Disclaimer: All PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Percy

"I have a fire in my fingers and I want to believe in this, in me, in you and the way your eyes burn when you look at me and remember why the world spins and atoms collide because of fate."

(Unknown)

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"This isn't fair."

The words echoed uselessly against the stone walls of the prison. Percy sighed, and let his head fall back to the wall. He was put into a cell that was even worse than the one he had been in before. That was courtesy of Luke, no doubt. Percy scowled at the thought of the conniving liar. He was the one who deserved to be imprisoned, not Percy.

It was dark and musty in the cell. Percy could barely breathe, not because of the humidity (summer was slowly turning into fall, thank the gods), but because of the putrid stench that made Percy gag every time he smelled it. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead. The floors were covered in some sticky substance that looked suspiciously like blood, and the walls glistened with water and slime. Needless to say, Annabeth's room had been much better accommodations.

Percy's scowl didn't lessen. Really, he didn't care about where he was, just as long as Annabeth was there with him. He didn't know where he had gone wrong. Just last night, he'd been laying in her bed with her curled up next to him, and now he was stuck in a prison cell. Annabeth probably had no idea where he was. What if she thought that he had left her for good after their fight? He couldn't bear it if she did. He hoped that she was demanding to know where he was, and what had happened. Even when she was dying, he hoped that he could still bring out that spark in her.

Even though there was no clock, Percy still tried to keep track of the time. He figured that by now, it must be morning and he had been in there for roughly five hours. He could also be completely wrong. His cell had no windows, so he had absolutely no way to tell if he was right or not. He figured he had to be close, though, since Luke Castellan had just walked through his cell door.

Percy glared.

"It's funny what one night in prison can do to you," Luke said, laughing. He had a bruise on his jaw right where Percy had punched him, which gave Percy a small sense of satisfaction. Percy himself had a bruise on his jaw, or at least, it felt like it. The skin there was tender to the touch. He also had a gash on his side, which was, thankfully, not very serious. Luke's sword had only grazed him, so Percy's wound was only a surface wound. He would have been in a lot of trouble had Luke inflicted a serious injury on him.

Percy continued to glare. "What do you want, Luke?" His voice came out deep and raspy. Percy then realized how much in need he was of water, he hadn't had any since before he was thrown into prison again.

Luke's answer made Percy forget all about water. "I came here to thank you," he said calmly and nonchalantly, like he was just telling Percy what the weather was like. Percy stared with a confused look on his face and when Luke saw that, he gave him a sly little grin and continued, "I wanted to thank you for getting angry so easily."

Percy blinked. "What are you talking about, Luke?"

"You see," Luke continued in a tone that made Percy feel like he should already know what Luke was about to say, "I had gotten you angry on purpose. I needed to get you out of the picture."

Percy felt something in him tense up, like he was subconsciously preparing himself for what was about to come. "Why?" Percy asked.

Luke stared at him for one, two, three seconds. "You know why," he finally said.

Percy's stomach dropped. He did know why, and it made him want to throw up. "You're here to take over the kingdom."

Luke nodded, like Percy was his student who had just answered a question correctly. "Very good, Percy Jackson. I knew you weren't as dense as you appeared to be."

Percy glared fiercely. "You're not a duke," he said. "You're from that town, the one Annabeth and I visited. Why are you trying to take over our country?"

Luke's eyes got faraway look when Percy mentioned the town he had come from. Then, they grew hard and he directed their gaze onto Percy. "Why?" he mimicked. "Why am I going to take over your country?" He paused, to give way to dramatics or what, Percy had no idea. "Eden has lived for years on its own. We have built up a society, formed our own government, and functioned alone ever since I can remember. We never needed another country's help, until now. Eden is dying. We've been forgotten, left alone for too long now. We even named the town 'Eden' after the Garden of Eden, forgotten and abandoned after Adam and Eve sinned. We're slowly dying, we're running out of food and clean water. Disease is taking over, and we don't have the resources to find cures. You see, we need your kingdom."

Percy knew he should feel bad for Eden. He knew first-hand what if felt like to be starving without any food. He knew what it was like to live in poverty. But he had trouble feeling sorry for Luke, and where he came from. Call him heartless, but it was the truth.

"So what's your master plan?" Percy asked. "Kill me and marry Annabeth?" The words were bitter rolling off his tongue.

Luke grinned, and shrugged. "Close. The plan is to kill you, ultimately. But first, we need to use you.

You see, Percy, you've been subconsciously working with us from the beginning. We'd been looking for a way to get into the palace, and access to one of the thrones. When you kidnapped Annabeth, that gave me the perfect opportunity to go undercover, and act like the knight in shining armor that saves the princess. I brought her back and in return, her parents offered her hand to me in marriage. Your presence in the palace has caused unrest. Some people believe that since Annabeth trusts you, then you must be trustworthy, but most others believe that you are still the conniving criminal that you once were. That sets us up with the perfect plan - to frame you."

Percy stared. "What?" he said, like an idiot.

Luke gave out a little evil cackle. "Gods, Annabeth is right when she calls you an idiot."

"Hey, you're not one to talk, you little-"

"In the next day or so, my men will sneak in here and kidnap you from your cell, making it look like you escaped," Luke continued, ignoring Percy. "Soon after that, I will murder the king and queen, giving me a direct path to the throne. And when the kingdom wakes up to find that their beloved rulers were murdered just days after a feared criminal escaped prison, who do you think they'll blame?"

Percy didn't answer. He just glared, and prayed to the gods that Luke would get what was coming for him.

Luke smiled, knowing what Percy was thinking. "Annabeth will be heartbroken, of course, thinking that her beloved had killed her parents. And who will be there to sweep her off her feet? Only myself, of course." He laughed a sick little laugh. "She'll agree to marry me, I'll become king, and then the people of Eden will come and take over. We'll be the government and we'll be the militia, and the people of Olympia will be our slaves. Oh, and in the middle of all of this, you will be executed for murder."

Percy jumped up, and shoved Luke. Luke stumbled backwards, his face a mask of shock.

"It's a genius plan, really," Percy said nonchalantly. "There's just one problem."

Luke stood, and dusted himself off. He raised an eyebrow, but Percy could see the anger in his eyes. It was burning bright, hot and passionate. "Oh?" he asked.

Percy scowled at him. "Annabeth will never agree to marry you. She'll never believe that I murdered her parents. She already knows you're evil and a liar, she'll see right past your little facade. Your plan will never work."

Luke growled and punched Percy in the jaw, right on his bruise. Percy let out a moan as fireworks of pain exploded, and went all the way through his body. Then, Luke punched him in the gut, he fell down to the ground. Stars danced across his vision, and the burning feeling traveled down to his injured torso. Luke's fist had been way too close to the gash in his side.

Luke kicked him right where he had just punched him. Percy went limp. His vision was going in and out, he was woozy with pain. He couldn't catch his breath.

Luke grabbed his collar, and pulled him up to a standing position. He got right in his face and snarled, "You give Annabeth too much credit. You think she's strong enough to withstand anything. Well, let me tell you a secret: Annabeth is human, and humans can be broken."

Then, he left.

Percy fell to the ground, trying to catch his breath. His thoughts were moving a mile a minute, and his brain was having a hard time keeping up with them. He wanted to gather all of the information that he knew and formulate a plan, but he knew he was too tired and injured to think straight. His entire body ached, his head was pounding.

Percy leaned his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes.

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Percy's sleep was restless. He kept dreaming of his execution, of Luke becoming king and taking over Olympia, and most of all, he dreamed of Annabeth's face when she found out that her parents had been murdered. By him.

After he woke, he spent what felt like hours trying to come up with a plan. He had to stop Luke. The only problem was that there was no possible way to get out of this prison cell. He had nothing that he could pick the lock open with. He had no way to get a message to his friends and call for help. There was no way he could fight off all of the guys Luke had promised to send. He might be strong, but he wasn't that strong.

He had just accepted the fact that he was going to die, and everything he had done in his lifetime had been for naught when the cell door opened. Percy stood immediately, hoping it was a guard bringing food or Luke coming back so that Percy could beat him up again. Maybe he would have his sword on him, and Percy could use it to gut him.

What he got was even better. Annabeth was walking through the cell door, using the wall for support. Her face was ghostly white and her entire body trembled, but she was here, beautiful and smiling and that was all that mattered.

"Annabeth," he breathed. Annabeth looked up at him and just as she did, she stumbled forward, her hands slipping on the slimy wall. Percy darted forward, and caught her before she fell to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her so tightly that she almost disappeared. He felt like he had entered heaven when he felt her small arms wrap around his waist. He didn't even mind the small stab of pain he felt when she pressed into his wound.

"They didn't chain you this time," Annabeth observed.

Percy smiled, and pulled away a little so that he could look her in the eyes. "How did you know I was here?"

Annabeth gave him a sheepish smile. "Piper told me everything," she answered. Slowly, she reached a hand up and brushed a strand of hair out of his face. He stared down at her, and when she met his eyes, they got caught in the moment. Annabeth's fingers slowly slid down his face, leaving sparks in their wake. "I'm so sorry," she said finally. "I'll get you out of here. I'll talk to my parents or, or-"

Percy cut her off with a finger to her lips. "I'm the one who needs to apologize," he said.

Annabeth shook her head. "It's not your fault," she said. "I know that Luke manipulated you, and quite honestly, I don't care if-"

"No," Percy interrupted. "No, I mean I'm sorry about our fight. For getting angry with you about the surgery, for not trusting you to make your own decisions, and for not supporting you like I should have."

Annabeth smiled. "You already apologized, Seaweed Brain," she teased. She pushed herself up on her toes so that she was taller.

Percy grinned. "I didn't think you would remember that. It was in the middle of the night."

Annabeth's smile grew wicked. "Oh, believe me, I remember." She closed the space between them and kissed him, her fingers dancing lightly across his back. When she pulled away, all too soon in Percy's opinion, she said, "I'm sorry also, for fighting."

In response, Percy kissed her again. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied. And just like that, the past was erased.

Then, their bliss was shattered.

"I'm doing the surgery tomorrow," Annabeth announced, pulling out of the circle of his arms. She looked at him with wariness in her eyes. Percy let out a sigh and took a step forward, wrapping his arms around her yet again.

"It'll be okay," he said. "Don't worry about it. The Annabeth I know isn't going to let a surgery kill her."

Annabeth smiled at that. Percy opened his mouth to tell her about Luke and his plan, but then he faltered. Annabeth already had enough on her plate. He could see the stress and anxiety in her eyes. He could see the weakness in her body. He didn't think that telling her that her fiance was trying to murder her parents was the best thing to do right then. Instead, he poked her in the stomach and said, "Hey. What's up?"

Annabeth sighed, and leaned her forehead on Percy's chest. She told him that she was sneaking out to shoot in the arena when she found her mother in a room with the royal seamstress. They were working on a wedding dress. "I'm scared that if the surgery works, then everything will go back to the way it was, and I'll have to marry Luke."

Percy grabbed her left hand. "Hey," he said, tilting her head up so that she was looking at him. "If you're going to marry anyone, it's going to be me." While he said that, he pressed the wire ring he had given her further up on her finger. She smiled at him, and he gave her a kiss on the forehead. When he pulled back, her smile was gone.

"Have you told my parents yet?" she asked solemnly.

"Told them what?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "That you're a prince."

"Oh." The truth was, Percy had kind of forgotten himself. It sounded stupid - who just forgot that they were a royal prince? - but with everything that was going on, it seemed like a minor issue, one that could be dealt with once the more pressing matters were fixed. Namely, Annabeth's tumor. "No," he admitted, hating the way that Annabeth's face fell. He knew that she was hoping that he had, and that they had developed some way for her to marry him instead. Maybe she was hoping that the wedding dress she had seen would be worn for him and not Luke.

Woah. Okay. Percy pushed those thoughts out of his head. Just thinking about marrying Annabeth made him feel like an entire army had trampled him. He wanted it so badly that remembering that he couldn't have it made him want to kill himself.

He couldn't figure out which was worse: falling in love with a girl when you knew for certain that it wouldn't work out or falling for a girl and there being just a tiny sliver of hope that maybe things could work out?

But, he might have just blown that chance.

"I'm not sure it matters now anyway," Percy voiced, his tone sad. Annabeth nodded solemnly, and Percy tightened his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. He felt something sharp poke his chin, and he shifted his chin to a more comfortable spot. Annabeth nestled into his chest, her nose brushing his collarbone.

Then, there it was, his plan. An idea popped into his head and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it could work. It might just be enough to fix everything.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"Mm?"

"Don't tell anyone that could came to see me, okay?"

Annabeth pulled away, giving him a confused look. "Why?"

Percy shook his head. He made sure his voice was extra low just in case there were guards. "I have a plan. I haven't worked out all of the details yet, but it rides on you acting normal, like nothing happened with me. Can you do that?"

Annabeth nodded. Percy smiled, kissed her forehead, and said, "I love you, so much."

Annabeth smiled. "Love you too." She turned to leave, then thought better of it and turned back around, slanting her lips over his. He brought his hands up to her hair, feeling something sharp press into his fingers. He grasped it and slid it out of her hair, placing it in his pocket as he pulled away from the kiss. He grinned.

"Now get out of here," he teased. Annabeth smiled one last time before turning and using the wall to walk herself out of his cell. The door closed with a loud bang behind her.

Percy tried not to think of the risks of this plan. He could easily get himself killed. He tried not to think that that was possibly the last time he would ever see Annabeth. She could die in the surgery tomorrow. That could have been the last time he ever held her, kissed her, told her he loved her and have her respond. He tried not to think about all of that because if he did, then it would make him melt into a puddle of tears, and he couldn't afford that. He needed to focus. He needed to work on this plan of his.

Percy looked down at his hands. They hadn't chained him to the wall this time. That was a big mistake.

Well. There's that. I'm not sure what I thought of this chapter. Oh well.

I finally got The Heir! I haven't started it yet, but I've heard it's really good and I need more Maxerica in my life. If you haven't read the Selection series, go and read it now. It's so good and the covers are so gorgeous, which I think is a very important aspect in a book.

Leave a review, please?

"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise." Hebrews 10:23