Run | TMR X PJO [ Editing ]

Six | Group B

Chapter six, in which Annabeth hopes the Council meeting goes well.

Council? That sounded like a bad omen. Annabeth sat there wondering what would happen to her. Twelve other chairs faced her. Most of the girls glared at her—other girls, like Kathy, wouldn't meet her eyes. She looked at them and they glanced back. Back and forth it went. Stealing a few looks at Harriet and Sonya. What were they thinking? Were they mad at her? Impressed? 

Harriet stood up. "Let's get this over with," she said in a husky voice. "Greenie, tell us what happened."

She sighed and leaned back against the chair. "Kathy was being a hole. I told her to shut up. Then she ditched me and I was on my own. I was almost back, except a Griever got in the way. No biggie," she said casually.

The Keeper of the Runners rolled her eyes. "No biggie? What the actual heck, she punched me—"

"One at a time!" Sonya screamed. "Let Annabeth finish. I'm tired." Everyone stopped mumbling amongst themselves and looked at Annabeth. 

It made her slightly uncomfortable, but she went on. "Fine so maybe I did sock her in the face, but she kind of deserved it—" That set off another argument whether to punish her or not. Either way she had nearly been killed. "I'm right here. Stop acting like I'm a slug that can't hear you," she huffed. 

Kathy looked ready to blow up, her face red. "I think we should punish her. We need order." Some of the other girls nodded along like they agreed. 

Harriet sighed and looked around. "Any more suggestions before we take a vote?"

Slowly, Sonya raised a hand. "Well it was her first time, and I say she did pretty well," she said defensively. "Punish her if you want, but whatever this girl's got, we need more of it, or we'll never get out of this hell hole."

"Are you mad, Sonya?" Kathy snarled. "She broke a rule: Don't attack others. You see this bruise? She ran off and could have been killed." Some people looked at Sonya slowly, others agreed with Kathy.

Looking bored, Harriet held up a hand for silence. "We're voting now. Kathy, you first." 

"I say she gets punished," she said smugly. 

"Next."

"I'm with Sonya."

"Punish her."

"Punish."

It went on until they reached Sonya, who chose to stand by her original idea. Harriet silently counted the votes. "It's a tie," she announced.

That set off yet another argument. Kathy rolled her eyes and stormed out. Everyone waved their hands and debated what should happen to Annabeth.

"Simmer down," Harriet said sharply. "Annie gets a day in the Slammer, and she continues being a Runner afterwards. Any objections?"

Silence. 

"Council adjourned."

Everyone got up and left. Annabeth chose to wait until everyone left before standing up. Maybe, just maybe, there was something to the Maze. Something she would figure out. But for now, Annabeth could only sigh. 

—

She slept fitfully. Every couple of hours she would wake up from nightmares. Nightmares about her. Nightmares about Percy. And her friends. It was dawn when she woke up screaming from a particularly scary dream. 

Harriet hovered over her glaring. "Get up. Slammer's waiting. And be more quiet, will you?" She started off, not even waiting for Annabeth to follow. 

Scrambling to her feet, she followed Harriet, who was jogging to a clump of messy branches. Behind them was a stone cube. It seemed secure enough. It had one window, a wooden door barred shut with an old lock, and when Annabeth peeked inside, a single wobbly chair. She silently got in and heard the door slam shut. 

"I'll send someone to bring you food later," was all that Harriet said before leaving. 

The chair looked like it had seen its best days a millennia ago.  It creaked when she sat on it. In the corner, she spied a rat. It was the size of her forearm. Annabeth shuddered and looked away. This wasn't so bad, she thought. 

That's when she saw the spider. 

It was small, no bigger than a few inches. And it was terrifying. It was about as scary as a Griever. The little devil, it was surely out to get her. It hung by a thread. The spider lowered itself. It was two feet away, then one. Six inches. Annabeth stood up and grabbed the chair. She held it up like a weapon, ready to whack the spider. It was in range. She tossed the chair at it. The thread broke, and the spider scrambled away, unharmed. However, the chair broke into brittle pieces. 

Whoops. 

"Gee Annabeth, never thought you'd be scared of spiders," a voice said teasingly. It was Sonya. She held a tray of food out. "Thought you'd be hungry."

Embarrassed, she took the food without a word. Bread smeared with peanut butter and jelly. An apple and a small glass of milk. Classic, but comforting. Silently, she took a bite and chewed quickly like her life depended on it. 

"Do you want me to stay?" Sonya asked. 

Annabeth shrugged. "Whatever you want," she mumbled. 

"Alright then. I'll stay." She crouched at the window and peered in. "Looks like we need another chair."

"Uh.. yeah."

"So. Fear of spiders?" she mused. "How do you survive the Maze?"

"Don't know," she replied, occupied with her food. "I guess I just run."

"I see. I'll leave you alone now." Sonya left. 

Annabeth sighed and sat on the floor, far away from where she last saw the spider. And it was boring. Maybe they sentenced her here, hoping she would get bored to death. It would certainly work. The rest of the day, she went on counting the number of splinters and shards of wood on the floor. Sometimes she would resort to finding where the rats were. Sonya brought her lunch and dinner, but she didn't say much. Mostly she ignored her and cursed under her breath about Mazes and Grievers.  

Night fell. Annabeth made sure there were no spiders around, and she found herself a corner to sleep in. She curled up on the cold stone floor. In her head she knew. She would never say it, but she knew. 

She was alone and she didn't have Percy by her side.