So this chapter was inspired by the review 11saphira11 left me yesterday. Literally, I read your review 11saphira11 and went into a writing frenzy. I stayed up until one in the morning doing this, so yeah, errors are plentiful.
Thank you so much for reviewing. I've been doubting my own writing abilities recently, and it just really helped me make the next chapter. Thank you!
Chapter 20
"Surprised?" Octavian leered in a sickeningly proud manner. She could see his delighted expression despite the darkness. "You look it."
I'm not. Annabeth wanted to declared in full confidence. She wanted to have some secret trap set up, or a moment of pure genius that would let her flee with Percy as she stared back at his crumpled face and laugh mockingly. She wanted to be a step ahead of her stupid grinning fiance and his ridiculously brain numbing gun.
But that wasn't the reality of the situation. The reality was; they were caught, stuck, and there was nothing that would fly into Annabeth's brain to save them. Not even an inkling of an idea was dripping into her mind as she stood there frozen in fear. Panic etching cold criss crosses down her spine as she gripped Percy's arm until her knuckles were white. Her white wings were fanning drafts of air over her skin.
"Oooh, magnificent," a chuckle rolled from his pale lips. His eyes drinking in Percy's massive wings with an almost hungry energy. "I've only ever heard of fliers. I've never actually seen one…. Perseus, if things go awry your wings are going to be the centerpiece to my trophy room. The magnum opus of my hunting career."
He was grinning so widely that his cheeks looked ready to crack. His finger tested itself against the trigger as if he were eager to bring the fatal shot forward and to strip Percy of his trademark wings.
Percy murderous expression matched his tense stance.
"Think of the mystery and awe they will spark from my guests when they ask me what I caught, and how I just smile mischievously at them. What a hoot." Octavian seemed to be living the fantasy in his mind's eye as he spoke. Even his gull like wings were quivering in excitement and anticipation. The shadows of the night against his face made him truly looking haunting.
"How..." she could scarcely croak. Her wide grey eyes staring gormlessly at him as her hitched breath seemed to finally reinflate her lungs in a desperately slow manner. The image he just painted for her made her heart yank in her chest. "Did you find…."
"Tracking bots, obviously." Octavian smirked, very ready to show off. "I almost hoped that you would've figured it out seeing as the the first time I had them slipped into your food you reacted rather badly. Vomited something fierce in the toilet as I remember."
The blood drained from Annabeth's face. The memory of that night peeling shame into her mind as she recalled how she waved off the sickness to rich foods.
Idiot! IDIOT!
"Don't try it Jackson. I'm a damn good shot. Annabeth can tell you, she's seen my trophy room." Octavian snarled as Percy started to make a move for Annabeth.
Either to grab her by the waist and take off or to shove her behind him, she was sure of it. Percy snorted contemptuously with his jaw tightening. His wild green eyes never wavering from Octavian's like a challenge of dominance.
"You tracked me?" Annabeth finally babbled, feeling revolted and violated at the same time. A swirl of queasiness passing through her gut as if she were going to vomit again. Her head was swimming with all the times she'd ever consumed anything under the roof of the Aresto's. At this point she wasn't even acknowledging the long barreled gun Octavian had trained on them. It seemed like the lesser offence of the two.
"Of course!" Octavian said loftily, like it was too plain for her not to see. "We are to be married Annabeth. I needed to know exactly what you were up to, who you were and the like before I accepted."
"So you followed me?!" Annabeth said incredulously. Her anger was slowly rising with every haughty sparkle that came from his pale blue eyes.
"Digitally, yes."
"But-"
"I don't need to explain myself to you." He raised the gun and took another threatening step towards the pair. A splinter of impatience in his tone. "With the way you're taking this, you would think you thought of me as a simple fool."
"Well…"
I really did.
"Oh please Annabeth." Octavian huffed. "Did you not think I didn't notice your little tidbits scattered throughout today's turmoil? How you were always in the tips of conversations when it came to all those ridiculous disappearances? I noted the amount of time you spent in the woods and connected two and two."
"But how did you know about…." Annabeth trailed off. Gesturing to Percy in his rigid fuming state.
"I told you that my grandfather was once Prime Minister." Octavian was clearly getting exasperated. "He spit out a few too many secrets in his old age that no one but myself ever took seriously. I thought at least you would know that."
"I'm sorry, I guess I was too busy to notice your master plan." Annabeth said tonelessly.
"Sass me again." Octavian's voice lowered icily. "And your boyfriend gets a chunk blown out of his side."
"Boyfriend?" Annabeth sputtered even though her insides felt thoroughly weak and soupy.
How did he know that!?
"I assume so." Octavian growled. "You got bored of Jason rather quickly-"
"Are you going to keep blabbering, or are you just going to shoot me already." Percy said viciously. A definite challenge in his voice as he took a step forward.
"Well if you really want me to-"
"NO!" Annabeth jumped between them. A dead set fire racing through her blood as she stared Octavian down. Her heart pounding against her rib cage and sending flutters through her throat. "Don't kill him!"
"Annabeth-"
"What will you give me if I don't kill him?" Octavian spoke as if rehearsed. Breaking through Percy's protest with a cold calmness. His in-control smile returning to his face in a slow creepy manner.
She knew the answer. This was what was building up to. This is what he came for. He knew that if he threatened Percy, she would give him what she wanted. What she'd promised, and what she was planning on not carrying through.
"I'll marry you," she played the part. She said the words he came to hear. "If you don't tell anyone where he is, if you help me keep him safe, I'll marry you."
Her mouth felt like sand as she spoke. Her heart gave a mighty tug before she couldn't feel it at all. The defeat clamoring around her gut oddly made her raging thoughts quiet down. Her anger was at an all time high however. Pure, black, uninterrupted rage for his fowl little pale face and the twisted mind that lay behind it.
"No! You-"
"Perfect." Octavian cut Percy off again in a smooth devilish manner. "I was hoping that would happen."
Octavian took a hand off the gun to fumble for something in his bag hanging by his waist. For a millisecond Annabeth thought about jumping for the gun while he seemed more or less distracted, but Octavian turned back again a moment later and tossed her a sort of glue gun looking device.
Snatching it out of the air, Annabeth examined it curiously with a pit in her gut. Its cold metal was smooth against her touch and seemed to have the same evil glint Octavian held.
"That's a tracker implanter." Octavian explained. He raised the gun again as if he were expecting more resistance. "I use it on my hounds, but you're going to use it on Perseus Annabeth. Right now. Just press it against his neck and pull the trigger."
It was suddenly hard to swallow. Annabeth just stared at the horrid device with unease madly driving knots into her throat. She couldn't settle with the idea of Octavian knowing Percy's exact location at all times.
I can't, I won't! I….
Octavian seemed to sense her sudden unwillingness and tightened his grip on the gun in a casual manner.
"Or I could just kill him. Hang his wings above the fireplace," he suggested.
She was trembling with fury now. Staring blanking at the tracker implanter with a million urges rushing through her mind to smash the thing against one of the sovereign trees surrounding them.
If I had a gun…. If I had a gun…. She mused darkly. Surprised at how willing she would be to align a barrel between Octavian's brows and pull the trigger.
I wouldn't hesitate.
"We haven't got all night." Octavian motioned for her to move on. Haughtiness ringing in every word.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone where he is, or hurt him, or kill him." Annabeth set her grey eyes on Octavian intensely. "The moment he's hurt this marriage deal is off."
"...fair," he muttered after a moments thought. "I promise."
For now, this had to satisfy her. She had nothing else to bargain.
She turned to Percy with her jaw locked and pressed the device into his flesh. But not his neck, his shoulder. An easier place to remove something.
There was a sharp click, and Percy winced.
"There," she spat, throwing the implanter back at him harshly. "Happy?"
"Very."
"Now put your stupid gun away."
"Tsk tsk, Annabeth. That's not the way a lady talks-"
"Why are you doing this?" Percy, for once, intervened with a note of disgust in his voice. "You don't love her."
He was trembling from head to toe while his fisted hands stood rigid at his sides. Scorn riddled in his eyes as he twisted his head at Octavian in a demanding way. "Are you just twisted?"
Octavian had the audacity to look amused. "Twisted? No. Clever? Yes."
"Clever my-"
"I'm not looking to fall in love, if that's what you're wondering." Octavian answered simply. "I need a woman who can uphold the Aresto family name with dignity, raise children, and host parties. That's all. I think it's just good business that Annabeth was betrothed to me. I get a wife who will be all these things, and her family was saved from bankruptcy."
"So I'm a token." Annabeth simmered while clenching her fists. "A marionette for the upscale social."
"I suppose you could put it that way." Octavian shrugged. "Now, I'm taking you home Annabeth. This forest is much too disagreeable for me."
Annabeth bit back an insult.
"I think i'd rather stay here for awhile longer-"
Bang. The ear shattering shot fired passed them with a breath of whisper uttering death. The bullet being swallowed instantaneously by the darkness as Octavian glowered at them.
"I'm not in the mood to quarrel," he sniffed.
So Annabeth said a miserable goodbye to Percy and fell in beside Octavian. His hand instantly landing too far down her back as he shot a unsequestered smirk back at Percy.
Bastard. Evil. Tyrannical. Annabeth seethed with tears burning the corners of her eyes.
But she did nothing.
-{:oOo:}-
As soon as the limo spat her out onto the sidewalk and the wheels hard started and Annabeth was sure it had slunk away into the darkness she made her way up the street. When she hit the usual fork in the road, she strode directly up the opposite street and mechanically found the house that had played sanctuary for her on many nights.
Piper answered the door looking slightly bewildered. Her expression turning to urgent inquisitiveness when she saw the emotional look on her face and the pooling tears.
"Octavian found Percy." She explained shortly when she found herself lying starfished on Pipers bed.
"WHAT!?"
It didn't take long to explain. It was hard not to use several swears when referring to Octavian but in the end it didn't matter because Piper was swearing his name up and down her room.
"That dimwitted, snaggle toothed, damned onion breathed, ogre meat head." She raged. "If I ever get my hands on him-"
"He'd retaliate by betraying Percy." Annabeth groaned quietly.
It seemed like such a lost cause. Annabeth took out her compass just to center her emotions, and have something to fiddle with.
"Still!" Piper seethed as she paced the room in a blind attempt to release her frustration. "If I ever get the chance to pluck his eyeballs out and feed them to a crocodile, I will!"
"Crocodile would become sick from eating something so putrid." Annabeth looked up at Piper with a dark look. "Better to just shove his eyeballs so far back into his rickety skull that he can taste his tears."
"Maybe I could apply to be a maid in his house and just slowly drive him mad with pranks. Y'know, like replace his hair gel with hair remover. Or sneak down to the boiler and turn the heat up on the water so the next time he showers, he scalds himself to death. Or slip hallucinogenic drugs into his coffee and watch him run around in panic over things that aren't there." She pondered.
"Brilliant," Annabeth moaned. "But there are no openings for maids at the moment."
"Phooey."
"Yeah," she whined miserably.
"What are you going to do?"
"I guess there is only one thing I can do."
"And that is?"
"Cut the tracker out of Percy and run away." She said without looking at Piper. Dread in her chest at the prospect of leaving her best friend.
But if I have to…
"You mean like live on the lam?" Piper uttered. "Live off the land, that kind of thing?"
"Yeah. But nowhere near any town or village. Probably in the mountains."
There was a brief pause as what Annabeth was saying really sunk in. Even Annabeth was surprised at how willing she was to go through with this patchworked plan.
"Wait. You're going to do this?" Piper marched over to the bed and looked down on Annabeth seriously. "You're going to run away?"
"Well…. Yeah… I guess I am." she looked to the ceiling with a knot in her chest.
(Also, a hint of excitement.)
"Well you have to prepare for it right?" Piper sounded a little strained. "You're not leaving right away."
"Of course."
"And I can help you prepare." She was starting to tear up now. A glassy looking glazing over her colourful eyes. "And I can continue stoking on the public, and find a way to break the secret so it won't be like I'll never see you again..."
"I'm not leaving yet."
"But you're going to! You're going to miss going to university! And being roommates! And playing pranks on fellow dorm people." Piper squeaked, bringing a hand to her face to wipe a few fleeing tears before Annabeth got to her feet and tugged her into a gripping hug.
"I'm sorry." Piper whispered hoarsely. "Look at me falling to pieces while you're the one about to embark on a dangerous journey, and in such a tight pickle that even I don't know what to do."
"I know."
"I'm just so-"
Her phone lit up across the room and chimed in a dancing melody.
"Oh who's calling at such a time!" Piper barked with a sob and ran over to her phone to apparently hit end.
"Oh." she muttered quietly upon seeing the caller ID.
"Who is it?" Annabeth asked while craning her neck to see if she could catch a glimpse of the mysterious caller.
"Jason." Piper sniffled away her last tear and stared at the phone hollowly.
"Jason?!" Annabeth's eyebrows met as she stared at Piper in surprise. "How! When?"
"I'll just call him back later." Piper set the phone down again. Rubbing her red eyes, and dragging her feet back to the bed. "Now's not the time."
"You're right! Now's the time to talk about how Jason Grace is talking to you!"
Piper turned crimson. "Well we've only had four dates."
"FOUR?!" Annabeth grabbed the daft girls shoulders and shook them. "And seldom a word spoken to your BEST FRIEND!"
"Well you were so worried about Percy and stressed with Octavian that I didn't feel like I need to impede with my own lifes dramas."
"IMPEDE!" Annabeth repeated indignantly. "Your recounts and stories about this would've been a breath of fresh air to me compared to my own grisly existence!"
"Well I just thought-"
"Shut up. Don't think. Just talk." Annabeth ordered seriously.
A smile crept onto Piper's face. "Well…."
The rest of the night Piper recounted each and every date with little details to flourish her tale. Annabeth was right. It was a breath of fresh air to listen to considering the circumstances.
-{:oOo:}-
Piper went down to tell Percy of Annabeth's plan the moment she got a chance. Told him to pack, to be ready. The next few days was filled with plotting and prepping. Checking what the weather looked like later that week, and finding the best people free route to the nearest range of mountains. Piper went out and bought her camping supplies in installations to keep suspicions down.
Saying goodbye to Piper was one of the hardest parts, nevermind ditching the usual person following Annabeth while she was loaded with a heavy camping sack.
With a mellow tune whistling from her lips, she wandered over to Percy's little den. Casting glances over her shoulder every other second to see if she was being followed. Her worst fear was that she was going to come across Octavian smirking and leaning against his gun, but she didn't. She slid into Percy's little den without complication. The dim camping light was still on, but it was laying sideways on the floor.
"Percy?" she called, getting to her feet while rubbing her rump from the rough landing. "Perce?"
It definitely looked like he had been packing. Things were in all sorts of dishevel. Even the cot was crooked and he accidently shattered a camping plate, the oaf.
"Perce?" Annabeth swiveled around. Her body instantly freezing over as she read the message scrawled sloppily across the face the rock wall in a thick ruddy red liquid. She restrained a curdling scream as the words burned a place in her mind.
Octavian Lied.
