Angel of Darkness (a Percy Jackson Fanfiction) ~SLOW UPDATES~

Chapter XV

Olivia POV

After all the time I've known Zach, I have never seen him lose his temper. Out of our group of four, he was always the calm, cool, collected one. He never let anyone get to him and kept others from getting into a fight. So when my charm bracelet started to fry my skin, I immediately knew something was very wrong.

A couple of days ago, Will and I had figured out that his necklace and my charm bracelet let us feel the other's strong emotions. The one that was felt the most was anger. When Will and I got injured and woke up, we could feel the emotions of pain and anger. Zach never said anything about it when he came and visited us daily, so we just assumed our bond was maybe a little stronger than his bond with us and that he didn't feel it.

Will and I sat on our beds drawing out battle plans for attacking a Camp Olympia and trying to figure out an extraction plan for Mackenzie. Zach was downstairs with his team trying to get as much information out of the demons as possible, even though they seemed quite keen on not helping us. But I know if anyone can get through to them and get what we need, it's Zach.

As Will and I talked about how we would get in without sounding an alarm, I felt my charm bracelet began to burn my skin and Will and I yelped simultaneously.

"What's wrong?" We asked at the same time, looking into each other's eyes. Will's eyes held confusion that probably met my own.

"Nothing!" We answered at the same time. Will scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion, moving a hand to his chin as he thought. I rose an eyebrow at him, rubbing my eyes with my hands. What the heck is going on?

I dug through my brain, trying to think of some plausible explanation behind the fire-like burning from the necklace. There were only three people who had the charms like these... and that's when it hit me.

"What?" Will asked, noticing the look on my face. When I didn't answer, he nudged me with his elbow, thinking I didn't hear him the first time as he asked once more,

"What?"

"It's Zach!" I replied, pushing myself up from my bed, racing to the lab as Will followed behind me.

I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. It got darker and darker as went until all that was guiding us was artificial light and a couple nightlight wall plugins.

I hadn't been down here since the day we moved into this shabby place and used it as our base. Then again, the next day we attacked the camp and I was out for like three days so that's probably why. The downstairs always surprised me from how different it looked from the upstairs.

The drywall was cracked, parts of it showing the structural damage beneath it. The house seemed to be completely made out of wood which sounded like a pretty stupid idea in the first place. The floor tile was also broken as well in some places, showing the dirt it hid from sight, it looked absolutely disgusting and I felt bad for everyone who had to spend their time down here.

When we reached the door to the lab, we didn't enter, instead, staying behind it, curious to see what was making Zach so angry. We stayed there listening, hearing nothing but an eery, uncomfortable silence. But the words that followed it took the breath from my lungs.

"What are you willing to bargain for the answers you so desperately need?" I heard Percy say. Except it wasn't really Percy, it was someone pretending to be Percy. I felt tears welling my eyes, it wasn't someone pretending to be Percy, it was someone who stole Percy. He took everything that made Percy, well Percy. He stole his identity, his looks, his voice, but there was one thing he could never take, and it was Percy's hero heart.

I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry. I never wished to be more like Mackenzie than in this moment. She was great at keeping her emotions at bay and there was nothing I needed more than to be able to hide what I was feeling. But when did I ever get that lucky?