Annabeth Chase, dead or alive (BACK AGAIN!!! BUT SLOW UPDATES!)

Chapter 20

Thank you @RavenDraeving for editing this story for me and making me able to understand it too. She's amazing!

Anyway, I'm back! I read through this story and, when my head became filled with tons of ideas, realized that I truly need to update. Also, in the last few months my writing has improved so I think I can do a better job. :)

And remember, this story takes place as if the Blood of Olympus never happened and my version did.

Rachel's POV

I left the meeting with Zeus, my  head spinning with thoughts and crazy wonder. I kept repeating to myself  'She became a huntress... she became a huntress....'

I want to scream out with joy. It explains so much! Why we couldn't find her... why we couldn't find Percy... They were separated, truly. But why?

Nico's been hiding things from me. I'm going to have a good talk with him when I get back to camp.

Actually, why wait? I stop in front of a beautiful fountain with water gushing out, and start thinking of a way to create a rainbow.

I can't help staring at the fountain and wondering why it looks so familiar. Then, of course, it hits me. I've seen the design plans in Annabeth's room with all her old stuff.

'The gods ruined her life... but kept her gifts to them?' I want to cry, but instead I just glare at the closed door of the Throne Room. I dimly wonder if Artemis is going to be ok, but I banish the thought from my mind. All the gods are the same, and she sent Annabeth away. So I can't worry for Artemis, I can only worry for Annabeth. And Percy, of course.

Still, I don't really want Artemis to be punished. And not all gods are the same. For example, Hestia had disappeared from Olympus a while ago, fleeing the angry gods. And the minor gods don't approve of Percy or Annabeth's fate either. That is why we are not afraid of using Iris messages to deliver important information.

'Forget all that and concentrate on contacting Nico.' I tell myself. So I get back to work until finally a dim rainbow is visible.

Wielding a drachma in my hand like a weapon, I whisper, so the gods can not hear, "Oh goddess of Iris accept my offering. Show me Nico." I threw it in and it disappeared.

Nico was sitting at his desk at the Search. "Nico," I hiss quietly.

He barely moves and turns his head to me, which kind of disappoints me. I was hoping I could startle him a bit as a punishment for keeping secrets, but I should have known that someone who can come out from pure darkness wouldn't be afraid of someone whispering his name. "What is it, Rachel?" he asked. "You already told me the prophecy started coming true, yesterday, remember? You don't need to tell me again." His eyes are a bit cold and mean, and I know he blames me for making the prophecy. Which is totally unfair.

"Forget your hatred for me, Death Breath," I snapped, making his face become a bit dark. "Guess where I am right now?"

Nico's eyes widened. "Zeus called you to Oympus again?" he lowered his voice.

I nodded. "You won't believe how much I've learned in one meeting. Though maybe I shouldn't tell you. Since you already know and have been hiding it from me." I was being harsh but he deserved it. Couldn't he tell we were just as focused on finding Annabeth and Percy as he was?

Nico's face became more pale then it was already. "I suppose I owe you an explanation... But I just wasn't sure who to trust after that visit. And... the same day Clarrisse was being mean to me. So I..." He looked sincerely upset.

I could feel my face softening. "Fine," I said, my tone gentle. "Explain."

So he told me every last detail of what happened when he went to Olympus that day. He told me of the exact words that they used, the supposed betrayal of Annabeth, everything. He even told me all the thoughts he felt when he saved Annabeth's life.

"You saved her." I felt shocked. "I... I just assumed that you knew that they were alive because of you dad's powers..." And then my shock boiled into anger. "You lied, Nico. You said you had no idea where to look for them, but you did. That forest. And you let us believe they were together all these years..."

Nico protested "In my defense, I actually didn't know where to look for Annabeth or Percy. I didn't know where that forest was. I had no clue where I had shadow traveled to. And then even if i knew, she would have been long gone by the time I came back to camp. I kinda got lost in Russia..."

I laughed. I couldn't help myself. "Do you know where it is now?" I asked.

Nico shrugged. "I don't know exactly where it is, but now that I think about it, I think it was in the exact place my sister became a huntress."

He didn't say anything else because his eyes were full of tears, but I exclaimed "That would make so much sense! Especially because Annabeth joined the huntresses after that. They must have been around there at that time."

Nico almost fell out of his seat. "Annabeth joined the huntresses?"

I explained everything I had learned at the meeting to him. After all, that was the only way we could be even, at least in some sense of thinking. I half wanted to keep the information to myself, but that would definetly not bring us closer to finding the two, so I didn't keep a detail hidden away. From his growing eyeballs, I could tell he was impressed by my performance of slamming the door in Zeus's face.

Nico nodded when I finished the story. "I'm not super suprised," he commented. "I always...."

He was inturupted by a large banging sound on his door and screams. He sighed deeply. "There's a new camper causing a ruckus around camp," he explained. "Come back as soon as possible, Rachel."

He waved his hand through the Iris message and it sizzled out, leaving me alone, standing outside the doorway to Olympus's throne room.