When Myths Meet Magic || 2

26|| Annabeth

Annabeth could hear the boys' footsteps growing fainter, but she wasn't paying attention. Half of her was reeling back into memories of the Pit and freaking out, the other half was trying to calm that half.

"Ow!" There was another thud. Annabeth sighed. "Ron, stop kicking Lockhart and try shifting around some of these to support the sides," she said, stepping back. Her eyes skimmed the wall of rubble— it was extremely structurally unstable. There was a high chance of it all collapsing and crushing them all, but if you just pushed it the right way—

Annabeth sighed and stabbed one of the smaller pieces. It crumbled to dust but the wall didn't give in. All the pressure was on the one larger boulder smack in the middle. If she could just avoid it, they'd have a path cleared out in no time.

"Don't touch this one," she warned Ron and Lockhart, pointing to the main rock as she chipped away some more.

>>>•Jason POV•<<<

Jason walked next to Harry, his wand tip lit up in front of him. Harry was fidgeting with his wand, looking around cautiously.

"We'll be fine. Let's just find Ginny and get out of here," Jason said in an attempt to be soothing. Harry nodded jerkily and they kept walking in silence.

They turned the corner and stopped at a blocked wall with two intertwined serpents carved in the wall, glistening emeralds for eyes.

Jason subconsciously thought of George and Martha, the two snakes on the staff of Mercury— no, Hermes that Percy had introduced him to.

Harry stepped up and hissed again. The serpents split and the wall opened, revealing a dark chamber. A cold feeling around them, Jason and Harry walked into the Chamber of Secrets.

The first thing that caught Jason's eye wasn't the snakes lining the pathway up to a massive stone head, or the small, red haired figure lying beneath it, but the dark, hollowed entrance in the statue's mouth.

"Ginny!" Before Jason could warn Harry that the walkway might be trapped, or alert the Basilisk of their presence, Harry had run over to the statue's head and crouched below the figure that was lying beneath it. "Ginny— don't be dead— please don't be dead—"

Jason's neck tingled and he crouched behind one of the pillars, his hand gripping his gladius.

A blurred, shadowy figure stepped out from behind one of the many hairs that fell from the statue's head. "She won't wake," he said softly.

Harry's head jerked up. "What do you mean, she won't wake? Tom, she's not dead, is she?" his tone was desperate.

"She's still alive, but only just," he replied quietly.

Harry stared. "Are you a ghost?" He asked uncertainly.

"A memory," Tom replied in the same quiet tone. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years." He pointed to a little black book by the statue's mouth. Only then did Jason notice the small diary that he'd seen with Harry so many times.

"You've got to help me, Tom," Harry said, struggling to lift Ginny. "We've got to get out of here. There's a Basilisk... I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment... Please, help me—"

Tom just watched unblinkingly. As Harry turned to pick up Ginny again, he swooped down and snatched up Harry's wand in one fluid motion. Only then did Jason understand.

This guy, Tom, wasn't on their side. He was killing Ginny, and Harry didn't know that. He thought Tom was there to help.

Tom was going to kill Harry.