DISCLAIMER: Rick Riordan owns PJatO and HoO, not us. That is likely to never change. But, I guess, technically not impossible.
REVIEW RESPONSES:
DiamondPheonix12 - Nyx: Thanks. I hadn't really noted that; it was a neat thing to point out. You've got a good eye. Nic: OF COURSE you like our writing! MWAHAHA! Nyx: I'll ask this 'cause I'm curious and I haven't seen you on here before; did you read Rebels first, or is this your first fanfic by us? And I love your word choice, btw. Nice.
oOo
"Storm?" Brook guessed as we stepped into the living room, shaking the last of the snow from our jeans. Nico hesitated at every new doorway. I grabbed a hold of his sleeve, guiding him, inviting him into each room.
"Yeah. Wind's horrible," I answered. Sylvester, who had been helping himself to a chicken desert from our dinner on the counter, yowled and raced for cover.
Nico glanced at the stove's clock through the massive living room entryway – not a door but really just a big gap in the wall. "We got time to kill. Anything interesting that won't tear the house down?"
Aside from lying about sword-memories as we had just done outside? "Um… Control exercises? With the shadows? Maybe if you have those down, we could try the blood temperature thing."
"Or we could just sit down and watch the news," Granny suggested from the couch. I glanced around – Grandpa was nowhere to be seen, and Hunter must've been upstairs. As she'd been since our latest little spat.
We hadn't fought at all since coming here. Now, I was beginning to worry I'd shattered our peace.
Nico opened his mouth to say something, but outside, a loud clap of thunder went off. It was so loud and so close, the house shuddered. We all yelped and ducked down instinctively.
As the rumble of it faded, my eyes met his. "Quite the snowstorm," he muttered.
"The news it is," Granny decided for us, and turned up the television. "It must've come in faster than they expected."
"When did they expect it, then?" Nico muttered.
"I don't know, but not so fast," Granny said. Footsteps on the top of the stairs announced Hunter. But, adding to my anxiety, that was where she stayed. Probably only listening in hopes of another snow day.
I waved my brother forward and found a seat on the carpet next to Brook. Nico, of course, followed my lead. We turned our attention to the television screen. Or, I did - he was busy making the couch's shadow stretch and twist.
The news reporter on screen stood before the river, proudly waving downsream - to the north, and at the lake - and talking about an abandoned building near there where some drug gang had been busted. A dazzling white smile, as fake as every other color on her face and light hair, glared at us for not paying full attention. The river seemed annoyed with her, annoyed with us all, angry at being confined by the city, dark grey waves churning as it rushed on, boldly indifferent. Behind it, West Side was full of old buildings dripping with age. Dull colors and boring shapes, repeated, all stained with grey. It would be kind of inviting, an old town, if it weren't so poisoned-looking.
At my side, Brook stiffened. I glanced at her. Nico paused in his playful game with the shadows.
"What?" Granny asked us.
"Her hair," Brook said, shocked. "Look at her hair."
I frowned. Dull grey-brown at the, died blonde milimeters after and done up with streaks and highlights. "Um..."
"It's not moving," Brook choked.
All five of us glanced at the window, which rattled and banged in the wind outside. Not a glimmer of the cloud-shrouded sunlight filtered through the blinds.
Nico got to his feet and moved to the window, ignoring Granny's nervous warning to stay away. He glanced up at the sky and shook his head. "It's pitch black up there."
"Weird. Can you see our house on the screen?" Hunter asked.
"No, it's the northern half of West Side. Wait, no, now they're showing East Side. Some stupid factory building," Brook answered. "It doesn't look black there. Light grey, actually."
Nico made a odd sound and settled himself on the arm of the couch, content to keep watch out the window. As the story on the news was wrapped up, the sprinkle of rain began above our heads.
The weatherman appeared, an equally forced smile plastered on his wrinkled face. Laugh lines, the crinkles next to his eyes, were engraved too deeply, as if they had been carved rather than worn in. But there was a light in his eyes that wasn't quite so hostile or fake. He motioned to the map proudly, at the Oswego River, at the towns nearby. Temperatures popped up across the map.
The patter of rain grew louder, faster. Hunter frowned at the ceiling.
At last, the map changed to a full-blown weather map, complete with neon clouds swirling across the land and Ontario. The man brought his hand reassuringly across the impressive gathering of pink snow clouds, a great cotton ball, gathered above the lake, moving southeast and promising it'd hit land - and Oswego - in about...
"Three hours," Granny breathed.
"Then why now?" Brook asked. Next to her, Moon barked and flattened her ears to her furry silver head.
Before anyone could answer, thunder punched through the air again, a loud clap that felt like a sack of apples landing on my chest. Blinding white light shot in from the windows, overpowering the television and lightbulbs, searing everything with its harsh glare. Then it was gone, leaving nothing but dancing, fuzzy colors in my vision and the hungry, rumbling aftershock.
Nico, who had leapt off the couch in shock, growled back and muttered something about playing with fire.
The lights had gone out, even the television, plunging the house into darkness. Save the soft glow of Anonymous. Hunter, illuminated by the Celestial bronze in its blades, held her finger to her lips and began to creep down the stairs.
Halfway down, lightning flashed again. The cackle of thunder echoed ominously above the angry, furious pounding of the rain.
Immediately, Brook's bow leapt to life. Glass shattered as an arrow flew through the window. Nico and I scrambled back, cursing. The wind from outside burst into the room, whipping up pappers and hair, tossing the rain against us. Great big drops plopped against us, the floor, the couch. Sylvester screamed from somewhere.
Intuneric and Mνήμη were drawn. The tinkling pitter-patter of glass aganist them went off as Brook said, tersely, "I saw a hand."
Hunter frowned. "A hand?"
Brook nodded. "A human hand, on the window."
The wind picked up again, shrieking. The house groaned and creaked beneath it.
"We have to get out!" Nico yelled above its howls. "They're trying to wreck the house!"
"Who? Zeus?" Hunter muttered, leaping over the stairs' railing and onto the carpet. The scythe lit up the fallen glass shards with brilliant gold.
Nico shook his head. "No. He wouldn't provoke Hades that way, through destroying his charges or the son who just got his name cleared. This is something else!"
No sooner had he spoke, lightning flashed again. Thunder rang out so loud, I swear I had gone deaf. I squeezed my eyes shut and cowered, feeling the old house shudder, trying to hide from the lightning's deathly glow.
Slowly, I blinked, waiting as vision and sound blurred back into the world. The massive dark shape of the window stood out against the pastel fuzzes; I stared, blinking...
As I watched, something flew by. A boy, I thought, no older than I. When light struck him, he had skin, a red shirt, playful green eyes and a mop of brown hair.
But as he ducked away, I saw different.
The shadows let the illusion fall away. I saw clouds, angry clouds, a furious swirling mass of smoke, crafting his face and each curve on his shoulders, his arms, down to the fingers. White teeth gleamed like polished tombstones, sparks of electricity flashing between them. Lightning eyes spoke of insanity and the pleasure at each sound the house made, at each second I stared, at each sound Moon made, at the howls of the wind...
...And he faded into the black storm on giant wings, crafted of swirling storm clouds. They beat twice and he vanished entirely.
In response, the house shook again, groaning.
Hunter's order rang out; she must've seen him, too. "OUT! GET OUT!"
I leapt to my feet and followed her, knowing I could trace that voice through a hurricane if I had to. Brook was on my heels, and Moon darting ahead. We bolted for the door as fast as we could. I could feel the connection between us there - the preparation for a fight. Our strategy rang clear; get out there, stand together, make a great big force with one another, keep them off the house, press on until the enemy backs up...
...But we were already separated. Nico had, instead of moving for the door with us to make that tight force we needed, bounded out the window. I heard him yell from out of sight. The rumble of hungry thunder rang out again.
The door banged open, and we plunged into the storm.
The first thing I noticed was the rain. I could see it just fine in the lack of light. It slammed down with anger, fury, with bloody lust; it exploded on the snow and the house, gathered in menacing puddles, trying desperately to drown the earth. It made the gutters tremble and bang. It had already filled the trashcan. It pounded on me just as heavily. Little sledgehammers, snickering with every hit.
The wind was next. It pulled at me like an underwater current, stronger than it'd been inside, ripping at my sword and jacket.
I squinted through the rain and followed my sisters across the snow. We made for the neighbor's fence. Here, we grouped, gathered ourselves; here, we would make our stand.
Intuneric hummed in my hands, reacting to the shadows gathering at its blade. I felt them curl and twist, pulled them tigher, tension building like a drawn slingshot -
-And I flung them out, let them fly into the black clouds above and slam silently into the storm. Beside me, a golden whip of sparks disappeared into the rain. Silver wolves growled as they emerged from hiding places and gathered at our feet.
Somewhere, there was a horrifying shriek, the rumble of thunder stretched too far, too high-pitched, too pained to be thunder. Nico's triumphant laugh followed it.
Immediately, emerging from the clouds, five more smoky angels shot down at us.
We dashed in separate directions. Separated by mere yards, dividing our opponents. Two of them fell on me with bright flashes in their fingers.
I yelled and rollled aside, pulling Stygian iron from the ground to slam into one and leaping up to stab the other. Lightning crashed into the snow where I'd just stood. The swirl of clouds just grinned at me and backed up on its wings, completely unharmed. Its buddy - also somehow still alive - shot at me from the side.
I cursed and dove into the shadows, daring them to move this fast.
Orange flickers marked Hunter and Brook. Shrouded by the house, a third gave away Nico. But above us...
...We were huddled beneath a mass of seething red flames. In other words, lots and lots of demons.
The shadows moved with me as I slid to one side, building around me. I pulled them from the house, from the fence, from the air - it was so dark beneath the clouds. I fired at the red flames before me and, thank the gods, they sputtered and went out. Dark shadows flooded their vacated places.
Then white.
It lit the world on fire. It dominated air and surface and danced in thousands of reflections off the snow. It burned, total agony, blazing through everything. Even me. I screeched and hid in the small, pitiful shadow gathered behind Brook. The moment in which the lightning struck was dragged out to me; it lasted for a whole minute, searing everything, scattering the shadows like birds before a gunshot.
Then the world darkened again. Shadows shot back into place like they'd never been moved, sudden and strong in the absence of lightning, nearly suffocating. I was lost in their rush of regained power.
Then I grit my teeth, glared at the firey red blaze above me, and fired it all upwards.
The rush was more than it'd been when the lightning died. They ran through me, through Intuneric, and shot into the sky full of the glory that comes with superiority. My superiority. I had them now. The shadows had them now.
And I had a lot of shadows.
It felt like channeling a river. My own thoughts bounced and reflected off it like light on water. It rushed by so fast, so strong, wearing at my edges. Above, the red glow began to fade. Slowly, I began to hold back, fold in on myself, cut off the flow...
Yet the red was still there. I began to fire, aiming specifically. Shadows continued to stream through.
Eventually, though, I had to kill it. I cut them off and dropped back into my rightful realm, knowing I couldn't push it. Even if I didn't drop just yet; where would I be if this was just the first wave, and I was out of gas?
Panting, I found my place beside Hunter and Brook again. Above us were the growls of angry monsters. Despite the faded clouds, the light filtering down to us, the easing up of rain, they were still there.
Nico appeared from around the house, glaring up at them.
Hunter swung her scythe around, a signal, and charged.
Brook and I split up, running in opposite directions around her. A big loop. The wolves, utterly confused, glanced at us all before following on unsteady paws, half after Brook, some after Hunter, and one totally lost and staring at us blankly.
The thunder growled, lighting struck the fence, and the beat of wings announced their approach.
I dimly noticed that it was good they were no longer assaulting our house.
Fighting with demons is not dancing. Far from it. Life's lies, once again, disappearing. Or, really, this time just my assumptions. I'd thought it'd be similar to training, or the midst of a battle. It's not.
This furious wind spirit came at me in the form of a stormy horse, galloping through the air. It left a trail of miniature storms in its wake. Lightning crackled in its mane.
As it thundered by I lunged to one side and lashed out with my sword. It passed harmlessly through the smoky figure. The horse, in response, shrieked and whirled to come at me again.
I growled and leapt into the air, throwing my weight forward, and slicing at it from above as it passed.
I don't recall landing.
White went off again, a blinding flash, sounding as if my eardrums had exploded. My arm went completely numb and fuzzy. Not in a good way. It stung like all heck. Intuneric vanished from my grip and the next thing I knew I was in the snow, gasping, chest aching from lack of breath.
Somewhere, I felt the pounding of hooves through the snow, and knew I had to move.
My arm twitched but moved, shuffling nervously in the snow. I experimentally flexed my fingers and pushed myself up. Ah, it stung and hurt bad, but it was alright. I had enough control to grab my sword.
Wherever it had landed.
There. Smoking in the snow. Smoldering. The frost around it had turned to ice.
I glanced at it, then up at the charging horse. I had two seconds.
With a feral yowl I lunged, rolling on top of the ice, and grabbed Intuneric with my left hand. It trembled and shook like a furious hive of bees.
I screeched and flung it at the horse as it rushed past. It went through the neck, completely useless.
The horse nickered at me as it turned, lightning eyes glinting mischeviously.
Before it could take another step, something silver slammed into it with such force they crashed into the snow. Before my eyes, it disappated into smoke, and didn't form again.
Moon nodded at me and moved on, leaping into the air to catch the next one.
Go freaking figure.
I whirled around for Hunter's next order, but she was locked in a fight. Anonymous, like my own sword, just couldn't make a cut. More and more stormy, angel-like figures swooped around and fired like a flock of angry birds. The only reason they hadn't killed us with lightnign was her time powers, slowing each strike down. Brook was zig-zagging around the parking lot as she fired her bow, getting new angles and new shots, new positions. But her arrows passed straight through them most of the time. The wolves were nearly useless, running around in a panic, snapping at every moving thing. Including us. Nico was fighting his own battle; he moved in disregard of it all, baiting his own targets, moving in his own way. He wasn't making much progress, either. But he moved fast; watching that, I knew he'd been holding back in our training sessions.
I scowled and, knowing I was the only one who could reign him in, ran for the three monsters on his tail. But as familiar as he was becoming to me, I couldn't follow so easily. He danced and moved as if he weren't really there, nor his weapons. And he cut across the parking lot in such a strange pattern. I found myself failing, and the distance between us grew.
My opening came two seconds later. He turned to slash at the storm spirit behind him and, as strange to Brook as she was to him, crashed right into the smaller girl. They both disappeared into the snow. The monsters, eager now, dove after them.
With them out of the crosshairs, I had a clean shot, and shot the shadows at their assailants as fast as I could. Which is fast. The spirits burst into showers of rain and golden dust.
I frowned. There had to be a pattern to what killed them...
Nico and Brook leapt to their feet, only to continue on their complicated paths.
I gave up chasing him and ran to back Hunter up. She was much more familiar; and, at last, I found the dance that had faded from my life. The unity. Our steps fell into time, a beat whose source echoed painfully in our minds, and found what we had lost over that long year. It'd come back to us last the day Ethan died. The day we faced Kronos.
Despite our fight earlier, this wasn't broken. Not even nicked. Nothing could touch this.
We fought back-to-back, covering one another, shooting down what we could. Scythe and sword moved in time. We tucked and twisted around one another. We always knew where the other was; how they were moving; where they needed us. Easy as breathing. For a moment, I forgot Nico, felt just the faintest traces of Brook, and the wolves completely vanished.
Just us and the demons. I could live with that.
But we were broken by a wolf. It charged past us, barreling after another storm person.
I tripped on it as it ran beneath me and fell into the snow, rolling with the impact away from Hunter, then getting to my feet. There were less demons now, but it was total chaos; if we couldn't pull together, we were going to be killed.
First was the wolves.
Brook was yelling to them, but they didn't know English that well, and they weren't listening to my cries either. Nor Hunter's. Wild dogs, running about, snapping at the wings of spirits.
Moon howled, leaping in front of me, snarling at a spirit. Saliva dripped from her curled lips and long fangs. Yellow eyes glittered with such hate, I took a step back.
She howled and lunged, missing, but turning around and racing back to Brook.
Next to me, Hunter cursed as lightning splashed across the snow at her feet.
I sighed and ran to help again, passing Nico as I went. He was still in his own world.
As we fought, another howl from Moon split the night. The wolf that'd run into us - the big dark male, Night - stopped and lifted his head, ears errect.
I moved around him and leapt at the storm spirit from behind. Intuneric disappeared into smoky wings. To my surprise, the demon howled and whirled on me. Before it could, Anonymous cut through its middle, and it burst into shadowy ash.
Another wolf's cry rang out. Moon again. The wolves began to turn, looking at her, running when she barked.
Nico leapt into view, shooting at his own opponents again. At last he caught one from the side and it disappeared. The last one on him yelled and charged, and he was running once more.
From the side. Behind. Through wicked-fast shadows.
In order to land a blow, it had to be taken by surprise.
Moon was howling another command when Nico crashed into her. I fired at the demon on his heels and, sure enough, it disappeared.
To my right, Brook yelled. A monster had figured out her running pattern.
As I ran to help her, Nico and Moon got to their feet and paws (respectively) and while teh former ran off, the latter howled again. The last of the wolves fell into place behind her.
At last I found myself at Nico's side. He glanced at me in bewilderment but recognized my signal; he fell in on my heels as we raced back for Hunter.
Only three more demons remained. We could do this.
Two dove for Hunter. The third tried, but found itself busy with six angry wolves.
Mνήμη sliced three times through the first storm spirit and failed to cut. Hunter and I worked around Nico carefully, looking for our best opening. My legs were starting to burn.
Before we could finish it off, a silver arrow sprang into existence between its lightning eyes, and it vanished. We whirled on the next to see it overrun by a coordinated, organized ambush of wolves. The pack's previous opponent was gone.
Moon leapt from behind and clamped her jaws on its wrist. It screeched and pulled, but she'd locked on tight. A second wolf grabbed its ankle. Desperately, the wings flapped, trying to rise into the air. Night angrily grabbed them and wrenched them sharply to the side, rendering them useless.
A light silver wolf stalked around from the side, jaws open for the kill
"Wait!" Hunter barked, and the wolf turned to look at her. She ran forward in a blur of time magic and held Anonymous's blade beneath the demon's chin, golden eyes blazing.
"If," she spat, "you are capable of speech, explain who sent you and why. Maybe then I'll remember how to speak wolf and tell them to let you go. But I can't. I haven't been enticed to remember lately."
The demon growled, a sound like boiling thunder. Nico, who knew the game well, nicked its shoulder from behind. The storm spirit screeched again.
Hunter glared at it. Her narrowed eyes began to glow.
It hissed angrily at her. "Do it, coward!" Its voice was whispy but loud, naught but torn wind through trees. "You've been warned; we haven't killed you today, but something else will. I promise. She has told you already." A horrible, guteral laugh bubbled in its chest.
At some unseen signal from Hunter, Brook's bow fired one last time. The spiteful storm spirit disappeared in a brilliant, bright display of golden dust and rain, which both glittered in the light from the cold, revived sun above.
oOo
Nyx: Heeeey guys I'm gonna try to make this quick. First off; vacation was great. Second; something came up, and I will not have my computer for the next month. However, I will have this one. But it does not like the accent on the I in Intuneric. Third; poll results.
1 Nico will sacrifice himself getting the remaining Seven (Five) demigods to the House of Hades/Closing the Doors of Death ("An oath to keep with a final breath"). 2 » 11%
2 There will be scenes told by Percy/Annabeth from within Tartarus. 2 » 11%
3 Percy and Annabeth will be saved. 2 » 11%
4 Thanatos will whack people with his iPad out of sheer annoyance. 2 » 11%
5 Nobody will die closing the Doors but someone will be trapped in Tartarus and must find a new way out. 2 » 11%
6 Octavian will be slapped. 2 » 11%
7 Prophyrion will make a reappearance. 1 » 5%
8 Jason and Nico will clash/argue/fight. 1 » 5%
9 There will be Nico's POV. 1 » 5%
10 Frank or Hazel's borrowed time will run out. 1 » 5%
11 Camp Half-Blood WILL be attacked/partially destroyed/wholly destroyed by Camp Jupiter. 1 » 5%
12 Greeks and Romans will come into such strong conflict somebody dies for it. 1 » 5%
13 Annabeth will get killed using the statue to seal the Doors. ("Oath to keep with a final breath"/Percy's foretold heartbreak) 0 » 0%
0 » 0% 14 Reyna will die.
0 » 0% 15 Hylla will die.
0 » 0% 16 Clarisse will die.
0 » 0% 17 Hazel will close the doors (and die/live/be trapped/etc.).
0 » 0% 18 Frank and Leo will be an epic hero fighting team and do awesome things.
0 » 0% 19 Nico will get mad at Frank for making a move on Hazel.
0 » 0% 20 The world will "fall to storm or fire."
0 » 0% 21 Greece will be destroyed.
Nic: Very interesting.
Nyx: Thanks to our one reviewer and those who voted. The next poll will be up momentarily. As far as the chapter goes, it's not my best. *nor does this computer's program have autocorrect on typos* But there's some interesting things in there. The next chapter's more interesting.
Nic: Yay!
Nyx: With that said, please review. Tell us what you think. There's a lot going on in this scene, but it's important, and I think worthy of discussion. Please click that little button down there. Leave a comment. Harass me on my rushed chapter. Really, I read everything, and I want to hear what you have to say.
Nic: Me, too! ...Hey...
Nyx: ?
Nic: Its breakfast time.
Nyx: Ah. Pancakes?
Nic: Sounds fine.