I hope this makes you feel something. Good or bad, either way, I hope you can connect with it the way I did
The caves were precisely one mile uphill from their camp. Piper was counting down the steps from what she was sure would be their doom. Percy and Hazel were talking quietly, walking side by side. Piper caught a little of what they were saying. "Dreams are sometimes just dreams, right? They don't always mean something?" Percy asked Hazel. She took a minute to think before answering,
"If you're talking about the nightmare you had last night, no I don't think that meant anything other than you're scared for her." Percy looked over and caught Piper's eye. She avoided his glance and mentally scolded herself for eavesdropping.
They were over halfway there, Piper was deep in her thoughts when she heard,
"Do you have any water?" She jumped.
"What?" She turned and Percy was looking at her.
"I said do you have any water," he repeated.
"Yeah, in my bag." She turned so he could reach into her backpack. "Grab the flashlights too, those will come in handy when we get there," she said. She could feel Percy rummaging through her bag and then he froze. Piper suddenly realizing her mistake whirled around to face him. Percy was staring at the silvery burial shroud in his hands.
"Percy you weren't supposed to see-" She stopped when his eyes turned on her.
"Why do you have this?" He asked. Piper couldn't think of anything to say. "Why did you bring this?" His tone had become very angry.
"It's not what you think,"Piper pleaded.
"Really? Because it looks like you've already decided she's gone. Is that the only reason you came? To bury her?" Percy shouted. He turned and started walking quickly away from her.
"No. Percy it's not like that," Piper said, but Percy didn't look back. She stood with her mouth hanging open. She couldn't believe what she had done. Hazel looked her way sympathetically saying,
"It's not your fault," before jogging to catch up with Percy.
When they reached the entrance to the caves they all stood looking into the never-ending darkness. Piper held out her flashlight and clicked it on. The steady beam of light barely cut through the cave shadows. Piper turned to Hazel,
"Maybe you should go first."
"Right," Hazel said taking a step forward. She had taken out a flashlight of her own but didn't really need the light to navigate in the darkness. She could feel the curves of the walls and changes in the ground. She stopped suddenly, another step and she would have fallen through the large burrow in the ground. Piper knelled next to her. She leaned over the opening slightly,
"This is where they took Annabeth," She said. Percy stood next to her and shined his light into the opening. It didn't look very steep. One by one they slid down into the burrow.
In some places the tunnels were was large as a football field, and in other places as small as a crawl space. There was no light except for their flashlights. They started in a straight line scanning the walls for signs of Annabeth. There was a rumble from somewhere deeper in the tunnel that shook the loose dirt from the ceiling. Piper brushed it off her head. When she turned she could see Percy had stopped. He had his hand on the wall and his eyes shut tight. "Are you ok?" Piper asked. Percy took a deep, shaky breath.
"Yeah, I just need a minute." He shook his head and opened his eyes. Hazel at once remembered Percy's experience with the mud.
"Do you want to stop?" Hazel asked, knowing how much he hated being trapped underground.
"No. I'm ok."
They continued on their way after letting Percy catch his breath. Suddenly the rumbling returned, this time, it was coming right at them. Out of the darkness, a monster appeared. It was a long, slimy, snake-like creature. It didn't have eyes but a large mouth with rows and rows of teeth. If Annabeth were here she'd know what it was, Percy thought uncapping riptide. He charged the- we're going to call it a snake- with pent up rage. He slashed along its belly. The scales were tough, but not as tough as celestial bronze. A thick green substance oozed out of the gash. The snake shrieked and whipped its head around, it snapped its large jaws. Percy jumped to avoid being bitten. It turned on Hazel, who threw her dagger, piercing the roof of its mouth. It twisted smacking its body against the tunnel walls. Large chunks of rock fell above Piper.
"Piper look out!" Percy shouted. He ran over to her knocking her to the ground. He caught the slab of rock on his back, his body hunched under the weight. "Move!" He grunted. Piper scrambled out of the way. Once she was clear Percy stepped out from under the rocks. They hit the ground with a loud thud. The snake rounded its head at the noise, it lunged for Percy. He stepped out of the way at the last minute. The snake's head collided with the rocks. Percy stuck it on the side of the head with riptide, twisting the blade before removing it. The beast lifted its head to let out one last screech before falling dead.
They looked at the creature its body disappeared down the tunnel. Percy stood over it, he looked at his blade which was coated in green gunk. He made a face while sticking it into the dirt to scrape it off. Piper looked at him in complete shock. "How did you catch that?" She asked, looking at the pile of rock. Percy followed her gaze,
"I don't know," he said. Piper swallowed, if he hadn't she would be dead.
"Why?" Her question seemed to startle him.
"I don't want you dead, McLean. Where in this together, all of us." Percy's words had lifted a weight off her chest. For the first time since she returned to the ship, he didn't look at her with cold, angry eyes. He held her gaze a minute longer before saying,
"There's bound to be more where he came from. We should keep moving."
They followed the dead serpent deeper into the tunnels. Hazel hoped she'd be able to lead them out again. The most unnerving part about being underground, aside from the giant monsters, was the fact that you couldn't tell what time it was. Day, Night, everything was just dark. They made several turns weaving through the passageways, avoiding the unstable parts. Percy shined his light on the wall, something caught his eye. He peeled a chunk of blonde, bloody hair off the damp surface. He held it tightly in his hand, "She was here," he said. Looking down they could see small drops of blood on the ground and on the walls. They followed it, the tunnel was growing more and more narrow. The smell was the worse part. Piper and Hazel were in the front Percy behind them. Piper's light fell on something large, red, and bloody. She gasped dropping her flashlight. Hazel screamed. Hazel turned away as fast as she could the image still trapped in her mind. Piper collided with Percy pushing him back the way they'd came.
"No. Percy stop. Don't look," She pleaded. She pushed against him as hard as she could. He fought her but she stood her ground. The flashlight she had dropped was still shining on it. Over her shoulder, he saw it. There wasn't much left, a chunk of something red, the light reflected off something, bone? Percy felt sick, he stopped fighting Piper and allowed her to push him back.
They rounded a corner and froze. Percy's eyes were glazed over, he was shaking. Hazel had her hand clamped over her mouth and was visibly green. Tears streamed down Piper's face. She couldn't catch her breath. The earth seemed to rumble on all sides of them. Piper looked around she could feel the snakes coming.
"We have to go," She said. Percy didn't move. "How do we get out? Hazel!" She shouted. Hazel looked at her wide eyed,
"That way," She said shakily pointing down a dark passage. Behind them, Piper could see the body of a snake slither past an opening in the passageway.
"Move, Move!" She shouted. Hazel took off, Piper grabbed Percy's hand and dragged her after him. He wasn't putting in any effort. Hazel slowed down to stay close to them, Piper waved her on, "Keep going." Piper turned to Percy his eyes looked past her. "We have to run. Right now Percy we have to go," Her voice was trembling with fear. She wasn't going to let one more person die in these tunnels. Something inside her broke. "Percy!" She screamed. Charmspeak flooded from her mouth, the walls around her shook. Percy snapped out of his trance, Piper grabbed his wrist and ran. They didn't have a light, the only thing they could do was follow the sound of Hazel's footsteps. The whole tunnel was shaking, dirt falling onto them. She could hear the monsters behind her, hissing and spitting. Keep going, she thought. She didn't know how far they had run or if the monsters were even still chasing them, she didn't even know if she was still following Hazel. All she knew was she wasn't going to stop until she saw daylight.
Piper has no idea how they did it. One minute they were running through the pitch black tunnels and the next they were outside. Hazel was there waiting for them. When she saw them she collapsed onto the ground, her mouth moving in silent thank you's. Piper threw herself onto the grass sobbing. Percy fell to his knees, he couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even cry. How long they stayed like that, none of them could tell. Eventually, Piper managed to pick herself up off the ground. She went over to Hazel and gently pulled the girl to her feet. "Come on," she said softly. When she walked over to Percy he was already on his feet. He had riptide clenched tightly in his hand. "We have to go meet the Argo II," she said, looking at his defeated expression. "We only have a day to get there." Percy looked at her, it was like he was staring directly into her soul.
"You know how to get there," he said. Piper didn't like his tone.
"Percy…" Piper trailed off unsure.
"I know you do, you got us here." Piper swallowed,
"Yes, I know how to get back. Should we start going?" Percy gazed past her, a strange look settling over his features.
"I'm not going," he said. Piper's eyes widened.
"What! Percy, you can't stay here." Out of his pocket, he produced Annabeth's burial shroud. Piper looked at the cloth and the blade in his hand and all at once she knew what that look on his face meant. Her heart stopped. "No," she whispered, tears flooding her eyes.
"Take Hazel and leave," he said.
"Percy, no."
"You can meet the ship tomorrow night."
"Percy, no."
"Tell them I'm sorry." his voice sounded far away. Piper couldn't say another word, the lump in her throat had grown too big. "Tell my family I'm sorry." Piper poured every last bit of charmspeak she had into her words ,
"Stop. Perseus Jackson, you are coming with us." He smirked at her sadly,
"Not this time, Pipes."
Hazel looked on in horror as she heard what Percy was saying. She tried to run to them but tripped over a large piece of gold. She fell onto her hands and knees, she started to push herself up when something distracted her. She felt something. Digging her hands deep in the soil she closed her eyes in concentration. Could it be? Her eyes snapped open. Yes. She looked up to see Percy raise riptide.
"Wait," she shouted. Percy didn't stop. "Wait!" He turned to look at her. She was out of breath,
"I felt it. I felt a heartbeat." Percy stared at her like he couldn't understand what she was saying.
"Hazel…"Piper trailed off.
"Please just come over here I'll show you. Percy, you'll be able to feel it." Percy put the burial shroud back in his pocket and walked over to her. Hazel grabbed his hand and pulled him roughly to the ground. She moved his hand pressing it hard against the ground. "See?" she asked. But the look on Percy's face said he didn't feel anything.
"Hazel I don't-" Percy started. She placed her hand on top of his, there right there. It took a minute but Percy's eyes widened. He dropped riptide and placed both hands on the ground. "What do we do?"
"Poseidon can make earthquakes right?" Hazel asked.
"I've never done anything like that. I don't think I can," Percy said.
"Percy, Hazel might be right. You can feel vibrations like she can maybe that means something," Piper said, standing next to them. " Annabeth told me about the time you made the volcano explode." Percy looked at them unsure.
"It's not very deep right here. A few feet down then it's all hollow. One good shockwave would split it right open," Hazel said. Percy closed his eyes. His brow knit in concentration the ground started to tremble and then they were falling.
When Percy got to his feet he saw something that made him stop dead. Annabeth. She was standing in the dusty rubble. She was covered in mud and blood. Her eyes locked onto him her face was unreadable.
"Percy," She cried. She ran to him flinging her arms around him. Percy didn't move. His arms remained at his sides, his eyes settled on something in the distance. "Percy, oh my gods…" Annabeth mumbled into his chest. Her voice was soft and scratchy.
"How?" Percy said, his voice thick with emotion. Annabeth pulled away looking at his face. Percy wouldn't look at her, almost like he was afraid to. His brow was knit, a single tear threatened to spill from his eye. "There was a body," he said, voice cracking. Annabeth searched his face. He was cracked and threatened to crumble.
"It was a deer. The don't have eyes. They maneuver by sound and smell. I found the deer body in the tunnels and dragged it to make a fake trail. I covered myself in mud and even left hair on the walls," She explained. The tear fell from Percy's eyes.
"You died." He looked at her for a second but averted his gaze once again. Annabeth put her hand on the side of his face.
"Percy I'm right here. Look at me," she said. Tears had streaked down her face leaving clean streaks under her eyes. Percy locked his eyes on her. Something inside him shattered.
"Annabeth," he whispered, tears falling from his eyes. He wrapped his arms around her. Annabeth could feel him shaking. He held to her like he was never going to let go again. She clung to his chest. " I thought I'd lost you," he whispered into her hair.
"Oh Seaweed brain," she said, struggling to pull him closer. "I'm not going anywhere."
If you got this far I'm surprised. Not many of you made it through to the end. This was my take of Romeo & Juliet with Percy and Annabeth. I really like this story and I hope you did too.
We'll meet again someday - I can never tell