It was like an ocean wave was rolling under us. I tried to move my foot out of the way of the dracaenae, in case one decided to drag me down. I would surely die within seconds in the stampede.
Percy ran down the passage, and the monsters trailed him. He glanced back to me again, and our eyes met. He face was full of emotions. Shock, pain, sadness, and even more. I started to tear up, and yelled at Percy to run.
"Now," Stheno said, "I'll take you back to my sisters." The gorgon laughed, and I wanted to vomit. I saw Percy take a right, and felt better. He was closer to the door now. He would live. But, I could not say the same for myself.
Stheno turned, and started to fly over the gorgons, back to the big room. I hung there, unmoving. The only good thought I had was that Percy would be safe. He would get out, and be near water to hold off the monsters.
The crowd of dracaenae under us started to deteriorate, and soon only a few ran down the passage. Stheno slowly landed, and she finally hit the ground. I stumbled, and almost fell, but the gorgon held me up with a claw. She grabbed my hands behind my back, and poked a claw at me with the other hand. I walked down the passage, doing as she instructed. There was no use fighting. I was weaponless, and greatly outnumbered.
"Medusa will be so happy when she sees I got you!" Stheno laughed, but I ignored her. We continued to walk down the passage in silence. My head was bleeding again, and so was my shoulder. But nothing I couldn't handle. The mud squished with every step, and I looked down to see my shoes coated in it. I looked up and kept walking.
We reached the end of the passage, and turned left into the throne room. I looked down at the floor, not risking even looking at the thrones. "I got one!" Stheno chanted, and the dracaenae all looked up at her. Even though tons had just chased Percy and I down the hall, there were still a lot in the room.
Stheno's halted, and pressed her claw tighter into my side. I winced, but tried to ignore it. I slowly started to look up, making sure I didn't look at Medusa.
"Only one?" a familiar voice demanded. Medusa. "I wanted to see both demigods!"
"Yes, yes I know! But you originally planned just to kill them, so one should be fine!" Stheno pleaded.
"Yes, that's before I knew they were in the cavern! I sent you out there to get them both! I knew I should have sent Euryale" Medusa shouted, angry. Stheno took a step back, dragging me with her. The dracaenae in the room looked frightened. But, Euryale looked proud, because of the complement.
"I'm sorry, sister. I can go get the other one, if you'd like." Stheno said, her voice shaky.
"Yes, yes. Lock the girl up for now. I want the boy to watch her die. His emotions will also make for an interesting statue." My eyes widened, and I tried to move away from the gorgon. But, she yanked me back. Something hard hit me in the head, and I collapsed to the ground. My vision faded, and I went unconscious.
When I woke up, I was in a cage. I felt like my head was exploding, and buried my face in my arms. How had I gotten here? All I wanted was a nice, peaceful honeymoon with Percy. And I ended up with this mess.
I rubbed my eyes, and sat up. The cage was metal, and was against the wall next to the thrones. I could see the back of them. I stared at the room, to see it swarming with dracaenae. Where was Percy? Was he okay?
My question was answered when Stheno walked into the throne room. She held Percy's wrist, and pulled his unconscious body on the floor behind her. He was bruised and bloody. His blue shirt was ripped. How long had he fought before he was captured?
"PERCY!" I screamed. Tears started to stream down my face. "PERCY! PLEASE WAKE UP!" I banged against the metal bars until my hands hurt. I fell down onto my knees, and sobbed. I shook the bars with all of my remaining strength, but nothing happened. I reached an arm out through the bars, screaming. I suddenly felt like I was falling, and layed on the floor, continuing to cry.
We were both going to die here. If Percy wasn't already dead. I passed out again. When I woke up, it would be my time to die.
CLANG!
I sat up in an instant. A dracaenae stood in front of my cage, and was banging against the bars. "FInally, your up." it hissed. The monster grabbed some keys and unlocked the door, swinging it open. Before I could do anything, it pulled at a sword, and led me out of the cage.
I looked around for Percy, and spotted him in front of the thrones. A dracaenae stood behind him, and held a sword to his neck. He was kneeling and staring at the ground. He looked just as bloody and bruised as he had the last time I saw him. "Percy." I said, my voice shaking. We were going to die. Percy wasn't safe anymore.
He looked in my direction. His eyes were red. "I love you, Wise Girl." he said.
"I love you too Seaweed Brain." Despite the horrible situation, I smiled. At least we were together.
The monster led me next to Percy, and made me kneel too.
"Finally," Medusa began, "I can watch you to die, for what you've done to me and my sisters!" I remained staring at the floor, breathing slowly. "You two were hard to get. I knew you were strong. That's why I assembled an army to get you!" She laughed.
"And for what you have done I will turn you to stone! You'll be beautiful in my collection!" I started to tear up again, and had to try and not vomit. At least I would die Mrs. Seaweed Brain. Annabeth Jackosn-Chase.
"Stand up, girl!" Medusa demanded. I heard slithering, and hissing. The hissing slowly grew louder, and I knew she must have been standing in front of me. I tried to steady my breathing, and not hyperventilate. If I was going to become a stone statue for the rest of eternity, I wouldn't be a weeping one. I would be strong.
The dracaenae pushed the sword tip into my neck, and I slowly stood up. I remained staring at the ground, shaking.
"Make her look at me." she told the dracaenae. The monster grabbed my hair, and yanked it down. As my head flew up, I braced myself. So this was how I died.
Then a chunk of the ceiling collapsed. There was a loud bang. The monsters all gasped, and whispered,, and I turned to see what had happened. To my left, a section of the cavern had collapsed, and water rushed in through the holes. I turned to Percy, and stared at him. His hands were out, and he still kneeled, focusing. A wave of water rushed in through the door, and the ground was soon covered in water.
Water spilled through cracks in the walls, and soon, the whole cavern would collapse. Water came in from the ceilings, and walls, and more pieces of the room started to collapse. "PERCY!" I screamed, and turned to him. He was passed out on the floor, from using so much power.
"Impossible!" Medusa yelled. While it was distracted I yanked the sword from the dracaenae guard in front of me. I whirled around, and the sword cut Medusa's head clean off. I smirked, tucked the sword into my belt, and ran to Percy. I heard the other gorgons yell from behind me.
"Come on!" I yelled, shaking him. "Wake up!" But it was no use. He had used too much power, and was paying the price. I lifted him up, and put his arm around my shoulder. I would have to carry him them.
I began to go as fast as I could across the room, aiming for the door. The dracaenae were panicking too much to notice us. As I walked, something slammed into me from behind. I slept and fell to the floor. Percy collapsed, but I turned and pulled out my sword.
Euryale and Stheno were behind me. They were practically red from anger, and I raised my weapon. This would need to be a quick fight, I had to get Percy and I out of here.
Stheno struck first, diving forwards and swiping at me. I ducked, and tried to run through the water to Euryale, but slipped. I stretched out my hand to catch myself, and twisted around to stand back up. But Euryale kicked me, and I went flying 5 feet, before landing on my arm. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming, and jumped up as soon as I could.
Stheno was coming to strike again, and this time I didn't fall. I ducked around her arm, and cut her leg. The gorgon cursed, and grabbed her wound. Without wasting a second, I stabbed her, and turned to face Euryale.
"You'll pay for killing my sisters, you stupid-" the gorgon was cut off by a chunk of cieling. It landed right on top of her, and she was flattened. I jumped back, and almost fell again, before racing back to Percy. I put his arm back around my shoulder, and started to make my way to the door.
I ran through the crowds of panicking dracaenae. None of them made a move to attack. I focused on keeping my footing. The water had turned a dark, murky brown from all of the mud. It was like I was walking through an endless pile of slush.
We were twenty feet from the door. The water had risen above my knee, making it even harder to walk. Dracaenae screamed around me, and chunks of the ceiling kept collapsing. What would happen to the city?
BAM!
A giant chunk of rock landed in front of the door way. I fell back, and screamed. I was submerged under water, and dropped Percy. I shot up, and took a deep breath. He was floating next to me. I wrapped his arm back around my shoulder to support him, and looked in front of us. The doorway was blocked, and the wall around it was starting to crack too.
We were trapped! Tears streamed down my face. I turned around and looked at the room. The walls were crumbling in, and water still spilled into the room. What had Percy done?
I looked at the ceiling, and almost screamed. A big, long, crack ran from one end of it to the other. As more chunks fell off, the crack started to get worse. The whole ceiling would fall! Littles pebbles and rocks rained from the ceiling, and water dripped and came out of every nook and crevice.
I had to remain calm. We would find a way out. But, there really was no way out. The one door had collapsed, and soon, the rest of the room would too, taking part of Rome with it. How many innocent people would die? I didn't want to think about it. And all of this because of us. Because the gorgons wanted to kill us for killing them.
Percy coughed, and I jumped. I moved him off my shoulder, and helped stand him up. After coughing for a minute, he was able to regain his balance, though he still looked exhausted.
"Percy!" I yelled, hugging him. He hugged me back, and I buried my face in his shoulder. We stood there for a minute, unmoving.
Percy pushed back, and held my face in his hands. His face was full of pain, and sadness. "I'm sorry." he whispered. He was wet, shockingly. When he was unconscious and fell into the water his power must not have worked.
I looked at him, confused. "Sorry? Sorry for what?"
"For doing this. I knew the city might collapse, but I had to do something. This is all my fault. These people will die because of me!" He started crying, and I hugged him again. I held him tight, ignoring the chaos around us. He sobbed into my shoulder, and I rubbed his back.
"Hey, it's okay. We'll make it out of here, and live together in New Rome! We'll have kids, and we can hang out with all of our friends!" I tried to sound positive, but I honestly didn't think we would make it out. How could we?
I kissed Percy, and continued to hug him. We hugged each other doing nothing else. I thought about all of the happy times we spent together, and prayed to my mother, Percy's dad, and every god and goddess I could think of. The water was nearly to our shoulders now, but we ignored it, and stayed in each other's arms. I was shaking from the water, it was cold. I tried to steady my breathing, and remain calm. All I thought about was Percy. My whole world was Percy.
I looked open just in time to see the crack open. Part of the city of Rome collapsed, and began to fall into the cavern, on top of us.