Heroes of Olympus Series. Annabeth Chase X Male Reader Story

Trying Not to Rock the Boat

(Y/N)'s POV

Why did (Y/N) sign up for this? He knew it was a bad idea, he was too close to it, too invested in it's outcome, and that was never a good thing, just like hidden feelings. That could get him killed.

He wasn't strong enough to protect them, and they wouldn't make it. In fact he was very certain that he would lead everyone to their deaths, and there was nothing he could do to stop it at all, regardless of his efforts.

Coming back to the dock almost killed him, Gaea's words still fresh on his mind, her warning about him not surviving the journey seemed more like a fact, that was until he took a step onto the refurbished tin can that was supposed to carry four of them.

He didn't expect it, but for once, the sea was his savior. Stepping onto this 'boat' that threatened to capsize at the slightest movements and looked like it would probably give him scurvy within the hour was an absolute blessing.

One he didn't realize he needed until his feet weren't on land, for the first time in nearly a month, he was free of the earth. He couldn't see how bad her hold on him was until he was free of it.

She was still holding onto him tightly, like a constant reminder of the deal he made, and she wanted him to know it, to feel it draining him, that was why it got worse the more he tried to defy her.

Ever since they left the borders of Camp Jupiter, where he was protected by Terminus's borders and strengthened by the Lares and long dead surrounding him, he felt like he was walking on hot tar, every step felt more painful than the last.

A much as he was trying to fight it, the hazy feeling was finding him again, he felt almost lost. For minutes at a time, he was forgetting where he was, or what he was doing, and he was continuing to make bad decisions.

He was beginning to doubt himself, and when Percy asked him about shadow travel, he almost jumped at the chance, considering dropping the four of them into certain death. But he knew that was the point, the subtle persuasion of the earth.

The moment he was away from the land, that all  changed, his memory cleared, his mood improved, and he felt like he was just reliving the good old times, him and Percy, going off to free someone from a prison, with an archer and a dead girl. Classic.

It wasn't like being in the air, or in the dark, where he could still feel the earth beneath him, waiting to swallow him, or in his nightmares from the past, where danger was ever present. He felt un-tethered.

It was the same feeling his dreams gave him, and in a way, the same as the war games had too, a sense of joyfulness that was gone when he found himself walking on land. That made him comfortable, relaxed beyond what was normal, he really should have seen what happened next coming.

Hazel's POV

Hazel hated boats. She got seasick so easily, it was more like sea plague. She hadn't mentioned this to Percy. She didn't want to mess up the quest, but she remembered how horrible her life had been when she and her mother had moved to Alaska—no roads.

Everywhere they went, they'd had to take the train or a boat. She hoped her condition might have improved since she'd come back from the dead. Obviously not. And this little boat, the Pax, looked so much like that other boat they'd had in Alaska. It brought back bad memories....

As soon as they left the dock, Hazel's stomach started to churn. By the time they passed the piers along the San Francisco Embarcadero, she felt so woozy she thought she was hallucinating.

They sped by a pack of sea lions lounging on the docks, and she swore she saw an old homeless guy sitting among them. From across the water, the old man pointed a bony finger at Percy and mouthed something like 'Don't even think about it.'