Hey guys sorry for not updating sooner, I've just been super busy lately plus this chapter is a little longer than the others. I'm truly sorry if Nico seems to be a bit emotional but I'm a teenage girl trying to write form a guys POV and it's something that I struggle with and I'm trying to get better at. again please forgive me and I hope you enjoy the newest chapter. :P
I sit up with a start. I'm back in reality. Anya sleeps quietly next to me her breath slow and even. She looks nothing like the hideous puppet that I saw in my dream. With a sigh of relief I relax my shoulders and take in a deep breath.
"It was only a dream." I reassure myself quietly. I look at Anya's sleeping face, peaceful and beautiful. A strand of her raven black hair has fallen into her face and before I realize what I'm doing I brush it behind her ear. She stirs slightly and I draw my hand back. Her nose scrunches up and she turns her head slightly to the side before relaxing again. It's quite cute actually.
A cold wind begins to blow and snow begins to fall silently on the forest floor. It's close to dawn but the sun hasn't come up yet. The moon is still shining through the cloak of clouds that cover the sky. I sigh and close my eyes wondering if I should go back to sleep or look for breakfast before Anya woke up.
I don't get the chance to make a decision. A snap of the branches below me makes my body go ridged.
I hear a grunt followed by a harsh but quiet voice. "Keep quiet! They'll hear us!"
I grip the hilt of my sword and slowly reach out and gently shake Anya awake. Before she can say anything I put my hand over her mouth. I can tell she's annoyed by being woken up but I signal that there is something below us. Her eyes widen and she nods in understanding.
I release her mouth and peek through the branches to the forest floor. At first I can't see anything, but some slight movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. Two figure are stumbling around in the darkness below. I can't tell who they are or even if they're human, but I know there being here is a bad sign.
I motion for Anya to stay quiet as the two figures stop just below the pine tree. I can hear their heavy breathing even from up here. They've been running from something, you only run that hard when you're running for your life.
"Jack we have to stop… I can't keep up." One of them says trying to catch their breath. The voice sounds like it belongs to a young girl, but I can't make out any facial features so I can't be sure. The other one, who I assumed must have been Jack, grabs the girl's hands.
"We have to keep going. If Kronos finds us he'll kill us. The Bane of Olympus is the only place that's safe for us."
Behind me Anya's body tenses and I can tell she's heard the conversation. Jack kneels down and lifts the young girl onto his back. He whispers something to the girl that I can't hear and starts to walk away into the forest.
When they're out of earshot I turn back to Anya. "We're leaving, now."
She looks at me with a disappointed and worried expression on her face. "Aren't we going to help them?" she whispers back. I shake my head.
"We can't…"
"Why not?" she asks a little anger in her voice.
"If Kronos is hunting them in this part of the woods then we need to as far away from them as possible."
She crosses her arms and her eyebrows scrunch together in anger. "We have to help them."
"No!" I say louder than I meant to. Anya's eyes widen in surprise. I sigh and look at my hands. "I'm sorry. If I was on my own and Atlas wasn't looking for us I wouldn't hesitate to help them, but it's too risky."
Anya closes her eyes and sighs but doesn't argue with me any longer. I begin to pack up our area with Anya holding the branches of the tree in a death grip. She seemed just as terrified as last night, but every time I brushed her arms to keep her from screaming, she relaxes slightly.
I finish in minutes and I shadow travel us to the forest floor. As our feet materialize on the ground Anya inhales deeply and smiles at me.
"I never understood why people liked to climb trees."
I chuckle and look up at the sky. The sun had just begun to rise over the tops of the trees. The red and orange rays of light that shone upon the tips of the pines crated the illusion of a forest fire that was quickly spreading across the country side. It was beautiful, but ominous all the same.
Anya looks over her shoulder into the forest where the two kids had disappeared. I sigh. "Anya, you know it's too risky for us to…"
"Yeah I know…" she sighs and rubs the length of her forearm, "…I just have a bad feeling."
No sooner had the words left her mouth a high pitched scream shattered the otherwise peaceful silence of the forest. Anya and I were already racing towards the noise; I knew that going to help was a really bad idea but I kept running.
We reach a clearing in minutes. The two demigods from earlier stand in the center of the clearing, completely surrounded and outnumbered.
The boy, Jack stands with his sword held in one hand and his other hand wrapped protectively around the little girl. I could tell she was scared but she held out a very small dagger as her only weapon.
At least 15 monsters surround the two of them but I'm sure there are others nearby. One of the monsters hisses. "These aren't the demigods we're looking for."
"We'll take these two alive and then continue the search for the others." Another replies.
"No need, we're right here." Anya says stepping out into the clearing. I come out beside her with my Stygian iron sword raised. One of the monsters, a dracaena, hissed in surprise.
"Ssssssss… it seemsss like we've gotten lucky. Take them!" she ordered pointing a spear at us. The 15 monsters charged at us full speed but Anya didn't wait for them to overrun us, she charged into them completely unarmed.
I was scared for her at first and charged in after her, but when I saw her take the dracaena down and kill her with her own spear, the fear washed away from me.
We hacked through the monsters pretty quickly; the boy, Jack, was able to slice a couple of them in half with his sword but he couldn't do much besides protect the little girl with the dagger. A one point a heard a high pitched scream and the little girl fell to the ground crimson blood pouring out of an arrow wound in her thigh.
"Jen!" jack cried as the girl lay on the ground. A giant telkhine ran at Jack and slammed him against a tree knocking him out cold. The creature stood over the girl who was whimpering as she held her small knife in her trembling hands. I was locked in combat with two other telkhine and could only watch as the monster closed in on the helpless figure.
"Lord Kronos would love to have such young Olympian blood added to his collection." The telkhine hissed.
"No!" Anya cried out as the telkhine raised his sword ready to come down in a deadly arc. A streak of black hair and tan skin flies across my vision and intersects the sword strike just as it came down.
Anya stands over the girl using the spear that she stole to stop the advancement of the sword. "Run!" she grunted. I could see that the telkhine was pressing hard on the sword and that the spear wouldn't hold for much longer.
The young girl tries to crawl away but the arrow in her thigh made it extremely difficult, not to mention painful. She somehow manages to crawl to Jack who was groaning but not waking up. The two telkhine that were fighting me were beginning to slow so I finished them off with a few swipes and rush to help.
Anya was getting forced to her knees but she made a last ditch effort and swung her leg out to throw the telkhine off his feet. As her foot connected to his calf though, the monster brought his bade down quick and sliced into Anya's side. Anya didn't cry out at the blade struck her, only grunted slightly and let the monster fall to the ground.
She stood up as fast as she could and began coming towards us. "Nico! Get us out of here before more monsters have the chance to find us!" she yells half running half stumbling to our side.
As soon as she reaches us I take her hand and shadow travel the four of us to safety.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Shadow traveling myself far distances is hard enough as it is, after about two travels my head stars to ache and I feel like I'm going to hurl. Taking three extra people with me was almost impossible.
As soon as my feet touched the ground I felt like I was going to pass out. My stomach was in knots and my vison was blurry. Still I pushed through the pain and tried to help the others.
Jack was finally able to sit up but he felt nauseous and one of his eyes was dilated, meaning (For those of you that don't know) he has a concussion and a bad one from what I could tell.
He was trying to help the little girl with the arrow in her thigh, but there wasn't anything he could do; besides snap off the ends of the arrow so only a small part of the shaft was sticking out of her skin. Even if he managed to pull out the shaft the girl would bleed to death within minutes. The arrow had pierced her femoral artery and it was the only thing preventing the blood from coming out any faster.
Jack keep whispering encouragements to her like "You're going to be alright. We'll get through this. You're so strong." and so on.
Meanwhile I tried to help Anya. The telkhine had cut her side deeper than I thought, but thankfully it wasn't life threatening and if we got it patched up she'd be fine in a few days. Too bad Anya wouldn't listen to me.
"We need to get them to the Titan's bane it's that's the only way they'll be safe." She kept saying refusing to let me doctor her wounds and saying it was only a scratch.
"No what we need to do is get you fixed up before we go anywhere. If that gash gets infected we won't have to worry about Kronos hunting you anymore." I say slightly colder than I meant to.
Finally after one last argument she sat down on a fallen log and lifted her shirt up enough to expose wound. Even with my vison slightly blurred I was able to patch up the cut and wrapped it in an athletic tape to keep the absorbing pads from slipping out of place.
After I finish and put my small amount of medical supplies back in my bag (which thankfully I hadn't dropped while fighting) I turned back to the girl and Jack.
The girl's face was pale and was covered in a cold sweat. Tears were flowing down her face but she didn't cry out only inhaled sharply whenever she moved her leg. I gave her a small amount of ambrosia, but with the arrow still in her thigh, the godly drink could only do so much.
She looking into Jacks eyes and spoke her voice full of pain. "Jack… am I going to die?"
"No; I'm not going to let that happen Jen. You're going to be fine." Jack said although I could tell he wasn't completely sure in his answer.
Anya kneeled down beside the girl, Jen, and put a light hand on her shoulder. "We'll get you to the Titan's bane and they'll fix that leg up for you." She said with a gentle smile on her lips.
Jen nodded slightly.
"I'll carry her." Jack said getting ready to pick Jen up off the ground.
I hold him back. "Whoa there, no offence but you're in no condition to carry her. If you pass out all of the sudden and drop her then that wound would get even worse. I'm the only one not injured here so I'll take her." I say
Jack sighs and nods reluctantly so I carefully pick Jen up and carry her bridal style. I avoid where the arrow pierced her skin, but the movement makes her cringe and bite back a scream.
"I know it hurts, but you have to hold on just a little but longer." I say as soothingly as I can.
This little girl was a trooper. She didn't complain once as I carried her through the woods. Most people who get this wound would be crying and screaming like babies, but Jen stayed silent only trembling and cringing a few times during the trip.
We stayed mostly silent for the majority of the trip but about 20 minutes away from the Titan's bane Jack spoke up. Jen had fallen into a fitful sleep in my arms and I knew we had to get her proper medical attention soon.
"Thank you so much for your help. We'd be dead if you guys hadn't stepped in." he sighs and looks at the ground somewhat ashamed. "I've never been strong enough to protect her. Hopefully once we get to the Titan's bane she'll finally have someone who can take better care of her."
Anya puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hey you did the best you could. It's hard for all of us, no one blames you for what happened and I know for a fact that you would do anything for her." She said looking and Jen.
Jack sighs again but looks up from the ground. "If only my best could protect her…" he paused for a moment before sticking out his hand to Anya. "I forgot we were never properly introduced. I'm Jack Kileman son of Hermes and that's Jen Mailings, daughter of Aphrodite. We escaped from Kronos' prison two days ago." I looked back to Jen's face with feelings of utter horror and astonishment. This little girl had survived the twisted horrors of Kronos' prison at such a young age. She couldn't have been more than 10 years old but her body had endured enough punishment and torcher to last three lifetimes.
I purse my lips in anger. Kronos was going to pay no matter what.
Anya accepted his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Anya Westfall, daughter of Poseidon and this is Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades."
Jack's eyes widened in shock. "You're… you're a daughter of Po… Poseidon and a son of Ha…Hades?!" he stammered.
Anya smiled and I chuckled at his surprise. "Yeah well it's not something we like people to know. I mean being a child of the big three isn't very… convenient right now with everything going on."
Jack was still staring at us in awe as if we were some big time celebrities. "So does that mean you're going to fulfil the prophecy?"
Anya and I both stopped. "What prophecy?" Anya asked with a puzzled look on her face. For a moment I thought she was joking. Everyone had heard about the great prophecy, the one that would save the world or ensure Kronos' rein until the end of time.
"Have you seriously never heard of the Great Prophecy?" I asked as Jen continued to sleep in my arms. Anya shook her head.
"No; why is important or something?"
I was stunned; Anya, the only other person in the world who this Prophecy could apply to, had absolutely no clue that she could change the fate of the world.
"You're telling me you've never heard: A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end their days, Olympus to preserve or raze. The great prophecy given to your half-brother!" I say my voice raising in disbelief and slight annoyance.
"No Nico I'm sorry I've never heard of "The Great Prophecy" in my life!" Anya says a slight scowl on her face.
I still couldn't believe it. Even though her brother, the great Percy Jackson, the most famous demigod on the freakin' planet, died trying to fulfil this gods forsaken prophecy she had never even hear of it and had no idea that it even applied to her.
"That's just great now we're officially screwed." I mutter under my breath. I look at Jen's sleeping face in my arms; her face was ghostly pale and I knew she didn't have much time left. I shook my head. "Never mind, we'll talk about it later. Right now we have to get Jen medical attention, fast." I say starting to walk again.
"You're right," Anya sighs, "Jen needs help."
I kind of bad that I didn't answer Jacks' question so as we were walking I turned to him. "To answer your question…I'm not really sure."
Jack nodded in understanding. I still had a glimmer of hope that we could put an end to Kronos, but the doubt and reality of the situation weighed down on my mind. Kronos was at full strength and unstoppable, Olympus was a desolate wasteland, most of the gods had faded, and the only other person who could preserve Olympus was completely oblivious to her destiny. Things looked pretty grim.
I looked back down a Jen. She was so strong, even at such a young age. I sighed; if kids like Jen were still in this world and willing to rise up against Kronos I would do my best to fulfil the prophecy, even if it meant going up against the unstoppable.
Gods it felt weird to think optimistically.
So yeah I had to change the Great prophecy slightly to fit my story and for those of you who are freaking out and saying "She changed the Prophecy! She can't do that!" I'm sorry but I had to have it apply to Anya along with Nico, okay. I know I still haven't gotten into the back stories and everything but I'm trying to build a relationship between Anya and Nico before we get into some of the more intense parts of the story(plus I haven't exactly figured out how I'm going to do them 0.o) Anyways Pleas leave a review even if your anonymous I love reviews and they make me feel good and work more. Love ya'll :P