Chapter Three
CLANK! The loud, metallic boom ripped my eyelids open, jolting me awake. Stealthy rays of winter sun like molten gold poured in, flowing around the dull, rusty bars embedded in the mouth of the cave. Bars? I did a double take. My memory came flooding back. My hand went instinctively to my left forearm. Finding the familiar shape of my celestial bronze knife, still strapped in place, I took a deep breath. They hadn't bothered to disarm me. I realized that every part of my stiff body ached, and every movement tugged painfully at my limp muscles, so I just lay there, on the ground. A figure on the other side of the bars threw a black shadow over the gray rock, whatever it was, it had opened the narrow door fixed to the bars, letting it slam against the wall of the cave.
Sssssshe awakesssssssssssss rasped a voice in a hoarse, hissing whisper. Another shadow passed between the sun and the bars. I slowly turned my head, grimacing, to find a pair of dracaenae standing outside my makeshift prison, their faces expressionless, their icy green eyes staring blankly at me.
Give the girl her rationssssssssssaid the other one, Sssssshe'sssss usssselessss to ussss dead. Half a loaf of stale-looking bread was tossed at me, landing in the dirt, followed closely by a dusty water bottle. The dracaenae turned and walked away, with a sound like snakes slithering through dirt. I sat up, my head was spinning, how long had I been out? A few hours? A whole day? I had no idea. I stood up, my legs still felt weak and shaky, but I could walk better than I had expected.
I bent over to pick up the bread. Yep, it was stale all right. I tore off a chunk anyway, it wasn't like I expected any better. I was a prisoner, after all. It was only now that I realized how hungry I was- I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for two or three days. I wondered how I hadn't noticed any symptoms of starvation or dehydration. I suspected the gods had something to do with it.
I finished the meager meal quickly and walked up to the bars. I wrapped my pale fingers around them and shook furiously. They were completely solid, like they'd always been here, yet there were small piles of dust surrounding the bases of the metal rods, suggesting they had been recently installed. I sighed, this information wouldn't help at all, I just needed to solve a problem right now, a compulsion that probably resulted from a combination of me being a daughter of Athena, and my ADHD. I gave myself a little shake, I was doing it again.
I pressed my face to the bars, straining to see my surroundings. It looked like it was mid-morning, perhaps 10:00 am. The sun was burning brightly in front of me, and I remembered watching the sunset the night before. I knew I was facing east, on the opposite side of the mountain.
I slumped down in the corner of the damp cave, finally letting the hopelessness of my situation sink in. Percy and the others were heading straight into a trap and here I was, unable to stop them, captured and betrayed by the person I had spent part of my childhood fighting monsters with. I felt sick. I barely moved at from the corner that day,, going over everything in my mind a thousand times until the light began to fade slowly. I heard footsteps outside the cave. I looked up. It was Luke.
"Have you come to ask me to join you? It won't happen, Luke." I spat at him.
"Annabeth, why do you care about the gods so much?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested. He casually leaned against the bars, as if we were two normal people having a perfectly normal conversation. I stood up and walked towards the bars, glaring at him.
"Why do you care about the titans so much?" I growled, my face inches from his.
"Name onetime the gods helped you when you were seven years old and living in the streets!" Luke began to pace, his voice rising to a shout, "Not once! They didn't even take pity on a little 7-year-old demigod, they left you to fend for yourself, living in a dumpster with nothing but a hammer to protect yourself with! Your own mother never lifted a finger! How does that feel, Annabeth? Don't you want to do something about it!?" His ocean-blue eyes flared with anger.
"You heard Atlas! He said that if his plan works, the lives of all mortals will be meaningless! Do you think that somehow you won't be included in that?" I shouted at him. My thoughts were reeling. I couldn't believe that Luke genuinely thought he was better off siding with the monsters and titans. I knew he was holding a grudge against his father for leaving him alone with his mentally disturbed mother but, I just couldn't see how he could have so much hate stored inside him to want to torture his own father for all eternity.
"I can't believe you, Annabeth!" Luke shouted. "After all you've been through and you're still siding with the gods! I just saved your life two nights ago! You should be-"
"Saved my LIFE?" I screamed at him. "Look at me, Luke! Do I look saved to you? Here I am, locked in a cave, while you're out there with your monster friends torturing a goddess and luring my friends into a trap, and after all that, you're just going to kill me in a few days anyway. You call that saving me?"
Then Luke did something that took me by complete surprise, he reached his hand through the bars and slapped my face, the impact throwing me to the rocky ground. I turned to gape at him in surprise, my hand flying to my cheek. He just shook his head and walked away, leaving me on the ground, staring at the spot he'd stood a moment ago. My cheek began to throb where he'd slapped me, my fingers traced the area, right over my cheekbone, and I could feel the bruise forming.
Two nights ago, he'd said. So I'd been out for an entire day... That meant that there were only three days until the winter solstice, the deadline for Percy's quest, no doubt- Artemis was required to be at the council of the gods. I had to do something to stop them falling into Atlas's trap. A wild idea suddenly flickered into my mind. It would be extremely risky, and I could get killed, but they were going to kill me on Friday even if I didn't try. I felt my heart flutter in anticipation. Tomorrow, I was going to escape.