Sea Scales

I Hate Being Chained, But Here We Are

*******Percy**************

I was back in Tartarus. I relived drinking the fire river. Then, I descended into the deeper parts, and I relived fighting the aria, listening to Annabeth crying out for me, saying I had abandoned her. I relived each of the curses laid upon me by them. I remembered Bob questioning me about his identity, and the guilt I had felt.

When I finally jolted awake, my eyes snapped open, and I was immediately hit by a massive headache. 

"Ughhh..." I groaned as I shut my eyes tight. 

"How are you doing, Perc?" I heard Leo's voice ask. I gave another groan as an answer.

"The headache will pass after a while. Cover your head with your wings, it helps with the light." He told me.

"Thanks." I mumbled to him as I followed his directions.

I felt slightly better, and I felt like I stayed there for hours as the pain slowly faded away. When I uncovered my eyes again, I saw Leo pacing around his small cage, muttering to himself.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"I'm bored!" He said, tapping his front foot in what I guessed to be morse code.

"What do you want to do?" I asked him, attempting to distract him from his boredom.

"There's nothing to do!" He growled, "We are in cages!"

"I'm trying to help." 

"I know." He sighed, sitting down. He shook his head, then his ears pricked up as I heard a door open and footsteps. 

A group of burly men walked up to us and stopped at our cages.  They held muzzles and chains.

"Oh, these jerks." Leo growled.

They unlocked my cage and I leaped to attack them. I flared my wings and knocked over two men with them.  I growled, but I was cut short when a muzzle was shoved over my mouth, clamping my jaws shut. Leo let out a blast that hit the crisscrossing bars of his cell and dissipated. 

My wings were grabbed and banded so I could no longer open them. 

I continued to struggle, but the men overpowered me and I was chained. A chin around my neck pulled me forward and I felt a sharp pain in my hindquarters. When I glanced back I saw men with spears, stabbing me light enough that it didn't pierce through my tough scales, but hard enough to where it hurt. I walked forward begrudgingly. 

Bright light blinded me as I stepped onto the deck of the ship. I blinked rapidly and looked around when my vision returned. I saw that we were docked on an island. I paused to take everything in, and I was pulled forward, then stabbed again. I growled the best I could through the muzzle, but the men around me just laughed. I  was stabbed one more time, and I finally complied, not seeing any other option. 

I was led onto the land and Leo was led out soon after. He was growling several profanities through the muzzle.  As I followed the men, I wished I had Annabeth by my side. She would have already thought of at least fifteen ways to escape. Instead, I just complied with my captors wishes. I was forced to walk down a path through the forest that ended at an entrance to a cave in the side of a mountain. 

Right before I walked into the entrance, I locked eyes with Leo and he gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod. We then both pulled away from the guards, ripping the chains from the men's hands. We took off sprinting into the forest, not sure where we were or where we were going, but it wasn't going to be back into the custody of those hunters. 

I wished I could use my wings, but I was focusing mostly on not getting the chains caught on anything. Once I thought we were far enough away from them, I slowed to a stop and used my claws to tear off Leo's muzzle. He thanked me, then opened his mouth as far as it would go, happy to be rid of the restricting and uncomfortable  leather strap. He then helped me out of my own muzzle and I did the same as him. 

He attempted to free me of the chains around my neck, but they were too strong to break and weren't broken by fire, which we tried. We also tried to take the bands on our wings off so that we could fly, but it didn't work. 

 Word count: 753

Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter, but I was planning on doing this over winter break, but then I got sick and not I have theatre rehearsal every day after school, plus I can no longer write on Wattpad on my phone, so I have to wait until I am on my computer.

Anyway, thank you all so much for the constant support. I know I say it a lot, but the positive feedback really brightens my day, so thank you all, and thank you all for reading.