I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus. They belong to Rick Riordan.
Guess who's not dead? :D
But seriously, I'm sorry about the delay. I didn't make much changes to the previous stories after all (partially due to laziness). I hope you enjoy!
Have you ever been in school and thought, 'I'm never going to use this in life, so why am I wasting my time learning it?' That's what I thought about theatre…until I got thrown into an army full of monsters who would rip me to pieces unless I pulled off the act that I was one of them. Granted, I thought that about pretty much every class, and I didn't hate theatre, but suddenly having to improvise to save my life didn't really appeal to me.
Anyway, back to the part with the army. One day, I literally just woke up to find myself surrounded by monsters. My first instinct was to take out Riptide, slash a path through them, and run like Hades, but there were two problems with that. One, it occurred to me that I was a part of this army (for now), and two, I had thrown away Riptide. I internally cursed myself and put on a blank face. What did they want? I only remembered bits and pieces of what I did when I was asleep, like it was a scattered dream.
Sensing the monsters grow impatient, I glared. "What was that? I didn't hear it. I was receiving vital orders from Lord Aether." I know, it was a lame excuse, but hey, it's better than nothing!
"What orders?" one yelled suspiciously.
I narrowed my eyes and snapped, "None of your business!"
"But Perseus," a voice purred, "this is his army." Mormo sashayed out from the crowd. "Don't you think it's their business to know what their master wants?"
She was creeping me out, and I resisted the urge to shudder. Think, Percy, think! "It…involves this body and ensuring that Perseus does not regain control. It does not concern the army as a whole." Man, it felt weird to refer to myself like that.
Mormo sniffed and gave me a devilish look. "Well, I will take my leave then," she said, and the spirit vanished.
I turned to the monsters. "I must deal with some urgent business immediately. Leave!" I said sternly. The troops grumbled but scattered nevertheless. Thank the gods for unintelligent monsters.
Letting out an inaudible sigh of relief, I walked to what I recalled to be my tent. I needed to learn and remember things fast, or I was not going to last long here.
I adjusted to the situation rather quickly, if I do say so myself. The army was headed to the Canadian border, where Aether would transport one group to New York while the other marched to California. The problem was that even if I didn't get caught by the time we moved south, Aether would surely know that I was no longer in his control once he saw me. That meant I had to ditch this army now.
When nighttime came, I walked purposefully out of my tent with a bag of supplies and the steel-bronze sword sheathed at my hip. I continued my way to the edge of camp and just ignored whoever stopped to see what I was doing. I reached the end, where two demigods were on guard.
"Where are you going?" one asked. I glanced at them apathetically, but inside I felt sad. These were mercenaries, wandering demigods who didn't feel like they belonged at either camp. Some of them were even in the Titan army before it disbanded. I wished I could help them somehow, but I couldn't say anything without alerting them of my plans.
"I'm going for a walk," I said shortly, and they just nodded and let me pass. I wondered if this was a regular occurrence.
When I was out of their sight, I started jogging. A sense of great freedom passed over me, like I had completely broken free of an oppressive force. I was thinking about how happy I'd be to see my friends again when the air suddenly turned humid. A woman appeared to block my way, I skidded to a stop. It was Mormo.
"Where do you think you're going?" she growled.
Trying to stare her down, I replied, "I am on an exercise routine. Getting some fresh air is good, after all."
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you weren't trying to leave? There is always the chance that Perseus might have woken up…"
I shrugged. "Believe what you want, but you should go back and mind your own business."
"Or what?" Mormo mocked. "You're going to stab me?"
'Why not?' I thought. In one swift motion, I unsheathed the sword and plunged it into her chest.
She screeched, showing her true nature as she disintegrated: vicious and hag-like. The dissipating spirit glared at me with her glinting red eyes, warning, "You've been a very bad child…" Her remains were swept away by the wind, and I sighed in relief. With any luck, my friends and I wouldn't have to deal with her in the battles to come.
I glanced back warily. Her scream had probably alerted the guards, so I sprinted, trying to put as much distance between us as I could.
Thoughts, questions, comments, problems? Feel free to tell!
