edited.
Only the prologue was in Ethan's POV. The rest of the story will be Lauren-centric.
Lauren knew for a fact that the magical border around Camp Half-Blood was supposed to keep monsters, and ill weather, out. Had it just broken, then?
Thankfully, the monsters that had gotten through weren't much to worry about. More or less, a dozen karpoi running around the camp, laying waste to anything and anyone with their tiny bats. They couldn't really hurt any of the campers though.
Lauren regarded the scene with amused eyes, watching as the other Hunters picked off the karpoi with their arrows, one by one. It was the best thing to do, too, because soon the little monsters would discover a way up rooftops, and Chiron would have to worry about the mongrels hiding in the nooks and crannies of the camp for weeks on end. Said centaur came trotting out of the Big House, now out of his wheelchair, sword at the ready. But as soon as he saw what was plaguing the camp, he sheathed it.
"Don't let them get to the Strawberry Fields!" he yelled to the four campers that had chased after a group of karpoi. "And someone call the wood nymphs!"
"Chiron," said Lauren, calling the centaur's attention. "Come." An agreement passed through them and they hastily made for Half-Blood Hill.
The Athena Parthenos towered over them, just as tall as the magical pine tree that was once Thalia Grace's life force. It stood as large as the first day Lauren ever walked past it. There was something different about it, though: its aura, which usually radiated warmth and always melted the snow gathering around its roots, had gone cold. The bark on its wide trunk had frosted over, and even as they stared at it, the ice continued getting thicker and thicker.
Lauren's eyes flickered to the Parthenos, only to find nothing going wrong with it. She then glanced downwards to find her breath rolling out of her mouth in wisps. Frowning deeply, she looked up at the Golden Fleece, which hung from the tree. It was freezing over as well, but she could almost feel it struggling to return the border around camp. They had to fix it soon, or monsters would come running in from every direction.
"Where's that dragon of yours?" she demanded, looking around wildly. Then she caught sight of it: a snake-headed copper dragon lumbering after two karpoi, gnashing its teeth whenever it got close enough. One of the karpoi disappeared down the dragon's gullet while one escaped, and the dragon was about to continue chasing that one as well before Chiron stomped his hoof.
"Peleus!" he called, and then whistled. The dragon immediately straightened up and turned away from the karpoi, looking to the centaur, expectant. Chiron opened his mouth to call it back but suddenly a camper appeared from behind the dragon; he threw something at the karpoi, but the tiny creature caught the thing and redirected its course to Peleus, who received the hit to its eye.
Peleus roared and turned away again, breathing fire at the karpoi. The boy camper ran the other way as the dragon continued chasing the little monsters, quickly making its way to the volleyball courts. Lauren cursed silently, pulling an arrow out from her sheath and about to call her Hunters to finish off the remaining karpoi, when one thing stopped her.
Specifically, the loud, eerie, echoing drawl of a wolf's howl.
"Get that damned dragon back here, Chiron! Melt the frost off Thalia's tree," she snapped at the centaur, who galloped off in the direction Peleus had gone.
Pulling the Hunter's horn from the loop in her belt, she blew into it. Seconds later her Hunters appeared in the horizon, running towards her. "Sisters, to me! Ready your arrows!"
Another howl pierced through the air, followed by several more. Lauren whirled around, a specific part of her dream coming into mind as she watched wolf after wolf appear from the woods. There were seven of them, but it was too soon to tell, for even then, they continued streaming into view. They were larger than ordinary wolves, too. Lauren had never seen pelts such as theirs before.
Her sisters-in-arms ran up from behind her to stand with her, shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, arrows already nocked and aiming at the wolves.
"Lauren," one of the Hunters, Mina, stated in a breathless voice. "Your ward is running around in the pavilion. I think he'd be put down by the karpoi at this rate."
Lauren snarled: "The fool will get himself killed." She patted each of her sisters' shoulders, realizing just how little they were, and how many the dogs… "Hold them back, sisters," she said in a firm tone. "The campers will come to your aid. I will make sure of it."
"Do not let the boy die," one of them replied. Lauren didn't have time to see or wonder who. She was already thundering back down Half-Blood Hill, past the volleyball courts and flying over the stream in one bound. To the campers that ran past her, she said, "To Thalia's Pine! Protect the statue!" Thankfully, all of them heard and understood her.
She arrived at the Mess Hall and found the boy, Ethan, standing at the end of the room, holding a sword out with two hands and pointing it towards the five karpoi that had surrounded him.
One of the monsters leapt out of the semi-circle they had made, and Ethan finally swung his sword, cutting the karpoi in half before it disintegrated. Lauren stopped watching and, silently, returned her arrow to its quiver and pulled her hunting knife out.
She rolled and stopped directly behind the middle karpoi. Swiping her arm in a wide arc, she dealt killing blows to the four of them remaining, in one slice. They turned to dust one after the other, and Lauren pushed herself to her feet, grabbing Ethan's arm roughly.
"Idiot," she hissed, starting to pull him out of the pavilion. But then she found their path back to the Hill blocked by a sandy-furred wolf.
It bared its teeth, growling menacingly. Lauren wrestled the sword out of Ethan's hand before pushing him backwards. He fell onto his backside and slid to the wall, and she jabbed at the wolf. It darted to the side and snapped at her, missing her face by inches.
Cursing, for she had never preferred a sword, Lauren waited for it to spring off the ground before weaving past it, rolling back onto her feet before unsheathing her hunting knife, gripping the blade, and throwing it to the wild mutt.
The blade rooted itself into the wolf's side, and stayed there. The wolf crumpled to the ground, whining, but did not disintegrate.
Lauren rushed up to the wolf and pulled the knife out; she gripped Ethan's arm, willing him to run, now. "We have to get out of here," she muttered as they ran behind the cabins, and then the Arena, and then the Armory.
Through quick glances to the side, she was able to discern that there were, in fact, more than a dozen wolves inside the camp. Campers and Hunters alike were fighting them off, and Lauren could only hope that Chiron had been able to return the magic in the Golden Fleece, with the help of Peleus.
"Where are we going?" said Ethan, breathless and panting.
"We are already here," Lauren replied. They stumbled into the stables, where several pegasi were whinnying in alarm. Lauren didn't want to wait until the wolves caught up. She broke the latch off one of the doors with Ethan's sword and cooed to the pegasus inside, though naturally her own heart was pounding.
"What's your name?" she muttered, glancing quickly to the stable door she'd just busted open. "Blaze? That makes sense." She didn't miss the color of his coat, which was a fiery sorrel, only a few shades away from Lauren's own hair. "Girl or boy?" One glance down and—"Okay, girl. Blaze, you have to let us ride you, alright?"
The pegasus whinnied profusely and shook her head.
"No? Well, unless you want to die—" One of the wolves back at the open fields of camp howled, and Blaze's protests died down. She furled her wings back into her sides. Lauren smiled. "Good. Boy, get on."
Ethan spluttered. "Get—get on that?"
"I am not carrying you," Lauren snapped. "Just jump and pull yourself up. I do not have time to strap the saddle on so you'll have to settle with this." She snatched a thick blanket from off the top of a shelf in Blaze's stable and placed it onto the horse's back. Another wolf howled, accompanied by a camper's scream. "Hurry!"
He seemed to snap himself out of a stupor. Placing his hand on Blaze's side, he took another moment to himself before making a small jump. His upper body made it onto the horse's back, but his feet remained dangling above the air. Lauren worried that the horse would fall beneath his weight, and she was impatient enough to grab hold of the boy's legs and give him the extra push he needed.
As soon as he was safely on, she pulled herself onto the pegasus and grabbed hold of her mane, though made sure not to grip it too hard.
Lauren gave Ethan his sword back and gave Blaze's side a soft, but spurring kick with her heel. "Hyah!"
The pegasus ran forth from her stable and broke out into the open, taking a second to gain speed before spreading her wings. She flapped it one, two, three times, and then they were in the air.
Lauren had never flown on pegasus before, and she was as frightened as she was thrilled to find the ground already hundreds of feet beneath them in only a minute. However, she felt Ethan's grip tighten around her waist and she scowled, only allowing it for much longer because she knew that Artemis wouldn't want him falling to his death.
Glancing over her shoulder, she found that Camp Half-Blood had become a mere speck in her vision. Below them were acres upon acres of trees, and perhaps some occasional stream, but probably another two hundred miles ahead of them was New York City and, eventually, the Empire State Building.
This was where Artemis would have wanted her to take Ethan, Lauren knew. The goddess should have been there and, if she wasn't, her brother was sure to be; he always offered help. Lauren remembered her sisters who had remained at camp, fighting the wolves. They wouldn't fall to such low creatures, she was sure, but where had the wolves even come from?
The karpoi, she could reason with, considering they were grain spirits and Camp Half-Blood wasn't exactly in the middle of an urbanized area. But wolves… and wolves of such size and of such amount? She didn't know what to think.
There was once a time where they'd slain many beasts such as those, when Thalia Grace was still a part of their company. The beasts had been led by Lycaon, but he had died from his wounds long ago… or, that was what Lauren knew to be true. Still, those wolves weren't the kind that he normally had with him. They looked more feral, and Lauren would even go so far as to describe them as unearthly.
Several minutes into their flight, when Ethan had finally let go of her waist and New York had grown closer than ever before, the wind started picking up, blowing against them and practically turning them into icicles. Lauren glanced over her shoulder, knowing Ethan didn't have anything but a shirt on. She found him shivering against her back, but she was bothered enough by the temperature not to tell him off.
Between her legs, Blaze's entire frame shook. Her mane grew hard in Lauren's fingers, and Lauren looked down to find particles of frost accumulating within the pegasus' hair.
"We have to land!" she shouted to be heard over the wind. Ethan nodded his head vigorously, which she felt against her back. Lauren leaned down and patted Blaze's neck, murmuring into her ear, "Land now, Blaze. Come on."
The pegasus nickered weakly, angling them back down to the ground.
Before they had even started to lose altitude, large white pellets materialized within Lauren's line of sight. The wind continued blowing against them, pelting them with barrages of sleet. Lauren covered her face with her arm and allowed her parka to gain some of the damage, but it wasn't her or Ethan she was worried about. Even then, as she struggled to keep her eyes on where they were going, she knew that Blaze's wings were being bombarded with hail as well.
Blaze let out a loud whinny, and her head shot forward. Her wings furled back against her body, covering Lauren's and Ethan's legs with warmth. Soon, they were crashing through the trees of the forest below.
Lauren kept herself against Blaze's back, leaning across the pegasus' neck where her cheek was buried within her mane. Ethan was once again gripping Lauren's back for dear life, and it was the only time she couldn't blame him.
Then the ground thundered into view, and Lauren knew they had to get off Blaze as to not crush her during the impact with the undergrowth. Reaching behind her, she took hold of Ethan's wrist and squeezed it tight within her frostbitten fingers. A split second passed before she heaved them both off the pegasus.
The impact was jarring and slightly painful, but less so than she had expected. Her arms ached from gripping Blaze's mane for so long, though one glance at Ethan and she knew that they were no worse for wear.
Blaze was a different story.
She lay on her side, perhaps ten feet away. Lauren rushed to the pegasus and knelt beside her, quickly addressing her wounds. Her body was fine, save for a few scratches here and there from the fall. Her face, however, was swollen, presumably from the many hits it had taken via sleet. Her eyes were wide with fear and pain as she repeatedly raised and dropped her head. Her midsection rose and fell at a rapid pace.
Lauren patted her side soothingly, looking the pegasus in the eye as she gently tugged at its right wing. A few moments passed before she unfurled it, and Lauren's heart dropped into her stomach as she assessed the many jagged cuts and punctures beneath the feathers. Blaze's dark wings had been decorated with red, and it was a disturbing sight.
She didn't stop cooing at the pegasus, smiling kindly down at her as she took out two squares of ambrosia—the food of the gods—from her pocket. Looking behind her, she looked Ethan up and down before handing him one of the squares.
"Eat it slowly," she told him sternly, "Unless you want to burn on the spot."
His eyes widened in recognition and he broke off a small piece of the ambrosia, putting it into his mouth and chewing it very, very slowly. Lauren turned away from him and broke off a considerably chunk from the square, letting Blaze sniff it. The pegasus recognized the smell and picked it off from Lauren's hand.
As she chewed on it, Lauren took a chunk for herself and ate it whole.
It tasted like cooked wild boar, which was the animal she and her Hunters always caught and barbecued for special occasions—namely, New Year's Eve. Artemis never enjoyed the festivity much, because of the noise, but Lauren and the Hunters had eventually learned to appreciate it.
Closing her eyes, the familiar burning sensation came in her stomach, from eating too much ambrosia at once, but it dissipated quickly. When she opened her eyes again, her body had gained back its usual vigor and energy. Blaze seemed to have gotten some of her strength back as well; Lauren broke off another chunk of ambrosia and fed it to the horse, and when she was done chewing that, fed her the last piece.
She waited there for a whole minute before tugging on the pegasus' wing again, where she found the cuts had healed, save for the few larger ones, but they had stopped bleeding.
Blaze neighed and pulled herself onto her feet, where she shook her mane and whipped her tail back and forth. Lauren stared at the creature fondly before turning around, to find Ethan done with his square of ambrosia as well.
"She's fine now," Lauren told him, patting the leaves off her legs. "We must make haste. More monsters could have caught our scent already. Although, I think we should stay on the ground, if that is alright with you, Blaze."
The pegasus nickered softly, digging its hoof into the ground.
Ethan smiled. "I think that means yes."
Lauren did not reply, only motioned for him to get on the pegasus. Like they did half an hour before, he kept his torso anchored on Blaze's back while Lauren pushed his legs up. Once the both of them were safely onto her back, she spurred the pegasus and they continued on their way to Olympus.
"We're headed to New York?" Ethan inquired, and Lauren noticed that he wasn't gripping her waist anymore, unlike what he'd done while they were flying.
"Yes," she replied.
"Why?"
"Because Artemis is at Olympus, and I have many things to relay to her about what happened at camp."
There was a moment of silence, and then, "The wolves," Ethan said, "And the howling from the dream… you think they're connected somehow?"
"They must be." Lauren sighed. "And the sleet that appeared out of nowhere just now, that was not normal. It is far too early in the winter for anything like that to happen, but for demigods… I suppose it is ordinary."
"It might be that snow goddess you and Chiron were talking about. Khi—"
Lauren shushed him before he could continue. "Do not say her name," she muttered. "Surely your camp director has told you that names are to be spoken carefully and only when needed, or is Chiron getting careless?"
"He might have mentioned something," the boy said quietly, and she scoffed.
"You would do well to remember everything he's told you, unless you want to get yourself killed."
She spurred Blaze once more, willing the pegasus to break from her trotting and start running. One look at the sky and Lauren's suspicions were confirmed: someone was after them—one particular snow goddess… She was never really killed during the War. Piper McLean had recalled the events on the Argo II and confirmed that the goddess had escaped.
Had she returned, then? For an ulterior motive, or for simple vengeance against the daughter of Aphrodite—for killing her brothers? She must know that the two weren't exactly dead. So why was Khione back?
Several more explanations came to her, but she forced them back, as the storm clouds were getting closer and closer to the ground than she would have liked. She spurred the pegasus again, wondering if it was hurting her or not. Lightning flashed overhead but it wasn't caused by Zeus. It was something much more sinister.
"What's your sword made of, boy?" Lauren asked, glancing over her shoulder to find Ethan looking down at the blade in his hands uncertainly.
"Chiron said something about bronze… Celestial bronze, I think…"
"Good. We have company."
An alarmed nicker escaped Blaze and she threw her head back, halting and digging her hooves into the same place. Lauren patted the pegasus's neck urgently.
"You have to keep running," she said, watching as lightning flashed again, bringing two smoky figures into view. They separated from the dark tempest and started billowing towards them. Lauren spurred the horse again. "Blaze, go!"
The pegasus whinnied in protest but Ethan slammed his hand against her hindquarters. She reared on her hind legs, nearly resulting in the demigods falling off her back, but they held fast and soon enough Blaze was stampeding past the trees, faster than before.
Thunder boomed overhead, followed by a sharp crackling noise—but this one wasn't from above. Lauren pulled Blaze's mane to the left, and the pegasus followed. In the second that passed, all the hairs on Lauren's body stood on end and there was a loud pop, similar to the clap of thunder.
Blaze neighed worriedly but didn't stop running. Lauren looked behind them, past Ethan's shoulder, and found that a thin tree had been snapped in the middle and caught fire. Beyond that, however, were four boys trailing after them… or they looked like boys. Lauren knew better, though.
"What are those things?" said Ethan, shouting to be heard over the noise of Blaze's trekking.
"Those are venti," Lauren replied as the realization hit her full force. Aeolus should have captured all of them by now…The last time they were roaming free, it was during the War and they were controlled by that snow goddess… Lauren gulped back the lump in her throat. She is definitely back.
"Sorry?" Ethan said. "I'm not that good with Greek yet—"
"Storm spirits!"
"Can we outrun them?"
She spared another look over her shoulder and found the spirits already closing in. They alternated from flying from one point to another, jogging a few steps forward, before turning into smoke and repeating the process.
Lightning crackled in their shapeless bodies. One brought its hand up and pointed to Blaze's initial direction. Lauren veered the pegasus to the side once more, barely keeping them from getting turned into demigod-barbecue.
Ethan gulped behind her. "That's a no then?"
"That's a no." Lauren scowled and pulled Blaze into a halt. "We must face them."
She jumped off the pegasus and nocked one arrow, letting it fly—a theory. As she'd expected, the venti easily evaded the arrow. Scowling, Lauren replaced her bow with her hunting knife, ears perking up at the sound of Ethan's feet hitting the ground.
"Use the sword, boy." Then, she made haste to intercept one of the venti, which had made a move to summon more lightning.
She slashed at its hand and its figure bubbled slightly. Lauren found that, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared and reappeared beside her. She ducked, narrowly avoiding its electric grasp, and swiped the knife upward. The ventus' smoke form split in half before dissipating all at once.
Lauren whirled around to see Ethan flailing about, desperately trying to evade one of the venti's advances. He held his sword limply in one hand, keeping it aloft but never actually swinging it.
Lauren stepped forward, hoping to aid him, when a sudden, strong breeze pushed her onto her back—so hard that the wind got knocked out of her lungs. Wheezing, she peered up at the ventus that had attacked her. A miniature hurricane brew about it, but then the lightning flashes in its stomach died down and it flickered to the form of a boy with jet-black hair and copper skin. His eyes sparked with electricity, and on his back were a pair of smoky wings.
"A Hunter of Artemis, travelling with a male demigod?" He laughed, and his voice resembled the booming of thunder above them. "And I thought I'd seen it all!"
The veins on Lauren's neck protruded from the skin there as she struggled against the continuous blasts of wind he was beating at her. She couldn't even raise her head. "Has Aeolus turned on the Olympians once more? The coward." She growled. "He never could face his enemies."
The storm spirit's eyes flashed. "We escaped from that idiot months ago," he retorted.
"Escaped? How?"
He grinned. "The ice wants its kingdom back," he said, "And the Hunter."
Ignoring the uneasy feeling that had crept into her stomach, Lauren brought forth the remaining courage she had and snarled: "You will die here."
To her surprise, the wind buffeting her stopped all at once; she didn't wait for an explanation. She flew to her feet and stabbed the ventus in the heart.
"They'll find you," he said weakly. Lightning crackled in his eyes for the last time before he disintegrated right in front of Lauren. Golden powder entered her nose. She coughed, brandishing her knife as tears sprung forth from her eyes.
Then, the ringing in her ears went away, and she was reminded of the two venti that were left—the ones that Ethan was currently struggling against, in vain. Their wings stretched out from their shoulders blades and started flapping.
They started gaining altitude. Lauren, not knowing what else to do, threw her blade at one of the venti. It hit its mark and the spirit disintegrated, but there was one more left and he seemed to be strong enough to continue pulling Ethan.
They were almost above the height of the trees, now. Lauren ran for the tree nearest to them and hastily scaled it. The adrenaline pumping through her veins nearly caused her foot to slip from the holds, but she didn't fall.
Once she was at the top of the highest branch, she swung her arms forward, for momentum, and jumped.
For a few moments, she wildly thrashed about in the air—until her hand caught something. Her head snapped up and she found that she was gripping Ethan's ankle. Lucky that she hadn't gotten his foot (for it might have broken), she started violently tugging him down. He was shouting something, and she could only guess that the ventus was pulling—most likely harder than her.
"Di immortales," she said through gritted teeth, exasperated. She was too light.
She was preparing herself for an especially forceful tug when Ethan's weight suddenly disappeared… or the opposing force that was pulling him skyward.
They were falling now. The sword had slipped from Ethan's grip, and he was screaming his lungs out. Lauren looked wildly around for the ventus and found it had returned to its smoky form, and was flying towards them.
Thinking quickly, Lauren adjusted in the air and reached behind her. Eventually, her fingers closed around the warm hilt of her second hunting knife. She thrust the blade forward.
Suddenly the ventus had something in his grip; there was a sharp prick on her hip and then she stabbed again, and the ventus exploded into dust in front of her, getting into her eyes, mouth, nostrils. There was an abrupt whinny from somewhere to her right.
Her back collided with the ground. Her chest tightened, the ringing in her ears returned, and her vision turned dull.
Her head pounded wildly. Through half-lidded eyes, she was able to catch a glimpse of Ethan kneeling over her, his mouth moving. She couldn't discern where Blaze was. Apart from Ethan's voice… someone else was speaking. An odd, metallic voice.
She didn't have time to figure out who or what it could possibly be, for mere moments later, darkness descended upon her and took hold.