The two girls were about to set foot on finding Sally when Katie suddenly stopped them.

“Wait. Don’t go.” Katie said, putting a hand in front of Annabeth. Thalia raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I think she needs some rest.” Katie suggested. “She also gave me her mobile phone, so… I guess she only wanted some privacy.” Katie presented a small mobile phone-Sally’s.

“But Sally is…”

“Yes I know that she is your boyfriend’s mother.” Katie cut in, with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. “Why don’t you, I mean, we leave her alone for a while?”

At that, Annabeth felt a surge of suspicion rush into her head, but almost immediately, Annabeth shook it off. Must have been the slip of mouth. Katie would never be a spy. It’s just the Athena genes working, being naturally suspicious.

Thalia shrugged while Annabeth nodded cautiously. Katie noticed Annabeth’s tense movements and smiled naively.

“Who knows? Maybe that woman would call again.”

Right on cue, the mobile phone in Annabeth’s hand started to vibrate urgently. Annabeth and Thalia exchanged glances as Annabeth’s hand fumbled to press the ‘receive’ button.

“Hello?” she asked. There was soft breathing on the other side of the call.

“Do you want to see him again?” the familiar female voice sounded like it was smirking. Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

“What game do you think you are playing?”

 The woman at the other end of the line curled her lips viciously.

“I’m playing a game of revenge.”

The line went silent for a moment, and Annabeth felt her grip on the mobile phone get tighter with each ticking second, and she was just about to cut the line when the voice came back on.

“I just wanted to tell you that Percy is having a lot of fun, thanks to me.”

Annabeth felt her breath tighten at that sentence. Her grip on the mobile phone was so rigid her knuckles were turning white.

“Stop this.” Her voice was trembling with anger. “Stop doing this to him.”

“Oh, Annabeth.” The woman’s irritating laugh set Annabeth on edge. “You’d be surprised at how little you have to do before your boyfriend falls unconscious.”

 “Don’t you dare lay a finger on Per-”

The woman crouched down next to Percy, half-unconscious on the marble floor. Taking one of Percy’s hands that lay limp on the ground, the woman twisted it until Percy let out a scream of pain. That shut Annabeth up.

 “Of course, if you really wanted to talk to him that badly, I’d be glad to wake him up.” The woman laughed. “Only that he needs the…initiative?”

Annabeth couldn’t find her voice, and her heart contracted as if a fist had clenched it. That scream. It was the scream she had heard in the Iris-message.

“Leave him alone.” Annabeth knew that her voice was shaking and she couldn’t make it more than a whisper.

“No.” Things were going just how the woman wanted. A sudden gasp was heard from the line. Annabeth noticed herself choke on her own breath. The woman placed the phone next to Percy’s ear, making sure that his ragged breathing was heard from the other side of the line. “Want to speak to your girlfriend, Percy?”

Annabeth’s heart almost broke at the sound of Percy’s uneven inhaling. 

“Percy,” Annabeth choked on her own voice. “Percy, are you okay?”

The only reply Annabeth received was the ragged breathing by Percy. 

“I’m sorry.” The woman’s voice came back on line. “He isn’t really in the mood to talk to you right now.” The woman smiled. “You should already be feeling grateful that I’m so generous to let you know that Mr Jackson over here is still alive.” 

“You can’t get away with this. I-I’ll ask the Hermes demigods to trace this phone call. We’ll find you. I’ll find you.” 

“My dear Annabeth, it seems that you aren’t as smart as people say you are, being the daughter of Athena.” the woman was smirking. “Surely you should know that this phone call is untraceable. It’s under a false identity, and the signals are undetectable as well. You’re the smart one, you should know how these things work.” 

“Just stop it already!” Annabeth felt tears arrive to her eyes. “Stop doing this to him!” 

“I’m not doing anything to him right now.” 

Tears rolled down from Annabeth’s grey eyes as she wept silently. Annabeth turned away from Thalia and Katie and leaned against a nearby tree-trunk. 

“Annabeth…” Thalia stared, but Annabeth ignored her. 

“What do you want from me?” 

No reply. 

“Why did you call anyway?” 

“I’ll call you later.” 

The line went off. 

Why did she ignore Annabeth's question?