Resurrected

Ethan's POV

Sleeping is officially my worst problem. Being sick and coughing up blood? I can del with the pain. Having absolutely no idea whatsoever about how to feel about Alexandra Rodriguez? I can deal with being romantic later. Not being able to resist the temptation of naps? Now that’s a killer weakness.

I had been in the Infirmary since the questers had returned with Calypso, and I have to say, I had thought that I was feeling better. Gods, how I was wrong. As soon as I fell asleep, Kronos grabbed me with a sense of rage that I had not felt for a very long time.

I found myself in the same old interrogation room. Luke was sitting across from me, but he was different. He was looking around the room like he had never been here before. The metal table that used to be silver was now covered in bronze rust, and the light was flickering violently. The mirror was cracked in several places, and before I had the chance to ponder bad luck, Kronos opened the door and stormed in.

“Angry are we now?” I asked Kronos with a smug smile. But scarily, he smiled back.

“Don’t worry, Ethan, I’m just getting started. That stupid Doyle kid had the audacity to free himself from my grasp last night. But it's no matter. I'm as strong as I ever have been."

Kronos certainly didn't look 'as strong as he ever had been'.

"See, Luke here is about to do my bidding," He continued, "seeing as he is going to wake up at the same time you do. Luke will be the guiding force in bringing me back to the Upper World.”

“But I thought our souls not being redeemed was going to do that,” I said, confused and scared.

“Oh they will. Luke is just my insurance. Just like last time, Luke will ensure my resurrection. It is time for Time to rule again!”

“Did it take you an eternity to think up of that one?” I asked Kronos, who was starting to look even more like Luke and less like a fat, TV interrogator.

“Shut up, Nakamura. It is also time for you to wake up.”

And with that, he slammed his fist on the table. Both Luke and I shot up, and the Apollo medics took a second to process it. They checked on Luke, and after apparently not finding anything wrong with him, they checked up on me.

“What day is it?” I asked groggily.

“The 23rd,” the medic responded.

Styx, I cursed in my brain, eight days left.

Within a couple minutes, Percy and Annabeth were at the Infirmary, talking Luke’s ears off. I wanted to look over to Luke and roll my eyes at how his protectors were rambling on and on, but when I looked into Luke’s eyes, I saw that they weren’t blue anymore. They shone pure gold.

“No,” I muttered, “no, no!”

“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Annabeth asked as I scrambled out of bed, drawing a dagger.

“Whoa, buddy!” Percy said, “Calm down!”

Percy disarmed me and threw my dagger down, roughly pushing me back into my bed. He must have loved to have any chance to push me around after our fight.

“Yeah, Ethan,” Luke said, but his voice wasn’t his voice. It was Kronos’ voice, a raspy mixture of rusted metal scraping against concrete, “Calm down. It’s just me.”

Nobody else in sick-bay seemed to realize that Luke Castellan had gone back to full Lord-of-Time mode but me. I wanted to scream, to run, to stab Luke in the chest. But I couldn’t move. I was simply paralyzed in the face of my old master. Suddenly, Kronos’ voice reached into my mind and rasped,

I am alive once again, Nakamura. Nothing can stop me.

Then, Luke, in that same metallic voice, said, “Hey, Annabeth, wanna come walk with me? We have a lot to catch up on.”

“Sure, Luke,” She agreed happily as Percy kept glaring at me.

I had never felt more uselessly paralyzed in my life. She was going to die, I couldn’t do anything but stare at where Luke’s body had been in his Infirmary bed, and all Percy cared about was another chance to beat me up. It took me until Luke and Annabeth were past the Cabins for me to snap out of Kronos’ spell.

“He’s back,” I said, struggling to utter a sound.

“What?” Percy asked me, “What did you say, Nakamura?”

“Percy!” I strained, my voice like almost-set concrete, “He’s—BACK!”

“Who?” Percy asked. I tried to move my neck, but it was frozen too. After a lot of struggling, I looked Percy in the eye, and he realized what I was talking about.

“No,” he murmured, “he can’t be back! His eyes…his voice! No, it can’t be, and you’re lying.”

“I—”My throat still felt like it was either on fire, or made of stone, “I. Can. See. Through.”

“Through…what?” Percy asked, the anger subsiding and his eyes clearing.

“Through—his—disguise.” My voice was now fully on fire and stuck. I was now almost fully mute.

Percy seemed to get the message, and he helped me as we ran towards where Annabeth and Luke were. They were about to enter the forest, her hand in his. The only thing that I kept thinking throughout all of this was,

Where in Hades is Tommy?

But he was nowhere to be found. We ran, trying to catch up to him. Suddenly, on top of my voice being shot, my body being unnaturally stiff, and being mortally scared, I started coughing.

No, I thought, Kronos was making me cough.

In truth, it didn’t matter who or what was making me cough, but something was. The blood spewed from my mouth, as thick and full of mucus as it had ever been, but I pushed past it. I couldn’t let Luke win. I couldn’t give in to the pain. So, I kept moving. At this point, Percy had completely abandoned me and was sprinting into the forest, but I kept walking.

If it’s the last thing you freaking do, I thought, keep walking.

Slowly, as if walking through peanut butter, I started moving again, getting off of my knees and wiping the blood from my chin. I drew my sword, which somehow magically appeared at my side, and kept moving, stoically putting one foot in front of the other. Like a machine, I chugged along until I found myself at least two hundred yards into the forest. I realized that I was alone. Then, I realized I was far from alone.

Kronos had surrounded me.

Notes

Well, crap. Tommy gets free, and Kronos comes back with Luke to kill Annabeth and/or Ethan.

Enjoy,
Grafon