BLURRED | Annabeth Chase

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The room was silent as Percy slowly read the prophecy that Rachel had given him, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. It took over a minute, most likely due to his dyslexia, but he finally looked up, his eyes the same shade of sea green.

"These are cheery," Percy said darkly, apparently unaware of the intense energy that was being emitted from him. Nico couldn't help but sink deeper into his chair, as if that would somehow make him disappear. "Death's daughter has to be Hazel. And if the lost is Annabeth, then that means she'll return, right?"

Nico's heart skipped a beat as he tried to keep his breathing even. The words written on that paper were about his sister, and the last time a prophecy predicted his sister's future had caused more trauma than the quest had been worth, at least in Nico's case.

"And someone will die," Thalia said bluntly, ignoring Nico's flinch, "possibly two people if the warrior and love are separate. Which is dangerous because I'm pretty sure Hazel loves all of you."

Nico's head ached more than the pain in his heart, and it was almost better to feel a new pain that wasn't dictated by Will's absence. Nothing would be better than falling asleep right then.

Percy was talking now, and Nico struggled to pay attention. Not that it mattered if he listened or not; both Hazel and Will would still be gone with no promise of either returning. "My father spoke to me before we left Ogygia."

Piper vocalized the shock felt by the room: "Wait, a god actually spoke to you? Not in a dream, but real life?"

"Even a dream would be unheard of," Frank muttered. With no more than a glance, Nico could see that Frank was every bit as worried about Hazel as Nico, possibly more. Dark circles were etched beneath his eyes, which stared at something in the distance.

"Yeah," continued Percy, "he told me that Athena has a plan, and that the gods are acting on it. The gods are planning on replacing themselves with their children, and my dad said he chose me. And several of my friends were selected, too. They have a plan, and they're going to fully carry it out soon."

The last thing that they needed was a half-hatched plan from the gods. Every demigod that was alive was either injured or just exhausted; no one had any fight left in them.

"That means the war is coming sooner than we thought," Nico said, unable to possess the energy to care if his words were too blunt. "If Poseidon spoke to Percy, then we're running out of time. Something big is going to happen."

Thalia rolled her eyes before sitting up in her chair. "Something big already happened. Percy returned."

But that wasn't enough, and Nico knew it. When it came to the gods, there was always something more, something that was big enough to entice chaos.

"I agree with Nico," spoke Frank, nodding slightly towards Nico's seat, "there has to be something else."

Something that felt almost like gratitude blossomed inside Nico's chest, but that feeling was ripped away as Nico's vision left him entirely. He felt something wrap around his wrist, and Nico could identify it as a mortal's thread without even seeing it. Before, whenever he possessed someone to heal them, it had been a choice; he had seen a thread and chosen to grab it. But this was different. The thread had grabbed him, and pulled Nico down with it. He was no longer sitting inside a tent with his friends; he was on the ground with an arrow in his stomach.