Heir of a Titan - Book 2 PJO

Chapter 10: Things Go Boom

I had no idea what was going on. My mind woke up slowly, but I couldn't figure out where I was or what happened. My mind couldn't put the pieces together. The last thing I could actually concretely remember was watching Glitter take off with the injured Ares campers. After that my mind was fuzzy and I couldn't remember what happened. I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy and sluggish, like I was trying to move through wet mud. Something floated through my mind, like a song only my body could hear. It made me relax and stop trying to figure out what was going on. The worry of where I was or what happened floated away. I let my muscles relax and my mind floated back into the darkness.

🔆

Something startled me awake. A dark voice rattled around in my head.

"You're late, Percy."

I blinked a few times. I had no idea where I was or what was going on. But I blinked a few more times. The weird heavy weight that was set in my muscles was slowly releasing. And the fog around my mind was clearing. I blinked a few more times, my eyes becoming accustomed to the dark, but the bright lights that were turned on. I pushed myself up onto my elbows. I was laying in some kind of cage. My hand burned. The one that was branded last year by dark magic, it burnt like it had that first time. I clenched my hand into a fist. I knew the black bars around my cage were shrouded in dark magic.

I pushed myself to sit up. My cage seemed to be on some kind of boat on the top deck. There were all kinds of monsters and demigods mulling around. And most of them were all looking down at something.

The guy in the middle looked like a regular college guy, but he radiated power. Luke.

How I ended up on a boat with Luke was beyond me. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy. He turned his head and looked directly at me, and smiled, he would have looked like a regular guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.

I shivered. And he smiled in triumph. And looked back over the railing.

"We've been expecting you, Percy, for days." At first he sounded normal, like this Luke everyone kept telling me about. But then his body twitched. A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful-the voice of the Titan lord Kronos. The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Especially now that I have your sister. Come, bow before me."

Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at Percy. Within seconds he was surrounded. A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so fast unless they'd known Percy was coming.

I was the bait.

Luke just laughed. His voice was deep and heavy, the twisted evil laugh of a Titan.

"Why don't we show her off, ya?" The Kronos-Luke turned and snapped his fingers, two demi gods stepped forward. A boy and girl, both with dark hair and dark eyes with Asian features. And they looked cruel and ruthless.

"These my dear, are children of Hecate. Twins. And both wonderful magic users."

I just flipped Kronos-Luke off. He just gave me a smile that made me shiver. He turned back to Percy as the twins shoved my cage over the edge. I cried out at the sudden drop, but of course no one could hear me. I slammed into the cage bars. I saw Percy cry out and reach a hand out like he could stop the cage. My cage hung suspended in mud air. I looked back and saw the twins, standing beside Luke, both of their hands held out, like they were holding the cage with magic- which I realized they were.