Annabeth’s POV

Flashes of green. A deserted narrow street. Dull, grey weather. Everything flashed by so fast that I couldn’t see what it meant. A chill ran up my spine. Where was this? What did it mean? How does this help me find Thalia?

The scenes came to a stop in some kind of basement. The walls were grey and moulding, the concrete floors dusty and the room gloomy, the only light flickering from a lamp by a sturdy-looking door. A lone figure was crumpled on the floor, chest rising up and down slowly as the owner slept on. I approached it cautiously … and immediately gasped. Thalia.

“Thalia!” I shouted.

Her eyes shot open and her head snapped towards my direction as she immediately became alert. “Annabeth,” she whispered in horror but I could see faint hope shining in her eyes.

“Where are you? Tell me!” I demanded desperately. “Just give me a clue; anything!”

A faint creaking sound could be heard coming from the door. Someone was approaching. Terror flashed in Thalia’s eyes before determination settled and her eyes bored into mine. “We don’t have much time,” she said urgently. “Listen to me, they’re aiming for Harry. That’s all they want. Don’t bother about me; focus on Harry! It’s going to happen soon; at the place where it is hardest to break in under normal circumstances, at the Ministry of Magic. Exactly where it would happen, Harry would know; you have to ask Harry!”

“Thalia, what -?” I began to ask when the door slammed open.

“Don’t forget,” she whispered to me as the vision began to fade. The last sight I caught of her froze me to the spot. Her usual brave front seemed to be collapsing as pure fear filled her eyes and her body started to tremble lightly. The usual fearless Thalia was gone and that scared me.

“No!” My eyes snapped open as my body shot upwards. Breathing heavily, my eyes darted around wildly, taking note of my surroundings as I always do. The ground was unmarked, nothing seemed to have been disturbed and most importantly, Percy and Clarisse were still there next to me.

I took another deep breath, trying to calm my trembling body. Thankfully, it seemed to work as my racing heart began to slow down and the tremors faded off. I stared at my hands absentmindedly as I thought back to the dream I just had. Thalia was in trouble; Harry was in trouble … Who was I suppose to help first?

“You okay?” Percy’s sleepy voice asked me, jolting me from my thoughts.

I turned to look at him, frowning slightly. He was yawning widely as he got up and walked over to me. “What’s up?” he asked me with a small smile on his face.

“I had a dream about Thalia,” I told him softly and his smile immediately disappeared, replaced with a look of burning curiosity and concern.

“Is she okay? Where is she?” he questioned anxiously.

“She’s terrified. She tried not to show it but I could see it in her eyes,” I said to him quietly. “I have no idea where she is; she didn’t tell me and I don’t think she even knows herself. But she told me something else.”

“Which is?” Clarisse’s voice suddenly spoke up and I started, looking over to see her staring at us, her body tense and alert. She must have overheard our conversation.

“Harry’s in trouble,” I told them both, my body slumping heavily. What were we suppose to do now?”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked me sharply.

“’They’re aiming for Harry; that’s all they want’”, I said, quoting Thalia. “That’s what she told me. The exact words. She also said that it would happen at the Ministry of Magic and Harry would know the exact place.”

“Who're 'they' exactly? How would he know the exact place if he doesn’t even know that he’s being targeted?” Percy asked me, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

I shrugged as I leaned back against him, absorbing the comforting warmth of his body. “I have no idea, but that’s what she told me. And I'm pretty sure 'they' are Voldemort and his Death Eaters.”

“Well, we have to warn them don’t we? It has been weeks since we left and I think school’s already started. We could send them an IM or something,” Clarisse said.

It was true; it really had been weeks since we departed on our own personal mission to save Thalia and so far, it was going badly. We had been waiting for some kind of message like the one I had just dreamt and while doing that, we had just been wandering around, trying to dig up clues on where she could have disappeared to. First, we had trekked our way back to Hogwarts and with a lot of difficulty, somehow managed to get in and out of the Forbidden Forest without being detected. Hagrid had been some help in that when he spotted us lurking around the gates. We had informed him about our mission and although he didn’t exactly approve, he agreed to help us.

After leaving Hogwarts, dejected and down in spirits, we made our way back to London with the help of some kind of Knight Bus that Harry had told us about. Four words: Worst bus ride, ever. I definitely wasn’t getting back on that thing ever again. Just imagining it made me nauseous.

Don’t ask me why we chose to go to London. It was just some kind of gut instinct I guess. Believe me; I had learnt to trust my gut instincts after being on so many quests. That feeling had saved my life more times than I could count. Other than that, we had just been sneaking around, contacting camp for updates and the Hunters for leads. It had been pretty futile but we weren’t about to give up now. Last night, we had decided to spend the night at some kind of park, seeing as we didn’t have enough money to afford a room, no matter how cheap. The money was for emergencies only and we had been camping about in forests, parks, under bridges and basically everywhere that you can think of.

“I forgot to mention something else. Before I saw Thalia, some images flashed around me and I’m not sure whether it’s important,” I frowned, struggling to recall the images. “There had been some colours of green, maybe trees. There was this kind of narrow road too but it was deserted and the last one was the weather. The skies were grey and were pretty depressing.”

“Sounds like London weather to me,” Clarisse snorted, glaring about at the gloomy skies surrounding us.

“Huh, you’re right … The road did looked like somewhere around London too. It was so familiar, I’m pretty sure I had seen it before,” I groaned in frustration. Why couldn’t I remember something that could be so important?

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. When you remember, you’ll remember,” Percy told me, trying to cheer me up. I returned his smile reluctantly

“Come on, lovebirds, we have to go contact Harry, remember?” Clarisse rolled her eyes at us as she stood up, dusting the dirt off her body.

“You’re right, we have to find a water source,” I agreed, standing up myself and hauling Percy to his feet.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a fountain somewhere in this park. I thought I saw one yesterday,” He informed us as we picked up our backpacks.

“It’s still pretty early. Let’s just hope nobody’s crazy enough to take their kids out to play at this hour,” I said, looking around nervously as we set off.

By the time we made our way cautiously around the park, we had spotted the fountain right in the middle of the park. After ensuring that nobody was around, we quickly walked right up to the spray of water and threw in a drachma, offering a prayer to Isis before mentioning Harry’s name.

The water shimmered for a moment before clearing and showing Harry’s groggy and startled face. It looked like we had awoken him. His face cleared and became alert when he saw us, however. “How’s the search going?” he asked immediately in a hushed whisper, trying not to wake the others. I saw his arm stretching out and shoving Ron awake though.

“Not good but forget about that right now. We have more important things to tell you,” Percy said seriously.

“What is it?” Harry asked as he kicked Ron again. In his sleep-induced state, Ron had glared blearily at Harry before falling back asleep. It seemed like he was too tired to notice us.

“What?” I heard Ron hiss angrily before finally letting out an ‘oh’ of recognition. His face appeared in our view as he scrambled to Harry’s sight. “How’s it going, mate?”

“We have some really urgent stuff to tell you guys,” Percy repeated. “You’re being targeted, Harry.”

Harry frowned. “I know that. Isn’t that why the attacks are happening and why I’m being watched constantly?”

Clarisse shook her head. “You don’t get it. You’re going to be attacked real soon.”

“What?” Ron asked in shock. “How do you know?”

“I dreamt of Thalia. She’s trapped somewhere and she warned us that Harry’s going be attacked soon. She said something about it happening at the Ministry of Magic and that you knew the exact place where,” I told them, staring straight into Harry’s eyes.

“No, I don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “Maybe it has something to do with my dreams …”

“Maybe,” Percy agreed. “We’re trying to find out now. How’s it going at your end? Are Nico, Tyson and Grover alright?”

“They’re fine; worried sick about you guys but fine otherwise. They seemed more determined to finish this quest and join you guys on your hunt,” Harry told us.

“Yeah and guess what? Harry’s being taught Occlumency by Snape,” Ron snorted, sounding disgusted.

“What’s that?” Clarisse asked.

“Some defence of the mind against external penetration or something,” Ron said dismissively. “Imagine having extra lessons with Snape! Total nightmare, that is.”

“That sucks, dude,” Percy said sympathetically.

“Yeah, well, Dumbledore’s making me do it so it’s not like I have a choice,” Harry muttered bitterly.

“It’ll help you though,” I pointed out.

“You sound just like Hermione,” Ron scoffed.

“Well, it’s true,” I argued, about to launch into a whole argument about it when Clarisse suddenly froze next to me.

“What’s that?” she asked me softly, staring into the distance.

“What?” I asked sharply, quickly spinning around and squinting at where she was pointing.

In the dim light of the still-rising morning sun, it was hard to spot anything. However, something stood out among the trees and grass, something that made my heart plummet right to the pits of my stomach. A pair of glowing bulbs shone from one of the bushes, staring right at us. It wasn’t blinking and as soon as Percy swerved around, it began moving.

I almost choked when the beast grabbed its head/tail in its mouth and began rolling towards us. Okay, I had to admit, that was rather hilarious albeit terrifying. The only thing stopping me from actually laughing out loud was its body. What made me catch my breath wasn’t the fact that it was a serpent that had somehow managed to make its way into the city; it was the fact that it had two heads, one on each end. I recognized it immediately; how could I not?

“Amphisbaena,” Clarisse murmured next to me, coming to the same conclusion as me at the same time.

“Amphis-what?” Percy asked beside me, his eyes fixed incredulously on the dual heads.

“Amphisbaena,” I explained, my mind working furiously to remember what I had read about it. “It’s spawned from the blood of Medusa. Your namesake, Perseus, fought it before. It supposedly feeds off on ants and corpses of men. It’s not supposed to be here; its habitat is in the desert but then again, it’s a monster so anything’s possible I suppose,” I sighed.

“What’s going on over there?” I faintly heard Ron demanding to know behind. “Hello, we’re still here!”

Just then, the connection shut off. Guess we had run out of time.

“Time for another fight then,” Percy commented, grinning beside me. “Just like usual, right?”

I had to smile at that. “Yeah, just like usual,” I agreed, my eyes twinkling as I looked at my boyfriend next to me.

“Let’s destroy some monsters,” Clarisse smirked on my other side as the serpent came closer and closer.

“Let’s do this,” I agreed, and with that, we charged.

I ripped my dagger loose as we flew towards Amphis (that’s what I’m calling it. Amphisbaena is seriously a mouthful). Riptide was already in Percy’s hand and Clarisse had Maimer, her electric spear, clutched in her hand as she rushed towards the monster. However, as we got close to it, it suddenly unfurled itself from its circle and lashed out with its head/tail, catching Percy by surprise as it threw him back.

“Percy!” I yelled out, slightly worried about him as I ducked my head, avoiding its head/tail as it swung above me.

“I’m okay!” I heard him reply faintly.

Clarisse snarled and jabbed Maimer straight at Amphis as she rolled out of the way of its attack. A loud crackling sound filled the air as the spear made contact with the surface and I heard a loud hiss of pain. As it began thrashing about, I dashed forward and flicked my knife towards, burying it deep in the snake’s eye at the exact same moment it turned one of its head towards me.

Its movement became more violent and the hiss grew louder after the injury I inflicted. I tried moving out of the way but then, its head caught me, wrapping its body tight around me as I struggled to get free. Black spots danced in front of my eyes when the grip tightened, making it hard for me to breathe.

“Annabeth!” Percy shouted, sounding close by. “Hold your breath!”

If I had the strength, I would have gladly cursed that guy out at that very moment. I didn’t have any oxygen and he told me to hold my breath? Was he blind? While I was fuming, I didn’t notice the huge wave of water towering above me, slowly but surely collapsing down on us. I noticed it not a second too soon and squeezed my eyes shut just as it came crashing down. Struck by the sudden pressure, Amphis was taken by surprise and loosen its grip on me, dropping me straight to the ground.

I groaned as my whole body landed onto the ground with a loud thump. Pain shot through me and I blinked back unwelcomed tears of agony as I crawled away from under the snake. I watched Percy slashed Riptide down on Amphis’ neck, severing its head from it body and making the monster dissolved away.

“Annabeth, are you okay?” he quickly dashed to my side, demanding to know anxiously. Clarisse came over too, staring around suspiciously for more unexpected guests.

“I’m fine,” I told him. It was the truth because the pain was already fading.

He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled me up from the ground. “Sorry about dousing you in water,” he apologised.

“It’s okay,” I waved it off dismissedly. “You’re fine right?” I added to Clarisse.

“Of course I am,” she replied, disgruntled that she didn’t kill the monster herself.

“Awesome,” I replied distractedly. “What do we do now, exactly?”

“To be honest, I just want to lie down somewhere and sleep,” Percy admitted. “Didn’t really expect a monster to attack us so fast.”

“Let’s just do that. We’ll continue the search tomorrow,” I agreed, my eyelids already drooping.

He led me over to an empty bench nearby, Clarisse trailing behind us, her eyes still darting around. As he sat and pulled me down, laying my head on his lap, she spoke up.

“I’ll take first watch. If we all fall asleep, something could attack us. I’ll wake one of you up in a few hours,” she said, leaving no room for argument.

We both nodded our heads and she settled onto the ground close to us. I settled more comfortably into Percy’s lap. “Thanks for saving me,” I whispered.

“Any day,” he smiled down at me and kissed me on the forehead. With that, my eyes finally closed and I fell asleep.

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A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter feels rushed. It's probably that way because I did rush it. I wanted to upload it since you guys were asking for a new chappie. If it's rushed, do tell me so when I finally edit the story, I can change this chapter a little :)

Dedicated to fullofcrazyness because her birthday's coming up. Happy early birthday! :)

So the usual: not edited. Any mistakes pointed out will be greatly appreciated :D