Chapter three! I'm getting really tired of staring at a computer screen for so long…*sighs*…I blame the Common Core.
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"I'll admit, the city is pretty impressive." Luke admired. The princesses glared at him. "What?"
The city of Maul was formatted somewhere in between a Mayan city and a Greek kingdom. The white, square blocks that served as houses were lit up with torches and lanterns that twinkled in the moonlight. It was built on a hill so many houses were stacked on top of another. But in the center, at the top of the hill, was a Mayan temple for human sacrificing. Black on red, the colors stood out from the blandness of the houses. Directly behind it loomed a Greek palace, painted white. The pillars were tinted gold. Golden chandeliers hung in between each pillar. The door was massive and wooden. With the metal bolts secured on the sides, the palace looked safe and secure from all attackers.
"Behold!" The leader introduced us to the city with a majestic sweep of his arm. "Behold Maultopia! Beloved home of The Mighty Maul! When you meet Maul His Mightiest, be careful about what you say. He is not so forgiving of rudeness or ignorance."
"When will we…have the honor…of meeting him?" Reyna asked.
The leader's grin was full of malice and hate. "Immediately."
LINE BREAK!
Clarisse ordered a few more of her guards to go after Thalia and Reyna.
"Of course, my queen. But some of our best soldiers are already tracking the princesses. Do you not think that it would be more strategic to go after the king who calls himself 'The Mighty Maul'?"
"I think…I think we'll find them in the same place." Clarisse predicted grimly. "In fact, be stealthy, but investigate his kingdom. Keep an eye out for my sisters."
The soldier nodded, bowed stiffly, and left the room.
"You think they were kidnapped by Maul?" Hazel asked, confused.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Annabeth jumped in. "That would make sense. Why would Maul attack right after Thalia and Reyna were taken unless he knew that they were gone? Or maybe that King Clovis had something to do with it. He seemed rather interested in the missing princesses, but he didn't press too much, showing that he knew something about it. Or maybe it has something to do with…" Annabeth stopped herself before she could mention powers.
"Yeah, what Annabeth said." Clarisse grinned. "I couldn't have phrased it better."
"Yeah, mhm…" Annabeth replied, but was already lost in her world of thoughts and ideas.
"Maybe we should check around the Village in case anyone has seen them." Piper suggested. "I know it's useless…but maybe, you know? Besides, Hazel and I have some time." She smiled humorlessly at a joke too long overrun.
"Sure. Come back with news, if you can." Clarisse waved her hand at the doors, and Piper and Hazel left.
"Clarisse… Do you know if Thalia or Reyna…had any powers or anything?"
"Powers?" Clarisse asked, puzzled. "No way. Why would you think that?"
"I'm not sure…" Annabeth murmured. Maybe for a reason I can't quite explain yet. She thought.
LINE BREAK
"So, the village?" prompted Hazel. "Why there?"
"Why not?" Piper sighed. "They have to be somewhere, although I'm pretty sure they aren't here. But I don't know, maybe some people talked to them or something."
Piper and Hazel walked in silence, pondering where their sisters could be.
"Hey!" Piper protested as a boy rammed into her.
"Sorry!" She caught a flash of blond hair and electric eyes, surprisingly similar to Thalia's. "I'm so sorry, my fault, wasn't looking where I was going…"
"S'okay…" Piper managed. The boy had completely captured her attention. He was hot. His blond hair and blue eyes matched his strong-but-thin frame finely. He was distracted, and his eyes flit around before finally focusing on her as he helped her up.
He stared at her for a long time, then seemed to remember what was happening. He quickly let go of her hand and stepped back, bowing awkwardly. "I apologize, Your Highness. My name's Jason."
"I'm Piper. Princess Piper. That's Princess Hazel."
"I was just, um, going back home. What are you doing here, if I might ask."
"Looking for my sisters. Princess Thalia and Princess Reyna. Have you seen them?"
"Why, are they missing?" He furrowed his perfect eyebrows. This kid was the model for all boys, as far as Piper was concerned.
"Yeah, yesterday." Hazel piped up.
"Same time as my friend Luke. Blond hair, blue eyes, but taller. Have you seen him? Me and Percy have been looking for him."
"No." Piper admitted. "Hey, irrelevant fact, how old are you?"
"Um, twelve, why?"
"No reason…."
"Okaaaaay! Goodbye Jason! We will talk to you later!" Hazel waved and tried to get Piper to leave.
"Hold on. Did you say… you had a friend named Percy?"
"Yeah….why?"
"Does he know my other other sister, Princess Annabeth?"
"He talked about her to me last night. He said he had just met her."
"Were you guys at the ball last night when the soldiers attacked?"
"Yes."
"Annabeth was looking for him… Did she find him?"
"Apparently so!" Jason threw up his hands. "I can't track all of Percy's moves! He's hard enough to follow, anyways."
"Tell me about it. My sisters are the same way."
"Hey!" Hazel protested.
"It's true!"
"I bet you anything Luke was taken with Thalia ad Reyna. Is Percy home? Can I talk to him?"
"Sure." Jason shrugged.
Jason led Piper to his house, leaving Hazel behind to run off to the castle.
"Here we are! Sorry for the mess," Jason looked down, somewhat embarrassed. "We don't have time to clean often."
Piper gasped in shock. The floor was covered in a variety of items sold at shops all over the town. Candies, noble's clothing, a birdhouse, blankets, knives, hammers, guns, bullets and gunpowder, and even vegetables (the least likely item in a house filled with teenage boys).
"Where did you get the money for all this?" Piper wondered aloud.
"Well, we, um…"
A boy with jet black hair, like Thalia's, and sea-green eyes that resembled the ocean thundered down the stairs. "Jason! Did you find-" He stopped when he noticed Piper. "What the heck is she doing here? Who is she?"
"Hello. You're Percy, right?" Piper stuck out a hand, like she'd seen adults do. "I'm Princess Piper."
His eyes widened. "Nice to meet you…What are you doing here?"
"She's here to help us find Luke! Princess Thalia and Princess Reyna were taken the same day, so we think it might be connected…." Jason trailed off as he noticed Percy glaring at him.
"We're fine. Thanks anyways." Percy clipped.
Piper and Jason were startled by his dismissal. "Why?" Jason whined.
Percy forced a smile. "Excuse us Princess, can I talk to him alone?"
"Sure." Piper shrugged.
"Jason!" Percy hissed. "What are you doing?"
"We need her help!"
"Maybe, but do you forget what Luke has done? If she finds out, if anybody recognizes him…We'd all be in big trouble. She's already seen all the stuff!" Percy exhaled slowly.
"Sorry. I just thought that…." Jason trailed off, creating a, ever-growing silence.
"Okay." Percy said after a long silence. "…We'll let her help us. If!" Jason closed his mouth. "If you agree to take most of the responsibility of the stolen items if she figures it out."
"Deal."
"Normally you back off. Why did you fight for her?" Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Well…she's really cute." Jason looked down, embarrassed.
Percy smiled knowingly, and they approached a bored Princess Piper.
"So, we have agreed to help you, as long as you help us." Percy announced. Jason looked pleased.
"Great! Where do we start?"
"…I don't know."
"Where did you see Princess Reyna and Princess Thalia last?"
"They were going towards the town."
"Then to the town it is!"
The trio left to search the clue-bare town.
LINE BREAK
Reyna's eyebrows shot up as they entered the throne room. For an evil villain, King Maul decorated with nice taste. Excluding the pictures of torture and sacrifice, it was a nice, clean, sanitized room. It was painted black-on-red (everything that wasn't was painted white or gold), with a white staircase and golden railings. The life-sized pictures were grotesque, but they hung on the walls, far away from the throne. The golden throne was simple yet profound. The gold was plain in color, but held so much depth that it seemed to be forged out of the purest of metals. King Maul himself sat upon the throne, leaning backwards comfortably as if it were the softest chair in the world. King Maul himself was the freakiest thing in the kingdom, minus the Mayan Temple. His face was tattooed black with red designs layering it. His eyes were red, an insane look permanently captured in them. Horns poked through the top of his head like a natural crown. His teeth were gross, crooked and eroded.
"Bow!" The leader commanded, and struck the backs of Reyna's, Thalia's and Luke's knees. They fell, but kept their heads up in defiance. "I said…BOW." The teenagers cringed as the leader hit their backs with the butt of his sword. Luke's and Reyna's heads drooped in defeat, but Thalia glared at King Maul.
"If you're gonna kill me, I'm not gonna make it easy for you." She spat.
Maul stood and threw off the robe that had masked his body earlier. Underneath, he wore a black (go figure) tunic. He snatched a sword beside his throne and strode towards Thalia quickly. She flinched as he leveled the sword to her neck. "I will kill you when I feel like it." His voice was low and raspy, the volume barely more than a whisper. "And in the meantime, I can still harm you. Don't ever forget that." Sparks flew from Thalia's body randomly as she became increasingly nervous. Unfortunately, none of them hit King Maul. Maul bared his teeth once more.
"Bring out the fire-bearer!" he ordered.
A boy about age twelve was shoved into the room. He was Latino, with curly black hair, a mischievous look in his eyes, and long, nimble fingers. His fidgety hands were tied with strong rope. He wore an army jacket with many pockets, filled with screws, pipe cleaners, nails, rubber bands, and other various items that constantly fell from his pockets.
"Hey, hey! No need to get pushy!" he protested with a grin on his face. "I'll play! Hey look! New kids. These guys gonna be burned with me? 'Cause I keep telling ya-you can't burn me!" He waltzed over to Reyna, Thalia, and Luke. "Well, hello, hello, hello! Welcome to Maultopia-the place where you'll die in pain! I'm Leo, but you can call me Leo the Hottest. Ha! Wordplay!" He stuck out his hands, still bound at the wrist, and helped Thalia up.
"Well, nice to know I won't be killed alone, I guess. I'm Princess Thalia of Olympia. This is Princess Reyna, also of Olympia. This is Luke." Thalia introduced.
"Just Luke? Have to have a title, Lukie boy."
"Yeah, no, I'm good."
"What's your powers? I mean, You have to be here for a reason. The main reason they bring people here is to sacrifice them to get their powers."
"Does it work?"
"Actually, I'm the first one here with powers. I burn bright." Leo winked, and burst into flames. As quickly as it happened, he extinguished the fire.
"That's…different." Reyna noted.
"So! What's your powers?"
"Well, only Thalia has them, really."
"Electricity. I can electrocute people."
"Really? Wait, did you guys say you came from Olympia? Man, are you guys royalty? I live in Olympia! Then again, there's really no other kingdoms except that one…run by King Clovis I think."
"Yeah. I mean, we come from Olympia, and we're legit royalty. King Clovis still runs that kingdom." Reyna exchanged a look with Thalia.
"Shouldn't the King and Queen come looking for you by now?"
"They've been dead a long time. Our sister became queen yesterday, I think it was. Anyways, she should be looking…but she's smart. She'll look here, I hope."
"How long have you been stuck here, Leo?" Luke asked.
Leo's grin vanished. "I don't know. Two months? I thought Queen Clarisse would have been married into another throne by now, but hey, we can't all be taken."
"Two months?" Reyna asked incredulously. "That's…a long time."
"Yeah, well-"
"Conversation time is over! It's time to introduce you to your rooms." The leader gruffly shoved Reyna and Luke towards a hidden door in the back of the magnificent room. Thalia and Leo scrambled to catch up.
The Leader threw open the door, revealing a less-than-breathtaking cellar. The room was damp, dark, and drippy. The leaks pliped and ploped onto piles of sewer-soaked hay. (Seriously? Why hay?) There were multiple cells, each with metal bars guarding empty containments. Inside the cell left room for a person to do nothing but sit, lie down, or stand up on the cold, hard, metal floor. It was freezing inside, and as dark as a bottomless pit.
"Home again, home again!" Leo sighed with mock satisfaction.
"Get it!" Even though there were many cells, The Leader pushed Leo, Luke, Reyna, and Thalia into one cell to share.
"I'll be back early tomorrow morning." The Leader growled in disgust, and slammed the door. He left to join his buddies in the nice city.
"I swear, if we ever get out of this, I am never wearing a dress again." Thalia promised.
"Why? You look good in a dress." Leo complimented.
"What's your last name?" Luke asked quickly.
"Why?" Thalia looked at him strangely.
"Just curious."
"We all have different last names. Partially because, well…"
"…we aren't really the King and Queen's daughters." Reyna finished.
"We're kind of adopted. Our genetic parents…it's hard to explain. They didn't really want us, so they sent us to the King and Queen. The Queen pretended to be pregnant, hiding from the public until the baby was delivered. Then our parents gave us up. My name is Thalia Grace. I don't know my dad, but my mom was a famous actress. I look nothing like her, though."
"Yeah. I never knew my mom or my dad, but I was told my last name is Ramirez-Arellano."
Luke seemed confused. "But…you said your last name is Grace?"
"Yeah." Thalia snapped. "I don't like to use it though."
"Sorry it's just that… my friend, Jason. His last name is Grace, too."
Okay, disclaimer: Maul is not mine. George Lucas, author of Star Wars owns him.
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