NEVER BE THE SAME . . . percy jackson

seventy six: the alive river.

THE CURRENT GRABBED Brooklyn like a fist and pulled her into the deep. Struggling was useless. She clamped her mouth shut, forcing herself not to inhale, but she could barely keep from panicking. She couldn't see anything but a torrent of bubbles. She could only hear her own thrashing and the dull roar of the rapids.

She'd just about decided this was how she would die pathetically: drowning in a swimming hole on an island that didn't exist. Then she kicked especially hard, and she surfaced, gasping for air, looking around wildly. Piper was at the center of a whirlpool. Next to Brooklyn, Jason surfaced and swung his sword wildly.

Brooklyn barely dodged, splashing him with water. "Do not take out my hair!" she yelled at him.

Near Piper, Achelous rose from the water. "I'm really sorry about this," he said.

Jason lunged toward him, summoning the winds to lift him out of the river, but Achelous was quicker and more powerful. A curl of water slammed into Jason and sent him under once more.

"Stop it!" Piper screamed.

Brooklyn grabbed his hand, trying to pull him to the surface.

"I'm afraid I can't stop," said the river god. "I can't let Hercules have my other horn. It would be mortifying."

"There's another way!" Piper said. "You don't have to kill us!"

Jason surfaced. A miniature storm cloud formed over his head. Thunder boomed. Brooklyn smirked and added onto it immediately.

"None of that, children of Jupiter," Achelous chided. "If you call lightning, you'll just electrocute your friend."

The water pulled Jason under again.

"Let him go!" Piper charmspoke. "I promise I won't let Hercules get the horn!"

Achelous hesitated. He cantered over to her, his head tilting to the left. "I believe you mean that."

"I do!" Piper promised. "Hercules is despicable. But, please, first let my friend go."

The water churned where Jason had gone under. Brooklyn tried to pull him up, but the water was fighting against her.

Achelous looked down at Piper through his bifocals. His expression softened. "I see. You would be my Deianira. You would be my bride to compensate for my loss."

"What?" Piper sputtered, and Brooklyn snorted, coughing harshly. "Uh, actually I was thinking—"

"Oh, I understand," Achelous said. "You were too modest to suggest this in front of your boyfriend. You are right, of course. I would treat you much better than a son of Zeus would. I could make things right after all these centuries. I could not save Deianira, but I could save you."

Brooklyn kept pulling on Jason's arm, trying to get him to the surface, but he just wasn't getting up. She hoped he secretly had gills, because he's been underwater for a very long time.

"You would have to let your friends die," Achelous continued. "Hercules would be angry, but I can protect you from him. We could be quite happy together. Let's start by letting that Jason fellow drown, eh?"

Piper raised her arms, sweetly smiling. "Lift me up, please."

Achelous's face brightened. He grabbed Piper's hands and pulled her out of the whirlpool.

She used her momentum, swinging one leg over Achelous's back. Then she locked her ankles around his neck, wrapped one arm around his throat, and drew her knife with the other. She pressed the blade under the river god's chin.

Brooklyn wolf-whistled. "Get it, Pipes!"

"Let — Jason — go." Piper commanded. "Now!"

Jason shot out of the water like a human cannonball, bringing Brooklyn with him. They broke through the branches of an olive tree and tumbled onto the grass. Brooklyn groaned and laid on the ground, but she propped her body against the tree so she could see as Jason stood, raised his sword, and the dark clouds thickened over the river.