10
Aziza had grown stronger, as much as Zia hated to admit it. Or maybe she was just out of practice. Magic induced sleep did not do a magician good, much to her chagrin. There had been a time when Zia could have schooled Aziza in five minutes flat, then mopped up the rest of the invaders without breaking a sweat. But it seemed that times had changed.
She had to admit, her allies were no slouches. Walt was a very good magician, and though the other two magicians had the air of those who hadn't been using magic very long, they made good use of their natural talent. Zia could easily see why the House of Life felt so threatened by the inhabitants of Brooklyn House.
Then there was Nico, who she was actually trying hard not to think about. Her strange protective instincts toward him made it hard to concentrate. She still could not fathom why his mere presence produced such a strong reaction, but there it was, and it didn't seem to want to go away.
Or maybe she was just using that as an excuse for her own lethargy and shortcomings. Zia didn't think that was the case, but there was no denying that her powers were lacking compared to what they normally were. If things kept up at the rate they were going, she wasn't going to last until dawn.
"What's the matter, Zia?" taunted Aziza. "You're looking tired."
"I'm tired of looking at you!" shot back Zia. "Why don't you run home before you embarrass yourself further!"
The other invading magicians had been driven back by Walt's Alyssa's, and Julian's onslaught. The uraei were being kept at bay by some strange shadow magic that Nico was using. And while all that was impressive, Zia's fight with Aziza was clearly the main event on the rooftop that night. Both fire magicians kept summoning burst after burst of fire. Had Brooklyn House not been shielded, it probably would have looked like a lighthouse to mortal eyes.
But try as she might, Zia couldn't manage to outmaneuver Aziza. The best thing that could be said of her performance so far was that Aziza hadn't managed to outmaneuver her either, and it was definitely not for lack of trying.
Her clothes were soaked with sweat from the fire's scorching heat, but Zia wasn't singed yet. Unlike Aziza whose robes were charred around the edges, and whose skin was an angry, irritated red.
The two girls got locked in another clash of strength as they each summoned a stream of fire and tried to force all the flames back on the other. They remained deadlocked for nearly a full minute, then Zia began gaining ground. Slowly her stream pushed the clashing point back toward Aziza, who began backing up, trying to keep it further from her. Confidence gave Zia another surge of strength, and she pushed even harder, determined to win this showdown.
Aziza screamed from the effort, or maybe from frustration. Her flames seemed to increase in brightness, but not in strength, and Zia's edged ever closer.
"You can't win this, Zia!" screamed Aziza.
"I can!" shouted Zia right back at her. "I will!"
"You are just one magician! All your allies are either rookies or demigods! Do you know how easily we defeated them in the past?" called Aziza.
"I know how you nearly brought down the Greek gods' wrath on the entire House of Life!"
"Do you know how I tortured your little friend there too?" asked Aziza.
That was the wrong thing for her to say. Zia's rage flared up, and with it, her flames. Aziza was blasted backwards as the clashing point reached her and exploded right as it reached her. Zia felt a surge of satisfaction as she watched as Aziza was blown clear off the roof.
"Sadistic witch!" shouted Zia after her. "I will make sure you get what you deserve!"
"Go Zia!" cheered Alyssa.
"Nice one," agreed Walt.
"Show her how it's done!" called Julian.
The only one who didn't cheer Zia on was Nico. She sneaked a glance toward him and saw that he was watching, but seemed too drained to speak. He managed to give her a tired smile, then turned his attention back to the uraei.
With Aziza's fall, the enemy seemed to be pulling back, perhaps to regroup. Zia wasn't sure if it was a trick or not, at first, and watched warily as they all retreated to the opposite edge of the roof. Then they retreated further, some using their magic to levitate them down, others using bird charms brought to life.
Julian hurried to the edge after them and watched them go. "They've gone down to join with their comrades. It looks like they're having a strategy meeting and they're not attacking the terrace anymore either."
Zia looked up and saw that the uraei had retreated with their keepers as well. She turned toward Nico again and saw him slumped against the stairwell's door, ashen-faced, sweating, and breathing heavily.
Before she could sprint toward him, Alyssa reached his side and dropped down beside him. They spoke softly, so Zia couldn't hear what they were saying, but Nico nodded to Alyssa then closed his eyes.
"One of us needs to go report this to Percy and Amos," said Walt, taking command of their little group. "Julian, do you mind?"
Julian agreed readily. "I want to hear what happened down there too."
"Get some food for us while you're down there," said Alyssa. "Something high in sugar or caffeine, or preferably both."
Julian nodded again and headed to the door. "Sorry, Nico, but you're going to have to move for a second."
"S'alright," said Nico as he drug himself away from the door.
Zia forced herself to move toward him slowly, then knelt so that she was beside him. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Nico opened his eyes and gave her a tired smile. "Yes. Just exhausted."
"I'd cast Undead Malediction on you to recharge you if I could," said Felix, suddenly at the top of the stairs, his arms laden with food in brightly packaged wrappers. Zia wasn't quite up to date with the modern world, but she was able to recognize several of the more popular candy bars, like Snickers and Hershey's, and there were some things in clear wrappers that appeared to be snack cakes. "And before you guys ask, yes, I have permission to be up here. Julian asked me to bring you guys some food and stuff. Who wants a Pepsi?"
Nico gave a very tired laugh and watched as Felix pulled apart the six pack of Pepsis. "You're awesome, Felix."
"I'm not supposed to 'linger' up here, but you guys want to know what's going on, yeah?" said Felix. "Well they sent a bunch of shabtis and some demons at the terrace, and Bast and Percy cut them down and were like, 'Fools, send us a real enemy to fight!' So the House of Life freaks sent this guy who controlled water up against them –"
"Oh, gods!" Nico choked then doubled over laughing. "Of all the people to send against Percy!"
"Yeah, seriously," agreed Felix. "That's like pitting a level one water sprite against Poseidon! Then Bast and Percy were like, 'Oh no you didn't just challenge the son of Poseidon with his own element!' And then Percy took control of the water that the guy was levitating on top of, and suddenly the water wouldn't hold him up anymore, so he went crashing down, like a barrel off Niagra falls, and then SPLASH! He hit the river! And Percy and Bast watched over the railing and waited until he came up for air and KABOOM! He dropped all the water the guy had been controlling down on top of him! It was sick!"
"I told you my cousin was badass."
"You shouldn't use words like that," Zia told him.
Nico gave her an incredulous look.
Zia bit her lip. Why had she just said that? She didn't know for the life of her.
"Are you trying to tell me my cousin is not badass?" Nico asked accusingly.
"There's no way anyone can say Percy's not badass," said Felix firmly.
"So . . . what's going on now?" asked Alyssa.
"Uh, well they're trying to break down the front doors on the east wall. Amos says that will buy us some time. He's got every protective spell known to magicians on that wall, and they'll have to blast through each one individually. That will take hours."
"Good. Maybe we'll get a bit of a break," said Walt as he cracked open his soda.
"I don't understand them," said Percy. "Wouldn't it make more sense for them to throw an actual wave of magicians at us now, and keep trying to wear us down here, rather than wearing themselves down, beating their magic against a wall?"
"They are the most ruthless that the House of Life has to offer," Amos told him. "No one ever accused them of being the smartest."
"Lucky for us," said Bast.
They were standing just inside the house, right next to the terrace doors, waiting as the invaders threw spell after spell at the east wall's doors. The fight seemed to have died out on the roof as well, and Percy wished he could go up and check on them, but knew it was better that he stayed at his post. He felt a surge of relief when he saw Julian walking toward them, quickly, but not too urgently, a tired smile on his face. That was good. It definitely meant no one had been killed or even badly injured, or else he wouldn't have been wearing such an easy-going expression.
"How's Nico?" Percy asked, because he wanted to know how his cousin was holding up, even though he already knew he hadn't been hurt.
"He's fine. Tired, but fine. He really saved our butts up there, against those flying, fire-breathing snake things," said Julian. He grinned at Bast. "You were right. We could use another dozen like these two on our side."
Then he looked back at Percy. "I'm sorry that I ever had any doubts."
"Don't worry about it," Percy told him. "Is everyone else alright on the roof?"
"Yeah. I sent Felix up there to take them some food because we all need to recharge our batteries, but I thought we should let you know what went on, so I came down here."
Julian quickly explained everything that had gone on up on top of the roof for the past hour, then Percy gave him a summary of how things had played out on the terrace. All the while they heard loud thuds, and minor explosions as the invaders tried to chisel away the defenses on the east wall.
"Do you think we should switch the roof team out?" Percy asked to Bast and Amos once everyone was up to speed. "We could put some of your other senior trainees up there and let the old team rest up completely."
Amos considered this for a few moments then shook his head. "The trainees we have up there now are the best at taking the initiative. All the rest look to someone else to lead them. We must keep those who will not hesitate to act on the roof."
Percy filed this useful bit of information away in his mind. He was sure he'd have reason to use it again sometime in the future. It seemed like he couldn't go half a year without seeing a large scale battle these days.
"Are there any problems between Zia and Nico?" asked Percy, voicing his final concern. They had agreed it was better to keep those two separate, but now with circumstances as they were, if Nico and Zia weren't causing major problems, it might be best to leave them at the same post for now.
"Huh? Well, they're not arguing or anything," said Julian. "Zia's actually pretty defensive of him. There was this one House of Life freak up there who seemed to know Nico. She kept calling him pet and he seemed really freaked out by her –"
"Aziza?" Percy asked darkly.
"Yeah, that sounds right. Nico froze at first, but when she tried to kill him with a giant cobra, Nico snapped back to it. But then Zia took on Aziza. You probably saw fireworks from the terrace."
"Yeah," said Percy.
"Maybe it was just in my head that she was being all defensive of Nico, because she seemed to have some kind of rivalry with Aziza that had nothing to do with him."
"Aziza has always been jealous of Zia's abilities," said Amos. "Zia was taken into the House of Life when her family was destroyed. She doesn't know her own roots. While Aziza's family is one of the oldest bloodlines that can be boasted of. She has never been able to stand that Zia is a better magician than her, or that her connection to fire is stronger."
"I should get back up there," said Julian. "I just wanted to let you all know what was going on, and see how things were down here."
"We're hanging in here," Percy told him. "You guys keep up the good work up there. Let us know if you need more reinforcements."
"And tell Felix to stop lingering up there," said Bast. "You know he's still going to be up there when you get back."
Percy turned back to watch the terrace. He felt good about the way things were going so far, but he doubted everything would keep going so smoothly. The enemy might be giving them a reprieve now, but the battle was far from over.
AN: Yesterday I got my long-awaited copy of Crumbled Colossus. I started reading it after I posted yesterday's chapter, then read more during school, then finished it up at home. Then I wrote this chapter. Now I have to do my homework before I go to bed, and it's about 2:00 am. Yay for priorities, lol. Thankfully I have study-hall tomorrow, so I can do some then. You know how when you read a really great book, or watch a great movie, you get really inspired and have the urge to write? That's how I've been since Son of Neptune came out. Now I've got another boost of inspiration from the new Gargoyle book. (which was excellent, btw) I should be fired up all the way through the end of this fic now. (I'll make you a deal: if I slow down to less than two chapters a week, you can tell me to shut up about my beloved Gargoyle Legends. As long as I'm updating fast, you can put up with my hero worship of Heather Fleming's creations) The next thing I'm looking forward to is Clockwork Prince in Dec, but I'll be finished with this fic long before then.
But about this fic: I'm not shipping Nico and Zia. Their feelings for each other are strictly familial. This isn't going to turn into some kind of messed up, Oedipus Rex revival. 'G-man' is short for 'government-man' and is used to refer to FBI and CIA agents, for those who wondered. The movie quote from last chap was from 'The Mummy' so congrats to Gillrocks and Crazyfruit89 for recognizing it! (Another reference to that movie was made at the beginning of Escape from Camp Half-Blood, so I guess it's turning into a recurring joke. Maybe I'll do a one shot about them having a movie night)
Next chapter will mark the halfway point in the timeline of the battle. Some time passes between the chapters while the invaders are trying to break down the east wall, so our heroes got a bit of a break. And coming up (probably not next chapter, but soon) Zia vs. Kwai. And some serious injuries. Alright, better do homework now. Asilda out.