Anybody excited for chapter 10? Well, I'm more happy that I finished it. I have absolutely nothing else to say. Except sorry for taking so long. I am! I'm sorry. I really am. And I meant to post it two nights ago but the wifi was iffy and I didn't want to risk it. On the bright side, this is quite a long chapter. With a lot of action. And yelling. Well. Keep reading I guess?
WARNING: slightly violent at parts
Disclaimer- PJO belongs to Rick Riordan, and so on.
Cassie POV
The first explosion shook the earth with immense power, and from there it only got worse.
Standing atop the Empire State Building I had a perfect view of the island. And when I say standing atop, I mean one hand wrapped around the pole at the top and leaning out into the fading sunlight.
Manhattan was a war zone. The rivers themselves had just sunk boats filled with monsters, but the roads and tunnels weren't doing so well. Smoke was rising from many areas. Mortals slept on the ground and in the streets, clueless as to what was going on around them.
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel was overflowing with more plants than a flower festival. The Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge were doing fine. The Hermes cabin looked like it was doing its job well. Same with Lincoln Tunnel. The tank lay in scattered pieces and the hunters had gained ground.
I couldn't see the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, but since it was covered in a pink fog I could only assume that the Aphrodite cabin was doing okay. The Athena cabin seemed to be holding their own as they fought alongside various statues. The Apollo cabin wasn't doing too hot, but it looked as if Percy and Annabeth were on their way. That left Max's cabin.
The Hephaestus cabin may have had traps and machines, but there was a very small number of people, and other bridges and tunnels that needed the reinforcements more. Well. "Reinforcements." Thus, they were slowly getting pushed back and the Holland Tunnel was being overtaken by monsters and enemy demigods.
Nothing could've made it worse. Well, I mean Kronos could've, but he would be waiting for Percy.
Of course I jinxed it when I thought that only the Titan of Time could've made it worse, because the battle was apparently just heating up.
From the back of the enemy lines came a charging hydra. Five angry heads spitting acid onto the already ruined asphalt. The entire battle parted to avoid it.
Something that resembled a bear trap snapped at one of the hydra's legs but that just seemed to anger it. The beast ripped away from the metal, unscathed.
Things could get very bad. I know what you're going to say, 'aren't things already bad?' Well yeah, but with a hydra? Much worse.
I slid down the roof of the Empire State Building and somersaulted off the edge. I spread my arms and spun through the air, rapidly dropping.
A few feet above the ground I swooped up, my body transformed into the light body of a falcon. I tucked my feet in and pushed my wings down.
I straightened out once I was at a respectable height and the wind kept me up, so I just had to flap every once and a while.
With sharpened vision I could see the battles in great detail.
The Apollo campers hiding behind a yellow school bus. A daughter of Aphrodite falling to a hellhound. A large patch of poison ivy in flames as campers tried to drag the mortals away.
And one stupid son of Hephaestus named Jake Mason cutting the heads off of a hydra.
I tucked my wings and dove.
Turning back into a person just before I glided to a stop on the asphalt, I immediately swung my sword and decapitating a good three or four dracanae. I stabbed and slashed. Swung and parried. I reduced dozens of monsters to dust in mere minutes.
The hydra didn't know which side it was supposed to be on so it was spitting acid everywhere, even disintegrating a few of its own.
The scenery was that of an action movie. Dirt and monster guts smeared on my face. Hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. A black cami that hugged me closely. Dark shorts. My inky black combat boots. A jar of greek fire exploded behind me. Winds blowing ash this way and that. My bronze sword swinging in my hand. A dagger strapped to my thigh. Two hunting knives sheathed in my quiver that was full of arrows just waiting to be shot be by a delicately carved bow that hung off my shoulder.
Time seemed to slow down around me, yet Kronos was nowhere to be seen.
By now the hydra had at least twice as many heads.
"Jake Mason you're being an idiot!" I shouted as soon as I finally reached him. "You don't just go around cutting the heads off a hydra willy nilly! What were you thinking? 'Oh, this monster isn't tough enough. I'm gonna make it tougher.' Seriously?"
"Is this really the time to be lecturing me! We're in the middle of a freaking war!" he yelled back.
"If I don't tell you now then I'm going to forget!" I screamed. "So I'm telling you now! This is the proper way to defeat a hydra!"
I stomped over to the beast stepping right in front of it. All the heads screeched at me.
I'm pretty sure everyone else thought I had cracked. If not by that time, then by what I did next.
"Bad hydra!" I snapped. "You've been a very bad boy!"
All the heads stopped in confusion. They tilted in unison. Hiss? In fact, almost the entire tunnel had stopped to admire my handiwork. The battles in the rest of the city went on without us, but here I was, teaching a hydra obedience tricks.
"Now," I continued, "If you don't turn around and go home right now, then I'm gonna have to kill you. That's not going to help either of us. You'll be stuck in Tartarus again and I'll be sitting here sad that I killed a harmless creature."
"Harmless?" someone in the back cried out. "That thing almost bit my head off!"
"Shut it Jake!" I yelled at him.
The hydra broke out of its daze and snapped at me from both sides. I jumped up and onto one of its heads, running down the neck onto its monstrous body. The scales were an ugly mottled purple green color.
"This Jake Mason," I said dramatically, "is how you kill a hydra."
I gave a loud yell and swung my sword down hard, slicing one of the heads clean off.
"I thought you just told me not to cut off its heads!" Jake yelled.
I lit my hand on fire and the flames licked up my arm. I shot a blast of hot white flames at the stump where guts were oozing out but the remaining parts were trying to regrow into two heads. The hydra screamed in rage and pain.
I gave a little smile and laugh, and in the shadows of the flames I'm pretty sure it came off as maniacal because some of the monsters backed away a bit.
One of the remaining hydra heads snapped at me and I ducked. The battle around me resumed as everyone came to. I dodged another head, slicing it off and searing the wound closed.
This process continued until only a steaming body remained, and even that crumbled to dust and floated away in the soft August wind.
Normally, I could just release my true form, but with the scattered demigods it was too risky. Plus, who knew how Kronos' time charm would affect it. Also there was a chance that I would wipe New York of the map. So instead I swung and parried, not bothering with a shield because I felt as though it weighed me down. This continued for a long time.
This battle had to end soon. Everyone was worn out, and dawn was streaking in the horizon.
"That's it," I growled.
I was able to separate the Hephaestus cabin and make them retreat. I stood at the mouth of the tunnel, my back facing Manhattan.
The enemy began to regroup. The front was bristled with spears and battle axes along with many swords.
"You shall not pass," I said calmly, digging my sword into the asphalt in front of me, cutting it like butter.
Blue lighting flickered up and down my body. Bolts zapped from my body, cutting down monster after monster.
I turned my head back at Max, mouthing at him to go. I felt a sharp pain in my gut. A very much real pain. I looked down to see a shattered sword at my feet, but the largest piece lodged in my torso.
I may be immortal, but I'm not invincible. The pain caused one last blast of lightning, disintegrating the last of the enemy.
I fell forward on my knees and collapsed to my side. The pain tinged my vision gold, but I was still very much conscious.
Max POV
Once I saw Cassie collapse I sprinted forward and gathered her in my arms. Blood was pouring out of her body. Her hair stuck to her face due to the sweat that was dripping off her forehead.
I rushed Cassie straight to the hotel that the demigods had taken over, completely ignoring the tired looks people gave me as I pushed past.
I ran into the first empty room I could see and slammed it shut with my foot.
"You're a goddess. You're going to be fine right?" I asked her.
She grimaced with pain as I laid her down on an open bed. Cassie's cobalt eyes were slightly unfocused.
"Yeah, I would be fine, I there wasn't a shard of celestial bronze inside of me," Cassie said.
I wondered whether or not she was being sarcastic. I glance down and saw what she meant. Golden ichor was pooling around her abdomen, but in the center it was bubbling just a bit around something shiny.
"I'll go get a medic."
Cassie reached out and grabbed my wrist, covering it with her own blood.
"You can't," she said.
Cassie gave me an earnest look. I realized she was right. She was covered in the blood of the immortals. If her secret was spilled now then everything could go sideways.
"You know, you get a little crease in between your eyebrows when you're worried," Cassie said with a strained little laugh. "You might want to turn away for this."
"What are you go-" I started.
She interrupted me by digging her hand into her own wound, all the while gasping in pain. I couldn't bare to look away. More golden ichor poured out, staining the sheets and pillows. Her teeth gritted and the area around her hand made little squelching noises.
Any other person would have left but I couldn't leave her.
Finally she managed to drag the jagged piece of metal out. Instantly her color began to return and wound started to heal. However everything was stained with golden ichor.
That was something we couldn't hide if someone else came in.
Cassie noticed this too. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the blood covered sheets.
She sat up and got to her feet, only wobbling slightly. The wound almost completely closed.
Waving her hands she drew everything covered in her blood into a big ball in the air, sort of like she was rolling an invisible snowball.
The mass of sheets sat floating in midair. Cassie set her hand ablaze and poked the sheets, setting them on fire too.
Eventually it was just a small a small pile of ash which she swept out of the window and into the breeze.
The blood covering her body seemed to seep through her skin and it disappeared.
"You'd better get some rest before tomorrow," Cassie whispered.
"What about you?" I asked.
"Places to be, people to see," she answered.
I knew there was no way I could change her mind. She may have just been through a lot of pain but that was Cassie. Pain couldn't stop her. Physical or mental.
Cassie wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug. She rested her head against my chest. I hugged her close.
We stayed like that for a while.
Finally we pulled apart and Cassie gave me a peck on the cheek.
She stepped back a bit. I closed my eyes as she disappeared in a flash of light.
Cassie was right. I should get some sleep.
I stumbled over to the stripped bed and flopped down, falling asleep almost instantly.
Cassie POV
"It's about time," a voice called out from behind me, "Reyna's been expecting you."
I turned to see Octavian, legacy of Apollo, standing there with a gutted teddy bear and a knife.
I'm pretty sure he had a thing for me, but everytime I thought about it, it made me want to gag.
"I've been busy," I responded.
"So I see," he said, gesturing to my weapons.
I waved my hand and they disappeared, leaving just my sword. It now appeared to be imperial gold. Luckily, before coming I had changed clothes and washed away the grime, otherwise there would be more questions. I wore another black cami, black cargo pants, my combat boots, and my cloak.
I tugged the band out of my ponytail, letting it tumble over my shoulders.
"Let's get started," I said.
I pushed past Octavian and towards the waiting war council.
End of chapter 10. I know the ending was a bit rushed but I already wrote a pretty long chapter so I was trying to finish it up. Anybody get my puns and jokes? There's a quite a few of them in there. I'll make you a deal. Next person to give me a genuinely good idea for this story or to give me a review that melts my heart, I'll name a character after you or you can pick a name for a character. Okay? Okay.
Final guesses for Cassie's remaining godly powers? It will either be revealed in the next chapter or the one following that.
Follow, favorite, and review! plz & thx