The Blood of Olympus (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter Nine

Annabeth Chase

They'd been traveling for nearly an hour and still hasn't reached Edessa. Annabeth was getting antsy and she could feel herself begin to stress over the situation. 'You're going to be fine.' She told herself trying to keep calm and not over react.

'No you're not.' The voice echoed in the back of her head again. It seemed at some points the voice was talking more than her actual thoughts. It was a constant battle in between her and the voices over whose thoughts were processed in her brain and this time the voices were winning.

'Shut up.' She nearly said aloud, but kept to herself. She didn't want to sound insane.

"You alright Annabeth?" Percy asked her, wrapping a gently arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, fine." She said quietly as she could. They stood in the hallway of the Argo II. The one place where there was no windows only doorways. The one place Annabeth personally found comforting. It was enclosed and showed nothing of the outside world. The wall was wide enough so she didn't feel like she was suffocating and it light enough so the darkness didn't kill her.

"Percy. Do you think we'll win this war?" Annabeth asked him. She didn't know why she was doubting the demigods in this war. She just felt something different this time. Only, she truly hoped that they would win, but something was setting her off. It could be Gaea, she knew she was screwing with her head, causing the voices to attack her very thoughts-the unnerving voices that taunted her every second of the day.

"Why would you think that?" Percy asked her. His face turned sour as he pondered on the question.

"I don't know." She responded with hesitation.

"You hear them too. The voices" He said his voice monotone.

"Yes." Annabeth responded, "I can't stand them. They tell me these awful things and they make me...me..." Annabeth trailed off-the voices entering her head.

"Kill yourself?" The voice eternally smirked.

"I know what you mean, Annabeth let's head up to deck." Annabeth looked at Percy as he helped her up from the floor.

Once they reached the top deck they were welcomed by pounding rain, thunder, lightning, and Frank and Hazel. Both of the demigods looked nearly fully healed, but had a distant look in their eye-like something awful had happened, scarring even, while they were retrieving Ceto's Jewel. Annabeth nodded to the demigods who were standing just barely in the thunderstorm.

"You guys ready for this?" Jason asked the six other demigods on board.

Annabeth nodded quickly, she was ready to get the cup and keep it away from Gaea so she couldn't rise. As the boat landed in the mud of the old Greek temples-every demigod filed off the ship quickly-ready to beat Gaea to her Chalice of Life. Annabeth made her trek with Percy following her closing-guarding her backside.

She could already hear the monsters screams inside her head, she could already imagine the monsters crawling around-attacking every opposing enemy in sight. It was like the end of the of world. Old Greek temples were crumbling and broken around the grounds. She glanced at Percy briefly then to the rest of crew. Annabeth couldn't imagine living without any of her friends, especially Percy.

"Which temple should we look at for the cup?" Piper asked.

Hazel looked over to her and responded, "The one on the top of the hill. I can feel it."

Annabeth nodded in response. She knew that Hazel could tell the cup was in that temple, assuming that it was made out of precious metals. The journey up the hill was exhausting. The heat and humidity of Greece made Annabeth's clothing and hair stick to her body. Frustrated, she took the hair already pulled back into a ponytail and wrapped it up higher into a bun, keeping the hair from sticking to her neck.

Once they had reached the temple, the energy from the seven became tense. She knew that they weren't ready for something like this, not after recent encounters. The demigod world was intense, and if they failed to get this cup before Gaea did, the world would come crumbling down, in storm or fire, not inflicted by demigods, but rather Mother Earth.

"Here we are." Jason breathed, he was also sticky and sweaty.

"Let's break off into groups, three of us go into the temple and the other stay outside and guard any oncoming enemies." Piper interjected, "Jason, myself, Hazel, and Frank will stay out here and guard. You, Perce, and Leo can find the cup.''

Annabeth nodded in agreement and the three demigods headed into the temple. They were greeted by nothing. Not a single monster stood in their way from entering the temple. Annabeth was getting anxious standing next to Percy and Leo, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did and that put her on edge. Taking out her drakon bone sword, which she had held into like her own backbone, Annabeth prepared to meet anything that came her direction. Percy and Leo followed suit, taking out their weapons.

A sudden growl ripped through the silent temple and out from a hidden doorway, came four large hellhounds looking for an afternoon meal. Annabeth narrowed her eyes an spun her sword before attacking the dogs as they kept forward.

To avoid loosing her right arm, Annabeth swung to the left and rolled. The hellhound retaliated and came back, teeth gnashing. She quickly flashed her sword and stabbed the dog in the neck, ending the battle quickly. She turned and watched Percy briefly fight off an finish his hellhound off, while Leo fought off two, barely. Rushing to his aid, Annabeth came around the back of the dog and stabbed the nape of the neck turning it into dust just as he other one did. 

"Woah." Leo commented.

"Thanks." Annabeth responded with a grin.

"No, not you." Leo said easing his finger towards a chest that had just appeared, "That."

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And yes this chapter is short and the update was long overdue, but I'm tired and this looks like a good stopping point.

Bye!