Three days, three chapters. Is anyone detecting a pattern? I should hope so, because there is one. What was that thing I stopped doing because school was getting in the way? It was something a lot of people liked. What was it…
On a different note, let's take this quick break from Jacob's latest set back and see what Alex got herself into.
This was just what I needed, another fight. I ducked behind a tree as swords clanged and monsters roared. I peeked out from behind the tree to watch a woman stab a charging hellhound in the gut with a spear. At first I didn't have a clue who she was until she spun to kill another one and I caught a glimpse of her shield. It had a few minor dents and dings in it, but the main detail that caught my eye was that it had the face of medusa burned into it.
And through the battle armor, I recognized the woman. My opinion on who she was only reinforced when a man in black armor and a Stygian iron sword seemed to materialize out of a nearby shadow and land behind her in time to kill a third hellhound.
Mom and Dad were fighting a pack of very angry demon puppies. That solved the who, but I still needed the where. All I had to go on was woods. Lots and lots of woods that went on further than I could see.
"Percy and Annabeth are gone," my dad warned as he kicked a hellhound aside.
"Gone?" Mom asked annoyed. "Where did they 'go'? We're in the middle of a fight!"
"They caught up with Brian further ahead," he explained. "Wanted to make sure he wouldn't get away this time."
"And left us with these," Mom said, and zapped a hellhound into monster dust. "Terrific."
Brian? Brian son of Hephaestus Brian? Brian who Jacob had been trying to kill for three years now for what he did Brian? What was he doing…wherever it was we were? I had to check this out, and Jacob would want me to. Well in actuality he would want to storm over to Brian and put a sword in him himself, but Jacob wasn't here.
I was about to move when I realized I didn't know where Brian was. Dad had said further ahead, but which direction was further ahead? Without specifics I could just end up wandering this forest for hours, which would be boring more than anything else.
More hellhounds died at the hands of my parents, and as their numbers dwindled I was content to just stay behind the tree out of sight, and rest. The last hellhound fell, and things got quiet except for the tired panting of my parents. That was when my stomach rumbled, and I remembered I hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. Most important meal of the day, and I forgot.
"You hear that?" my dad said quietly.
"Maybe we missed one?" my mom guessed.
"Behind the tree," my dad said, locating the sound as my stomach growled again.
After what had happened last time, Mom and Dad had specifically forbidden my sneaking out of camp to go on some quest, (Get kidnapped by the Pit one time and suddenly they don't let you go on unauthorized quests.) and the punishment this latest venture was going to be brutal if I got caught.
I just wasn't doing very well in the stealth department today.
"You go left, I've got right," Mom said.
I could hear their light footfalls as they slowly crept around. I needed a place to hide and fast. I looked up, and thought maybe, just maybe I could pull off a jump up into the branches above. It was worth a shot.
My legs coiled like springs and I shot up. My hands each found a good branch to hold on, and I managed to pull myself up just as my parents round the trunk of my hiding place.
"Nothing," my dad said. "Must've run off."
"C'mon, we need to catch up with Annabeth and Percy," my mom reminded him.
Dad nodded, "Yeah, let's go. Though I doubt they're still fighting Brian, he's just one kid."
They took off, giving me the direction I needed. I looked at the nearest branch of the next tree over. It looked big enough to hold me, and it was within reach, so I took a leap of faith. I caught the branch, hauled myself up, and repeated the process again and again trying to keep up with my parents, or at the very least not lose track of them.
It wasn't long before the sounds of another fight reached my ears…over my own exhausted breath. Sneaking around a cave, fighting the invulnerable, chasing your parents through a forest, all on an empty stomach was all making me very, very tired.
But when my parents stopped moving and stood I shock, I had to peek through the branches and leaves to see what was so shocking. There in a small clearing was Brian, his eyes blazing red and gray and his whole body with a similar glow to it. Aunt Annabeth and Uncle Percy were suspended in midair, and Brian was laughing. Both of the crashed the floor as if thrown, were lifted back up, and went flying backward into the trees.
My parents had their weapons ready as they moved forward. Brian turned, looking almost annoyed. But when he spoke, it wasn't his voice.
"Please, more of this?" he waved his hand dismissively, and piles of monster dust that had been lying around collected back together into a pack of snarling hellhounds.
My parents made short work of them as they attacked, and in seconds it was just them and Urunos once again.
"Is that all?" my Mom taunted.
I stayed in the tree, watching. Not because I was afraid of grounding with enforcement by the gods, but because I was exhausted and getting mixed up in another fight with Urunos (Even it was a different host) was looking more and more like suicide. And not the kind of suicide Jacob once pulled off to stop the Pit from getting Posiedon's trident. (Heck, he even had me thinking he was dead.)
Brian/Urunos snapped his fingers, and the piles and splotches of monster dust collected again, this time into a single, massive hellhound that towered above the trees. It let off a deafening snarl, and birds scattered.
My parents got into defensive stances and leapt to either side to avoid a swipe from a paw the size of a desk. Its claws took a chunk out of the earth, and dirt rained down. Brian actually started to lift off the ground, and soon he too was floating above the trees like some high and mighty super-badass.
Looking back, it was probably ADHD that made me jump out from my hiding spot. I'd learned an old trick a while back, using the air as a sort of support to fly. And I used it now to rise up to Urunos's level.
"Alex," Brian said, his voice not his own. "I was wondering where you'd run off to. Tell me, do you want to die, or do you truly believe you can defeat me?"
Floating above the trees of the woods, my parents fighting a giant hellhound bellow, and my stomach rumbling, I realized that I'd made a big mistake. Again.
Then, it was Brian's voice that taunted like a proud maniac, "Come on Alex! Pit your own powers against mine."
"Oh, so now they're your powers?" Alex said. "Thought they belonged to Urunos."
"He only gave me the power," Brian insisted. "It's mine to command."
"Two seconds ago you were talking with his voice," I reminded him, holding my sword up defensively. Maybe, just maybe, I could talk my way out of this.
"I'm in control!" Brian insisted. "My will is my own!"
Brian's glow started to dim, and he wobbled uncertainly in the air. A look of confusion slowly spread across his face. Then, all at once, it stopped and the red and gray aura glowed bright as ever. Urunos's disapproving voice spoke.
"This one," he said, "I'm obviously going to have to keep a stronger hold on. He wants to badly to be in control."
"You're enslaving the entire Pit," I accused.
"Not just the Pit," Urunos said. It was definitely him in control now, no question at all. "This whole world is going to become an extension of myself. As a matter of fact.."
I felt that unseen hand grab hold of me and yank me closer to Urunos until I was within arms' reach. His hands touched my shoulders.
"I believe you put up some…resistance last time," Urunos said, a wicked smile spreading across Brian's possessed features. "I'm going to correct that now."
I squeezed my eyes shut, felt a quit flutter of my heartbeat, and a black lightning bolt flared across the sky and struck Urunos dead in the forehead. He lost his grip on me, I lost my focus, and I plummeted to the ground with a hard thump.
Percy, Annabeth, Mom, and Dad were all fighting the giant dog now, and winning by the looks of it. Percy was expertly keeping its attention for the majority of the time, but every so often an electric blast with strike its ear or hind quarters and its head would jerk around trying to spot its source. Dad and Annabeth were attack too, counting on Mom and Percy to keep it too occupied to attack them.
It howled in pain, or maybe anger, and tried to stomp on my mom. She dodged, but just barely, and the shake of the earth the stomp generate sent her sprawling and left the others wobbling to keep their footing. The hound's mouth shot down and in an instant, my mom was gone.
"No!" I screamed, and finally the other three noticed me.
"Alex?" Dad said in confusion. "What are you—?"
It was Annabeth who recovered from my sudden appearance quick enough to warn, "Watch out!"
The hellhound was barreling toward me, mouth wide and ready to bite. It was coming too fast, there was no time to dodge, and nowhere to run. Without hesitation, I jumped into its mouth before its teeth could tear me to shreds.
It smelled horrible in there, and underworld dog saliva is pretty slimy. Before I could stop myself, I was sliding down its throat. I stabbed my sword into the fleshy walls of the throat, trying to stop myself, but all I did was slow my descent and get a roar of anguish out of the thing.
I splashed into the stomach, stomach acids and other juices stinging my eyes and skin. Something grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked me up out of the disgusting liquids, and as my eyes blinked it away I looked through hazy vision at my mom, clinging desperately to the inside walls of the stomach.
"Alex? What in gods' name are you doing here?" she asked.
"Can we talk about this later?" I coughed.
"Only if we get out of here," she said. "I've been trying to zap this thing from the inside out, but it's not enough."
"Maybe if we both give it a try," I suggested, now clinging to the stomach walls as well. She nodded her agreement.
Black and blue sparks danced across the walls of the stomach, arching around and causing the fleshy walls to contract and spasm. The whole body gave a violent shudder, and both my mom and I were thrown into the stomach acids once again.
The whole thing seemed to list to one side, and there was a thump that radiated through the body. Then, the steady heartbeat of the monster stopped. My mom shoved her spear through the side of the stomach, and I did the same with my sword. The beast may be dead, but we were still submerged in stomach juices and there was likely still a fight going on outside. Together, we cut our way out of the monsters guts.
Brian was gone, Dad was sprawled on the ground and Annabeth was looking him over. The massive hellhounds body slowly began to crumble to dust as Mom and I pushed ourselves out. Still covered in unspeakable horribly smelling slime and guts, my mom ran to see what was wrong.
"Nico!" she said, kneeling down to him.
"I'm fine…" he grimaced. "Just a little shaken up is all…ow."
"He's got at least one broken rib, and maybe some internal bleeding, I'm not sure yet," Annabeth contradicted. "He needs nectar and ambrosia, fast."
"We need to get him back to camp," my mom said. "Where's Percy?"
Annabeth froze, just realizing he wasn't around. She looked around frantically, but she couldn't seem to find him and neither could I.
"Percy?" she called out.
"I saw him go flying earlier," my dad said. "Over there."
I looked in the direction he'd pointed, and trotted over while Mom and Annabeth stayed with my dad. It wasn't too hard to find Percy, but I kind of wish I hadn't. He was in bad shape, and like my dad he looked to be in serious need of nectar, ambrosia, and plenty of rest.
"Found him," I called. I hoped we could get him to camp in time, because the last thing I needed was for both me and Jacob to lose our dads on the same day.
And that seems like as good a place as any to stop this for now. Will Percy and Nico pull through? What might Alex's reaction be when she meets Rae? And can anyone stop the madness of Urunos? Tune in next time to find out!