It Shouldn't Have Come to This...(Percy Joins Kronos)

Chapter 9: The Tree

(Percy POV)

When Luke came to get me from my cabin, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay. But, I couldn't tell Luke that. What would say to him? Oh, hi Luke, how're you? Oh, and by the way, I want to stay here, the place where I was taken prisoner for weeks, after I swore my allegiance Kronos. Bye!

I sighed. If only life were that easy. We walked out of camp, while Luke took something out of his pocket and pushed it to the Thalias tree. He whispered something like, I'm sorry, Thalia. It's for the greater good.

He ran over to me and I saw that his eyes were red and puffy. He looked upset, but all traces of being sad were washed away from his eyes when he smiled at me. 

'Hey, Perce.'

I swear, that guy had more mood swings than Annabeth.

I smiled tightly back at him.

'Hey, Luke.'

We hurriedly walked to the Princess Andromeda, just in case Camp changed their minds.

'So, how was your imprisonment?' he asked. I looked at him weirdly.

'Oh, so nice. You know, just butterflies and rainbows every day!' 

He rolled his eyes at me.

'Still with the sarcasm, I see. You know, I don't know why I thought you might've matured.'

'I'm more mature than you.'

'Oh, shut up.' 

I put a hand to my heart in mock hurt.

'Wow, Luke. I thought we were friends.' He snorted at this.

'In your dreams, Jackson.'

'And in your nightmares, Castellan.'

We grinned at each other. There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes, while the both of us enjoyed looking at the greenery that was so rare to come by in New York (well at least I was).

'It was ok.' 

He looked at me weirdly. 'What?'

'You asked how my, 'imprisonment' was. It was ok.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

'Did they feed you?'

'Gods, Luke, of course they fed me! If they wanted me to die they would've just let Clarisse in the same room as me.'

He smiled, but it was wiped off when he froze, as if he were hit by a truck.

'Luke? You okay?'

Instead of responding, he stayed silent. 

'Luke?'

 He turned to me with a frown. 'You're not planning on leaving me, are you?'

My eyes widened and I too stopped in my tracks.

'What?' I asked. Please don't say he knows, please-

'Well...' he looked around, and all the other demigods were in their own conversations. 'You seemed kind of upset to leave.'

How does he know? I'm not that bad at acting happy, am I?

'Not one bit.' I lied through my teeth.

'Okay...' he seemed unconvinced but let go of the subject.

'So what happened? How'd you get captured?'

By this time, we had reached the cruise ship, and were boarding quickly.

'Well, it was the last day of school, and these monsters with firey Dodge balls started trying to kill me. So, I killed them, and then... Annabeth showed up and caught me off guard. Basically, she hit me with her knife and probably dragged me to camp.' I explained.

'Percy, you need to be ready. That could happen at any time, and I won't be here to save you everytime.' 

'Sorry mom.'

He glared at me. 

'Im being serious, Percy. Please, be prepared next time. I'll see you at dinner.'

He walked off before I could say anything. There was something ominous about the way he talked, like something bad was going to happen... Or already did...

I decided there was no point in running after him, so I went to my room. 

A few days later...

(Annabeth POV)

I was sitting in my cabin, having the worst day ever. Today, my dyslexia was really annoying, and the words were floating everywhere. It had been a few days since the battle and everyone was trying to recover. Kronos's army really did a number on us. Most campers were injured, while the others were either trying to forget about it, or too focused on helping the hurt. 

'Urgh!' I threw my hands up in frustration. I couldn't concentrate. Maybe it was because Percy had escaped. Maybe it was because most people were injured. Or, maybe, just maybe, it was because I had a bad feeling something was going to happen. 

'Annabeth?' came a timid voice. I looked over, and there stood Malcolm, who was fidgeting with his fingers. He had a nervous, almost scared expression on his face. 

'C-Chiron wants you at t-the big house. He-he said you needed to come. Now.' he stuttered, which was weird because Malcolm never stuttered. Ever. Even in serious situations like this. He must be really nervous, which means... It must be really bad...

I nodded grimly and sprinted out of Cabin 6 towards the big house. Quickly opening the door, I ran over to where I saw Chiron and all the other head counsellors. They all looked confused, while Clarisse just looked bored.

Everyone stared at me, and I felt uncomfortable with all the eyes on me. Why were they all looking at me?

The silence was broken when Clarisse glared at me and spoke.

'Finally! Took you long enough. Let's get this meeting started. I've got places to be.' 

I rolled my eyes. 

'What, like bullying some kids?' the Stolls asked, their faces mischievous despite the gloomy atmosphere.

'Shut it.' the daughter of Ares growled.

Chiron cleared his throat, and they settled down. I took my seat and gestured for Chiron to start.

'Why are we here, Chiron?'

'Well, we have a problem.'

Clarisse snorted. 'You don't say.'

Everyone glared at her.

'Not just that problem, another one. This involves the safety of the camp.'

'When does it not?' I heard Lee Fletcher mutter under his breath.

'When Kronos's army left, it turns out that they took down our protection against the monsters.'

An outburst of confused noises sounded out. Everyone looked worried and loud chattering was heard in every corner of the room. 

Chiron held up his hand for silence. Everyone stopped talking and they looked at the old centaur.

'What do you mean by that, Chiron?' Silena Beauregard asked. She asked the question that no one wanted to.

Chiron's warm and wise eyes bore into mine, and before he said it, I knew what happened.

'Someone has poisoned Thalia's tree.'

Lol cliffhanger :)) enjoy and if there are any names that have been spelt wrong, just know that it is autocorrect. Like dude, Clarisse is a normal name. HER NAME ISN'T CLARISSA. Like 🙄 honestly I hate autocorrect. Byeeeeee :))))))))))))