ANNABETH CHASE FOLLOWED THE BOY NAMED PERCY AND THE GIRL WITH POINTED EARS THROUGH THE DOOR, AND INTO THE NEXT ROOM. But once she entered, she saw that it could hardly be called a room. The walls stretched up into the sky, the eternal dome serving as the only ceiling.
She wanted to stop, and look at it in awe. But the small crowd behind her pushed her forwards, forcing her to keep moving. Annabeth did so silently, not trusting anyone enough to talk to them.
The pointed-ears girl was kneeling in the center of the 'room', facing a wooden stage. But it was empty. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at the sight, but didn't say anything; she was too confused to fully evaluate.
The small group crowded behind the kneeling girl. Some were staring in awe at the sky (Annabeth overheard a girl with red-tipped dark hair release an impressive curse word), but most were staring at the girl on the ground.
For some reason, Annabeth found herself searching through the crowd until her eyes met a familiar pair of sea-green ones. Percy was staring right back at her. The connection felt strangely familiar, but she forced herself to sever it by looking away.
And blinked in surprise. The once empty stage now held a man with a beard dressed in an impressive suit. He looked at the group with a look of superiority. Annabeth disliked him immediately.
"Who are you?" asked the girl who had introduced herself as Thalia. She crossed her arms, and glared angrily at the man.
His eyes flashed like lightning. "I am Zeus, king of the gods."
No one seemed to have a response to that. Then, Percy asked, "Why are we here?"
"Because I summoned you here. You are all demigods, and are to be a part of the Demigod Games."
"That doesn't count as an answer because I don't know what you're talking about," retorted Percy.
Annabeth, much to her own surprise, smiled. She forced the facial expression off her face before anyone could see, and adopted her look of stony calculation.
Zeus narrowed his eyes at the boy. "The Demigod Games are part of a peace treaty signed between the gods and Gaea. It ended what would have been a devastating war. Twenty-four demigods are to enter an arena. Only one will leave."
"I don't suppose that means the rest of us found a nice place to settle down," muttered the boy named Leo.
The king of the gods now glared at him, but Leo did not appear to be remotely frightened. Instead, he had the audacity to look bored.
"It will be a fight to the death," Zeus continued in his deep voice, "leaving only one demigod as a survivor, and victor."
Annabeth stared at him with stunned surprise. Out of everyone that was forced to come here, only one would still be alive afterwards. They rest would be dead. It could be her.
Everyone else seemed to reach the same conclusion at the same time Annabeth did. Several noises filled the room, varying from desperate cries to defiant shouts. But she just stood there with a horrible reality crashing over her.
"You made us come here just to kill us?" asked the dark-haired girl that Annabeth had earlier overheard cursing.
Zeus held up his hand, silently commanding them all to fall silent. But not one person obliged. Even Annabeth had joined in with the angry voices. She repeated the demands along with the rest of them.
Thunder rumbled, the jarringly loud noise finally silencing the group. But it did nothing to stop the glares shot at the man on the stage.
"Your anger was expected," Zeus continued calmly, as if the outburst had not just occurred.
YOU ARE READING
A Game of Promises
Fanfiction" But a game of promises is a difficult game to play. Especially when there's so much to loose " A Heroes of Olympus dystopian in which... ~Gaea was never defeated ~Leo Valdez was never killed ~The gods never won the war, and Gaea did The Demigod Ga...
