Sea Princess

Chapter 24

It had been a few days since Luke had managed to knock me out and since then nothing else had happened. I was getting lessons in with the guys around here to keep me sharp. They thought they were training me for the upcoming war, but I was preparing myself for the upcoming fight when Percy and all they got here. I was practicing my sword skills with one of Luke's guys who seriously seemed like he couldn't get his shit together. I just stared at him as he stuck his sword tip into the ground to lean upon it as he caught his breath. I stood there and put my sword on my shoulder.

"Tired already?" I asked with an eyebrow raised at him.

"No," He grumbled. I just rolled my eyes and went to turn away. As I walked away from him, I heard footsteps advancing on me quickly and I quickly side stepped him and slammed my sword out, so he ran into the flat part of my blade knocking him down to the ground.

"You need to work on running quietly." I muttered as I glanced down on him from where I stood above him. He glared at me through his eye slits on his helmet, and I smirked down at him.

"Bitch." He muttered. I shrugged and then just started to walk away again. I pulled my armor off as I put my sword into its holder. I was getting bored. 

"That was a good practice." Luke commented as I joined him. He had been watching a little way away from where we had just been sparring. I just glanced up at him and shook my head.

"No, it wasn't. It was sad." I muttered as we started to walk. There was something off about him that had progressively getting worse within the last few days. We were going to head and get something to eat, which I was thankful for because I was personally starving.

"Cassi," He murmured. He put a hand on my shoulder stopping me and I turned to face him.

"Yes?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him. 

"What's wrong?" He asked. A million things raced through my head as he asked me that question. I was wondering where Percy and they were. I was wondering how in the name of Hades we were going to save Artemis and Annabeth from these people. I was wondering how much longer I was going to be forced to play the part of spy for them. Well, I had actually gotten myself into that one, but I was tired of playing it. I missed Blake and wanted to be back at camp. 

"Hmmm just tired of doing the same old same old day after day. I'm getting bored here Luke." I said as I pushed his hand off my shoulder. Having him touch me still didn't feel right. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. We walked in silence for a moment and then we heard running towards us. I turned around to see Dr. Thorn running to Luke. He glared down at me and then looked over at Luke.

"They have finally arrived. They're looking for Nereus." He said.

"Alright. They'll find their way here." Luke said. Thorn nodded and then ran off again and I swallowed, and Luke stared down at me.

"Nervous to see them after you've switched sides?" He asked. I nodded. He smiled at me and wrapped his arm around my waist. A shiver went down my spine and I had to fight off the urge to push him away from me. 

"Brother and sister reunited. Maybe you'll be able to convince Percy." He said. I chuckled and nodded knowing that as soon as Percy and they got here I was going to fighting with them against Luke and Luke would be hurt by that. I bit the inside of my mouth and we kept walking. I wiggled out from Luke's arm as we walked. Luke took me to my room and get a shower. Once I was out of the shower I got dressed and stared at myself in the mirror as I let my hair air dry around my face so that it would get those beach curls everyone loved. I blinked at my reflection in my mirror. 

"You're going to take this into your own hands tonight." I muttered to myself. I was going to show Luke that I was a force to be reckon with and that I wasn't on their side, and I never would be. I wiped my mirror clean of the steam and stared at myself. I sighed and started to put my make-up on before walking out to my room. I kept messing with my hair hoping to get it to dry fast. It seemed like forever until there was a knock at my door.

"Come in." I muttered. Luke stuck his head into the door and nodded at me. I nodded and I grabbed my necklace with my bracelet. I already had my key tucked safely inside my hand so that when it was time to leave with Percy and them I would. We walked out with Atlas, who was the General I had learned within the last few days. He was treating me like I was their damned princess. I mean I guess I was since Luke was supposed to be king in the new world order or something like that. I didn't get all the details for that plan yet because Kronos I don't believe trusted me all that much, which yet again I didn't blame him for. I sighed when we stopped before the summit. We had the golden casket of Kronos behind us which made me feel weird inside because there were monsters carrying it and because it was a freaking casket. Why did we have to carry this thing around with us?

"There Cassi is your precious Artemis." Luke sneered. I looked at him confused and then he pointed at the summit of Mt. Othrys to see Artemis chained there holding the sky on her shoulders like Atlas had been. Luke hadn't let me see her, only Annabeth which allowed me to give her enough food during the last few days to get her energy back up. And poor Annabeth was right here with us chained and gagged, with backbiter being pointed at her throat. It was taking all the strength in the world not to make me hit Luke in the head and make a run for it with her.

"You...you're making Lady Artemis hold the sky up?" I stammered as I took a step forward. She glanced at me, and I glanced at Luke appalled by his decisions.

"All the gods will have to suffer the punishments they put the titans through." Luke muttered. I glared at him and clenched my hands tightly into fists. I couldn't believe this was what he thought was okay. This wasn't okay, far from it. 

"Why?!" I demanded. He glared down at me.

"Because Kronos has decided." He snapped. I growled at him, and he looked at me surprised.

"This is sick!" I snapped. He went to grab me put I maneuvered out of his way and his eyes widened slightly. Since I had been here, I was getting trained by one of his men in hand-to-hand combat and how to avoid attacks Luke had been to do to me. I glared at him as Annabeth watched us go back and forth.

"Don't touch me." I growled.

"My lady!" I heard Zoe yell. No. This was the trap. They were going to try and kill them here. I swallowed and glanced down to see Zoe run to Artemis to help her and tugged at the celestial bronze chains that they had put her in. 

"Ah how touching." Atlas said from beside me. I glanced at Percy and his eyes met mine. Thalia looked at me shocked and my hand squeezed my key and it transformed into a sword. Percy and I locked eyes and he tilted his head to the side before understanding what I was doing. He knew. It was the thing we had going on. I whistled to Percy. It was tune that we decided way back when was going to be our tell. It meant to trust me. He hated it when I did it but there wasn't anything Percy could do with what I decided I was going to do. I heard him let out a long sigh.