Chapter Seventeen

Sally, A Quest, and Some Good Old-fashioned Deduction

Annabeth POV

I drew a deep breath, closed my eyes, and knocked on Sally's door. I exhaled, steadying my breathing. The door opened and Sally greeted me with a smiling face.

"Annabeth! It's good to see you! Is Percy not with you? Or Sophia?"

I forced a small smile.

"No, they're not with me, Sally."

She waved her hand in a dismissive manner.

"Well, that doesn't matter. Come on in!"

She ushered me inside to the living room.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked, standing in front of the kitchen. She was clearly waiting on a response. I shook my head.

"No, I'm good. Thank you."

Sally brushed her hands off and sat on the couch, opposite of me. She studied me intently, deciding I had come with bad news.

"What's wrong? Are you and Percy okay?"

She placed a hand on my knee, as if to reassure me that everything would be okay. I pursed my lips. My throat seemed dry now.

"Ah, well, Sally. Uh, the thing is – Percy is. . . he's dead."

I looked for Sally's reaction. She blinked several times, processing the words. Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes, making their way from their ducts and down to her cheeks. As I watched her, the realization of the news I brought suddenly hit me. I joined Sally with the crying. Percy – my husband, my best friend, the love of my life – was dead. There was nothing I could do to bring him back.

"I'm. . . sorry, Sally. I'm sorry. He's dead and I don't know where Sophia is. She ran off."

I didn't know what else to say. What else was there? Sally cared about Percy and Sophia just as much as I did. Sally cried out in anguish and fell onto me. I embraced her and we shared in the pain.

After we had cleaned ourselves up, Sally began asking questions.

"Where did Sophia run off from? When? How did you find out about Percy?"

I answered every question. Sally eventually tried to convince me to help her search for Sophia.

"No, Sally, it's too dangerous. If you knew everything that was going on right now – "

Sally cut me off.

"Annabeth, I am a mortal who can see through the mist. I can see the danger. Percy's given me quite a few weapons to defend myself over the years. If anything, it would be less dangerous for me than for you. The monsters won't be attracted to a mortal's scent."

Ah yes, logic – Athena's greatest strength and greatest weakness. I sighed.

"What about Paul?"

Sally waved her hands around excitedly.

"Bah! Don't you worry about Paul. That man loves me, I can get away with anything."

I sighed and clenched my jaw. Sally's eyes pierced through me and her face showed pure determination. I wasn't going to talk her out of this.

"Fine, we can do this. To be quite honest, though. I have no idea where to start searching."

CARTER POV

"Carter!"

"Carter!"

I snapped out of my trance. My sister stood in front of me, arms folded across her chest. She wore an exasperated smirk on her face.

"Finally, I've been calling your name for, like, thirty minutes, bro. What's up with you? Let's talk, M'kay? You said we were gonna talk, but we haven't talked. I for one, am ready to talk. So, talk."

I placed my palm to my forehead to lessen the pounding in my head. Had to love her sass.

"Are you trying to see how many times you can say 'talk' before you annoy me? It's working. And I've been begging you to stop calling me 'bro' since we were six."

Sadie rolled her eyes and walked into the room, leaning on my desk. She gazed at me sternly as I rolled around a bit in my desk. I grimaced in pain as the voices in my head grew louder.

It is almost time, Carter. Only one can survive. One world, one vision.

"Okay, fine. Look, Sadie, I've been hearing voices. It's like, a bunch of gods in my head. I don't even know some of them. They're all from different religions, though. Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, Navajo, Dutch. All these deities are yelling at me all day. I've got migraines and I keep seeing things."

I clutched my head and hit the table. The pain grew worse every day. Sadie looked worried now. She came around the table and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"What are they saying? What are you seeing?"

"I'm seeing that prophecy, Sadie. Percy is dead, Sadie. He burned in that fiery tree from the Prophecy. I watched him die."

"That's just a vision, Carter, that could mean anything – "

I shook my head.

"Anubis confirmed it."

Now she seemed angry.

"You've been talking to Anubis?"

I was in too much pain to get caught up in an argument right now.
"He stopped by. Once. Today. He asked me to apologize. And here's the thing, Sadie. He wasn't using Walt as a host. He was completely free. He was manifesting his own body. It's like the rules don't apply anymore."

That seemed to dispel Sadie's anger.

"What are you saying, Carter?"

I shook my head. I wasn't sure. The voices grew louder, still.

One. One. One. One.

My eyes grew wide. I started putting all the pieces together.

"Oh, shit. Sadie, I've got it. The gods – every single one from every single culture that still recognizes them – are going to fight each other for control of the world and Ran intends to take out the competition. She's figured out some way to rile the gods up. You and I are the only ones that can stop her!"

"Why just you and me?" Sadie asked. Valid question, too.

"I- I don't know. Just something Anubis said. He told me that we were stronger in a different way than Percy or the others. We know Magic. Yes, they use magic, but us, Sadie – we know magic. Percy might could take down a few gods or goddesses, but they'll easily overpower him. Magic is the only way to combat them without having to get close. We're a very important part of this Prophecy, Sadie. We need to find Annabeth!"

I jumped up. The gods kept shouting in my head.

Do not interfere, Carter! ONE! ONE! ONE! ONE!

I took one step forward and blacked out.