Chapter 6: Poison
Percy held Leo in place from behind as they soared through the air a thousand feet off the ground. He dipped his fingers in his water bottle and touched the wound. It was helping to hold off the poison, but it wasn't permanent. He cursed silently, looking up, hoping they would reach Asclepius in time.
Festus was lagging under the weight of so many passengers. Leo drove, while Piper was trying to figure out how to fly the dragon, while sat behind her. Leo was in front of Percy, and Annabeth was behind him.
For some reason, that made Percy really nervous. Something about her messed with his head. To be honest, part of him was scared of her. He had not a single clue why (well, maybe a little) but that was how it was. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on keeping Leo alive. "Where are we?" he asked Piper.
Annabeth was the one who answered, though. "I'm pretty sure we just passed over Jefferson City." She said. Percy cursed loudly, causing a small choking noise to come from Piper.
"That's only halfway!" He said, pounding his thigh with his fist. "He's running out of time. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep him alive."
"Why do you care so much?" Luke said angrily, turning to face him. "What made you do this for us?"
Percy stared him down. "If only you knew." He said softly. Luke looked like he was about to say more, but just then, Piper spoke up.
"I would try to press for more speed, but Festus already seems strained to his limit. Besides, I don't think he'll stay in air long." She shot a withering look at Luke, who silenced with a look on his face like he'd just taken a bite of a thirty-pound lemon. Annabeth shifted behind Percy, making him uncomfortably aware of how close she was.
""If he's going to be saved, we might need to lighten the load." Percy muttered to himself, bringing another stream of water to Leo's wound. "If only Arion were here…."
"I heard you mention him to the Amazons. Who is he?" Annabeth asked him.
"A horse." He could almost see her blink in surprise. "One that can run at super-sonic speeds and has a really bad addiction to cussing." She made a small sound in the back of her throat.
"A horse." She repeated blankly.
"Yep." He responded.
"Runs at super-sonic speeds and has a cussing problem?"
Percy frowned. "Isn't that what I just said?" he said.
"It's just…" she faltered, thinking of the right thing to say. "I don't…know of many horses…that can do that." She finished.
"Neither do I. He's special. By the way, if you ever meet him, be nice. If you're mean, he'll call you a lot of names, consider you a horse-racist, and try to kill you."
"Horse-racist?" Piper choked.
"Apparently all regular mortals are an example." Percy said matter-of-factly.
"Great. Not only is he a stalker and a potential traitor, he's also completely insane." Luke muttered, too quiet for most people to hear. But Percy's face hardened.
"Watch your tongue, dead weight. I'm not nearly as far gone as you might think." He warned.
"Dead weight!?" Luke exclaimed, twisting to face him with a hand on his sword hilt. "Listen to me, fish-breath. I've done more things than you could ever dream of. I've fought Titans, slain the Minotaur, killed Medusa, and saved the gods from the lord of time. Don't you go calling me dead weight!"
Percy tried and failed to raise his eyebrow. "Oh really. Have you fought an entire pod of sea serpents with your bare-hands? Have you killed two sun dragons single-handedly? Did you fight both of Medusa's sisters-twice- and win both times? Did you hunt down an entire clan of Laistrygonians and kill every last one? Did you save North Carolina from a couple of massive, blood-thirsty drakons? Well, I have. I seem to have done more dangerous stuff, put my life in danger more than you ever will. How many times have you nearly gotten killed to save someone else? Because so far, I'm starting to think you'd rather let them die to save your own skin!" He hadn't realized he was yelling until he fell silent. Everyone had stopped whatever they had been doing and was staring at him in shock, mouths hanging open. Luke looked about ready to explode. Leo shifted about, muttering in pain, and Percy temporarily healed him again.
"Listen here, Percy." Luke practically spat his name. "I don't care how many monsters you've killed. I was the one who killed Kronos! I fought at Manhattan! I was the one who saved the gods and the world!"
"But did you do it because you had to?" Percy wondered aloud. Luke's face colored, and his fist clenched so tight Percy thought he might pop a vein or three.
"Of course I did! I wouldn't let the world fall into ruin if I could do anything about it!" he snarled.
Percy had a gut feeling that he was lying. "It seems to me that so far on this quest, you almost got killed by the North Wind-probably because he knew how much of a jerk you are- you got knocked out by the Cyclops, and I'm pretty sure that was you who stood back from the Chimera while Amazons and the others here almost died to keep that thing contained." Luke's face paled, though whether from anger or fear Percy couldn't tell. "And you weren't the only one who had a hand in the battle at Manhattan. I fought off a huge swarm of monsters coming in from the Bronx. While most of the Titan's army was centered in attacking the Empire State Building, I destroyed a company of monsters coming in as reinforcements. Therefore, even though I didn't know it, I saved your life!" Luke opened and closed his mouth several times, not a sound coming out. "So yeah, I think I will stick with dead weight." Percy finished. He then went back to healing Leo.
The next half-hour passed in silence. Piper kept on regarding him shrewdly, looking back over her shoulder from time to time. Luke stared at the sky ahead of them, back straight as an iron rod. And Annabeth…Percy could feel her eyes drilling into his back throughout the whole ride. He didn't think they even blinked. Oh yeah, and Leo tossed and turned, trying not to die, completely oblivious to the entire world. Fun.
About two more hours later, Leo moaned loudly, nearly rolling off of Festus's back. Percy took the last bit of water he had and held it to Leo's wound, but he didn't quiet. Instead, he began to groan louder, rolling around in front of Percy. Percy swore. "Are we almost there? We're running out of time! I think the poison is finally reached his heart."
Piper looked back at him, face showing worry. "You see those lights? That's Wichita. We've almost made it!" She urged Festus to go a bit faster, and he obeyed. Within a few seconds, they were flying over the city.
"There." Percy said, pointing to a tall building. Luke frowned uneasily. There was a vacant helicopter pad on the roof, on which Festus stopped. They climbed off as quickly as they could, taking Leo and brining them to the door that led down deeper into the tower. They walked for a bit down a cold hallway before coming to a door. Piper opened it a crack and peered out, but apparently she didn't see anything bad, because she stepped out. Percy and Luke, who held Leo, followed.
They continued down a set of stairs-nearly dropping Leo to the first floor when he gave a violent shudder. "Come on, come on." Percy muttered to himself. The opened another doorway and found themselves in a long hallway full of offices.
"You!" a high-pitched, nasal voice exclaimed. They turned to see a middle-aged man rushing towards them, looking not happy whatsoever. "Nope! No way! Not happening! No demigods allowed on through the helipad doors! What happened to security?" He reached a finger to the earpiece in his ear, tapping it a few times. "Hello? Security? Yes, I have a- no, Caleb, I'm not reporting in another squirrel attack. And please, those things had rabies! Anyway, we have some intruders who came in- no; it isn't the pizza guy again! A bunch of demigods came in through the…shut up! You know what? I'll deal with it myself!" Removing the finger, he began to regard the group, looking them up and down.
"Please, sir, we need you to tell us where Asclepius is. Our friend is dying from Chimera poison." Piper pleaded.
The man frowned at Leo. "Yes dear, I'm well aware of what a Chimera wound looks like. And by the way, at this rate, I'd say your friend has about…oh, ten minutes or so left to live." He said, discarding the matter almost immediately. Piper choked. Percy, growing nervous, tried to step behind Luke and Annabeth.
"Well, are you going to help us?" Piper asked. The man regarded Leo shrewdly.
"Maybe. It depends on who you are, and whether or not Asclepius is in a good mood." He said. Percy turned to get a look at the incredibly interesting blank wall behind them.
Too late. "Oh, no you don't." the man practically screeched. "Percy Jackson, please tell me you weren't stupid enough to come back here!" Piper choked again, and the others looked at him with wide eyes.
Percy winced. "Uh…you must have the wrong guy." He said, lowering his voice in attempt to disguise it. It didn't work.
"I cannot believe you had the nerve to come back here after what you did the last time!" the man yelled.
"Look, Mikel, I already told you I didn't mean-." Percy began, but Mikel cut him off rudely. And loudly.
"Caleb!" he yelled into his earpiece. "Security breach! Percy Jackson is back! No, it isn't the same pizza guy, it's the real deal! Get security down here NOW!" Percy uncovered his ears.
"Well, you haven't changed a bit." He grumbled. Mikel was still fuming at him, arms crossed. "Nice to see you too, dude."
Mikel looked about ready to jump up and down on his earpiece. "Why in the name of Zeus almighty have you come back here?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"Oh, you know, I just got a quest from Athena to watch over these demigods because they're on an unbelievably important quest to save the world and all. I see you repaired the hole I blew up last time. And the rest of the building." Percy said nonchalantly.
"You're name is…Percy Jackson?" Annabeth said weakly. Percy nodded, leaning up against the wall. Around the corner came four metal men, each armed with swords. Percy whistled.
"I see you also took the opportunity to step up security." Percy said, regarding the automatons.
"Kick him out."
Line Break
Annabeth watched the boy- Percy- get picked up by the four automatons and bundled through the door back up the helipad. "Put me down!" he yelled. "I'll blow this place up again!" They just kept moving.
Mikel turned to face them, face grim. "So…" Piper said slowly as Percy's shouts faded down the hallway. Finally, they heard a door open and an annoyed, "Hey!" before the automatons came back down the hall. "Can you help us now?" Mikel looked at them with narrowed.
"No." he said. Piper began to protest, but he held up his hand. "But I will take you to see Asclepius." He turned and led them through the maze of offices until they came to a very large one with Dr. Asclepius written on it. "Through here." He said, opening the door. A man looked up from behind a writing desk, pen dropping from his hand. "Is now a good time, sir?" Mikel asked.
The man sighed and stood. "When is it ever?" he asked, his voice sounding a remarkable lot like Apollo's. "Who are these people?" he asked.
Piper stepped forward. "I am Piper. This is Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." She said. Was it Annabeth's imagination, or did Luke tighten when Piper named his father?
"And who's the one with the Chimera venom a few minutes away from killing him?" he asked.
"Oh, right. That would be Leo, son of Hephaestus." Piper said. "Would you do us a favor and heal him?"
Asclepius regarded them emotionlessly. "First, you'll have to tell me how you demigods got here and why you're here." He said. So Piper explained it. It only took two minutes or so to explain, but Annabeth was actually sweating by the time Piper finished. Leo looked like a nightmare.
Asclepius waved his hand and Leo gasped, sitting bolt upright and eyes opening wide. From his shoulder, a strange, purple vapor emerged. Asclepius waved his hand again, and the vapor disappeared into a glass vial. Leo sat there, clutching his shoulder and looking at them, confused. "What the…what happened?" he asked, shuddering.
"Chimera poisoning. We had to fly to Kansas to make sure you didn't die." Luke said. Leo groaned.
"That explains why I fell like crap." He said, closing his eyes. Annabeth cracked a grin. Leo was back.
Asclepius was watching them intently. "Um, sir?" Annabeth asked. Asclepius nodded. "What exactly happened between you and…Percy?"
Asclepius's eyes flashed. "It's simple really. He came flying into my building with a pack of hellhounds on his tail, a good fifty or so of them. That idiot knocked over a rather explosive product, and we lost the top couple of floors. Somehow, no one got hurt. But I still am not very happy with him right now." He said.
"Oh." She said. Luke called to her.
"Annabeth, we should probably go. We still need to get to…you know." He said. She nodded.
"Sorry, Lord Asclepius, we must leave." She said. Asclepius simply slumped down at his desk, taking up his pen again.
"Follow me." Mikel said quietly.
Line Break
They found Percy on the roof of the building, arms crossed and looking quite annoyed. "'Bout time." He grumbled. Mikel regarded him warily and angrily.
"I trust I'll never have to see you here again, Mr. Jackson?" Mikel asked. Percy frowned at him.
"Screw you. I'm outta here." He said, hopping onto Festus. Mikel frowned at Percy, but before he could say anything, the rest of the demigods climbed on, and Festus was flying away.
A.N. : Hey guys! I finally figured out all of those authors' notes were actually a part of the document, so…whoops! Yeah, kind of embarrassing. Anywho, thank you for your support and your views. Sorry about taking so long to write this, I had school stuff and…well, you guys know how it is. Also, I would really like you guys to check out a new story I'll be working on for a while. It's called Wolf of the Seas, and I would appreciate it if you guys checked it out. Thanks!