The Eye

IX

Percy

Turns out the new torture was tether ball. That game where there was a single pole with a volleyball hanging from a string attached to the top of the pole. And the objective of the game was to get the string wrapped all the way around the pole your way while your opponent tried to hit the ball the opposite way. Yeah, well that game officially sucks because it's not fun when you're the ball.

They had chained my ankles and wrists together so I was curled up in a ball. Then they attached a silver chain to the chain connecting my cuffed limbs. The duo spent hours hitting me back and forth around the pole. I now had bruises every where and more broken bones than I could count. Somehow they had dislocated my right knee and it wasn't a pretty sight.

That was only half of the first day I had given the Olympians. Every six hours, the two would come up with something even more painful to convince me for their behalf. It was excruciating and created new pains that I didn't think I would ever have.

Near the end of the second day, they bound my arms like how a straight jacket would, albeit as painfully as they could, tied my thighs and ankles together, and gagged my mouth with the tongue of a dracaena. Then they threw me in the bladder of Tartarus, some kind of liquid miles deep, and watched me drown.

The middle of the third day was when I knew I couldn't resist any longer than my deadline. The torture had gradually grown worse since I had arrived and my captors were steadily increasing the violent actions against my body.

It was in the middle of one of my horrendous torture sessions when I felt the familiar souls of my rescuers. Six hours of each day I was left alone to recover from the sessions, half of that time I spent unconscious, the other half I worked with the Soul gem.

So far I had perfected telepathy, force blasts, the stealing of others abilities, and the reading of souls. I could now recognize any person by their soul if I had encountered them before. I had not yet practiced attacking souls because I would've been discovered, but I've managed to learn how to control and change my guard's souls.

A loud bang outside the room my tormentors and I were in interrupted my thoughts. The duo thrust their swords into me one more time before pulling them out, laughing at my weak muffled scream of agony. The gag still wet from the liquid of Tartarus' bladder a couple hours ago.

Another loud bang caused the scowls that erupted on my captors faces, encouraging them to be quicker in gathering their usual weapons for offense. I was too tired and in too much pain to move as they withdrew from my mutilated body. My vision swam as I lay on the brink of unconsciousness.

I closed my eyes for what I thought was a brief second, but realized was much longer than that because when I opened them, Loki was standing over me with a look I wasn't able to process at the moment. I could see unfathomable fury underlining the deepest part of his eyes, but I saw in his soul that his main concern was my overall wellbeing.

"Lo—ki." I managed to painfully croak to him, barely able to lift my right hand towards him.

My shoulder had long since popped out, and my forearm had been broken into tiny pieces, but I still managed to move my fingers towards my savior. My gasps grew quicker as I realized I was getting out of here and chocked a little when some liquid dropped down my throat along with some blood.

Loki's face was impassive, but his hands were gentle as he carefully removed the snake woman's tongue from my lips. Tracing the imprint it left behind on my face because of how tight it was. I moaned in pain as he accidentally touched my broken nose and shattered collarbone.

Loki was quick to stammer out apologies as he frantically searched for something. Too tired to use the gem at the moment, and saving as much energy as I could salvage I leaned back against where I lay and closed my eyes once more.