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Percy attacked and sliced off the edge of my shield. No matter. I dropped to a crouch and jabbed at Percy’s legs. My sword sliced through the skin above his knee like it was butter.
Percy gasped, eyes going wide. He collapsed onto the ground. Blood immediately began pouring from the wound, soaking through his ripped jeans.
I hacked downward, not really trying to hit him.
Percy rolled behind a deck chair. He tried to stand and collapsed again as his leg gave out from beneath him.
I cut the deck chair in half, still not trying to hit him. Percy may not have realized it, but he was down for the count. Between the amount of blood pooling onto the deck and the fact that Percy couldn’t stand, he was done for.
Percy made a desperate crawl for the water. He kept looking over his shoulder, watching me approach. His pupils were narrowed to small pinpricks. The fear he radiated was so strong that I could smell the bitterness of it.
I gave him a slow, toothy smile. His blood dripped off of Backbiter.
Finally realizing that he wasn’t going to make it to the water, Percy rolled over so that he was facing me. His expression was twisted into fear but he lifted his chin and looked me in the eye. There was resignation in his green eyes. Percy’s chest rose and fell rapidly. “Luke.” His knees were shaking. “Let them go. I’ll stay here, with you, and you can do what you want with me. Just let them go.”
I didn’t bother to hide my eye roll. Percy was negotiating this now? After he’d ruined my plans? After he’d ensured that I would be punished for my failure to obtain the Golden Fleece? Now that he knew he was going to die? With a flick of my wrist, I shook the last of Percy’s blood from Backbiter’s dual metal blade. It splattered onto the deck. I slammed my foot down on Percy’s wound.
Percy’s spine arched, he gasped, and then he fell backwards. He didn’t seem to notice his head hitting the deck. He sucked in deep, fast breaths. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Let them go, Luke. Please. Keep me instead.”
I had to admire the kid’s tenacity. He was in excruciating pain, barely conscious, and he was still trying to negotiate the lives of his friends. Not that I had any real plans to kill Annabeth. She was my little girl and I wouldn’t let anyone really harm her. I considered Percy’s offer. If I kept Percy as prisoner then Kronos would be able to use him as we needed, and we would know that he wasn’t messing up our plans, and he would be easier to dispose of. “Alright,” I said. “I’ll let them go...and I’ll give you your chance at freedom too. All you have to do is win a little game of hide n seek.”
Percy blinked up at me, vision going in and out of focus. “Hide n seek?” he echoed, confused.
“You hide and I’ll find you,” I explained.
“That isn’t fair,” Percy said. Because children thought that the world needed to be fair. “How do I win? You could just look and look.”
I glanced at Annabeth. “You got a watch on you, Annabeth?”
She did. Annabeth always had a watch on her. The look on her face as she glanced between me and Percy was cold and calculating; debating whether or not to give up her watch for what was a lost cause. Finally, Annabeth jerked her arm out of Oreius’ grip and unbuckled the wristwatch. She scowled, then tossed it to me.
I caught it, checked the time. It was correct, as expected. I lifted my foot from Percy’s leg and the blood began to flow from the wound again. Then I knelt down and strapped the watch to his wrist. “You have until midnight, Percy. If I don’t find you by then, then you can go free. I’ll drop you off wherever you want to be. No strings attached, no tricks.”
Percy met my eyes, searching them for deceit. Finally he nodded. “Alright.”
“Well, Percy, you’d better get going.” I stood up and stepped back, sword lowered to my side.
Percy looked at his friends. “Let them go first.”
“Sorry, Oreius, you’ll have to wait to eat,” I told the bear giant. As if I would ever let anyone eat my little girl. The satyr...depended on the day, honestly. Sometimes I was just so angry at Grover for what happened with Thalia. “We’re letting them go.”
Letting them go meant throwing them off the ship. It was a long way down, ten stories to the water. They screamed the entire way.
I watched Percy, saw the way his gut clenched and his eyes narrowed in concentration. Could he manipulate the ocean from this high up? It would be interesting to see strictly scientifically. Practically it would be a goddamn nightmare. Then again, if Percy couldn’t bring the pool water to himself from five feet away to heal, then I didn’t think he’d manage the ocean.
Even from ten stories up, we heard the sound of bodies hitting the water.
Percy whimpered.
Then we heard something else. A whooping, shouting from far below. It wasn’t often that I’d met Chiron’s kin but I knew the Party Ponies by the sound of them. It sounded like the worst kind of party.
“Oreius, get us out of here,” I ordered. “Make sure those Ponies don’t get aboard the ship.”
Everyone ran off to do as I’d commanded.
I turned to Percy. It was just me and him now. “And you, you had better get to hiding.”
Percy was looking pale but enraged. “You killed them! They can’t survive hitting the water from this high up.”
If they were dead, I was sure that I would know. If Annabeth died, I would know it. She wasn’t dead. There was simply no way. “I kept my word. Now it’s time for you to make your bid for freedom.” I dragged Backbiter’s blade up Percy’s shin. The blade cut through Percy’s jeans but didn’t break the skin. “Unless you give up?”
“Never!” Percy hissed.
“That’s what I like to hear.” I smiled and sat down in a deck chair. I made a show of getting comfortable so that Percy would get a move on.
Percy stared at me for a few moments. Then he looked around the deck. He chose a direction and began to drag himself away. He kept looking at me mistrustfully, as though he expected me to pounce. As he dragged himself, he left behind a shocking trail of crimson. The fact was that he might die of blood loss before he could even get away.
As soon as he was out of sight, I got to my feet and walked to the railing. We were moving but a ship this big didn’t go overly fast. Even from ten stories up, I could see the Party Ponies on the dock, a familiar white stallion body. Chiron was speaking with two small figures, one pale and one brown. I exhaled with relief. My instincts had been right; they’d survived the fall.
I returned to the deck chair and collapsed onto it. From my pocket, I pulled out a small metal cigarette holder from my pocket. Inside were pre-rolled joints from this morning. I lit one and sat smoking it. They helped with my pain a little. It was better than nothing.
Even with the smell of weed, I could still smell Percy. The copper and ocean smell of Percy mingled with the bitter scent of his fear. It was unlikely that Percy knew he could be easily hunted down by scent...even without the trail of blood. But I would give him a head start. It was only fair, after all. And I had all the time in the world.
An hour later, we were farther out to sea. The crew had strict orders to leave Percy Jackson alone; no eating him or helping him. I was going hunting. I got up from my chair and stretched. Then I began to follow the trail of blood.
The trail led to a door going inside. The door was ajar, letting the cool AC out into the hot summer. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The Princess Andromeda didn’t have a lot of winding hallways or secret passages. Before I took it over it had been a luxury cruise ship, something designed with ease of passenger navigation in mind. That meant that there were long carpeted hallways and helpful signs everywhere.
The plush carpet underfoot showed the drag marks Percy had made. There were so many ways to hunt a person. It really was unfair to the poor son of the sea god. I had every advantage and he couldn’t even move without leaving a clear trail.
I whistled while I walked, the tune from a movie I saw a few years ago called Kill Bill. It wasn’t exactly what I would call fitting because I didn’t plan on being killed but I liked the movie. It stuck with me. So I whistled, the sound echoing in the steel hallways. Let Percy know that I was coming for him.
There was no rush. Percy was badly wounded and it was unlikely he would be able to find enough water to heal that cut with. It occurred to me, as I noticed the blood trail become less pronounced, that Percy might be dead when I found him. Perhaps I waited too long.
The idea made me sick to my stomach. Just because he was thirteen now, didn’t mean I’d have the actual ice in my heart to kill him. He was still so young and Percy hadn’t asked for this lot in life. None of us had. I didn’t actually want to be a child killer. My fight wasn’t with the kids at Camp Half-Blood; it was with their parents.
Not that I understood Percy’s loyalty to his father. One of our spies on Olympus had told us of Percy’s first meeting with his father, after returning the thunderbolt. The god had called Percy unwanted, a mistake. And Percy had succeeded at his quest. Imagine if he’d failed. The thought was accompanied by a bitter, stinging pain in my chest. Everyone thought that I’d failed my quest - and it was the most traumatic thing to ever happen to me - but they didn’t know the truth. Not even Chiron, who had put my organs back into my body, knew that I hadn’t entirely failed. I got the stupid apple. Well, some of it. Because I’d eaten half to stay alive. When you were split open from shoulder to hip, nectar and ambrosia were a fucking joke.
As I kept walking down stairs and hallways, I saw blood on the walls and door handles. Percy was probably trying to open them, find a place to hide. Then there was one notable flight of stairs with a significant pool of blood at the bottom, indicating that he’d fallen down them and tore the clot open. It was easier to go down than up when you were hurt that bad.
The deeper into the ship, Percy went, the less blood there was. It hardly mattered; I could still smell the salt and bitter fear of him. It hung like a perfume in the air.
Eventually the blood disappeared completely. “Hmm.” There were still drag marks on the carpet, though, so I kept going.
The fear scent got stronger and stronger until I could taste the bitterness on my tongue. He was nearby, alright.
I stopped walking and looked around. We were near the bottom of the ship, where storage and such was kept. We were one level above the engine room where I kept the drakon. There were quite a few places to hide down here. The time was 11:40pm. Twenty minutes and Percy would win our little game. I started by checking the doors. Percy may have stopped his bleeding but he would have gotten blood on his hands doing so.
At 11:43pm, I found a door that held the tiniest speck of blood on the frame. I grinned before I could stop myself. No one was around to see but I didn’t want to enjoy this. Before turning the handle, I schooled my face into neutrality. When I stepped through the door, I began whistling again. Maybe it would give away my position but I was pretty sure Percy wasn’t doing so hot. An ambush seemed unlikely.
It was dark but I stood still, waiting for my night vision to adjust. Even after my eyes adjusted, it was hard to make anything out. I would have to rely on my other senses. There were dim lights posted every ten feet or so, giving off a faint yellow glow that was almost completely useless. This room held racks and racks of towels and linens. They were piled high from floor to ceiling, mostly shades of white and cream. I was careful making my way around them, going slow to avoid them but also mentally counting the seconds. I would win our game.
At 11:51pm, I stopped whistling. It was just too loud, covered up the sounds of him breathing. Every step I took was light and silent; one of the few good things about being the son of the god of thieves.
Percy’s scent grew stronger, so did the blood smell. I could hear him taking shallow breaths that were probably meant to be quiet. But where exactly was he? I knew I was close…
Something down one of the aisles caught my eye. A bunch of towels and linens on the floor, pressed against the wall in a heap. I couldn’t see movement coming from it...but Percy’s breaths were fractionally louder. 11:56pm.
I made my way toward the pile, almost giddy with the thrill of the hunt. Percy could have his sword and impale me but I dismissed the thought almost as soon as I had it. I crouched beside the pile and breathed in through my mouth. The scent of blood and saltwater and fear hit the roof of my mouth hard. He was definitely under there.
11:58pm.
I reached out, fast as a snake, and snatched a handful of fabric away.
Percy yelped. He scrambled into a sitting position, a hand towel falling from his head. There was nowhere for him to go: he was trapped.
“Gotcha,” I said.
Percy looked at his watch. The face glowed in the dark and announced that it was 11:59pm. When he saw the time, Percy whimpered. His eyes flitted up to me and even in the dim green glow, I saw the fear and pain in them. “W-what are you going to do with me?”
I studied his face, then dropped my gaze down to his leg. Percy had taken off his t-shirt and tied it around the cut above his knee. Smart, if a little belated. Blood was a dark stain on the orange material. I met his eyes just before the watch face dimmed again.
Now it was the two of us, in the dark and humid room, where no one would interrupt. I listened to the sounds of Percy breathing, heard the hitches in his breath as his leg hurt or fear overcame him. We were quite close, close enough that Percy was exhaling into my face. His breath smelled like the cool ocean.
I leaned forward. The watch glow had been bright enough to kill what little night vision I had; it was probably the same for him.
We weren’t touching but I could feel him stiffen all the same. His mouth was so close to mine. He didn’t turn his face away.
I kissed Percy, pressed my parted lips against his in the dark.
Percy made a surprised noise. His mouth was open; his exhale was my inhale.
This was not part of the plan. I was going to take Percy prisoner, put him to use as part of the war effort. Kissing was not part of the war effort. After everything I’d done, there was no way that the kid was going to ever trust me again, let alone join Kronos. But I was kissing him and it didn’t feel wrong.
Percy moved his lips like he wanted to say something but all that came out were small nonsense noises. Both hands were on my chest, the smallest bit of pressure applied like he was still thinking about whether to push me away.
Percy was the kind of kid who would bite your tongue if you put in his mouth, so I just teased mine along his lower lip. For all that he smelled like blood and fear, he only tasted like diluted ocean water. His lips were soft and his lower lip was especially plump; good for biting. I pulled it between my teeth and lightly sucked on it.
Percy gave a helpless little moan. Then he tried to push me away. It wouldn’t have worked on his best day, but the kid had lost a lot of blood. He didn’t budge me at all. Next he tried to turn his head.
I chased his lips with mine, kept the contact even though he tried to break it.
Percy whined something that sounded like my name and then stop. He scratched at my chest, his little nails doing nothing against the material of my shirt. Then he tried to kick me with one leg.
I planted my hands on both his thighs and pressed my weight down to hold him still.
Even though I wasn’t touching Percy’s wound, he made a pained noise and banged his head against the wall.
Still, I kissed him. The sounds were loud and obscene in the big empty room. I wished I could trust him not to bite my tongue off. I’d felt the soft skin of his inner lip and I wanted to feel how soft the rest of his mouth was.
Percy went limp.
I broke the kiss.
Percy drew in a huge, shuddering breath of air. He said nothing, only breathed. It was probably shock that held his tongue. Percy shook it off quickly enough; in our crazy, hellish lives that the ability to get over shock fast was usually the difference between life and death. “Let me go, Luke,” he whispered.
I squeezed his thigh until he gasped. “Never.”