Percy Jackson Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

We Fight Everything But The Kitchen Sink

(Y/N)'s POV

"How did you know that would work?" Annabeth asked me, I shrugged, "Mom once told me that  Sphinx' are clever and wicked, but get really flustered when they get something wrong," I looked at Annabeth, "Remind you of anyone?"

Percy chuckled, Annabeth frowned at me, I was a little ticked off at her, I knew that she was smart, and her fatal flaw, but I told her that I knew how to deal with the monster and she ignored me to do it herself. A little rich coming from the girl who said I didn't trust my friends to help me enough.

Admittedly I hadn't protested, because I had faith in her, but in hindsight I realised how big of an issue it could have been, the prophecy had already given her at least one death flag, she didn't need to carelessly stroll into collecting herself a few more.

"I hate having to deal with Sphinxes, I had an issue with one that made me do long division for five hours, so I always have an impossible question in my back pocket, sometimes literally." "Why'd you ask her how long she was down here?" Grover asked.

"I have keys but do not lock. I have space but have no-" "A computer" Annabeth said absentmindedly, I elbowed her, "Okay, we get it Einstein, you like puzzles. Let me finish, I was trying to explain."

"Anyway, if you ask a modernized riddle and the Sphinx hasn't resurfaced in two hundred years or something, she wouldn't know the answer. She wouldn't know what a computer is for example, it would make her flustered, and easier to beat, maybe avoid the entire confrontation."

"That's really clever actually," Annabeth said, her tone of voice seemed like a mix of amazement and condescension, I didn't know how to feel. "I guess...But to be honest, I should have paid more attention"

"I should have guessed from the pencils. She was clearly either young, or well settled, her nest was modern, she was asking relatively contemporary questions, so I had to improvise. Hence the 'riddles in the dark' knockoff, she would know the riddle, its famous, so to fluster her I'd just have to make her think she could win without a doubt."

"You're mad you didn't figure all that out from a couple of pencils?" Percy asked, "Well...it's just common sense really...and I don't care that much, but Annabeth almost got hurt...we all did. So kinda yeah." I said, we settled into silence after that.

I thought we'd lost the spider until Tyson heard a faint pinging sound. We made a few turns, backtracked a few times, and eventually found the spider banging its tiny head on a metal door.

The door looked like one of those old-fashioned submarine hatches— oval, with metal rivets around the edges and a wheel for a doorknob. Where the portal should've been was a big brass plaque, green with age, with a Greek Êta inscribed in the middle.

We all looked at each other. "Ready to meet Hephaestus?" Grover said nervously. "No," I admitted. I was preparing myself to go invisible, hoping he wasn't working on the worlds most powerful magnifying glass or something, but didn't have much time.

"Yes!" Tyson said gleefully, and he turned the wheel. As soon as the door opened, the spider scuttled inside with Tyson right behind it. The rest of us followed, not quite as anxious. The room was enormous. It looked like a mechanic's garage, with several hydraulic lifts.

Some had cars on them, but others had stranger things: a bronze hippalektryon with its horse head off and a bunch of wires hanging out its rooster tail, a metal lion that seemed to be hooked up to a battery charger, and a Greek war chariot made entirely of flames.

Smaller projects cluttered a dozen worktables. Tools hung along the walls. Each had its own outline on a Peg-Board, but nothing seemed to be in the right place. The hammer was over the screwdriver place. The staple gun was where the hacksaw was supposed to go.