The First Son of Artemis Book Two: A Mother Trapped
Bianca's POV (1st person)
As soon as the demi-gods charged, the magicians seemed to realize they had no chance. The barrage of silver arrows from the concealed hunters caught them by surprise. After that, the earth started to crack, and Nico and I did our Children of Hades thing. From the cracks, dozens of undead skeleton warriors came up from the cracks and charged the magicians lines. Nico and I charged with Clarisse and the rest of the campers, while the Hunters kept on firing their arrows.
As soon as the fighting got in close, the magicians stood no chance. It seemed as if they weren't exactly used to fighting close quarters like this. Some held bronze swords which were bent in the center, however compared to the demi-gods of camp half-blood, they didn't seem like they knew how to use them very well.
Nico was fighting off three magicians with swords all on his own, his new Stygian iron sword deflected their blows like it was child's play. I could only imagine how downright screwed the magicians would be if the likes of Jay, Percy, and Thalia were here, arguably our three strongest campers.
I was firing arrows left and right with my new Stygian black bow, one magician came charging at me from behind. I turned and knocked his legs out from under him with my bow, sending him sprawling to the ground. I gave him a hard smack to the back head, and he was out cold. A few more followed but I was able to easily dispatch them all in close quarters combat like this, and the colder it got this December morning the harder it seemed for them to shoot fire.
Soon the magicians seemed to realize it was hopeless, they seemed to finally grow tired of being embarrassed like this by mere children. Most of them, turn on their heels and ran. The few who were bold enough to stay and fight, were eventually knocked unconscious. We tried not to kill them, we hated killing other humans, we would kill a monster in a heartbeat, but not a human.
A huge cheer came up from the campers! Clarisse stood in between me and Nico, despite the cold weather. Her blood red armor still gleamed, and sweat beat down her head despite the intense cold. The magicians retreated past the barrier deep into the forest, and out of site.
As the campers cheered, Chiron sauntered up to us, his helmet under his arm and bow on his back. "Casualty report Chiron?" I asked.
He smiled, "A few burns, a couple scraps, but no major injuries. It seems that the magicians are in full retreat." He told us.
"HAHA! We sent those fancy pants magicians running! They didn't stand a chance! VICTORY TO CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Clarisse shouted shoving her electric spear into the air.
All the campers cheered in excitement! Even the hunters who didn't like us campers one bit, managed to smile and let out a cheer. I guess after you spill blood with someone, you can put aside gender prejudices. All the campers seemed to be absolutely elated. However Nico and I looked at each other and we had this silent conversation in our minds. We were the kind of siblings that we could communicate with eye contact.
We both agreed, that this victory was far too easy. Jay had sent me iris messages regularly over the months during his magician training. He told me that the magicians may not seem like much at first, but to never underestimate them. The magicians were extremely powerful, and despite how they looked, they could stay alive for hundreds of years thanks to magic spells!
I nodded to Nico. He helped me readjust my midnight black armor, the same armor I had worn the night I helped Jay discover he was part magician. Beckendorf had helped me enchant it with a fire-proof spell. I pulled out my knife, and held it closely to my side. I tugged Chiron on his shoulder and he looked at me.
"Um Chiron, don't ask how but I have a feeling this isn't-." I started.
"GREEKS! I CHALLENGE YOU!" A loud booming voice came from the forest.
Every camper and hunter turned and looked back across the river into the forest. The same large burley man I had chased from camp the first attack. The same one I had met for the "Negotiations", before this battle. His staff was blazing hot, and in his other hand he held curved ivory boomerang looking thing with blue light emanating from the top.
All the demi-gods and hunters face him, he strode out to the front of us. "GREEKS! I CHALLENGE ONE OF YOU TO A DUEL! If I win the duel, you will give me the location of Jason Nicholson! If you win, the House of Life swears our souls to the Osiris god of the underworld that we will never come back to this camp!" The deranged sweating man screamed.
All of us stood in shocked silence, Chiron, Nico and I were the only ones who knew of the Egyptian Gods, all the other campers and hunters thought that these guys were just some random, crazy, old, demi-gods who were attacking in the name of the Titans. However that was a minor thing right now. Hearing about the Egyptian god of the underworld… it made my blood boil for some reason. MY father was the lord of the underworld!
Before Clarisse could even think about stepping forward, I twirled my stygian knife in my hands and sheathed it into my belt. I pulled out my bow, and stepped forward to meet the man. However seeing me step forward made the man snarl even more, more fire tipped from the top of his staff, and he screamed in my direction!
"I AM GETTING TIRED OF YOU GIRL! I am done doing battle with a mere… little girl. Stand aside girl! You will not stop the house from finding Jason Nicholson! Go play with your dolls little girl, bring fourth someone more worthy!" He yelled to the demi-god line.
Murmurs came from the demi-gods and Hunters. "Oh he's in trouble now." Connor Stoll muttered. "He should not have said that." Katie Gardner said to one of her siblings. "He, is so dead." Beckendorf said in agreement.
"KICK HIS SCRAWNY BUTT BIANCA!" Clarisse yelled in encouragement.
"YEAH BIANCA SEND HIM DOWN TO OUR DAD!" Nico yelled.
The campers and Hunters all began to cheer. They all yelled encouragements that involved kicking the crap out of this magician. I was prepared to.
My blood had never boiled so hot in my life. Everyone treated me as if I was some sort of fragile flower. People always were trying to protect me. They always left me behind to defend. I never got the chance to show what I could do. They always told me things were too dangerous for me. I. Was. Tired. Of. It! Now this skinny magician, was calling me weak, calling me a little girl, saying I wasn't worthy.
And he was demanding I give up the location of the boy I loved! No! They wouldn't have him! Not while I had anything to do about it!
My knuckles on both hands became white from clutching my bow so hard. I slammed the end of my bow into the ground and the earth shook, and a cracked the earth again, not opening it up, but just enough to make the scrawny magician fall to his knees and stumble to get back up.
I screamed at the magician. "MY NAME IS BIANCA DI ANGELO! I AM THE DAUGHTER OF HADES GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD!"
I slammed my bow into the ground again, but to his credit, he managed to keep his footing this time. He raised his staff and kept it at the ready. I was so angry, I began radiating a pure black midnight aura. He launched a blast of fire at me! I didn't know what made me do it, but I slashed my bow across the air, and a blast of pure black, dark energy blasted from the bow and met the fireball in mid-air! A huge BOOM erupted and both blast caused a huge explosion! I didn't deter from my course and kept on towards the magician with malice in my eyes!
"I AM A DAUGHTER OF THE UNDERWORLD! YOU WILL LEAVE THIS CAMP! YOU WILL NOT GET JAY! HE IS EVEN MORE POWERFUL THEN I! YOU. WILL. NOT. GET. HIM!" I yelled launching another barrage of dark energy blast at the man!
He launched a barrage of fireballs to intercept! I was almost within striking distance now. The magician muttered words in a language I couldn't understand. The curved ivory boomerang elongated into two curved bronze swords, which were enchanted with fire coming off them.
I notched an arrow in my bow, my whole weapon shimmered with the same dark aura of the underworld as radiated around my body.
To the man's credit he seemed confident. "You will die here girl, I am not afraid of you!" He yelled pointing his swords in my direction.
I pulled back my string back. I looked the man directly in the eye, I could feel the power of the underworld coursing through me. "Well you should be." I said, my voice filled with venom.
With that, we charged each other. Dad, if you can hear me, please give me some help here.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jay's POV (1st person)
It was a long, somehow extremely hot ride to San Francisco. The "hot" part was probably because Nikki wouldn't stop glaring at me, which activated her, daughter of the sun god powers. She was still mad that I grabbed her and jumped off Hoover Dam, however I knew Nikki well enough to know that she would forget about it eventually. I had Agatha drop us off in the same place Percy and the rest of the gang.
We needed to find Nereus, and thankfully my favorite huntress seemed to know the way. Percy walked behind us, talking to Grover, while Nikki was walking and talking to Thalia, apparently they were interested in the same punk rock band. Strange. I never pictured Nikki liking punk rock like that.
I walked awkwardly next to Zoe. I realized that I haven't had an actual full conversation with her since the night I figured out Atlas was her father. I felt terrible about several things pertaining to Zoe. She could very well have a good chance of dying on this quest, and I hadn't been talking to her much. I didn't talk to her after Phoebe died. Worst of all… I made it pretty obvious I was dating Bianca now. I could see the twinge in her eyes whenever I mentioned her. Could she have… no she was a hunter it wasn't possible. However, after seeing my dream of her and Heracles, I realized she had loved before, and knew what heartbreak felt like.
She seemed to be trying her best to not look at me. However I couldn't keep the silence. "I… I'm sorry, about what happened to Phoebe." I told her.
Her obsidian eyes glossed over, and she blinked a few times. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about Jason. You had no hand in her death, and you took out what did kill her." She said all formerly.
Jason? She never called me Jason, she knew I hated it. "Jason? You never call me Jason, Zoe… um I wanted to apologize." I told him.
She inhaled sharply and blinked even faster. "T… there. He's over there." She said pointing to a group of older homeless men.
Nereus looked like a homeless Santa Claus, with a big beer gullet, and old grey beard. He looked like he couldn't move twenty feet without keeling over. I was about to run forward to talk to him, but Zoe held me back.
The rest of the group gathered around us, and Zoe turned to us. "He may not look like much now, but he is extremely fast. He can change form, and likes to head straight for the sea when he is being chased." Zoe informed us.
All of our heads turned to Percy. "Come on son of Poseidon, you're up." I said clapping him on the shoulder.
He sighed, "Why is it always me." He muttered.
He dashed off towards the old man. His hand was near his near his pocket incase things got ugly. We jogged behind him, watching him try to talk to the old man. I couldn't take my eyes off of Zoe, who was trying not to meet my gaze. I needed to talk to her, I needed to get things off my chest. However if I wanted that to happen, we needed to get this guy captured, which was proving difficult even for Percy, who was having a hard time keeping up with him.
The old man was surprisingly nimble, and dashed off towards the sea as Zoe predicted. The rest of the group sprinted after them. I needed to help somehow, the longer this took the less time Annabeth and my mom had. I had to have something in my demi-god/magician arsenal that could help. Well it was nice and sunny outside, despite the fact it's December, and not any trees I could control, shooting lightning wouldn't exactly help right now. Maybe I could… okay, if I was going to try this I was officially crazy.
It was a very advanced magician power that Amos had showed me over the last six months. You see, one of the most advanced abilities for magicians, is being able to use things called divine words. Divine words are basically, really, really advanced spells with devastating effects. The only magicians that can use divine words, are very older, and experienced ones, if you use too many of them, you can literally burn yourself to dust.
I tried using a word one time, it was the word for repair when I accidentally broke on of the fancy vases in the house. However, I ended up in bed for a week, because my magical energy got so drained form using it. The one I had in mind of using wasn't as power consuming, but it could still be risky. I saw the man run down the docks Percy right one his tail, the rest of us behind them.
The man ran down the dock, I broke into a full sprint and ran past Percy. I channeled all my magical energy into my finger-tips. I dug deep into my brain and found the correct words.
"STOP!" I yelled trying to reason with him first.
He turned back and laughed, so I just took in a deep breath and prepared to speak. "TAS!" I shouted.
Right before the old man could dive into the water, white ribbons sprouted from around him. They wrapped him up to his head, completely binding his body, not letting him move a muscle. My arm was still up, as soon as he was completely still, I fell to my knees.
Tas, was the ancient Egyptian word for bind. It wrapped up your opponent in bindings called The Ribbons of Hathor. Unless you said Tas, again they are completely unbreakable. It wasn't the most powerful divine word, I had never used one before, and it sucked a lot of energy out of me. I was breathing heavy on my knees, on the cold dock while Nereus was trying without luck to get out of his binds.
"Jay! Are you alright!?" Zoe asked coming and helping me up. Percy, Nikki, Thalia and Grover came up to me and helped me get on my feet. However, my legs just weren't having any of it.
"Not… not really, gods I'm tired." I said weakly, leaning on Zoe for support.
We all walked over to Nereus, who was struggling crazily with his binds. We all gathered around him, pretty happy with ourselves. He looked at me wide eyed, which scared me a little bit.
"AHHH! Damn you! Once I get out of these things boy you'll be sorry!" The old man yelled at me.
Still being supported by Zoe, I managed a chuckle. "Haha, yeah keep dreaming. Those are the ribbons of Hathor, you're not going anywhere until I say so. Now we get one question! That's the deal!" I demanded.
The old man scowled. "Ahhh, very well, what is your question?" He asked.
I looked around at our group. It dawned on me, my uncle told me we needed to find Nereus, but he didn't tell us what to ask him. I looked into Zoe's dark eyes, "Um, what do you think we should ask?" I asked her.
She looked around to the group, I saw Percy trying to hold back the question I knew he wanted. He wanted to know where Annabeth was now that she wasn't under the sky. However Zoe had a different idea.
"What was the monster Lady Artemis was hunting!?" She demanded in a voice that would've made my knees shake.
The old man grunted. "Huh, that's easy, ask the sea spawn over here, besides its right over there in the water! Now let me go!"
"Tas!" I shouted using the last bit of energy I had. The ribbons of Hathor disappeared and the old man dived into the sea.
I was almost completely wiped out now, but just like everyone I looked over at Percy. "Percy what was that old dude talking about?" Thalia asked.
Percy looked genuinely confused, he looked around. "I don't know, I haven't really seen-."
"MOOOOO!"
We all stopped and walked to the edge of the dock, and in the water was the same thing Grover was guarding at Hoover Dam! The head of a cow, the body of a serpent. It was one of the oddest creatures I've ever seen in my entire life. I had no clue what it was, but I felt kind of insulted. This is the all-powerful and dangerous creature that would destroy Olympus? The creature that my mother said was so dangerous I couldn't come help her hunt it?
"Percy, that's the Ophiotaurus! Why didn't you tell us?" Thalia exclaimed.
That explained it. I remembered reading about the Ophiotaurus with Annabeth. The legends said whoever killed it, and sacrificed its entrails, they would have the power to destroy Olympus. The bane of Olympus shows the trail. That part of the prophecy rang in my head. It made sense now, this cow thing must've been following Percy here.
Percy looked confused. "I didn't know what it was, I saw it before we left camp, and in the water at Hoover Dam. I think we should get it back to-."
"The only thing that beast is doing, is being destroyed!" Said a French, bone chilling voice.
"Oh no, no please not him." Nikki pleaded as we turned around.
We turned around and there was Dr. Thorn the manticore. The same monster that had almost killed us back at Westover. Behind him he had a force, or… mortals. He had a group of mortal's who had their eyes completely white. They must be under Thorn's control somehow. They seemed to be cops, who all had guns pointed up at us. Our weapons would be useless on them! And we couldn't retreat, all we had was the sea!
Nikki pulled an arrow out and fire quickly, but soon Thorn fire a stinger, and knocked her arrow out of the air. "Haha! Foolish girl! I have you cornered, surrender the Ophiotaurus, and your deaths will be swift." He said.
I managed to stumble to my feet. I had a dagger in one hand, and my white staff in the other, and went beside Nikki. Thalia had out her spear, and Aegis. Zoe aimed her bow at her, while Percy was behind us doing something, while Grover stood near the Ophiotaurus.
"You wanna get beat again Thorn! We'll make sure you go to Tartarus this time!" Thalia shouted.
Thorn looked at Thalia with a wicked smirk. "Ahhh Thalia Grace, your friend Luke spoke very highly of you." He said in a honeyed voice.
Thalia wavered and slightly lowered her shield. I figured out Thorn's plan in a second. He was trying to coax Thalia! His plan was to convince her to use the Ophiotaurus power! I knew from talking to Thalia and Annabeth tonight, they both had a soft-spot for Luke. If Luke really wanted to, and tried hard enough, he just might be able to turn Thalia. The two of them were traveling a lot longer together before they found Annabeth.
"Thalia don't listen to him! He's trying to turn you!" I urged her. What was Percy doing, he could help in this situation! All he was doing was mumbling behind me.
Thorn still spoke in honeyed words. "Ahhh but Thalia, Luke told me of you adventures! Your father and the gods never cared for you. Kill the Ophiotaurus! Sacrifice its entrails, and bring about the downfall of Olympus, alongside Luke and the Titans!" He exclaimed.
I looked over at Thalia, meeting her electric gaze. She seemed to be wavering, like she was considering her offer. "Listen Thalia! Your father does care about you! He sent you the statues! And don't fight this war for the gods, fight the war for your friends on this side, you have them! Me, Percy, Nikki, Annabeth, Grover, fight for us! I know you miss Luke, but he kidnapped Annabeth, and he's gone badly! Don't listen to him Thalia." I urged her.
"D… don't worry Jay. I know what I have to do." She looked back at Thorn. "Now you tell Luke he won't manipulate me! Now get ready to go back to Tartarus!" She yelled.
"Ughh! You insufferable children! It is time for you to die-." He started.
He was cut off my vines sprouting from the ground, and wrapping around his leg! All the mortals with him, were taken down by vines pulling them down. They vines strangled Dr. Thorn, he struggled until he turned into a huge pile of golden dust. He was dead, but how!?
I turned around and saw Percy, who was grinning like a mad man. "Percy!? What did you do?" Nikki asked.
"Oh I sent an iris message to our favorite wine god, and he helped us out." He said with a smirk
I sighed with relief, I needed to thank Mr. D, even though we weren't exactly on good terms. We all gathered around the Ophiotaurus, looking down at the cow beast, who just swam happily and mooed at us.
"We need to get him back to camp, I can take him." Grover suggested.
It was a good idea, the further away it was from the Titan's the better. "Yeah, the further away from this place the better. You'll need some help though, it'll be safer if you have someone with you." I suggested.
"I'll go with him, but how are we getting back?" Nikki asked.
That caught me off guard. I would've expected Nikki, to stay, and help me fight Atlas. However seeing Thorn must've shaken her. She knew now that she had been living under the gaze of a monster her whole time at that school, and he did try to kidnap her, I don't really blame her.
"Perseus, your father is Poseidon! Ask him to give them protection!" Zoe suggested.
Percy nodded. "I can, but he needs some kind of tribute. I can't just ask him and he'll do it." He said.
"Wait, will this work?" Nikki asked pulling off her jacket.
It was the Nemean Lion pelt. I completely forgot about it! That seemed like so long ago, hard to believe we had come all this way, and the moment was coming. The moment where I had to fight a Titan to save my mom. Atlas was going to pay, and I was going to be the one to beat him.
Percy took the pelt and tossed it into the water. Like the red sea the water parted and lead a path right through the sea, which I guessed would lead to camp. I turned to Nikki and gave my cousin a quick hug.
She forced a smile at me. "Well, I guess I can forgive you for jumping off the Hoover Dam." She told me.
I laughed and put a hand on her shoulder. "You did amazing Nikki, I'm really proud of you. I didn't even do this well on my first quest, by this point I had been knocked out like four times, no joke." I said.
"He's right about that." Percy but in.
I shoed him away and Nikki laughed. "Stick with Grover, and keep an eye on Bessie, when you see Bianca, tell her I'll be back soon okay? I'll miss you cuz." I told her hugging her one more time.
She smiled at me, kissed my cheek, and jumped off the dock with Grover. As we watched them I felt like I was sending my kid off to college. Nikki had basically been my little sister this whole quest, now she was going off on her own. Once they were out of sight, the rest of us, me, Percy, Thalia, and Zoe turned to each other.
"What do we do now?" Thalia asked.
Percy snapped his fingers. "I got it. Annabeth's dad lives in San Francisco, we could ask him for help, get a car to take us to Mount Tam." He suggested.
We all liked the idea and left to find the Chase household. I knew still in the back of my head that this fight with Atlas, would make my fight with Hercules seem like nothing. He was a Titan, and I was a demi-god. These fights usually don't go well for demi-gods. However I wasn't just a demi-god. I was the first ever demi-god/ ancient Egyptian magician. I was going to make this bastard pay for even touching my mother.
It was time for the first son of Artemis, to go to war.
A:N) BAM BAM BAM, the chapter is done! I had an amazingly fun time writing this chapter! I love writing about Jay using magic and using his demi-god abilities, and Bianca is an absolute badass. I love this.
First guys, PLEASE! PLEASE go check out "The demi-god retrieval squad"! It's a collab story that I am involved in, that if you like this story you'll love that one! It is over on my friend McCanner's profile, his profile name is just McCanner! The first chapter that is told from my character's pov was just posted, I wrote that chapter, so again if you like my writing go check that out!
So what did you guys think? Did you like badass Bianca? Did you like Jay being conflicted about Zoe? Did you like how Jay used Divine words? What do you think of this story as a whole? What are you most excited for about Battle of the Labyrinth, and it wil be soon guys…
The long, long anticipated, the fight I've been waiting to write since the first chapter of book one, is coming up in two chapters. IT IS JAY VS ATLAS, LETS GO I CANT WAIT!
As usual guys thank you soooo much for reading! I've been domgk115! Please, review! Have a lovely day! Goodbyeeeeee! :)