12. Call Me Double Oh Demigod

And everything's in shades of grey.
Everyone has gone and disappeared on me.

Its Never Been This Quiet-Tonight is Glory

Point of View:
Annabeth Chase

The air was thin here. There was barely any light, just the small light bulb hanging above me on a thin wire. It was torn at some places, looking like any disturbance as light as a blow could knock it down, shattering it on the ground. That's what it's been like these past couple of days: shattering. Shattering my heart; that is. Percy was out there somewhere, trying to find these damn descendants. I wonder if he knew that I was kidnapped or not. He would have to, if the camp noticed I was missing they would of informed him. But maybe he wouldn't take any Iris Messages; it could be possible.

They had me in a small cage; I'm guessing I was in a dark cave. That's what it seemed like, from my experience in them in my travels as a demigod. There was only one descendant her with me, Blake, one of the three that fought and killed Percy in the sky.

"You know you won't get away with this, right, Blake?" I asked in a mocking tone. "Percy will find you, he'll make you pay."

He smirked at me, his eyes glowering. "That's what we're hoping for, Annabeth." He said.

What did he mean by that? Why would they want Percy to come here? Was it because they needed him, needed Kronos? No, Kronos wasn't in Percy right now, was he? But if Kronos was already inside Percy, why would they need me? They wouldn't have to lead him here if he was in Kronos's control. So I guess this means Kronos can't take control anytime he wants. Maybe he can only take control in the Doors of Death. It sounds like as good of an answer as any.

Percy would come for me; I just know it.

But until then I'll sit here and bide my time.

Point of View:

Damien Shade

I landed gently as a gazelle on the cold concrete ground of downtown New York. The air was tainted with the ever growing smell of grease and the hollering of car traffic. Nico fell right beside me, landing on one knee. He wasn't used to portal transportation like I was. But that's only to be expected, he doesn't know about making portals. His forte is probably just Shadow Traveling with hounds. "Where are we?" he questioned, staring at the huge building that lay before us. It was elegant, one of those buildings that you never went in because you felt that you were too poor or too dirty for it.

I didn't bother answering him, there really was no point. We hadn't moved very far from the camp, we were still in New York. But there was an evil aura coming off of this building. You could feel the disaster peeling off of it in long, grotesque shreds. Of course, to the human eye, it seemed as if it was a normal New York skyscraper. But I knew better, I knew this was where they were keeping Annabeth Chase.

"You wanted to help, right, Nico?" I questioned, still staring at the building. There were no people here; maybe they had some unknown sixth sense that something was wrong here and accidentally made false reasons to steer clear of here. I guess I have to give normal humans some credit.

"Of course." He replied sternly.

I snapped my fingers, another portal appearing behind the Son of Hades. "Well then you must go get Percy." I answered, not even looking towards my dark creation. "Through the portal, he'll be there. Go get him and bring him back through."

"Why don't you go?" he questioned, his eyebrows rising in curiosity.

"Because I'm going inside." I answered, pointing to the top floor. "Meet me up there with Percy; I'll have Annabeth by then."

"Should I really trust you, Damien?" he questioned.

"Probably not." I answered and pushed him through the dark exit.

I ran into the building, busting its front door with my shoulder. Glass shattered from its base and fell over my head, cutting some of my back. I ignored it, shaking the shards out of the crevices in my skin. I walked into its main lobby. There was a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling, candles perched on glass opening in top of it. There were busts lining the staircase that led to a single elevator, a door leading to the steps beside it. Of course I would take the elevator. I rang the button that was presented beside the two metal double doors. I could hear the chains grinding against each other as the elevator descended to the first floor. The doors slid open and I stepped inside, clicking the button that read "160". 160 floors, eh? That's a tall building.

"Percy, get here soon." I whispered to myself as the elevator rises.

Point of View:

Percy Jackson

The city seemed larger than ever now that I had something to find. It's really not easy finding one single person in a whole city of people. I didn't even know if they kept Annabeth in the city. But I had to look; I had to make these descendants pay. Somebody grabbed my shoulder. I instantly spun around.

"Percy!" Nico cried, still holding onto my shoulder.

"Nico?" I questioned. He couldn't have found me. I blocked off all Iris Messages for me, how could he have possibly found me in this huge city?

"You have to come with me!" he exclaimed. "It's this guy, Damien Shade!"

Damien Shade. So he got to Nico. But who was he? "What'd he say?"

"He told me to come and get you. He's going to help you rescue Annabeth!" He replied. Now I noticed that there was a dark portal behind him; definitely Damien's doing.

I didn't even second guess him; I dived into the portal.

Annabeth, here I come.

Point of View:

Damien Shade

The elevator came to a complete halt. The chains stopped short, I could hear sparks flying from the metal against metal. So they found out that I was here. I was hoping that I could at least get out of the elevator, first. But that hope was long gone now: someone was pulling open the doors of the elevator. They must have climbed down the shaft. It was one of the less important descendants. I didn't even know his name. I kicked him back, dropping him down the elevator shaft. That was a good 100 floor drop. One descendant down: eleven more to go. Well, maybe not including Percy, depending on how our relationship played out.

I climbed out of the small cubicle, crawling my way up the shaft, gripping onto the chains. Gravity begged me to let go. The roughness of the chains was slicing up my palms. But I had to keep going. I couldn't let the descendants have any advantage over Percy. He had to beat them: more than he knows. Finally, I reached the 160th floor. The final floor, actually.

I tore open the doors keeping me in here, jumping onto solid ground once again. It was dark up here, almost like a cave. "Percy?" a girl questioned. I would bet everything I had that that was Annabeth.

"No, but I'm going to get you out, Annabeth." There was a small light hanging over a cage in the far right corner.

"It's not just me in here, there's a descendant!" At that moment a sword was swung at me. I barely ducked in time. It cut a strand of my hair clean. I flipped backwards and kicked the descendant in his chin, sending him spinning. I jumped on top of him, grabbing him by the shirt.

I punched him square in the jaw, hearing cracking sounds spread across his face. "Damn descendant." I said, spitting on the ground next to his unconscious body. I got up and walked over to the cage where Annabeth sat, her eyes wide with alarm and fear.

"W-Who are y-you?" she stuttered. Of course, she was expecting Percy to come to her rescue. But I was the next best thing.

"Damien Shade." I said with confidence, running a hand through my hair. "Percy will be with us shortly." There was a lock on the door. I placed my hand over it and it burst into flames, disintegrating onto the stone floor.

"Percy is here?" she asked, her eyes lighting up like Times Square.

"He will be." I replied, pushing open the cage door and grabbing her hand. She got up and patted the dust off of her clothes.

"Thank you." She said with a grateful smile.

"Don't thank me," I replied. "The worst isn't over yet."

A sword slashed at me from behind. I quickly spun and grabbed the blade with my hand, the sword cutting deep into my hand. I ignored the pain, freeing it from the descendant's hands. "I can't believe I was going to spare your life." I said shallowly, quickly slicing the blade across his neck. Blood erupted from the slash, flooding onto the stone floor. Drips of it stained my face and clothes.

Annabeth fell to the floor in horror. Obviously she'd never seen a human being killed in cold blood. She'd have to get over it, because we had to get out of here. I grabbed her hand again, the descendants sword still in my hand, and dashed out of the room, pushing my legs faster and faster. More of them would be here soon, and I didn't know if I could handle them all at once.

I pushed through the door with the staircase, rushing down the crooked steps. We reached the 123rd floor without any interruptions, until the rest of them showed up, that is. They rushed up the staircase and I immediately pushed through the door beside us, bringing us to a huge room. The walls were made out of glass, and there were no other doors than the one we entered through. We were trapped.

We were dead.

They busted through the door, surrounding us almost in seconds. There were nine of them, all of them besides the two I killed and Percy. One with dark red hair walked up to the front of the group, a small dagger in her hand. Severna.

"So, you found us, Damien." She said with a cruel smile. "I didn't expect anything less."

"Just let us go." I said through gritted teeth. "It's not us you want."

"Correct," she said. "We want Percy, and he's only going to come for that little child of Athena."

"You want me." Somebody hollered from the door behind the descendants. "Well I'm here, so come get me!"

We all turned to see Percy at the door, a three foot golden sword equipped in his hand. Unknown winds blew his hair from side to side; a ball of water balanced in his other hand.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled and ran over to him, gripping his arm.

"Are you alright, Annabeth?" He asked, not turning his eyes from the descendants.

She nodded. "Damien saved me."

He looked over to me, every emotion possible coursing through his light green eyes. "Thank you, Damien." He said, giving me a sad smile. I nodded in assurance.

"Where's Nico?" I asked, remembering the little guy I sent to get Percy.

"I sent him back to camp to get reinforcements." He said with a wicked smirk. "These descendants are done for."

The descendants didn't shuffle one bit: They weren't afraid. Either was I, and either was Percy.

"Get Annabeth out of here, Percy." I said, locking my eyes on the girl who approached me, Severna. "I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure you can, Damien?" Percy questioned.

"No," I answered. "But you said reinforcements were coming, I'll be fine. All that matters is that you and her are safe. Now get out of here." I looked at Percy and trailed my eyes over to one of the glass walls. He winked at me: He got the hint.

"Alright, Damien." He said, smiling. "I'll see you around." He grabbed Annabeth's hand and immediately sprinted to the closest glass wall, crashing through it, jumping 123 floors of horror.

They would make it somehow.

But I wasn't too sure about me.