Percy Jackson: Trouble In The Land Beyond The Gods

"Scared?"

Annabeth's POV

My eyes subconsciously trailed after Percy as he walked away from Jason's motionless body, his clothes soaked with the spilled blood. I quickly turned back to Thalia.

"Jason's going to be fine Thalia." I consoled her, "I mean, they don't call call us determined for nothing."

She gave me a small smile, though her eyes wandered away as she stared sadly at Jason, "I just got him back, Annie - losing family hurts and I think both of by now should know this."

I felt a pang in my chest and winced, not meeting Thalia's gaze. Her eyes widened as she realised what she had said.

"Oh Hades, sorry Annie! I didn't mean to say it like that!" She stammered, "I'm sorry!"

"Don't be." I gave her a tight-lipped grin but it felt more like a grimace, "I'm going to help clean up the mess."

I turned in the direction I had just seen Percy walk, biting my tongue as I hurried away from her.

Percy's back was towards me as I walked into the room. He was digging around in one of the chests, assumably searching for something to clean up the puddle of blood with. I coughed, while I had intended it to be a quiet sound, it echoed around loudly in the deafening silence.

Percy's reaction was immediate; he jumped in shock, his head bashing against the lid of the chest as it crashed shut. He cursed and rubbed his head, twisting around and fiercely glaring at me.

"You scared me, Chase." He said icily, straightening up as he folded his arms.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Serves you right, coward." I spat.

"Avoiding two-faced gods and protecting the two camps doesn't sound like cowardice to me," He distastefully regarded me. "Besides, who jumped into Tartarus for you again? I'm pretty sure it wasn't Thalia or Piper - oh, yeah! It was me!"

I stiffened, he had me there.

He chuckled darkly and turned back to the chest, burying his head once again in his search for supplies, "Shouldn't Leo have this stuff in his belt?"

I nodded worriedly, "He does, but he uses it on the engines." I turned around and opened a cupboard, pulling out a mop and a bucket, "But we have plenty, you just aren't looking in the right place."

He turned around to face me, narrowing his eyes at the objects in my hands. He sighed, "I never seem to, do I?" He continued muttering to himself in a way that meant I wasn't supposed to hear, but I heard anyway, "Especially in my taste of women and guys. I swear, if Castellan hadn't told me to do this I'd be far away from this mythological mess. Far away."

He walked over to where I stood, the air around me suddenly feeling colder. I inched away from him, my blood cold from the news I had just processed.

Percy agilely ducked past me, he reached into the cupboard I had opened mere moments ago and pulled out a bright yellow bottle and a blue sponge, "Multi-Surface cleaning detergent." He shrugged, "I got it at Camp Jupiter a few years ago, 'said it was particularly good for cleaning up blood."

I backed away from him as he strode past me. It was unfortunately an obvious move and he snorted, "Scared?"

I shook my head defiantly, "Never."

His eyes darkened as he smirked evilly, "You should be."