Fight to the Surface (Sea Prince Trilogy #2)

Chapter Seventeen

He was sinking.

Water filled up all space around him, dominating and suffocating. He couldn't swim to the surface. Percy feared there was no surface. There seemed to be no bottom either. Only murky water.

He was drowning.

He couldn't breathe. When he gasped for air all that came in was water. Wintry water and nothing more. It prickled at his skin, forced its way down his lungs and up his nose.

He couldn't breathe!

His element had betrayed him, something that had always been true to him.

How can a son of Poseidon drown?

He clawed at nothing. He squinted and not so far away were humanoid figures. They drew closer.

He knew them!

Twisted and broken bodies, eyes wide open and mouths gaping. They floated pale and lifeless in the water.

Did they drown? Were they tortured? Why did he not know! He should know! It should be him!

Perhaps they weren't dead. He could save them. Save one. At least one.

But he could not swim closer. There was something wrapped around his ankles, tugging at his wrists. Dragging him down.

No.

Not down.

Just there. They restrained him. Keeping him in the same place.

There was one that still loved, thrashing and drowning in the water. A girl who was small, clawing at her throats as she struggled to breathe.

Estelle!

Percy screamed and thrashed, his own lungs burning with the need for oxygen.

Help her! Just let me help her! Just one! He pleaded with the water. Not her!

Slowly the other bodies came to life, jerking and suffering, all the same.

'Just one? Choose. Choose just one. You are powerless. What can you do? You can't even save yourself.' The water seemed to taunt.

Something brushed his foot.

Blonde hair was snagged around his ankle on the chain. The tips of the hair was matted with blood. Grey eyes stared at him full of accusation as she clung to desperately cover the gaping hole in her throat.

"Your fault. All your fault." Her lips moved but no sound came out.

He pleaded, cried, thrashed. His voice came out warbled and broken.

They were all there, all his friends, his family.

Even one he thought to be the cleverest of all. Somebody he thought to be near invincible.

Loki.

The scariest thing is that unlike the rest he didn't even move. He just stayed and floated. Perfectly still, his body completely normal, almost as if he were sleeping.