𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 (Annabeth X Malereader)

[6] Percy's f̶l̶a̶w̶e̶d̶ flawless plan

He opened the trap door and stepped into the attic. The room was dark and dusty and cluttered with junk. There were shields with monster bites out of them, and swords bent in the shapes of daemon heads, and a bunch of taxidermy, like a stuffed harpy and a bright orange python. Over by the window, sitting on a three-legged stool, was the shrivelled-up mummy of an old lady in a tie-dyed hippie dress. The Oracle.

Y/N swallowed in seeing her shrivelled up face. He had heard the horror stories from Percy himself, about how horrifying it was. But he certainly didn't expect this.

"Hi," He said. "Uh, what's up?" Y/N winced at how stupid that sounded. Not much could be "up" when you're dead and stuck in the attic. But he knew the spirit of the Oracle was in there somewhere. He could feel a cold presence in the room, like a coiled sleeping snake.

"I need an answer," he said a little louder. "I need to know about Annabeth. How can I save her?"

No answer. The sun slanted through the dirty attic window, lighting the dust motes dancing in the air.

"All right," Y/N said. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself."

He turned and bumped into a big table full of souvenirs. Old quest trophies. Broken weapons. Painful memories. The he noticed a pink silk scarf with a label attached to it. Y/N picked up the tag and tried to read it: SCARF OF THE GODDESS APHRODITE RECOVERED AT WATERLAND, DENVER, CO., BY ANNABETH CHASE AND Y/N.

He stared at the scarf in disbelief. Y/N totally forgotten about it. Two years ago, Annabeth had ripped this scarf out of his hands and said: 'Oh, no. No love magic for you yet!' And yet here it was. "She'd kept it all this time? And why had she stashed it in the attic?" Y/N thought, confused.

He turned to the mummy. She hadn't moved, but the shadows across her face made it look like she was smiling gruesomely. He dropped the scarf and tried not to run toward the exit.

.

.

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That night after dinner, It was time for capture the flag. It was going to be a small game: only fourteen Hunters, including Bianca di Angelo, and about the same number of campers. Zoe Nightshade looked pretty upset. She kept glancing resentfully at Chiron, like she couldn't believe he was making her do this. The other Hunters didn't look too happy, either. Unlike last night, they weren't laughing or joking around. They just huddled together in the dining pavilion, whispering nervously to each other as they strapped on their armour. Some of them even looked like they'd been crying. Y/N had a feeling Zoe had told them her dream.

On his team, he had Beckendorf and two other Hephaestus guys, a few from the Ares cabin, the Stoll brothers and Nico from Hermes cabin, and a few Aphrodite kids. It was a little weird that the Aphrodite cabin wanted to play. Usually, they sat on the sidelines, chatted, and checked their reflections in the river, but when they heard the campers were fighting the Hunters, they were raring to go.

"I'll show them 'love is worthless,'" Silena Beauregard grumbled as she strapped on her armour. "I'll pulverize them!"

"Alright everyone! Y/N is team captain, so we need to listen to him!" Thalia said. They all turned to Y/N, who was fiddling with his armour. He looked up, confused.

"Huh? I am? I mean... of course I am!" Y/N grinned. He glanced at Thalia, making sure not to look at Aegis. "You can do offence. Me and Percy can do defence." Thalia nodded. Percy seemed a little annoyed.

"Don't you think with her shield and all, she'd be better defence?" Percy said.

"Well, I was thinking it would make better offense," Y/N said. "Besides, you've had more practice at defence." He laughed a little and stopped after seeing Percy's face.