Child of Time

Chapter Thirty-One: Me Three

PERCY

"Perseus."

"Perseus, wake up."

"Perseus!" A shockwave zapped through me, snapping my eyes open. I looked around me and groan, remembering I'm on Olympus.

"So, Perseus. What do you want to do today?"

"I want to sleep in peace without your ugly face in my vision." I wince, knowing what comes after an insult.

Zeus grabs onto my chin and tilts my head to look at him.

"Shut your mouth." I glare at him but stay silent. "Good."

"Now, answer my question."

I sigh. "Uh, I don't feel like getting my fingernails ripped off so... anything else."

Zeus grabbed onto a metal string. He got closer and my eyes were fixed in the barbed wire in his hands.

"Fun." I say sarcastically.

********

"So, Perseus."

I look up at him.

"I need you to do something for me."

I stare up at him, making sure to not look into his cold eyes. They always gleamed with dark amusement. I hated it, so I stopped looking in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"I need you to put your arm here."

I looked down at the spiked holder then back to Zeus. "Okay."

I lifted my arm and slowly put it on the spikes. Zeus lifted something and put it on top of my arm, slowly pushing it onto the spikes. I shut my eyes tightly.

"We're going to do something different."

I look up in confusion. My eyes widen when he starts pulling on the spiked contraption.

"Hey... wait." He presses my arm harder onto the spikes and pulls, causing me to yell out loudly.

*******

I bolt up in my bed. I breathe heavily as I look around frantically. A thin sheet of sweat was glistening on my body and tears stream down my face. When my hand meets something warm I freeze up and look over.

I stare down at Luke with wide eyes before the tears flow out even more. I shakily get off the bed and walk to the wall. I place a hand on the wall to keep me upright. It starts getting harder to breathe as I crumble to the floor, clutching my shirt. I bring my legs to my chest and my hands pull on my hair.

I shut my eyes to try to get the memories out of my head.

I can barely hear as someone calls my name. When two gentle hands go to my face I snap my eyes open. I look into the bright blue eyes. Instead of seeing the evil eyes I hated, I saw the kind and worried eyes of Luke.

I launch myself at him, causing him to fall backwards, but he still wraps his arms around me. He doesn't say anything as I just cry onto his shoulder.

After the tears stopped and I could actually breathe better I pull away from Luke to allow him to sit up. He intertwines our fingers together and makes small circles on the back of my hand.

"I hate him, Luke." I lean against him, my back to his chest as he snakes his arms around my waist.

"I know, Percy."