Percy Jackson & The Mutant Demigods

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Virals are Reunited

Annabeth

Percy was beginning to scare me.

He should have been awake by now, but the only change was the cuts that had disappeared from his face.

Sam wasn't much better. We were attacked by a twenty foot long great white shark, and Sam had been slashed in the stomach by its tail. We immediately came out of the water.

So there we were: stuck on an island with no demigod provisions and no idea what the Hades we were going to do.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, and Percy was standing next to me, a faint smile on his face.

"Percy!" I exclaimed. "Thank the gods! I thought you would never wake up!"

He gave me the smirk that I had come to love. "I will never leave you, Annabeth Chase." We kissed, and I finally began to relax. As long as I was with Percy, everything would be alright.

Sam

I watched as Percy and Annabeth kissed. I was a little jealous, but I finally realized why nobody tried to get Annabeth to love them. She had fallen for Percy. Hard.

Finally, the two pulled apart. Annabeth noticed I was there and waved. I nodded. Percy turned around and saw me too. I ran over and hugged him. "Gods, Percy," I said, "I didn't know when you would come around."

He laughed. "I didn't either," he replied.

Annabeth asked, "Where are we?"

I looked around. "Is that Fort Sumter?" Percy asked, pointing to an object in the distance. It was Fort Sumter, without a doubt.

"Yeah," I said, shocked. "It is."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks. I could tell they weren't happy with being here. "So, we're in Charleston." Percy's tone made it a statement.

"Actually," I told them, "we're on Morris Island. It's a part of Charleston, but not the peninsula." Percy looked confused, but Annabeth understood. Duh, I thought, her mother's Athena!

"Huh," I thought aloud. "I wonder. If Fort Sumter is right there..." I started searching through the dunes. "Gotcha!" I exclaimed proudly. Annabeth and Percy came over to look. "Welcome to the bunker," I said, using my best announcers voice.

Tory

The four of us—five, if you count Cooper—were in the bunker when we heard voices outside.

"Are you sure?" a girl's voice asked.

"Positive," a familiar voice replied. I looked at Ben, who had also recognized who it was. Sam was out there.

"How can we be sure you're not leading us into a trap?" a new voice asked.

I couldn't see Sam, but I was pretty sure he was rolling his eyes. "Honestly, Percy? After everything that just happened, you're worried about that?"

"Well how do we know your friends-" the girl pronounced the word like it was an insult, "aren't in there?"

"We don't," Sam said simply. "In fact, they're in there right now." He raised his voice a little. "You can come out now, Tory."

I looked at my pack reassuringly before stepping outside. Sam was there, all right. He looked the same: his short brown hair all over the place, and dark brown eyes full of an energy you couldn't find elsewhere.

There were two other people there. One was a girl about seventeen, with blond hair and grey, eyes full of intelligence. The other was a boy, also seventeen, with jet black hair and sea green eyes. All three of them were wearing orange shirts with the letters CHB.

"Guys," Sam announced, "this is my friend Tory. Tory, this is Percy and Annabeth. They're friends."

Percy and Annabeth said, "Hi." I nodded.

"Does she even talk?" Percy asked.

"Normally, she does," Sam answered. "But she's probably mad at me right now, which is why she won't talk in front of me."

I nodded in approval. Then, I slapped Sam. Hard.

"Ow!" He rubbed his cheek. "I probably deserved that."

"Yes you did!" I yelled. "One month! One freaking month without hearing a thing! Do you have any idea what I was going through?!"

"Good to see you too," he grumbled. "I'm sorry for not having a way to communicate with you, and I don't know what you were going through."

"Another thing," I growled, "why did you bring them here?"

Annabeth said hotly, "We didn't want to be brought here. Right, Percy?"

Percy was staring at me in fascination. "You're a Viral."

I was too stunned to do anything but nod. Then, I glared at Sam. "You had to show them, didn't you?"

He looked at me guiltily. "Well, that's not the only reason."

Percy looked at me with his golden eyes. Wait, gold eyes? He doesn't have golden eyes!

"Yes, Tory," he said, registering the look on my face. "I'm a Viral too."

Percy

To say Tory was surprised is the biggest understatement ever. Her face went from shock, to surprise, to anger, all within a second. Finally, she said, "Explain in the bunker, please."

The four of us walked in, and were greeted by three boys, who introduced themselves as Hi, Ben, and Shelton. Annabeth, Sam, and I took turns explaining what had happened at the School, also explaining about demigods and Camp Half-Blood. Finally, Ben said, "So you were captured by half-men, half-wolf hybrids, met six kids with wings, were experimented on, and escaped."

"Yep." Sam said.

"Show us your wings!" Hi practically shouted.

Sam and Annabeth unfurled their wings. We didn't have the time to admire them earlier, but they were amazing. Annabeth had grey owl's wings that seemed to make her even more beautiful. Sam had brown wings with a white tinge to them. "Falcon wings," Tory said, mesmerized.

"That's so cool!" Hi said.

Suddenly, a loud Thud shook the bunker. Dust rained down on our heads. "What was that?" I asked.

"Really, Iggy? You could've hit someone!" a voice screamed overhead.

"Oh, sure." A different voice replied. "Blame the blind guy."

"And that," Sam commented, "was our friends."