A Crown of Golden Leaves: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Caput XXXVI: All Fall Down

A Crown of Golden Leaves
by theolims (xXTheDragonRider)
May 2016

"Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love ."

- William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Some content may be considered disturbing to some readers. Please don't read if you're triggered by discussion of miscarriage.

Caput XXXVI: All Fall Down

SOME time after the clicked shut behind him, Annabeth switched from copying Cicero to translating the story of Theseus from Greek into Latin. Her chalk scratched against the board as she translated . . . about how he went and slayed the minotaur but his father killed himself when he saw that flag that indicated that Theseus was dead. It was sad how a small mistake like that could end a man's life. Carelessness and haste, that was what ended his life . . .

Her hand was shaking.

She tilted her head and stared at the way the chalk brushed against the slate, smudging the carefully written letters to the point that they were almost unreadable. Why is my hand shaking like this? Because she wasn't clutching the chalk tightly – In fact, it rolled out of her fingers and clattered against the ground.

The slate began to slip off her lap and she put it back on top of the counter. Even that was a struggle – Her hands slipped once or twice and nearly knocked her glass of water off.

She needed air. Fresh air. There was no way she would finish translating – She couldn't concentrate like this. Though air . . . air could clear her head, and then she could come back to translating it later-

When she stood, her head spun and she grasped her hand against the table to steady herself. To keep herself from toppling over. Something . . . something may be wrong after all. She shouldn't be this dizzy. Her eyes closed tight. The humid air made her hair stick to the skin on the back of her neck and she breathed through her nose, waiting for the dizziness to pass.

It took longer than it should have, longer than she expected.

It was hot in here, and it was stuffy. Or was that just her? She should get outside – walk a little. That should clear up this bout of illness quickly enough. There was no use in worrying anyone over her after all – It was probably just some stomach bug at the worst.

Or just a bout of dizziness, of course.

She slipped her feet into her sandals (she could still remember Percy's sarcastic comment about not wearing shoes when they first met quite clearly – There was no need to give him a reason to be smug that he had been right) and walked across the room.

The guard at the door looked at her in concern as she stepped outside. She couldn't remember his name for some reason—Which was strange because she usually took care to remember their names. Either he had recently risen through the ranks into the Praetorian Guard or . . .

Or what?

Or her memory wasn't there completely. Which meant her mind was working slower than usual –

That rational shouldn't make sense. Maybe something was wrong with her . . .

"With all due respect," he began and she knew that he was probably going to say something most nobility would consider insulting, "are you feeling all right, Lady Annabeth? You look a little pale."