Chapter 13 The Truth Comes Out

Annabeth landed in the water with a crash. The waves immediately began knocking her around like a ping pong ball. She tried to brace herself, but when you were floating in the middle of the ocean in a hurricane, that was rather difficult.

It was hopeless. She knew that, deep down. But she fought anyway, tirelessly clawing at the waves to stay afloat. The saltwater stung her eyes and each current threatened to carry her away, but still she fought. However, after what felt like hours, but was likely no more than a handful of seconds, she stopped. There was no getting out of this.

As she began to sink lower, time slowed and Annabeth started coming to terms with the fact that this was it. It wasn't all that different from most of the old stories; almost all of the heroes died young, tragic deaths. Would she be remembered like one of them? Or just another nameless face added to the ranks of Asphodel? She hadn't really done anything heroic in her short twenty years. Surely she couldn't qualify to join Elysium for dying on a ship during her first quest.

With that final thought, she let go of her breath and started fading from consciousness.

It was too bad really; she'd had so many plans for life. So many things she'd wanted to see, so many places she'd wanted to go. She wouldn't see her friends or get to tell them goodbye. She wouldn't get to tell Pietro goodbye.

Pietro.

In her last fleeting moments, Annabeth pictured his too-green eyes and messy black hair. She'd never get to tell him how she felt. Annabeth mentally cursed herself for not saying anything the night before. It'd been the perfect opportunity and she'd blown it.

Whatever. It was too late now. He and the others would have to finish the quest without her.

The last thing she heard was a muted crash in the water. Annabeth tried to peek open an eye, but it was nearly impossible. All she could make out above was a figure and…

Was that a tail?

Annabeth had no more oxygen left and as such, couldn't process what that meant. The last cord holding her to consciousness snapped and everything faded to black.

Oooooooooooooo

Percy raced after the rapidly falling figure.

The waves weren't too hard to swim through; he'd faced worse during simulated training. But Annabeth was sinking fast, and Percy wasn't sure how long she'd have before she-

No. Percy shook the thought away. He couldn't think like that.

What concerned him more was the green glow emanating from further down. That was probably Kym having the time of her life creating the storm. If Percy couldn't get the Argo II out of her range, it wouldn't matter if he saved Annabeth now or not, the ship would be ripped to shreds anyway.

He continued swimming, Annabeth seemed to be getting farther away. That was impossible. There was no way she could be falling faster than he was goin-

I'm afraid I'm going to have to use them to teach you a lesson.

The words rang in Percy's mind. He could sense it now. Annabeth wasn't just falling. The very ocean was dragging her in, deeper and deeper and deeper.

But Percy didn't give up. He was exhausted. After being tossed around like a piece of seaweed and then quite literally calming the winds and waves, he hardly had any energy left. Still he swam harder, faster than he ever had before.

He hadn't ever realized he could swim that fast. Later upon reflection he would decide it was because he had a reason to do so.

Back when he'd been training in Atlantis, his reason to fight had been to prove everyone wrong. He'd been the outcast; the one no one liked. He'd been the one who was bad at everything. And he really had been, but that was because simply wanting to beat somebody wasn't always enough.

But now, he fought to save his new-found family. His friends. To save Annabeth. Everything fell to him now. If he failed, everything he'd gained would be gone. It didn't matter if they shunned him afterward. At least they'd be alive.

And somehow that was a million times stronger than anything he could've dreamt of back home.

Down, down, down. Percy stretched out his hand and finally, finally, grabbed hold of Annabeth's lifeless body. Percy had no way of telling if she was still alive or not. It didn't matter right then- he had to get her to the surface first- and he shot upward.

He could feel the pull especially strong now. The force wanted to drag him into the depths along with Annabeth. If he strained, he could almost hear maniacal laughter coming from below.

His whole body ached. His mind told him over and over to stop. But he didn't. He couldn't.

He broke the surface. A wave pushed him back under, but he stopped it. Breathing heavily, he willed the stormy waters to lift him and Annabeth up and over the edge of the ship, back onto the deck.

The rain still pounded. The wind still roared around them. But Annabeth was back on dry ground.

Or, at least, sort of dry ground. The deck was soaked from the storm. Ground, at least. He set Annabeth down against the wall and kneeled beside her, blocking the wind as best as he could. He would've loved to get her below deck now, but he knew he had to make sure she was…well…

Percy's heart beat a million miles an hour. Annabeth lay limp, no different than a corpse. Percy forced the thought away again. He checked her for any signs of breathing. None. She'd probably taken in too much water.

Percy took a deep breath. The ship swayed underneath them again, threatening to send them tumbling across to the other side. Percy crouched lower next to Annabeth to keep both himself and her from rolling again.

There was no time to try anything else. He reached his hand out over her and pulled on the water in her lungs. Annabeth immediately turned on her side and coughed. A lot. Percy exhaled. She was alive. At that moment, Percy immediately forgot about anything else. Annabeth was alive!

Thunder crashed overhead, clearing the fog from Percy's head. Annabeth needed to get down with everybody else. Immediately.

"P…Pietro?" She said, voice weak and hard to hear over the storm as she looked up.

Percy smiled. His heart fluttered upon seeing her gray eyes, but it started aching again as she coughed up more water. He didn't want to think about how close Annabeth had been to death.

"Come on," He said, "We need to get down below deck."

He reached for her hand to lift her up. But Annabeth pulled back. She looked at Percy inquisitively.

Percy had a sinking feeling something was very wrong. Had she seen something? Percy was positive she'd been unconscious the whole time, but what if-?

"I should be dead." She said matter-of-factly.

"Well, you're clearly not, so let's go," Percy said, hating how insensitive it felt but at the same time knowing they had to go, "I know you're freaked out, but we really need to-"

"No human could have survived under there," She said.

Percy grit his teeth. He'd known it was likely she'd find out about his lies once he'd jumped off the ship, but it didn't mean he wanted to talk about it. He decided to try to breeze around the issue, "Well, none of us are really human, so…"

"No," Annabeth interrupted, "I mean no normal demigod could've survived for more than a second or two down there. Those waves are way too powerful. And before I blacked out-" Her breathing quickened, as if she remembered that she almost hadn't come back from the water, but she collected herself again, "I saw something. A tail, or-" She paused, "That was you!"

Percy grit his teeth. The secret was out. Nothing he could do about it now, "Look, Annabeth, I'm so sorry, but I haven't been completely honest with you-"

"You're not Pietro, are you?" She asked, voice nearly a whisper, which made it extra hard to hear over the wind.

Percy heard it with exact precision regardless, that specific accusation having been a hovering fear since the start of the quest, "No, I'm not. But that doesn't mean-"

"So who are you then?" She asked, "What happened to the real Pietro? Clearly he was a real person, since Apollo knew him."

"Annabeth, I promise I'll explain, but we need to get out of this storm-"

What happened next felt like something out of one of Percy's worst nightmares. He knew Annabeth was probably in shock and not thinking straight, but her words burned deeper than Leo's fire or the pit of Tartarus ever could, "You're with him, aren't you?" Annabeth looked him dead in the eyes, "Nico wouldn't tell me his theories, but that's what it was. And he was right, wasn't he?

Percy wanted to deny it. He wanted to say, Posiedon? That's crazy, I don't know what you're talking about. But he didn't have the energy.

Or, more likely, he didn't feel like lying anymore.

"I'm…not who I said I was," Percy said, "But I'm not trying to betray you or anything. Not anymore, at least."

Percy immediately winced as he said that, knowing it was the wrong thing to say. He wanted to smack himself. Why had he added that? It would have been fine if he'd left it at not trying to betray you.

Annabeth's eyes lit up, "Not anymore?"

Percy tried to begin explaining himself, "Well, my dad wanted me to take the lyre from you guys and if I did then he'd reward me so I went on this quest but then I realized I really cared about you guys and I really cared about you and I couldn't go through with it so then I told him no and-"

"Hold on," Annabeth said, "Your dad?!"

Oops. Clearly Annabeth hadn't heard much of his confession beyond the god of the sea and also the Olympians' mortal enemy is my father and he wanted me to betray you guys and if I did then I'd be special.

Percy cursed himself. He really needed to stop blurting things out like that. Why was he so bad at things like this?

"Annabeth I-"

She held up a hand, "Save it. I can't believe we trusted you! I can't believe I trusted you! I can't believe I-"

Her voice broke and she didn't finish the thought, but Percy knew it was basically a confession. His heart fluttered. After all this time, he'd thought she hadn't…but she had…

It didn't matter. Whatever she'd felt before, it was gone now. At least he knew that at one point, Annabeth felt the same way about him that he did about her.

"So Posiedon sent you here on a mission?" She asked, "Was that all we were to you? Was that all I was to you?! Just a means to an end?!"

Percy shook his head, "No, of course not! I would never-"

Realization dawned on her face, "You did this, didn't you? You brought this storm here to kill us!"

Percy shook his head, "No! I swear the storm's not my fault!" He shut out the fact that he was still technically lying. The storm had been his fault, just not in the way Annabeth believed.

"I don't believe you!" Annabeth said. Tears began falling out of her eyes, "After everything we did for you-"

"Annabeth, please," Percy pleaded, a desperate attempt at reconciliation. Annabeth had severe trauma from what she'd just experienced; she probably barely even knew what she was saying. She seemed nothing like the logical, levelheaded girl he knew. That didn't make it hurt any less, "You're in shock. Let's just go downstairs and we can sort this out, okay?" He reached for her hand to help her again.

Which was, once again, the wrong thing to do.

"NO!" She yelled, "I don't want you here."

The words hit Percy like a ton of bricks. (and Percy knew what that felt like. His dad seriously had a renovation addiction.) A part of Percy wanted to yell back, You do realize I just saved your life, right? But he didn't. He knew Annabeth wasn't in a good place mentally and figured that would just anger her further.

Besides, she wasn't all that wrong. Percy wasn't who he'd told them. He had come on this quest to betray them. They were all currently about to be shipwrecked in a storm because of him.

"Can you get to the trapdoor?" He asked, standing slowly and trying to level himself on the rocking ship..

"I'm fine," Annabeth snapped, although she wobbled a lot trying to get up. Percy, for the third time, reached a hand out to help her, and she finally took it. She looked like she'd rather hold a gorgon's hand, but she let Percy lead her to the trapdoor.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," he said as she crouched and opened it.

Annabeth shrugged, "Should've figured it out sooner, honestly," her voice sounded like acid, "Gods, how did I not notice? You are really bad at being inconspicuous."

Percy said nothing.

"You never answered my question." She said, sounding slightly less like ice, "If you aren't Pietro, then who are you?"

Percy sighed. Keeping secrets was useless now, so why would it matter if she knew?

"Percy," He said, "I'm Percy Jackson."

Annabeth thought for a moment as she slid down onto the ladder leading into the ship. She grabbed the trapdoor. For a moment, Percy thought she was maybe thinking through what she'd said. That maybe he'd be able to come to some sort of agreement with her.

His hopes were crushed seconds later when she looked at him, daggers in her eyes. But there wasn't just anger. There was more. Much more.

Betrayal.

Fear.

Hatred.

"Goodbye, Percy Jackson." She snarled.

Then she slammed the trapdoor. Percy heard a faint click from the other side. She'd locked it.

Percy blinked rain water out of his eyes. She'd locked him out.

Despite his face being soaked from the drenching rain, Percy could feel the hot tears start to fall down his cheeks.

After everything he'd been through. After everything he'd done with her. With all of them.

She'd locked him out.

He knew he should be happy that Annabeth and the others were at least alive and safe; or sort-of safe, at least.

But he couldn't let go of the image of Annabeth's hateful face.

Percy's first thought was to go back to the steering wheel and try to get the ship out of Kym's range. The Argo II would be safe, but then what? Maybe Annabeth was in the wrong headspace, but she hadn't been wrong in her words. Harsh, yes, but not wrong.

And now she was going to tell everyone else.

Piper and Leo had an idea of what was about to go down. They'd seen his powers. But they didn't know.

Now Annabeth would tell them everything.

And just like he'd feared, they'd all hate him.

And somehow, despite trying everything he could to be liked and be friendly and fix things that the rest of the world kept screwing up, he was alone all over again.

Just like old times, he thought bitterly.

How had it ended like this again? How did he always end up in shitty situations simply because of who he was? How come he was always alone because of his father? His mom probably thought he was dead. His friends thought him a traitor.

What now?

Even if he did stick around, chances were everyone else would be angry with him for lying. And why shouldn't they? He'd been far from honest with them. They had every right never to trust him again.

He'd been such an idiot. How had he believed they would accept him? How had he believed that anyone would accept him? At the end of the day, he was nothing more than a liar who tried to do everything right but somehow did everything wrong.

So what then? If he couldn't stay, then what could he do? He couldn't mope around on the deck with a sentient bronze dragon for the rest of his life.

Then a thought popped into Percy's head.

Save them.

That was it.

Maybe Percy would never see any of his friends again, but it didn't mean he had to let them die out here. He was the only one who could do something. He was the only thing standing between everyone below deck and certain death.

He could figure out what to do with his life in a minute, but right now he needed to have a little chat with a certain goddess, sibling to sibling.

So for the second time within an hour, Percy jumped off the side of a ship into hurricane force winds and waves with the only thought in his mind that he was on a mission to save those he cared about.

Even if they no longer cared about him.