Chapter Twelve
My dream pressed at the edges of my skull as if it were trying to escape. The voices of the Laestrygonians echoed in my ears relentlessly.
I sent it to kill the boy. He will be dead by tomorrow at sundown.
And then the image of Percy lying pallid and sick on the road would come flashing through my head.
Well, it was tomorrow. And the sun was already well into its journey down into the west.
I felt imprisoned by the Jeep- if this killing thing was hiding inside the car, we had to get out. On the other hand, if it was following us from somewhere outside- on the road or in the sky- staying inside the Jeep was probably best. It killed me not knowing. For all I knew, it was a demonic insect hiding in our pockets. In which case, it wouldn't matter where we were.
The worst was not knowing whether or not to tell Percy. Nothing good came from trying to cheat fate- every demigod knew that. If there was a prophecy, there was no escape. At the same time, maybe Percy could do it. The rules didn't usually apply to him.
Just two more hours in this miserable Jeep, I told myself dismally. And then maybe we would be free of this dream.
It had been a weird drive. Other cars on the road seemed to avoid us, and didn't question the fact that the door on the passenger side of the car was very poorly attached to the car- Nico and I had done our best, using various metals and electric heat to try and weld it back on after Lamia had torn it off. It almost wasn't worth the trouble; we were getting closer and closer to the coast of Canada, Nova Scotia in particular, by the minute.
I struggled over the dream for another fifteen minutes until I couldn't take it any more.
"Percy," I said, but my voice was hoarse, like a whisper.
"I don't know, Nico," Percy was saying. "I prefer chocolate milk."
"Percy."
"Especially if it's, you know, accompanied by chocolate cake or something."
"Percy."
He turned around, and the edges of his lips were turned up in a smile.
And then I spilled the entire story before Nico could try to stop me. He didn't, though. He just kept driving, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.
When I finished, I could tell Percy was trying to look like it was nothing. I wondered how many times he had been told that his bravery was admirable.
With a sigh, he leaned back against his seat.
Immediately, I felt bad for telling him. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I just thought that if there was maybe a way around it...maybe we could find some way-"
"No," said Percy firmly. "You can't cheat fate."
Heroes in the past who had tried to foil prophecies about them usually didn't succeed. But the usual rules didn't really apply to Percy- he was different. Everyone who had ever laid eyes on him knew that.
And I felt nothing but guilt as we sat in silence.
Finally, Nico spoke up. "We're almost to a port in Nova Scotia. Just another hour or so."
"I can feel the ocean," Percy said. "It's far-off, but it's cold, and...we can set sail from there to Telepylos."
Almost absently, I glanced up at the sky. The sun was going down quickly. It was getting close to "sundown"; the sky was turning a golden color. I could feel this air of dread and paranoia filling the Jeep.
"Something's not right-" I said hesitantly, and then something flickered in the corner of my eye.
My head whipped to the right and I screamed, just in time to see a double-headed serpent climbing up the back of the passenger seat, ready to sink its first set of fangs into Percy's left shoulder.
I fumbled for my bow as Nico slammed on the brakes and Percy spun around...too late. The serpent had already made its move, and wasn't letting go. Percy grabbed onto it in an attempt to pull it off, but flinched and let go when its second head mercilessly bit the back of his hand.
I nocked and arrow and let it fly swiftly into the body of the serpent, which hissed and did something very, very strange. I had expected it to disintegrate immediately as a result of being pierced with a celestial bronze arrow, but it didn't. Instead, it reared back and struck the window with such force that it shattered more than it already was. Then it flung itself out, grabbing one of its heads in its mouth on the fly. When it hit the ground, it rolled away like a snakeskin wheel.
That sparked a memory from my course in Greek Monsters- amphisbaena. The two-headed, venomous serpent that was born of the spilled blood of Medusa. Venomous. The monster is venomous.
And that was very clear. Percy's sea-green eyes searched mine wildly, a haze creeping into them and clouding the color. I darted out of the car and yanked the makeshift door open.
"Nico, help me!" I demanded, putting one of Percy's arms around my shoulders and dragging him out of the car.
Nico raced around and helped me lay him on the road. He unwrapped some of our ambrosia and tried to stuff it into Percy's mouth, but something inside me was breaking. The blood streaming over Percy's shoulder covered up a steaming wound- identical to the one on his hand. His eyes never left mine- sometimes they looked dead and lifeless, but they came back to this dull glow...
I knew that water could heal his wounds, but the sea was miles away. We would never make it in time. The poison spread fast- I had learned that at Camp Half-Blood. It was probably already trying to get into his heart. I tried so hard to force rain from the cloudless sky, but it failed me. Of all the times to be betrayed by your powers, mine left me.
"Stay with me, Percy," I begged. "Stay with me."
He reached up and tried to loop his fingers through my hair. "I think we should kiss," said Percy, totally straight-faced.
"You're not thinking straight," I told him, although at any other time, I would have taken him up on that offer.
"No..." he said, sounding like an interesting mix of drunken teenager and exhausted toddler. "I'm serious. You look nice in the rain."
A sound like a laugh and sob escaped my mouth. "It's not raining, Percy."
"Sure it is," he told me as a droplet landed on his face.
I gasped and looked up at the sky, but it wasn't covered in clouds the way it usually did when I made storms. It wasn't raining, I realized. They were tears. My tears.
"That isn't rain," I told him, crying harder and brushing the hair out of his foggy eyes. I took his hand away from my hair and laid it down beside him. "You're a stupid, perfect, idiot, Percy."
"Tell me something I don't know," he said, laughing weakly.
I smiled through the tears and shook my head. "Your bravery is admirable."
He grinned. I turned to Nico, who was trying to dig more ambrosia out of his bag.
"Stop," I said, touching his wrist. "It's not working. We have to get him to the sea."
"There's no time, Carrie! Can't you see? He's dying!" Nico shouted at me.
And then I did something totally irrational. I didn't know how far the sea was, exactly. Maybe there wasn't time. Maybe I was too late. But it was the only chance we had.
So I lifted Percy in my arms, strong from so many years of training, and burst into the sky.
Maybe I couldn't make it rain, but I could still call upon the wind. I flew faster than I ever had, holding onto Percy like he was my own life. The cold Canadian wind stung my eyes until they burned, and the minutes ticked by like seconds.
Please, I begged the world. Just get me past the boats.
Boats would mean a harbor. That would mean water. And that was where I needed to be.
I glanced down at Percy. His eyes were closed, and his pulse was slowing. His hair was stuck to his forehead, covered in sweat.
"Don't you dare die, Percy Jackson!" I yelled at him over the wind. "You are not going to die!"
In the nick of time, I passed the most beautiful sight I had seen in a while - a whole stretch of boats, big and small, painted in every color imaginable. I pushed the wind harder until we were far enough out to sea. Then I cut it off like a jet cutting the engine.
I didn't let go as we fell.
Wow! It's been so long. An apology would hardly be enough. I hate to be one of the fanfictions that just stops halfway through, so I'm back!
I hope everyone is enjoying Rick Riordan's brand-new House of Hades! I know I am.
Anyway, I hope I've made it up to you with this chapter. As always, I love receiving criticism and compliments alike. Thanks for the support; I'll try to have the next chapter up by next week.
Much love to everyone!
-Writer'sWings xxxx
