I'll be here forever

chapter 29

The first thing I thought of when I came to, was how badly my head hurt; I wondered if they'd kept hitting me after I blacked out. I would've prefered someone stabbing me in the neck repeatedly to the pain I was in right now.

I was lying on my stomach, my right cheek pressed against the rough ground. I didn't move for a minute or two; it hurt too much. I heard hushed voices and murmurs surrounding me, and I would've tried to listen in, but the blinding pain in the crown of my skull was preventing it.

When I gathered the courage to open my eyes, they were immediately assaulted by the sight of a very disgusting, very scaly tail. It was crusted with dirt, and gods only know what else. I shut my eyes tight again.

I made a noise in the back of my throat, but out of fright or disgust, I couldn't tell you. The faint sound of voices above me came to a stop, leaving me in dead silence. The silence was much, much scarier than the voices.

Trying my best to ignore the fierce burning on the back of my head, and I used my hands to prop myself up onto my elbows. Opening my eyes, the ground below bent and twisted into strange shapes, making my head hurt even worse. Still, I made it to my hands and knees, and ignoring the screaming in my brain, I forced myself back to sit back on my heels. The room came into focus, if I ignored the black spots swimming in my vision.

I was surrounded by fucking snakes.

I wracked my brain for their name; Dracaena.

By a quick survey, there were at least seventeen that I could see. I focused on the one that was five inches from my face.

They were terrifying, and beautiful at the same time. Their hair was long and silky, looking like it easily could've been in a conditioner commercial. Their face, ageless, genderless; they were neither male or female. However, the sharp, hungry look in their eyes, the cruel point of their fangy teeth, and the dried blood around their lips really ruined the whole "model" image.

"Daughter of Athena," they hissed, and I caught a glimpse of their forked tongue. I felt like I should've ran, but the paralyzing fear was overwhelming. A couple inches forward, and they could kill me. Just like that.

It wasn't like I could fight back, because not only did the back of my head feel like someone bashed it in (oh, wait. someone did) I was also surrounded by sixteen other dracaena. I couldn't run, either, because I was in an underground cavern, a very large one.

I prepared myself for the fact that this might be it, but felt a pang of regret. I'd never learn who I used to be. I'd never get to tell Percy how I felt about him. And to think that I had been so upset with him earlier today- it seemed like nothing, now that I was about to be eaten. I didn't even get to say goodbye.

Taking a deep breath, I looked them in the eye; if they were going to kill me, they were going to have to watch me while they did it. And hopefully, I could scratch out at least one of their eyes on my way down.

Instead of eating me, they just laughed, and pulled away, slithering backward. It was a hissing, cruel laugh, one that chilled my right down to the pit of my stomach. I shivered.

"Don't worry. We won't kill you," the dracaena hissed, sounding almost amused.

"Yet," another added, and the rest of them burst into bitter, hissing laughter.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, steadying my voice, keeping a sharp edge to it.

"Oh, this one has a spine on her," a different dracaena said, sounding almost proud. They were elbowed into silence.

"We want nothing from you, young hero," my dracaena hissed, "it's the spawn of Poseidon we desire."

Something clicked in my brain. Everything started to fall into place.

The Chik-Fil-A incident. Poseidon, the god of the sea. Percy.

I must've had a shocked look on my face, because the dracaena burst into laughter again.

"That one has quite the bounty on him. Tartarus will be very pleased. Plus, his head will make such a beautiful centerpiece," one of the dracaena said, and they were met with murmurs of approval.

"What makes you think he'll come after me?" I challenged them. Honestly, I didn't know anymore. He might not come for me at all. I'll probably starve to death in this place, if I'm not eaten first.

"Don't play ignorant, dear, it isn't very flattering."

"Yes, very unnecessary. We know how intelligent you are."

"And, of course, he's already on his way. Truthfully, I am surprised he made it through Ali and Emory."

"Poor them. They'll make it back up eventually."

The dracaena chattered amongst themselves, while I tried to process everything that was happening. I had been kidnapped by snakes; Percy was the son of some old sea god; I was the daughter of a wisdom goddess; and the dracaena wanted Percy's head on a platter.

"Hush! Get her into the cage," my dracaena ordered, stopping the conversation and sending two others slithering toward me. I tried to move away, but I only had the energy to move about an inch. Even that drained me so much that I was afraid I was going to pass out, just from that.

The dracaena tutted and roughly lifted me by my arms. I winced as pain flared through my arms and the back of my head, but I bit my tongue; I was not going to give them the satisfaction of hearing my pain. Instead I suffered in silence as they dragged me along.

It may have been childish and unrealistic, but I wished more than anything for Percy to come walk into this cavern and save me. Any other time I would have shaken my head and told you that I'll save myself, thank you very much, but at the moment I could hardly move without seeing stars. I longed for him; I tried to keep hold of my anger towards him that was so overwhelming earlier, if only so that I had something to focus on, but I found that anger slipping away. It left only a dull ache where my heart was. If I was being honest with myself, I just wanted him to hold me, tell me everything was okay. I wanted to go back to the peacefulness of this morning. It seemed so long ago.

But as hard as I wished, he'd never make it.

He would have to fight through dozens of dracaena just to make it to me, which I doubted was possible. Percy was really good with a sword, but not good enough to take on 17 dracaena at once, not counting however many were outside the chamber. It seemed to be the end of the line for me. For us.

The dracaena dragged me inside of something; it was invisible from the outside, completely clear, like it was just air. I supposed you probably couldn't see me if you were looking in from the outside. It was perfectly camouflaged. Once I passed through the door, feeling a little bump of metal on the ground, sending a jolt of excruciating pain up my spine, I could see what it truly was; a cage.

The bars were metal, rusted, close together, so I wouldn't be able to slip out, even if I was able to walk. The dracaena pair dropped my arms and I tumbled to the floor, sending waves of absolute agony throughout my body. The stars took over my vision, I slipped back into the welcome darkness.