I was staring at the night sky before I even heard from Reyna and heard the news in the early hours of the morning.
Piper was fast asleep in her room, but I decided to stay up in Percy's office looking through his personal work files. It amazed me about how much he knew about all types of sea creatures (well, duh, he is the son of the Sea God) but what interested me was the stories that he had partially written on his desktop.
One particular file got my attention - The Quest of the Seven.
I opened it up and I could see that Percy had written at least seven hundred pages containing what the Seven Demigods of the Prophecy had been through. In several of the chapters, there were photos of the crew, most of which we took on the Argo II. I looked on several photos of each individual - I came up to the chapter dedicated to Leo - The Flame that Burned until The End. There were several photo's of the son of Hephaestus, his smiling elf like face was grinning at the camera. In one photo, he was in the middle between Jason and Piper, who knew him best. They were smiling, despite the fact that they were on the way to save me from Arachne that particular day. I continued reading from that chapter and rifled through pages.
I stopped and looked at the one chapter that really made me want to choke.
The chapter read "Going through Hell and Back". I could only guess what that chapter was about. I started to read the timeline that me and Percy had spent in Tartarus.
I honestly thought both me and Annabeth were gonna die in the pit, Percy had written at the near end of the chapter. We spent several days, maybe even weeks, trying to get to the Doors of Death but I knew it wasn't easy. We lost two good friends down there, who had sacrificed their lives trying to save me and Annabeth and my heart was literally ripped apart. They didn't deserve to die and everyday I wished that I could go back and save them when I had the chance...With every person who dies for me and Annabeth, it breaks my heart - I don't want anyone to die for either me or Annabeth. I was brought up to believe that when you die, you die - not brought up to have someone die for you. I know it sounds selfish, but in a way I might prove a point. But surviving Tartarus...I swear on the River Styx that I will never go into that place again. I still suffer from the nightmares; the gruelling and most horrifying images that still flash in my mind when I close my eyes...
I stopped reading - I felt tears starting to form in my eyes and I was determined to not let them spill. He talked so much about the loss he felt when he was in the Pit...it was basically telling me that he hadn't recovered from our time there. For once, I actually saw a side of Percy I thought I would never see - a demigod who suffered extensively in the worst place ever in the known world today.
I decided to close down the iMac and walk downstairs and turned the TV on - maybe that way I could see if Everest would come up. Maybe that way, I could see what Percy and the others were up to and hope that they were okay.
I still couldn't believe that I was having a baby boy - I told Percy that I was going to give birth to a boy that would grow to look just like his dad. And I meant it - I knew immediately that my little boy would look just like my handsome Seaweed Brain.
Just then, my house phone rang. I look at the screen and I could see that it was the number for Olympus Explorers. I smiled deeply, knowing that it was Percy ringing me.
I answered. "Hello?"
"Annabeth," Reyna's voice urgently asked. "Is that you? God, I finally got through! Annabeth, something has happened. Whatever you do, do NOT turn the TV on!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I told her. Something happened? What - good, bad, what? "Reyna, what's happened?"
"There's been an avalanche on Everest," Reyna yelled. "Jason, Nico, Aaron and Percy were caught in it!"
"WHAT!" I yelped. Percy was caught in it?! "Is he alright?"
"We don't know where he and the others are! Frank was the only one who managed to get out alive, but he's badly wounded. Last we heard from them was that they ran into something then all of a sudden an earthquake happened and the radio communications went out!"
I couldn't believe it. I instantly turned the TV on and the news was already on. It showed a massive white cloud of snow rising from the ground. Reporters were already on the scene and most of the campsites tents had been flattened by large boulders of ice and snow. They say that at least sixteen people were trapped in the ice and several of them were still trapped.
"Oh, my gods," I whimpered, covering my mouth with my left hand. "Reyna, please tell me they aren't in that rubble?"
"I don't know Annabeth," Reyna stressed, her voice evidently saying that she was freaking out. "All I know was that an earthquake struck the mountain and next thing I know, the camp is almost completely covered in several tonnes of ice!"
Piper came downstairs wondering what all the commotion was about. She wore a grey sleeping top and was wearing nothing but black underwear "What's going on? Are they okay?"
I shook my head. "They've been caught in an avalanche, Piper, and they don't know if either Percy, Nico and Jason had made it out of there."
Piper sobbed and sat down.
"I'll call you back the moment we hear from them," Reyna swore to me. "I promise Annabeth."
The phone went dead.
Hours went by and still no answer from Reyna.
Piper was lying down on Percy's armchair that he normally sat in when he came back from work. Piper rested her head on the armrest, silently crying, not wanting me to look at her.
As for me, I was standing up, impatiently waiting for the phone to ring. It was the most agognizing two hours of my life - it was driving me nuts. When are they gonna call up and tell me that they know where the others were?
Piper looked up - her eyes were bright red from crying. "Do you think they made it?"
I looked at her. "Why are you asking me?"
"Because you're more sure than any of us," she said, her voice very hoarse.
I sighed and sat down, throwing my arms up in a 'I don't know gesture'. "Not a day goes by when I don't know anything Pipes, but now I really don't know. I don't even know if either Percy, Jason or Nico made it. I'm pretty sure Aaron Bailey wouldn't have made it, but like I said I don't know."
The phone rang. I instantly jumped to my feet - which wasn't the best idea to do, considering I'm in a delicate condition - and grabbed the phone.
"Reyna?" I asked urgently. "Please tell me that's you."
"Yeah, it is," she said, sounding sort of relieved but still stressed. "We've got a bead on their location, but it's not good news."
Piper and I sat down and listened to Reyna. "Go ahead Reyna," Piper said.
"They were climbing up the Icefall at six in the morning," Reyna explained. "That was the standard time we picked in order to climb the Icefall, but something must've happened at the top because the earthquake struck and the snow just came down. They couldn't explain what happened, only that they ran into something. As soon as the avalanche started, they began running and climbing as fast as they could."
Reyna's voice changed to a really small sound. "Aaron didn't make it - Percy tried to save him but he forced Percy to let go of him so he could save the others and he fell into the avalanche."
Oh, my god...
I felt sorry for Percy - he must've tried so hard to save Aaron, but yet again he has probably lost another friend. My heart ached for Percy so much for the loss he must be facing.
"How is Percy and the others?" Piper asked, her whole posture literally screaming, Where are they?!
"He, Jason and Nico are at the South Col - they've dug a snow cave so they have some way of protecting themselves from the cold. They're in bad shape - Jason is barely conscious and Nico has broken several of his ribs. Percy has broken his arm but he's still going. The south col is the point between the Icefall and onwards. They could be at the South Summit the next morning before the sun comes up. But at the moment, they are in bad shape and all of us here are seriously considering going after them and get them out of there. Worse still, there's a massive snow storm on the way..."