Chapter 13- Percy's POV

I didn't know what was wrong with me. When Luke had walked off, his arm around Annabeth's back, it was like there was a wall between us. As if she'd been closed off forever from me, detached from who we were becoming.

Because… didn't she feel the same way as I did?

Poseidon's trident, I didn't know how much I was falling for her until now, seeing her walk away from me. And she'd just left me so easily.

Alone in the cart, I pondered what to do next. I didn't care anymore about escaping, not really. Thalia and the Stolls were in another cart going who knows where, and I didn't know what to do without Annabeth's help.

My thoughts went back to Luke's conversation, his whisper still echoing in my ear. Me. Guess who she's betrothed to?

Me.

But that couldn't be right. Annabeth, a royal? She hated royals. She was doing all she could to spite her own mother? I'd run away from my father's kingdom, but it wasn't as if I was stealing from him. When I walked away from him on my last day as prince, he vowed I would be a commoner. I'd be thrown in his dungeon if I came back to him.

Unless I agreed to take my place as prince.

And, right now, it seemed the right decision, because suddenly everything was falling into place. Annabeth finding me. Her dream and my dream about Chiron. The swords, the pine trees, the adoption, the kidnapping, they all intertwined together in a huge web of decisions and happenstances. It was so clever it could only be the work of one person.

I didn't have Riptide, but I had another escape. Annabeth's dagger was still stuck up my sleeve.

Suddenly, when I touched the golden blade, I heard a voice in my head that was not my own- someone else's memory, someone else's voice. This isn't another one of your tricks, is it, Athena? And a woman's voice, not speaking, but thinking: I've got more tricks up my sleeve, just you wait.

A powerful pain exploded in my head, and I doubled over in the dirty floor of the cart. Gray eyes, the same as Annabeth's, flashed through my mind.

Don't trust the one called Luke, a voice whispered, powerful and echoing in my mind. He carries the ancestry of liars and thieves.

Just as fast as it had gripped me, whatever had pained me let go.

And as fast as lightening, all the happenings that had ensued in the whole time I'd known Annabeth- everything that had led up to us meeting- fell into place. It all made sense, total sense, but I found I couldn't focus on that now.

Annabeth was in danger.

With that thought on my mind, I took her dagger and cut through the cart's wooded exterior, moving to escape. I drop-rolled off of the moving cart but was numb to the pain. I had to find a pine tree, had to find Grover, had to find Chiron, had to make sure I knew that everything was falling into place like it should.

But could I use her dagger? It wasn't mine, and I'd never used anyone else's weapon to summon someone. What could go wrong? I didn't know, but I had to try. I was desperate, and it wasn't as if I had any other options at this point.

Gripping the blade handle tightly, I pushed forward to the tree trunk. I emitted a war scream- I wasn't sure why- and plunged it into the bark.

But instead of summoning Grover like it should have, something went terribly, awfully wrong. Where I'd just stabbed the tree, blackness started spreading outward, like dripped wine blooming on fabric. I looked down at Annabeth's golden dagger- it was becoming black, too. And it was spreading fast.

I was too shocked to drop the dagger in time, and the blackness overtook my fingertips. I cried out, and the dagger flew from my grip. I was afraid I'd caused something awfully wrong to happen, so wrong that the darkness would spread to the grass and overtake the earth- but instead the dagger disappeared.

The dagger. It'd been poisoned.

The only way, Chiron had told me long ago, that someone could poison a blade, was to curse it. Going back on a promise was the strongest curse. Was it I who had cursed the blade by not chasing Annabeth down, telling her that it wasn't right for her to go with Luke?

The darkness that had stained my fingertips didn't spread as fast as it had over the tree and the dagger, but I still saw it growing outward, almost to my knuckles. I had to act, fast, before it spread to every part of my body. That's the surest way to hurt your enemy, Percy, I heard Chiron's words echo in my mind. Once it overtakes them, they're transported to the darkest part of the underworld, the place of no return. Getting tainted by a cursed weapon is the worst revenge.

Had Luke planned this?

No. I couldn't focus on figuring things out now- I had to find Annabeth and save her. The tree obviously couldn't help me, and now I had no weapon to help me on my journey. I'd have to walk on foot. It was the only way.

Starting my trek up the hill, I watched the blackness web out, chasing my veins. I was running out of time.

Where was I, anyway? I had no clue. The dirt road I'd come off from was the only clue of civilization, but I didn't even know where it led, be it Pacificantis or Athenasia. No signs pointed me on my way, either. I'd never felt this alone, this hurt, this desperate for time in my life, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep going. The darkness- or poison, or whatever it was- was not only spreading but was slowing down my system, and my feet got heavier with each step.

Just for a second, my mind told me, but I wasn't sure if the words were even mine. Lie down and sleep for a second, and then you can go on.

I tried to fight my sudden exhaustion, but I found it was impossible. Before I went under, one last thought came to me: Annabeth, hold on.