Annabeth's pov

There was a thunderclap right behind me. It was followed by the sound of the waves crashing down as if they wanted to swallow me. I was scared and trembling. I wanted to run away from this place. But I couldn't move my legs, as if a rope was wrapped around me. My whole body was shaking. I crouched down, hugging my legs to forget the raging waves and thunder.

- Are you okay? Thalia put that away! You're scaring her!

A warm voice spoke and I saw Luke reaching out his hand towards me. Next to him was Thalia holding her shield and sword. I wanted to reach out and take their hands and tell them I was okay. When I reached out to take them...

-RUN! YOU TWO HAVE TO BE SAFE, DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! YOU TWO HAVE TO LIVE!

Thalia screamed, using her body to fight the monster, protecting me and Luke.

-NO,THALIA! I CAN'T LOSE YOU LIKE THAT!

Luke screamed with helplessness filling his voice.

-SOMEONE! ANYONE, PLEASE HELP HER!

He was crying, struggling in the arms of the older and bigger campers. I was frozen, my head couldn't think, my heart felt helpless, guilty, regretful, and the hatred for myself was rising higher than ever. Do something! Annabeth! You can't just stand by and watch Thalia like this! Do something!! DO SOMETHING!

I wanted to scream at myself like that. I hated myself, useless and unable to do anything. Go help or something! You're a child of the big 3! While Thalia was bravely sacrificing herself, Luke was doing everything he could, and you just stood there and watched!?
Thalia smiled comfortingly at Luke and she...sacrificed herself for me and Luke..I can't remember what happened next because I was so shocked

"THAT'S WHY YOU WILL FOREVER BE A DAUGHTER OF HADES THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST."

Oh no...I did it again. Getting into trouble with the children of Ares and hurting someone...I should have behaved better, I should have...I closed my eyes.

And when I opened them I was back to Luke reaching out his hand to me. If I hadn't taken that hand...would Luke and Thalia have been happier? Thalia would have probably still lived and grown up, she would have definitely become a beloved hero instead of ending her life at the age of 12.

I paused, Luke must have seen the hesitation in my eyes.

-What's wrong?

Luke asked with a bit of worry

-Let's go, we'll leave her behind.

Thalia spoke, and coldly turned away. Luke was stunned

-What's wrong Thalia? If we leave her here, she'll die!

Luke spoke with a bewildered look, not understanding why someone like Thalia would come up with such an idea.

-I don't want to die at the age of 12. If we take this girl with us, she will only bring us bad luck and burden. She's the source of all the trouble, all the bad luck that has happened in this world, the things that happened to her are only because she deserved it! Let's just let her die somewhere where no one should know!

Thalia said in an angry voice, blaming me...

I knew those things were true, but when Thalia said that, my heart felt like it was pierced by a knife. It hurt, it hurt a lot, but if that day, they agreed to leave me behind, then maybe...

-------------

I opened my eyes and woke up in a warm bed, the bed next to the Di Angelos was sleeping soundly. Damn, was it a nightmare? I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't fix Thalia and Luke's mistake...

I went into the bathroom. I looked at my long, messy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. There were dark circles under my eyes that I couldn't get rid of no matter what I did. My skin was pale like someone who was malnourished (I couldn't fix this no matter how I tried). I was wearing a turtleneck and jeans. (For a streetwalker like me, I had long since lost the idea of ​​what pajamas were, and the mattress here was so comfortable that I didn't even feel uncomfortable wearing jeans).

-Annabeth! Annabeth Chase!

Suddenly a man's voice came from beside me, startling me. Turning around, I saw the image of a dark, gloomy man with black hair and dark brown eyes like mine, his skin pale, just like mine appearing on a blurry screen in the air. I squinted, trying to remember who he was... Wait... what? Why can't I remember... My father's name (the mortal one). My face darkened because in a moment I couldn't remember his name, let alone his face.

Memory... my memory seemed to have a layer of fog covering it, I panicked for a moment. I tried to remember. That's right... my mortal father Frederick Chase.. My stepmother.. Bobby and Matthew, Luke and Thalia.. And this man was Hades, my godly father. Luckily it was just a fog and not a memory wipe. Maybe it was because I was only here for one night.

-I don't know why your face darkened when you saw me, but Annabeth. There's a prophecy at camp half-blood, a quest to find a "lost thing" for a son of Haephatus. You must follow him and find clues about the Helm of Darkness.

That's right... Helm of Darkness, my mission.. I completely forgot about it. And the reason I'm in this hotel is because there was a Minotaur near me yesterday morning.

- Tch, there's been no sign of you for the past 5 months, I thought you were dead! If you were dead then.. (he was about to say something but stopped in time)

Huh.. 5 months!? I've only been here for a little over a day right? Wait a minute.. the newspaper was written in 1990.. the strange way the guests were dressed.. all of them. Where the hell am I stuck!?

- I.. was stuck in a place called "Lotus Hotel"..

I told Hades the truth, maybe he'll know something.

- Lotus Hotel?! Is that the place? You still need a lot of training! I'll send Alector to pick you up right away. This is troublesome. But maybe this is still a good challenge to practice. Get out as fast as possible.

His face changed a little, but his voice had a hint of amusement at the end (excited about what!? I almost got tricked here!)

With that, the projection disappeared. Leaving me standing there, frozen. I quickly tied my hair up, and put on my long dark red-brown coat, slung my bag over my shoulder, and grabbed my sword that was neatly placed on the table. (That's why we should always dress and keep our things close by in case of emergency). I headed for the door, but I turned back to look at Nico and Bianca. I couldn't leave those two behind. Maybe I should wake them up and take them with me.

I walked over and shook Bianca awake.

-What's wrong?..

Bianca said sleepily.

-We have to run! This place.. isn't a normal hotel!!

I tried to calmly tell Bianca

-Yes? What do you mean?

Bianca asked. Ah, how am I supposed to explain!? Saying that this place will confuse their minds and waste their time!? But Bianca seemed to understand everything

-No.. we're not going anywhere. Nico and I both know this place isn't normal. We've been here for a few weeks anyway. But it's not time yet. You can run away without worrying about us..

Bianca said in a trustworthy voice, her grey eyes shining with determination. What do she mean by "it's not time yet"!? But I didn't have time to ask her in detail.

-Mom will definitely pick us up at that time, didn't you say that? Good luck, Annabeth Chase. I hope we meet again.

She said and smiled encouragingly at me. Although I really wanted to convince the two children to come with me, I knew clearly that no matter what I said now, they wouldn't be convinced. So I left the room. I hoped that I could meet Bianca and Nico again in the future, I really hoped so.

I ran towards the elevator. As soon as I got off the elevator. A voice rang out right next to me as if it had been waiting for me.

-Are you here to pick up your platinum card?

It was the hotel staff that I met when I entered the lotus hotel. I held the end of my sword tightly in case he was a monster.

-No, sir. I have to go, please excuse me.

I replied.

-What a shame, we've built an extra floor of games full of great things for our platinum card customers!

He said in a sad, disappointed voice. As if he wanted to strike at my heart and make me stay. Then he handed me the card, a part of me wanted to take it but... I couldn't.

I knocked the card off him and ran. I knew it was rude! But my mind would be in a daze. As I ran, the smell of food, laughter, advertisements, and video games seemed to surround me and hold me back, not letting me leave. I can't be fooled by this hotel! I had to keep telling myself that. It was like terrible torture.

When I ran to the door, the clerk appeared again, wanting to stop me. I held my sword tightly in case I needed to defend myself.

- Annabeth Chase. Are you sure you want to go out?

I don't remember telling him my name, but if he can screw with my mind, then maybe it's not surprising.

-Get out of here!I..

I yelled but was cut off.

-Are you sure you want to go back to the outside world? No one will wait for you and love you. You're a burden. The source of all the bad things in the world, right? Without you, Luke, your father, would be happy. You can't do anything but cause trouble, Annabeth.

I froze, the thought that I had been trying to avoid came to my mind. Why not stay? Just like he said...I'll only bring suffering if I go out. I trembled, trying not to think like that.

-Besides, it's dangerous out there, monsters are always out to get you. Why do you want to go out?

He said, smirking.

-You certainly don't want to experience the feeling of helplessness, guilt and not being able to do anything, right? And not to mention you want to leave the the Di Angelos alone?

I wanted to give up.. My head flashed with the image of Thalia trying to save me and Luke. Her last smile..

"YOU TWO HAVE TO LIVE"

I can still hear her screaming like that even now. And the next second I remembered Bianca's smile, her determined eyes encouraging me. I gritted my teeth and pulled out my weapon. Pointed it straight at the employee's face.

That's right, I have to live, I have to live, not just exist. Because I'm the forbidden child, so I have to live! Thalia has always encouraged me like that. What am I doing!? I can't let her go in vain! And Luke too! I can't let him lose anyone else! He must have been worried because he couldn't contact me for the past 6 months.

-Get out of here, stop talking nonsense! Or I'll send you straight to Tatarus!

I almost screamed. The clerk sighed in frustration and moved aside so I could get to the door. I ran out of that damn hotel. I pushed the door open. It was afternoon outside, the weather was hot. So I had wasted 6 months. I ran straight down the alley and didn't look back. Maybe I was afraid that I would change my mind if I stayed any closer to the hotel. Then I saw Alecto waiting there