ELAPSE | PJO

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 22

a / n

i am SO sorry for the wait for this. i lost inspiration and i'm not very happy with this chapter, but i knew a lot of you wanted the update. this fic will be coming to a close soon, too :')

[ past annabeth ]

Something was off.

Yeah, Camp was infested with snakes (that were setting things on fire and seemingly flying through the air to get to unsuspecting campers), there was a god running loose, not to mention her future self was standing on the same ground she was, but it was something else.

As Annabeth inevitably got split up from Percy in the chaos, she tried to ignore the feeling. But after a few more seconds of keeping the snakes away from other campers, she scolded herself.

This was probably one of those times she should listen to instinct. What else did they have? Their future selves were going after the source of this mess, and they were just standing around fending off the endless supply of obsidian snakes.

But where do I start?

Annabeth needed to regroup and find Percy. She didn't actually know why she needed to find Percy, but her gut was telling her it was the right idea.

So she made her way through the mixture of campers and snakes as fast as she could. When she finally spotted the son of Poseidon, he was fighting off the creatures back to back with Luke, his facial expression telling Annabeth he was trying not to gag.

A she ran towards them, her blonde hair swinging back and forth, the odd feeling that something was terribly wrong struck her harder than it had before. She picked up her pace, willing her legs to move forward while avoiding the reptiles scattered in the grass.

"Luke! Percy!"

Both boys turned at the sound of her voice––but only for a second, as they were forced to face the attacking snakes once again.

Annabeth finally, finally reached them, using her dagger to cover the ground as they focused on the air.

"What's going on?" Luke asked, flicking his glace towards Annabeth.

"Moros made it into Camp. Possibly Kronos too."

"And the snakes?"

"Moros's. We think."

Luke grunted as two snakes went flying backwards from the force of his sword. He faced Annabeth and Percy. "Where's the older you?"

"They went to find Moros," Annabeth said, not quite understanding why this was important at the moment.

"Okay, we'll––" Luke sucked in a breath suddenly, cutting himself off. He reached around and yanked a snake off of his calf before throwing it to the ground and running his sword through it.

Annabeth stepped back at the sudden action, glancing warily at his leg. "They bite?"

Percy, who'd been focusing on keeping the reptiles away from him, spoke up. "A lot of people are getting bit. . ."

Annabeth followed his gaze. Campers everywhere were having trouble with endless waves of snakes, and some of them were doing exactly what Luke had done––pulling or shaking them off of their bodies before killing them. She shivered, turning back to the boys.

"I think we should go help our future selves."

Percy locked his gaze with hers and nodded in agreement. "We're not doing much out here."

They both turned to Luke for his opinion. Annabeth unconsciously glanced at his leg where the snake had bitten him, which was now bleeding. She shivered and tore her eyes away from the sickly blue and purple hue his skin was beginning to turn to ask if he was okay, but was forced back a step by her reflexes as a blade swung over her head.

To her right, Percy jumped back as well, his eyes wide. Annabeth mirrored his expression, swinging her head up to look at Luke, who's sword was no longer aimed at the snakes.

"What the heck?!" Percy took a step close to Annabeth. "Not again!"

She silently agreed, searching Luke's face. His eyes were emotionless, his face an unintentional mask. A chill ran down her spine, and Annabeth was suddenly aware of the real danger of these creatures.

"Don't let them bite you!"

The words were barely out of her mouth before Luke advanced. This time, though, his aim was Percy.

The raven haired boy threw Riptide up in defense as Luke's weapon came arcing down at his head.

Annabeth held her dagger up uselessly, searching for a way out. Could she bring Luke back? That was unlikely. The snake had bitten him, so they'd have to immobilize him and remove the poison. She dodged a few writhing snakes and took a step forwards, but there really wasn't a solution in view.

Hold on, she thought towards Percy.

It was a stupid thing to think, since holding on was about the only thing he could do, and it was obviously difficult. He barely had any experience with a sword, and up against Luke? The best swordsman at Camp? This would not end well.

Annabeth swallowed hard and made a split second decision. She rushed forward and shoved Luke from the side, throwing both him and Percy off balance. She ended up on the ground, but an adrenaline rush surprised her and she scrambled to her feet, clutching her dagger.

It was one of those times where her friend's strength caused her to hesitate in awe. Just the way he held the sword proved he worked to get where he was. 

And now she was on the receiving end.

"Luke snap out of it!" Annabeth grunted as his weapon clanged against hers. It was a ridiculous situation, one she might've laughed at had it just been imaginary. Sometimes reality sucked.

The son of Hermes shoved her to the ground with ease, raising his sword. It was the first time in years Annabeth Chase had felt fear grip her heart so tightly. Her vision tunneled until the only thing she could see was Luke's eyes, the eyes that would've been soft and inviting had the circumstances been different. If she made it out of this, Annabeth never wanted to see him like this again.

Terrifying.

"Annabeth!"

It was Percy who snapped her out of her thoughts.

Percy Jackson who hurled his sword straight at Luke's head (Annabeth almost yelled at him right then and there before she remembered that Riptide would return to him) and gave her a chance to escape.

She pushed herself to her knees and crawled away from zombie-Luke, who was busy whacking Riptide fifty feet away with one swipe. 

It was a total of ten seconds before Annabeth's brain decided to remember that she'd left her dagger at Luke's feet. About eleven seconds too long.

So when he swung again, she threw up her arms in last attempt to protect herself at the same moment Percy slid in front of her, Riptide in his hands.

Annabeth was getting rather sick of having to be saved at the last moment by him. But she couldn't complain - living required her head attached to the rest of her body. 

"We need to get out of here!" Percy struggled under the weight of Luke's blade, now on his knees.

"No kidding!" Annabeth forced her mind to start working. "We need older you! He's the only one who can fight Luke without getting himself killed."

"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence," Percy muttered, his voice strained. "Either of the older us could hold him off, but they're not here right now! Plan B?"

"I'm thinking!" 

"Think faster!" Percy grunted. "Never mind, we're out of time." He dropped Riptide and grabbed Annabeth's arm, yanking her away from Luke, only to run straight into a few more controlled demigods. 

"Annabeth, what do we do?" He swung around to face her.

The blonde's usually stormy grey eyes were now reduced to a dull glow, piercing his gaze. Percy quickly dropped her arm and took a step back. 

This was not good.