Forbidden Quests

Chapter 56

Annabeth POV

There it was. My name and "Siren" being put together—and I had no idea why. I also had no idea how Luke found us so easily. What to do now, you ask? I have no clue whatsoever. Yeah, we had a bajillion plans, but we really didn't plan on Luke finding us that fast. I mean, it has barely been twenty minutes since we entered the tunnel, and now Luke had me and Percy, and I didn't know where Jason and Leo were, I had just left them willingly. And if Luke is focused on us, that either means the war upstairs is done, the Questers have won, and Luke just wants to do as much as possible before he gets taken away, or he knows that the Questers can't defeat him. Or he's already defeated the Questers, and they're all up on the surface, no one alive because my plan didn't work. My throat caught as we stood there, staring at one another.

Percy was glaring daggers at Luke. Some demigods had restrained him, shaking Riptide loose and pinning his arms back, the same thing they did to me. Except I was kind of glad for the support, because frankly, I didn't know if I could hold myself up. I glanced down at my leg, seeing the blood flow freely. I needed to wrap it, needed to staunch the blood flow, but every time I moved, a bolt of pain slashed through me, nausea waking in my stomach. I swallowed hard, fighting back the agonizing throbs, and tried to stay focused on what was going on.

"Luke," I muttered with disgust. I really didn't know what else to say, and somebody had to break the silence. Percy looked too mad to speak, he'd probably just trip over his own tongue as he tried to say a thousand things at once—most of which I bet a lot of people would cringe at. Luke just stood there smugly, and his men were crowded around, guarding me and Percy.

"Ah, you say my name with such tender care," Luke said, placing a hand over his heart. "I'm touched."

"How did—"

"I find you?" Luke asked, cutting me off and finishing my sentence. "Well, it wasn't a very good plan. I have scouts everywhere, and it wasn't really like you were being quiet. Oh, yeah, here's your friends." He snapped his fingers, and behind us I heard footsteps and angry mumbling. Jason and Leo were herded in here by more of Luke's men, and they forced my two friends over to stand by Percy and I. I eyed them quickly, but they seemed fine. Just angry beyond belief, glaring fiercely at Luke.

"My, my," the son of Hermes clucked, shaking his head. "Such warm welcomes I'm getting. And I even let you all live."

"You wouldn't kill Annabeth," Jason said matter-of-factly. "You need her for something."

Like sneered. "Ah, but I can kill her when I'm done using her."

"You slimy, cowardly, no good rotten son of a—" Percy growled, bristling at his words.

"Oh, Percy," Luke replied, chuckling at the fuming son of Poseidon. "I can kill her. I've done something like that to you before, what's one more time?"

Oh. Ouch.

Percy was speechless, emotions chasing each other across his face. He glanced at me, eyes wide, and I saw one clear emotion in his face.

I heard a gasp, and turned to see a rather surprised Luke. "Oh. Oh, wow." Luke sounded like he had found something unexpected and amusing. "You love her, don't you? Well, I have to be honest, I didn't think that would happen."

I whipped my head back around to stare at Percy, but he wasn't looking at me. He was avoiding my eyes. Percy loved me? Truly? But now wasn't really the time for my girly feelings to come up and for the butterflies to start raging about in my chest.

Like continued. "I just wanted you two to become good friends, so Percy would drag Annabeth into this, and bring her to me. But, hey—this makes it even more interesting."