary look around the abandoned hillside, before shaking her head. "Come on, we'll look for an escape." She gently took my uninjured arm and tugged me over the hill. I let my eyes wander, too shocked to protest.

Old Greek columns, broken and as dark as night, lay scattered around — almost as if this was an ancient ruin of a castle or something, blown to bits.

There was a small shink! And suddenly, Annabeth was holding a bronze dagger in her hand. I blinked, startled. Wait, what?

"Stay close," she warned, stepping in front of me and narrowing her eyes at the fog.

I watched her in silent shock, trying my best to grasp what exactly was going on. "Do…Do you know how to use that?" I asked, motioning to her dagger, and she shot me an incredulous look.

"What do think?!"

I frowned, holding up my one good hand in surrender. "Sorry."

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry. I'm a little on edge." She cast a look at the menacing ruins, and I concluded that she did have a point. "I'll explain it all to you later, but you can count on me to protect you for now." She shot me a confident smile, and I somehow found the strength to muster one back.

We clambered over a broken, mossy wall, reaching the crest of the hill.

Suddenly, Annabeth gasped, and I looked up.

A teenager with blond hair was kneeling on the ground, looking like he was in pain. He was trying to rise, but the fog around him seemed thicker, hungrier, and much, much darker, pressing down hard on him. I got a sense of dread just looking at it. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched; oceans of sweat poured from his skin.

He looked up desperately as we approached, and I stopped dead, my hands flying to my mouth in surprise.

It was the same guy I'd seen, back outside Westover Hall.

Luke.

The son of Hermes.

"The traitor," I whispered aloud, feeling woozy. My head began to spin. I understood why Percy had looked at me so strangely before.

How had I known who this guy was?

"Help me, please!" He called.

There was a sudden pressure on my back, almost like someone was watching us, and I tensed, looking around.

Was Dr. Thorn here?

But the presence didn't seem very violent, just as if it was watching — it had kind of a sleepy feeling to it, like a dream.

Don't…Don't ask me how I knew that.

I just did, and I didn't like it.

I inched closer to Annabeth, but couldn't resist calling out. "Is anyone there?" I asked in the general direction of the presence, and it rippled, as if in surprise, but before I could say anything else, Annabeth began talking to Luke.

I turned around again, wanting to know what was going on. My fingers began tingling again. I was itching to leave.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked, tears in her eyes. She had bent down like she wanted to touch his face, stopping just before she actually did.

"They left me here," Luke groaned. "Please. It's killing me."

Who were 'they'? I wondered, before casting Annabeth an anxious glance. Was this guy good, or bad? Were we supposed to help him or something?

To be honest, I couldn't really see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.

Morbid, I thought. How can fog kill someone?

— Then again, I'd just been paralyzed by some crazy man-lion-scorpion hybrid teacher thing, so it was still possible, I guess. There wasn't much that I wouldn't believe at this point.

(Seriously, though. Murderous fog? Who's genius idea was that ?)

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked, her voice full of hurt.

I inched closer to her.

"Uh…Annabeth…?" I began, trying to remind her of my presence. The whole situation was making me feel awkward.

"You shouldn't," Luke interrupted, making me shoot him a Look. "I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die."

Okay, so clearly, these two had some issues to work out — personal ones.

But I wasn't here to get caught in random teenager drama.

I wanted to get back to my siblings, and preferably get my shoulder patched up before it got infected or something.

I tapped the other girl on the shoulder.

"Annabe—"

I got cut off — again — as the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling.

I gasped and backed away sharply, throwing my hands over my eyes to shield myself.

When I opened them again, I was greeted with an impossible sight. The whole ceiling had dropped, but Annabeth held it somehow — literal tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke just with her own strength.

It was impossible . She shouldn't have been able to do that.

Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks," he managed.

"Help me hold it," Annabeth groaned.

Luke caught his breath. His face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily. "I knew I could count on you." He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.

I was frozen, wide-eyed. What was going on?!

"HELP ME!" she pleaded. The sound jarred me, making me return to the present. I pressed my shaky hands to my head, pain rocketing through me. I knelt on the ground, trembling like a leaf.

This felt so familiar.

I've been here before.

I've read this before.

"Oh, don't worry," Luke said, ignoring me completely. I felt like I was about to puke, watching my only chance at escape struggle under a mountain of rubble. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."

The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground, making her cry out. I flinched at the sound, unable to move.

A rough, callused hand grasped my hair, and pulled me to my feet.

My hazy eyes stared straight into Luke's hungry gaze.

"Now, as for you —"

I squeezed my eyes shut, terrified, only for a gurgling sound to come from behind us. Luke froze, and let out a quiet hiss of disbelief.

I cracked my eyelids open, dread overcoming me as to what I would see.

A zombie, perhaps? A vampire? A monster?

No, it was Annabeth.

And she looked… bad .

Blood spurted out from her lips, drenching her shirt in red. Her eyes were dilated and wide, looking like they were seconds away from rolling to the back of her head. Her hands were shaking so hard that it vibrated her entire body, her breaths stuttering.

She was about to die.

I knew that with absolute certainty.

There was a tug in my gut, as if I was playing tug of war with an unseen foe.

A woman laughed right next to my ear, soft and derisive.

Did you think it would be so easy to escape me, little reincarnation?

The ground shook terribly beneath us, making me lose my footing and fall on the floor.

Fate is unravelling, young weaver, something whispered in my ear.

I shook my head in confusion. It wasn't the same woman's voice.

Fix it.

I blinked slowly, a hazy feeling coming over my eyelids.

Fix it, the voice repeated, a bit more forcefully.

"Fix it," I muttered to myself.

Luke shot me an odd look, but I wasn't paying attention.

Annabeth wasn't supposed to die.

Not now.

Not her time.

I inched closer, and took her face in my hands.

I could feel something fraying, like a string.

Fix it.

I inhaled, and everything froze.

I could hear everything. The sound of my heart beating, life flooding my veins as Annabeth's slowed, ragged exhaustion showing in her stuttering breaths.

I could feel the string freeze.

It was no longer fraying, but neither was it mending.

I knew what I had to do.

If I let go now, Annabeth would die. I had to shoulder this mysterious fog's burden with her.

Slowly, I reached my arms underneath, and grasped the thing in my hands.

I exhaled.