Zero to Hero (Percy Jackson Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-Six-Blackjack Gets Salty

Percy's POV

Annabeth managed to hold herself together, but I knew her well enough to see that she had just about reached her breaking point. What with worry about me, stress of fighting, and now sudden renewal of grief...well that stormy gaze had intensified, and Annabeth looked close to tears.

After a moment, in which Annabeth collected herself, she gave her head a little shake, then said brightly, "Well! I think that's enough of a break. Let's get back to camp."

Everyone blinked in surprise. Annabeth reached down a hand. I took it after a second, and she pulled me to my feet. Unfortunately, my ribs did not appreciate being jerked upright. I gasped at the sudden intensifying of the pain. My head spun, and I gripped Annabeth's shoulder to steady myself.

"Here," someone said. Jason. "Ambrosia."

A square of godly food was pressed into my palm. I shoved it in my mouth, relishing the flavor of gooey brownies. While the ambrosia didn't fix all the problems, it did make the pain manageable. I could feel the gaping hole in my side clot up, and my ribs knit back together somewhat, so that instead of feeling like I was being crushed, I only had a hard time breathing.

Boss! Is that you, Boss?

"Blackjack?" I murmured, looking around. After all the ants, I suddenly remembered why we had come here in the first place. "Di Immortales! The pegasi!"

Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut, and she cursed in Ancient Greek. 

Where are you? I thought at Blackjack.

In a dark underground room. I dunno Boss, but there's lots of ant goop in here.

"They must be in one of the rooms with ant larvae," I said.

"The nurseries?" Annabeth scrubbed a hand across her forehead. "How are we supposed to search the entire anthill?"

Make some noise! I thought desperately. Maybe we can find you that way.

There was a moment's pause, and then...

"Is that..." Piper asked, her head cocked, "neighing?"

Jason nodded. "Right. Frank, you help Percy. Grover, you walking yet?"

Beside Annabeth, Grover extended his legs experimentally. "I think so." He climbed to his hooves and winced. "My hooves are still numb, but I can walk."

"Great," Jason replied, pulling his sword back out of its scabbard. "Let's go find some pegasi."

Frank draped my arm over his shoulder, and together we stumbled through the cavern after the ants that had carried Menoetius away. The exact opposite direction of the direction I wanted to go.

The sound of horses braying got louder and louder, until we found the nursery, as Annabeth called it, where they were. All of Camp Halfblood's pegasi, nearly two dozen in all, were skittering about nervously, screaming their heads off. 

Shh! I shouted in my mind, suddenly afraid of drawing the ants here. It's okay, we're here.

At first, I didn't understand why the pegasi hadn't just left. If any of them had been bitten and paralyzed, it had worn off. Then I saw the creatures circling the perimeter of the room. They were goopy, yellowish versions of the mermekes. Smaller, and with less imposing armor, but still threatening with those glistening mandibles.

"Baby mermekes," Hazel muttered, disgusted.

"Mor like teenagers," Annabeth said, pointing to a few maggots crawling out of pockets around the walls.

Jason sliced the head off the nearest teen ant. Immediately the rest of the teenagers in the room--not the human ones--swiveled around to look at us. Jason didn't even hesitate. He raised his hand and a gust of wind parted my hair from the back, shooting over our heads and knocking the front teen mermekes off their feet. 

Next, Hazel stepped up, stopped her foot on the ground, and several holes appeared right beneath half a dozen of the ants. They fell, screaming in insect terror.

Grover tooted some notes on his pipes, causing vines to pop out of the ground and entangle more ants. Annabeth and Piper hacked and slashed. And soon the entire teenage ant population took a serious cut. The room stilled, smoke drifting through the air from a few ants fried by more of Jason's lightning. 

Then the horses reared and neighed in delight. We are saved. We are saved! 

A black pegasi cantered over to me and Frank. What took you so long, Boss? We've been down here for weeks! They didn't even give us any donuts!

Tiredly, I patted Blackjack's snout. "It's a long story."

Blackjack sniffed suspiciously, then brought his head up. Did you...did you forget about me?

"Well..." I started, but the pegasi didn't give me the chance to explain.

I don't believe it! After insulting the Wine Dude, killing giant pigs, and cornfields in Kansas, you don't remember me?

I groaned. "It's not like that. It was this Titan lady."

But Blackjack just offered an offended nicker and turned his head away.

Next to me, Frank looked very confused. "Do you...uh, want me to help you get on?"

"No," I said, quirking an eyebrow in Blackjack's direction, "I suppose I'll have to find another pegasi to take me back to camp."

At those words, Blackjack snapped his head back. What?

"Come on, Frank. Let's go see if Guido is willing to carry me."

No! I'll do it, Boss! Blackjack paused. As long as you give me plenty of donuts.

I grinned. "Deal."

The six of us made it back to camp in no time, with the pegasi to help. We landed with a cacophony of hooves near the stables. Blackjack was nice enough to kneel down to allow me to slip off without disturbing my wounds too much. As the others dismounted, Annabeth stayed on Porkpie's back, gazing around at the gathering halfbloods, her gray eyes like searchlights. 

I sighed, my chest twisting with grief that I had gotten over months ago. I walked over to Porkpie and took Annabeth's hand. She looked down at me, her eyes red. 

"You're covered in blood," she noted. 

I looked down at myself. My T-shirt was in tatters, and there was indeed blood soaked completely through it. Only a few patches of blue remained. I felt about as great as my shirt looked.

"It stopped bleeding, I think," I said, poking the injury.

"Percy..." Annabeth took a shaky breath.

I squeezed her hand. "Come on. I have a distraction for you."

"What kind of distraction?"

I grinned. "How about spending hours at my bedside, doting on my every whim?"

Annabeth scowled.