𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 (Annabeth X Malereader)

[3] Dealing with cards

Y/N HAD SOME STRANGE DREAMS that night - cats and bread, of all things. For him, it felt like he woke up several times, but his brain moved at a snail's pace, and he just kept drifting back to sleep. Y/N distinctly remembered lying in a soft bed, being fed soup that tasted like a jelly donut. A blonde girl with grey eyes hovered over him, grinning mischievously as she wiped soup drips from his chin with a spoon. He tried to speak, but his mouth felt immobilized. He was overwhelmingly exhausted, as if he'd just completed a marathon.

The next time he woke up, the blonde girl was gone. A sturdy, blonde guy, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom, keeping watch over him. His blue eyes seemed to be everywhere - on his forehead, the backs of his hands, even his cheeks, and, he was sure, on his other cheeks too.

Finally, when he fully regained consciousness, his surroundings seemed normal, albeit stunningly beautiful. He found himself sitting in a deck chair on a porch, gazing across a meadow at distant green hills. The breeze carried the scent of strawberries, and he had a cosy blanket over his legs and a pillow behind his neck. Everything seemed peaceful, except for the fact that his mouth felt as dry as a desert, and his teeth ached.

On the table next to him, there was a tall drink that looked like iced apple juice, complete with a green straw and a paper parasol skewering a maraschino cherry. Y/N felt so weak that he almost dropped the glass when he attempted to pick it up.

"Careful," a familiar voice warned. It was Jeremy, leaning against the porch railing, his injured goat leg wrapped in bandages. Y/N stared up at him, his eyes shining with confusion. He smiled weakly before limping over to the deck chair next to him. He opened the pouch, pulling out a leather necklace with a large tooth wound through it.

"Jeremy," Y/N began, his voice hoarse but earnest, "Please, tell me what is happening..." He begged. Jeremy breathed a heavy sigh.

"Y/N, I know this is a lot to take in, but just listen to me." He leaned back in his chair, the exhaustion in his expression deepening. "You know about all those stories of Greek mythology?"

Y/N nodded hesitantly. "About, like... Zeus, Hera, Hestia. All those?" Despite clear skies, thunder rumbled not too far away. "I read about them in the library once."

Jeremy winced. "Usually, we don't throw names around like that. But that's besides the point. All those stories you've heard about gods, monsters, and heroes? They're not just myths. They're a part of our world, our reality."

Y/N's mind struggled to process Jeremy's words. Greek mythology? Gods and monsters? It sounded like the plot of a fantasy novel, not something that could be real. "You mean to say that the manticore... and everything else I've seen, it's all real?" Y/N murmured.

Jeremy nodded solemnly. "Yeah, the manticore, Chiron... all of it is real. And that necklace with the tooth," he gestured to the leather necklace in his hand, "it's a keepsake from your first encounter with a monster. It's proof of who you are."

"Chiron?" Y/N questioned.

"The centaur you met," Jeremy replied, his voice soft. "He's the teacher."

Y/N leaned back, his mind flooding with questions. "Who I am? What do you mean?"