A/N: Reviews are appreciated. Thanks in advance. I'm open for any suggestions.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson
Chapter Four
Luke sat worried on the ground as he watched over their two captives. One of them being a woman called Clarisse. Most definitely the more scarier one out of the pair.
Clarisse was broad and had as much muscles as an amateur weight lifter could dream of. Under her short, brown and stringy hair, she wore a contemptuous smile every time you'd look at her.
Just sitting in back of her, all tied up together with Clarisse, sat a grumpy man named Mark. He too was tall and tough but the silhouette of Clarisse's big shoulders out ranked his.
Clarisse chuckled in a mocking tone as Jason and Reyna returned from the treeline without a sign of anyone behind them. Which was disheartening news to everyone there but the two people sitting down all tied up back to back.
Luke looked at them in hope.
Jason shook his head, dissipating any hope anyone felt.
"He's dead. Vic's probably beaten his ass," Clarisse sneered.
Everyone ignored her in hopes that she was wrong and their friend was alright.
"What do we do now? He's been gone since yesterday and we still can't find him," Thalia asked, brows furrowed.
Annabeth sighed, "I think we should move on without him," she calmly said, "We don't have all the time we want. If he's alive then he would head south as well- assuming Vic told him where to go."
The others grumbled under their breath but nonetheless agreed, seeing as they weren't doing anything productive during a quest.
They packed up and headed south while keeping a close eye on the both captives that they decided to bring along with, incase of any false information. Of course, their wrists were tied together with rope.
As the group of seven traversed through the forest, more trees became apparent and older as their dark leaves covered the morning sun. Luke felt tense due to his surroundings. Something evil lurked around and he felt it.
"Guys, I don't think it's safe here," Luke voiced his concern.
"When is it ever safe?" Thalia responded sarcastically.
Suddenly a loud roar shook the leaves on the trees. Oh the irony.
The group watched ahead dumbfounded where the trees progressively fell down coming towards them as the ground shook.
Only when it came really close did they decide to run back.
However it was too late as a bizarre monster bursted out into view.
Everyone stood frozen in shock.
The creature had the head of a lion. A goat with long horns above the previous head as the body took form of the same animal. From behind, it had a snake-headed tail that stalked them with hungry stares.
Annabeth shook in fear as she recognized the creature 'Chimera' from a book she found in a local library where she lived.
The Chimera raised its lion head and roared furiously breathing fire, bringing everyone - including Clarisse and Mark - out of their stupor. They could feel the air vibrate as the heat intensified.
It leaped with open-wide mouth at the person who stood the closest in front, which was Reyna.
The daughter of Bellona barely jumped out of reach.
The others backed up.
Without any pause the monster twirled around Reyna's direction. It's snake-headed tail lunged at the son of Hermes during the process.
Luke ducked; he felt the creature touch the tip of his hair. He slashed right after, missing the snake's head by an inch.
The Chimera's mutated goat-like legs sprung into action as it dashed at Reyna. It swiped its sharp, white claws as Reyna tried to bolt out of reach.
However, luck was not on Reyna's side. The creature's talons striked her fleeing body on the arms as the sheer force of this creature sent her spiraling down. She held her throbbing arm tightly as the Chimera stalked closer. Blood oozed out at the deep punctures.
The Chimera used its tail to keep out any unwanted enemies as it approached its prey.
Annabeth knew this creature was no dumb creature unlike most of its other counterparts. It had the intelligence of the average demigod. And it seemed to be singling them out, one by one., Reyna being the first.
Thalia took the initiative, slowly advancing forward as she poked the diamond-headed snake with her spear every time it dared to snap.
The Chimera was aware of what went on around her. So she tried to quickly finish of Reyna with a breath of fire. Instead of killing Reyna, the ground shook as rocks ruptured out protectively in front of the daughter of Bellona. It turned solid black, being charred but blocked the blazing fire nonetheless.
The creature revolted around in anger. It growled furiously as its sharp eyes landed on the pale yet dark aura'd demigod.
Nico gulped hard. Nothing like taking a red juicy steak away from a very hungry lion… goat and snake.
Thankfully Thalia was in between the two of them pointing her spear aggressively at the monster. Luke took Clarisse's spear and joined Thalia.
Nico saw Jason at the corner of his eye reaching Reyna who barely fended off the snake-headed tail with her uninjured arm.
The son of Hades concentrated again, waiting for a gut feeling. He felt a tug and used all his energy to call upon it. He raised both his hands high up in the air as it flared black and the ground abruptly rumbled. Red lights shined through the cracks that started to form as an army of skeletons climbed out. The army carried all sorts of different swords ranging from stygian iron to celestial bronze to imperial gold. Few of them also wore helmets which Nico couldn't see the need to. One mild hit and they'd crumble. This did not seem to affect the army's decisions as skeletons swarmed the monster. After all, they did not need to fear death.
This was a queue for everyone to attack - not just the skeletons.
Jason lunged at the tail seeing as it was busy wiggling the undead off itself. He slashed the neck? Did snakes have necks… one long neck?
The snake was so big and thick that Jason abruptly stopped midway through the cut and went flying away, losing his grasp on his stuck sword.
The snake let out a loud aggravating HISS and shook vigorously.
Jason did not need to finish it off. The skeletons took his job as the tail got lost in the sea of undead.
Thalia watched in amazement as skeletons flew in all sort of directions. The Chimera tore them apart. She ran up the hurdle of skeletons - the feeling of crunching bones felt weird - and jabbed her spear at lion's face seeing as it posed the most threat at the moment.
As if the monster had heard her, the goat twisted its head hitting her with its horns, making Thalia miss her strike and fall on an approaching Luke. Nico willed the army to not step over them.
Annabeth approached from the other side and struck the second head with her dagger as it was distracted. The monster rumbled and she fell off.
The Chimera roared and blew fire, disintegrating most of the skeletons. With its mouth wide open, it reached down at a terrified daughter of Athena.
Annabeth shut her eyes and waited with a frozen heart.
Instead she felt a vibrating screech as she sensed the creature retreat away. She opened an eye to see the Chimera land on its side. Reyna ripped her sword out of the creature's belly.
It radiated yellow and whimpered before puffing into gold dust.
Everyone sighed.
"Ahemm."
They turned around towards the sound.
A group of ten people aimed their bows at them.
"What a lovely show," Clarisse gave them an evil grin as she held her dagger next to Nico who looked too exhausted to even look up.
Linebreak
Percy strode north where he was told to go. He couldn't keep his mind off of what he had just done and was walking by himself, being alone certainly did not help.
After spending the long night sleeping on the cold ground and being unable to find his companions, Percy thought it be best to start heading north. Maybe, hopefully catch the others along the way. Worst comes to worst, he'd scout around a bit and journey his way back.
Though one thing he knew needed to be done was to find food. Everything he'd packed for the quest was left behind with the others during the fight. Perhaps, water would do. He was a son of Poseidon after all. Surely some random pond was safe to drink from.
Percy did not worry too much for the others. He knew they'd win. Plus, last he checked no one on his side was hurt. Though he was concerned that they'd spend too much time trying to find him and not enough time to reach their destination. The son of Poseidon figured that that's where they would probably regroup again.
Along the way searching for this tall crooked tree, Percy discovered a little river and drank some of its water. He still wasn't sure if it were completely safe even with his status being the sea king's son. He had enough to move on.
As the sun approached the horizon and night arose, Percy decided to settle atop a tree. He felt unsafe down there. He observed the continuous trees, taking note in his head for the morning which way north was.
The son of Poseidon was surprised to see he didn't need to after all. He'd spotted a little burst of light and grey smoke not too far off into the distance. He squinted, trying to see if anything was out of order. Sure enough, it was indeed next to a tall, wrinkled and crooked tree. It practically looked deformed. Percy guessed they used it to make it easier to find the base? He wasn't sure if it was even a base. This spiked his curiosity.
After a thoughtful self-argument weighing the pros and cons, he came into resolution that he'd go check it out. Perhaps, his friends were already there? Percy knew for sure that he did not want to sleep out in the wilderness without anything again. Maybe, his friends were captured? And they needed his help.
The son of Poseidon shook his head out of the train of thoughts. He was only going to secretly scout around, lookout for any possible danger, he reasoned.
The closer Percy moved towards the light, the more he longed the warmth that slowly filtered around him. He didn't dare to come too close, instead quietly shuffled around the perimeter letting his head figure out what he really was going up against.
It was definitely a big plot of land, which meant there were probably a good amount of people. Likely not friendly, guessing from his last encounter.
He heard a few voices but couldn't quite pick up what they were saying exactly. He moved closer to get a better view.
CRACK
Percy winced like if the noise had hurt him and silently scolded himself for not being more careful. He looked into the clearing. There were two people around. Thankfully they didn't hear anything. By the looks of it, Percy couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't friendly.
A group of mortals marched into view. Both people nodded at them and they dispersed into separate smaller groups.
Percy decided that this was enough for today. He silently trudged back into a safe distance before he got caught. After making sure that he found a tree where he was sure they wouldn't be able to spot him from a distance with binoculars, he tried to sleep.
For some unknown amount of time just when Percy was about to fall asleep, his ears twitched at a sound. He shrugged it off, figured that it was just some kind of animal. Until he heard the noise again, this time sounding closer. He lifted himself up and scanned the area. The noise returned and Percy turned his head swiftly. Relief struck his heart as it was only a squirrel. He watched it in curiosity, hoping that it wouldn't bother him when he falls asleep.
Suddenly with a blink of the eye, the squirrel shot onto his tree. An arrow pierced the animal into the trunk. Red blood smudged the puncture.
Percy froze and slowly looked at the direction where the arrow was shot. His chest burned from the inside out as a fleet of armed mortals watched him carefully.
"Get him down," one of the lot ordered.
Percy guessed she was in charge.
Indeed she was. After covering his face with a cloth, they dragged him back into their base. He heard the woman shoutout more commands as he was placed onto a chair.
Finally they let him see. Percy shut his eyes at the bright light, tugging at his chained arms.
Without giving him time to assess his surroundings, the woman questioned him fiercely, "Who are you and why are you here?"
Percy did not answer, he was trying fix his eyes to the sudden exposure of light. Also trying to formulate a lie at the same time.
She growled in irritation, "Lets try and make this easy for the both of us and answer the questions. Why are you here? Are you the only one?"
The iron grip on Percy's heart loosened. His friends weren't here with them.
The girl took notice.
Once Percy's sight returned he immediately noticed that he was alone with the girl in a rather dusty, faded room.
Her dark brown eyes drilled holes into him. Dark spots dotted under them. Even if her hair was perfectly made, Percy could tell that she was tired and agitated.
"I don't even know where I am. You're the one who took me away." Percy tried to sound as sincerely as he can.
"Don't be stupid. We followed you up to that tree," she sounded as she could blow up at any second.
Clearly that hadn't worked and now she knew that he could possibly lie again. Percy silently cursed. He had no words to say.
The lady burst in fury. She wheeled her arm back and threw a punch straight to his face. "Just tell me you freaking bastard!"
Percy couldn't do anything but sit there and let her hit him. One thing he knew was that he didn't come here just to die.
"Alright, alright., some immortal sent me to spy on you guys. My name's Perseus and I'm mortal. I had no choice, he said he would kill me if I refused." he half lied.
The girl drew back, she rubbed circles on her temples. Percy swallowed.
"Alone?" She looked at him dubiously.
"Yes."
She saw through his lie and grew enraged. Her clenched hands fumed white and punched him on the stomach, "YOU LIE!"
Percy groaned as she unsheathed her hunting knifes.
All of a sudden someone bursted into room.
"Wait!"
And that someone made Percy's blood boil as his eyes radiated a slight shade of dark blue.
Linebreak
A girl huffed in frustration as she couldn't keep someone from slipping into her mind. She turned on her bed, trying to sleep.
She couldn't. Not with all that noise outside.
She lifted herself off her bed and got dress. The girl left her tent to see what all the commotion was all about.
There was a crowd outside. They surrounded one of those tents that she had hardly seen anyone use since she got here.
After squeezing herself closer to such tent, she heard her boss scream inside the tent.
Thankfully everyone went silent after hearing her boss' outburst. They listened silently to what the person her boss was arguing to had to say.
The girl lost interest and decided resign to her tent to try and get some rest.
Until she heard that name, the name that imprinted itself onto her mind and kept her awake from sleeping the past few days.
The horde of people watched in horror as the girl forced her way into the tent.
"Wait!" She shouted to her boss, Zoe.
Zoe scowled at her defiantly, "What is it now GEORGIA!"
A/N:
Just Phatom - No this will not be a cliche Annabeth cheating with an OC random. I myself dislike most stories that end up like that because it is quite repetitive.
Special thanks to my beta Yoshi117. If you like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, you should definitely check out his stories. And until next time have a nice day!