The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

43. Matter Of Choice

All Y/N found to say was: "Um . . . okay. And I'm the pope. Nice to meet you."

This time he managed to move his head aside before getting Zoë Nightshade's foot on it.

Grover gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so . . . you're so. . . . Wow!"

"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her; Y/N, still on the ground, craned his neck to see her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who . . . who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but. . . ."

She faltered. She must've been seeing from their faces that they didn't believe her.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"Oh, you'll soon regret that it wasn't the truth," Thalia muttered.

"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It sounded old-fashioned, as if she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian . . . athlete?"

"No," Zoë said. "One of the gods."

"Cool!" Nico said.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

Y/N would've liked to say he felt sorry for the di Angelos, but not really. For one thing, his brain was churning hard, anxious as he was about Annabeth. For another, girls were holding him down, and snow is freezing.

"Bianca," Thalia said, "I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well . . . our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."

Thalia turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Y/N asked.

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Hera? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

Vanished. Y/N knew it, but that didn't cool him down. When she had gone missing on Salamis, he had found her again, so why couldn't he this time? He could fly; jumping off the cliff wouldn't be hard.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."