A Fire Burns Within Me (completed)

Rocthag Part 2

Previously:
The face I was looking at made me freeze. He looked almost exactly the same as when I last saw him, his smug look seemed permanent and he still had weak muscles. Then I saw the sign of my mother on his wrist.

"Where did you get that, Calem Peterson?" I said in a cold, emotionless voice.

"You know this man, Fire Lord?" Bock asked me, shocked.

I looked up to answer to Bock only to see the face of the girl that broke my heart. "Annabeth Chase," I growled.

One thing was different. They both had the symbol of a traitor on their foreheads.

"What are you two traitors doing here?" I growled, silencing any conversation going on around me. The only sound now was the rushing water somewhere in the cavern.

"Who are you?" Calem sneered, "and how do you know our names?"

I hesitated, unsure as if to trust the rock giants here. I glanced at Bock, who had a completely confused look on his face. He was looking between the three of us, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Then, slowly, I pulled down my hood.

"My real name is Percy Jackson," I said quietly but I could still be heard around the plaza, "I know your names because you are the ones whom I used to call friends. At least for Annabeth that was true."

"Percy," Annabeth breathed, bringing her hands to her chest. A small smile made its way onto her face. Why was she smiling? She broke my heart.

"Jackson," Calem spat, "what are you doing here?" Now there is a reaction I expected to see.

I smirked. "Fulfilling my destiny, as usual," I answered, "How about you answer my question?"

"Can you not see?" Calem asked, brushing his sandy blond hair out of the way. There the black mark of the omega symbol stood out against his pale skin, catching every eye in the room. "The gods banished us and sent us off with some Keeper. We're making our way in the universe."

I narrowed my eyes. "What did you do to get banished?" I inquired, the gods don't do things for no reason. Unless you are Dionysus. "Betraying me is not enough to gain such a severe punishment."

Calem's and Annabeth's expressions immediately turned guarded. "Nothing," Annabeth now spoke, "they called us to Olympus just as we were going to lunch and accused us for no reason."

"How long have they been here?" I asked Bock over my shoulder, still looking at them.

A bald rock giant to the right answered for him. "They just arrived this morning," he said, "some lady called Sadmep brought them. Said we had to watch them until you got here after she made them go from the size of an ant to our size."

Suddenly I remembered the iron bracelet with my mother's symbol. In a blink of an eye, I had Calem's wrist in my hand and my thumb brushing the symbol.

A secret compartment opened up and out fell a note folded so it could fit in the small space. It was slightly yellowed and stiff and it fell to the floor fast, like a falling leaf.