Prophesied Powder, PJO

4.12

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Chapter 44
First Blood

Volume 4: The Battle of
the Labyrinth

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They were exhausted by the time they stopped. Pat was sure they would have continued if Rachel hadn't nearly collapsed, gasping out, "I can't go any further."

Pat laid flat on his back on the wet rock of the cave-like tunnel that had entered, "Same." He wheezed. With one hand on his chest, he tried to slow his pounding heart.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel.

Pallas sunk to his knees silently, his breathing uneven. There was a cling of metal as Nico dropped his sword and sat, shakily saying, "That sucked."

Pat managed a weak laugh while Percy said, "You saved our lives."

Nico wiped the dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

"Nice that they trust me so much." Percy murmured tiredly, though he was clearly somewhat joking. Pat heard him click on his flashlight as he added, "Nico... you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"That wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now," Percy explained, "A child of the Underworld."

Nico frowned. "Big deal." Brave for such a little kid, Pat thought, but then he figured Chiron and Silena and Clarisse probably thought similarly about their group.

Annabeth lifted her head, distraught as she asked, "What...what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

As Percy started recounting everything they had seen in the coffin and what Ethan had done, Pallas scooted over to Pat and placed a hand on his chest to check his breathing. Pat smiled sleepily.

"No," Annabeth said, wiping away Pat's smile and reminding him of the seriousness of the situation, "That can't be true. He couldn't—"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said, "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" she insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Percy turned to Rachel. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush." He sounded like he respected the shit out of it.

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. LWhen it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy admitted. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth yelled. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" He snapped. "Why do you keep defending him?"

"Whoa, you two," Rachel said. "Knock it off."

Annabeth turned on her. "Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn't for you..." Whatever she was going to say, her voice broke. She put her head down again and sobbed miserably.