THE TRIALS
PERCY
Water has always been my outlet. Whenever I needed to be at peace or get over something I would go to the museum or the pool on our roof. As soon as we returned, I headed up to the pool without a word. It's too hard to tell your friends that someone close to them has died. I popped my head above the surface to see Annabeth sitting at one end of the pool with her feet in the water. I swam over and sat next to her.
"Percy, you need to get your head in the game." Annabeth said.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked confused. She faced me angrily.
"Our friends just died and you run off to the pool while we have to deal with telling everyone the news. You're the leader here Percy, you have to start acting like it. I know that Nico's death must be pretty hard on you but you can't let it be in vain. We have three possible cures with us. We need to run some tests and figure this out and you have to be the one to tell them that." I picked my head up.
"You're right." I said. "I'm being a coward. Let's do this." Annabeth smiled and kissed me. "What was that for?"
"You're a good leader Percy. They need you right now." We headed down to the dining room. Grover and Juniper were trying to distract themselves by cooking and Will was no doubt in his room trying to figure the cures out. Thalia, Zoe, Reyna, Jason, and Piper were sitting at the table with sad expressions. I walked over to my chair and slammed my fist on the table. Everyone looked at me.
"These last few days have been an all-time low." I said. "Our friends would give their lives any day if it meant finding a cure. I know I would." I took a second to look at everyone's faces. "This should not be a time of mourning. We should be celebrating. We've got three potential cures and we brought in some new people. I know it's not going to be easy but we have to get through this. We should be up there, with Will, figuring this thing out." Jason stood up.
"You're right, let's go see Will." Everyone with the exception of Grover and Juniper met in Will's laboratory across the hall. Will was examining something under a microscope.
"What's the news Will?" I asked. Will looked up and noticed everyone in the room.
"I can't really tell what the difference is but I do know one thing." Will said.
"What's that?"
"No one can bring someone back to life. If this is going to cure the infected, it can't bring Beck and Silena back. We all lowered our heads at that. "It's not our place to bring them back. They're in a better place now."
"Is that all you found out?" Thalia asked.
"No, actually, there is another thing." Will said. "All the serum could possibly do is rid the body of the virus. It won't restore decaying flesh and things like that."
"So, unless you give them the cure right away, it won't matter." Annabeth said. "They will already be too damaged."
"Yea and it's not magic. If someone gets their neck bitten, the cure isn't going to patch it up." Will said.
"So, basically, you're saying that this can only heal someone if they get it immediately and the infected wound isn't fatal on its own?" I summarized.
"Yea and that's assuming that one of these even works." Will said.
"Perfect."
"So, how do we test it?" Piper asked.
"You can test it on me." Grover said while walking through the door.
"G-man you realize that you have to be infected then." I said.
"I know. I'll do it. I want this to be over. We're running out of options. Just don't tell Juniper about this."
"Okay, Grover, lay down." Will commanded. Will opened the curtains so we could all watch from the hallway. Will walked out into the hallway to talk to us without Grover. "I already thought about this." He showed us a needle filled with blood. "This is blood from the infected. It will have the same effect on him, just without the bites." He walked back in and strapped Grover down. He waited a few seconds and surgically injected Grover with the blood. We all stayed silent for a few seconds until Grover started fighting against his restraints. Will took a needle filled with a blue liquid and injected Grover with it. We waited for a few seconds to see if it had any affect. Nothing happened.
"Oh no, Grover." Piper said.
"There are still two more." Jason assured her but didn't seem too confident. Will grabbed a syringe filled with a greenish liquid and surgically injected Grover again. Again, we waited and again nothing happened.
"Third times the charm?" Annabeth asked unsure.
"Yea, third times the charm." Zoe unenthusiastically agreed. Will grabbed the final syringe filled with a purple looking liquid and plunged it into Grover's arm. We held our breath, waiting for any sign of the old Grover.
Nothing happened.
Will started frantically stabbing Grover with different needles hoping something would work. Will mixed some of the liquids together. Nothing worked. After about an hour, Will threw the vials across the room where they shattered against the wall. Will stormed out of the room and over to me.
"I'm sorry Perce. I tried everything. Grover's gone." Will said with tear in his eyes and went to his room. I looked to the others.
"So, who's going to break the news to Juniper?" Thalia asked. Annabeth was about to volunteer but I stopped her.
"This one's on me. You guys get some sleep. I'll tell her." Everyone, including Jason, gave me a hug before heading off to bed. I walked down to the kitchen to see Juniper leaning on the counter of the bar. I sat down across from her. Juniper set two glasses down and took a shot of some type of hard alcohol. She started laughing.
"Percy, you know what my worst nightmare is?" Juniper asked me. I took a shot.
"What?" I asked. She laughed again.
"My worst nightmare is that one day I would be cleaning up in the kitchen and you would walk through those doors and tell me that Grover is dead." She started crying. "And here we are, living my nightmare." We both took another shot.
"How did you know?"
"When he left, he told me that he loved me and he said goodbye. He said that everything would be okay." She let out a humorless laugh. "Well, guess what Grover. You lied to me. Nothing's going to be okay. It's the apocalypse and we're all going to die." We took another shot. We were both starting to get pretty drunk. I started laughing.
"It's probably not a good idea to tell you that none of the cures worked." We both started laughing but then Juniper got serious.
"Where is he?"
"The lab." Juniper and I took one final shot before stumbling out of the dining room and up the stairs. Juniper walked into the room and sat on the chair next to a struggling Grover. Juniper started leaning in towards him. "Juniper, I-I don't think that's such a good idea." Juniper leaned in a kissed zombie Grover anyway. Grover didn't hesitate to bite down on his wife's face. Juniper screamed and fell to the ground. Before I even knew what was happening, there were two silver arrows sticking out my friend's heads. Zoe walked through the door. I started cracking up and fell on my back.
"What's so funny?" Zoe demanded. I pointed at her.
"You are." I said and started laughing again.
"Oh my gods, are you drunk?"
"No, you're drunk."
"Come on Percy. Let's get you out of here." I held onto Zoe for support as she took me to my room. She threw me onto the bed. "You're such an idiot."
"But, you love me." I taunted.
"I do not." Zoe said.
"Yes you do. I see the way you look at Annabeth. You're so jealous."
"I'm not in love with you. I just care a lot about you. You saved my life and you're pretty much the only male friend I've ever had." I seemed to sober up for a minute.
"I care about you too Zoe. That's why I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
"Don't make promises that you can't keep Percy." Zoe said and left my room. I buried my head in my pillow and fell asleep. I woke a few hours later with a horrible ringing in my ears. I looked at the clock which read three in the morning. The ringing continued. Suddenly, I noticed that the ringing wasn't inside my head. It was my cell phone. I answered it, curious as to who might still be out there.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Percy." The voice said.
"Yea, who is this?" I asked.
"You have no idea how relieved we were when you answered the phone."
"Who is this?" I repeated.
"I need you to meet us somewhere. We have to see you. Where are you right now?"
"My apartment in New York. Who is this?" The man ignored the question again.
"Perfect, meet us at noon, tomorrow, in Central Park."
"Okay, but who is this? I demanded.
"Perce, it really hurts that you don't recognize my voice." Suddenly I knew exactly who I was speaking to.
"Later, bro."