Annabeth Chase and the Titan's Curse

Chapter 15 - I nearly die of boredom

It was hard to tell for how long I was in that cell. My body was so out of whack that I slept when I was tired, which was always, so I'd wake up at all times, from the middle of the night to late afternoon.

My body healed and grew stronger again, but it was painstakingly slow. Whenever I woke I would make myself get to my feet and walk around my little cell, leaning on the walls for support. Every time I did so I felt myself get a little further before I had to collapse on my bed and sleep again. It was slow, but it was progress.

Not knowing was what annoyed me the most. I wanted to know how long I was in there for. I wanted to know what was happening outside my cell. Mostly I wanted to know where Percy was. Luke said he believed I was dead, but my mother said he was coming for me with friends. I was more inclined to believe Athena, if only because it gave me some hope that I would be freed. It was horrible being confined to a tiny room with no shower, a bucket for a toilet and boredom threatening to overwhelm me when I was awake.

If my body ever managed to revert back to sleeping at normal times I might have been able to work out the times by the food schedule, if it even ran on a schedule. Most of the time when I woke up there would be a plate sitting just inside the room, usually cold. It was mostly pretty disgusting, runny gruel with a stale piece of bread or something like that that only a monster could eat. Yet I always ate it, usually coughing and gagging to get it down. No matter what it was, I had to get my strength back up and starving myself wouldn't help.

I didn't see Luke again, or at least when I was awake. I has no idea if he came to visit me when I was asleep as I had no schedule so he might have. For that I was thankful though. I didn't want to have to talk to him any more. I didn't even want to look at him.

There really isn't anything else much to say. I woke. I ate. I would go for a walk around my cell. And I would sleep again. Most of the time I preferred to sleep despite the dreams I had of all my friends dying as it was preferable to being awake cause when I was awake I was stuck with my thoughts for company.

What was happening back at camp? What was the creature that Athena mentioned, the one that had the power to destroy the gods? What was the Great Stirring that Dr Thorn mentioned? And what was Atlas doing now that he was freed from his burden?

I was almost relieved when Luke suddenly burst into my room and grabbed me, throwing me to the ground easily. Even if I was at full strength I wouldn't have been able to stop him as he pinned me down on my stomach. He yanked my arms behind my back and strapped my wrists together with rope.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, trying to wriggle free but Luke's weight was too much. "Get off me!"

He didn't even look at me as he stepped away once my wrists were secured only to hook me to my feet. His hand was like a vice on my wrist as he pulled me against him so my back was pressed to his chest. Then he began to move towards the door, pushing me ahead of him.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, doing my best to slow him down but he was much too strong.

He tugged me out of the room and headed down a corridor, passing doors of cells like mine. The corridor was pretty luxurious though, dark blue carpet stretching away ahead and frames of boats on the walls. The only thing was that the carpet was shredded and the walls all had claw marks through them, proving that this was a monster horde.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll behave," Luke hissed to me as he continued to push me down the corridor. "You have served your purpose to the General and if he had his way, he would kill you. The only reason you are alive is because of me. So do exactly what I say or you'll be killed."

"Are you expecting me to be grateful?" I snapped. "You should just kill me now and get over with it."

Luke didn't reply, but when I tilted my head back to see his face, an expression of sadness was on it, though that was quickly covered up when he saw me looking. He roughly shoved me forward, nearly knocking me off balance.

At the end of the corridor was a flight of stairs leading up which we followed. It led us on to the deck of a ship, which I immediately recognized as the Princess Andromeda. The horde of monsters lounging around gave it away.

The last time I'd been on board had been bad enough, but the ship looked even worse now. The deck was all scratched up, covered in junk and had blood spills on it. Even worse, most of the monsters were hanging about in budgie-smugglers, which was a sight that made my eyes want to vomit.

As Luke and I passed, some of the monsters turned to watch, their eyes alighting on me. Their mouths widened in sickening grins as they took me in but quickly looked away when Luke shot them a glare. For once I was grateful that he was with me. I probably would have been turned into monster kibble otherwise.

Luke pushed me to the side of the deck and without giving me time to look over, shoved me over the side. It was so unexpected that I didn't even have time to scream as I fell. I thought I was going to be splattered for sure, but then hands caught me and lowered me down.

I looked up to see that I was lying on my back in the middle of a circle of dracaenae, all of them smiling down at me deviously. Higher above I could see Luke climbing down the ship by a ladder, the Princess Andromeda high above.

When he reached ground level, which I could see was a dock, he pushed his way through the dracaenae to me and heaved me back to my feet. He glared at the circle of dragon women and they backed away a few steps, still watching me with bright cruel eyes.

"Move," he snapped, shoving me forward.

I stumbled but managed to catch my balance, shooting Luke a dirty look as I did so. The dracaenae formed ranks around us as we walked along the docks. There were some other boats docked nearby, but they all looked abandoned. I guess either the mortals that owned them were dead or scared off.

Lying directly in our path and ranging high above us was a mountain, the tip a mass of black crowds. I shivered with dread as I took it in. I'd already been up there and the last time had not been pleasant. I was in no way keen to go back, especially if I had to hold the sky again.