The Lost Soul : Untold Story of Percy Jackson

[7] The Lost Power

ÍROAS

Monday afternoon, Harry invited me to go with him and Ron to Hagrid's Hut, just on the edge of the forbidden forest. But I declined, telling them to go without me. – 'I still don't like the chill and quiver that Giant is giving me. I feel like I've encountered a lot of them before and it always ended in a fight.' – I marched towards the south of the castle and after walking for almost half a mile, I reached a large body of water.

Ever Since I woke up this morning, I've been feeling this kind of string, pulling me, urging me to go here to the Black Lake. – 'Someone is... I need to go down' – I took a deep breath and examined the area and settled that the coast is clear. I removed my clothes and now only wearing my royal-blue-boxer shorts, I charged towards the lake in trance and felt the coldness of the water engulfing my feet.

Half of my body is now soaked underwater. – 'Go deeper' my gut has told me, urging me to continue. – I inhaled a lot of air and let my entire body dive down the lake. I swam deeper. I continued to go further, away from the Hogwarts grounds.

"It's getting dark down here" I thought. And on cue, I felt the stinging coldness rippling inside my eyes. I continued swimming until a sudden glinting silvery diverted my attention. I roamed my gaze and swam forward, foolishly checking the part where I saw the movement, still holding the air I inhaled.

Suddenly, I felt soft strings like hair brushing on the back of my neck. I nervously turn around and there it is, the ones I thought strings like hair are indeed hairs. An inch away from my face, a yellow eyed, grayish skin and long, wild, dark green hair creature is facing me.

I gasped in my surprise causing me to breath in water. A rush of liquid trickled fast down my throat and my lungs started to burn, desperately looking for air. My body is struggling hard to swim up to the surface.

"I can't breathe... – help me, please... anyone" I pleadingly thought.

From my peripheral view, I noticed the creature following me with a puzzled expression, as though asking herself why I am drowning.

I'm starting to lose the grasp of my consciousness; dimness slowly flooded my vision; my body started to feel weak and stiff and I haven't reached the surface yet. But before total darkness devoured me, I caught a glimpse of a long silver fish tail of the mermaid, dragging my body up to the surface...

I feel like I'm still floating in the lake. But air seems to be registering now to my system and the water that rushed through my lungs a while ago is gone. Suddenly, I felt two soft, small hands over my naked shoulder, shaking me gently.

"Excuse me... excuse me..." a soft voice said, right above me.

"Hey, are you okay? – you look so pale" the voice continued as though it sounded like not sure what to do.

I slowly opened my eyes and pushed off my back from the ground. I glided my fingers through my hair as headache and nausea rushed through me. I look at the person next to me. A girl with long, shiny dark hair with freckles across her nose. As I looked at her, she immediately diverted her gaze, and blood indulged her cheeks. – "What's with her?" I thought.

I took a deep breath and spoke, "Where am I" with an unsure sort of tone.

"We're here in the shore of the Black Lake – I s-saw you here unconscious, and pale – I've been trying to w-wake you up for so long but you're still not moving" the pretty girl said yet her gaze still not at me "I thought you were d-dead, I even slap you in the face, s-sorry about that" she continued, closing her eyes. As soon as she said that, I noticed the pain coming through my cheeks.