Percy’s POV
The shelves opposite us exploded as the curses found their marks. All around us, pearly-white figures floated in the air as hundreds glass spheres burst apart. The noise from the crashing glass and splintered wood raining down upon us was deafening.
Suddenly, a voice rose from among the chaos.
“RUN!” Harry roared.
Whirling around, I grabbed Annabeth’s hand and began pulling her forward. However, she resisted. I turned around to see her struggling with Thalia, who was stumbling as fast as she could. She may have regained some of her strength but she still wasn’t strong enough to sprint. Without a word, I grabbed her arm and heaved her on my back, her arms clasping around my neck. Immediately, the three of us sprinted after Harry, who had a hold on Hermione’s robes and was dragging her forward, the other arm raised protectively over his head. Wincing as a piece of glass struck me on my arm, I watched him elbow a Death Eater in the face. Everybody was yelling and cries of pain rose above the massive din as the shelves collapsed among themselves, raining down glass and wood.
Annabeth gave a cry of surprise when three figures suddenly ran past us, their arms over their heads. It was Ron, Ginny and Luna. Inwardly, I was panicking. Where was Tyson, Grover, Nico, Clarisse? What about the rest? Were they okay?
We were now at the end of row ninety-seven. I squinted forward, trying to see through the dust that had somehow flew upwards when a shelf had come crashing down in front of us. My heart plummeted when I saw that we had lost track of Harry.
“No, no, no,” I cursed under my breath as sounds of pursuit came from behind us.
“This way,” Annabeth hissed, pulling me towards the right.
“Come on, where are you?” I heard her muttering as we flew forward.
Hope bubbled inside of me as a faint outline of a door started to take shape. Fueled with a new determination, I ran faster. Annabeth was already close to the door but as she neared to the door, I realized that something was wrong when it didn’t fly open like it was supposed to. My heart sank when I notice the lack of doorknob.
“They must have sealed it shut behind them once they were through,” Annabeth groaned with frustration.
“There has to be another way out. We just have to find it,” I panted. Thalia suddenly weighed a whole lot more. I was tiring. That was not good news.
“Try the left,” Thalia spoke up. “Hurry; I can hear them coming.”
Taking her advice, I followed behind Annabeth as she started towards the left. We ran through the row, passing shelves after shelves of glass orbs. I kept an eye out on the wall on our right, trying to spot any way out.
“I see something,” Annabeth suddenly murmured after a minute, speeding up. “I think it’s a door.”
I hurried after her, praying hard that she was right. She slowed down as we got closer and much to my relief, the door flew open.
“Let’s go,” she said quietly, leading the way into the unknown room.
I looked around cautiously as we stepped inside. It seemed to be some sort of corridor. Both sides were completely lined with mirrors. It reminded me of those halls of mirrors that could be found at carnivals. Thankfully, the corridor was perfectly straight so we couldn’t get lost.
“What the –“ Thalia breathed behind me as we passed the first few mirrors.
I glanced at the mirror beside me as we passed and my face paled. My steps faltered and slowed down. The image reflected back in the mirror was not some distorted image of myself. Instead, it was showing my entire life. I watched as I was born, as I was sent to school, as I met Grover, as I joined Camp Half-Blood for the first time …
“It’s showing us our entire life,” Annabeth said in a hushed voice, sounding distressed.
Her voice broke me out of my trance and I shook my head a little to rid myself of the daze. “Let’s keep going,” I replied edgily. “We’ll be in trouble if the Death Eaters catch us in here.”
She nodded in reply and we kept going. However we were barely halfway across the hallway when suddenly, a door at the opposite end of the corridor opened. The three of us stopped in our tracks and tensed up.
Out stepped the kid that had attacked us at the park.
“You!” I glared at him.
“James,” Thalia snarled at the same time. She gave me a motion to put her down and I obeyed, worried that she would bash me on the head or something if I didn’t agree.
“You know him?” Annabeth asked him, sounding surprised.
“He’s with Voldemort. I’ve seen him multiple times, that little half-breed,” she shot daggers at him with her eyes. I definitely do not want to be on the receiving end of that.
“Wow, really feeling the love in here,” the kid – James – commented casually, strolling closer towards us.
“You have a nerve strolling in here after that attack,” I gave him a dirty look, gripping my pen tightly. There was hardly any space in the corridor for us to fit seven people in a row, let alone to fight.
“Yeah, well, sometimes just being by Voldemort’s side could get a little boring you know,” he said dismissively. “Nothing helps boredom like an attack on little demigods,” he sneered the last word.
“How did you even join Voldemort? You’re just a demigod,” I frowned.
“No, he’s not,” Thalia said quietly from beside me. “He’s like Voldemort’s golden ticket.”
“That’s right, Jackson,” he snarled. “Your friend wasn’t lying when she called me a half-breed.”
“You don’t mean –?” Annabeth asked, sounding horrified yet fascinated at the same time.
“That’s right, I am a half-breed. Half-god, half-wizard, James Hethon, at your service,” he gave a mocking bow.
“Your dad’s Morpheus,” I said slowly. “Your mum …?”
“A Death Eater,” he stated proudly. “’Course, dad didn’t know she wasn’t mortal, so when he told her about himself, he didn’t really know what he was doing. She decided not to tell him about what she is, and passed me on to Voldemort when he found out about demigods.”
“Now, enough talk,” he continued, pulling out his wand while smiling maliciously, “I won’t be using my dad’s power just so you guys would feel like you have a better chance of beating me. All the better for me to crush those dreams. Avada Kedavra!”
As the three of us dived out of the way, I noticed out of the corner of my eye Annabeth shoving on her Yankee’s hat and vanishing into thin air. Huh, come to think of it, it’s been awhile since she last used that hat.
Rolling into a crouch, I glanced at Thalia for a split second and nodded, charging forward together. When James casted more curses, she pulled out Aegis, a shield that expanded from the shiny silver metal bracelet adorning her wrist, and deflected them. Shockingly enough, it worked against them. Seeing it as a futile attempt to even attack her, he slowly begin to back up, focusing his attention towards me instead.
I cursed and barely manage to duck as a curse flew over my head. In that moment, Thalia leapt forward, her knives flashing. He bent backwards, narrowly avoiding being slashed in the face. While falling backwards, he kicked out at Thalia’s legs, causing her to stumble backwards. His eyes darted between me and Thalia and suddenly seemed to notice that something was wrong.
“Where’s the third?” he muttered.
His eyes widened and rolled backwards in his head as he collapsed, unconscious. Annabeth appeared from behind, the hilt of her dagger hovering over the spot where his head had once been.
“Nice going,” I said, dragging him upwards. “Let’s get him to the others and have them freeze him up before he wakes and go all crazy again.”
They nodded in agreement and waited for me to heave him onto my shoulders before we headed for the exit close to us. Without any hesitation, Annabeth yanked open the door and stepped through. I followed right behind her.
We found ourselves back in the circular room where the doors had spun around us. To my utter relief, I saw everybody already gathered there although they weren’t in the best of shapes. Hermione was unconscious on Neville’s back and Ginny was in a sitting position by the wall, her face white and her hands clutching her ankle. Ron was giggling like crazy as he grabbed onto the front of Harry’s robes. Grover was bleeding in the head and Nico was clutching at his arm. Neville’s nose was bleeding and it looked like it had been broken. Tyson, Clarisse and Luna seemed unharmed though.
“Percy,” Harry exclaimed with relief. “Where were you guys?”
He did a double take as he spotted James on my shoulder. “Who’s that?”
“We couldn’t get out; the door was sealed when we tried it,” Annabeth explained as I lowered James onto the floor, stretching my back. “We left through another exit and found ourselves in this corridor full of mirrors. And that’s James Hethon. He was the one who attacked us and put us in that long sleep.”
“You think you could help us with that freezing thing or whatever?” I asked.
“Sure,” Luna piped in and pointed her wand at James and chanted, “Petrificus Totalus.”
“Sorry, we thought everybody was already out,” Harry apologized as he pulled Ron’s arm over his shoulder. He looked around and started for one of the doors.
“Hey, I recognise him,” Nico scowled. “He was that kid in the Forbidden Forest that I scared, or at least, I thought I scared.”
I pulled James onto my back again. We had just began walking when another door across the hall burst open and three Death Eaters sped in, led by Bellatrix Lestrange.
“There they are!” she shrieked.
Stunning Spells shot across the room. I ducked my head, running after Harry as he smashed through the door. He had flung Ron from him and went to help Neville with Hermione. All of us had just made it past the threshold when Harry slammed the door against Bellatrix. I quickly placed James onto the ground. Thalia sank down beside him; it seemed that her energy had waned again, leaving her feeling exhausted. I couldn’t blame her; that short rest (if it could be counted as one) wasn’t enough to help her regain her energy.
“Colloportus!” Harry shouted, the sound of three bodies slamming on the other side coming through the door.
“It doesn’t matter!” a man’s voice shouted. “There are other ways in – WE’VE GOT THEM, THEY”RE HERE!”
I spun around; we had somehow made it back into the Brain Room and to my disbelief, there were doors all around the walls.
“Luna – Neville – help me!” Harry yelled, dashing over to the doors.
The three of them tore across the room, sealing the doors as they went.
“Colloportus!”
Annabeth, Grover, Nico, Tyson, Clarisse and I ran after them, slamming our weight against doors that were yet to be closed. We could hear footsteps running along behind the doors. Occasionally, there were sounds of bodies slamming against the door. Luna and Neville were bewitching the doors along the opposite wall. Suddenly, Luna cried.
“Collo – aaaaaaaaargh …”
My head snapped towards her just in time to see her flying through the air. Five Death Eaters surged into the room through the door she had not reached in time. Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and on to the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled on the ground, unmoving.
“Luna!” I shouted, moving towards her.
My back had barely left the door when it opened, slamming into my back. I was shoved forward and my head hit the edge of the desk. Instantly, my sight went black.
Annabeth’s POV
“No, PERCY!” I screamed as he crumpled to the ground, his eyes closed.
The Death Eaters that had entered behind him paid him no attention. All of their focus was on Harry. Tyson was grappling with a Death Eater, yanking at his wand so that he would not be able to do any damage. Nico had his sword out and was cutting cleanly through another Death Eater’s wand while Clarisse was dodging streaks of light that was shooting from the wand of yet another Death Eater. Grover had made his way towards Thalia and James and was trying to hide them from the sight of the wizards, protecting her and preventing them from doing a rescue at the same time.
“Get Potter!” I dimly heard Bellatrix screaming from somewhere behind me.
I scrambled over to Percy’s side and lifted his head to check for injuries. Some blood was trickling down from his hairline and he was breathing shallowly, his face rather pale. His eyes remained close though I tried to shake him awake.
“Hey!” Ron said, giggling and staggering to his feet. I turned my head towards his direction, horrified to see him tottering drunkenly towards Harry and paying no attention to the Death Eaters surrounding us. “Hey, Harry, there are brains in here, ha ha ha, isn’t that weird, Harry?”
“Ron, get out of the way, get down –“
But Ron had already pointed his wand at the tank.
“Honest, Harry, they’re brains – look – Accio brain!”
Everybody seemed to freeze. All our attention were drawn towards Ron in spite of ourselves as a brain burst from the green liquid and soared towards him, spinning as it came, and what looked like ribbons of moving images flew from it, unraveling like rolls of film –
“Ha ha ha, Harry, look at it –“ Ron said, watching it eagerly. “Harry, come and touch it; bet it’s weird –“
“RON, NO!”
Harry darted forward towards Ron but he had already caught the brain in his outstretched hands. The moment it made contact with his skin, the tentacles began wrapping themselves around his arms like ropes.
“Harry, look what’s happen – No – no – I don’t like it – no, stop – stop – “
However, the ribbons were already spinning around Ron’s chest; he tugged and tore at them as the brain pulled tight against him like an octopus’ body.
“Diffindo!” Harry yelled, trying to sever the feelers wrapping themselves tightly around Ron before his eyes, but they would not break. Ron fell over, still thrashing against his bonds.
“Harry, it’ll suffocate him!” Ginny screamed, unable to move from her position on the ground. A jet of red light flew from one of the Death Eater’s wand and hit her squarely in the face. She kneeled over sideways and lay there unconscious.
“STUBEFY!” Neville shouted, wheeling around and waving his wand at the oncoming Death Eaters, “STUBEFY, STUBEFY!!”
Yet nothing happened.
One of the Death Eaters shot their own Stunning Spell at Neville but it missed him by inches. Harry ran for it as Bellatrix Lestrange raced right at him, holding the prophecy high above his head. He sprinted back up the room.
All the Death Eaters immediately gave chase, knocking chairs and tables but didn’t seemed to dare bewitch him in case they hurt the prophecy. He disappeared through the door that the Death Eater had come from, with all the Death Eaters hot on his heels.
“Annabeth, stay with Percy and make sure everybody’s okay!” Nico shouted as he, Tyson, Clarisse and Neville all followed after them.
I stood up, laying Percy’s head back gently onto the floor and strode over to Ron, who was still wrestling with the tentacles. Unsheathing my knife and hoping that it would work, I slashed it downward. To my relief, it cut cleanly through, severing the binds. Ron shuddered and heaved in a giant breath before falling unconsciously. However, colour was seeping back into his face and I knew that he would be okay for now.
“Annabeth,” Thalia stumbled over to my side with Grover’s aid. “How’s everybody?”
“Percy’s knocked out,” I told her, shuddering slightly. “So are Luna, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Tyson, Nico, Neville and Clarisse have gone after Harry to help him. We have to help them out of here. Grover, do you think you can carry Thalia?”
“I can help,” Thalia spoke up, her voice determined.
“No,” I refused. “You’re exhausted. I don’t know what they did to you when you were with them but you look like you’ve gone through hell and back. You’re in no condition to help anybody and I don’t have any nectar and ambrosia with me right now. It’s better if you rest.”
Thalia snorted and mumbled, “Hades sure would be pleased to see me suffering.”
I was about to open my mouth and insist when suddenly there was a loud commotion. The three of us exchanged panicked looks. It had come from where the rest had run off to.
“I have to go see what’s happening,” I breathed, starting towards the door.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Grover asked, his voice stressed out.
“I don’t think they’ll be coming back here,” I replied, my voice tight. “Will you guys be fine?”
Thalia nodded grimly. “We can handle ourselves. Go and see what’s happening but don’t you dare get yourself killed.”
I nodded and rushed towards the door. When I passed through the door where everybody had run into not too long ago, I nearly had a heart attack, barely managing to stop myself. What I had assumed was going to be flat ground were actually steps leading downwards to the sunken pit that we had previously explored. Jets of light were flying all across the room. My eyes widened when I noticed who were fighting. The Order of the Phoenix had arrived.
I scanned the room, desperately searching for Harry. My eyes landed on the first tier stone steps where Harry was struggling with Neville, whose legs seemed be having some sort of fit and were flying all over the place. Then, it happened. The glass orb containing the prophecy dropped out of Neville’s robes and before anybody could reach for it, one of his flailing legs kicked it. It flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. I stared at it in fascination as a pearly white figure with huge magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by everybody but the three of us.
I gave a huge start and practically jumped backwards in shock as a hand clamped on my shoulder. I whirled around in surprise and nearly stopped breathing when I saw who was in front of me. Dumbledore looked furious but he was gentle as he gestured for me to move aside. My throat had closed up and I couldn’t say anything as I heeded his orders and allowed him space to move forward.
When he entered the room, there was a moment before panicked shouts started up. I wanted to grin but resisted the urge. I moved forward again to the doorway, eager to see the famous Dumbledore in action.
However, one last pair was still fighting, too absorbed in their battle to notice Dumbledore’s arrival. Sirius and Bellatrix were still going at it, their wands slashing through the air. Sirius seemed at ease, laughing as he ducked a jet of red light.
“Come on, you can do better than that!” he yelled.
The second jet of light hit him straight in the chest.
By now, Harry had released Neville and was darting towards Sirius, his face filled with panic. However, Sirius was already falling. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Bellatrix’s triumphant scream echoed around the whole room but everybody else seemed frozen to the spot. My eyes were glued to the arch, my body frozen in shock. Why wasn’t Sirius appearing? It was only a veil; he should be emerging through the other side by now.
Yet he did not reappear.
“SIRIUS!” Harry yelled, his voice tinged with desperation. “SIRIUS!”
He had reached the floor by now but just as he was about to dash towards the veil, Lupin grabbed him around the chest, holding him back. He was saying words to Harry, trying to calm him down but Harry was struggling.
I was watching them closely and my heart sank right to the depths of my stomach when I noticed the resigned expression on Lupin’s face and the denial on Harry’s. It could only mean one thing.
The veil was some kind of weapon.
And Sirius was gone.
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A/N: So, the news about MH370 just came in ... Honestly, it's devastating. Thankfully, I don't have any relatives on that plane but I know people who knew people on it. I had been hoping beyond hope that there would be a miracle ...
R.I.P MH370 </3
PS: Unedited (as usual)