The Tail

The Rescue

Cleo's POV

The five of us ran in, Percy breaking away immediately. For some reason, he had been quiet and sad, unlike his usual confident self. But then again, who would be confident in a place like this?
The rock tunnel was smooth but spattered with red liquid dripping off the walls. I had a very bad feeling and I thought I knew what the liquid was, and I didn't like it. Judging by the looks on my friends faces, they knew and didn't like it either. The floor seeped with murky sea water and Emma carefully froze the water so we wouldn't turn into mermaids. I heard the faint sounds of clanging weapons and Percy yelling in anger, drawing all of the monsters toward him. Even so, I held the spear cautiously in front of me. I followed Emma as she turned around the corner, Bella was at the end watching our back. We delved further into the caves searching for any sign of the demigods while still laving a trail of ice for us to follow. We turned the next corner and encountered a group of four telekhines, seal/dog/human hybrids Percy had told us about. They barked angrily and attacked. Working together with Emma, we took down two of the uglies by freezing the water around their feet and me stabbing them through with my spear. We turned around just in time to see Rikki slash at a monster with her sword. With a last howl, the telekhine dissappeared. We panted and leaned tiredly against the rock wall.

"Where could they be! We've searched everywhere!" Rikki punched the wall in anger. The wall rumbled and and the tunnel shook. We leapt back to watch the rock roll back to reveal six chained demigods staring at us.

"Good job, Rikki." Bella whispered.

"All right! We haven't got a lot of time!" Emma told us. We surged forward and with our various weapons, we cut the chains off. Almost all of them collapsed in exhaustion except Annabeth, Jason, and Nico.

"Where's Percy!?" Annabeth rasped.

"He's distracting the monsters. Hurry, we have to go now!" I yelled and helped Hazel and Piper up. We slowly made our way down the tunnels with Rikki in the lead. We finally reached the main tunnels again. I turned toward the exit.

"C'mon, Percy will meet us outside."

"No!!" Annabeth yelled and pulled away from Bella who had been supporting her. "We won't leave without him!" The rest of the demigods nodded in agreement.

"Fine!" Emma sighed and led us toward the tunnel Percy went through. We followed the trail of golden monster dust and destruction with the demigods limping behind, though Annabeth was near the front. All their faces was a mask of pain and worry for their friend. I wonder why. Percy should be fine. (LOL!)

Annabeth's POV

Percy. That was the only thought going through my head. Ever since I had gotten captured, I'd thought about him every single day. Ok, here's the truth. Even though these mermaids thought we'd only been tortured for a day, they were wrong. Yes, wrong. I didn't know how it worked, but 1 day on the outside world was 1 month on this island. So we'd been tortured for a month. But all I could think about, however, was my Seaweed Brain and how he would probably sacrifice himself to save us.

I limped faster determined to find him before that happened. Finally, the darkness faded and brightened. The tunnel opened into a wide cavern lit with eerie green blue torches like Greek Fire (I almost put GEEK fire ;) ). Prometheus stood in a raised golden floor on an obsidian black throne. I found the contrasting colors a bit strange. On the middle of the rock strewn floor stood Percy, facing Prometheus defiantly even though he had a swollen black eye and several scratches that bled. I heard the four mermaids gasp in shock and horror. I listened as Percy spoke in a harsh and confident voice.

"I'm here, Prometheus! You promised to let ALL my friends go without harming them!"

"Percy no!!" I yelled and jumped forward before smashing into an invisible barrier. I banged my fists into it and ignored the pain, trying to get Percy to stop. The other demigods started yelling and pleading along with me. Prometheus merely laughed gleefully.

"Gaea was right! You would do anything to save your friends, Perseus Jackson. And don't worry, I won't hurt them."

Percy snarled angrily. "You swore on the Styx you Minotaur Dung!"

"Tut tut. As your friend said, Percy Jackson, I am the Titan of foerethought and... Crafty Counsel." He cackled evilly but stopped halfway through coughing. Percy and Leo were stifling laughs while Prometheus glowered at them angrily then smiled creepily which reminded me of Nico. "Prepare to die, demigods!" He raised his hand and brought it down in a swift fluid motion, releasing a horde of monsters that rushed straight for us.

(Should I stop here?)

(Nah, I feel nice today!)

Faster than I thought possible, Percy took out Riptide and stabbed it straight into the ground and splitting it apart. From the point where Riptide cut through the rock, a series of cracks were spreading out in which the monsters ran straight into and fell out of sight. This time, it was Prometheus' turn to yell angrily. "You'll pay for that, Jackson!" He held out his hand, palm facing Percy and chanted fast in Ancient Greek. I could only make out out a few words, Gaea, Titans, Perseus Jackson and Torture. Percy started to glow gold and fade into the background. Before he was gone completely however, he raised his eyes and stared into mine. He whispered, "I love you," Before fading into nothingness.

I sobbed and crumpled against the barrier crying and pleading for Percy to come back. I didn't care that Prometheus saw me like this. I didn't care that four strangers saw me like this. I didn't even care that my friends saw me like this. All I cared about was Percy, and Percy was gone.

Mwahahaha!!! I'm eviiill! You'll have to wait and see what happens next!