"Percy?" I said, then, more urgently, "Percy!" His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow. Then I noticed – as we'd been kissing, we'd slowly backed up against the wall of the cave, until Percy's back had touched the deadly coral. My eyes widened.
"No," I whispered, "No!" Then, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I noticed the bubble of air that Percy had been keeping around us was shrinking. Of course, I cursed. If Percy's not conscious to keep the bubble there, how would it stay? I had to get to the surface, and fast. Well, I thought. No time to waste. I took in a massive breath of air, grabbed Percy and swam out of the cave. The bubble of air popped as I went through it.
Looking back now, I don't know how I did it. I remember my insides burning and my limbs growing heavier with every kick. But I felt strangely detached from the pain – my only thought was to get Percy to land. I had to. I had to.
I remember bursting through the surface, the freezing air like a slap to my face. I dragged Percy's limp body the last few metres to the shore and almost collapsed on top of him. The air I gulped in felt like it was scraping my throat with gravel on the way down. I ripped off Percy's t-shirt to see the damage. And I did not like what I saw.
Most of Percy's back was a horrible shade of mottled green, growing darker towards the middle, the place where the coral had actually touched him black. There was horrible yellow pus oozing from the black part; if I wasn't so scared I would've been disgusted. Just then Percy's arms twitched and he made a horrible groaning sound, as if he was trying to say something but couldn't get the words out. I had to get help.
Frantically I fished in my pockets and found a golden Drachma, threw it into the air where the sea spray and sunlight made a faint rainbow and said, "O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow show me the Big House, Camp Half-Blood." The images shimmered, then showed Chiron and Mr D playing Pinochle on the front porch of the Big House.
"Chiron!" I shouted, and he looked up, alarmed, to see where I was shouting from. "Chiron, quick, you have to help! Percy's been poisoned!" Chiron stood and heaved himself out of his wheelchair. He shouted to some people I couldn't see: "Go down to the beach immediately! Take whatever supplies you can get!" He looked at me.
"We'll be there in a minute; I've sent some Apollo campers to get some medicine and meet you down there." Then he swept his hand in front of "me" and the connection broke.
Almost as soon as I stopped talking to Chiron, I heard running footsteps and about seven Apollo campers came jogging down to the beach. When they saw Percy, they stopped dead, staring down at his back. I stared at them.
"Well?" Why were they just standing there? "Do something! Hurry!" They just looked at each other.
"Annabeth," a girl said, coming towards me and putting her hand on my shoulder, "I'm not sure there's anything-"
I interrupted her, "Please, just try, there's got to be something...anything you can do…please…" She sighed and started half-heartedly ordering people around. Percy groaned again, but this time not as if trying to speak – as if he was in pain. His face was screwed up, trying not to make a sound, but every now and then he'd slip up, whether it was a gasp, or a scream, and every single time it broke my heart again.
I took his hand and squeezed gently; he squeezed back so hard my hand started to loose feeling. And with people bustling around me, trying to heal Percy, I prayed to the God Apollo, who, amongst other things, was the God of medicine: Please, Apollo, please – if you are listening to me now, if you remember all he's done for the gods and goddesses and for Olympus and for the world, if there's any justice at all in this world, please heal him. Please.
I stared at the people around me; I could name most of them: Sara, Marie, Henry, Liz, Edward – but there was one kid I didn't know the name of. I was sure I'd never seen him before, though I was also pretty sure I knew most, if not all, people at camp. At least by sight, anyway. He was kneeling right next to Percy's head, and as I watched, he closed his eyes and subtly passed his hand over the edge of Percy's wound; that part of his back went completely back to normal. He kept doing this, but so subtly that none of the other campers noticed. As if he sensed me looking at him, he opened his eyes and winked at me. Then suddenly the realisation dawned on me, and, automatically I bowed my head (as I was already kneeling) to the God Apollo.