How Fates Can Twist

Chapter 7

Percy's POV

The second the vial touched her lips he knew he shouldn't have let it happen. Percy wanted desperately to reach out and smack the container away, but it would be of no use. The gorgon's blood was already in her mouth. It would be in her system within moments. She could be dead in a minute.

He was frozen in place, watching Annabeth, waiting for any sign of what might happen. Percy could hear his heart pounding in his ears, but it was nowhere near as loud as the panic filling his head. He might have just let Annabeth take her own life. How could he have done such a thing? He should have stopped her, should have drunk the vial himself, hell, he should have tortured the information out of Phineus instead of letting her try to get it. But he hadn't done any of that, and now she would be the one paying the price.

Percy looked between Annabeth and Phineus, both of whom still looked fine. As fine as a shriveled old man could look, anyway. The poison hadn't set in yet. The two of them had noticed this too.

Phineus stood up and leaned towards Annabeth over the table.

"In just a moment you will be dead. You see, you cannot overcome the Ear-"

Phineus' sentence was cut off by his own shriek. His skin began to turn a burning red color as he doubled over, still screaming in agony. Suddenly steam was rising from the man's body.

Annabeth had a look of relief on her face, despite the horrid scene in front of them. It was clear that she had drunk the right vial. They never heard the end of Phineus' sentence as his screams stopped abruptly, along with his heart.

Percy let out a deep breath. Annabeth wasn't going to die. He met her eyes for a moment, cherishing that there was still light in them, before she walked over and snatched up the paper from the ground.

"Thanatos is at a glacier in Alaska," she read from the note.

"Well that sure narrows it down," Frank said in an irritated tone.

Percy felt the same way. Alaska was huge, and he doubted there would be only one glacier in the state. The location was too vague to be of any real help, but it would have to do.

The only good news Percy could think of was that the gods had no control over Alaska, meaning he could do whatever he wanted there. As of right now, he could only stay in the mortal world as long as his father let him. That was why he had left Annabeth that morning at the hotel. Poseidon had demanded he return to his temple and help sort out an issue with the orca population, and while Percy loved orcas, he would rather be with Annabeth. Poseidon wouldn't be able to do that if he was in Alaska.

Annabeth also pointed out that Alaska could be reached by water, which was handy for demigods travelling by boat. Hazel looked sick at the idea of the rest of the quest taking place on a boat, but she swallowed it down. Percy had noticed that she got seasick right off the bat, and he had tried his best to make the ride as smooth as possible for her. It seemed to work to some extent because she hadn't thrown up yet.

"How did you know that Phineus would end up drinking the poisoned one?" Hazel asked as the four of them began heading back to where the rowboat was docked.

"I figured if someone dropped me here with no memories, there must be a reason, and they need me alive for that," Annabeth responded.

That reasoning was all a little too hypothetical for Percy to comfortably put her life in the hands of, but it had worked in the end and so he didn't say anything.

He also didn't mention that he knew who had sent her here- Percy had been on Olympus while Hera and Zeus had their big argument about whether or not her plan should be used. And he had been there the next day when Hera went against Zeus' decision and kidnapped the Roman boy on her own accord. Percy couldn't blame her for that one- following Zeus' orders wasn't something he was particularly fond of himself. He was, after all, currently on the West Coast while the king of the gods had strictly ordered him to stay on Olympus. No one listened to the old man anyway.

But if he tried to tell Annabeth who had sent her, well, for one thing, he may get blown off the continent by Hera. She wanted her plan to stay a secret from demigods, and anyone who messed with that would be on her bad bad side. Second, Percy was worried that it would make Annabeth trust him even less. He could already tell that she was wary of him from the way she kept her distance and brushed off his comments. If she knew that Percy had let her be kidnapped, she may never trust him again.

In Percy's defense, there wasn't anything he could have done to stop Hera. She was the queen of the gods and he was just a minor sea deity. He did all he could- he had tried his best to find Annabeth as soon as she woke up, but it took him two weeks. It was something about the Roman magic in northern California- it messed with him. And then he found a hotel for her to stay the night in, but Poseidon had pulled him away. He was still upset with his father for that. And now he was trying to help her on her quest, but there was only so much he could do without getting Zeus' attention, and that was something he did not want.

And now, as they arrived at the dock and the three demigods climbed into the shaky boat, Percy had no clue what to say to Annabeth. He had fractured their relationship the day he accepted godhood. He knew that now. He wished he could go back to when they were best friends, when they went on quests together, when they raced each other to the top of the lava wall, when they sat out gazing at the constellations together, when her eyes sparkled whenever she looked at him. Now those eyes were nothing but walls of steel that shut him out.

All he could do now was keep her safe from harm and hope that someday, maybe , she would let him back in.