They reached a cliff overlooking what Percy knew was the sea, churning hundreds of feet below. Dr Thorn pushed the three demigods toward the edge. "Face me!" the manticore demanded, and they gradually turned. He pulled out a 'phone, and spoke quietly into it. Percy glanced behind him, and contemplated jumping. Dr Thorn laughed, "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump. There is the sea – save yourself!" The trio muttered among themselves, and Bianca wondered aloud what the monster had meant. "I'll explain later," Percy promised.
Dr Thorn finished his conversation and spoke. "Unfortunately, you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise, you would already be dead-" he turned and glared at Percy, "just like you will be before you can jump." Percy looked down, losing hope. A helicopter's blades were faintly audible in the silence, and Dr. Thorn grinned. "Here is our ride, little brats." Percy's eyes lit up again, as a thought struck him.
"You work for Luke, right?" The manticore's look of distaste and curt nod filled the runaway Son of Poseidon with both hope and fear.
Annabeth rushed in, invisible, and her mind whirled with what Grover had said about Percy and the empathy link. She barged into Percy, shoving them all roughly to the ground and accidentally knocking her cap to the ground. Dr Thorn let out a brief exclamation as his first volley of spikes whistled over their heads, and he spun around at the sound of Thalia's shield cranking out into the spectacle that was Aegis. She charged at him, as Dr Thorn's hand became an immense orange paw with gleaming black claws, which he swiped at her shield. Thalia stumbled backwards at the sheer force, as Grover appeared and began to frantically play his reed pipes, causing vines to sprout from the ground, binding the monster's legs.
Dr Thorn let out a furious roar, and melted away into his true form, revealing a six-foot tall lion with a human head, and a long tail reminiscent of a scorpion's. He shot several spikes at the rising Thalia, and she fell back down. Annabeth let out a gasp, as the vines were clawed to pieces and the manticore's head turned towards her. Percy clambered to his feet, despite the pain from the poisoned spike embedded in his shoulder, dived in front of her and tapped his wristwatch/shield, deflecting the deadly spikes. Dr Thorn advanced onto them, taking advantage of their situation, but a single silver arrow sprouted from his back. He roared in anger, whirling around to glare into the woods.
"You cannot interfere! It is against the Ancient Laws!" Thalia looked sick both from the poison and from the realisation of who arrived.
Percy squinted and gazed into the woods, as around fifteen girls of varying ages, all in the same attire of silver ski parkas and jeans. One of the older ones, with a circlet braided into her hair, stepped forward and asked, "Permission to kill, my lady?" Percy then realised who they were, and noted which one replied, "Not so, filthy monster – the Hunt kills wild beasts, and that is exactly the category you fall into. Permission granted," a twelve-year-old with auburn hair and ancient eyes spoke.
"If I cannot have them alive, I will have them dead!" Dr Thorn lunged at Thalia and Annabeth (who had crawled over to Thalia as the Hunt approached). Percy leaped onto his back, and hung on for dear life, as the manticore turned in circles, trying to throw him off.
"Fire!" the girl with the circlet commanded. Annabeth was shocked, and yelled, "NO!". Still the arrows flew, and the monster screamed in pain, before hurling himself with Percy on his back off the edge of the cliff.
The auburn-haired girl, Artemis, watched them fall, and knew they hadn't died. She was intrigued by the actions of the male – Perseus Jackson had sacrificed himself for his friends. She knew they would meet again.
A/N: Thank you for reading! I'm hoping that you enjoyed the first chapter of Enduring Sacrifice, as it is my first story. Please review - if you tell me what to do better, it can only help, right? I think this is a really nice concept for a story, so do tell me if you liked it.
The background to this story is that instead of Luke and Thalia finding Annabeth on the streets, they find Percy, leading him to trust Luke instead of hating him. Luke doesn't try to kill Percy at the end of Lightning Thief, choosing Annabeth for the attack instead. Luke acts kinder to Percy, offering him more than one opportunity to join the Titan's army - and he is conflicted several times, while Annabeth tries to convince Percy that Luke's a cold-blooded traitor.
