I'm sorry, Annabeth

Annabeth III

Chiron came galloping over when he saw Annabeth and Thalia. Percy was tagging along beside him.

Annabeth bit her lip when she saw him.

What was she supposed to say?

"What happened? Why were you shouting?" Chiron immediately asked the two girls for the details. Percy nodded in agreement.

"It's that... they want war." Thalia stammered.

Chiron's eyebrows furrowed as he sighed deeply.

"Percy, Thalia, tell the others to prepare for battle."

Percy was a bit suspicious, but he merely nodded and ran with Thalia to find the other demigods.

"Annabeth, if there is anything else, don't feel so bad about it. It's not your fault that Luke turned to Kronos's side."

Gee, thanks, Chiron. Annabeth thought. The problem is I'm worried what would they do to Percy during the war between Kronos's side and camp half-blood.

She turned to the enemy. Her brain was packed with questions. How did the monsters get through the barrier? Why would they want Percy? What does Kronos want?

But then, it wasn't the time to answer these questions. She needed a battle strategy.

When they enter, firstly, they would definitely send the monsters. Luke is the kind of person who likes to first weaken his enemy, then fight. So, we have to send the best monster-battling demigods first. Then, we fight his army.

What happened next just felt like seconds.

Annabeth was correct. He first sent the monsters. Luckily, Jason, Thalia, Nico, Frank and Percy got those monsters finished in a few minutes. Jason flew over the empousai and shot lightning on her head and she disappeared almost immediately, Thalia shot an arrow into a hellhound's eye, distracted it and let Nico suck it back to the underworld, Percy summoned water and finished the fire-breathing monster, and Frank turned into a lion and helped his four friends to finish the monsters. Easy enough.

Then the demigods. So many familiar faces. It made Annabeth sorry to hurt them, let alone kill them. But there was a problem.

Every time they killed a few demigods, more came back.

And the biggest problem was, the same people came back.

Annabeth could basically hear Percy yelling "Hey, I killed you just now, a few seconds ago!" when she stabbed a demigod whom she suspect was from the Hecate cabin.

Wait a minute...

Hecate.

What could Hecate do?

Think, Annabeth! Think!

Hecate, magic...lesser gods...

Should have read it somewhere...

Mist!

Then it dawned to her.

"Everyone! We're being fooled!"

But nobody heard her.

There wasn't even anyone there beside her.

"Hey, anyone...?"

"Annabeth!"

It was Percy.

"Percy! Where are you?"

"Here!"

She followed his voice.

"Percy?!"

"Here, here, you're getting closer."

Then she saw him.

"Oh, Percy." She sighed in relief.

"Annabeth." He hugged her. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah."

"Any idea what's happening?"

"The Mist." She gulped. Percy looked confused for a moment, then realization dawned on him, and he nodded.

"I see..."

"Where are the others?" Annabeth was starting to get worried. What has Luke done to her friends?

She hated being oblivious.

She also hated people suddenly appearing behind her.

"Annie. Isn't this fun?" Luke suddenly appeared behind Annabeth, holding a knife against her neck. Annabeth felt a rush of cold fear in her body. His sudden appearance scared the living Tartarus out of Annabeth.

Curse the Hecate cabin demigods who turned to Kronos's side.

Curse the mist.

Percy was dazed with such shock, he had to rub his eyes for three times before realizing what was happening.

"Annabeth!" he cried. Then he saw Luke.

"Luke! Put that knife down!"

"Do you want to know what I did to your dear friends?" Luke grinned evilly, swinging his own sword easily with his free hand.

Annabeth gasped.

Every camp member was severely injured, even Thalia, Jason, Piper... all of them. There was so much blood Annabeth had to advert her gaze in order to prevent herself not to feel sick.

But then, she saw through Luke's plan.

Percy's fatal flaw:

Loyalty

Annabeth can already see the look of horror in Percy's eyes.

"You-you could heal them, right?" He asked in a small voice.

"Yes." Luke was already smirking in satisfaction. Obviously his plan was working. "Didn't Miss Annie tell you? I didn't want a war, I only wanted you."

Percy looked at Annabeth.

"Percy, I didn't-"

He smiled weakly and shook his head.

"It's not your fault, Wise Girl. I understand."

"Percy, don't you dare go follow Luke!" Tears were streaming down Annabeth's cheeks. She was so desperate she didn't even care. "We-we could heal them! Don't-"

Luke just had to destroy everything.

He pushed his knife to make a shallow cut on Annabeth's throat. She winced softly. Annabeth could clearly feel the thin line of blood rolling down her neck.

"If the injuries of your friends is not enough to make you to accept our deal, Percy Jackson, then I will kill her." He said simply.

That's it.

Percy immediately dropped Riptide on the floor and put both his hand in the air.

"I'm yours to take. Just set them all free and heal them all."

Luke let go of Annabeth and ordered the Apollo demigods to heal all the camp members.

She ran to Percy.

"Don't go." Annabeth pleaded. "Do you know what they'll do to you? They'll kill you. Then, I'm going to be all alone, and..."

Percy hugged her.

"Annabeth, calm down. I'll be back as soon as I can." He smiled. It's like Percy was just going for a scout camp. Annabeth cried into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth." He said, and he kissed her softly before pushing her away.

Annabeth watched helplessly as they took him away.

The trap.

It always started with a trap.