It wasn't a deep cut, but Luke howled. His eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook, throwing me off my feet. An aura of energy surrounded Luke, growing brighter and brighter. I shut my eyes and felt a force like a nuclear explosion blister my skin and crack my lips. (Page 337, Riordan).
I opened my eyes. My head throbbed and I couldn't see anything through the darkness that surrounded me, blocking my vision and holding me down with a supernatural force. I struggled against it and realized that I was shrouded by fog, but not just any earthly type of mist or air; it seemed to be alive. And maybe evil. I heard whispers and strained my ears to hear what they were saying.
"There is no end…"
"…or beginning…"
"… just a void…"
"…that will repeat…"
"…forever."
The fog swirled faster and faster, encircling my wrists and ankles, and constricting my throat. I thrashed violently against the fog but my efforts were futile. I felt the energy from my body being extracted and I felt the fog tremble with satisfaction. The more I resisted, the more powerful the fog got.
"Give up, Perseus."
Never. I didn't know what was controlling the fog but I would never give in.
"If you will not let go willingly, you will be coerced."
The fog suddenly stopped and the whispers were silenced.
I took a breath, hoping this was just something that was happening inside my head, but then the fog whirled back, twice as strong as before. I felt tears prickle my eyes and the pain became unbearable to handle. My neck fell back and my eyes began to droop before I went numb, somehow feeling the forces being exerted on my body but at the same time, unable to feel the pain.
Everything went dark as I finally let go.
"Percy! Percy! Wake up! Percy, please wake up. You can't do this to us! You can't do this to me!"
What was happening? Though my eyes were open I couldn't see. Then slowly my vision cleared and I was where I had left off, at Olympus.
Except I wasn't.
But I was?
I was staring at myself, but there was no mirror in sight. Instead I saw my limp body lying next to Luke's and the tear stained face of Annabeth Chase.
"Percy. Percy. Wake up. You have to." She cried, "Please. Don't do this."
I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Annabeth, I'm right here."
Except she didn't seem to notice. I shook her shoulder. I realized I was touching her shoulder but my hand went through her shoulder. Was I a ghost? Was I dead?
"No." a voice answered, "You are not dead but not alive."
I turned my head and saw the fog had returned. I backed away slowly, not taking my eyes off of it. I would try to direct it away from Annabeth and after…well I guess I'd figure it out.
"We are not here to hurt you." The fog said in one, but also thousands of voices. I couldn't tell if the fog was one person or a combination of many. It probably wasn't a god. Or a Titan. I also was pretty sure this…thing could read minds.
"But of course I can." So it was one being.
"But no, we and I are one and many."
I was so confused.
"Percy Jackson, right now you should be dead. You should have died in the explosion that resulted from Luke purging Kronos from his soul. But since you are among the few that entered the waters of the Styx, you are not dead. However you are also not alive. You are caught in limbo."
"Why should I believe you?" I demanded, "Send me back to earth." To Annabeth.
"You should believe me because I am a power beyond the gods, the Titans, and even the Mother Earth. To me, the Titans are like mortals, and the gods are nothing more than bickering children."
"Okay, whatever. Send me back." I repeated.
The fog glowered with annoyance, "You should be dead. I will not send you back."
"I'm still alive! Send me back!" I snarled angrily.
"But you're not alive, therefore you will not be sent back." The fog snapped.
I glared at the swirling purple and black mist, "What about Luke? And Kronos? Are they dead or alive?"
"Luke is dead." The fog replied, "But Kronos is not dead nor alive either. He is part of you, or rather a piece of him is."
"So…I'm Kronos?" I asked with horror.
I swear, if the fog had eyes, it would have rolled them.
"No. You are Perseus Jackson with a piece of Kronos stuck in you which should have killed you but since you bathed in the Styx, you are caught in limbo." The fog huffed.
"Oh. So now can you send me back?" I pleaded hopefully.
"No. You cannot be sent back because you would be carrying Kronos back to Earth. For you to return to Earth, someone must leave it and take the burden of holding Kronos." The fog replied, "But not anyone will suffice. Only the one closest to your heart will be a suitable replacement."
I contemplated the fog's offer. I could return if someone took my place. But there were so many people close to me, so many mortals, and demigods, and gods, and satyrs.
"No wonder the girl has nicknamed your intelligence after slimy, green plant life." The fog said wryly.
"Whaaaat? No. Never." I said, "I would never let Annabeth get into this. Never."
"Ahh, but you see, my young demigod, it may be too late for her." The fog replied.
My eyes widened, "What do you mean?"
The fog took a long pause before replying, "Something like this…has never happened before. It seems as though for Kronos to live, Luke had to die. So Luke was killed and a piece of Kronos imbibed itself into you, while a tiny piece is in the girl. It's not enough to kill her, only to curse her. But since you've bathed in the Styx you are not dead."
This was getting worse and worse.
"So I'm not dead or alive, Luke is dead, and Annabeth is cursed?" I asked fearfully.
"Yes." The fog replied simply.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest.
"How do I save her? What can I do? Does she know?" I asked frantically.
"The best thing you can do is watch, and wait, and do nothing." The fog replied.
"What do you mean?" I snapped, "Explain!"
"There is a time and place for everything, young one."
The fog surrounded me, pulling back into its depths.
"Percy Jackson, I command you to rise."
I instantly opened my eyes. I saw the familiar thick strands of purple and black surrounding me and I recognized it to be the fog that was hellbent on keeping in the dark. Literally.
"Demigod, you are rude. And young. Ahh but aren't all youths? You haven't faced the test of time, your life is less than a second in the grander scheme of things." The fog chastised.
"Where's Annabeth?" I demanding, hearing my voice crack with the force of my words.
"Dead." The fog replied.
I felt my heart stop. I tried to swallow but my throat suddenly felt dry.
"Did…did she reach Elysium?" I managed to get out.
"No." the fog said.
I dropped to my knees and clenched my fists.
"Did…she at least…she hasn't been…tortured?" I asked.
"No." the fog said.
"Can you give me more than one word answers?" I lashed out, "This girl has been by my side for more than four years! She's always had my back, she knows me better than anyone else in this world, she is my everything and all you can do is give me limited answers?"
"Yes." The fog had the gall to sound amused, "Relax demigod. The fate of the girl is not as horrible as it seems. There is hope."
My head jerked up towards it, "What?" The words barely made their way out of my mouth.
"Please…please tell me. I'd do anything for her. Anything." I begged hoping this wasn't some crazy Greek riddle.
"You should be careful what you say demigod. It would be so easy to take advantage of the careless words that flow out of your rash mouth." The fog said, "I have kept you in this state for nearly a year as I examined the effects of Kronos manifesting itself in the girl and you."
"And?" I asked, "What happened?"
The fog was silent before saying, "You've both been cursed with the gift of time."
The irony. The curse of the gift of time.
"Yes, ironic indeed." Oh yeah, I forget. All knowing mist fog thing.
"Kronos had the ability to manipulate time as you already knew. It appears that you are now immortal, yet you are still a demigod. You are a collection of impossibilities and paradoxes, Perseus Jackson."
"What about Annabeth? How can she have the gift of time if she is dead?" I asked.
"While you will cease to die, she will continue to die and be reborn. Again and again and again." The fog replied, "She not only had a piece of Kronos but being in Olympus, a place that collects the dust of the gods, she will be reborn five times. Once for Zeus, once for Poseidon, once for Hades, because their auras were the ones powerful enough to leave pieces for her to absorb, once for her mother Pallas Athena, and once for the piece of Kronos."
My shoulders slumped, "I have to watch her live and die five times! But won't she grow up and fall in love with someone else!? And have kids and a life? And everything?"
"She will die upon the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Five times." The fog said.
"So…I have to wait…like one hundred years?" I asked with disbelief.
"Who knows? The soul cannot recuperate that quickly. She cannot die only to be reborn the next day. It may take decades, perhaps even centuries for her soul to complete one cycle of rebirth. No, young demigod, you may have to wait hundreds of years." The fog said, "And you may not interfere with her life. You may not try to introduce yourself to her. If she learns of you prematurely, the cycle will break and you will not be reunited with her. If you are patient, if you have discipline, if you can watch her grow up, if you can watch her suffer without you, and rejoice without you, you may be reunited with her."
"May? It's not certain." I felt hopeless. I could spend centuries watching Annabeth live and die and we still might not be reunited.
"Fear not, demigod. May the odds and fate be ever in your favor. You're luckier than you think. From now on you are a wanderer. You may visit the Earth occasionally, you may let the girl see you, you may even speak to her, but if she remembers you prematurely, you will never be together."
"What about Camp Half-Blood?" I asked, "I'll be able to find her there, right?"
"She was stripped of her godliness. Her body could not contain the blood of both Pallas Athena and Kronos. For her next five lives, she could be anywhere, but definitely nowhere near a demigod site. Good luck demigod. I truly wish you the best."
The fog dissipated. I was in for a long wait.
review?