The Great Demon Lord and the Children of Olympus

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Is it bad if it disappears...?

Many tired demigods milled around and about in the camp. The night before was a tiring and rather stressful one. The disappearance of four demigods and the possible disappearance of another one.

Well, Annabeth was fine now though. Fine except for the fact that her energy was drained to the point that she could barely move even after she slept until the sun was high up in the middle of the sky.

'What the hell did that circle do? Does it need energy as compensation for communication? Or is it more like a gate, though... If it were a gate, how much energy would it need?'

The thoughts in Annabeth's head started travelling round and round. Even if she couldn't move her body, her brain was working just fine.

But, unfortunately for Annabeth, the door of the cabin creaked and Malcolm came walking in with a meal, disrupting Annabeth's thoughts.

"Hey, are you able to get up? I have your lunch," Malcolm stated.

"Ah, thanks Malcolm. I'll be up in a sec," Annabeth responded. Malcolm looked doubtful as he set the tray onto the table near Annabeth's bed.

The sheets rustled as Annabeth tried to force her arms to move. She collapsed after a pang of pain travelled through her entire body. It felt like she had done intensive training the day before, every muscle was sore.

'So it doesn't just affect my awakeness, it also affects my muscles, like I have been straining them. -'

"Uh... are you sure you don't need any help getting up? Or one of the Apollo cabin kids to heal you up?" Malcolm fretted a bit.

Her train of thought cut, Annabeth suddenly came back to reality and replied, "No, I appear to be simply sore to the point where I cannot move. It's nothing too big."

Malcolm seemed only half reassured but left Annabeth to her own anyway. As Malcolm left the cabin Annabeth concluded that he most likely went to get Chiron even though she told him to not worry.

For the meantime Annabeth decided to have some much needed food as she reached for the food tray by her bedside.

And sure enough, a couple minutes later...

Creak...

The cabin door opened once again with Chiron in his wheelchair followed by Malcolm and a few other demigods from various other cabins.

"So, could you possibly tell us about what you experienced in more detail," Chiron asked as he motioned for Malcolm and the other half-bloods to exit the cabin.

"Yes," Annabeth looked up from the food tray on her lap, "When I stepped onto the middle of the circle, it started to drain my energy. Both physically and mentally which is the reason why I fell asleep and why I am sore all over right now."

"Hmm, so it seems that that is the compensation needed. Like the Iris Messaging system but with energy instead of drachmas," Chiron commented.

Annabeth nodded then continued, "As soon as it started to drain my energy, this strange fog started appearing until I couldn't see any of you guys. That was why I panicked a bit."

"Hmm, everyone else saw you quite clearly though..." Chiron recalled what had happened.

"Is that so?" Annabeth asked but continued on anyway, "After everything was covered by the mist, I saw this vision like the IM but I could see everything on the other side. Behind me, in front, below and on top.