Chapter 23
"Annabeth," Percy whispered, staring straight at her. "Your eyes."
"My… my eyes?" Her voice was hoarse and rough, as if she had been on cigarettes since the age of six. Percy knelt down next to her.
"They're gray," he said, horrified. Her eyes had changed color. And not just a slight shade adjustment, either. They were like storm clouds, boring into him with all of the fierceness that Annabeth possessed. Where was the icy blue that had surveyed him so often? What had happened?
She closed her eyes. "Annabeth?" he said, panicked, shaking her slightly. "Annabeth, wake up!"
She didn't give any sign that she had heard. Her breathing rapidly became shallow and raucous, and she was struggling to draw in the little oxygen that was left in the room.
Percy coughed violently, trying to stay as low to the ground as possible, like he had learned to during his elementary school's fire prevention week. He knew he had to get Annabeth out of the flame's wake. She had been in here much longer than she had. But how had she found him? He had thought that he was standing by himself, trying to get through a flaming doorway, when she had appeared out of nowhere next to him.
Very slowly, he put one arm under her back and one arm under her knees. He straightened up stiffly, internally groaning at the extra weight that Annabeth provided. Just narrowly avoiding bashing her head against a charred portion of wall, he did his best to carry her down the first flight of stairs. "Come on, Ghost Girl," he choked, keeling over in the heat. "I'm trying, so you have to try too. Keep breathing!"
A hole in the wall presented itself to Percy. He knew it had been there long before the fire, the result of extensive neglect, and it seemed untouched by the flames. Were Percy not fighting to escape with his life and Annabeth's still intact, he would have marveled at how quickly the fire had spread, covering most of the mansion. The wood must have been dried out. And the gasoline would have helped too, idiot, he thought angrily.
Holding Annabeth sideways, he edged through the hole gingerly, holding his breath. First floor. They were on the first floor. He had lost track in the maze of infernos, but here they were. He jumped down, and another alarming thought flashed across his mind. How would he get her back to his house without alerting the villagers of her presence? Now that she was out of danger (well, immediate danger, anyways), he couldn't reveal her existence to them.
He crept around the side of the house, Annabeth still in tow, and peered around the corner. To his shock, most of the villagers were gone. Sally and Paul were out there, and so was the Police Chief, Janus Deuxtetes, who was looking extremely miffed. Janus was forcing people away from the house, as well as complaining to Sally about how he called her in the middle of a very important game of poker.
Percy decided to take his chances. If anyone would see them, it would be Janus. And he might not look towards the house. Percy had a sudden idea.
He set Annabeth down onto the grassy ground a good ten feet away from the house. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and pressed the speed-dial 4, shoving it up to his ear. Pick up, he urged. Pick up, pick up, pick up! On the other side of the house, he could see Sally digging out her phone and answering it.
"Percy?! Where are you? Where's Annabeth? What's going on –"
"Get Janus to look the other way," he hissed into the microphone.
"What? Why –"
"I have to get Annabeth back to the house without him seeing!"
"Percy, Janus practically has two heads. He tricks people, not the other way around! There's no way I can-"
"Just try. Please. For Annabeth!"
Percy quickly hung up, praying that his mother would think of something. He heard her shout "Over there!" before he picked up Annabeth and sprinted. He didn't dare look back at the scene at the top of the hill. He just kept running.
Soon, he was in front of the back door. He kicked open the screen and lifted Annabeth inside, placing her on the couch in the living room. "Okay, think Percy, think," he muttered, pulling at his hair and pacing next to the couch.
"Percy!" Both Sally and Paul burst into the kitchen. They rushed over to the couch. "My gods, what happened?" whispered Sally, sounding utterly horrified.
"She was caught in the fire." Percy tried to explain, but it felt like his chest was tightening up. "I – I tried –" He begn to cough violently again, and Sally's eyes widened. She spun around to face the kitchen and spotted Tyson, who was cowering in the door frame, looking extremely disgruntled.
"Tyson, get me a glass of water," she instructed. Her arms gripped Percy's shoulders and sat him down on one of the armchairs next to the chair. "I'll get a wet dishcloth. Paul, can you –"
"I'll call an ambulance," Paul said, whipping his phone out of his pocket. Sally stiffened and straightened up.
"I don't think that's a good idea," she said hesitantly.
Paul stared at her incredulously. "Sally, Percy's coughing his throat to shreds, and Annabeth's unconscious. We don't even know what's wrong with her! She could be –"
"No," croaked Percy, getting his voice under control so he could speak. He ran a soot-covered hand through his unruly hair. His arms had started to ache long ago, but the subject of Annabeth had brought back the straining sting he had received from carrying Annabeth. His breathing was ragged, and his lungs felt like they were going to burst. "Listen. Something… something happened in there. I'm not sure what it was, but one minute, she was four floors above me, and the next she just sort of appeared at my," He coughed again here, "side. When she opened her eyes, they… they weren't – normal," he finished lamely.
"What do you mean, 'normal'?" questioned Paul, who had lowered the phone from his ear, but was still gripping it so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
Percy took a deep breath. "Her eyes changed."
Sally was regarding him in confusion. She picked her way over to where Annabeth lay and bent down. She slowly lifted up one of Annabeth's eyelids. Her eyes were mostly rolled into the back of her head, but the irises were still visible enough to deduce the stormy gray they had become.
Sally jumped back in horror, knocking into the coffee table as she did so, and causing the vase that was set upon to crash to the floor. No one seemed to care. "Her eyes are gray!" she gasped. "Was that – did she wear contacts and never tell us?"
Percy shifted uncomfortably. "I saw her a few minutes before the fire started. Her eyes were as blue as anything. But… maybe she just took them off?"
Paul was wearing a doubtful expression. "That still doesn't settle the matter of taking her to the hospital," he pointed out.
Tyson appeared, clutching a glass of water in his trembling hands. Most of the water that had presumably been in the cup when he filled it was now a trail of droplets from the kitchen sink to the chair. "Thank you, Tyson," said Sally, and she lifted the glass to Percy's lips. He snatched it away from her irritably. He wasn't the one passed out on the sofa, here!
"Paul, think about it," said Sally. "If we take her to the hospital, people will want information. They'll want to know where she leaves, who her legal guardian is, and – possibly – a birth certificate."
Paul looked conflicted, his hand that held the cell phone half way up to his ear. Percy hastily swallowed the water and stood up. "Maybe we should wait," he suggested. "Just a little while, at least. Maybe 24 hours. Then, if she isn't awake, we should take her to the hospital. Her life matters more than her identity, but…" Percy once again ran his hands through his hair. "If we take her to the hospital when she's fine, she'll never forgive us."
Eh. Not my favorite chapter, but it had to happen.
Theme song! It is for Percy and Annabeth (haha. Surprise!)
Hey There Delilah by the Plain Whtie T's
(Or as we like to call it, Hey There Annabeth) Special thanks to Flameon88 for the theme song!
So, just out of curiosity, does anyone who doesn't know the lyrics to the theme song ever go look them up?
-Rebel