~Playlist: "New Americana" by Halsey~

"We know very well who we are,
So we hold it down"

Annabeth's POV

I don't trust Umbra.

Daphne appears to be at ease with her, but I am jumpy and tense. Even three months after meeting her, every time she moves I have to fight the urge to reach for my knife.

"Are you alright?" Umbra asks me, taunting and laughter dancing in her eyes. "You seem to be tense."

I shoot her a sharp glare. "I'm fine."

Daphne gives me a sympathetic look. "I know you don't like the plan-"

I snort. That was an understatement: I hate the plan.

"-but Umbra isn't going to do anything that I don't let her do. You don't have to worry about her."

Umbra smiles, displaying a row of perfectly white teeth. My stomach turns, and I turn away from the small girl.

"Umbra isn't the only one I'm worried about," I mutter darkly.

"I've promised so many times, Annabeth, why don't you believe me?"
Daphne sighs. "Nothing will happen that I don't want to happen."

Umbra winks at me, which is weird enough under normal circumstances, but is even stranger coming from an ancient monster wearing the body and face of a young girl.

"I don't understand why I can't tell anyone about what we're going to do," I say, pressing a finger to my temple.

"Esmerelda, Sam, Umbra, you, and myself are the only ones that can now," Daphne reminds me. "Not Ana, not Piper, not even Percy. Just us."

I fight the urge to groan.

"Don't worry, Annabeth: you won't have to keep the secret for much longer," says Umbra, a wicked grin playing on her lips. "It will all play out tomorrow."

For three months, I've been working with Daphne and Umbra, making it three months of my engagement with Percy. We haven't even discussed the wedding, if it even is happening. In fact, we hardly talk at all.

We've had, at most, five full discussions since I met Umbra. Since then, I've been working with her and Daphne, and when I wasn't, I was training with Ajax and Thalia. Percy has been as equally busy, and our schedules have been difficult to work around.

Esmerelda and Sam are constantly training Percy, as well as the rest of us. They say we have an unnaturally rare talent in battle, but that doesn't get us out of sparring with each other. "So that you stay in shape," Esmerelda says while telling me to get up, and do it again.

I've lost weight, but I don't know if that's because of my unusual amount of exercise or all the newfound stress. Most of my friends have gone on missions already, leaving me behind to worry as Daphne tried to distract me with finalizing the details of our plan.

"You should get some sleep," Daphne says, her voice snatching me from my thoughts, and back into the real world. "You'll need it tomorrow."

I nod, feeling the fatigue that I hadn't previously noticed settle over me. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

Tomorrow. It filled me with dread, weighing down my limbs.

Trying not to run, I leave the room as quickly as possible. The sound of my worn boots slapping against the floor soothes me in a way that the heels of the Selection never could. After three months, I found that I prefer the casual pants and boots over the fussy dresses and heels.

Another set of footsteps joins my own. I turn a corner, and nearly run into Silena.

"Oh, hey, Annabeth!" she says cheerfully, waving. The ring on her left hand sparkles in the lighting, and I smile. Beckendorf proposed to her almost two months ago, and they, unlike Percy and I, have set a date for the wedding: two weeks from today.

"Hi, Silena. How are you?"

"Wonderful," she gushes. Though she's always been beautiful, Beckendorf brings something out in her that makes her radiant. Her happiness is contagious: my worry fades and is replaced with bright joy. "Though I haven't seen much of you around lately."

I raise an eyebrow. "Too busy with Beckendorf?"

She flushes a deep crimson, and I laugh, "I'll take that as a yes, then."

"What about you and Percy?"

My laughter dies. "We haven't really talked much since we got here."

It's her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Too busy?"

"Yes--but not in the way you're thinking," I hastily add as her smile grows. "All the training doesn't leave much room to chat."

"And the missions," Silena says, her face sobering. "Charlie has one tomorrow. He tells me not to worry, but I do. How could I not?"

"You go on missions, too," I remind her. "He must worry about you as well."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. How is there any room for love with all our worry?"

"Well, Percy is going on the mission with him, so we can worry together," I say, trying to cheer her up.

"He is?"

I nod. "Esmerelda thinks his. . . abilities can be helpful."

I didn't know how to describe it other than 'abilities'. Daphne explained that it comes from his godly parent, Poseidon, but that whole concept is still foreign to me. I believe it, but seeing my fiancé manipulate water with nothing more than his mind is more than a bit frightening.

"Then I'll find you tomorrow, so that we can have company while we worry," Silena says, her smile returning to her face.

I nod in agreement, knowing that it's a lie. I have to help Daphne and Umbra carry out the plan; I won't have any time to sit with Silena. But the lie brings back her smile, so I assure myself that it was worth it.

We say our goodbyes, and then I head up to my room. The rest of the girls there are already asleep as I change into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Then, I climb into my bed and wait for sleep to claim me.

But it never does. I turn, and turn, but nothing helps. Finally, I give up chasing sleep, and just lie still in my bed.

A quiet alarm sounds from my wrist, but I'm already awake. I silence the watch with a click of a button, and slip on the jumpsuit and my boots. Silently, I exit the room.

And run into Umbra, who is standing right outside my door. I shiver at the thought of her waiting there all night.

The sight of her outside her room is foreign, and I feel uneasy. As if she can sense my discomfort, Umbra holds her wrist up to my face, displaying a thin metal cuff.

"Relax, Annabeth. If I do one thing that won't help the plan, then this will transport me back to my room, and I won't be able to leave."

It does little to release my tension.

"Are you ready?" I ask her. In response, she hands me a small dart gun. I take it, surprised at the weight.

"It was never this heavy when I practiced," I complain.

She rolls her black eyes. "I doubt the poison weighs that much. It's probably just your nerves and imagination."

I slide the gun into a holster, and try to believe Umbra.

"Now, come on," she commands. "We're about to be behind schedule."

I do as she says, and follow Umbra down the deserted hall. Her clothes are as close-fitting as mine in a way that allows movement to be easier and more fluid.

Talking drifts from the ends of the hall. Umbra turns, and holds a finger to her lips. She slinks forwards, sticking close the wall. She turns a corner, and disappears from view.

Two soft clicks echo from where Umbra turned. I wince as each click sounds.

She walks back to me, a wide grin on her too-young face.

"Was shooting them really necessary?" I ask, sending worried glances down the branched off highway.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine," Umbra says dismissively. "It's us you have to worry about."

"Why?"

A flash of something dark flies across her face before fading into her innocent features. "Because it seems that Willow Livingston has found us before when we intended. And she's right down the hall."

Panic courses through my veins, thicker than blood. "What? Daphne promised us that she wouldn't get here until we were ready!"

Umbra shrugged her shoulders, and didn't bother trying to hide her excitement. "Looks like there's been a change of plans. You ready?"

No.

I want to say the word so badly, but I stop myself. Instead, I nod my head, but I'm so numb that I can't even feel it.

Click.

This time, it doesn't come from Umbra: it comes from behind me. I whirl around, and see the cruelly beautiful face of Willow Livingston.

In her hands is a gun. And it's pointed right at me.

"Good," she says with a smile, and I know that she overheard our conversation. "Because you've run out of time, Annabeth Chase."

Her finger moves, a mere butterfly flutter against the trigger. But the small motion released a bullet.

It happens too fast for me to move out of the way. I stand there, stuck, as a metal bullet flies across the room and collides with my body.

Author's Note

It's a shorter chapter, sorry about that.

As promised, I'm here to tell you that my Beauty and the Beast retelling has been released. It's called "The Last Petal", and I'd really appreciate if you checked it out.

Until next time!