“Annabeth!” Percy yelled.
It was evident he was worried for me, which made me glad, but yelling would give us away, and we could not pay that cost.
“Shh!” I whispered, clapping my hand over his mouth. “Do you want to get us killed?!”
I forgot I was invisible for a second, and I was startled when he reached out his hands blindly, grabbed my face, and pulled off my Yankees cap.
I scowled.
“Percy, what is your problem?”
“We’re going to have company,” he said, panic in his eyes. “There’s a monster orientation class, they were talking about overthrowing Olympus, making a weapon of some sorts. Telkhines!”
He rambled, using small hand movements and turning his head to look behind him. He had the look in his eyes that said he was more scared than he was letting on.
"So that's what they are," I said. "Telkhines. I should've known. And they're making ... Well, look."
We peeked over the cauldron. In the center of the form stood four sea demons, but these were fully grow least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the fire as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hamm on a long piece of glowing hot metal.
“The blade is almost complete," one said. "It another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."
"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper before."
“What is that?” Percy asked, shocked.
I shook my head. “They keep talking about fusing metals…” My brain gears turned on, and I could feel them turning in my head, putting puzzle pieces together like an Athena kid always would. “I wonder—“
“They were talking about the greatest titan weapon. And they… they said that they made my father’s trident.”
“The telkhines betrayed the gods,” I explained. “They were practicing dark magic. I don’t know what exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus.”
“With Kronos.”
I nodded, my face grim. “We have to get out—“
The worst way to get interrupted is when you’re talking about something, and then that very thing interrupts you when you didn’t know they were there. More on this later.
But basically then the very thing we were talking about, the telkhines, burst into the room, stumbling and rolling over each other. Chaos.
“Get your cap back on,” Percy said, his eyes wild. “Get out!”
Concern. Real concern.
For me.
“What?!” I shrieked. “No! I’m not leaving you!”
"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the spider—maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus: You to tell him what's going on."
"But you'll be killed!"
"I’ll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."
I glared at him.
I’ve lost a lot of people in my life. Luke, who is now my enemy. Thalia, who I got back, right before she left again to join the hunters. My father, who didn’t care enough for me to give me his time.
I couldn’t lose Percy too.
When anger welled up in my throat, all my losses and struggles piled on top of each other and pulled me down. My instincts took over.
I grabbed his shirt and pulled his lips to mine.
It was only a millisecond, purely out of fear for Percy and nothing else.
And as much as I hate to admit it, I liked it quite a bit.
Tears stung my eyes. “Be careful, Seaweed Brain.”
I pulled my cap on and disappeared, running down the mountain, just as the tears broke.
