The Half-Blood Games | Percabeth

Chapter 20: Swim

The water was already to my ears, and was rising by the second. The dark grey clouds covered the sky, pounding rain down on me.

I sprang up and started rolling up my sleeping bag. Once I was done, I clipped it to my backpack. Then I stood there.

In District 3, we had a total of 2 lakes, both of which were so polluted from the factories that all of your hair would fall out if you swam in them. In other words, I'd never swam before in my life.

A flash flood was the last thing I needed.

The water was at my knees now, and was showing no sign of slowing down. I started panicking. I had read that drowning was one of the worst ways to die, seeing as the water would slowly suffocate you, making your lungs fill with water as they tried to gasp in the air they so desperately needed.

I thought back to past Games. It was rare, but every once in awhile a tribute would be forced to swim. I squinted my eyes, trying to remember what they did. I remembered hands sliding into the water above their heads, and their legs kicking continuously. When they stayed still, they would make circular patterns with their arms and legs.

The water was now at my waist. I was sure this was happening far too quickly, but then again, this was the Games. Someone on a computer screen in the Gamemakers control center was making this happen to me, not mother nature.

I started walking towards the mountain. If the water level were rising, then I should stick by it, so I could find hand holds to rest on every once in awhile.

When the water raised above my head, I started kicking, and, much to my delight, moved upwards. I laughed in relief. 

I swam towards the mountain. I dipped below the surface a couple times, which was terrifying, but I managed to stay afloat. I reached the sandstone that made up the mountain and grabbed onto it. It was the first hard natural-occurring substance I'd felt since the forest, and it gave me a sense of security.

The rock was slippery, but I managed to get a hold on it. As the sea level rose, so would I. I realized that this might be a blessing. Rock-climbing was a lot easier when you had water hi=oisting you up like a rope.

Plus, the Careers were probably struggling. Maybe I'd get lucky, and one of them would die. Their supplies would definitely get destroyed.

That's when I heard the scream.

It was one of complete agony, like the person who uttered it had gotten one of their limbs torn off. A few seconds later, a cannon went off.

I was confused for a couple of seconds. Last I checked, drowning people didn't scream in agony. Well, I've never actually checked, but you get my point.

But then my eyes widened with realization. I was surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner. This was the Capitol we were talking about, and while forcing tributes to deal with a flash flood is entertaining, it's not exciting enough.

Which meant they were probably doing something to spice it up. And I had a good idea of what that meant.

I turned around and surveyed the rising water levels behind me, searching for a jagged fin. I'd only ever seen a shark once, in a past Hunger Games. But even I knew of their trademark fin, which peeked above the water.

I didn't see any, and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the person who had just died hadn't been killed by a shark, but rather another tribute. A knife to the heart would make anyone I know scream.

But that was when I saw the fin, and my eyes widened. It was coming straight towards me.

I did the rational thing, and swam as fast as I could in the opposite direction, away from the mountain. I looked back, and sure enough, the shark was following me. I was sure that the Gamemakers were doing this on purpose. I imagined Nike, the Head Gamemaker, watching over her minions, instructing them on how to direct my-to be scale-covered killer.

I swam like my life depended on it, which it did. But I couldn't swim very fast, and the shark was getting closer by the second.

That's when I swam into the dead end.

The mountain I was planning on climbing hadn't been the only one, and I had just swam into the center of a crescent-shaped one. Sandstone surrounded me on all sides, and I had no escape.

The shark swam in. Now that it was so close, I could make out the colour of its scales through the rain. It was grey.

I must say, out of all the ways I imagined my death, getting eaten by a shark was not one of them.

It swam towards me, backing me into the wall. I imagined Hestia at home with all the orphans, everyone looking horrified. I imagined Calypso, in a dirty house, crying for me.

I pulled out the photo of her Leo had given me, which was slightly damp.

"I'm sorry Calypso," I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek. "I'm sorry, Leo."

Then I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to hit me, waiting for my death. The water seemed colder now, and I tuned out the sounds of the rain. All I could hear was the beating of my heart.

But the pain never came.

I opened my eyes. In front of me was the shark's fin, but it had stopped moving. The water around it had slowly started turning red, from what I assumed was blood. Then the shark sank into the water, like someone had dropped it.

Then a person I'd never expected to see again sprang out of the water.

His black hair was wet, and his sea-green eyes glittered with excitement. He gripped his sword in his hand, and was smiling that troublemaker smile that was attractive and annoying at the same time.

"Hi, Annabeth," Percy grinned.