Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 13: To the North and Into the Deep
En-route to Alaska
Annabeth's POV
We made it to the airport without Thalia and Clarisse killing each other, so that was a plus. We boarded the plane without any distractions, we made sure to put our weapons in our checked in luggage so as not to cause a scene at airport security. Although the mist would usually disguise our weapons; the problem was the mist sometimes would make them look like guns. So we always needed to be careful going through security lines. We boarded our plane and took our seats. The flight was long, but I was glad that we had a nonstop flight to Anchorage, Alaska. We had a very smooth flight, so we all thanked Zeus for that. I guess it helped that we had a daughter of Zeus onboard. Thalia and I sat together and that left poor Malcolm with Clarisse. After several hours of the flight Clarisse and Malcolm seemed to get along well enough. Clarisse slept for most of the flight while Malcolm was glued to the window of the plane. It was his first plane ride and I knew that he was excited to say the least. After eight hours of flying we approached Anchorage and flew in over the Cooke Inlet, the water was a beautiful blue and led directly to the city. The plane veered to the east and landed on the runway roughly. As I looked around all I could see were snow capped mountains that surrounded the city and thus the airport. We waited as our plane taxied to the airport, I couldn't take my eyes off the beautiful scenery. The mountains in Alaska were huge everything here seemed bigger than life. We finally arrived at the airport and disembarked. As we walked through the beautiful airport with its museum quality wildlife displays and Native American artifacts I stopped in front of a huge glass window and stared out toward the beautiful mountains before me. The mountains were snow capped with the most beautiful white color that looked so pure and clean just like Olympian marble. The mountains were a mix of grays, blacks and browns, but the most striking color was green, it was a beautiful dark green that reminded me of Percy's eyes when he was worried or full of apprehension. This color made me feel the same way, I reflected on the task ahead and the dangers we would face. I didn't hear or see Clarisse as she walked up next to me.
"Beautiful aren't they?" Clarisse said with awe in her voice. I never heard her sound this way before.
"They're incredible." I said. "You've seen them before I take it?"
Clarisse smiled and said, "I've done more than look at them, actually I climbed McKinley before with my uncle." I looked at her amazed.
"I'm glad you volunteered to join us, let's go we need to catch up with the others." I said as I smiled at her. Clarisse smiled in return and we ran to catch up with Thalia and Malcolm. We reached them at the baggage gate. We waited a few minutes for our luggage and then ran to the basement of the airport and rented a Nissan Pathfinder. Thalia road shotgun and I drove. We started the several hour trip north that would take us to Denali National Park, there we would rent climbing equipment and prepare for the arduous ascent up the slopes of Mount McKinley.
"O.K. Annabeth since we have a few hours to drive you can tell us the plan." Thalia said.
"Which plan, Thals?" I asked. Thalia gave me a dirty look.
"You know exactly which plan I'm talking about brain." Thalia said incredulously.
"How are we going to take out the drakon?" I asked rhetorically.
"Of course, so spill it." Thalia said eloquently as usual. I felt Malcolm and Clarisse's eyes on the back of my head I knew they were curious as well. I took out a special whistle that I received from Daedalus many years ago and a small crystal. I handed both of them to Thalia. Thalia looked at both items in complete bewilderment.
"What's this for?" Thalia asked completely confused.
"Hold the crystal in one hand and then blow the whistle." I said. Thalia held the crystal in her left hand and then she used her right hand to bring the whistle to her mouth. She blew the whistle and suddenly the crystal began to vibrate and then it suddenly shattered into a million pieces. Everyone's eyes grew big.
"You're going to shatter the drakon?" Thalia asked skeptically.
"Yes, Chiron said that the drakon can turn into a crystal form of ice and that gave me the idea, we can use the whistle to reach the correct frequency to shatter the crystal.
"One problem with that plan brain, what if the drakon doesn't want to turn into its crystal form?" Thalia asked. I looked at her and smiled.
"He'll want to believe me. I have a plan." I said. Thalia was about to ask me what it was, but I gave her a look that said you'll find out soon enough. After several uneventful hours of driving we reached the park entrance. We stopped at the visitor's center and looked around. The place was huge and gave us a chance to look around. We walked through the nature center portion of the visitor's center. The center was beautiful, there were exhibits on all the animals within the park such as moose, elk, deer, bear, etc. Then we all walked up to an exhibit on Mount McKinley itself. The mountain was huge and we reviewed the exhibit, which explained the geology of the mountain and discussed the number of brave souls who climbed it. I eventually separated from my friends and walked outside near one of the observation decks. I looked out over the park. The trees were a beautiful dark green that stretched out as far as the eye could see. I looked up at the mountains and concentrated on McKinley. The visitor's center was on the wrong side of the mountain to see the area of the forge, but I could imagine that the terrain was similar to what I saw. I worried about Thalia because of the heights. The slopes of the mountain were very steep. I hope she'll be all right because we can't afford to have her freak out halfway up the mountain. I looked back at the forest that surrounded the mountain and I kind of blanked out for a moment because suddenly I was no longer in Alaska, I was back at camp in the infirmary. I was looking through someone else's eyes and I realized it was Percy. Then I was walking into the Poseidon cabin and as I opened the door and walked in I saw Percy sitting in a chair looking directly at me.
"Where am I?" I asked. Percy looked directly at me and smiled that crooked grin that I loved.
"I think it's obvious even for me wise girl, you're in a dream, my dream to be exact." Percy said.
"How is that possible?" I asked. Percy again looked at me and gave me his patented smile again.
"The coma is magical and allows me to project my thoughts and in this case dreams to those that I'm closest too." Percy said. Then I remembered what Chiron and Mr. D said and then everything made more sense.
"How does it feel?" I asked curiously.
"The coma you mean?" Percy asked.
"Of course, the coma seaweed brain." I said. Percy chuckled a little to himself.
"I miss the nickname. The coma feels weird. I can sometime see into the infirmary, but other times all I can do is here voices. It surprises me how many people have come in to talk to me. Mostly I feel trapped within my mind, so I try to get out, most times I'm flying over the world and this has allowed me to see things such as the drakon you're about to face. I know you have a plan, so I'm not worried about the drakon. I am worried about inside the forge. I can't tell you what's in there, but I know it is incredibly dangerous." Percy said. I looked at him and smiled.
"Worried about me are you?" I asked. Percy's smile was gone and a determined and serious look replaced it.
"Always, please be careful wise girl. Don't let Clarisse or Malcolm do anything rash, it will only lead to trouble." Percy said.
"I won't they'll behave or I'll kick their butts." I said with a grin. Percy began to laugh and it felt so good to hear that.
"I miss you terribly Percy." I said as I started to tear up. Percy walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me and held me as I cried into his shirt. It felt so real, I could smell the ocean that always wafted off of Percy and I could feel the warmth that always radiated from him. After a few minutes he separated us, but he held onto my shoulders as he looked into my eyes.
"Wise girl you're going to succeed I can feel it. You are the bravest person I know, you will save me. Don't worry, do your best as always and you will win. I love you." Percy said as he kissed me. I could feel the electricity through the kiss and the love that always poured out of him.
I felt a tug on my arm and suddenly the dream dissolved and when I opened my eyes I was staring into the electric blue eyes of Thalia Grace.
"Annie are you o.k.?" Thalia asked. I blinked a few times and shook my head.
"I'm fine I just had a daydream and it was from Percy." I said still somewhat groggy from the daydream.
"He sent you a dream while you were awake?" Thalia asked in disbelief.
"Yes, he told me that we could do this and that we needed to keep Clarisse and Malcolm from doing anything rash. He also said that there is more danger in the forge than outside." I stated as I recounted my discussion with Percy.
"We'll make sure those two stay out of trouble, let's go I'm tired and we have a big day tomorrow." Thalia said. We walked back into the visitor's center collected Clarisse and Malcolm. We drove a few miles until we reached the park lodge. We parked the truck and went inside. Malcolm and I shared a room while Thalia and Clarisse shared the other one. I heard a knock on our hotel room door I walked over and answered it. A hotel employee was there with a large package on a cart. I signed for it and the man left it in our room. Once the man left, Malcolm walked over to the package to inspect it.
"Do you know what this is?" Malcolm asked as he inspected the package. I looked at him and smiled. The package was three feet long and about four feet wide.
"Go ahead, open it." I said matter-of-factly. Malcolm opened the box and gasped when he saw what was inside. Sitting in rows of four were sixteen bottles filled with Greek fire.
"So that's you're plan to get the drakon to change into its crystal form." Malcolm said. I could tell that he was happy with himself for figuring it out.
"Yes, it will work as long as we can hit it several times with the fire and hold out against its attacks." I said. Malcolm looked at me and nodded. I could tell he was thinking of the fight tomorrow. I was confident we could beat the drakon. I was more worried about what Percy told me about the dangers of the forge. What could they be?
In the depths of the North Atlantic onboard the submersible the Albany
Chris's POV
"Chris, status report?" Stephen asked. I looked over the controls and deciphered the readouts. I've reviewed these controls so much that they now seemed like an extension of my own mind.
"Everything checks out normal, current depth three thousand feet." I stated.
"Good, Albany to Empire State, continue with coordinate transfer." Stephen said. The coordinates were relayed to my controls and I forwarded them to Stephen. "Gottem, we're on our way, full speed ahead." The Albany increased speed and we could hear the electric engines hum and we surged forward at the boats top speed ten knots. I heard Chris turn off his radio so I did the same. "Do you think they'll keep their end of the bargain?"
"I doubt it we can only hope that the delay in getting these bombs recovered will allow sufficient time for help to arrive." I said.
"Look Chris, I know we're not friends, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry about Percy. He was a good sub pilot and a good guy based on what I knew of him." Stephen said.
"Hey, you're the upper classmen so don't worry about it, you're supposed to give us a hard time, not be our friends. Percy was a good friend, I still can't believe he's gone, so thanks for the sympathy." I said. It was nice of Stephen to tell me that, I just wish he was wrong. I just wish that Percy was still alive. I saw a light flash on the communications readout. "They're trying to contact us." Stephen turned the radios back on.
"This is the Albany, go ahead." Stephen said.
"Good, we thought the radio was out." The lead pirate known as Shaw said.
"No, we went through a thermal sometimes that plays havoc with the communications." Stephen lied.
"What is you're ETA to the target, sea kids?" Shaw demanded. I really hate that bastard.
"Fifteen minutes." Stephen said.
"Good, tell us when you get there and hurry it up." Shaw ordered. This guy really is a jack ass.
Fifteen minutes later we spotted the wreckage of the naval transport plane in about three thousand two hundred feet of water. Stephen lowered the dorsal planes and the sub submerged to the correct depth. We slowly approached the plane and I used the robot arms to tear a hole in the side of the plane's fuselage that was large enough for the submersible to enter. Stephen carefully and expertly maneuvered the sub into the plane. The massive transport was easily large enough for the Albany to move freely. I turned on a radiation meter that was attached to the subs sensor array and suddenly I picked up a reading near the tail of the plane. Stephen moved the sub to the rear of the plane. I turned on a spot light and looked around the interior. The inside of the plane was littered with debris, but I noticed three large crates attached to the floor by tie downs. The sub approached the crates and I moved the light so that it was directly above the three crates I intensified the light so we could read the labels on the boxes.
"Albany to Empire State, come in." Stephen said.
"Go ahead Albany." Shaw said clearly annoyed that we didn't call earlier.
"We found the plane and we found the three crates." Stephen said.
"Good, we need you to take the torpedo first it is in the blue crate." Shaw ordered.
"Will do, Albany out." Stephen said. I maneuvered the robotic arm and used the cutting hand to cut the tie downs. I then used the arms to grab each end of the crate securely and then the arms lifted the crate. Once the crate was off the ground I maneuvered it onto the hull of the sub. I had created a platform that included a strap. I used the arms to lay the crate on the platform then I used the robotic hand to move the strap over the crate and then secured the strap to the underside of the platform. "Albany to Empire State, come in."
"Albany we read you." Shaw said.
"The crate is secure we are on our way back to you." Stephen said. We only had room for one crate at a time. Stephen moved us easily out of the plane and we headed back to the Empire State. One bomb down three to go, I hope help arrives soon because we're dead once all three bombs have been recovered.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I wonder why the pirates wanted the torpedo first? ETA stands for Estimated Time of Arrival, if you didn't know already. Also, people keep asking about the pearl and the crystals and why can't Zeus or another god help. Remember it is expressly prohibited for a god to enter another's realm and special permission is needed to use powers there, unfortunately the pearl prevents Poseidon from giving his permission. Also, there will be a surprise in the next chapter regarding the pearl as well, what is it? Wait and see!