Growing Up In Tartarus: One Wrong Move

Chapter 27

**Percy's PoV**

"I think he's waking up!" Will frantically whispered.

I opened my eyes slowly, half awake as the exhaustion that had made me pass out weighed me down. Will sat down beside the bed I was in as his older brother Michael came up to check me over. Michael had me sit up on the bed, and the only thing that caused was a swaying Percy.

"Can I take off your shirt, Percy?" he asked slowly. "It'll make things easier for me."

In my tired daze, I completely forgot that I had refused that before. I nodded slowly. Michael pulled up his shirt, and I heard Will and Michael gasp just a little as they took in a gasp. I didn't process that they were staring at all of my brandings and scars.

"Percy," Will said, alarmed. "What the Hades happened to you while you were in Tartarus?"

"Kronos and Luke did it," I yawned, still not thinking straight. "They thought torturing me would be a good motivation to make me join them. If I agreed to join them, they would stop hurting me."

"Did that work out for them?" he asked worriedly.

Yes. "No," I lied, glad my brain was working well enough to not tell them the truth.

The two sons of Apollo that were sitting around me nodded. The older of the two boys began to run some tests on me, and I continued to sway a little in my attempt to sit up straight. Will reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders, holding me still.

"We'll let you get some real rest in a few minutes, Percy," Michael promised. "You got the worst of all this. Whoever did this to you and the girls seemed to be targeting you the most, for you were the only one that even came close to passing out - and then you did."

I nodded tiredly. Michael finally finished up the tests in the few minutes he said he would take, and soon he and Will were laying me down easily. I quickly fell into a deep and restless sleep, and I wondered how well rested I was actually going to become.

**Silena's PoV**

"We should go check on him," I tried insisting to Chris.

"We should ask someone to go with us," he offered. "We could ask Annabeth and the Stolls if they want to go see him?"

I nodded a little, deciding that was probably a little smarter than just going alone. The way Katie had looked at us the day before had made me nervous, so I figured we needed to be a little more careful. I stood up just as Chris did, and soon we began walking to our friends' (and brothers' for Chris and the Stolls) cabins, only to learn that they had already headed for the infirmary to see Percy. We started to run in that direction to catch up to them, but I ran directly into Charlie.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked me, smiling as he took my hands.

"We're trying to catch up to Annabeth and the Stolls," I said. "We want to go see Percy and see if he's doing okay."

Beckendorf hummed softly, giving me a pout even though it looks awkward on his muscled body. "Aw, come on. I set up a picnic on the beach for us. Percy probably still needs rest, anyways. He was attacked by something and it made him pass out."

I basically melted into his grasp at the announcement of the date. I hadn't spent much time with him - at least as much as I would have liked. He smiled and took that as a yes, leading me away from Chris. I waved goodbye to the son of Hermes as Charlie began to walk me to the beach, ignoring his look of uneasiness.

We made it to the spot Charlie had been leading me, and sure enough a small picnic was set up on the beach. He helped me sit down before he sat down on the other side of the blanket. He suddenly gained a serious expression as he opened up the picnic basket.

"Katie thinks you're the one that hurt her, Percy, and Lou," he said bluntly.

"How would I have done that?" I asked innocently, acting like I had no idea who did this.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I tried to reason with everyone that you and Chris wouldn't betray Olympus like Luke had, but they're worried. Katie saw the two of you standing back with Percy, and she got scared. She told Chiron and the head counselors - minus you, of course - to watch out for you guys."

"You just said it yourself," I started. "Percy stood back, too, and he ended up getting attacked."

Charlie scooted closer to me, wrapping his arms around my waist in an attempt to bring us together a little more. We sat like that for a while in silence, and I started to wonder exactly what he was thinking. I knew what I was thinking - I was freaking out. If Charlie found out I was working against him, what would he say?

"I'm sorry, Silena, but Chiron asked me to do this." I felt a pair of cloth wrap around my wrists, tying them together. "I love you, and I trust you, but Chiron just wants to ensure the safety of the campers."

"It's okay," I said, my voice hardly audible as he started leading me to the big house. "I understand."I could tell Will and Chris were having some kind of argument on the steps as the infirmary, but it stopped as Chris turned to watch me being led in 'cuffs' to the big house. We both gave each other a stoic look, making sure we didn't give one another away. There was no proof that we were working for the Titan King - as long as Kronos himself didn't try to contact me over an Iris Message while I was locked up in the Big House, I would be safe.

9/22/17