For a second, she looked confused like she'd half-way expected to wake up under a highway overpass again or on the damp ground.
Her gaze darted around the cabin, and she pushed herself up onto her elbows. The walls were too perfect, the beams too smooth.
She slipped out of bed and pressed a palm to the nearest wall, fingers splayed wide like she needed proof it was real. The surface was warm under her touch, almost alive.
She traced a line in the wood grain, lips moving without sound, eyes narrowing in disbelief. No nails. No seams. The joints carried weight without buckling. By rights it should've sagged and collapsed overnight. Yet it stood like it had always belonged there.
Her whisper escaped before she could stop it. "This shouldn't even be standing."
The door creaked on its own. Cold air slid in, sharp enough to raise goosebumps on her arms.
Annabeth padded over, battered sneakers whispering on the smooth floorboards. She nudged the door open wider.
Outside, Naruto crouched in the grass, surrounded by life. Sparrows fluttered down onto his arms and shoulders, wings beating softly as they fought for crumbs from his palm. A squirrel scurried up one leg and perched on his head like it had claimed him. A rabbit shoved its way into his lap, chewing with the calm arrogance of something that knew it was safe.
Naruto grinned, scratching behind ears, humming off-key, like this was just another morning.
Kurama lay stretched out a few feet away, tails fanned like blood-red banners. His amber eyes didn't blink, locked on the tree line. If Naruto was sunshine, the fox was the shadow just past it.
"You're spoiling them," Kurama rumbled. His voice carried the weight of something ancient, even when he sounded bored.
"So what? They're hungry," Naruto said, flicking another crumb to a sparrow that hadn't fit on his arm. His grin widened when it snatched the piece mid-air. "Besides, it's nice, y'know? Waking up like this."
Annabeth stepped outside, hugging herself against the morning chill. Her hair stuck out in tangled waves, her shirt too big for her tiny frame. She pointed back at the cabin with a little frown.
"This cabin," she said. "How'd you do it? There are no joints. No braces. It just doesn't make sense from an architectural standpoint..."
Naruto tilted his head, as if the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Then he laughed, scratching at his cheek. "Oh, that? Just kinda happened.. I thought about a house and the trees just did there own thing. Guess they figured out how we needed it."
Annabeth circled him, brows drawn tight, her curiosity cutting through her exhaustion. "That's not possible. You didn't measure or plan anything!"
Naruto shrugged, unfazed. "I'm not much of a planner."
"Or he's lying," Thalia's voice snapped from the doorway.
They turned. Thalia leaned on the frame, one hand tight on her spear. Her dark hair stuck in wild tangles, and her eyes were still heavy from lack of sleep, but her suspicion burned sharp as ever.
Kurama cracked an eye and bared his teeth in something like a grin. "Relax, girl. If he wanted you dead, you'd already be mulch."
Thalia's knuckles whitened on her spear shaft. "Do you want to go, furball?"
"I'd get bad indigestion from eating you," Kurama said lazily, shutting his eye again. "Not worth it."
Naruto jumped in fast, both hands waving like he could fan away the sparks. "Hey, hey! Breakfast first. Death threats later, okay?"
The tension didn't fade, but Thalia didn't step closer either.
Annabeth tugged on Naruto's sleeve, eyes still shining with thought. "You could build bridges and towers.. A whole city even."
Naruto tilted his head and laughed. "Why would I build a city? That sounds like a lot of work."
Annabeth stopped, frowned, then almost smiled despite herself. "That's not how people usually answer."
"Guess I'm not the usual person." Naruto shrugged, crumbs scattering off his lap.
Behind them, Luke finished buckling his sword belt. He leaned against the wall, watching the exchange with his usual mix of weariness and calculation. "She's already attached to him," he muttered under his breath to Thalia.
"Hopefully she doesn't get too comfortable," Thalia replied, but she didn't look away from Naruto. Not once.
Right on queue Annabeth suddenly squared her shoulders and looked up at Naruto, voice blurting out before she could lose her courage. "You should come with us. To Camp Half-Blood."
Naruto blinked, caught off guard. "You want me to come to Camp Half-Blood?"
"It's where we're going," Annabeth said quickly. "It's safe there. Safer than anywhere else in the world. You don't have to stay out here alone. Please. Come with us."
Thalia's head snapped toward her. "Absolutely not. He's too dangerous and mysterious. He could be an agent of Hades for all we know."
Naruto tilted his head, frowning faintly. "An agent of who now?"
Before Thalia could bite back again, Luke stepped forward, voice steady and sharp. "It's not about comfort, Thalia. It's about survival. He just wiped out an entire wave of monsters in seconds. That's the kind of strength we need on our side. If he's beside us, that's better than him wandering around as a wildcard."
Thalia's grip on her spear tightened, lightning crawling faint along the bronze. She looked from Luke to Naruto to Annabeth, torn between distrust and the reality pressing in on them. Finally, she exhaled hard through her nose, lowering her weapon an inch. "Fine. But this doesn't mean I trust him."
Annabeth beamed up at Naruto, tugging on his sleeve again. "See? You can come!"
Naruto scratched the back of his head, grin returning. "Guess I don't have much of a choice now, huh? Alright. Let's see what this camp of yours is all about."
Kurama chuckled, tails swaying lazily. "Relax, girl. The only danger this fool poses is to himself."
Naruto froze mid-grin, turned his head slowly toward Kurama. "...Wait. That's an insult, isn't it?"
Kurama yawned, unbothered.
Naruto puffed his cheeks out and sulked, kicking at a stray pinecone. "Tch. Stupid fox."
Annabeth giggled, Luke shook his head, and even Thalia's mouth twitched with not quite a smile, but close enough.
By noon the cabin had melted back into the forest, swallowed by moss and bark until it looked like it had never existed. One moment a home, the next just trees.
They walked in single file under the pines, boots crunching on needles, breath fogging faint in the cool air.
Annabeth trotted beside Naruto, hammer bumping against her thigh, questions spilling faster than she could think.
"So the trees really just obey you? Could you make a bridge across a canyon? What about a tower? How do you even know it'll hold weight?"
Naruto scratched his cheek, grin tugging crooked. "I'm connected to nature. To all of it. I ask them to do something, and they answer my call."
"And they just… listen?" she repeated
"Of course," Naruto said matter-of-factly. He glanced at a birch they were passing, tapped the bark with his palm. "But I try to ask nicely. Makes them happier to help."
Annabeth stared, gray eyes huge. She mouthed something, calculations, equations, blueprints only she could see before snapping, "That's not normal. At all."
Naruto shrugged. "I've been told I'm not normal often."
"Understatement of the year," Thalia muttered from the front.
Kurama padded behind them, tails whispering against the dirt, voice curling low and smug. "At least the brat's honest about being unnatural. You, girl, should try it sometime."
Thalia stopped just long enough to glare over her shoulder, sparks already crawling her spear.
"Keep talking, mutt. See what happens."
Kurama bared his teeth in a grin. "Ooo, scary. Hades' lapdogs want you dead, not me. If you fry someone, it'll just be the ones keeping you alive."
"Enough," Luke snapped from the rear. His hand rested on his sword hilt, knuckles tight. "Both of you. Save the fight for what's coming."
As if on cue, the forest fell silent.
No bird calls. No squirrel chatter. Not even the breeze. The air grew thick and sour, like sulfur biting in their throats.
Luke's eyes flicked over the trees. "Something's wrong."
Thalia lifted her spear, jaw set. "Monsters."
The brush ahead rattled. A hiss like a hundred snakes sliding together filled the clearing.
Then bronze flashed.
Dracaenae slithered into view, dozens of them. From the waist up they were women in dented breastplates, hair braided tight; from the waist down, serpents, scales shimmering green and black. Bronze swords gleamed in their hands. Their tongues flicked the air, tasting. Their eyes locked, every single one, on Thalia.
The frontmost raised her sword. "Daughter of Zeus," she hissed, voice a rasp of scales on stone. "Our master awaits. Your blood belongs to Hades."
Annabeth sucked in a sharp breath. "They're here for.."
"We know," Thalia cut her off, voice like steel. Her grip tightened on her spear until sparks crackled down the bronze tip. "If Hades wants me he can come and get me himself."
The dracaenae hissed as one, and the pack surged forward.
"Annabeth, stay back!" Luke barked, already drawing his sword forward.
She obeyed, retreating a step but lifting her hammer, jaw tight with stubborn courage.
Thalia met the first wave head-on. Her spear thrust forward, lightning snapping down its shaft, exploding the monster into dust. She spun on her heel, parried two blades at once, electricity arcing across her arms and down into the ground.
Luke slipped past her right flank, his sword a blur of clean, efficient cuts. He fought like he'd been doing it all his life, there was no wasted motion, no flourish, just pure killing.
Annabeth swung wildly when one lunged too close, her hammer crunching against its jaw with a crack that sent the dracaena reeling. She hit it again, teeth gritted, until it dissolved.
But for every one that fell, more slid out of the treeline. A tide of scales and bronze, circling tighter.
"There's just too many," Luke muttered. His blade flicked left, carving through another, but sweat already shone on his temple.
Thalia bared her teeth in a snarl, lightning sparking across her knuckles. "Let them come!"
Naruto sighed. "Guess it's my turn."
He slammed his palm to the earth.
The ground shuddered like something alive waking up. Roots ripped upward in a tangled surge, thick as ship ropes, snaring ankles, coiling torsos. Dracaenae shrieked as the forest itself attacked, scales grinding against bark that refused to break.
Branches bent overhead, knitting together into a living cage that slammed down around the monsters, trapping a dozen at once.
Annabeth froze, eyes wide.
Naruto straightened, dusted off his hands, and grinned. "Well that wasn't too hard, right?"
The lead dracaenae shrieked, lunging through the roots, sword flashing toward Thalia in rage.
Thalia spun, spear intercepting the strike. Sparks spat where bronze met bronze, the force rattling her arms. She shoved back, lightning crawling up her enemy's weapon, frying her until she burst into golden dust.
Another slipped in behind, blade raised for Thalia's spine.
Naruto's voice snapped sharp. "Watch out!"
The earth obeyed as a sinkhole yawned open beneath the monster's body, swallowing it mid-leap. Its scream cut off as it vanished into the soil, dusting inside the earth.
Kurama's laugh rolled through the clearing, low and savage. "Effortless. You should make them beg next, brat."
"Not funny," Thalia snapped, driving her spear into another chest. "This isn't a game!"
"It is," Kurama countered, tails flicking. "And the prize is your corpse."
Luke shoved a monster off his blade, sweat dripping from his jaw. "Less talk. More killing."
The dracaenae pressed harder, the ring closing tight. Their leader hissed above the chaos, voice cutting like a blade. "She is promised to the Lord of the Dead! Kill her! Rip her apart!"
The pack surged in unison.
Thalia roared, lightning bursting from her spear in a white-hot arc, frying three at once. Her chest heaved, breath harsh, but she didn't falter.
Naruto pressed both hands to the soil. Wooden spears erupted in a perfect circle around Thalia, stabbing outward, cutting down every monster that dared step toward her.
He glanced at her and winked. "Relax. I've got your back."
Thalia blinked, startled for a heartbeat, then snarled and spun, stabbing her spear clean through another.
Annabeth fought at her side, every swing desperate but determined. She wasn't strong enough, not yet, but she refused to back down. Her hammer caught one dracaena in the ribs, sent it sprawling into a waiting root that skewered it through the chest.
Luke's sword carved a bloody rhythm, precise even when surrounded. His knuckles were white, his eyes sharp, his movements ruthless. "Keep formation! Don't let them split us!"
But the dracaenae didn't stop. For every one that fell, another slithered forward, hissing, blades raised. Their eyes glowed with one intent, Thalia.
Naruto's grin faded. His palms pressed deeper into the soil.
The earth roared.
The ground cracked wide, roots bursting forth in a spiraling wave, sweeping through the monsters like a living tide. Trunks bent into clubs, branches whipped down like whips, vines tightened around throats and dragged them screaming into the dirt.
The clearing shook with it, pine needles raining down like sparks from a fire.
When the last dracaena shrieked and dissolved into dust, silence crashed heavy.
The smell of sulfur clung to the air, mixing with pine sap and ozone. The forest still seemed to hum, restless under Naruto's iron grip.
He stood, exhaling, and grinned towards Annabeth like the danger didn't affect him one bit. "See? Nothing to worry about."
Thalia wiped blood and monster dust from her cheek, chest still heaving, sparks crawling faint over her skin. She glared at him but there was something like respect buried under the anger.
Luke lowered his sword, blade dripping with golden ichor. His eyes flicked to Thalia, then Naruto, suspicion tight in his jaw.
Kurama stretched, yawned, tails fanning wide. "How pathetic," he said, voice dripping with disdain. "Dozens of them, and still too weak to finish the job and capture a little girl. Hades must be furious."
Thalia snapped her head toward him, sparks spitting. "Say that again."
Kurama grinned, teeth sharp. "You're alive for now. Don't thank me too much."
Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, trying to diffuse the weight of it. "Man, you guys are intense like an old married couple."
Thalia's glare cut to him, but she didn't argue.
Luke wiped his blade clean on the grass. "We move. Before more come."
The others nodded, shoulders heavy with exhaustion but spines still straight. The forest remained too quiet, the air still humming with threat.
But for now, they had survived and they had to keep moving.
____
AN: If you'd like to support me and read ahead, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/banmido With enough support, I'll be posting daily chapters. ️