mastermind - percy jackson

xvii. pan

"you have found me. and now you must release me."

They ran until they were exhausted. Rachel steered them away from traps, but they didn't have any particular destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of Kronos.

They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. Cassandra didn't hear anyone following them, but that didn't make her feel any safer. She could still remember Kronos's gold eyes, piercing into her soul.

"I can't go any farther" Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running. Now she, collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel.

Cassandra sat next to her, patting her shoulder softly.

Nico and Percy sat next to each other. Both of them dropped their swords and took shaky breaths.

"That sucked" Nico said.

"You saved our lives" Percy said.

Nico wiped the dust off of his face. "Blame the girls for dragging me along. That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess things up."

"Nice that they trust me so much" Percy muttered, shining his flashlight across the cavern.

Cassandra snorted and rolled her eyes, tuning the rest of their conversation out.

She heard Annabeth's sobs quiet down after a few minutes. She kept her hand on her back as a way to comfort the girl.

Annabeth lifted her head, her eyes red from crying. "What... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?"

Percy told her what he'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos's spirit had entered Luke's body when Ethan Nakamura pledged his service.

"No" Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't—"

"He gave himself over to Kronos" Percy said. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" She insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Percy nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw " Annabeth insisted. "When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in his body, or whatever" Percy said. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth yelled. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" He snapped. "Why do you keep defending them?"

"Whoa, you two" Rachel said. "Knock it off!"

"Stay out of this, mortal" Cassandra said rudely. "If it wasn't for you..."

Her threat vanished from her tongue. Tears trickled down her face and she sighed.

She really didn't care about Luke. She had never liked the guy. But it was her fault that Kronos had risen. 

If she had killed Ethan, then he wouldn't have pledged himself to Kronos, and the Titan lord would still be in Tartarus.

Annabeth put her head down and sobbed miserably.

"We have to keep moving" Nico said. "He'll send monsters after us."

Nobody was in any shape to run, but Nico was right. Percy hauled himself up and helped Rachel to her feet.