Chapter Eleven:

February 15th

Percy woke to a strange beeping and an ache that covered his whole body.

As he slowly opened his eyes and they adjusted to the harsh lighting, his mom's face came into view. Her eyes were filled with tears as she softly said, "Percy?"

"M-" he choked out before his voice cut off. His mom lifted his head to help him sip from a cup of water. "Mom, what's going on?"

She brushed tears away from her face and said, "You don't remember? You don't remember what Gabe did?"

Before his mom could finish the sentence, every brutal moment came rushing back to Percy. He rushed to sit up, groaning, while his mom tried to encourage him to lay back down.

"Where's Annabeth?" He questioned, "Mom, please tell me they found her!"

Her brow furrowed in confusion, "Annabeth? What did Gabe do to Annabeth?"

Percy was frantic now, the beep in the room growing louder, he tried to push the sheets away from his sheets to climb out of bed.
"Percy! Perc- stop it!" His mom raised her voice and applied more pressure to his shoulder to force him back to the bed. "You need to tell me what you're talking about, right now."

As he rested back against the sheets, he pushed his head into his hands, "It's all my fault mom. It's all my fau-" His voice cut off again as all his emotions felt like a noose tightening around his neck.

When Percy looked back to his mom, the tears rolled freely down his face as he told his mom everything he knew. Before the end of it, his mom had called for the nurse and the police, both of whom had arrived a few minutes after being called.

So Percy told the story all over again to the police while the nurse and doctor checked on his injuries. After he finished, one of the officers in his hospital room said, "Well, I wish you had come forward sooner about the emails, what's important now is finding Ms. Chase and getting her home safely. Every available officer is out looking for Mr. Ugliano and we'll do our best to make sure that you both are protected."

The other officer turned to his mom and asked, "Now, Mrs. Ugliano, I-"

"It's Mrs. Jackson, I never took Gabe's last name." She quickly corrected.

The officer nodded, "Of course, I apologize. I know you said when we first asked you that you didn't remember anything, but has anything come back to you from those few minutes before Gabe ran out of the apartment?"

She looked deep in thought before she responded, "No, I'm sorry. I was so focused on Percy and the gun that I wasn't really aware of anything Gabe was saying."

"Gun? What gun?" Percy interjected, turning to his mom.

She softly grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze, "Thank you both so much for all of your hard work. Please let us know if there's anything else you need and if there are any updates on Annabeth." The officers nodded, thanked them both, and left the room.

"What gun, Mom?" Percy asked immediately once the door shut.

His mom twisted towards him and replied, "That's why Gabe got out of the apartment, as soon as I came in and saw you on the floor, I screamed and was going to run and get help, but Gabe pulled a gun and tied me to a chair while he took what he wanted from the apartment."

Percy's gut twisted and it felt like the pain all over his body amplified at the thought of his mom having a gun pointed at her.

"I'm so sorry, Mom."

She shook her head, "It isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. If anything it's mine, I brought him into our lives. And I let him stay there."

Percy squeezed her hand tighter, "No, you had no idea what Gabe was or what he was doing."

She just sent him a half-hearted nod, as if she didn't really believe him, and although he wanted to say more, he began to feel the effects of both his injuries and the medication he was given, as his eyes began to flutter closed and the pain dulled slowly.

He heard his mom whisper some reassuring words about Annabeth being found safe, but just like a few hours before, Percy's vision went black and everything quieted.

….

Annabeth felt the terror before she even opened her eyes. It rose and rose and then rose some more when she finally opened her eyes and saw only darkness. It was like she had never opened her eyes, to begin with, it was pitch black, endless and cold.

She tried to pull her hands up to feel in front of her, but she found them chained to whatever floor rested beneath her. She tried to pull them to see how much give there was, but she only felt the cold metal chaff against her skin when she tugged.

Annabeth sat and listened, hoping for some clue as to where she was. Wherever she was must have been soundproof, or close to it, because she heard almost nothing. After a few minutes, she heard what sounded like water hitting land, so she figured she must be somewhere along the river, hopefully still in New York, although she had no idea how long she had been knocked out. For all she knew, she could be down by Florida at this point.

With that startling thought, Annabeth ran her hands along the floor as much as her chains allowed, she only felt more metal, her mind began formulating theories for where she could be. In a boat? No, it seemed more contained than that, and she wasn't rocking like a boat would. She felt like she was still on land, so she could be in a building or warehouse near water, so maybe just a closet in one of those places.

Theory after theory ran through her head, eventually, they all ran out so she just rested her head against the wall behind her and struggled to contain her panic.

It could have been hours or minutes before Annabeth heard the footsteps. But she heard them. And she tensed when the darkness in front of her creaked and streams of light wrapped around a menacing figure that loomed over her.

Annabeth swallowed her fear and prepared to face whatever the darkness held.

A/N: Here's a short little chapter to hold you guys over till I can get the next one up. Sorry, it's taken so long. School has been kicking my butt, but I'll do my best to get the next chapter up soon! Thanks for the patience and support! xoxo, stay safe!