LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . pjo

XIX.

THEY RAN UNTIL they were exhausted. Rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind — only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Mia couldn't hear anything behind them, but she didn't feel any safer. She could still remember those unnatural golden eyes staring out of Luke's face, and that she was one of the people who had caused that.

"I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

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. Mia sat down next to her and wrapped her in her arms.

"Everything will be alright," Mia whispered, but she didn't believe her words. Neither did Annabeth, who shook her head wildly, her entire body trembling as she sobbed.

So Mia sat, squeezing Annabeth's body in a hug, until she lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "What . . . what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Percy told her what he'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No," Annabeth said. "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 nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

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

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. "When 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 said. "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?" Percy 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 and sobbed miserably. Mia sent an apologetic look to Rachel, squeezing Annabeth tighter.

"We have to keep moving," Nico said. "He'll send monsters after us."

Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right.

"Hey," Mia whispered to Annabeth. "We have to go, okay?"

"I know," Annabeth said. "I'm . . . I'm all right."

She was clearly not all right.

"Listen," Mia said quietly. "The more steps you take, the closer you can be to have a chance to save him."

"Yeah," Annabeth said raggedly, looking at Mia. "Thanks, Mia."

"What are ride or dies for?" Mia smiled softly, standing up and bringing Annabeth up with her, and they started straggling back through the Labyrinth again.

"Back to New York," Percy said. "Rachel, can you—"

He froze. A few feet in front of them, his flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground. It was a Rasta cap: the one Grover always wore.