𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

The Ghost King

"Something was wrong with Luke," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"

"No, because we couldn't see anything," Grayson sassed.

Annabeth glared at him.

"He looked pretty pleased to me," Percy said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked...nervous. He told his monsters to spare Y/n and me. Luke wanted to tell us something."

"Probably, 'Hi, girls! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart," I mimicked. "It'll be fun!'"

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled.

She sheathed her dagger.

"So which way now, Picasso?" I asked her.

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She'd burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly.

"We'll follow the path," she said."The brightness on the floor."

"Nice drawing," I complimented.

"Thanks. Nice nickname."

"So, we follow the brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.

"Lay off her, Annabeth," Grayson said. "She's doing the best she can."

Annabeth stood. "The fire's getting low. I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy."

And she marched off into the shadows. Rachel drew another figure with her stick—an ashy Antaeus dangling from his chains.

"Annabeth's usually not like this," Grayson told her. "I don't know what her problem is."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Boys," she muttered. "Totally blind."

"I know, right!" I groaned. "Four years I've been flirting with this one for him to realize, like, two days ago!"

"Hey!" Percy hugged me from behind tightly, resting his head on my shoulder. He then turned to Rachel. "Look, I'm sorry I got you involved in this."

"No, you were right," she said. "I can see the path. I can't explain it, but it's really clear." She pointed toward the other end of the room, into the darkness. "The workshop is that way. The heart of the maze. We're very close now. I don't know why the path led through that arena. I—I'm sorry about that. I thought you were going to die."

She sounded like she was close to crying.

"Hey, don't feel bad," Percy promised. "I'm usually about to die."

I nodded. "That's true. I've had to keep him from doing so many times. Grayson?"

Grayson nodded eagerly. "Very true."

She studied her drawing. "So you do this every summer? Fight monsters? Save the world? Don't you ever get to do just, you know, normal stuff?"

I'd never really thought about it like that. The last time I'd had something like a normal life had been...well, never.

"Half-bloods get used to it, I guess. Or maybe not used to it, but..." I shifted uncomfortably. "What about you? What do you do normally?"

Rachel shrugged. "I paint. I read a lot."