We ate and walked out of the Chipotle, Estelle was now being carried by Pery as she fell asleep.
I held Annabeth's hand, grinning. I tucked a strand of blonde hair that was disrupting my view of her beautiful face.
Pery had to write more songs so he went home with Tyson and Estelle. Jason and Frank had other plans so they left too.
While walking in a park I saw a familiar face.
"Anna?" I called.
She whipped her head around, "Ciara, tom, hey." She said awkwardly.
"What're you doing here? I thought you had stuff to do."
"Oh, well an old friend called to meet up."
My arms tense, "What friend?" I asked.
"Oh-"
"Annie!" A voice called out.
I turned my head to come face to face with that scar.
"You." I spat.
"Tom." Annabeth tried to hold my arm.
I looked at her and back at him, "You have some balls showing your face around her again."
"Dude, what are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about? You know what you did!"
"I literally have no idea what you're saying."
"Listen here-"
"Tom." Annabeth tugged on my arm, "He's telling the truth."
I looked at her confused, "What?"
"He's not lying."
"Or maybe he doesn't remember." I said eyeing him suspiciously.
"Umm, Annabeth do you know these people?" Luke looked at the two of us confused, "Wait, aren't you guys that one couple?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, sick." He said taking a seat at the bench.
"You seriously don't remember?" I asked him.
"Nope."
"Okay, did you wear any rings in the last few days?"
"Umm, no?"
"Well, shit." I said.
I pulled Annabeth away to talk.
"Remember when Chaos said that the reason we are on this quest is so these rings don't accidentally get into the wrong hands?"
"Oh no." She muttered, "Not again."
"Well, I don't know what to do now."
"So that Luke isn't the Luke from yesterday?"
"I don't think so."
"Fuck."
"So that means we have one last ring to search for."
"Grover's."
We looked back at Anna, she was talking to Luke and catching up like old friends, which was pretty much what they were.
I took out the phone that Pery gave me.
Hey, do you know if we could meet up with Grover?
Um, he's probably busy right now but I know he clears his schedule every Saturday so he could go camping.
I snorted, of course, even as a manager the guy manages working on the environment too.
"We'll meet him in 2 days."
"Hmm, what do we do before then?"
"Hmm, nothing?" I suggested but Annabeth hit me playfully.
"Oww." I complained, pouting.
"Oh, quit being a baby, I know what hurts you and what doesn't."
"You didn't know this didn't hurt me." I smirked teasingly at her, pointing to the marks on my neck.
"Shut up." She said looking away, her face tinted alittle red.
"You're so cute when you're flustered." I said then I pecked her on the lips.
We walked back to Luke and Anna.
"Well, I'm sorry, I guess I thought you were someone else." I said.
"No problem kid." He said.
I was still very uneasy around him so I held Annabeth closer to me.
We sat on the bench together, awkwardly starting conversation.
Luke kept eyeing me curiously.
"Umm, is there something wrong?" I asked.
"No, no, it's just.. you know what? Nevermind." He said looking at my neck and my cheeks immediately flushed bright red. I readjusted my hoodie so it covered it up better. "You guys are 17 right?"
"Yeah." Annabeth said.
"You've been popping up on my screen everywhere. You two look good together." He smiled at us. A genuine smile. Not the one he gave me when he let a scorpion almost kill me.
I rubbed the back of neck awkwardly.
"Is it true your married?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Wow, I'm 26 and I don't even have a girlfriend. What're your plans?" He asked.
"Travel, I guess." I shrugged.
"Oh, cool, I travel too. Where have you two been?"
"Well, we've been to California," I said, yeah, I meant Cali as in Camp Jupiter but I couldn't tell him that, "We've also been to Italy and Greece." For quests.
"Cool, I've been to Greece too. I'm planning to go back soon. What about you?"
"Well, we're planning to go somewhere.. far." Annabeth said simply.
"Far?" He asked.
"Yeah, we're not too sure where yet." I added.
We got up and started walking around a little.
"Hey, I-" Luke's phone started ringing. "Sorry, I gotta take this."
He walked away to talk.
"He seems nice." Annabeth said.
"I still don't trust him too much, you should be careful around him." I told Anna.
"But.. I've known him for so long, he wouldn't do anything bad."
"I once trusted him too, I won't let you make the same mistake I did." I said.
"Just be careful around him, he might be different." Annabeth reassured.
"I'm sorry guys, I have to go." Luke said running up towards us.
"No problem, my breaks soon over anyway." Anna said.
"We should do this again." He smiled at us.
I tensely nodded.
We walked around for a little longer, hand in hand.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked.
"For the millionth time, yes." She said weakly.
"Annabeth." I whispered.
"I'm fine." She smiled.
I hugged her closer to me. "If you're not that's okay. I'm here for you."
She kissed my cheek, "What did I do to land such a good fiancé?"
"Oh, I don't know, by being the prettiest, bravest, nicest, most beautiful person ever?" I smirked at her.
"Well, I sure am lucky, huh?"
"I'm the lucky one." I pulled down her sunglasses a little to look at her eyes, I was a little disappointed by the blue instead of grey.
I started picking up my pace so I could go home and see her real, beautiful grey eyes.
"What's got you in a rush?" She asked.
"You." I whispered into her ear.
"Okay then, off we go."
I smirked.
We weren't too far from the apartment/hotel so it didn't take us long to get back.
"What do you want to eat?" I asked as we walked into our room.
"Anything healthy."
"Aww, again?"
"Come on, Chipotle could barely be classified as healthy."
"It was to me." I pouted.
Needless to say, she ordered healthy.
"What do I get if I eat healthy?" I asked cheekily.
"What? You want a reward for eating a basic diet?"
"Yes."
She just rolled her eyes at me.
"Is that a yes?" I asked.
She was about to say something but she gasped.
"What, what's wrong?" I asked her, my eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"No, no, it's nothing." She said rubbing her temples.
"Annabeth." I said seriously. "Tell me what's wrong or I'm getting Will."
"Percy, I'm fine."
"No, you're not, what can I do? Are you hurt?" I asked her.
I was afraid of leaving her alone, even for a minute but I had to.
"Annabeth, I'll be right back, okay, don't move." I said ready to get Will.
"No," she said holding my arm, "Stay." She whispered.
"Annabeth,"
"Please."
I hugged her comfortingly. "Do you want medicine?" I whispered.
"No, j- just stay with me." She said.
I kissed her forehead, "I won't go anywhere."
Soon the doorbell rang and I got up to get the food.
"Holy, your Tom!" The delivery girl said. "Can I have a picture?!"
"Uhh, sure."
I smiled a little awkwardly as we took the picture, I paid her and walked back to Annabeth, who was on the bed lying down.
"You wanna eat?" I sat on the bed next to where she was laying.
She just nodded weakly and I helped her sit up properly. I pulled a table near the bed so she didn't have to move too much.
I chocked down the salad and the sandwich wasn't too bad but it didn't beat a good blue cookie.
"You wanna rest?" I asked her.
She nodded and removed her contacts, revealing the beautiful grey ones underneath.
"Percy?"
"Hmm?"
"Are we gonna be okay?"
My eyebrows knitted together, "Of course we will, what makes you think we wouldn't."
She shook her head a little, Annabeth was thinking of something, something that was disturbing her.
"Come here." I said holding out my hands.
"It's gonna be okay, we're together and we're never gonna be apart again, okay?" I said hugging her.
She nodded.
We laid in bed together, I hugged her close as she drifted off to sleep.
I stayed awake for a while, just playing her her hair.
"I hope you get better, I can't bear seeing you like this." I whispered as she slept peacefully. "I don't think I can live with myself if something happened to you, I'll do anything to protect you."
I kept whispering things to her as she slept, it was something I would do often while she was asleep to make her feel better, even though she probably couldn't hear me, I've seen those words improve her nightmares a little so I kept doing them ever since we got out.
Soon enough, I fell asleep too.
It was interrupted prematurely however when I heard crying.
I woke up and looked at the girl besides me, she was shaking.
"Annabeth." I said shaking her shoulders gently. "Annabeth, you're okay, it's just a dream." I told her.
She kept crying.
"Annabeth, it's okay, we made it out, we're never going back." I said hugging her tightly but she didn't budge.
"Annabeth, please, wake up, we're okay." I said.
Tears were flowing down her cheeks, I felt oddly guilty that I couldn't do anything to stop them.
"Annabeth, it's okay." I whispered.
"Percy." She hugged me tightly, "I- I." She stuttered.
"Shhh, it's okay, I'm here, we're safe."
I let her cry into my chest as I kept reassuring her.
"Percy." She said once she calmed down. "It- it was so real." She whispered.
"Don't worry, I'm here, we're okay." I whispered back.
I gently stroked the stray tears away from her cheek. Her eyes looked dull and stormy.
I smiled sadly at her.
I had made a decision, we were going to Will for help.
I texted Percy saying that we were going to my earth for a few hours and he agreed.
I teleported us to camp half blood, earth 2.
"Percy's back!!" The pavilion yelled as we teleported in.
The cheering quickly subsided when they saw my expression.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked us.
"Where's Will?"
Everyone crowded around confused, Will stepped out of the crowd, "Is there something wrong?" He asked me, concerned.
"It's Annabeth." I told him.
Malcom and the other Athena kids immediately came over to check on their sister.
We all rushed off to the infirmary where I stayed by Annabeth's side as Will did various tests.
After a few hours Will walked back in the room with a grim expression, I squeezed Annabeth's hand in fear.
"Is- is it bad?" I asked him.
"We.. we don't know Percy, I've never seen anything like this." He told us.
"You've never seen anything like this? What's that supposed to mean? What do we do?"
"We don't know but it's best she takes pills for now until we find a different solution."
My mind went back to Luke, what did he do to her.
Will handed me a bottle of painkillers, "Don't let her eat more than 2 a day, they're very strong."
I looked at Annabeth and she nodded.
"Is everything okay?" Piper asked as we left the infirmary.
"It will be." I said.
Leo walked up to us, "I heard what happened." He said grimly, hugging Annabeth.
Leo had been found after disappearing, I'm still not too sure what happened but I'm happy he's back. I didn't react too much to his return though and neither did Annabeth since in our eyes, we'd seen him just days ago.
"We're gonna be okay, we'll find a solution." I said.
Annabeth was unusually quiet the entire time but I prayed to all gods that she would be okay, I couldn't lose her. I Couldn't.
We decided to pay mom a visit while we were here and Jason, Leo, Piper, Frank and Hazel came with us.
Piper and Hazel stood on both sides of Annabeth so I was forced to leave her side.
"Hey, man, she'll get better." Jason said patting my back.
"I know, I just- no, yeah, she'll- she'll get better."
"On the bright side, while you were gone, I made a device to help beep you so you call us, this Chaos IM isn't really two sided." Leo said, "I made like 50, you just need to keep this with you," He handed me a small black device. "And we can just press this button," he said pointing to a red button on another black device, "And you can call us."
"But how do I know who's beeping me?"
"So, when you get beeped, a number and initials pop up."
"And you did this in like a week?"
"Yep." He said grinning widely.
We stopped outside mom's apartment and walked in.
As soon as her door opened I hugged her.
"Percy?"
"Mom."
"What're you doing here? I thought the wedding is next month."
"It is." I said as the others hugged her as well.
"Annabeth, what's wrong, honey?" She asked when it was Annabeth's turn to hug her.
"We don't know." I said sadly.
"Well, it's okay, you'll make it out, you always do. Just be happy and healthy and you'll be okay." She said and I nodded.
She was right, be happy and healthy, Annabeth will be fine, you don't want it to seem like there was anything wrong with her, there isn't, it's just a small obstacle, she's okay.
"Do you kids have time? I just made cookies."
"You make them even when I'm not here?" I asked.
"Well, others at camp love them so I send some over every once in a while."
"Yeah, she does, the Stoll's have stopped pranking people on the promise that they'll get cookies." Piper said.
"The Stoll's, not pranking? Impossible." Annabeth joked.
I smiled at her, even in such a scary situation she puts on a confident smile and reassures everyone.
"Yeah, they ditched me for a snack." Leo grumbled.
"Yeah, the best snack ever." Hazel added.
Frank nodded, "I'm sorry Leo but you can't compare yourself to blue cookies, they're too good."
"You guys are mean." Leo crossed his arms.
As it started getting dark I decided to just teleport everyone back to camp.
"So, hickey boy, you guys gonna go?" Jason asked.
I grumbled, "Not you too."
Annabeth chuckled.
"Yeah, it's true, how come you guys are always plastered in hickeys when we see you?" Leo teased.
"Ohh, it's cause they looovvveee each other." Piper smirked.
"Oh, shut up, you and Jason and literally making out every single time we call you." I defended. "Plus, I think your mom did something to me, I could easily get rid of the hickeys by washing my neck with water, but now? Now they won't leave me for days!" I complained.
"Or maybe you guys are just playing rougher." Jason nudged me.
Frank and Hazel stood very quietly, both of them blushing more than us.
"I think I'm ready to leave now." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Okay, don't forget these." Leo said handing me a bag, inside the bag there were alot of the beeper buttons with numbers and initials written on the sides.
"Thanks." I said.
We waved at everyone as I teleported us back to our hotel room.
It was still night which was a little unusual knowing the time is different depending on the earth.
I checked the clock, 11:00pm.
I quickly helped Annabeth get to bed, I knew she was fine walking on her own but I am overprotective, deal with it.
I grabbed a cup of water and gave her one tablet. She quickly ate it and I laid next to her, my thoughts keeping me awake longer than I'd like.
She'll be okay
She'll be okay
She'll be okay
She'll be okay
Not
I cursed under my breath, my thoughts kept getting more and more negative.
She is fine
No she's not
She'll make it
Our luck's run out, it was rotten to begin with
She'll be fine
As fine as someone with a headache that the literal son of Apollo who can easily heal a gunshot wound didn't understand
I hugged her closer not wanting to lose her again.
What if she never wakes up?
"Fuck." I muttered.
"Percy," Annabeth said, "Are you okay?"
"I don't wanna lose you." I felt a tear sting my cheek.
"You won't."
"I know, it's just, I feel so hopeless right now."
"Let's be happy, Sally said being happy is like a cure in itself."
I sniffled a little, "Yeah, yeah, you're right, I'll be happy." I smiled, but my smile wasn't genuine and I knew that she knows it's not genuine but she just kissed me.
"I won't leave you again." She mumbled, kissing me slightly harder.
I pulled her on top of me, her arms wrapped around my neck, my hand trailing up, under her crop top.
I looked at her, she looked unsure too. Like she didn't know if she would make it but is being strong for my sake.
All this cause of a stupid headache.
"I love you." I whispered trying not to let my tears flow.
"I love you too.. so much." She whispered back before kissing me again.
My fingers grazed her hot skin until it reached a strap.
I kissed her feverishly, like it was our last, but it couldn't be. I won't let it, it won't be our last.
My hand rested at a strap, I slowly pulled, loosening it. Annabeth trailed down my neck, I let our a groan when she kissed harder.
I can't lose this, I won't.