Chapter 18: We see if blood is really thicker than water.
Percy P.O.V
Previously:
"Hey, Sis," a cold voice said in disgust.
Unbelievable, I trusted her. She was related to these silver-haired bastards? Did she even have amnesia? Or was this all part of some plan to get me here and throw me in a cell similar to Annabeth's?
No, no, that can't be it. I, of all people, should know that your family doesn't define you. Larisa seemed genuinely afraid of these "Greys". Maybe she is trying to escape them? Maybe her memories are returning and she doesn't like what she's remembering. Over the past 24 hours, it seemed as if Larisa's memories were slowly coming back. I just wish I could talk to her, understand what's going on.
When Larisa didn't answer the silver-haired prince, I answered for her, "Even though you've mentioned it, I don't see the family resemblance. Maybe it has something to do with the dead eyes and old-lady hair that's throwing me off?" I asked thoughtfully.
The prince, who had hit Annabeth in my dream, flinched at my voice. This reminded me that this is probably the closest I've been to Annabeth in months, assuming they're keeping her here, in this fort. The grey prince struggled to peel his eyes off Larisa and stare at me.
"She's adopted," he said, horrified. "Larisa, what peasant have you dragged in here with you? And why does he speak with the ridiculous accent?"
"Me? I'm the one that sounds ridiculous?" I was about to fire a snarky comeback, but a high pitched voice interrupted me.
"Boys! Calm down, will you? Johannes, you can have your fun with the peasant boy later. For now, Larisa, dear, where have you been?" The old lady hardened her already cold voice at the end.
I looked at Larisa and a wave of pride washed over me. She was staring the lady down with a fierce glare.
"Hey, Ouma," she spat the last word. Larisa wore an innocent smile. I had no idea what "ouma" meant, but it sounded kind of like an echo.
Aah, Larisa, I see you do remember us," The rich voice of the old man sitting beside the old lady, who had just spoken, said. Then he switched over into the echoey, sharp-edged language that Larisa spoke with Jannie Botha (Gods dam it, I still can't say his name right).
They exchanged words. There were chip-ins from all the grey-haired, hard-faced, so-called humans sitting on their bedazzled thrones surrounded by their many servants. I was tempted to take out Riptide and see if I could cut the thick tension in the air. I had no idea what they were saying, but the language was nice to listen to. It was vastly different from English and Greek. It was very vowel-ly. It seemed the Greys were mad at Larisa. There were lots of furious statements, from both Larisa and the Greys. I had to do something before I lost my mind in the chaos around me.
"Hey, dipshits," I called before I could stop myself. "Where is Annabeth Chase?" I asked in a low, threatening voice.
At first, the Greys and Larisa looked at me incredulously, until one spoke up, "You mean the Larisa imposter?"
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, "Yeah, yeah the Larisa imposter, I guess."
The same man said, with evil glee, "Samuel, take this lost soul to see the imposter."
Hope and happiness surged through me for the first time in a long while. I didn't care how fishy this situation sounded, following a medieval guard further into this fortress. The possibility of Annabeth drove me insane.
The guy I assumed was Samuel, gave a stoney nod towards the speaker and turned to stare at me condescendingly. I tried to control my child-like joy as I walked towards the older man.
"Where to?" I asked eagerly, forgetting about Larisa. The man looked at me strangely, like I had a death wish, which I probably had. But I couldn't stop now, not when I was so sure that I was close to Annabeth. Samuel grabbed my arm and I happily complied, I wouldn't be too surprised to see the hint of a smile on my face. He started leading me down multiple passages. The further we walked, the less fancy and well maintained the passages became.
Finally, when my excitement was tearing against the inside of my skin, trying to break out, the passage became damp, mossy and even narrower. I recognised these dimly lit stone passages from my dream about Annabeth. At this point, I was ready to run down the passage yelling Annabeth at the top of my lungs. I composed myself so the guard would hopefully lead me closer to Annabeth.
When I could barely see my feet underneath me, the guard came to a stop. There were three cells around me with three 30cm by 30cm railing windows. These windows seemed to be level with the ground outside but were about 50 feet above the ground in here. I scanned what I could see from the little light provided by these windows. The place smelt of drying blood and mould. In the first cell on my left was a man babbling nonsense, not even solid words, just nonsense. In the middle cell I saw, three-quarters of the way, decomposed bodies. I quickly scanned over to the last cell, more decomposing bodies. I felt my frail hope shattering and sinking down to my toes. She wasn't here, Annabeth wasn't here.
I felt alienated from my body. I might as well sit down next to those decomposing bodies and join their decomposing club. Another guard appeared out of the shadows and unlocked the cell to my right, opposite the babbling man's cell. Samuel started dragging my soulless body towards the cell. Then, as I moved trance-like towards the cell, the light hit the middle cell differently, I saw a speck of light reflecting on gold. Not just any gold, Annabeth's gold. I spun around wildly, catching Samuel off guard and breaking free. I stared at the middle cell. Looked once, twice, it was Annabeth's golden curls. My soul slammed back into my body and I fell to my knees. Samuel caught me, probably merely to restrain me, not to help me.
As Samuel dragged me into the cell his buddy was holding open, I couldn't see her face, it was covered with her beautiful hair. Relief washed over me. She looked weak, injured, but I could see her back rising and falling. She was breathing.
Dam, already 1k reads? Thanks? (Sorry for the author's note xD)
Happy reading and enjoy breathing!
-LadyLlama13
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Mortal Waters
Fanfiction"Who are you?" I asked for the third time, my voice wasn't as harsh anymore. "Larisa," she answered shortly, "How did you do that?" "Larisa who?" I asked ignoring her question. "How did you do that?" she asked again, clearly she was stubborn. "It's...
