What The High Tides May Bring

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Percy!" Annabeth screams, the winds whipping her back and forth and the rain drenching every inch of her skin. "Percy!"

A low chuckle cuts across the wind, and a figure appears out of the storm, not a drop of water on him nor a hair out of place. As he walks closer, Annabeth recognizes the figure that's been haunting her nightmares for the past several weeks.

"You," she says, clutching her knife in her hand. "What have you done with him?"

"That's not your concern anymore, now is it?" Evil Not-Percy smiles coldly. "You chose to leave. What happens in this world - to the people of this world - is no longer your business."

"Where is he?" Annabeth brandishes her knife in front of her. He stares at it like it's a child's toy.

"You're going to need a lot more than that to stop me, darling. Now, why don't you just run along home and spend your last few hours alive with that blond soldier boy of yours?"

"I'm not scared of you."

"No? Well, you should be." He flicks his hand, and the water around her turns into a giant hand that grabs her by the ankle and dangles her upside down. Her knife slips from her hand and he leans down and picks it up, waving it in front of her face. "You got in over your head. Now just accept defeat. There's nothing you can do to stop me. And there's nothing you can do to bring him back. It's your fault he's gone, you know."

Annabeth stops thrashing. "What?"

"That line of the prophecy. The betrayal of one may be the end. He's been turned on before, manipulated, and used as a pawn. It's part of being a demigod. But nothing was worse to him than your betrayal. It utterly destroyed him. I didn't even have to do anything!" He strokes his chin with his free hand. "Maybe you are more powerful than you look."

A sickening feeling spreads through her stomach. Before she can try and put together a response, the pirate waves his hand. The water surges forward, closing over her face. She holds her breath as long as she can, but eventually her chest contracts and she sucks up a lungful of water. Everything goes dark as she chokes.

Annabeth sits up in her hammock, breathing hard. Her hand is still clutching at her chest, which burns as if she'd actually been drowning. It takes her a few deep breaths to calm herself down and reassess her surroundings.

She's back in her cabin on the Pax. The ship is rocking slightly, which means it's in motion. Her eyes are swollen and crusted with salt - she'd cried most of the night even before she'd fallen asleep and had been plagued by nightmares. Her hair is a gnarled mess, and her clothes are strewn haphazardly over the floor.

Her cheeks burn red with shame as the events from last night replay through her mind, overtaking the quickly fading memory of her nightmare. Last night had been both the best night of her life and worst.

Dancing with Percy, laughing in a group of their friends, letting loose...it had been the most amazing feeling. She can still feel where Percy had touched her, a ghost sensation lingering on her skin. Her cheeks are still sore from smiling.

Then she'd ruined it all. She'd led him on, let him get too close. She shouldn't have let him take her away from the group. She'd been letting things cross the line already, but with all those people around them, she wouldn't have slipped and he wouldn't have tried anything more. They could have ended the night on a fun note.

Instead they had an intense heart-to-heart on Temple Hill, they'd almost kissed, and Annabeth had ran away. She ran all the way to Silena's house, where she'd curled up in a ball on the floor and cried for an hour until Silena finally returned for the night. She'd spilled everything to the girl, who had simply listened and rubbed her back.