Chapter 15

When light came through the cell window, I drew Backbiter. Annabeth's dream kept replaying over and over in my mind. We weren't back in the lab at Manhattan, but it could still happen. "Do you have any idea how to pick a lock?" I asked Annabeth.

She frowned. "You didn't think that far did you?"

"No..." I muttered.

Annabeth pushed me aside. "Give me Riptide."

I was about to say, "What? I thought I gave it to you." But then I remembered that it returned to my pocket in minutes. I took Riptide out and handed it to her. Annabeth stepped back and kicked the door. It flew open. "I...uh...I thought you were going to use Riptide," I said stupidly.

"Percy, this door is ancient," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "They didn't even bother to replace the locks with new ones."

"Oh."

We stepped over the door and stood in the hallway. "Annabeth, I have to do something before we leave," I said.

"Okay. Lets go," Annabeth started walking.

"No." I stopped her. "I'm going alone."

Annabeth was going to protest. "Riptide can't hurt mortals," I cut her off. "So I want you to take Backbiter instead." I took Riptide and put Backbiter in her hand. "Just try not to get caught, okay?"

She nodded grimly. Annabeth kissed my cheek. "You'd better come back, Seaweed Brain." Then she turned and ran in the other direction.

Okay, so what was I thinking when I went to go free Dr. Thorn? I was thinking: Hey, an extra hand could help. Yeah, well, it didn't go like that. When I got to the steal door, I pushed it open. Thorn was lying underneath a desert rock, curled into a ball, like a kitten taking a nap. His snoring echoed through the room. I uncapped Riptide and made my way over to Thorn. "Thorn," I hissed.

Dr. Thorn's eyes shot open. They were bloodshot from lack of sleep. A low growl came from his throat. "What do you want?" Thorn snarled.

I raised Riptide. "You want to be free or not?"

A grin spread across his face. He got out from under the rock. "You'll have to break this brace," he said.

"Can't you just, you know, turn into you true form?" I asked.

Thorn laughed bitterly. "And you don't think I've tried? If I do, I'll choke myself to death. They put this collar on me because I could take them easily in my real form. Also, so they feel like they have power over me."

Maybe I could break the brace with Riptide. I walked over to Thorn's side and raised Riptide, "I don't know if this will work."

"Do it," Thorn snapped.

I slammed Riptide on the collar. Lightning shot out from the collar. It traveled through Riptide and into my body. This time, it hurt more than the first time I got hit with the deadly lightning. I screamed. Thorn roared as the lightning traveled through his body as well. Suddenly the collar burst into light. Then the light died away and the brace was on the sand. Smoke rose from it. The pain slowly died away from my body. Thorn glanced at me. "Thanks," he panted.

I nodded. Thorn's body shifted. Lion claws sprang from his fingernails. His scorpion tail came up behind him. When the transformation was complete, he looked like a lion, with a human head, and a scorpion. Not to mention, he was bigger then a truck. His tail hit me in my chest and I hit the rock he had been laying under earlier. "Hey, what was that for?" I demanded.

When he laughed it came out as more of a hiss. "You said you'd help me," I yelled.

"I crossed my fingers," he purred.

I charged at him. But he was faster than I was and he was out the door before I even got close to him. I cursed Thorn under my breath. Thorn would have to wait. I had to find Annabeth so we could find a way out of here. I raced down the hallway. As I turned a corner, I ran into Annabeth. "What were you doing?" she demanded.

"Uh..." I didn't want to say, "Oh. I was letting Dr. Thorn free cause I thought he could help!"Annabeth would probably slap me. "No time. We need to find a way out of here."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her through the hallway. When we came close to a door, someone stepped out. It was the guy I'd fought in the subway before Travis and Connor had blown up the wall. "Jason," Annabeth muttered under her breath.

"Percy Jackson," Jason smiled. "I thought you would have escaped earlier."

Annabeth and I traded swords. Jason held a silver sword in his right hand. I raised Backbiter. Before I did anything, Jason hit his sword on Backbiter. He pushed me back. I slashed Backbiter across Jason's chest. His dark blue T-shirt ripped. "That was my favorite shirt," he muttered.

"It didn't even have anything on it. It was just blue," I said.

Jason tried to cut my arm, but the sword didn't touch me because of my Achilles had a look on his face like, "Great". Annabeth jumped on his back and wrapped his arm around his neck. Jason choked. Slowly he blacked out. "Lets move," I said.

As soon as we turned the corner, I heard a snarl. Thorn stood in the hallway tail raised. He fired a stinger and Annabeth screamed. The stinger went straight through Annabeth's left shoulder and Riptide clattered to the stone floor. "No!" I cried.

Thorn laughed coldly. I ran and slid under his head. Then I took Backbiter and shoved it straight through his brain. His laughing stopped and he made a choking sound before falling over and disappeared. "Don't reform for awhile," I growled.

Annabeth was on her knees, holding her wounded shoulder. She was losing too much blood. I ripped off my Camp Half-Blood T-shirt sleeve. Then I rapped it around her shoulder. Before I tightened it, I asked her, "You ready?"

She bit her lip and I gave her my hand. "Ready."

I tightened it and she squeezed my fingers and they started to turn blue. She didn't cry out though. I wrapped my arm around her waist and helped her stand. We didn't have time to rest. Annabeth winced. I didn't bother to pick Riptide up, it would just appear in my pocket in a few minutes. I held Backbiter in front on Annabeth. Hopefully Jason wouldn't wake up in a few hours. The castle was huge. It was like being in a maze. Finally when we turned left, there was a lab. In the front of the lab was a giant door that probably led to outside. The problem was, there were Demigod Hunters everywhere. Suddenly the door in the front of the lab burst open. Thalia, Grover, and all our other friends from camp started attacking the Demigod Hunters. Katie and Jake ran through one of the other doorways in the lab. Everyone else was fighting. Clarisse stabbed a Demigod Hunter through the chest. Thalia fired an arrow and it hit a dude in the face.

Test tubes on the tables broke as guns fired at our friends. I pulled Annabeth to my chest and ducked behind a lab table. "Percy! Annabeth!" Thalia cried happily.

A Demigod Hunter aimed a gun at us. "Percy! Catch!" Clarisse yelled and threw a watch through the air.

I grabbed the watch and strapped it to my wrist and pressed a button. The watch expanded into a shield. Bullets smashed against the shield. Then they stopped. I peered around the shield and Thalia was standing over the body of a demigod hunter. Thalia walked over to us and smacked the back of my head. "Ow!" I cried.

"Next time, don't leave without us, you jerk!" Thalia snapped.

Then she bent down and hugged Annabeth. "Annabeth, what did you do to your arm?" Thalia demanded.

"Uh..." Annabeth glanced at me. "Thorn was here, and he got free. So he shot a barb through my shoulder."

There was a huge crack! I looked around the lab table. Nico was doing his son of Hades thing. Skeletons appeared from the crack in the floor. They attacked screaming demigod hunters. I looked at Annabeth's shoulder. Blood had already soaked through the fabric. Thalia aimed her bow and fired an arrow in some guy's knee. "Since you two are here, I have to go find Katie and Jake. They're looking for you," Thalia told us.

I nodded and Thalia ran through the door Katie and Jake had ran through. Annabeth's forehead was drenched with sweat. I brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "How are you holding up?" I asked.

"Wonderful," she said sarcastically.

I smiled. "We'll be out of here soon and get you some help. Okay?"

Annabeth nodded weakly. I looked at the shield on my arm. My hair was completely blond. My right eye was blue and my left eye was green. The transformation is almost complete, Percy. Luke's image replaced mine on the shield.

I ripped the shield from my arm and threw it across the room. The sound of shattering glass filled the air. Cain had thrown Katie Garner across a lab table. Glass test tubes broke against her back. Katie fell on the ground.

Annabeth's POV

I saw Katie fall to the floor. My legs just moved. I ran to her side, as a demigod hunter took aim. Everything was happening just like my dream. But it was like I didn't have control over my actions. "No!" Percy yelled behind me.

Just as I got to Katie, a demigod hunter aimed his arrow. I shut my eyes. The arrow never hit me. When I opened my eyes, Percy was in front of me. Like in my dream, he had blocked the arrow. Blood was running down both sides of his mouth. "Percy-why would you..." I trailed off.

"Does it matter? You're alive," Percy smiled like an idiot.

He fell against my shoulder. "No!" I screamed.

Jake pulled Katie back. I wrapped my fingers around the arrow in Percy's back. He held my hand as I began to put it out. Percy groaned in pain. The arrow fell to the floor. It went through his Achilles spot. I laid his head in my lap and he smiled at me. "You're an idiot," I said, tears running down my cheeks.

Percy sat up. Before I could protest, he pressed his lips to mine. It would be the last time I would ever get to kiss Percy. The thought of Percy not being with me, scared me more than anything. Percy fell on the ground and closed his eyes. "PERCY JACKSON, DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!" I sobbed.

But it was too late. Percy was already gone.