TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

thirty one.

CRYING, SCREAMING, THROWING up.

Val was sick. She was in pain, more than ever. She felt like she was being ripped from her lungs to her head.

"I don't want to do this anymore," she whispered, in pain.

But that was what pain was for. To be felt.

After Val had screamed at Aphrodite, she felt pain. More physical pain than what had happened the past two years. It almost hurt as much as when Annabeth was with Percy.

It wasn't fair. Val had put up with it until now. She shouldn't have had this curse. This was all Aphrodite's fault. It was not hers.

And for that, she'd been gifted more pain.

What a scam.

Val heard voices outside of her building and hoisted herself up to see total war happening.

Her mind flashed back to less than a year ago, in the Titan war — demigods fighting demigods. When she'd unleashed her powers and they'd been knocked unconscious.

Now? The Romans were fighting the Argo II crew.

The Argo II was right there. Val needed to get back so she could save Nico, and not worry Annabeth more than she already had the past year.

She was too emotional to get out her wings, but her anger provided her with two simple solutions — guard dogs, and an army to provide her with cover.

Finally getting out of her hiding spot, she sauntered out in the open. She took the most direct route to the ship, which just happened to be in the way of multiple Roman demigods.

"Kill her!" Val heard, but she barely registered what was happening in her cloud of anger. She let her ghosts do her work for her as she walked toward the rope ladder of the ship.

Her luck didn't go that far, though, which was just typical for her, as someone stabbed a sword toward her, and she swiftly dodged, before grabbing her knives and wielding them protectively in front of her.

"Why won't you die?" Octavian hissed, going for her again, but she dodged and slashed a straight line down from shoulder to mid chest.

"Because I am death." Val said slowly, enough for each syllable to resonate in him. So he could feel a fraction of the anger and the pain she was feeling. "And death does not discriminate."

She shoved him back in the crowd of Romans that were trying to get to her, but failed. Of course they couldn't get to her. She was one of the most powerful demigods on the planet. If not the most powerful, because she had all of the gods at her mercy and she was death and love, the two most powerful beings.

"Get back from the ship," Val charmspoke over her shoulder, leaning on the rope ladder that she was on as the ship was preparing to leave — when did that happen? "Or death really will discriminate on you."

The ship left, and Val climbed the ladder up to the ship, sending away her ghosts and the dogs that she'd gained from her power high.

And the effect wasn't fully gone yet, but she could notice more things that she wouldn't have noticed in her tunnel vision. Stares leveled at her. Wariness. As if she was a ticking time bomb.

Anger. Pride. Exhaustion. Val stared into the distance and zoned out, until she heard her name being called multiple times, shaking off her dizziness and fleeing to the escape of her bedroom.

* * *

No one said anything when Val came up the stairs and to where they were talking about stuff that should've mattered to her but didn't. She settled in her spot next to Leo and just listened.