A god in disguise

17

"Percy, when you were gone, what happened? What'd they do to you?"

"Why, I've changed?" I joked, but it didn't turn out funny. 

We sank into a solemn stupor again.

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

"How?"

"I don't know, it's just something is different with you. What did they do to you?"

"Tortured me."

"Elaborate, Percy."

"You know the curse of Tantalus? Yeah, same thing."

Annabeth gasped and covered her mouth. "How could you be so calm about this? How did you survive it?"

I just smiled a little sadly. "Just like you did the sky. You just hang on, I guess."

Annabeth took my hand and returned an equally sad smile. We hiked a little more, and before we went any further, she said, "Promise me not to die. Promise me to at least try."

"I promise," I said, trying not to cry. "Demigod promise." We linked our pinkies and held them up above our heads. Annabeth thumbed her knife, and before we let go of our hands, she leaned in for a kiss on the cheek.

"Be safe, Seaweed Brain," she said and ran off.

I stared at her, bewildered. Then I touched my burning cheek.

"...You too, Wise Girl." 

The chatter of the telkhines was driving me deaf. Is this how human school is...?

"Sit down, and quiet!" A warbled woman's voice sounded from the front of the class. "We'll be watching a video about our growing spurts, and after that, I'm going to ask a few questions, so pay attention, okay?"

A chorus of "Okay"s was heard by tiny voices, and then the room went dark. 

The video was playing, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

I was looking at a pair of glowing red eyes that seemed to be locked with mine.

With my heart racing at 110 miles an hour, I slowly lifted my hands and covered myself with a curtain. I knew I wasn't out of trouble yet. but at least I had some preparation time.

Wrong move, Percy! Annabeth scolded in my mind. Now they have the advantage, not you. You're basically blindfolded!

Oh.

I unlocked the two silver shackles around my arms and stowed them carefully into my pocket. Now, I start to feel everything. The yapping telkhines that were watching their video about sharp claws and Celestial Bronze; the sharp drip, drip, drip of the water from a rock that dropped into the pool of lava, hissing as it evaporated into nothing. I felt a tinge of sadness—this was how demigods felt because the gods used them like disposable masks: they are protected from danger but once things are over they are just forgotten like the droplets of water, left to the merciless hands of burning lava.

I shook my head; this wasn't the time to think about this. I raised my hands and commanded every single particle of water to my will.

They responded with every single ebb and flow of my pulse, drumming against my heartbeat and making me feel fully alive again. I fingered Riptide, bracing myself against the wall and pushing off as I felt the aura of an adult monster approaching me.