The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

27. Run Away At Night

That night at campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it wasn't easy after the afternoon's bird attack. The campers sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

They did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean,"

"I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa,"

"This Land is Minos's Land." The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder you sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, Y/N had seen it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into the flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House.

When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"

He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casual-like. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.

Tantalus turned back toward the campers, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir," Percy said.

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares campers snickered. Percy stood and looked at Y/N. Y/N followed the lead.

He said, "We have an idea to save the camp."

Dead silence, but he could tell he had gotten everybody's interest by looking at the campfire. It flared bright yellow.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"

"The Golden Fleece," Percy said. "We know where it is."

The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop him, Percy blurted out his dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.

"The Fleece can save the camp," she concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense," Tantalus said. "We don't need saving."

Everybody stared at him until he started looking uncomfortable.

"Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, we would," Y/N said.

Annabeth leaned toward him and whispered. "You would?"

He winked at her. "You're far from being the only one who knows things, Wise Girl." Matter of factly, it was her who had made him think of it when she had talked about the Gray Sisters. She had jogged something in his memory. At the time, the information they'd given them made no sense. But now. . . .

"30, 31, 75, 12," he said.

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"Don't interrupt me," Y/N retorted.

Tantalus's mouth dropped. Blown away, was he, indeed.

"Latitude and longitude," Y/N continued. "We learn about that in social studies. But I get it. After three thousand years in the Fields of Punishment, your dried-up brain can't understand that."