THE DARK KNIGHT

ANNABETH

I woke up with a throbbing head ache in an unfamiliar room. I was stuck in a chair with handcuffs preventing me from moving. I started thrashing in my seat, trying to escape. I heard a moan behind me. Thalia stirred in the chair back to back with mine.

"Thalia?" I asked.

"Annie?" She responded.

"Where are we?"

"I don't know."

"You're in a warehouse." A new voice said. Luke emerged from the shadows with a long, jagged scar running the length of his face.

"Luke!" Thalia demanded angrily.

"Who did you lose a fight against?" I taunted. Luke frowned.

"That annoying boyfriend of yours." Luke said.

"What did you do to Percy and the others?"

"Relax, they're fine. I just wanted you two back. We were family first and they took you away from me."

"You killed Beckendorf." Thalia said.

"It was a shame but he wouldn't let me leave."

"Yea, because you're mentally unstable." I said.

"Annie that hurt."

"Don't call me, Annie." Luke sat down in a chair to the side.

"Anyway, your friends should be coming soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Ethan and I left them a little note, telling them where we are."

"Why would you do that?" Thalia asked. Luke laughed.

"I don't really care what happens to them. I just want Percy."

"Why?" I asked. "Why did you become a different person when we met them?" Luke sighed.

"Percy and I know each other from before this all started. My brothers, Connor and Travis, were good friends with him. Our fathers new each other too." Luke started circling us as he spoke. "I found out something that connects all of us. Our parents have been lying to us about what they do. Our parents are members of an elite group of people known as the Olympians. The Olympians are the wealthiest and most powerful people in society as you already know. The world's most famous architect, Athena, is your role model, Annabeth, right?"

"Yea, her work is amazing." I said.

"What you didn't know is that Athena is actually your biological mother."

"You're lying."

"Nope, most of us are children of the Olympians. Thalia and Jason's father is Zeus, Piper's mother is Aphrodite, my father is Hermes, and then there's Percy."

"What about, Percy?"

"He's the son of Poseidon. All our parents have abandoned us except for Percy's father. It's funny. Percy is the only one who can even talk to his Olympian parent and he says that he wants nothing to do with him."

"So, that's what this is about. You're jealous of Percy."

"It's not fair. My father never even said a word to me and Percy gets to see his every weekend if he wants. It's just not fair." He stopped right in front of me.

"Why not kill Fisher and Juliet? Why just Percy?"

"Percy is too loyal. If I killed one of them, Percy would track me to the ends of the earth. Fisher and Juliet just don't have what it takes."

"You're underestimating Fisher."

"Maybe so, but there's another reason. As you know, Poseidon is the world leader for anything and everything water related. I also happen to know that he was very paranoid about there being an apocalypse."

"So, Percy's father is Poseidon. Percy never knew that. Poseidon was scared of the apocalypse but was also a billionaire. So, what?" Thalia said.

"Exactly, a billionaire, afraid of the apocalypse so what does he do? He pours large sums of money into a luxury island to escape to."

"So, you want to know where the island is and how to get there?" I asked.

"Now you're getting it."

"But Percy doesn't know about it so why do you need him?"

"Because if I have Percy, then Poseidon will just tell me where it is."

"Poseidon's alive?"

"Yea, my father has some pretty illegal and high tech stuff. The perks of being one of the most powerful men in the world, I guess. I found his personal lab and found some pretty important stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well, it would appear that the Olympians were keeping tabs on the number of infected people. I have no idea how they managed that, but I know exactly how many people are still unaffected." Luke pulled out a thin tablet with a world map on it. There were several blinking red dots on the screen. "My theory is that this tracks body heat and the infected have cool bodies."

"So, how many people are still uninfected?" Thalia asked.

"There are a total of fourteen living people on the planet." Luke said.

"Oh my gods." I said.

"Yea, it's horrible. There are four people in this warehouse, the two of you, Ethan Nakamura and me. Percy's little group has eight people. Percy, Jason, Piper, Will, Reyna, Zoe, Fisher, and Juliet. Here is where it gets interesting. All of us are in New York, but there is one blinking light in the middle of the ocean. That's where Poseidon is."

"That's only thirteen people."

"There is a fourteenth in New York with us but it's like the person is cloaked and only appears in certain hot spots."

"So, your plan is to capture Percy and use him as ransom so that you can live it up on Poseidon's island. Once again, why not use Fisher or Juliet as ransom?"

"We can't have Percy alive. He will just get in the way. He's their leader, the only reason that they're still alive. Without him, the others will just die off anyway and we can rebuild the planet just the four of us."

"You're sick." Thalia said.

"Never going to happen." I said.

"It won't be your choice." Luke said. The tablet started beeping and drew Luke's attention. "It's show time. They're here" Percy, Jason, Piper, Fisher, and Zoe busted through the door. Zoe had her bow notched and aimed at Luke's head. The others had swords and knives drawn and ready for a fight.

"Luke, you're outnumbered." Percy said. "Where's eye patch at?"

"Percy, Percy, you are so predictable." Luke said. The man with the eye patch, Ethan, walked through the door with a knife against Juliet's throat. "It was so obvious that you were going to leave Juliet in the safety of your car. Ethan just had to take out the pathetic medic of yours." Percy was fuming.

"Will's not dead but your sister will be unless you call your dad and ask for his location." Ethan said.

"Dad isn't alive. What are you talking about?" Fisher demanded.

"Well, there's something that you didn't know about your father." Luke said.

"That he's an Olympian? Yea, already knew that." Percy said. Luke frowned in confusion. "You're probably asking about Half-Blood Island. My dad isn't on that island, Chiron is."

"What are you talking about? How do you know all this?" Luke was getting angry. He hoisted Thalia and I up and held us at sword point in front of him so that we were between him and Percy. Juliet stood next to us in the same position.

"Half-Blood Island was designed by my father in case of an apocalypse, nuclear war, you name it. The idea was to have a safe place for the children of Olympians to go so that we could carry out the business. The reason I know this, is because I have a father who actually cares about me." Luke was getting furious now. Suddenly, he started laughing.

"You shouldn't have made me mad, Jackson." With one swing of his sword, Thalia's headless body dropped to the ground. Everything immediately went to chaos. Zoe fired an arrow into Ethan's arm which released Juliet. Piper grabbed Juliet and dove out of the way. Fisher and Reyna began fighting Ethan, sword on sword. Luke used me as a shield while Percy, Jason, and Zoe approached with weapons drawn. Luke held his sword across the front of my neck. "Drop your weapons!" Luke commanded. "Now!" Everyone placed their weapons on the ground but continued to stare each other down. Ethan suddenly made a move to stab Percy.

"Percy! Look out!" Ethan made a stab at Percy but Zoe dove in the way and took the impact. Ethan pulled his sword out looking as shocked as the rest of us. Percy turned around in shock and his sea green eyes darkened in anger. Percy punched Ethan, breaking his nose and rendering him unconscious. Percy kneeled down at Zoe's side, wordlessly.

"Zoe." He whispered. Zoe shook her head.

"You saved my life once. I had to return the favor." Zoe said.

"Jason! Get her to Will!" Jason looked like he wanted to protest and say that there wasn't anything Will could do but he carried her out anyway. "Fisher, take Ethan outside. We're going to have a nice conversation later." The tension returned as Percy stood in front of Piper and Reyna staring down Luke who had his sword across my neck. "Just let her go, Luke. There's only two ways this goes down and you die in both of them."

"You could tell me where the island is." Luke said.

"I could." Percy paused. "But then I would hunt you down and kill you."

"Well, I guess if I'm going down I might as well take Annabeth-ugh." Luke stopped mid-sentence. Luke slowly looked down at the black iron sword running through his heart. Luke looked back up and dropped, lifelessly, to the ground. Behind Luke, with a bloody sword, stood a sixteen year old guy with all black clothes and dark hair.

"Nico."