Chapter Twenty-One

Yeah, This Sucks

Annabeth POV

My stomach churned as the headlines flashed through my vision.

"Annabeth, who is that guy?"

I turned and noticed Carter's floating head was still present. His forehead wrinkled as he stared at me, waiting for something. Anything.

"That's Carter. Egyptian Deity follower, Magician

"Oh."

I rubbed circles on my index fingers with my thumbs as I thought about the implications and the course of action we should take. This was not what I expected. If there was a Nid on the Empire State Building, does that mean Grendel could control all the gods of Olympus? Weren't the gods already fighting to the death? Suddenly it clicked with me.

"Oh, gods!" I exclaimed. "Guys, Ran is going to place Nids everywhere to be able to control the gods from every religion. If she controls all the gods then she can cherry pick which gods are the most powerful and use them to her advantage. That's why she has the gods fighting each other right now! It's a distraction so they won't stop her placing the curses and it allows her to see which god is the strongest."

It was kind of a dumb plan, if I'm being honest, but also diabolical. There were so many moving parts and she implemented so many red herrings just to throw us off the trail of her true plan. I glanced down at Sophia who was staring at the wall. Gods, this had to be so much for her to take in. Instinctively, my hand reached up to her head and started rubbing her hair to comfort her. She snapped out of her trance and glanced up at me with her beautiful sea-green eyes. I smiled at her, although I could feel my lips trembling. I bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"We'll figure this out Sophie," I reassured her. I took a deep breath and collected my final thoughts.

"Carter, you and Sadie meet us at the Empire State Building. I'll figure out the full extent of my plan on the way."

Carter nodded and his image disappeared. I turned to the group we had assembled. A couple of middle-aged adults, one literal child, and Percy's retirement age mother. I don't gamble but I'd say our odds were about plus eight million. A great bet if you had an extra dollar you wouldn't miss.

"Sally, can you take care of Sophia for me? I don't want to take her with us. It's too dangerous."

Sally nodded as Sophia gripped my body tighter and dug her face into my side.

"Don't leave me mommy, please."

I could feel my shirt dampening as Sophia pleaded with me. I stuck my hands under her armpits and lifted her into my lap where I could look into her face directly.

"Listen to me Sophia. I want you to be safe, okay? We're going somewhere dangerous that children shouldn't be. Now, I love you, but I just want to keep you safe."

Sophia coughed down a couple of tears as she studied my face, seemingly trying to take in every detail.

"Promise me you'll come back?" She asked.

I sighed. I wanted to reassure her, but I didn't want to lie.

"Sophia. I can't promise anything other than I'll do everything in my power to make it back to you. And when I do, we'll go for ice cream."

I hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go. I wished I could just curl up into a ball next to her and Percy and pretend like we weren't half-bloods and that the world would keep on spinning. But I had a duty. I handed Sophia over to Sally and stood up.

"Alright, guys. Let's go destroy the Empire State Building."