The Unknown (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

29. Annabeth Has a Stalker

A early update?! *gasp* 

I actually started meditating and afterwards I suddenly had tons of inspiration and concentration to write, for some reason. I think I probably should do it more often!

Annabeth

Annabeth knew a lot of things.

For example, she knew the exact amount of tiles on the roof of the Sydney Opera House (1,056,006), and that the top of the Eiffel Tower leans away from the sun as much as seven inches (due to the metal expanding in the heat). She also knew how to fight left-handed if the situation called for it and how to say a bad cuss word in seventeen different languages, which had proved itself surprisingly useful in the past, as well as knowing how to fly a WW1 Sopwith Camel biplane (thanks to her dad).

But as Annabeth navigated the streets of New Rome, she knew something else.

She was being followed.

Whoever her stalker was, they weren't very good at what they were doing. She knew that they had lost her more than a few times in the last fifteen or so minutes, thanks to her slipping in and out of alleys in an attempt to evade him/her. However, whoever they were knew the city much better than she did and always seemed to find her despite her efforts.

It was late morning; Reyna, Thalia and Nico having left several hours before, and now the underground city was alive with light and sound. The clashing of weapons could be heard from where the remainder of the legion trained, and people were laughing and talking as they made their way to college or work. Annabeth swallowed back a surge of jealously.

The streets were choked with people, making it seemingly perfect for her to make her escape. She had hoped that, if anyone tried to follow her, she'd be lost in the crowd but whoever was following her was more intelligent and careful than she anticipated. Gods of Olympus, she hated it when she was wrong.

Annabeth was now approaching the outskirts of the city, her only escape route through the heavily guarded tunnel network that led up onto the surface.

It was now or never.

She slipped into the nearest alley and, instead of continuing forward into the next street like she had done so many times before, she backed into the shadows of a doorway. Holding her breath, she waited.

A figure, face hidden by a purple SPQR hoodie, stepped into the alley after her as she predicted. With a battle cry, she lunged forward and tackled him to the cobblestones.

There was a yelp as Annabeth pushed him against the ground roughly, and an object skittered across the ground, glinting in the artificial lighting. Were they...glasses? She pressed her arm firmly against his throat, her Drakon bone sword held in the other hand as she pointed it at his chest. "Who are you? Why are you following me?"

The hood fell back, revealing sky blue eyes. Annabeth stiffened out of pure instinct before she took in the other features. His corn-silk hair was ruffled and there was a flush of pink on his tanned face, his expression a strange mixture of embarrassment, guilt and determination.

"Jason?" Annabeth couldn't help the incredulity in her voice and was immediately abashed for being so easily surprised. She released him and stood up, offering her hand.

He took it gratefully and grabbed his glasses from where they had fallen on the ground. "That's me." The reply sounded like something Percy would've said and Annabeth forced down the lump in her throat. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry about, uh, following you and all."

"You're supposed to be in the infirmary, resting." Her voice was sharper than she intended, but she had a right to be angry. She knew why he had followed her.