Hello again, everybody! Sorry I haven't updated in eleven days - I've been travelling. And now, the moment y'all have been waiting for: Annabeth's rescue.
Percy Jackson POV
"Here it is," Jason panted.
We stopped running and I examined the clearing to which Jason had brought us.
"Where's the tunnel entrance?" I asked.
Jason pointed behind a bush.
"Don't enter the tunnel," Thalia warned me as I stepped towards it. "Maybe it's best if we just stay here and see if she comes out."
Swallowing, I nodded. There was no point in me wandering off into the tunnel in an attempt to find Annabeth. Besides, knowing my luck, I would get hopelessly lost.
I sighed. "Okay, Thalia, you and I are gonna crouch here, in this bush. Jason and Piper, you head to the other side of the clearing. Hazel, you wait behind that tree. We wait."
We waited as the sun began to set. The wood grew darker in the fading sunlight. Soon, I knew, we wouldn't be able to see anything around us. We'd have no choice but to turn back, unless we decided we wanted to stay overnight in this wood.
Just as I was about to announce that it was no good and we'd better head back to the city, Thalia's head shot up. "What was that sound?" she whispered.
Thalia had always had keener ears than me; I hadn't heard anything. I shrugged and motioned for the others to be quiet. They did, and we listened again.
This time, I heard it too – a sort of rustling behind the bush that Jason had pointed to. My heartbeat began to speed up. Then, I heard voices.
"Move along." It was a gruff voice, one I didn't recognize. My heart sank – maybe it wasn't Annabeth after all.
"Calm down, Nakamura," drawled another voice, and my heart sped up again. This was indubitably Luke's voice. I remembered it from the one time I'd met him – and socked him – at the club I'd taken her to. Now, I seethed in silence, itching to get my hands on him and rip him apart. Beside me, Thalia's face had gone ghost-white.
"Let me go!" called out a very familiar voice, and now my heart stopped.
After days of not hearing her voice, of wondering where she was and if she was even alive, at last I heard her. Annabeth.
Out from behind the bush, the three of them came into view. Annabeth was struggling, one arm in Luke's grasp, the other in the grasp of a burly Asian American guy – I assumed this was Nakamura.
"Let me go," Annabeth spat again. I looked at Thalia – her eyes were wide with horror. It was one thing to be told by Annabeth what Luke had done, but it was quite another to be seeing it in the flesh. Across the clearing, where he was hiding, Jason's eyes met mine. I motioned for him to remain where he was.
"We're going to head that way," Luke told her, pointing with his free hand. "There's a road not far from here. And there's a car waiting for us on that road. We're going to take that car down to Mexico. What do you think of that?"
"You're a monster," Annabeth snarled. "And such a coward that even a girl can beat you up."
Luke's expression hardened. "Shut up," he growled. "Unless you want things to go very badly for you. You put up a valiant fight, I know, and I applaud you for that, but now there's nothing you or any of your friends can do."
"Isn't there?" I said in an icy voice. Luke's head whipped round as I stood up from my hiding place. Moments later, Thalia followed, her eyes shooting daggers at Luke.
I looked at Annabeth, and her eyes were shining. And that kind of made up for the days of worrying and terror.
I looked at Luke again. "You should probably know that federal agents are only a phone call away," I continued. "You're toast. You're not going to Mexico – no one is. You're going to be spending the rest of your miserable life in a cell."
From behind Luke, Jason rose to his feet. He carried in his hands a big log. Silently, he tiptoed his way towards Luke. His eyes begged me to continue distracting Luke. I was only too happy to oblige.
"Just give up, Luke," I snarled. "You're an utter failure."
Luke laughed. "And yet I'm the one with your precious girlfriend, aren't I? Face it, Jackson, it's over. Nakamura here can easily knock you and Thalia out, and from there we'll head on to Mexico. We're not about to let two kids get in our way."
"Oh, no?" I smiled. "What about three?"
Luke frowned. "If you're referring to Annabeth – "
Thalia spoke for the first time. "He's not referring to Annabeth."
Before Luke could say anything further, Jason swung the log like a baseball bat and hit Luke across the back of the head. Luke staggered, letting go of Annabeth's hand, and then Piper materialized out of the bushes. She produced a can of tear gas – Piper carried tear gas?! – and sprayed it in his eyes. Luke shouted in pain. Then Jason took his head and rammed it against a tree. Luke slumped to the ground, unconscious.
For a moment, there was silence. Then I heard Hazel's voice. "Agent Zeus? It's Hazel Levesque. We've found Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan – "
Nakamura let go of Annabeth's other arm and took off, pelting towards the edge of the wood. Jason started to give chase, but Annabeth waved him off. "It's okay," she said. "The feds will get him."
Annabeth turned to me, her eyes shining. "You really did rescue me," she murmured, coming to me.
"I promised you I would," I whispered to her. "And I always keep my promises."
Annabeth's grey eyes were alight with love and joy. She turned her face upwards just as I leaned downwards, and our lips met. We kissed, forgetting that all our friends were watching us. Her arms encircled my neck and I embraced her, because I was just so happy that she was alive, that she was with me.
I broke off the kiss to look at her. "Never leave me again," I told her. "Never. Understand?"
She laughed, and my heart melted. "I promise, Seaweed Brain," she murmured into my ear. "I promise. And I, too, always keep my promises."
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