Hi again! I'm back, as promised, since the last chapter was one you already read. Don't expect all my updates to be this fast though, haha. I don't like to take too long, but two days in a row is highly uncommon.
This chapter's a lot of fun, I think. A good gateway to what's going on nowadays with the gang. It was really fun to write, too. You'll see :)
Thanks to everybody that reviewed/followed the first chapter! Ready for something new? Enjoy!
II
PERCY
Waking to a world just as dark as sleep was highly disorienting, and if it wasn't for the angry voice screaming in Percy's ear it would have taken him a considerably longer time to regain his bearings.
"Wake up, Seaweed Brain! Gods, you sleep like a freaking rock!"
"Annabeth?" he recognized the voice, blinking rapidly to try and clear the sleep from his eyes. The image of Erebos and his dark, hollow eyes was still burned into his mind, threatening to drag him back into oblivion. But around him he could hear a girl screaming and a vicious growling, and those sounds were hardly ever a prelude to something fun. He shook his head and his eyesight finally focused on his girlfriend kneeling over him on the forest floor, her knife in her hand and her expression wild.
"Ugh, finally!" she said, sounding exasperated. "I was about ready to start smacking you. Get up, we've got trouble!" She stood and dashed away, seeming to run in time with the music.
Wait… Music? Confused, Percy sat up and looked toward where Annabeth had gone, feeling his stomach leap into his throat as he took in the view of their campsite—or, what used to be their campsite. Now it was the wooded hunting ground for a pack of horse-sized hellhounds.
With a yelp, Percy jumped to his feet, digging a hand in his pocket and fumbling for his shape-shifting ballpoint pen. He pulled it out and yanked the cap free, feeling the familiar blade of his sword, Riptide, extend to full length in his hand, before rushing toward the nearest monster. It seemed to notice him at the last second and its lip curled back in a snarl as it leaned back on its haunches and leapt into the air. Percy skidded to a halt and dove to the side to avoid being skewered by the six-inch claws aimed at his chest. He rolled on the ground and came up in a crouch as the hound whipped toward him with a growl. Immediately it bounded forward and aimed a fast, powerful swipe of its paw. Percy swung his blade and deflected the blow, before spinning around and landing a slice across one of the hound's front legs. It howled and lunged forward, opening its jaws wide, and once again Percy threw himself to the side just in time for its teeth to snap closed around empty air. As he stepped backward and regained his footing, the hellhound turned to face him, growling as if to say, Stop squirming! I'm hungry! Then it pounced again, but this time, rather than dodge around it, Percy ducked low and dove forward, twisting on the ground and dragging his sword along the hellhound's belly. With a loud whine, it dissolved into dust—dust that fell in an extremely gross and uncomfortable blanket right on top of him.
Coughing and brushing monster bits from his face, he climbed to his feet and spun around, colliding instantly with something hard and knocking himself and the other object to the ground. The music he'd heard earlier came to an abrupt halt and he rolled over to come face to face with Grover, who was rubbing his nose with a pained expression.
"Good, you're awake," he said, shouting over the commotion around them. "Why are you covered in—?"
"Don't ask," Percy interrupted, helping his friend to his feet and trying to brush more hellhound-dust from his clothes. "Where are Annabeth and the girls?" he asked, noticing that the others (including the remainder of the hound pack) had disappeared.
"Over there." Grover jerked a hand over his shoulder. "I was keeping the girls hidden so they wouldn't—" Suddenly he broke off, his eyes widening. "My pipes," he said frantically, dropping to his knees and running his hands along the grassy forest floor. "Where are my pipes?"
"Here," Percy said, leaning down and picking them up while simultaneously realizing that they must have been the source of the music he'd heard. As Grover took them, a shrill scream pierced the air and both boys cringed.
"Uh-oh," Grover muttered.
"Come on!" Percy sprinted past Grover and through a line of trees until he found the source of the scream—Lydia, one of the two young demigod sisters that Percy, Grover, and Annabeth had been dispatched to escort to Camp Half-Blood, was standing alone with her back against a tree and a snarling hellhound leaning back to pounce at her.
"Lydia, get down!" Percy yelled, running toward her without hesitation. Her wide, fearful eyes turned toward him before she followed his order, ducking to a crouch and throwing her hands over her head. The hellhound tensed and leapt into the air and at the last second Percy threw himself between the monster and the girl, jabbing forward with Riptide and driving the blade between the hound's open jaws. Its teeth scraped his forearm just before the beast turned to dust with an angry howl.
He'd barely lowered his sword before Lydia's small arms threw themselves around his waist and he stumbled forward, surprised that a ten-year-old girl could have so much force. "You saved me!" she said, squeezing him in an uncomfortable, bone-crushing hug.
"Uh… It was nothing," Percy said awkwardly, trying to twist around and pry her arms away from him. "Look, I've… gotta go find Annabeth and your sister. Why don't you stay here with Grover until we get back?" She finally let go and nodded vigorously, the bright smile on her face seeming strangely uncharacteristic for a girl who was almost just mauled by a hellhound. Percy exchanged a glance and a nod with Grover before turning and dashing off through the trees again, heading toward the sounds of fighting not far away.
Seeing movement through the darkness a few yards away, he shoved his way through a thick brush of bushes and skidded to a halt between two trees. In the small clearing beyond them, Annabeth was squaring off against three hellhounds while a fourth stalked a slow, threatening circle around Lydia's twelve-year-old sister, Tyler. Annabeth may have been in more danger, but she was also a highly experienced fighter and would probably scold Percy if he tried to help her before the younger girl. So seeing as he wanted to avoid his girlfriend's wrath wherever possible, he sprinted toward Tyler after only a brief moment of hesitation.
When the hound reared back onto its two hind legs and growled, ready to tackle the young girl in front of it, Percy felt a jolt as he realized he wouldn't make it over there in time. Gritting his teeth, he dug his feet into the ground and yelled, "Tyler, duck!" She turned back to face him and stumbled, falling to a sitting position on the ground. That'll work, he thought with a half-shrug. Then he pulled his arm back and flung Riptide like a javelin as the hellhound dropped to all fours and darted forward, opening its jaws wide and aiming to sink its teeth into its prize. Tyler screamed and scooted backward, but before the giant dog reached her Percy's sword sliced across its nose. It fell back and swung its head to the side with a loud whine.
"Hey, Fido!" Percy called to the monster. "Why don't you pick on something your own size? Like, I don't know, a lawn mower." The hellhound turned toward him with a snarl, its earlier conquest forgotten. He felt a rush of triumph as it started past Tyler, but that quickly vanished when he realized that now a seven-foot-tall, two-thousand-pound monster was eyeing him up like a demigod sirloin and, as his sword had gone whizzing away and had yet to return to his pocket, he had no weapon. "Oops," he muttered, the adrenaline starting to freeze in his veins like ice. Oh, well, he thought. Only one thing to do. Then he shouted, "How 'bout a nice game of fetch?" and turned and bolted through the trees to his left, hoping the hound would be angry enough—or dumb enough—to follow him.
As it turned out, it was, because he heard snarling mixed with the pounding of paws and the rough snapping of branches behind him not a second later. He weaved his way through the trees, not wanting to get too far away from Annabeth and the others but knowing he needed to buy himself time until Riptide reappeared in his pocket. He didn't exactly relish battling the hound's fangs and claws with only his bare hands.
After a minute or so, he shot a glance over his shoulder to see if the hellhound had gained on him, but of course he couldn't make it out through the complete darkness of the thick New Jersey forest. He faced forward with a scowl and realized he was roughly 0.5 seconds away from colliding headlong with the trunk of a tree. "Whoa!" he stammered in surprised, dragging his feet and veering off to the side. This, of course, caused him to trip over something—a root or a fallen log, it was difficult to tell in the dark—and lose his balance. He fell forward and landed on his shoulder, rolling a few feet into what felt like a small ditch.
With a groan, Percy sat up and shook his head, rubbing a sore bruise on the back of his shoulder. He climbed to his feet and turned toward the direction he thought he'd come from before it finally hit him where he was standing—he'd somehow stumbled into a shallow forest stream and was now ankle-deep in cool, trickling water. He hadn't noticed right away because, of course, the water swirled around him without dampening his clothes, just like it always did. He kicked a rock on the bed of the stream and smirked—he may not have had a sword, but at least now he had a weapon.
The snap of a stick caught his attention and he glanced up, waiting for the hellhound to make an appearance. His eyes studied the darkness for any sign of movement, but the monster must have been making an effort to remain still and quiet, because for a long minute nothing happened. Percy clucked his tongue in annoyance, wishing the thing would show itself, when finally a loud roar interrupted the silence as the hound leapt through the trees, claws and teeth aimed directly for its prey. Percy tensed and dropped to a crouch. He clenched both hands into fists and pulled them slowly upward, feeling a tightness in his gut as the water began to rise and twist into spires on either side of him. Then he thrust both hands toward the monster and just before it reached him the water swelled forward, tightening into swirling spikes. They impaled the hound in the chest between its two front legs and it howled shrilly before dissolving into dust, falling to the forest floor amid the few gallons of now-lifeless water.
Percy brushed his hands off and stepped out of the stream just as he finally felt the familiar weight of his ballpoint pen returning to his pocket. He reached in and pulled it out with a frown. "Great," he muttered. "Now it comes back." Uncapping it, he ran off into the trees, following the sounds of fighting up ahead. Luckily, he hadn't led his hellhound far, and in a minute he was back in the small clearing.
Annabeth had evidently disposed of one of the remaining three hellhounds, dropping the opposition to two. Though the two monsters separate her from Percy, he could see a bloody gash on her arm and a pained glare on her face as she shielded Tyler from the snarling hounds, her knife held in her left hand. After only a short few seconds to survey the area, Percy surged toward them, figuring that now Annabeth wouldn't spurn his help.
He reached the hound on the left just as Annabeth used her blade to parry a vicious bite from the hound on the right. Her gaze flitted toward him as he sliced Riptide across the monster's back leg, causing it to stumble and growl. It turned toward him and he ducked a wild swing of its claws before stabbing it in the side. He was rewarded with yet another coating of black dust as a result.
Annabeth must have succeeded in wounding the last hellhound, because it had backed away and was growling more fiercely than ever. Percy ran toward it just as it prepared to pounce at Annabeth and Tyler. Tyler screamed and threw her hands over her head, and suddenly a mess of thick vines sprang out of the earth, flailing about wildly. Percy skidded to a halt and staggered, surprised, before one slammed him across the chest and sent him flying backward. As his back collided painfully with a tree, he heard a mournful whine from the hound which must have meant it had been hit as well. Then everything seemed to quiet all at once.
Dazed from the impact, Percy struggled to his feet and leaned back against the tree, rolling his shoulders. "You okay?" a voice asked, and he blinked hard to steady his vision before looking up to see Annabeth and Tyler stepping up to him.
"Fine," he answered his girlfriend, frowning down at her arm. "What about you?"
Annabeth shook her head and gave a half-smile. "I'm okay. It's not as bad as it looks."
Percy nodded and turned to Tyler, fixing her with a slightly incredulous stare. "Those vines," he said. "That… Was that you?"
Tyler bit her lip and glanced at the ground, shuffling her feet. "I don't know," she answered. "I think so." When she looked back up at him, there was guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy," she said quietly. "I was scared. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Nah, it's fine," he insisted, standing up straight and waving a hand in an effort to allay her worry. "It was an accident. Besides, you took out that hellhound, didn't you? If I were you, I'd be feeling pretty awesome right now." He grinned and she glanced down again with a small smile, seemingly avoiding his eyes, and a light blush colored her face.
"So you've got something of an affinity for plants," Annabeth said thoughtfully, her eyebrows creasing in a slight frown as she tapped her chin. "You don't know your godly parent, but judging from that, I'd guess Demeter or Dionysus would be the most likely. Maybe even Hecate—her children tend to be capable of all kinds of different forms of magic." She sighed and shook her head, letting her hands drop to her sides. "I suppose we won't know until the gods decide to reopen contact with us. It sure would be nice to hear from them once in a while, what with everything that's been going on."
A cold chill snaked down Percy's spine as he suddenly remembered the dream he'd been woken up from—the dream in which his father had paid an unexpected visit. He would have to tell the others about it, but at the moment they had more important matters to focus on. "We should treat everybody who's hurt and get moving," he said aloud, shooting a glance back toward where he'd left Grover and Lydia. "You know, just on the off chance those hellhounds have some friends nearby."
Annabeth shrugged in agreement. "Stranger things have happened," she said grimly.
The trio headed back toward where they'd made camp and found Grover and Lydia safe and sound, along with all of their things. After distributing a bit of ambrosia to anyone who needed it, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover hefted their packs and did their best to remove any signs of their presence in the area.
"Do we have to keep going already?" Lydia asked, her voice a bit of a whine. "I'm tired."
"Sorry, Lydia," Annabeth said gently. "But we can't stick around any longer. You don't want another monster attack, do you?" The sisters exchanged skeptical glances, like they didn't quite believe that the frequency of supernatural run-ins could be that high. Boy, did they have a lot to learn.
"Hey, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get there, right?" Percy pointed out, trying for a different approach. "I promise, you can rest all you want when we get to Camp."
"Okay," Lydia said at once, her features brightening. Then, abruptly, she skipped over and grabbed Percy's left arm with both hands, saying with a grin, "But I'm walking with Percy!"
"Me too," Tyler added, suddenly appearing on his right and linking his other arm through hers before he could fully register what was happening.
Hearing Grover stifle an amused snort, Percy felt his ears redden. "Uh, actually…" he said uncertainly, a bit embarrassed at their sudden affection. He slid his arms from their grips and placed a hand on each girl's shoulder as he suggested, "Why don't you guys take point with Grover? I, uh… need to talk to Annabeth."
"Awww," they both complained in perfect unison.
"We'd feel way safer with you," Tyler said. "You killed all those monsters."
Lydia leaned close and whispered too loudly, "And he smells like the zoo."
"Hey!" Grover said indignantly, amusement apparently forgotten. "I heard that! I do not smell like the zoo! I'll have you know other animals will hardly come near me because I smell too much like you people." Percy shot Grover a wounded, pleading sort of look, and he sighed shortly in admission. "Alright, alright," he said. "Come on, girls. Let me show you guys some tracking magic while we walk—it's how I found out about you two in the first place."
"Really?" Lydia asked, her interest evidently piqued.
"Yeah," Annabeth spoke up, and Percy noticed she was standing beside them with her arms folded across her chest. "Grover's our best tracker. Without him, our camp would be half the size it is today."
Tyler and Lydia exchanged a glance, before turning and throwing wide, identical smiles at Percy, who grinned back somewhat awkwardly. Then, strangely, they both shot looks at Annabeth that could only be described as glares, before hurrying toward Grover and together leading the way out of their clearing.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at the girls' backs as they walked away, talking excitedly. "I killed some of those hellhounds, too, you know," she said, and Percy wasn't sure if she was talking to him or to no one in particular. Either way, the look on her face told him he should probably keep quiet so as to avoid saying the wrong thing. "It's not like I ask for credit, but a little bit of appreciation would be nice. But no, they'd rather idolize you just 'cause you're hot."
Percy blinked. "What?"
She glanced over and her hard expression softened into an amused and almost sympathetic smile. The look on his face must have been pretty funny, because she chuckled and said, "They've both got major crushes on you. You couldn't tell?"
He tried to mask the surprised embarrassment on his face, but judging by the slight twinkle in Annabeth's eyes, he'd failed miserably. So instead, he did what he did best and went for a sarcastic approach. "What," he said wryly, "don't tell me you're jealous."
Her eyebrows shot up. "You caught me," she said with a small smile, taking a step closer to him and bumping her shoulder against his arm. "But I'm prepared to fight them for you if I have to. So who should I be more afraid of—the ten-year-old or the twelve-year-old?"
"I don't know," he replied, setting a hand on her waist. "That power of Tyler's might give you a run for your money."
"I'll take that chance," she said with a light smirk, before twisting her free hand in the collar of his jacket and leaning up to touch her lips to his. A warm, electric sort of feeling snaked through him as he leaned into her and he probably could have stayed like that for hours. With everything going on lately, they two of them hadn't had much time alone together—not since the Shadow War had started. But after a few too-short seconds, Annabeth pulled back and said quietly, "We should catch up to the others."
"Aw, they can handle themselves," Percy argued. But when Annabeth shot him a pointed look, he sighed and conceded. "Alright, alright. Let's go."
As they started through the forest after the rest of their party, Annabeth asked in an amused voice, "So did you really need to talk to me, or were you just trying to get rid of the girls?"
Her tone was light, but the question brought back flashes from Percy's dream and despite the July night air he suddenly felt cold. She probably expected a joke in return, but for once he couldn't stomach it, and instead he said seriously, "Before you woke me, I had a dream."
Annabeth's wry smile faded, her eyebrows drawing together. She knew as well as he did that demigod dreams rarely brought them any good news. "What kind of dream?"
He hesitated, drawing an uncertain breath. "I saw my dad."
She turned to stare at him, eyes widening. "You mean he talked to you? For real?"
"Yeah." He thought back to his and Poseidon's brief conversation, replaying it in his head. "He said that… the reason we haven't heard from the gods is because they're all stuck in some enchanted sleep on Mount Olympus. Nyx has Hypnos somewhere; they think she's forcing him to help her."
"That's terrible," Annabeth said, her eyes glancing at the forest floor and a flash of fear sparking across her face. "There has to be something we can do."
"My dad think so, too," Percy agreed. "He said we need to find where Nyx is keeping Hypnos and figure out a way to set him free. They he can wake the rest of the gods and maybe turn the tides of the war."
She breathed out slowly, looking deep in thought. "That'll be dangerous," she pointed out. "He didn't give you any clues about where to look?"
Percy shook his head. "He only said they're not on Mount Olympus. Other than that, no one knows."
"We'll have to hold a meeting when we get back," Annabeth decided. "We'll all discuss this and… figure something out." Percy nodded, and she turned to face him again and asked, "Was there anything else? In your dream."
"I…" His voice trailed off as images flashed behind his eyes. Another unwarranted chill swept down his spine and he had to fight to keep from visibly shaking. "Erebos," he finally said, his voice strangely weak and strained—almost as though the King of Darkness was standing right in front of him once again. "I met Erebos."
This time Annabeth froze, stopping in her tracks and staring at Percy with wide eyes as he turned around to face her. "You… what?"
"He figured out my dad tried to contact me and… I don't know, intercepted it somehow." The memory of the god's dark, empty eyes pushed to the surface and Percy cringed, unable to stop himself. "He was there, Annabeth. I saw him."
She frowned, probably sensing his sudden discomfort. "What was he like?"
Percy shook his head and blinked, and when he didn't answer right away Annabeth stepped up and slid her hand into his, squeezing his fingers and sending a shock of warmth cutting through the cold darkness that had come over him. Relaxing a bit, he swallowed hard and said, "Scary." It wasn't a joke, and Annabeth didn't laugh. The crease between her eyebrows tightened, worry in her eyes. "Even in the dream, his aura was really strong. I couldn't fight him—couldn't even stand up to him."
"You mean he's like Nyx?" she asked apprehensively.
He knew what she meant. Last month, they'd learned the hard way that Nyx, the Queen of Night, had a godly aura that sapped a person's strength, draining the energy from your body. But he shook his head. "No, it was different. With Nyx, I remember I couldn't fight back. But with Erebos, it was like… like I wanted to just lie down and die. Like… my will to fight was just gone."
"So Night drains strength," Annabeth summed up quietly, "and Darkness drains will. How are we ever gonna win this?"
"I don't know." Surprisingly, he meant it.
As they slowly started walking again, Annabeth spoke up, "Did Erebos… you know, say anything?"
Though he didn't want to, Percy forced his mind to recall his and Erebos's brief conversation—though the image of those eyes, those swirling clouds of blackness, kept swimming in and out of his focus. "Just some stuff about how darkness is more powerful than light—how we can't escape him. He said we'd meet again, him and me. That we aren't as safe as we think we are."
"Well, that's comforting," Annabeth said sarcastically, "because I feel so safe already."
Percy managed an amused snicker, telling himself that at least for now, it didn't matter what the King of Darkness said in a dream. He knew his friends, and he knew they wouldn't give up the fight so easily. They'd made it this far, after all. Maybe Erebos wasn't as strong as he thought he was.
After a few minutes of silence, the sound of leaves rustling ahead caught their attention just before Grover and the girls suddenly appeared—though, for some reason, they were coming toward Percy and Annabeth.
"You guys took your time," Grover whispered when he was close enough.
Frowning and lowering his voice in kind, Percy asked, "Why are we whispering?"
"Something's up ahead," the satyr replied seriously.
Percy shot a glance at Tyler and Lydia, who were standing next to each other and looking worried. Then he looked at Annabeth and whispered, "You guys stay here. I'll check it out." For good measure, he pulled Riptide out of his pocket and uncapped it, just in case of another surprise monster attack. Annabeth nodded and pulled out her knife as Percy started forward, doing his best to keep silent as his eyes studied the darkness for movement.
He'd gone a few yards with no opposition and was about to turn back when he heard a light smack, like a leaf being swatted aside. He whipped around just in time to see a small flash of light whip through the darkness before a vice-like grip grabbed his shoulder and yanked him backward against a tree. He yelled in surprise and tried to jerk away, only to realize that he was stuck. He glanced to the side and saw why—a silver arrow was through his sleeve, pinning him by his jacket to the tree trunk.
"What the…?" he muttered, reaching toward the arrow. He gripped the shaft and tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge.
"Whoops," a girl's amused voice said suddenly. "Sorry, Percy."
A shock ran through Percy as he recognized the voice. He knew who he'd see even before she stepped through the trees, bow at her side. "Thalia?" he said in disbelief.
Thalia Grace folded her arms, silver hoodie and diadem barely illuminating the smirk on her face. "You should clean yourself up," she said. "Thought you were a monster."
Hooray! It feels so good to finally be rolling with this. I can't tell you how excited I am. Does that make me sound lame? Probably, haha. But whatever.
Reviews are love, you guys! Hearing from you makes me super happy! Dunno when the next update will be 'cause I haven't started it yet. But probably early next week. No later, for sure.
Later days!
-oMM
