Taken

Chapter 15- First Names

-Annabeth POV-

I woke to being tied up in a chair, again, and in a white room. Everything in the room was white, including the chair and the straps that bound me to it. My skin was starting to become pale; probably from both the lack of sun and the blood loss. The white around me made that fact a lot more obvious.

My hair and clothes were soaked with water and my chest felt like it was on fire with each breath I took. I knew that the burning in my lungs could be from inhaling water, so I figured that I must have almost drowned recently.

Just another day for me, though.

My thoughts wandered to Jackson, and what he might be going through right now. If I almost drowned, I don't even want to think about what could have possibly happened to him. What if Luke made him kill someone again? I don't know if he could take something like that again.

Hell, I don't know if I can take this anymore.

I focused myself, trying to figure out what happened before I took an unsuspected swim. My memory was patchy, and I remembered little things, like some sort of screaming for help, some sort of labyrinth, and Jackson.

When I thought of Jackson, all I could think of was seeing him run into a room with something in his hand. It was all very blurry, as if my vision was muffled for some reason.

"Ah, Annabeth! You're awake!"

My blood ran cold at the sound of Luke's voice come from behind me. A chill ran throughout my body, causing me to shiver- only this time it wasn't from the wet clothes I wore, it was from the sheer terror of what that voice meant.

Luke was here.

"You know, I was surprised that you woke up so quickly. I pegged you to be out for another few hours." He moved from behind me to where I could see him, a swagger to his step that made his arrogance come to light. His blonde hair was more unruly than usual and his eyes looked tired, as if he had just woken up.

I glared at him, and focused on trying to control the tremors that wracked through my body. I wasn't going to show any sign of weakness in front of this man. Not ever again.

"Not going to talk?" He asked, a small smile coming across his face. "Well then, I guess I will do all of the talking for us both, hmm?"

I continued to focus on hiding my pain, but with every breath I took it felt as if someone was stabbing my chest. That couldn't be normal. Worry for both myself and Jackson overtook me as I lost composure and my glare faltered.

"Well, you must know that your dear friend, Mr. Jackson, is worried sick about you. You gave him quite a scare, young lady. I did tell you to call for help, you know."

My eyes widened as I started to put some pieces together, and new memories started to fill up the gaps. Luke laughed as he saw how my face started to transform into one of horror. I couldn't believe what he did to me… I have never been that close to death before, and I had to hide the tears that threatened to spill.

"You see, Annabeth, as I told you before, you mean nothing to me. You're a pawn for my master plan. Yes, it is nice to have you alive, but it wouldn't be detrimental if something were to happen to you."

A tear fell from my eye, only to be followed by countless others.

"Percy Jackson is my true prize. He always has been. Your brother got in my way, and I took you to make sure he wouldn't do anything funny. But, as we both know, it didn't really matter in the end, anyway."

"W-Where is he?" I rasped, my voice sounding worse than I felt. "Where's Jackson?"

Luke laughed, as he slowly walked forward to lightly caress my cheek. I leaned away from his touch and saw anger flash in his eyes as a result. "Oh, Annie, in the face of the danger and all you can think of is lover boy. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"Screw you, Luke."

His hand lightly pinched my cheek before he backed away to lean against the wall. "You don't mean that, Annie. Besides, I think you forget who holds the power here."

I raised an eyebrow, looking at him with curiosity. "Power? So this is about power?"

Luke's eyes twinkled in delight and he clapped his hands together. "I knew you were smart! I thought it would take you longer, yes, but I knew you would figure it out!"

"This isn't about revenge at all, is it Luke?"

His smile of delight suddenly turned evil, and even in this bright room there were shadows clouding his face. "Of course not. I hated my father and mother. My father was a cheap bastard who worked for Poseidon, and got himself killed. My mother was a low-life whore who cheated on my father every other week. They meant nothing to me."

My breath caught in my throat as I thought of the once seemingly happy couple that I had grown up knowing. Hermes Castellan was a great man, or so I thought, and Luke's mother… I can still remember the smell of the chocolate chip cookies she would make every Fourth of July.

"You see, all I want is power. And by breaking Posiedon, I will be able to take over his business and then create an economic empire."

"Why Poseidon though? Because he raped your mother? Or maybe because he killed your father? Why him?"

"I did it because I know that he is weak, and that he would be the easiest to manipulate. You see, as I had told you before, Percy Jackson is the light of Posiedon's life. Even a blind fool could tell you that."

"So why involve me? Why would you take me?" My voice cracked, and soon turned to a whisper. "What made you decide to ruin my life?"

Luke laughed, a small smile overtaking his face, and for a small time I saw the Luke that I used to know. My brother's friend… my friend. "Annabeth, you're brother and I were always close, you know?"

My glare returned as I remembered what he did to my brother. "Yeah, but then you killed him."

"He was too close."

"Too close to what, Luke? He was your friend! How could you have put a bullet through his skull? How could you have tortured him the way that you did and still call him your friend?"

Tears were streaming down my face and my chest heaved with sobs. The pain from before had been replaced by the pain of what I had lost. I lost everything because of the man standing in front of me. And I know one day I will lose my life to him, too.

Luke's eyes lit up in anger, and he took two furious steps away from the wall. "Don't you see? Your brother betrayed me. He tried to turn me in! After everything I had been through, your brother betrayed me and stopped me from achieving my goal. But in the end, it seems that he didn't really matter, did he? His sacrifice was for nothing."

"No."

"What do you mean, no? He's dead. Dead! And there is no way that you're getting out of here alive, sweetheart. I made that mistake once already, and I am certainly not going to make it again."

I shook my head furiously, refusing to accept it. My brother's sacrifice was not going to be in vain. He sacrificed himself to save me, so I am going to make sure that something good comes out of it. "You're wrong, Luke. I am going to get out of here, and I am going to stop you. I'm going to finish what my brother started."

He busted out into a mad laughter, and his eyes never looked more mentally delusional. "You sound like you are coming straight from a movie. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but this isn't a movie. I own you- for real. And you are going to die. For real."

I laughed a bit, ignoring the pain in my chest, and continued to shake my head. I wasn't going to let this guy do what he wants. Not after he killed my brother. I was going to fight for what my brother believed in- for what I believed in. Luke was going to be brought to justice, one way or another.

"Why are you laughing? You do realize I can snap your neck like a twig if I wanted to? You do realize I can order one of my men to come in here and rape you until you're nothing but a hollow shell? Bethy, you're fucking with the wrong man."

I shook my head again, and gave him a smug smile. "But you can't kill me yet, right? You're saving that for something big. I know you, Luke, and killing me right here- right now, that's not something you would do."

Luke's face was unreadable as he leaned back against the wall and slowly crossed his arms, not once taking his eyes off of mine. A smile slowly crossed his face and his eyes twinkled with happiness. "I'm glad I'm rubbing off on you, dearie. You are right, I wouldn't kill you now. I'm going to save that for later, and then I'm going to break your dear friend, Percy Jackson."

My breath caught in my throat at the sincerity in his words.

"And if you ever think about telling him about this discussion, I will hunt down everyone who means something to you and I will execute them in front of you. Am I clear?"

My eyes widened, and I couldn't help but nod. I didn't want to think about what would happen if Luke got his hands on any of my friends.

"Good. Now, I'm going to allow you and Mr. Jackson to become reunited once again. And I know you have been making a plan to escape, Annie. That's how it works: you know me- I know you. And you are the type to make a plan."

I looked down at the ground, trying to think my way through this. He knows we have a plan… but he doesn't know what that plan might entail. If we can make a big enough distraction…

"Don't bother trying to outsmart me, Annabeth. I know you stole that radio, and I know that you plan to use it to help you escape."

I shook my head in disbelief. What an asshole.

"So after you reunite with Mr. Jackson, you will try to escape. You will know that it will be a failure, and that you will end up having to face my next experiment- but your Jackson will not. It will be the perfect set up for the next phase in experimentation."

I glared at him, trying to hold onto the dignity that I have left. "And why would I ever help you?"

Luke plastered on a fake smile, making a shiver run down my spine. "Oh, Annie. I thought I told you! If you don't, I will kill your friends."

And with that, my entire world went black.

-Percy POV-

It felt like hours until they brought Chase back. When I woke up, it took a while to get out of the haze from the sedatives, but when I realized that I was alone in the cell, it felt as if my heart stopped.

I didn't know whether or not she was alive, which was probably the worst thing. The last thing I remembered was trying to save her from drowning. I wasn't ready to let go of her, and for some reason I knew that she wasn't ready to let go of me either. I just hope that was enough.

I sat down where we had been when she told me about her brother, and where I felt that we finally became friends. It felt colder than it had then, and I realized that I was missing her more than I thought I would miss anyone.

It has been eye opening, for sure. Chase means a lot to me, but what exactly I feel for her is a bit blurry. I love Rachel, I have always loved Rachel, and I always will. But then why do I always keep going back to Chase? Why do my thoughts keep going back to her?

I never told anyone about my family, and what I really feel about my father. I couldn't help but feel vulnerable when I tried to reach out, so I never did. But Chase made it seem so easy… she made it seem so normal when I talked to her, like really talked. I've never really talked to anyone before her.

And for some reason I don't want it to stop.

She is like a drug to my thoughts. I keep on thinking about her even when I know I shouldn't. All thoughts about myself and my own safety go out the window when it comes to her, and it scares me. That's something that has never happened before.

I need her. I know that now. But she just needs to be okay so I can tell her that in person.

And after what seemed like days of prayers, bargaining, and nightmares, the door finally opened. Light flooded into the cell, causing me to squint as I tried to see what was going on. There were two burly looking shadows that were carrying a limp figure and threw it into the room.

Chase.

The door closed, and I choked on a sob when I saw her lying there, perfectly still. Questions flooded my mind, and all I could think about was the last time that this happened. I couldn't help but blame myself. Why couldn't you have been faster? She wouldn't be lying there if you weren't so slow to get the key.

I shook myself from those thoughts and stumbled over to the limp figure. Through my drunken haze I could recognize her curly blonde hair that was a halo framing her face, and her lips that were slightly parted. Slightly I could see the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive.

Relief flooded my system and I caressed her cheek gently with my hand, crying like a little girl. She was alive… she made it. This wasn't going to be the end for us. We were going to get out of here.

I began to feel a lot more optimistic than I had been in the past, and drunkenly hauled her up by her shoulders to bring her to the side of the cell. She was cold, so I decided that body heat would help, and lifted her up against my chest, and took a deep breath into her hair.

The blonde curls smelled softly like strawberries, as if they had been permanently stained with the scent after years of using one kind of shampoo.

I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. We're friends, so this is okay. I leaned my head back onto the wall, sighing in contentment. But the peace was broken when I felt her move in my arms, and I felt her whole body tense up.

"Uh, Jackson?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

I felt a wave a heat flash on my cheeks. "I- uh, you were cold when they brought you in," I explained, letting her out of my grasp. "I just thought, you know, body heat could help."

She laughed a bit, sounding like music to my ears. "It's okay, Jackson, I was just messing with you."

I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. Chase slid to the side so that she was sitting next to me, and I really got a look at her without all of the haze from the sedation jumbling up my thoughts. Her clothes were rumpled and dirty, she had little bruises on her wrists that looked to be from restraints, and the bottom of her pants were ripped, going up to her calf muscle.

Needless to say she looked like crap.

"You going to stop staring at me?" She asked, her grey eyes dancing with humor. "Don't worry, it happens to everyone."

I looked at her opened mouthed, and she blushed when she realized what she just said. "Oh my God, I just sounded like you! Shit, this cannot be happening… you're stupidity has rubbed off on me!"

I just nodded and cracked a small smile. "Looks like it."

We sat in silence, staring at the same black wall ahead of us, neither one of us knowing what to say. There was something that we were keeping from each other, and after spending the past month in the same enclosed space together- we were able to tell.

"What's wrong?" Chase asked, wringing her hands together. "You haven't been acting the same. I mean, I feel like I need to start being the comic relief, Jackson. And you know that's your forte."

I just nodded and stared forward, not trusting myself to look at her again. I would just be reminded at how close I was to losing her- I was close to losing my friend.

"Jackson, I know that we might not have always been that close in the past, but you know you can talk to me about anything, right? Especially now."

Her voice drifted off into silence, and everything seemed to be tense as she was waiting for my answer.

"I thought you were dead."

I heard her breath catch, and closing my eyes, I continued, "I thought you were dead, and I didn't know what to do with myself, Chase. I thought that I lost one of my best friends."

I felt her put her hand on mine. "Jackson, you need to know something," She started. I looked at her in confusion, my eyes widening when I saw that her eyes were filled with tears. "No matter what happens to me, I need to know that you will keep trying to get out of here… I need to know that you won't give up."

I shook my head, and stopped when I saw the tears start to fall. "Chase-"

"Percy… just listen to me." My breath caught at the sound of my name. "I need you to promise me that you will never give up, even if something happens to me."

My eyebrows scrunched together, and my brain started to dart all over the place. "Annabeth, is something going to happen to you? Why are you making me do this, I mean, you know I can't do this without you… I need you, Annabeth."

She smiled, but it was quickly gone and replaced with worry. "Just please, if something happens, and I'm not saying it's going to, but if something happens, I need to know that you will be alright. Just promise me that, Percy."

I searched her eyes, trying to figure out what her true intentions were. But I couldn't see anything but the echo of the promise. "I promise, Annabeth."

She nodded, a small smile gracing her lips, and she leaned her head on my shoulder with a sigh. "Thanks, Jackson."

"What happened to using our first names?"

She chuckled, leaning in closer to me. "That's just a one-time thing, Jackson."

"Okay, Chase."