A Very Demi-Life

What Comes Next?

Annabeth's P.O.V.

I sit bolt upright, tears streaming down my face. It seems like every time I close my eyes all I see is a vision of Percy leaving me. As I come back to Earth, I feel someone touching my arm. I scoot back until my back hits the wall. I look around and realize I'm in the infirmary, the rows of cots and the beige walls putting me at ease.

I look around for the owner of the hand that had been on my arm. I see Chiron staring at me, concern and worry filling his eyes. "You know why you are here right?" He asks. My stomach drops, and I nod. "I'm just concerned for you, I don't want you getting hurt."

Fear begins to fill my system. He's not going to let me train anymore. I've become useless, though I shouldn't be surprised, I'm two years away from the top of the demigod life-span. "I promise that it was a one-time deal, I swear." Chiron takes a deep breath and begins to open his mouth. "I'll take it easy I promise." I'm begging, I think to myself, I haven't begged since I was little and wanted my own quest.

Chiron sighs, "I've come to realize you are not that scared, young girl who came to camp all those years ago. You've grown tremendously and gone through more than any demigod I've trained before has. Because of that fact, for right now, I will allow you to continue to train," I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. "but you must talk to someone about your nightmares. I recommend Nico since he knows what you went through."

"Talking won't stop the nightmares Chiron."

"It might not make them go away, but it can make them more bearable."

"Ok Chiron. I'll see if Nico has free time to talk," I say, a look of resignation coming over my face.

Chiron smiles, "Thank you, now I believe that it is almost time for breakfast, so let's make our way toward the pavilion. You also have two new demigods to meet."

I nod and go to the dining pavilion. I have some time to enjoy camp before the rest of the campers arrive, something I haven't done in a while. I smell the fresh sea breeze and remember when Percy, Tyson, and I snuck away from camp my sixth year. I look and see the fissure in the ground from Nico's summonings, the first having occurred after the quest to rescue Artemis (and me) and the most recent having occurred only a week or so ago.

After a few minutes, the rest of my cabin shows up, sans my second-in-command. "Hey, where's Malcolm?" I ask.

"He's giving the new kids, Tristian and MacKenzie, a tour," Sophia says sitting next to me.

"Oh, ok." After a few minutes, Malcolm shows up with two other teenagers in tow. I smile at Malcolm's expression, "Hey Malc, I thought you'd never show up."

"W-what are you doing here?" He asks, his expression akin to that of seeing a centaur in a prom dress, which he has seen.

"Chiron let me go, as long as I promised to take it easy, and because of the deal I made with Hypnos cabin I don't have a class to teach for the first hour."

"Wait you teach?" The boy, Tristian I assume, asks.

"Yeah, I give Ancient Greek lessons to new campers."

"Oh, why don't you do training?"

"I do train when not teaching, and sometimes I'll have my lessons in the arena or on the archery range, a lot of head counselors teach lessons."

"How long have you been here?"

I pause to think, "Ten years, I came here when I was seven."

"Really?" MacKenzie asks.

"Yeah, and half of those years I've been involved in some sort of quest or prophecy."

"Don't forget you're a year-round camper," Sophia adds, beaming with pride.

"Year-round?" Tristian asks.

"Yeah, like right now not everyone that attends camp is here. Most of the campers are only here for the summer, those who stay either have no home to go back to in the mortal world or they're too powerful to live in the outside world safely."

"Which are you?" Tristian asks, raising an eyebrow.

"A little of both, mainly the latter though. Now you two better eat or it's going to be a long day."

After breakfast, my cabin and I trek over to the training arena, the sun was rising, and the fall air was perfect for training. I unsheathe my knife and do some practice lunges just to warm up.

Tristian walks over to me, "Hey Annabeth, do you wanna help me train?"

I glance at Nico, who's leaning against his sword, he's taken to helping teach swordsmanship when Percy isn't at camp, and when he isn't with Will. He shrugs, giving me the go ahead.

"Sure," I respond. "But first I have to see your skills through sparring." He smirks and the desire to put this newbie in his place grows. I grab a sword so that we're evenly matched. "On three we'll start," I say, getting about six or seven feet of distance between us. "Three, two, one."

Tristian lunges at me and I side-step it, though I do have to admit that it is a close call. I shake my head and clear my thoughts then make an offensive move of my own. Tristian somehow manages to dodge my attack. I furrow my eyebrows; the sun seems to be getting suddenly darker. We continue our cat and mouse game, his strikes coming closer and my own getting further off the mark. What's with the cloud cover? I think. It's so dark now that I feel like I'm wearing sunglasses -the sweat stinging my eyes is not making it any better either. My lungs are straining, though they have been doing that ever since Tartarus. I feel a sting and look down; my arm is cut. I have never been that weary of blood, yet the sight makes me woozy. Of course, the pain also angers me more, and I make sure that Tristian knows it. My wild slashes make me more vulnerable to attack, and I realize this when I stop and see the cuts along my arms and legs, along with a shallow but stinging cut on my hip. I curse myself; how can I, a hero of Olympus, a survivor of Tartarus, and most senior camper, be beaten by a newbie? Maybe I really have reached the end of my shelf-life.

My vision blackens around the edges and I drop to a knee. My breathing is labored, I'm more exhausted than I've ever been after training, and the blackening vision is only making my anxiety worse.

"Truce!" I hear someone, I assume Nico yell.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and try to scramble away. "Hey Annabeth, it's okay, it's just me." I look and see that the owner of the hand is Malcolm.

"Are you okay Annabeth?" Nico asks kneeling on my other side. "Will and Chiron are on their way."

I can't decide if I want to groan, Chiron coming is the last thing I want, or to pray for Hades to open the ground beneath me and let it swallow me whole. My body has other ideas though and decides that the best solution is to take a nap; there are two upsides, I won't have to witness my public downfall and the sleep born from complete exhaustion does not have nightmares. I resign to my body's wishes, close my eyes and begin to fall forward.