Chapter Thirty-Eight ~ Run

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The tall dark figure rose above him, watching him sinisterly from the shadows. The creature tutted as if disappointed in a child it'd caught raiding the kitchen for a midnight snack.

"Oh, Percy... what've you done?"

~~~~

Percy glowered at the creature. His grandfather. "You want an overactive teenager to not get curious about the guarded basement? Are you serious? It's really your fault, you should've seen it coming," he rambled.

Voldemort raised a bony hand to demand wordlessly for silence. His hand then swept across in front of him. "And yet you choose to chase the freedom of one prisoner. Why only one, and not unlock all the cells?" To Voldemort, his grandson was incredibly strange. It was something that vaguely piqued his interest. If this boy was so righteous and curious, wanting to save all, why free only one and not all?

Percy shrugged as best he could. "I'll be honest here, I don't like it here, I don't like you, family or not and I want to leave. You have one dude specially locked away, so they're clearly more of a threat to you. Why wouldn't I use them to help me escape?"

"Even in this condition, you risk your safety to take him with you," said Voldemort.

"He could be useful later."

"...He's unconscious."

"He could be useful later." Percy repeated, not really knowing what else to say.

It was true, Nico had passed out and was clearly not going to be helping him out any time soon.

But how could he possibly just blurt out the truth? Because this is my demigod cousin that you have locked up in your basement like an animal so of course I'm not going to just leave him here!

"Uhm, if that's all, I'll be saying goodbye now. So, goodnight!" Percy shouted and dashed in the opposite direction. He had no choice but to maneuver Nico into a position that could be described as nothing else than a sack of potatoes over Percy's shoulder. He needed a hand free to open the doors and wield Riptide.

"Stop him!" A cold voice bellowed.

Spells flew after him at lightning speed. They whizzed past his head and narrowly crashed into the ground at his heels as he ran. He blindly threw open doors in attempt to escape, forgetting his original route. The paths he'd memorised became muddled as he tried to recall which way was best when right now he wasn't even focused on which way was right and which was left. His primal instinct just told him to run.

However, as a result of not knowing where he was going, the next door he opened he entered without looking and found himself cornered in an unused guest bedroom.

A dead end.

"No no no no no!" Percy panicked under his breath.

Hurriedly, he took a few steps towards the exit, hoping the Death Eaters were far enough behind him for him to take a running start, but a coiling black mass materialised into a wizard in the doorway before he could even act.

Riptide was unsheathed for the second time that night. Its bronze light casted an eerie glow across the room. More Death Eaters piled up behind the first one, wands at the ready. And finally, they released their incantations.

A barrage of spells came screaming towards them and Percy deflected as many as he could with Riptide. Sparks flew against his blade as he twisted and dodged and avoided every little deceivingly innocent looking light he could. Inside his mind, a debate was raging.

Is this the kind of situation I can reveal my ability? Can I pass it off as a magic trick? Is it exposing myself? Who knows how many more of them there are...

There was water nearby, he knew it for a fact. His body was practically humming in desperation to use it. The water was close... so, so tantalisingly close Percy could feel it through his every nerve ending. He could use it and save them both.

Before he'd fully registered what he was doing, that familiar tug in his gut pulled the water from the pipes crashing through the wall and sent it barreling towards his opposition.

They shouted and split in confusion, clearing the doorway as Percy dropped to his knees, Nico sliding off his shoulder.

There was one spell.

He'd been hit.

It was weak, but for a brief moment his body was paralysed. His entire being paused for a second, hesitating as if waiting for a command to puppet him back into motion.

He fought with everything he could, but gradually the water receded, charmed away by a spell. A spell casted by the creature in the doorway.

A ringing in his ears echoed with the name of the spell. Imperio!

"Sleep, Perseus. You must be tired," a voice slithered through his mind, fogging his brain like a cloud of smoke.

Demigods may have a higher resistance to magic, but the wizard blood mixing in his veins, it made him more susceptible. And already he truly was tired. It was now the early hours of the morning before dawn, and he'd been exerting his energy through stealth, and then furthered with a chase through the mansion with Nico over his shoulder while on the look out for being hit by spells and wary of enemies around every corner. To top it all off, he'd used his ability with such sudden force it was almost like a punch to the gut.

He was indeed tired, both mentally and physically.

The curse made him all the more aware of how heavy his body felt, and compelled his eyelids to droop, his body to slump and he crashed forwards, irresistible sleep swallowing him whole.

~~~~

Merry belated Christmas y'all. Have another cliffhanger :D

It's short because I wanted to update for Christmas.

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama

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