The Remembrance of Chaos (PJO)

Chapter 10

"Put your hands up or I'll kill you."

There are many noteworthy ways to get up, and Percy was no stranger to them. Even after his abduction, there was a list of unusually rude awakenings: waking up in an unfamiliar bedroom with no idea who you were, and where you were; finding yourself in an abysmal void, and having nowhere to go except towards a cloaked figure with a powerful aura; shaken awake by your suspicious abductor who could squash you like an ant with her powers . . .

And so, when Percy found himself waking up with a knife to his throat, his only reaction was to sigh internally.

I can't have a day without somebody disturbing me, he thought, exasperated. In this case, it was a man who had probably came for their money, giving Artemis' show yesterday night.

The light of the rising sun illuminated Artemis' bed, which was empty. Her blanket was crumpled and off to the side, as if she had quickly thrown it off. Percy's first instinct was to think that she had been subdued. He then remembered that she was an Olympian, and began looking around (only with his eyes, of course, courtesy of the knife)to see if she was merely hiding and waiting for the right time to spring.

As he expected, the closet door was opened just a bit, and her silhouette was visible. For a robber barging in she wouldn't be visible, but for somebody knowing she was hiding—like Percy—she was barely visible.

"What're you looking for?" The man asked gruffly. In his haste to find Artemis, he had completely forgotten about the armed robber. He pressed the knife tighter to Percy's throat, preventing him from moving an inch, and possibly trying to intimidate him.

News flash, Percy thought sarcastically. I can't die. Even as he thought that, his body still began panicking (Percy blamed it on human instincts: after all, when you're in grave danger, you don't want to take the risk of dying.). His mouth suddenly lost all moisture, and his hands started shaking.

Percy's mind was a blur, trying to formulate a plan. "I was just looking for something," Percy answered, doing his best to not swallow, since the knife would cut him. 

"Looking for your partner, perhaps?" Percy's throat became parched: the robber was smarter than he looked. In Percy's defense, he couldn't see the robber's face, since he wore a hood.

"I was looking for my . . . eyeglasses." 

"Eyeglasses?" The robber's voice went higher, indicating that he was surprised.

"Yes," Percy said. "I have a hard time seeing without them." Which was a lie; he could see perfectly fine. All glasses would do was give him a headache and make his vision blurry.

"I didn't see you wearing glasses last night." This indicated that he was there during their check-in fiasco, and was watching them yesterday. With closer inspection, Percy saw that he was cradling his free arm closer to his chest, which was obviously broken.

It's you again, Percy thought. Didn't you learn your lesson? Aren't you scared of my cannibal partner?

Apparently, he did not, courtesy of the knife at Percy's throat. "I was wearing sunglasses, and they have my prescription in them." Percy was flat out lying; he was not sure if the city even had an eyeglass store.

Since Percy's attacker tightened his hold even more, he took that as a no, and was confirmed a moment later. "You lie."

A drop of silver blood fell from his neck to the floor; the knife had started to cut his skin. Presumably, the man did not see it, since he gave no reaction or response to the unnatural color. Even if Percy wanted to (which he did), he could not get out of the dangerous situation: the man was holding the knife too tightly to his neck, and if his other hand—which was at the back of Percy's neck—would stop him from retreating backwards.

Percy tried to mitigate the situation. "What do you want?" Percy asked. "My money?"

The man scoffed. "No, of course not," He said sarcastically. "I wanted to invite you to my birthday party."

"Cool!" Percy said, trying to distract the man by pretending to actually believe him. In fact, Artemis had decided to come out of the closet and was slowly creeping closer to the stranger. She had nothing in her hands to use as a weapon, but that did not worry Percy. Her arm was as powerful as a knife, and she had two of them. The man did not even realize she was in the room, since he kept on responding to Percy, which helped Artemis cover any sounds she made, like her breathing and the creaking of the floor.

 In all honesty, she didn't even need the noise, since her footsteps were as quiet as a wolf; she was like a lion hunting prey. Unfortunately for him, the man was the prey.

"Enough talking," The man growled. "Where's your money."

Percy just needed to distract the man a bit longer. Artemis was close, but not yet within clobbering distance, and the thief would soon get restless and look behind himself.

"Seriously, why are you here?" Percy asked. He wasn't just trying to change the subject; he was curious to know his motive. "Are you asking to be clobbered?"

The man's hold loosened slightly in surprise at Percy's sudden show of bravery. Here he was, holding a knife at Percy's throat, and Percy was acting as though he was talking to a normal person. A moment after, though, his grip loosened completely and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Percy looked at Artemis with relief. "Right on time," Percy said. "How did you got to the closet without him realizing? Were you already awake?"

"That idiot forgot about me," Artemis said in a disdainful tone. "When he first started to threaten you, I woke up and hid."

Percy couldn't believe his ears. "He forgot about you, the person who broke his arm?"

Artemis nodded and glared at the unconscious body on the floor. Her glare indicated to Percy that she was thinking of throwing the body out of their room via the window. 

"Don't throw him out of the window," Percy warned. They would have a hard time explaining why a body fell out of the window (the same man from yesterday who tried to mug them, nonetheless), and, in turn, that would draw more attention to them.

Artemis shifted her glare at Percy, almost making him flinch. He knew why she was glaring at him, but that did not make a difference. When somebody's glaring at you (especially Artemis) with all their energy, you don't question why, you just run away. Artemis' glare was like an arrow; fierce, lethal, and dangerous.

"I have news on Chaos," Percy said, hoping to distract the angry Olympian. 

It worked like a charm. Artemis' glare faded away, and she became curious. "What did he say?"

Percy shrugged. "I couldn't talk to him." It was the truth; Chaos tried asking Percy many questions, but Percy could only nod or shake his head. Unfortunately, none of Chaos' questions touched on the topic of End.

Artemis glared at him, but this one was stronger, as though she wanted to throw him out of the window. This one made Percy flinch. "You just said you had news!"

Percy sheepishly smiled at Artemis. "That was the news."

Artemis shook her head in exasperation, something Percy thought was better than her glare. Anything was better than her glare.

"I guess it's time for Plan B," Artemis said. A smile grew on her face, something that made Percy worry about the plan he had never heard about.

Bipolar much? Percy thought. In fact, Artemis had kind of grown on him; he thought of Artemis as an older sister. An immature, older sister.

"What is it?" Percy asked, afraid of the answer.

"Going through the gate, of course!" Artemis brightly smiled at him.

A/N-Hope you all are liking the story, feel free to comment any suggestions you might have. Thank you for all the support and please star this story if you like it. Hope you have a great day!