Indigo Eyes

Chapter 96

Cressida was surprised that she was still able to breathe when they made camp that night in a huge room. Mrs O'Leary had vanished while they were running and when they finally came to a stop, Ethan had left Percy with the notion that he shouldn't have spared him because mercy had no place in this war. Safe to say that jarred him slightly as he started to make a fire.

Cressida got him to smile a little when she asked, "Hey, do you have any water?"

He scoffed at that. "'Do I have water?' I know that you didn't just ask the son of Poseidon if he has water, Crazy Girl."

And he copied her smile as he handed her a water bottle from the bag Rachel had been holding while the two of them were shoved into the arena.

"Thanks, Water Boy," she said, and his smile fell as hers grew.

"No. No. No. No. Ok, that is where I draw the line," he exclaimed, and she laughed before chugging some of the water.

She was about to retort when Annabeth spoke. "Something was wrong with Luke," she muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"

"He looked pretty pleased to me," Percy said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes before he held our best friend hostage and tried to have us killed."

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked... nervous. He told his monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."

"Probably, Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!"

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled.

"Cress says the same thing and I bet she also has a rendition of what Luke said to her while he held her hostage that will probably support my argument," Percy replied and both of them turned to her as she raised her hands in surrender.

"Don't put me in the middle!"

"You put me in the middle all the time. Now spill!" Annabeth ordered and Cressida sighed.

"Basically he said that once Percy was dead, I'd have a choice," she explained. "Either I swear my loyalty to Kronos on the Styx or he...he'd kill everyone. Including my brothers when he took camp."

Percy nudged her leg with his foot. "Hey," he said, seeing how clearly Luke's words about her brothers had scared her. "Who taught you how to fight? Who taught you everything you know?"

She exhaled slowly, appreciative of what he was trying to do. "My brothers."

"And from what I saw, you gave Luke a broken nose at the very least. And if that's what you can do, I don't even what to think about what your brothers can do. And believe me, with how much they threaten me, I've thought about it a lot."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

Annabeth thankfully left any topic of Luke alone as she sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She was drawing images in the dirt with a stick - the monsters she'd just seen.

"We'll follow the path," she said. "The brightness on the floor."

"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.

"Lay off her, Annabeth," Percy said. "She's doing the best she can."

Annabeth stood. "The fire's getting low. I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy." And she marched off into the shadows.