The Son Of Asclepius, Doctor of Divinity

The Lost One

They ran until the others were exhausted. Rachel, still on the son of Asclepius' shoulder, steered them away from traps, but there was no destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos. Eventually, they stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. 

"I can't go any farther," Nico gasped. (Y/N) set down Rachel and stretched his legs. A light jog. 

Annabeth was hugging her chest tightly. She 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. Nico and Percy sat next to each other. He dropped his sword and took a shaky breath. 

"That sucked," panted the boy, which summed things up pretty well. 

"You saved our lives," Jackson said, almost in disbelief. Nico wiped the dust off his face. 

"Blame (Y/N) for dragging me along. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up." 

"Nice that you all trust me so much." 

Percy shined his flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like a slow-motion rain. 

"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—a child of the Underworld." 

Nico frowned. "Big deal." 

(Y/N) could tell he was just masking his fear. The mere presence of Kronos brought fear from the amygdala. He could see it, like waves of music, emanating from them all. Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. 

"What...what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?" 

He expected what Percy said, but grimaced at it nonetheless. Luke had had himself shot to prepare for Kronos. Ethan Nakumara, the demi-god from the arena, had pledged his allegiance to the side of Kronos. Consequently, the Titan lord had emerged from Tartarus and into the body of Luke Castellan, his host. 

"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." 

Jackson nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush." 

Rachel 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?" the son of Poseidon snapped in return. "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..." 

"Stop this NOW!" bellowed (Y/N). 

He somehow forced back the others, without touching them, to the floor. The arguing stopped at that, with Annabeth's voice breaking. She collapsed into a sobbing mess. 

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

Nobody was in any shape to run, and (Y/N) couldn't carry everyone, but Nico was right. Percy hauled himself up and helped Rachel to her feet.