Destruction by Olympians (Part III): Poseidon

To be completely honest, Connor's mind wasn't anywhere on the lesson; taught by a dracaena with a deceptively melodious voice and tilting lilt, she told of how Poseidon was nothing more than a vicious beast who wrought all manner of earthly destruction for no good reason, and how good it was of the Titans to have stopped it. Connor didn't really care about the Gods- except maybe his own father, because well, family- but he had to admit that they were at least a damn sight better than the Titans. Even so, he didn't care too much about Poseidon individually to mind the besmirching of his name. He had to admit, some of it was true.

But as he watched the backs of his classmates- this time last year they would have simply been relaxing off somewhere, and most off them would be home- and the sunlight that danced on their backs, leaking from the window slats, he was wondering who else he could trust to go off on the plan with him. The wanderer would need someone to anchor to; in any case, "alone" was not something he dealt with very well. It had always been Connor and Travis. Alone was strange, alone was too new and crisp and Alone did not fit.

As the hissing she-beast dismissed them for twenty minutes of rest, Connor made his way to where Katie Gardner was sitting with the faint sun in her ponytail. He noticed her lips were slightly blue from the cold, and her eyes were filled with worry. She had been the most obvious choice, being a good friend of Travis, in spite- or perhaps because of- their constant bickering.

"Hey, Katie." He muttered, sitting on the stoop beside her as they watched the greyness of the new Camp Half-Blood swirl in front of them. Rest his ass, his thought, everyone was too strung up to rest.

"Hey."

"You heard about Travis, right?" He had started the waltz then, his voice dropping to a whisper. Her eyes flashed to life and she nodded.

"Yes, oh Gods, Connor, what are we going to do?" She asked in a careful undertone.

Making sure no one else was eavesdropping, he puffed up his chest. "I have a plan."

Excitement rose up in Katie's voice, "Gods, yes, what?"

"We rescue Travis."

She nodded, "Yes. That's good and I'm in. Definitely. So what's the plan? Explain, hurry!"

Connor frowned. "That was the plan, though. We rescue Travis?"

Katie groaned in exasperation as shards of winter wind whipped her hair. "Connor, you are an absolute idiot! That's no plan, that's just a statement. We need a real plan."

"You come up with one then!"

Katie sighed, thoughts showing in her frown lines. "If we're really going through with this, it can't be just the both of us. Who else should we call?"

Connor shook his head. Had he been asked before the Great Battle, he would have said the names of quite a few campers. Now with the ears in the air and eyes in the night, trust was not something easily given away. He thought of the old Cabin counsellors; maybe there was something to start with.

Like a sign, he saw Kayla walk past with Will Solace; a cigarette was dangling from the girl's lips (she had better be careful with that, they were a scarce commodity now, and she practically lived off the stuff) and the smoke rings were drifting and colliding with the icy air. Could he trust Will? Connor knew he was a solid guy, but...

Well, screw it. Risks had to be taken.

"Will." He murmured to Katie, "We can trust Will, do you think?"

Biting her lip, she nodded. "I guess we can."

Connor nodded and Katie walked off to talk to Will.

The three of them had a hurried conversation of nods and darting eyes before Katie beckoned Connor to come towards them. He walked, slightly apprehensively.

"Katie says you want to break into the Hills?" Kayla hissed out of the corners of her lips. Will was looking at him with a steady gaze.

Connor inclined his head. "They took Travis. So will you guys help?"

"Fucking fantastic," Kayla pulled out the cigarette "Will and I were already planning to go get the prisoners out of there anyway. Since you're part of the plan now, you're with us."

"With us?"

"Once the prisoners are out, we're breaking off." Will clarified. "We'll be starting to do something, really do something, about the new rule. You in?"

Connor exchanged glances with Katie. Might as well, right? Once you're on board the death train, might as well go full steam ahead.

He nodded. "We're in."

Ethan Nakamura wasn't a happy boy. After the victory, he'd been quickly relegated to the Hills; a mere guard, he didn't have twice the honour he deserved for fighting for Kronos- it was his memory of Percy's Achilles heel that had brought the Prophecy child down, anyway.

Hidden behind clusters of trees and high up in the hills- hence the name, obviously- the smooth, steel prison was clustered away from the rest of the world by a fence of barbed wire. There were guards as well, demigods from Kronos's leagues. The prison was kept for those who rebelled in whatever way against the new Regime; specifically for demigods from the Camp.

And now Kronos was spending all his time away from these Godforsaken forests, anyway; the Titan Lord was dwelling in the main branches of New York City. And he was no longer Luke. Ethan suspected that whatever soul of the son of Hermes that had been left in the Titan had withered away and crumpled in despair after Kronos had plunged his spear into the heart of the Huntress, Thalia Grace. Luke Castellan, at any rate, had not made an appearance since then.

In the Hills, meals were sparse, always just enough to keep their strength up at a minimum but not nearly enough to keep away the constant hunger. There was no heating either- and forget about giving them more than their thin prison uniforms. It was hell, ironically, in this frigid winter.

They'd had their first casualty already: Sherman Lim, son of Ares. He and that LaRue girl had been the pioneer inmates, coming in as soon as the Regime had begun. He'd lasted a good three months, that boy.

His corpse wasn't pretty, Nakumara had to admit. He had fallen on his way from the outhouses to the barracks; his guard had probably didn't care too much to help him up and the boy was weak from the lack of food and exhaustion from the chores that they made them do. He'd frozen to death- the snow had been a devil that night.

They'd found his icy bones in the morning.

Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that amongst all this needless death, something had gone astray in his plan. Was this fair? He remembered what his mother had said to him:

Too many in this day and age value mercy over justice. Justice, Ethan, without justice, we are nothing.

But what had the demigods done to deserve this treatment, he mused. Was defiance to the Regime equivalent to death? Lines had to be toed, he supposed. Rules had to be kept. If you wanted to rise in the ranks, you first had to surrender. That was fair. That was justice.

And if you couldn't listen? Then there was punishment.

That was justice. That was fair.

ooOOoo

Clarisse's unit that day was comprised of all the people in her room; namely, herself, Rajan and Travis. Their duty was to cut down the evergreens that grew around the Hills. The great Kronos, apparently, was a little scarce on lumber. What was shit, she thought, was that they could have easily deployed the Golden to do this chore, or leave it till summer. Or perhaps even fucking get the trees from the warmer states?

But of course, what would punishment be without you know, the punishment? So there the three of them were, overseen by that bastard Ethan and two other of Kronos's cronies, in the freezing cold and trying their hardest to down the giant trees.

It wasn't in Clarisse's nature to just do things because she was told to, but she was making an exception. She was still planning her escape from this shit-fest and she had to keep alive till then. She couldn't risk Chris, either. The boy was still at Camp and she feared that any lashing out on her part would earn him a trip to the Hills as well.

But of course, being who she was, she wasn't able to stop herself from giving a snide remark now and again. And oh, she thought, as the bruises on her skin throbbed madly in the thin air, did she pay the price.

She moved towards Travis, keeping score of his black eyes and cut lip.

"Is Chris okay?" She asked, her eyes darting fleetingly to Ethan. He was leaning against the trees, talking to the other guards. There was never hope of overpowering them, not in their weakened state. Forget brute force, which was what Clarisse relished, she had to be stealthy.

Travis raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, he's fine. Not quite right, I guess, without you there to beat him up- ah I mean, love him-"

"Shut up."

"But he's fine."

Was he coming for her? Clarisse couldn't count on it, even if he was. In any case, it wasn't her style to play the Damsel. She thought for a moment. "What about Silena?" She asked in a sour voice.

Travis spat. "No one's talking to that bitch, but what do you expect?"

Rajan shook his head in disgust and whammed the axe at the tree; it made the slightest of dents as it slipped on the crystalline ice. "Stupid daughter of Aphrodite."

"How long more do we have to be stuck here?" Travis groaned as he took a swipe at the tree.

Clarisse shook her head, eyes fixated on the guards. They were still deep in their own conversation. "I don't know." She muttered. "We keep thinking of ways to escape but can't figure out how. None of us are Athena kids, you know."

Rajan looked up. "And preferably, if we want to escape we want to make it out alive. So that means be careful with your words, Stoll. I don't want out of here dead." He paused, looking at Clarisse. "It has to be a mass escape. I'm not leaving the rest of them here while we go free. Especially Sherman."

Clarisse nodded and glanced up. Ethan Nakamura was staring at them. He was a bit too far off to hear their whispered conversation of course, but she didn't want to take any risks. It wasn't time for that yet.