Lost

39

"Annabeth?" I whispered softly as I felt wind whip all around me. Strong arms were grasping me closer. Had I reached the Underworld? Was Annabeth embracing me once again?

"What? No."

My eyes instantly shot open as I peered up at the person holding me. The dude had curly black hair and was wearing a look of disgust.

"Who are you?" I asked as I peered down. I instantly tensed up. "Are we falling from Olympus?!"

The man laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I've gotta. You took quite a fall, though. Did you trip?"

I shook my head. "No, I jumped."

"Whatcha do that for?" he asked.

"That—that doesn't matter. Who even are you?" I asked skeptically as I glared at him. He was dressed in a Greek style outfit and had huge wings supporting us.

He grinned. "I'm Zephyros, god of the West Wind. I take shifts guarding the Olympus air space and I was on shift when I caught you. Way more interesting than those seagulls...those sky rats!"

"Uh, thanks?" I asked. "Could you—could you let me fall?"

"Not if I wanted to. Not part of my contract," Zephyros replied. "You have a deathwish, kid? What do you stress about, Disney Junior TV shows?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm seventeen, and no. It's...it's my girlfriend. Annabeth Chase...she died..."

Zephyros snorted. "No, she didn't! What're you talking about?"

My eyes widened as I stared at Zephyros, who still smiling idiotically. "Yes, she did. My friend....my friend, Reyna, told me."

"Oh, that Arachne is a tricky one. You know, she tried to recruit me? Everyone wants a piece of Zephyros..." he murmured. Then she shook his head. "Anyways, Arachne staged it so Reyna would tell you that and you would do something stupid. Which you did. But Arachne didn't think of old Zephyros, did she?"

"Wait...you mean Arachne tricked Reyna? You mean Annabeth...she's still alive?" I whispered.

Zephyros nodded. "Yeah, and feisty, too. You know I knew her when she was a baby? I carried her down to her mortal parent. Athena's orders, of course. Personally, I think she should do it, but that Annabeth seemed like a nice kid—"

"Fly me to her!" I begged. "Please, I need to rejoin my friends...I've make a terrible mistake!"

Zephyros furrowed his eyebrows at me and shrugged. "I'm not technically flying, just controlling the winds, but alright. Gotcha. I haven't had much action in a while, and my shift's almost over anyways...."

Zephyros blabbed on annoyingly, but I didn't let it bother me. All that mattered was that Annabeth was alive and I was going to go see her. And if listening to Zephyros talk about how he should've been ruler of the gods, I could bare it.