Hold Me Close

Ch. 11

ANOTHER update. Yup. That's three in two days. Bow, mother truckers.

Percy

I was starving.

Hey, could you blame me? It had been almost 9 whole hours since I had eaten dinner.

So, my reasonable solution to this was to head over to the hotel's breakfast area and knick an apple or three.

As I walked to the breakfast area, I passed an open door and heard giggling. The group of drunk girls were laughing and waving at me. One beckoned at me to come in the room.

I got out of there as fast as I could.

On my way back, pockets full of juicy, red apples, my first instinct was to head on back in the hotel room and eat my produce then go to sleep.

My second instinct was to check on Annabeth. I know, I know, she doesn't need to be checked on. She's an independent woman and all that. But, that didn't stop me from worrying about what she'd gotten herself into.

A little voice in my head crooned You've only known her for a few weeks, she could be a murderer for all you know. But I forced it away.

Grabbing an apple out of my pocket, I bit into it eagerly and walked down the alley between the hotel and the building beside it. The lights from the pool lit the path up slightly, so when I saw deep grooves in the gravel I immediately identified the struggle that had happened not minutes before.

I looked back at the pool, trying to see if Leo was there, but could see no sign of him.

Cursing, I looked around eagerly for the two people who had become my friends in such a short amount of time. I thought back to the guy, Ethan, who had chased Annabeth through my apartment building. My fists clenched.

"Annabeth?" I called. There was nothing besides the sounds of laughter from the girls down the hall.

Adrenalin started coursing through my system and I left the alleyway, going towards the street. My attention was drawn to the park directly ahead of me, but I doubted they'd be in such an obvious location.

I started down the street, walking away from the hotel and the park. My feet pounded against the pavement for a few steps, but then I stopped, scanning the tree line once more.

A glint of light caught my eye and I was at a crossroads. Go into the park, where I wasn't in the open and couldn't call for help, or down the street towards the abandoned warehouses that were the best choice for hiding your hostages.

Making a spur of the moment decision, I walked towards the trees.

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After just a few minutes of walking, I decided that whoever kept chasing after Annabeth and Leo weren't very good at hiding in subtle locations.

As I approached a small clearing in the park, where a set of swings and a slide were sitting. Handcuffed to one of the bars on the swing set was Leo Valdez, his head lolling to one side. The glint of light I had seen was from a few lamps that had been set around the area.

Directly across from me was Annabeth, her hands free but her eyes screaming bloody murder. Whoever had left her untied must have been an idiot, and I was sure that she'd come up with something soon.