The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

40. Another Chess Piece Into Play

A perfect day to get off the rails, Y/N thought.

He climbed on board the chariot and got into position just as Chiron blew the starting signal.

He and Annabeth shot down the track so fast he almost fell out. Annabeth had wrapped her arms in the leather reins. The wheels glided beautifully—she really had done some great work. They took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot.

"We've got them!" Y/N yelled, but he spoke too soon.

"Incoming!" Annabeth yelled. Indeed, next to their chariot came Percy and Tyson's.

If Annabeth had done great work on their chariot, Tyson had done better. The Poseidon chariot gleamed with bronze reinforcements. The wheels were realigned with magical suspension so they glided along with hardly a bump. The rigging for the horse was so perfectly balanced that the team turned at the slightest tug of the reins from Percy.

Tyson threw a lead-weighted net that would have entangled Y/N and Annabeth if she hadn't tugged the reins on the right at once. Unlucky, now they had Apollo's chariot up on their flank. Before Y/N could do anything, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into the right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of the spokes. The chariot lurched and wobbled. Y/N was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but they somehow kept going.

They were neck and neck with Apollo. Poseidon was ahead. Hephaestus was coming close behind. Ares and Hermes were falling behind, riding side by side as Clarisse went sword-on-javelin with Connor Stoll.

"You're mine!" the driver from Apollo yelled. He was a first-year camper. Y/N didn't remember his name, but he sure was confident.

"Yeah, right!" Y/N yelled back.

He grabbed the javelin the Apollo fighter was aiming, pulling to try to topple the guy out of his chariot. It wasn't that easy and, soon, he was standing precariously on the railings of both chariots with the Apollo fighter. They both tried to swing each other away.

"Y/N, hurry!" Annabeth shouted. "Next turn ahead!"

At once Y/N jumped inside Apollo's chariot. He grabbed the fighter's ankle and flipped him over. The guy crashed and rolled over on the ground. Then Y/N grasped round the waist the driver and forced him to let go of the reins.

Just before the Apollo chariot went crashing randomly, Y/N jumped back behind the Athena. As he landed the half-destroyed wheel creaked dangerously, but it kept on.

Right next to Y/N and Annabeth's chariot, Hermes's one sped by. Nobody was in it anymore, and the horses raced madly toward the campers around the track, who scattered, yelling.

Glancing back, Y/N saw where the Stoll brothers were; they had jumped into Hephaestus's chariot and they were now all fighting for the control of the chariot.

"One last lap!" Annabeth yelled.

Already? Y/N thought.

The axle creaked and moaned. The wobbling wheel was making them lose speed.

Ares's chariot hurried past them, right toward Poseidon's. Tyson threw javelins randomly as Clarisse tried without success to jam one into a wheel.

Then they all took a turn, and the Ares driver must've taken it too quickly, because Ares's chariot slammed into Poseidon's. As a result, Poseidon's chariot swerved, allowing Athena's to pass it, and Ares's crashed to the side of the track.

Remained one problem: the Hephaestus chariot.

Beckendorf and his brother had got rid of the Stoll brothers and were catching up.