You Should Bow to the Sea God

Chapter 23: The Second Trench War

Things had turned bad so fast, too fast, for Percy to comprehend the situation fully. He had trouble tearing his eyes from the bubble that encased Annabeth but he had to keep his eyes on Phyllis, not wanting to let his guard down.

"One snap from my fingers and water will flood into this bubble, drowning her," Phyllis said. "I don't think this little girl can breathe underwater so don't test my patience."

"How did you do it?" Percy demanded, his fists clenched at his sides.

"If you mean how did I kidnap her, it was easy really," she bragged. "I knew I needed someone you cared deeply about but I wasn't sure who you would go to great lengths to protect. Then Sylvia told me how much Annabeth meant to you. I shapeshifted into you and made a little 'emergency' iris message to your little girlfriend. I told her to get the trident from your other blond friend and to meet 'you' at the lake. I convinced her that you were on the brink of death to make her rush to the lake like that. She really loves you, you see."

Percy glanced over to the bubble and Annabeth's eyes met Percy's, anger and defiance written in them yet not an ounce of fear. It reminded him of how brave she truly was. Percy reached into his powers, trying to feel that little tug. If only he could burst her bubble and use his powers instead to wrap a protective shield around Annabeth and hopefully send her away...

"You can try," Phyllis said, smiling down at him as if she had read his mind. The smugness in her tone startled him. "Go on, use your powers, take me down. We all know you're powerful enough, sea god."

Percy hesitated, not wanting to do as she asked but he was desperate. He was aware of everyone's eyes on him but he ignored them. He focused on his powers that were always so familiar to him, focused on the bubble around Annabeth, trying to smash it. But he felt... nothing. He looked up in horror to stare at Phyllis's smug smile.

"What did you do?" he demanded as a cold feeling washed over him.

"You really underestimated me, Percy," Phyllis said, gleeful. "You have no idea what's happening around you. Even your bodyguard, Noa, knew something was up. She found out and I had to kill her for it."

"You!" Percy cried, eyes wide. "You killed Noa!"

Phyllis cackled. "She was way too smart for her own good. You would have suffered way worse if it weren't for her." She laughed even harder at the anguish on Percy's face. "Haven't you wondered why you've been getting headaches? A spell was created for me to eat your powers up daily, bit by bit. Tytannus helped, remember him? The day you met him he told you he wanted to know how powerful you were. And now you know why. It was so he could help me complete the spell that would take away your powers."

"Tytannus is alive?" Razir asked, his mouth agape in shock.

Phyllis laughed. "Surprise, Razir? The demon Poseidon killed was another demon pretending to be Tytannus. This way, I made sure when Tytannus did make a comeback, none of you would believe it and leave the Council utterly defenseless."

Percy could only gape at the flawless plans Phyllis had come up with. This whole time, he had been playing into her trap. Everything was manipulated from the beginning to the end. Percy had come up with a simple one time plan, but Phyllis was playing the long game, had been this whole time.

"But this little tidbit would shock you way more," Phyllis grinned. "Noa's protection spells protected you from outside spells, but not from the inside. Can you guess who was the one who planted the spell in your chamber?"

Percy whirled to Sylvia who looked horror-stricken but said nothing to deny that. Percy's heart plummeted in his chest.

"I should never have trusted you," Percy said, his voice cracking. The feeling of Sylvia's betrayal had truly hit him then. She had aided Phyllis with the dagger and agreed to marry him, but those were different. She was targeting Poseidon and just listened to Phyllis's orders. But this.