The Beginning of the End (J. Grace)

XXIV: Thank the Gods for Piper McLean

I'll die to fire, not water and that's final.

We managed to get footholds in the niches, but with the torrent of water streaming out of them with no signs of stopping, it was like balancing at the top of a waterfall. It was already around my ankles while I was stood inside of the alcove, so it must be too deep to stand on the floor.

"I could try lightning." Lightning Boy offered, swimming over to Dove and I from the other side of the room where he and Seaweed Brain had been pounding on the walls in a desperate attempt to find an exit. "Maybe blast a hole in the roof?"

"And bring down the whole room and crush us?" Piper shot back, her eyes already turning her scared colour while her braid batted her face as she swung her head around, trying to find another way out. Gods, I wish Annabeth was here.

"Or electrocute us." Guineapig added, following Jason's lead and climbing onto the niche next to mine.

"Not many choices." Lightning Boy grumbled, sounding annoyed but also... scared. I've never really seen him scared before.

"Let me search the bottom." Percy announced and I began to protest, but he shuts me off with a stern look that seems foreign on his face. "If this place was built as a fountain, there has to be a way to drain the thing. You guys check the niches for secret exits."

"Maybe the shells trigger something?" I offered in an attempt to give the others more hope, but I could tell that none of us believed it, not even myself.

Seaweed Brain nodded to me – once, a sharp, jerky motion – and then jumped into the dark waters. The three of us left immediately got to work: kicking, pounding and wiggling the shells, but to no avail.

Guineapig surfaced quickly after. Too quickly.

I immediately jerked myself up and ran across the water at an unnatural sprint in this confined area, hoisting him up as I went, then leaning him against the back of Hagno's alcove once I'd come to a stop.

"Couldn't breathe." He choaked, coughing up some of the thick oily liquid. "The water... not normal. Hardly made it back."

Oh Gods.

"I'll try and find something now that we're higher up." I declared, straightening myself up once more, the water lapping at my lower thighs.

With a large leap, I managed to get my feet back above the water so that I could sprint across its surfaces, but something about the water... something wasn't right.

I scanned the walls desperately, though my movements were starting to slow, ever so slightly. It was almost as though the places where the water had made contact with my legs weren't working. They were led, pulling me down. Slowing me down. It was as though my body had forgotten how to run while my mind was screaming the instructions how, though it was being ignored in the same way I ignore every voice of reason.

It was draining me.

For Hermes's sake –

I dropped like a stone.

"Lara!" Dove's muffled scream reached my ears as I flailed sluggishly, unable to move properly. My hands were wrinkling, and when my hair floated before my eyes, I could blearily make out that it was paler.

I understood what Percy meant now, that he barely made it out... this water felt like acid frying my skin. It was as though I was being paralyzed and there was no escape, none...

Gods, I couldn't move at all. It was terrifying.

I tried to hold my breath, but mu lungs screamed in protest. I won't be able to hold it for much longer.