Chapter 196: Kalmin

Annabeth sat by the bed silently as anxiety sounded around her through the footsteps of the nurses in the room. One by one, servant by servant, blood sheet by blood sheet. The seconds were slowly being stretched out into the longest minutes she had ever experienced in her life. 

It wasn't because of how boring it was, or even the length in itself, but the sheer terror that each second carried. The sheer fear that each scream that rang through the room held, the fear in the ends of the one lying in the bed before her. 

All of that, all of those seconds and scenes appearing before her before she had time to internalize the last, all the chaos that wrapped them like a blanket, all the helplessness in the room that weighed down on her shoulders.