A Tale of Gods and Magic

Annabeth: Return of the Freckles

A/N enjoy my pitiful excuse for a chapter.

Pain. It bloomed all over her body, pulsating. Colors flickered on her closed eyelids, rich crimsons and pale whites and shimmering golds. She tried to reach through the mesh of colors, to reach consciousness, but she felt as though her entire body was being dragged across a cheese grater. She whimpered, and fell back into sleep.

A few hours later, Annabeth awoke to the sound of muted voices.

“Potions… should be better… “

“Ambrosia… “

“Can’t eat while she’s sleeping… “

“Choke… “

Annabeth flicked her eyes open to an up-close view of Percy’s face. Though his face was quite pleasant from afar, a zoomed-in view of his left nostril wasn’t quite as pleasing to the eye. Annabeth, with surprise, observed a few freckles on his nose.

“Oh, hi.” Percy drew back.

“Oh, Percy, your freckles are coming back!” Annabeth said, a little too loud. Percy squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment. She immediately brought the attention off Percy by asking a more relevant question.

“How long was I asleep?” Annabeth’s voice was raspy against her throat. She sat up and looked around. Percy, Piper, and Will were crowded around her bed. Piper and Will were arguing in hushed tones.

Annabeth was in a long room filled with uniform beds, all fitted with the same starched white sheets tangled around her waist. Many students were curled in the beds, most dozing.

Each bedside table had a different array of concoctions. One bottle was shaped like a skeleton. On the bedside table a few beds over was a Hello Kitty teakettle with clouds of magenta smoke swirling above it. The smoke, reminiscent of the emerald mist from earlier, lazily formed a heart, then a cat head.

“Six hours,” Percy said and Annabeth snapped back to attention. So she hadn’t been asleep for too long.

“Was anyone else hurt?”

“Well, a lot of people are in the same state you’re in. But hey, we’re in a wizarding school, so they have solutions for everything!” Percy laughed half-heartedly. “apparently school’s postponed for another day. Too many people got the weird smoke.”

“What was that anyway? Some potions malfunction? We did get cauldrons, so maybe-”

“Ambrosia.” Annabeth was cut off by Will’s gruff voice.

Percy rolled his eyes.

“Guy’s got his eyes set on a job at the infirmary, I guess.” Percy grasped her hand and sat down on the bed.

Annabeth was, against her will, spoon-fed some ambrosia and nectar. Percy bit his lip in an effort to keep in a laugh. His face looked strangely like it had been pummeled by a few vicious tomatoes. She didn’t comment.

“How’re you feeling? I slept for a little, too, but I didn’t get a full faceful of the mist. Apparently, McGonagall is investigating it,” said Piper. She brushed a stray lock of hair from her face anxiously. “I think we need to get in on the action.”

“It’s a little strange that we get abducted on the way here, and then are attacked when we get to the school, isn’t it? If I hadn’t been there when she, um, died, I’d be convinced that Gaea was coming back to haunt us.” Annabeth shuddered at the thought.

“No way. That can’t be true. We were so sure… “

Suddenly, Jason busted through the infirmary doors. They slammed shut behind him, waking up all the bed-bound students in the process. A woman in a nurse’s uniform-Madam Pomfrey-burst out of the little office in the back of the infirmary, clucking. But Jason pushed past until he reached the bed where Annabeth lay.

“What’s going on, Grace?” Percy asked. Jason leaned over and rested his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

“Nico… “ Jason stopped for another long breath. “he’s gone!”

Annabeth swung her legs out of the bed.

“Where’s my knife?” she asked.