A/N: Here we go! We're almost to the end and I think with each chapter it makes me sadder to see the end of my first ever fic. In anycase, I thank everyone who has reviewed and favorited this little ditty. Now onto the good stuff.

Tales of Olympus

Chapter ten: Broken

The sound of the howling wind filled my ears and I couldn't help but to flash a smile. There was something about the feeling of a strong breeze pushing up against my back that made me feel almost relieved — I would've been completely relived had it not been for the gargantuan black widow that was chasing after me.

Along with the mother of all spiders, there were multiple tarantulas on either side of me that looked like they had been deprived of meals for a few thousand years. Now when I say tarantulas don't think of those little arachnids that you can kill just by stepping on them. Oh no — these things were about the size of a large grizzly bear, but each time one of the beasts jumped out a shadow would slice it in half before it could do any real damage. My eyes shifted from the multiple enemies around me onto the dark figure that was running ahead of me.

"How much longer do we have?" I asked. We had been running for what felt like hours and it didn't seem like we were getting any closer to this secret place.

Gavin glanced over his shoulder at me and I could tell he was getting tired of my constant questions. "Won't be long now," was the only response I was able to get out of him.

A loud cackle echoed from behind me and I cringed when I recognized the voice. It was none other than my friend Perses the Titan. With the irritating cackling the sound of thunder boomed off somewhere in the distance, which made me believe that Zeke was chasing us as well. I returned my attention back to the path before me and I was greeted by three tarantulas — it seemed Gavin was moving too fast for his shadows to keep up with some of them.

Seeing as how I lost my staff (I wanted to give a special thank you to Perses for that) I had been forced to borrow a weapon from Gavin. The son of Erebus had given me a hunting knife that was made out of gold. I didn't know where he got the weapon from but after I sliced through the first tarantula I was convinced it would work just fine. One of the two remaining beast leapt towards me and was met by a stab right to its cluster of eyes; it turned into golden dust seconds afterwards.

"Seems like I'm actually pretty good with this thing. Maybe I'm not a complete failure."

There was a chuckle in the back of my brain that helped me know a certain voice was back. "Your patron is a goddess of the hunt. Don't you think using a hunting knife would come natural?"

I ignored the voice because I wasn't in the mood to admit that Aura was right. With another slash I was chasing after Gavin and trying to block out the thunderous footsteps that were coming from behind me. The idea of Arachne catching up with me didn't seem all that appealing. Once Gavin was back in my sights I felt a little calmer — I sped up so that I was only a few feet behind him. He tilted his head and smirked. "When I tell you to duck do it, alright?"

Something about his expression had me worried — what the hell was he planning to do? After about ten minutes of running I heard Gavin shout. "Hit the deck!" I slid to a halt and ducked down just as two arrows flew over my head. My head turned back and I was greeted by the sight of Arachne getting hit in the legs (her first two in case you're wondering). She screeched and quickly shifted back into her human state — the sight was actually sort of funny. A goddess that looked like an eight year old, sitting on the ground screaming because of arrows to the knees. "My children will feast on your corpses!"

Gavin stood up and brushed himself off. His eyes scanned the forest for a brief second and then I saw his face flatten. A few seconds after that Perses appeared beside Arachne with a grin — lightning struck the ground and suddenly Zeke was standing in front of the spider goddess. "Finally we caught the two you — Gavin it's been a while."

The son of Erebus flipped him off and pulled his sword out of his sheath. Zeke drew his blade and pointed it at us. "Do you really think that the likes of you can take the three of us?"

"What? You expect me to fight you?" Gavin asked with a snicker. "I'm not the brawn of this operation. That's his job."

Almost on cue a figure jumped out of the bushes and rushed towards Zeke. The son of Zeus wasn't prepared for the onslaught of punches that were being aimed at his face — he blocked the first two that came towards him but the third hit its mark and sent him flying back into a tree. In front of me stood a male that looked to be at least six foot one. His hair was one big mess of dark brown and he wore a grin on his face.

Gavin shook his head at the arrival of the new person. "You're late."

The male turned towards us. "You're one to talk! Had you met them in the forest like you were supposed to we wouldn't be in this mess."

"I would keep this argument going but I don't think your pea brain would be able to handle it," Gavin said before turning to me. "Devon, this is Brock Flay, son of Hercules and Lady Verita's second knight."

There was something about Brock that didn't seem right to me. When I heard the name Hercules I thought of this overly buff guy that could destroy mountains with his pinky finger. Brock didn't seem to have huge muscles or anything like that (not that I was checking him out). He looked like a regular guy that didn't comb his hair. Of course, Aura was there to clear up my confusion or rather make it worse. "You're getting your gods mixed up. Heracles was the muscular egotist. Hercules is nothing like his Greek counterpart."

The entire concept of the Roman and Greek gods was still cloudy to me — I was going to ask someone about this whenever I wasn't in mortal danger. Brock greeted me with a nod before turning back towards Perses and his group. "Natalya and Keith are waiting for you at the edge of the forest. The three of you will be heading to Ohio. Your other friends are being held captive there."

Gavin stepped up beside Brock. "We'll hold these fuckers off so get going."

Peres roared. "We won't let him get away again!" He summoned his blade and leapt forward towards us — I shouldn't really say us because when he jumped he aimed his sword at me. Gavin blocked the stab that was going towards my chest with his sword; he pushed forward and knocked the Titan backwards. Arachne was back on her feet and she looked pissed. She let out a demonic scream and shifted into her true form — Brock let out a snort before rushing forward towards the large spider. I would've honestly loved to stand there and watch was about to happen but I thought it was better that I ran.

I took off into the forest and glanced over my shoulder occasionally to make sure I wasn't being followed. Flashes of lightning moved all across the sky and before I knew it a thunderstorm was brewing. In the distance, I heard Arachne let out a blood curdling scream — it sounded like she was in some intense pain. With a content sigh I summoned a tailwind and moved forward.

It took me about five minutes to reach what appeared to be the edge of the forest. My eyes shifted constantly as I searched for any sign of my friends — I stopped searching when I laid eyes on a familiar figure running towards me. Gabe really didn't seem like himself as he charged at me from across the large clearing. His normal cocky grin was replaced by a completely blank expression. He raised his axe into the air above my head and brought it down with a grunt. I rolled out the way with a few seconds to spare and sent a blast of wind up right at his face. The son of Ares didn't budge — this was going to be a challenge.

"He's over here Keith!" I glanced up to find Natalya proceeding towards me. She made eye contact with Gabe and froze instantly. Natalya looked normal again; she had that amazing glow around her body and her leg was healed. The only problem with her now was the pained expression that was plastered on her face as she looked at Gabe. Slowly, she moved towards him. "Gabe is that you — can you hear me?"

Gabe didn't react to her words; instead he crouched down like he was getting ready to pounce. My fingers hovered over the hilt of my knife and I waited for Gabe to make a move. Natalya continued to move towards her ex-boyfriend — when she got within two feet of the son of Ares he slashed at her waist. Thankfully Natalya leapt backwards and avoided being cut in her half. Her facial expression hardened as she pulled a tube of lipstick out of her back pocket. "Looks like what Brock said was true — they're using you like a puppet."

She charged at her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, whatever), raised her sword, and slashed at him like it was the most natural thing in the world. Gabe parried Natalya's attack before moving in and going for another slice — this time Natalya was the one to block. The two seemed to dance around each other in the darkness of the forest. It would've been a magnificent sight to behold if you removed those pointy swords. When Gabe started to gain the advantage I decided it was time to make a move. I moved forward towards the son of Ares right when he raised his axe into the air and with a grunt, I stabbed my knife into the side of his torso. His axe fell and his body joined a few seconds afterwards. My eyes shifted onto Natalya who was looking at me like I was the worst person she had ever seen.

"I'm sorry—"

She cut me off. "Forget about it. If he continued like he was going I would've had to attack him eventually. Thanks."

I nodded my head and followed her out of the forest. Keith stood waiting for us — his face lit up when he saw me. His eyes quickly shifted to Natalya and I'm sure he could see the sadness in her eyes. "What happened?"

"Nothing at all," Natalya said before putting a smirk on her face. "Devon just saved me from a monster; guess there is a first time for everything."

"If I'm not mistaken this is the second that I've saved your ass."

Keith could see that a debate was brewing so he decided to cut in. "I think we should start moving. Ohio is a long way from here."

Both Natalya and I nodded. "How are we getting to Ohio?"

Natalya's smirk shifted into her regular devious grin. "Brock and Gavin are letting us borrow their usual means of transportation."

"Which is?"

She pointed her finger into the air and I looked up to see two giant… were those lions hovering above us? It clicked in my mind when the beast landed on the ground. "Are these things griffins?"

Keith nodded. "Lady Verita's symbol is the feather. She has a thing for griffins apparently."

I was about to nod, then I realized there were only two griffins. "Shouldn't there be three because there are three of us?"

The daughter of Aphrodite arched her eyebrow. "Verita has two knights. You'll be riding with me. I only have onerule: I don't want to feel anything poke me below the belt."

My face lit up like a light. Natalya winked at me and Keith laughed. After everything calmed down, we boarded the griffins and took off into the air. If you've never had the opportunity to ride on a griffin, I suggest you try. The feeling of flying through the air while the warm feathers tickle your skin is simply amazing — or it would've been if I wasn't on the verge of falling asleep. Apparently, passing out and actually sleeping is two different things. With a quiet sigh I rested my head against Natalya's back and ignored the comment I'm pretty sure she directed at me. Something about not letting my other head touch her. Have I mentioned that I really hateNatalya sometimes? After about five minutes, my eyes closed and I was being swallowed by a familiar darkness.

xOx

I opened my eyes to the familiar sound of screaming. With a groan I pulled myself out of the slumped sleeping position I was in and glanced around. In front of us was an army compiled of demigods on winged horses and beasts that I instantly recognized as harpies. At the front of the army was a teenage boy who was flying thanks to a pair of wings on his back. He wore a black toga and a crown on his head. His lips were curled into a wide smirk as he looked down at us. "It seems we have you outnumbered, demigods. Why don't you surrender now and we'll make your deaths painless?"

Natalya sneered. "Who, or rather what, are you?"

The male gasped. "I'm appalled daughter of Aphrodite. One would think you'd recognize Lord of the Sky."

There was an immediate tug in my stomach and I shouted. "You're not Zeus!"

"Aside from using the wind, is one of your powers being overly obvious?"

Keith pulled an arrow from his quiver before growling. His eyes were gleaming with a strange light and his face was curled into a scowl. It looked like he knew the boy in front of us — he raised his bow and fired the arrow towards the unknown male. The boy caught the arrow before it had a chance to do any real damage; he crushed it in his hand and laughed. "Not nearly as strong as the arrows your father uses."

"I figured you'd know that better than anyone, Icarus, seeing as how he shot you down when you tried flying towards Olympus."

For some reason the name Icarus clicked in my head — I had heard the name somewhere before but I couldn't remember where. I shifted my attention to Keith and asked. "Who is this guy?"

Keith loaded his bow again. "He's just a loser who tried to fly with the birds using a pair of wax wings. He got too close to my father's chariot and got burned. It was thought that he fell to his death."

Icarus chuckled. "I did indeed but my mistress saw it fit for me to make a return! In return for my services, she gave me real wings and promised that I would someday rule the skies!"

He raised his hand into the air and I could feel the wind start to pick up around him. A blue glow appeared within the palm of his hand before extending out into a sword. "Now my comrades, charge!"

The demigods and monsters raised their swords and rushed towards us in one large wave. Natalya had our griffin rush forward to meet the raging hoard; Keith on the other hand flew up into the air to take on Icarus. "Devon when we get close enough, try stealing one of their horses."

Stealing a horse? That sounded like it involved jumping off my safe spot on the griffin and attacking one of the demigods in mid air. With a load groan I fired two bursts of wind towards a few oncoming opponents and let our griffin devour the harpies that were trying to attack us. My chance to steal a Pegasus was coming up. I decided it would be best to try and make this thing go smoothly.

"I'm going," was all the warning I gave to Natalya before I leapt off the griffin and dived towards what I thought would be the weakest demigod to steal a horse from. Unlike her comrades, this girl was on the ground with a Pegasus — I wasn't exactly sure why but it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take it away from her. As I was freefalling I made sure to send out multiple blasts of wind towards anyone who was heading in my direction. Normally I would be worried about falling to my death but for some reason the air around me seemed to slow my decent and helped convince me that this wasn't as dangerous as I had originally planned. Once I got within range of the girl I summoned a cushion of wind and landed with a quiet thud. She turned towards me and charged with a loud yell. I cocked my hand back and sent a nice burst of wind in her direction. Her body slid backwards which allowed me a great chance to step over her body and hop onto the horse. "How exactly does thing work?"

The Pegasus snarled at me before spreading its wings and shooting off into the air. After the first five minutes of riding I got the distinct impression that this creature had something against me — it kept trying to roll in midair and toss me onto the ground. Most of the demigods around me didn't get a chance to attack on account of the crazy motions that the horse bird was taking me through. We finally managed to sync together and I was able to attack some of the people who were laughing at me earlier. Occasionally, I would glance upward at Keith, who was flying around firing arrows at Icarus — he didn't seem to be having much success and something told me he would need my help.

I rushed forward towards another demigod and tried firing a burst of wind at him only to find that someone the wind bent around his body. He smirked from under his helmet and raised his hand into the air — from the left of me I felt a wall of wind slam into my body. My Pegasus groaned in resistance to the wind and tried keeping us in the air. The demigod chuckled before moving his hand in a circle; I felt a barrage of wind hit me in every direction and the next thing I knew I was soaring through the air without my noble steed. My body came to a complete stop in the air and the demigod rose up on his horse right in front of me.

"Nice to see you're doing well Devon."

I automatically recognized the voice. "Nick? What the hell are you doing here?"

The son of Aelous removed his helmet before chuckling. "What does it look like? Following orders."

This wasn't making any sense — Nick was supposed to be with Adrianna and Leon locked up some where in Ohio. He grinned at my confused look before speaking. "Don't tell me you honestly believed I was helping you losers. The Prince of the Winds doesn't have any reason to wallow on the ground with worms like you."

He pulled out a medium-sized dagger before moving towards me. Normally I would've done the smart thing and moved out of the way — however, seeing as how there was this strange wind keeping me in place, moving wasn't an option. I glanced past Nick as he advanced and couldn't help but to smile. "You might want to move."

Nick arched his eyebrow before turning around. Right when he turned he was met with a hard elbow to the face courtesy of my favorite daughter of Aphrodite. The son of Aelous didn't have a chance as Natalya rammed into his Pegasus and sent both of them spiraling towards the ground. Natalya caught me on her griffin and returned me safely to my steed; once I was back in action we took off downwards to go give Nick a piece of our minds. When we reached the ground he was lying in the dirt and his Pegasus was no where to be found. I hopped off my horse, pulled out my hunting knife, and moved towards Nick. He groaned before attempting to stand up — when he did the hilt of Natalya's sword hit him right in the chest and forced him back down.

"Who are you working for Nick?" Natalya asked as she put her sword to his neck. His eyes shifted from her onto me and a grin appeared on his lips. "The sun and the moon of course."

"You expect us to believe that you're working for Artemis and Apollo?" I asked with an arched brow.

Nick snickered. "I said the sun and moon. Artemis and Apollo aren't shit compared to their predecessors."

"What do you mean predecessors? They're only gods that have ever ruled over their specific domains."

The voice in my head and Nick said the same thing at the exact same time
: "Bullshit."

Then, a fierce wind whipped up around his Nick's body — he raised his hand into the air and fired a miniature twister at Natalya. She cried out as her body flew across the field before landing with a hard thud a few feet away from us. Nick quickly shifted his attention from where Natalya once stood onto me; he shifted to his feet, cocked back his fist, and punched me right in my face. I stumbled backwards but that didn't stop Nick from coming forward and punching me in my gut — I grunted before falling back on my butt. He stood over me with a smug grin and pulled out his dagger again. "You shouldn't worry. I don't plan on killing you."

With a low groan I spat out a good amount of blood and glared up at him. "Then why exactly are you doing this?"

He shrugged his shoulders and spun his dagger. "Because they want you alive and, unlike Perses, I refuse to disobey their wishes."

My brow slowly started to twitch (which was a complete bummer because I thought I had finally ditched that bad habit). "Who in the hell are they!"

"I've already told you, the son and the moon." He raised the dagger and brought it down towards me. My stomach tugged and I managed to summon a wall of wind to stop his dagger from coming at me. His eyes gleamed with amusement before I brought my hand forward and sent him flying with a powerful burst of wind. I got to my feet and rushed forward towards my foe.

Nick met me with a growl somewhere in the middle of the field — next thing I knew we were clashing weapons and aiming attacks at each other's bodies like we'd been doing it for years. For some reason, fighting Nick was different than fighting Gabe or Ozzy — it seemed that I knew all of his moves and he knew mine. Every time I raised my hand to fire a blast of wind at him he was doing the same to me.

"This shouldn't be a surprise to you," the voice said. "You and Nick are children of wind gods. You each have the winds pushing you forward. That doesn't mean you can't win this fight — it involves using your powers in a more creative way."

What was more creative than summoning burst of winds and sending your opponents flying?

"Don't you remember what Chiron called your father?"

My brain clicked into overdrive and I found myself trying to remember what Chiron said to me. In the back of my mind, there was something about being the bringer of storms — I didn't see why that was all that important unless…

"You expect me to summon a storm?"

"Your father is the bringer of spring storms. Tornadoes are one of his personal favorites. He's the reason Texas isn't considered a vacation spot during the spring."

Nick's eyes locked onto mine and I could tell he saw the plan that was slowly starting to form in my brain. If I could summon a twister big enough it could take out most of the demigods here — the only problem with that was I wasn't in control of the one I'd summoned last time. To say that I was nervous about summoning another would've been the understatement of the century.

With a sigh, I let my body shift into autopilot and let the demigod side of my brain take over. Everything after that was a complete blur — one minute I'm ducking under one of Nick's punches and the next minute I'm back on my Pegasus shooting up towards the sky. When I got high enough up I raised both my hand into the air and had my stallion fly in slow circles.

"What the Hades are you doing?" Natalya screamed up at me.

"I've got a stupid plan in my head — I need you and Keith to keep these guys away from me for a while."

She nodded her head before slashing an enemy demigod in the chest. I shifted my attention to Keith who was doing battle with Icarus; he would fire arrows at the young boy and then move in to slash with a small dagger. Icarus seemed to be having a hard time keeping up because his wings had pieces missing and his toga had multiple rips. The sound of thunder echoed in my ears and I glanced up at the sky to see a large spiraling cloud moving down towards the ground. I could feel the wind picking up and apparently so could some of the opposing demigods — the sight must have been awe-inspiring. My body was slowly starting to weaken and I had to concentrate on keeping the twister moving down towards the ground. When I got the lower part of the funnel cloud on the ground I met some frustrating opposition.

"So this is what you were planning!" I glanced down at the ground and saw that Nick was the reason my twister wouldn't strike down. He was pouring everything he had to holding the twister up and forcing it back into the air. There was no way in hell (or Hades if you prefer) that I could keep this up for much longer — Nick was more experienced than I was at using his powers.

"Don't tell me you're giving up so soon."

I could feel a strange power flow through me and suddenly I was matching Nick. My teeth gritted and with a loud growl (it was more of whimper but growl sounds tougher) I was able to push the twister onto the ground. It made contact and every demigod in the area looked up in the air with fear. My creation sucked everything within range into its center — pulling and ripping apart anything that got within a few feet of its destructive path. With a content sigh I leaned forward on my stallion and heard it neigh with compassion.

Natalya flew up beside me. "Since when can you do that?"

My shoulders shrugged and I saw Icarus getting sucked down into the tornado.

Keith flew down to us and smirked at me. "Seems like someone has been eating their red meat. Now, if you don't mind, I plan to burn this thing down." He pulled a light green arrow out his quiver and aimed it down at the tornado. Keith let the arrow fly into the twister and told us it would be best if we moved on.

After about ten minutes of flying we all looked back to see the twister fade and a large explosion of green take its place. Natalya glanced over at Keith. "Greek fire arrows I assume?"

The son of Apollo nodded. "Birthday gift from my dad, 'bout time I put them to use. There won't be a demigod left when those flames die down."

I yawned and sat up before glancing in the opposite direction of the green flames. A dark sky loomed in the horizon with thunder and lightning crackling in almost every direction. It was clear to me that this is where our journey truly began — normally I would've high tailed it back to the mental asylum and hid under the covers at any sign of opposition. For some reason, I didn't have the urge to do that this time around, I mean I just summoned a twister for Christ's sake (or… Would it be Zeus's sake?)

"Can you guys do me a favor?"

Natalya and Keith glanced at me. "What is it?"

"Don't let me get kidnapped again. Whenever we get separated I always come back to some big battle that normally ends in me almost dying."

"You're the perfect diversion, wind boy." Natalya said with a snicker.

I snorted before laying my head back down and closing my eyes — I wasn't going to sleep; just resting my eyes (or at least that's what I told Natalya and Keith). Before I knew it, we were heading off to Ohio to recover the rest of our group but, for some reason, there was this strange feeling in the back of my brain. Something wasn't right and it had been that way for a while. I'm not sure what it was but, seeing as how I'm a demigod, I was sure it would eventually manifest itself in some psychotic way.

That's how life goes for a demigod I guess…