We Are Cursed (A Percy Jackson AU) || BOOK 2

Chapter 8 || Percy

It had always been a fear of Percy's that his luck would run out. Now, it wasn't a fear, it was real.

As Percy drove back to the safe house, his friends behind him, he tried to go faster. If they missed the opening of the barrier at 3 PM, they could be stuck outside for hours before someone noticed they weren't home.

"CAUGHT IT!" he called to his friends as he slid through the barrier.

"That was a close one," Leo sighed.

"No shit, Sher--" Percy paused as he felt a pain in his stomach.

It was like the whole world was muffled as all he could hear was the pounding in his ears and the churning in his stomach. For a second, Percy thought he was sick, but then, he realized that he would've felt it in the morning if he was sick. This was sudden. Too sudden to be just an accident.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked as she put a hand on his shoulder.

The pain got worse without warning and Percy doubled over, falling down onto one knee.

"Percy!" Annabeth grabbed him as another wave came, rolling through his whole body from his stomach.

He wanted to curl up into a fetal position, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had to get back into the safe house to check up on what happened. A scream of pain almost burst out of his mouth, but he swallowed it and focused on breathing.

Deep breaths, Percy... It'll all be over soon...

"Something happened!" he managed to gasp out as he stood up, racing into the house.

Everyone was hot on his heels as he burst through the door. He felt like throwing up. But when he tried, nothing came out. It just hurt more. Pretty soon, the next wave came, more painful than anything Percy had ever experienced. It rippled through his whole body like molten lava, burning every inch of his intestines. He collapsed onto the floor, hands clutching his stomach.

It didn't help. Annabeth kneeled down next to him and brushed the hair out of his face.

"Someone died..." Hazel put her hands to her ears. "I can feel the buzzing..."

That's when the doors to the dining hall opened and a stretcher with a white sheet was brought out, splattered with some blood. The demigods holding the stretcher had solemn faces as they brought the body to the infirmary. Percy felt something collecting in his throat and he coughed. To his horror, blood splattered onto the tiles.

"Percy, you're coughing up blood!" Thalia gasped.

"Oh, yeah I DIDN'T NOTICE!" Percy shouted back, squinting his eyes as Annabeth held him.

Grover came running out of the cafeteria, demigods filing out rapidly. The satyr sat down next to Percy, scanning him up and down. It just made everything very uncomfortable.

"I see the side effects took place..." Grover bit his lip.

"NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!" Percy yelled, letting out a small moan of pain when another spasm passed through him.

"What happened?" Clarisse demanded, her hand on her spear's handle.

"This one boy... He got so hungry even if it wasn't dinner time yet, so he went for the snacks. Since it wasn't dinner time, the fire wasn't running, but the kid didn't really suspect anything was gonna go wrong until he ate the food."

"And?" Nico asked, fear evident in his expression.

"It was poisoned." Grover's gaze became dark. "It was Kronos and Gaea, no doubt about it."

Percy felt another spasm pass through his body and more blood came dribbling out of the side of his mouth. Annabeth grabbed a napkin and carefully wiped it away, stroking his hair soothingly.

"What happens now?" Thalia asked, looking down at him.

"Get him to the infirmary," Grover said as Percy used Annabeth as a crutch to stand. "No one knows what's gonna happen."

"Is he..." Piper trailed off, staring in terror at the blood staining the tiles. "Is he going to die?"

"No," Annabeth said. "The book said that the person it cursed wouldn't get killed, but they'd want to die because of the pain... but I think we should read it again to make sure we didn't miss anything."

Percy let out a strangled cry as more blood came spewing out of his stomach. It felt like someone was putting it in a meat grinder before deep frying it in the liquid metal containers in Hephaestus's forge. The doors burst open when Percy could hardly stand on his own. He could already feel unconsciousness pressing him down, forcing his eyelids to shut.

"Will!" Frank yelled as he entered.

Will was finishing up with a patient, bandaging their arm. The moment his gaze settled on Percy, it turned as urgent as Percy had ever seen Will.

"Get him here quickly," Will ordered as Percy felt the soft pillows cushioning his head.

It didn't help his stomach one bit.

"Do something!" Annabeth cried.

"The person who died was poisoned... there's nothing I can do for him. I can't cure him," Will whispered. "I don't know how to treat this. The only way is to get rid of the curse, but I don't know how to do that either..."

Percy choked on his own blood, having nowhere to spit it out. Eventually, he swallowed it, but it came surging up again.

"Well... do something! Put Percy out of his pain!" Annabeth exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"He'll be in a self-induced coma," Will said gravely. "And there's almost no chance he'll make it back out."

"You can't let them do that!" Nico's voice was so strong, Percy even questioned why it was that powerful.

"Why not? The guy needs some rest!" Leo exclaimed. "I don't wanna see him in pain!"

"Well either do I, but I don't think we should do that if we have a very large chance of losing him forever!" Thalia jumped in, her electric eyes blazing.

"Pinecone Face..." Percy spluttered as a grin spread across his face. "You're being a mom."

"Shut up!" Thalia groaned, glaring at him.

"I don't think we should put him in a coma," Annabeth argued.

"But it'll put him out of his pain. For once, I agree with Leo," Frank said, standing next to Leo.

"But with the chance of losing him forever?" Piper asked, giving Frank a look. "You've gotta think about that."

"But if we only put him on an IV and sedative, he'll still feel pain in his subconscious!" Jason argued, reading through the book that had somehow been left in the infirmary. "It's the only way to not make Percy suffer!"

"GUYS!" Hazel finally yelled, silencing everyone. She never yelled. "Percy... you decide."

Percy could feel unconsciousness pressing down on him, but he didn't let it overtake him yet. The thought of being in no pain had him giddy with excitement and relief. He was about to say 'coma', but then he saw Clarisse crying. Yes. Clarisse. Crying. Percy's frown came across his face as he saw Thalia's tears running down her cheeks. Same with Nico. A boy Percy thought had no emotions.

Annabeth... Annabeth's gray eyes were swirling with tears as she sobbed. His wise girl... He couldn't leave them.

"Sedative," he finally rasped out.

"It is what it is..." Will sighed, taking out the syringe.

The world went dark. The last thing Percy remembered seeing was Annabeth's crying face. The last thing he heard was the sigh coming from his lips as he entered unconsciousness. The last thing he felt?

Annabeth's soothing rubs against the back of his hand.

It all disappeared after that.