Percy Jackson Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

We Beat Riddles in the Dark

Percy's POV

"Percy?" Grover called from the other sofa. "Are you okay?" I steadied my breathing. I wasn't sure how to answer. I'd just watched the guy we were looking for, Daedalus, murder his own nephew. How could I be okay?

The television was going. Blue light flickered through the room. "What—what time is it?" I croaked. "Two in morning," Grover said. "I couldn't sleep. I was watching the Nature Channel." He sniffled. "I miss Juniper."

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "Yeah, well . . . you'll see her again soon." Grover shook his head sadly. "Do you know what day it is, Percy? I just saw it on TV. It's June thirteenth. Seven days since we left camp."

"What?" I said. "That can't be right." "Time is faster in the Labyrinth," Grover reminded me. "The first time you, (Y/N) and Annabeth went down there, you thought you were only gone a few minutes, right? But it was an hour."

"Oh," I said. "Right." Then it dawned on me what he was saying, and my throat felt searing hot again. "Your deadline with the Council of Cloven Elders." Grover put the TV remote in his mouth and crunched off the end of it.

"I'm out of time," he said with a mouthful of plastic. "As soon as I go back, they'll take away my searcher's license. I'll never be allowed to go out again." "We'll talk to them," I promised. "Make them give you more time. Zoe can do something"

Grover swallowed. "They'll never go for it. The world is dying, Percy. Every day it gets worse. The wild . . . I can just feel it fading. I have to find Pan." "You will, man. No doubt." Grover looked at me with sad goat eyes.

"You've always been a good friend, Percy. What you did today—saving the ranch animals from Geryon— that was amazing. I—I wish I could be more like you." "Hey," I said. "Don't say that. You're just as much a hero—"

"No I'm not. I keep trying, but . . ." He sighed. "Percy, I can't go back to camp without finding Pan. I just can't. You understand that, don't you? I can't face Juniper if I fail. I can't even face myself." His voice was so unhappy it hurt to hear.

We'd been through a lot together, but I'd never heard him sound this down. "We'll figure out something," I said. "You haven't failed. You're the champion goat boy, all right? Juniper knows that. So do I."

Grover closed his eyes. "Champion goat boy," he muttered dejectedly. A long time after he dozed off, I was still awake, watching the blue light of the Nature Channel wash over the stuffed trophy heads on Geryon's walls.

(Y/N)'s POV

I woke up to the sensation of falling, and it wasn't just in my dreams, I opened my eyes to see that I was tumbling towards the ground, if I didn't unfurl my wings in time, I would have hit the ground pretty hard.

Today was off to a good start then. Somehow in my sleep I had managed to roll off the barn. It was about 6 in the morning, and thanks to my rude awakening, I knew I would struggle to fall back to sleep, so I decided to do something nice.

My first thought was a barbecue before we set off for the Labyrinth, but Geryon didn't want us to have nice things and had cracked some of the exterior when he tipped it over, so that was a bust. I did pilfer one of his aprons though. The 'KISS' one to be exact.

I walked into the house past a snoring Grover, and a drooling Percy, and into the kitchen, which I raided for anything edible. The hardest thing to find was something for Grover to eat, but soon, I settled on a suitable breakfast meal and got cooking.

As soon as the scent of food had passed through the house it was like I had roused the dead. Annabeth was the first down the stairs, rubbing her eyes and saying "G'mornin'" I smiled at her, "Morning, breakfast is nearly done. Take a seat."