Chapter 10
"Percy!" Jake called behind me.
I turned to look at him. "What's up?"
"Chiron is having a meeting at the Big House," Jake panted. "He wants you to be there."
Sighing, I took my feet out of the cool water, and walked up to Jake. My life was going downhill fast. Luke was trying to take over my body, Annabeth was in an unknown location, and worst of all, I was starting to look like Luke! Hey, Luke's voice snapped in my head.
What? I snapped back. I don't want to look like you!
Silence. Luke didn't answer me. He was really starting to get on my nerves. It's bad enough, that he had tried to kill more than once, but now he wanted to take over my freaking body! It wasn't my fault he made crapy choices in his life. Or that Hermes ignored him. None of it was my fault, but somehow I still got blamed. "Percy," Chiron greeted me. "How are you feeling?"
"Great," I muttered.
Thalia stood in the corner, back against the wall. Nico flexed his shoulder where the bullet had been. Clarisse, Chris, Pollux, and Katie sat at a table. Travis and Connor were arming weastling. "So," I said. "What's this meeting about?"
"Well, we're looking for the location Annabeth was taken to," Katie shrugged.
"Yep," Travis grunted. "We're not going to give up. We'll find Annabeth!"
After saying that Connor slamed Travis's hand on the table, "I win!"
"So this meeting is about us coming up with another plan," Clarisse said.
I bit my lip, remembering Luke trying to take over my body. There was no telling when the process would be complete. He could and probably would hurt all my friends. "Sorry, guys, but I'm going alone when you find the location," I told them firmly.
"What?" Pollux asked.
"I'm going alone," I repeated. "It's too dangerous. I don't want any of you to get hurt."
"That's a load of bull!" Clarisse protested. "Why should you have to go alone?"
"It's myfault they took Annabeth. I was the one who wasn't strong enough to protect her," I said.
"Percy, we're not going to let you go alone," Thalia growled.
"Look, whatever the Demigod Hunters are planning involves you, Nico, and me," I snapped. "If they get all three of us, who knows what their planning to do."
Thalia looked like she was going to punch my face. Clarisse slapped my face. "What the hell was that for?" I yelled.
"Stop being a hero," she said.
"What?"
"Stop acting like you're the only one who can save Annabeth," Clarisse snapped. "Don't act like we're helpless or that we need you to protect us from everything."
I fought the feeling to punch Clarisse. "You're NOT going. End of story," I said and stormed out of the room.
Footsteps came from behind me. I uncaped Backbiter and pointed it at their throat, "Don't follow me, Thalia."
"How'd you know it was me?"
I ignored her and kept walking, but still held Backbiter. "Percy, seriously, what's wrong?" Thalia came up beside me.
"Nothing," I lied.
Thalia asked me the same question again. My hair blew in the wind. Instead of black hair, a strand of blonde hair took its place. "Oh, gods," Thalia said. "What's happening to you, Percy?"
"If I tell you will you shut up?" I asked.
Thalia nodded.
"Alright, Luke is trying to take over my body," I told her. "See this strand of blond hair? I'm basically turning into him."
"What?"
"When I got the scar on my face, it was just one step closer to me becoming Luke."
Thalia was in shock. "How is that even possible?"
"I guess, part of his soul was still in Backbiter," I shrugged.
Putting Backbiter back in my pocket, I walked to my cabin. When I opened my door, the demigod we rescued was sitting on my bunk. He stood up and held out his hand. "Hey, I'm Josh. You helped rescue me from the subway."
"Nice to uh...meet you. I'm Percy," I said pushing pass him and I starting looking for Annabeth's lab top.
"I'm a son of Hermes, or at least that's what the Demigod Hunters told me," Josh went on. "It was really cool how you blew up the subway tunnel. Do you do that kind of stuff on every quest?"
"Not always," I replied.
"Is it true that you killed Luke Castellan?" Josh asked.
I didn't answer him. He repeated the question. I whirled around and pinned him to the cabin wall. "Whoa!" Josh yelped.
I pressed Backbiter to his throat. "I didn't kill Luke, he killed himself. All I did was give him the knife. He killed himself so the rest of humanity could survive. Why do you want to know anyway?"
"Well-I uh, before he died-I was supose to join the titans, but he died before I could join them," Josh said.
Ah, I remember this kid, Luke said.
"Shut up," I muttered.
"What?" Josh asked.
"It's nothing," I lied. "I just need to be alone for awhile."
I backed away from Josh. He opened my cabin door and left. I sat on my bunk and laid Backbiter next to me. Annabeth's lab top was on the floor in front of me. I picked it up and sat it on my lab. My hands trembled as I lifted the lid. I double clicked on the internet and typed in "John Martin". Some websites popped up. One of the websites said that you could buy John Martins on Ebay. Why does it always say you can buy stuff on Ebay and you can't? I found a website that said, "John Martin: Demigod Hunters"; I clicked on it. A blog popped up, something had been posted a day ago.
Hello, my fellow Demigod Hunters. A few days ago one of my
labs was destroyed in an explosion. So to replace it, I was
bought a castle in the Himalayas. I know what your all thinking;
Why buy a castle in the Himalayes? Well, it's in isolation so
no will be able to get to it without a plane. Only my employers
know its location. I will say this, we are getting close to
our goal my fellow Demigod Hunters, Percy Jackson
will be coming after his girlfriend. It is only a matter of
time before we get our hands on him.
-John M.
P.S. If Percy Jackson is reading this right now, I would like to say that, your friend, Annabeth, won't last long in this horribly cold weather. I'd hurry if I were you.
My heart seemed to stop. The Himalayes? Every cell in my body screamed it was a trap, but I knew I had to go anyway. They wanted me isolated, away from big cities, from my friends. I was I going to get there? A plane's wings might freeze and I wasn't going to help Annabeth if I was dead. I couldn't help her if I didn't know where she was. I typed in "Castle in Himalayes". A site popped up and said there was one in to the east. Well, at least now I had an idea where she was. But there was no way, I could tell my friends. They'd just follow me.
When night came I crept to the Pegasus Stables. Yo, boss! Blackjack stomped his hooves excitedly.
"Hey," I whispered. "Can I ask you for a favor?"
Uh, depends what is it? Blackjack asked nervously.
"Annabeth was taken by these Demigod Hunters and they moved her location to the Himalayes, so I need a ride to get to the castle their keeping her at."
H-Himalayes? Mountains? Ice? Cold? I don't like the cold, boss, but...if your sure that's where she is, then sure I'll take you.
I smiled and told him, "When we get back, I give you anything you want to eat for a week."
In minutes we were up in the night sky heading for the Himalayes.