Taken

Chapter 16- The Betrayal

-Annabeth POV-

Jackson and I seemed to be getting along a lot better now after my near-drowning. I've tried to get him to talk about the labyrinth and what happened with the screaming, but Jackson delicately evaded the question. But it seems as though my constant pestering has gotten him to speak.

"Look, after what happened… I don't really want to think about it, okay?"

Jackson's green eyes were wild and daring me to continue. I remembered the last time I saw them like that- it was when he figured out I had been lying to him. If he only knew…

"Jackson, this isn't something that you can just shrug off, okay? Trust me, I know. Just trust me, Jackson. It's all going to be okay."

He started to pace, holding a hand to his head as if he was trying to keep his emotions from coming out. I sighed to myself, having already seeing this kind of reaction before, and prepared myself for what was going to happen next.

Jackson suddenly stopped pacing and turned to face me, his eyes dark and full of fury. My jaw clenched and I my hands balled up into fists, ready to take the verbal abuse that was sure to happen next.

"How do you know? Huh? How do you know what I have gone through? Last time you were here, you had your brother to protect you! But who do I have? How are we supposed to get out of here alive when Luke has been torturing us half to death? I mean, God, I'm out of breath from walking! Face it, Chase, we're sitting ducks, and you know it!"

He slumped back against the wall, breathing hard. "How can you think that everything is going to be okay? Because I know for sure that it's not, and it never will be!"

His face was filled with so much anger and pain it made my heart clench. I relaxed myself and calmly stood up and walked over to him. He had his head in his hands, and I knew from the shaking of his shoulders that he was crying.

He had reached his breaking point, and to be honest, I couldn't blame him. Even Malcolm shed tears after going through the labyrinth. I couldn't expect Jackson to be any different.

"You want to know the truth, Jackson?" I asked quietly. "I'm scared shitless. I've never been more terrified in my life, and I don't know whether or not we are going to get out of here, let alone be okay. But what I do know is that we need to have hope. Because if we don't have hope, what do we have?"

All of the sudden I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, and envelope me in a hug. It took me a second to get over the shock that Jackson was actually hugging me, but I returned the favor. I felt him bury his face in my shoulder, and I could feel the wetness from his tears on my shirt.

"We need to do this together, Jackson. It can't just be one of us; we need to get through it together."

I felt him nod against my shoulder, and I unconsciously put a hand to the back of his head, and strung my fingers through his hair. It was a matted mess, but to me it couldn't have been more beautiful.

I felt his head pull away from my shoulder enough to look at me, but I let my hand there, feeling safe with the contact. "He got those recordings somehow, Chase. He got them to scream and beg for mercy somehow. He hurt them… he hurt the people that I care about."

Tears were streaming from his sea green eyes, and a look of pain clouded over his eyes that made my heart drop to my stomach.

"We just need to have hope, Jackson. We need to have hope that they're okay."

He nodded, and put his head back on my shoulder.

"I will hunt down everyone who means something to you and I will execute them in front of you."

My eyes widened in shock, and I felt my knees start to give out. I released myself from Jackson and backed away, hitting the other end of the cell in shock. Pain radiated through my body at the hit, but I was already too numb to feel it.

"Chase? Chase, are you okay?"

"I will kill your friends."

I looked at Jackson, whose face was contorted in confusion, and shook my head.

"No."

"You're just a pawn for my master plan."

I slowly sank to the floor, my unseeing eyes staring straight ahead in horror. I could tell that Jackson had made a move toward me, but I held a hand out to stop him.

"Just-Just stay away from me."

"I own you."

"Chase-"

"You will do as I say."

I suddenly wasn't in the cell with Jackson anymore. I was back in the white room, and I was cold again. I felt the restraints at my hands and feet, and I felt the pain in my chest.

I nodded.

"Chase, c'mon, snap out of it!"

"You will try to escape. It will be a failure. You will have to face my next experiment, but your Jackson will not."

"Jackson…"

"Chase, you okay?"

The world around me suddenly went back to the cell, and I was back with Jackson again, who was now kneeling in front of me with a worried look on his face. "You blacked out for a second there."

I nodded, taking a deep breath as I felt the air start to heat me back up. I lifted my arms a few inches and moved my feet to make sure the restraints were gone. They were.

"You okay?"

I nodded, continuing to make sure that this wasn't another kind of hallucination. "I'm fine. More than fine, actually," I lied. I was able to control the shakiness in my voice, and let a fake smile grace my lips.

Jackson obviously bought it, and he smiled back at me. "More than fine, huh?"

I cleared my head and playfully glared at him. "Yeah, got a problem with that?"

"Well as a very wise girl once told me, what is wrong with you? Don't you see that we could die?"

I coughed to hide a smile. "And as a very stupid seaweed brain once told me, we could die, yeah, but we will get out of here."

Jackson laughed, "I don't think I ever said that, Chase. You're just making things up, now."

I shook my head, and leaned back against the wall in thought. I knew that we had to make a move to get out of the cell or Luke would probably do something stupid, which is never good. But I needed to make sure that the move we made wasn't going to be completely in vain. Jackson needed to get out of this somehow, and I wasn't going to ruin his chances.

I noticed that Jackson had settled himself next to me, his hand dangerously close to mine. I chose to ignore that small piece, and brought my head back from the clouds. "We need to get out of here, you know."

Jackson turned his head toward me, a lazy look in his eye. "I know."

"How?"

"You tell me, Chase."

"Should we do the plan that we initially had?" I asked, biting my lip in anticipation. His eyes drifted from my eyes to my lips, and I felt my entire body tense. I could feel his desire, and hell, I could feel mine… but this couldn't happen. It wasn't a part of the plan.

But I couldn't help it.

"Yeah," he breathed. His eyes were clouded over with some sort of emotion that I couldn't place. It had been there since I woke up from my near-drowning, and it has been confusing me ever since. And these feelings that I had for him were obviously misplaced.

But his eyes were just so green.

He started to lean in, and his eyes closed. I felt myself start to lean in as well, and it felt as if the entire world was slowing down around us. My eyelids fluttered with anticipation and my heart was beating out of its chest… it felt right.

But, almost mockingly, his lips never met mine. His head came crashing onto my shoulder, and my eyes bugged open. "I'm sorry, Chase."

I took a deep breath to scrape what dignity I had left. "It's fine, Jackson. I get it." I cursed myself for letting my voice give away my emotions.

He shot up from his position and looked at me frantically. "Oh, no Chase, it's not like that… uhm, I mean, I'm sure you're great and all but I still kind of have a thing for Rachel… and I don't think it would be right to, you know-"

"Thanks, Jackson," I cut him off with a smile. "We shouldn't do that, Rachel or no Rachel."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Why not?"

I laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Jackson, we just started being friends, and to be honest, that's all I think we can handle right now."

A look flashed across his face for a split second before it disappeared. I didn't really think anything of it when it was replaced with a look of relief. "You're right. We need to focus on getting out of here."

I leaned back against the wall and wiped a hand across my face. Reality started to pour back onto me like Niagara Falls as I started to remember what exactly I was supposed to do. I got up, ignoring the annoyance of my muscles and started to search for the radio.

"The radio is where you left it, Chase."

I turned back to Jackson, who was looking at me in amusement.

"I know better than to move your stuff, you know."

I turned my back to him so he couldn't see my amusement and crouched to take the radio from the little hole in the wall I had previously placed it in. I tensed up when the radio went off, and I heard Luke's voice. He was telling someone to grab something from somewhere, and all I could hear was what he had told me in the white room.

"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."

"Hey Chase, you okay?"

I shot up from my position against the wall and turned toward him. His eyes were dark with worry and he had already started to walk toward me, his hand out in a surrendering gesture.

I plastered a smile, encouraging him to believe that I was fine. "Just thinking about the plan, Jackson."

He nodded, his eyes now bright with excitement. "I trust you, Chase. I know we're going to get out of here."

I felt my smile falter a bit, but I looked down at the radio to hide it. "Thanks, Jackson. That means a lot."

I really wish he wasn't making this so hard.

I relayed the plan to Jackson, reminding him of what he needs to do and when he needs to do it. Every word felt like a punch in the gut and every time he nodded with the courageous look in his eye, it felt like someone was ripping my heart out.

I felt like a coward doing this, but I knew that I needed to save my friends, even if it meant betraying Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson, the guy who tortured me throughout high school, who made me feel completely useless and lousy, who made my friends feel like crap, and who pretty much had the entire school fooled as to whom he really is.

Percy Jackson, who had me fooled as to whom he really is. He really is a beautiful, courageous, heartfelt, brave, loyal man who would do anything to help anyone he loves. He truly is one of the greatest people I know, and Rachel is lucky to have him wrapped around her finger.

And I'll admit that I couldn't help but be jealous of her. Anyone who has a man like Jackson wrapped around her finger like that is one strong woman.

Someone who I am not, and will never be.

When the voices went silent on the radio, and the slight shadow that was once hovering the door was gone, Jackson kicked the door open, and grabbed my arm, making a beeline toward the exit that I had mapped out for him.

My job was to keep watch for people behind us, but I knew that there would be no one there. They were all busy waiting for us at the exit.

When Jackson and I reached the exit, I knew when he saw the men waiting for us. It was then that he pushed me back and yelled at me to run, but I couldn't feel my legs. Jackson left me in the dust, and I watched hollowly as Luke's men tracked him down and threw him to the ground.

I felt a hand roughly clap my shoulder and I didn't have to look up to see who it was. The smell of alcohol and cologne did that for me. "Great job, Annie. You sure had him fooled, didn't you?"

"Go to hell, Luke," I choked. Tears were leaking from my eyes, and my heart clenched when I saw the look of utter betrayal in Jackson's eye.

Luke laughed as Jackson was dragged toward me, his green eyes dark with anger. "You were with him all along, weren't you?"

I shook my head madly, shrugging Luke's hand off my shoulder to plead to him. "I was never with him, Jackson! You know me, you know that I would never do that to you!"

Tears filled his eyes, and he thrashed against the men holding him back. "I trusted you, Chase! I fucking trusted you!"

I felt Luke's hand clench my shoulder… hard, like a reminder. If you tell him I will kill everyone you care about. A sob was choked out from my throat.

"I'm sorry."

Luke nodded to his little friends holding Jackson back when Jackson just stared at me in shock, obviously not expecting me to say that. The person he knew would fight back, and I knew that he knew that. I had to throw him off somehow.

"I hate you, Chase! I hope you rot in Hell!"

I sobbed openly after he was gone from the room, and my legs collapsed from under me. The ground was illuminated from light from the sun, taunting me. I knew that I would never again see the sky or the people I care about.

I knew this was my death sentence.

-Percy POV-

I found myself in a room that was completely white, like nothing I had seen before. I could feel anger coming off of me in waves, as I was still seething from the betrayal. I couldn't believe that after everything we had been through… she chose him.

I knew she had been acting weird after she nearly drowned, but I never expected her to go and do something like this.

It felt as though someone had taken my heart out, thrown it on the ground, and stomped on it. I felt numb, but all I could see was red. My heart hurt. My mind was reeling. My eyes were watering. And my fists were clenching.

"I fucking hate you all! You hear me? I'm going to kill you shitheads!"

The door shot open and I wasn't surprised to see Luke walk out of it. I was surprised Chase wasn't with him, but it probably wouldn't end well anyways.

"I don't believe you are in a proper position to make threats, Mr. Jackson."

I glared at him, his stupid cocky-ass smirk driving me insane. "I don't give a shit about what you think, asshole."

He merely chuckled and leaned against the wall behind him. "The feelings are mutual, Perseus. Completely mutual."

"Go to hell."

"I'm sure I will, given time."

The room lapsed into silence, and I felt immense pressure to say something. His stare was causing a tingle to go up my spine and a sensor to go off in the back of my head screaming danger. But I didn't really care. I wasn't very shocked to see that I didn't care about anything anymore.

Luke smiled for a split second, before taking a deep breath and launching himself from the wall. "You and I need to have a little talk. There's a reason why you are here, you know."

I let out an emotionless laugh. "Why, so Chase would have a play toy? S'cuse me buddy, but I don't give a rat's ass about your reasons."

Luke laughed at me, his eyes holding a wicked gleam. "It was your family, Perseus. Your father is a weak, spineless fool who never cared about anyone. No doubt why your mother must have left him. Anyways, your father did me wrong, and now I am going to take what he loves most."

"Let me guess- you kidnapped me to get to him? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, buddy, but I haven't talked to my father since I was, like, twelve."

Luke's eyes turned dark. "Don't take me for an idiot, Jackson. I know that your father doesn't care about you in comparison to the way he cares about his money. And his business."

My eyes widened. "So this was all about some business deal? What the hell?"

"Your father raped my mother and killed my father. Sure, I hated them both, but it killed me to know that he was getting away with it. I lost everything, you know. I just want your father to feel the same way."

I gulped. "And what about Chase?"

Luke's eyebrows shot up. "And what about her? She betrayed you, didn't she? She always seemed to be stuck in the crossfire, though. She sure did the wise thing in the end and joined me."

Anger flared up in my bones at his words. "Fuck you."

A finger came to his jaw, and he started to mock a thinking gesture. "Oh, and look at what I have here! Annabeth isn't the only girl I have now, is she? Oh, no, no… I have someone that I think would rather hold an interest to you."

My eyes widened and I sunk back into the chair as a video started to play on the wall behind Luke. A girl with fiery red hair was being restrained in a chair with a gun pointed to her head. Her green eyes were wide and a terrified look that didn't belong there was plastered on her face.

"No."

Luke laughed. "It looks like you have a choice to make, Mr. Jackson. You either stay here with Annabeth, who is awaiting you back in your quarters, or you go and free your beloved Rachel. But may I point out, Mr. Jackson, that this is a choice. I sure hope you do make the right one."

I looked up at Luke with wide but confident eyes. "There isn't a choice to make."

Luke clapped his hands, and the video stopped playing. "So you are making a decision?"

"Well, save Rachel or stay with the traitor, what do you think?"

Luke smiled deceivingly. "I don't know. I'm not one to make assumptions."

I glared at him, not exactly happy to have to voice what I want to do. As much as I hated Chase for betraying me, there was something between us that I couldn't place. I still cared for her, but Rachel… well, she was Rachel.

"I chose Rachel."

Luke's smile turned evil. "Good."

It all went dark.