Act II Chapter XXIX: "We were gone for like five minutes"
"Hey, Reyna. Have you seen Percy or Thalia?" Annabeth asked as she stepped up behind the Roman. Reyna was in the middle of sharpening her sword with a whetstone. She turned her head and looked at Annabeth. "I haven't seen them in two hours."
"Two hours?" Reyna asked. She jumped to her feet and gripped her sword. "The last I saw of Percy was when he finished Chiron's medical training. He talked to Thalia, and they went to the forest."
Annabeth nodded and turned, heading toward the forest. Footsteps followed the sound of a sword being sheathed as Reyna followed behind her, "You haven't seen them at all?"
"No," Annabeth replied with a shake of her head. "I can't find either of them, and no one else has seen them."
Reyna picked up the pace, and Annabeth matched it. The forest used to be stocked with monsters from what Chiron said. There weren't any of those monsters now. Not that they found at least. Reyna spoke, "Any idea on where they might have gone? The forest?"
"Maybe the water," Annabeth began. Percy probably felt safer there as a son of Poseidon. She cleared her throat. "Sit on the beach and get to see a nice view as they talk?"
Reyna nodded like it made sense. The two marched to the beach. All they found was water and sand. Reyna looked around and sighed. She looked calm, but Annabeth could see how white her knuckles were.
"Split and check the perimeter?" Annabeth suggested. Reyna nodded and took off without another word. Annabeth quickly hurried along the shoreline. All around her was nothing but the beauty of nature. If she weren't so worried, it would be beautiful.
Worst-case scenario: Percy went to Thalia for advice and admitted he was the son of Poseidon, and she tried to kill him.
Best case scenario: they were just walking in the woods.
Annabeth's mind raced as she made a full perimeter around the camp. It didn't seem like anything was on fire or that anyone was hurt. She didn't see smoke or hear any yells. Her nerves only got worse as she met back up with Reyna.
"Any sign of them?" Reyna questioned.
"No," Annabeth muttered as her heart sped up.
"Terminus!" Reyna called as her eyes flickered up. Annabeth's heart nearly skipped a beat as the bust appeared in front of them. Terminus whirled around to face them.
"What?" Terminus demanded.
"Have you seen Percy or Thalia at any of the barriers? Did they leave the camp?" Annabeth asked quickly. The god turned toward her and scowled.
"For your information, I look out for threats and keep them out. I do not look out for every demigod that crosses my path," Terminus stated as his tone became annoyed.
"Terminus, did you see them?" Reyna demanded.
"No," Terminus finally answered. Reyna looked at Annabeth.
"Let's look in the forest on the way back. If we don't find a sign of them, we'll let Chiron know," Annabeth said. Reyna nodded, and the two took off again. "Any landmarks?"
"I've seen a few," Reyna answered. They first stopped at a tree that looked like someone had taken a battleaxe and split it straight down the middle. From there, they found a large tree with a human-sized hole.
The two exchanged looks, and thankfully, Reyna grabbed a flashlight and shined it into the hole. She climbed inside. To Annabeth's surprise, Reyna completely disappeared from sight. She heard a muffled noise a moment later that sounded like a muffled scream.
"Reyna?!"
"Fine!" Reyna called. Her voice was strained. Annabeth moved slightly closer and saw the flashlight move around, illuminating the bottom of the tree. Annabeth shivered as she saw cobwebs, and she took a huge step back.
After another minute, Reyna climbed out of the tree. She was covered in cobwebs, dirt, grime, and tree sap. There was also a bundle of items in her hand. Annabeth took a small step forward but swore she saw something on the cobwebs move. She hopped back.
"There was a skeleton in there," Reyna began. She shivered. "I don't know who, but they had a bag of these."
Reyna knelt down and placed the pile on the ground. She grabbed her canteen and opened it, pouring water on the pile. As the grime and cobwebs cleared away, Reyna picked up a necklace. It had a leather cord and beads around it.
"They wore these before," Annabeth realized as she reached out to grab the necklace from Reyna. As her fingers brushed across it, her vision turned red. She closed her eyes tightly. Pain hit her gut, and she felt like the breath had been punched out of her.
Annabeth tried to catch her breath, but it caught in her throat. Her eyes snapped open, and she was somewhere different. Annabeth felt like a puppet on strings once again as she found herself looking through the eyes of someone else.
Her eyes shot down, and she could see the leather cord necklace around her very neck. Four beads were on it, but she couldn't make out the designs. She wore armor and clutched in her right hand was a white flag. As she looked up, she would have gasped if she could.
The tent she stood in was dim, but there was enough light to make out a man with blonde hair and blue eyes. If he had a scar on his face, he would look almost like Luke. Just paler and scrawnier. He wore a set of armor that looked right out of a textbook. Of Roman history. Two more armored Romans stood at the back of the tent.
In front of Annabeth was a makeshift table that had a rough drawing of Camp Half-Blood. Figures rested off to the side near markers and a knife. Annabeth gripped the white flag in her hands. The man with eyes slowly spoke, "What is this?"
"I come bearing a white flag," Annabeth began. Her voice squeaked on her, and it felt like her knees were shaking.
"Show the augur of the gods some respect," the Roman spat. His blue eyes seemed to glow with hatred. Annabeth's vision tilted as her head bowed. "Why are you here, graecus?"
Annabeth recognized the voice of the man as the same person she had seen through the eyes of before. Now, she was on the other side, and she didn't have a good feeling about it. Annabeth slowly spoke, "I bring a message."
"A message? Do you think we are going to listen to the words of a murderer?" the augur demanded. Annabeth looked up.
"We-"
"Don't," the augur interrupted. He spat at Annabeth's feet. "You disgust me."
"We did not do these things you accuse us of!" Annabeth protested.
"No. I know what I saw," the augur seethed. He shook his head. "Consequences have come, and there is no running from them. You can send that back to your leaders."
"This is just a big misunderstanding," Annabeth argued. She heard the tent flap behind her open. The augur straightened up, and the other two Romans stood at attention. Annabeth felt her body stiffen.
"Praetor," the augur greeted as he bowed his head. "They sent a messenger to us."
"We just want to stop the violence," Annabeth said quickly. She wanted to turn around, but her body felt like every cell and blood vessel was tensing up on her. Fear ruled her system. "There is no need for this war. We did not do what you accuse us of."
Silence filled the tent. The augur watched them closely, and the two Romans stared ahead. The silence was shattered by the drawing of a blade.
"Send the messenger back to the Greeks," the praetor ordered. Annabeth stiffened as a sword rested against the back of her neck. "With the body displayed for all to see. Put them with the injured we gathered up earlier.
"And then mount the head of their messenger on top of the white flag they dared to fly."
As the sword slid forward, Annabeth's eyes snapped open. She gasped and threw a wild elbow behind her. There was no one behind her. No sword on her neck. Reyna was standing in front of her and staring down at the necklace. Her eyes were wide.
Reyna dropped the bead necklace like she had been shocked. She collapsed against the tree and took a deep breath. Annabeth took deep breaths of her own. She focused on the Roman in front of her. Her body started to tense like it had when she was looking through the eyes of that messenger.
"Are you okay?" Reyna slowly asked.
"I... no. No, I'm not," Annabeth answered after a moment. She slowly placed a hand to the back of her neck, expecting to find a wound. "Did you see the same thing I did?"
"I don't..." Reyna let out a deep breath as her face paled. It looked like she was trying to find her bearings and hold onto them. Annabeth felt the same.
"I was seeing through the eyes of a messenger," Annabeth began. "And this man... this augur... was talking to him. But, the praetor walked into the tent and just killed the messenger."
"Yeah. I saw that," Reyna said. She shook her head and let out a shaky breath.
"We should tell Chiron," Annabeth began. Reyna nodded and rubbed her forehead like she had a headache. "Are there any other landmarks we can look at?"
"One more," Reyna said. She carefully picked the bundle of necklaces up and rested them in the cradle of her arm. The two were silent as they walked. Annabeth was still trying to sort out what she had seen, and why was she having another war flash.
"Do you think the items are haunted?" Annabeth whispered. "Or that their former owner still lingers with it?"
"Yeah," Reyna answered as she seemed to understand where Annabeth was going. They stopped at a pile of rocks that looked like droppings. "This caught my attention before."
If Annabeth wasn't so freaked out, she would have laughed at the image in front of her. The rock formation was larger than her, and if she climbed on top of it, she would have a great view of the forest. She studied the rocks and focused on the dark crevice in the middle.
Reyna flashed her light at it, but Annabeth just saw a rock face. Then, the rock moved.
Annabeth let out a small shriek as Percy and Thalia appeared in front of them. She jumped back into Reyna, nearly knocking them both over. Percy blinked a few times and looked back, "That was so cool!"
Thalia looked back as the rock face closed. Annabeth threw herself into Thalia and hugged her tightly, taking the immortal girl by surprise. Thalia hugged her back.
"Don't freak out too bad," Percy began. "We were gone for like five minutes."
"You were gone for two hours," Reyna said. Thalia tensed in Annabeth's arms. She pulled away and looked back to see Percy was staring in shock. "We were looking for you."
"And, we found these," Reyna said as she shifted the necklaces in her arm. Thalia's attention snapped to it.
"We saw something too," Annabeth began. Thalia took a deep breath. She reached out for the necklaces. Reyna handed them over.
"Let's get back to Chiron. We have a lot to talk about," Thalia said. "Gods help us."