¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

013.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter thirteen

━━ THEY RAN UNTIL they couldn't run anymore. Rachel steered them away from traps, but there was no destination in mind—away from that dark mountain and the earth-shaking roars.

               The five stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Elisa couldn't hear anything behind them, but that didn't make her feel any safer. She could still recall those unnatural golden eyes staring out of Luke's face, the chilling smile that was etched across his face.

               "I can't go any further," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

               Annabeth had been crying the entire time they had been running. Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel. Elisa slammed her back on the dam walls, sliding down to the floor, taking deep breaths as she leaned her head back. Nico sat next to her, dropping his sword with a clang.

               "That sucked," said the son of Hades. Elisa felt like that was a pretty mellow way of describing what they had just witnessed: Luke giving up control of his body to be a vessel for Kronos—that was if Elisa had the story right, which she hoped she had all wrong.

               Percy dropped Riptide to the floor, collapsing to the floor with a sigh. He sat on the opposite side of Nico and Elisa. "You saved our lives," he told Nico.

               The son of Hades wiped the dust off his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

               Elisa averted her eyes from Percy's sweat-gleamed face as his eyes traveled over to her. "Nice that they trust me so much," he said, trying to give the daughter of Dionysus a smile.

               The brunette swallowed harshly. She placed her left hand against the sharp pain in her side. She had run way too far, but to stay alive, that was the only option she had. She shone her flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like slow-motion rain.

               "Nico," she said, breaking the suffocating silence with words instead of heart-breaking sobs. They know who your dad is now."

               Nico looked at Elisa. "What are you talking about?"

               "That black stone?" Elisa said, swinging the flashlight over to aim at Nico's feet. "That just popped from the ground when you yelled?"

               "It was impressive," Percy spoke up with a compliment, as if trying to counter-act Elisa's negative tone.

               She glared at the boy. "But Kronos knows for sure who you are—a son of Hades.

               Nico frowned at the daughter of madness. "Big deal, Elisa."

               Elisa returned the frown, ready to say more when Percy kicked her foot with his. The son of Poseidon's expression told her to drop it. Elisa didn't want to drop the subject but she figured Nico was getting her point, he was just trying to hide how scared he truly was.

               Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. Some of her blonde braids fell around her puffy eyes. "What ... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

               Percy didn't look excited to re-visit what he had seen in the fortress, still, he explained all he had witnessed. He told them what he'd seen in the coffin; Luke's body and how the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered the son of Hermes's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service to Kronos's cause.