Hello Peoples
First things first, I'm really sorry for not updating. I had big exams and shit and it just all piled up and I'm sorry. I guess I just overestimated my time management skills. But anyways, I'm here now and you now have another chapter! It would really mean a lot to me if you could leave a review and tell me what you think. Apologies for any mistakes.
xxx
Previously on My Life At Camp Half Blood:
"Ava, the connection is fading. I don't have much time. Remember, you must fight this, and come out alive!" Her face faded, without the usual bright flash of light. I reached out, my hand running through her transparent arm. "Wait! Don't leave me! What do I have to fight?"
But she was already gone, and I was left alone once more, the darkness more intimidating than ever.
Morning came too early for my liking. Sunlight streamed in the open window, blinding me before I even opened my eyes. I groan and pull the blanket over my head, desperate to block out the intruder to my sleep. Katie, however, is having none of that.
"Rise and shine, sleepy head! We've got a big day ahead of us!" she pulls the covers from my grip, leaving me shivering and moaning. "Go away Katie!" I try to cover my eyes but she pulls me up to a sitting position. "Come on Ava! You promised to teach us how to fight today!" her voices reminds of a six year old. I rub my eyes blearily. The room seemed unfamiliar, dangerous even. Something seems off, and I got that horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen very soon. A sense of foreboding.
We go downstairs to find five anxious faces looking back at me. Katie's face falls, and that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach doubles. "What's up?" I fiddle with the hem of my chiton to calm myself. "An invasion is on the way," Annabeth looks down at the table, pain showing in her grey eyes, "Travis came here early. We're leaving Athens now as soon as the horses are ready."
A million thoughts ran through my mind. "Invasion?" I asked in disbelief, as Katie sinks into one of the chairs. "Yep," Clarisse sighed, as if wishing to join in. "And you're all running away?" Nyssa glares at me. "What choice do we have?" Anger pulses through my veins. "Stay and fight!" Annabeth stands up, running a hand through her curly hair. "We can't. You may have been trained but we haven't. Besides, it's not our place."
"Who cares whether it's your place! Who cares what anyone thinks. Stereotypes are made to be defied, just like rules are made to be broken. Who cares about the constraints of society! Be your own person, not what they want! Think of who you are! You're the daughters of gods, for Athena's sake. We've just as much right to be on that battlefield as any of them!"
Clarisse stands up beside me. "Yeah! Who are they to say I can't fight. I'm twice the fighter they are!" Annabeth stands up. "Sit down Clarisse. You're not trained. It's a death wish to go untrained into war!" Clarisse doesn't sit down though. "Well then I want to be trained. I want to fight in the next war! I will fight in the next war and no punks gonna stop me!" I smile at her. This is the Clarisse I know and love. "Go to Chiron. He'll train you!" Annabeth looks at me in surprise. "The Chiron?" "Yep. The Chiron who trained Perseus and Hercules and Aeneas." She looks thoughtful. "He trained you?" "Yes, and he'll train all of you too! Just tell him Ava sent you."
A servant appears at the door. "The horses are ready, Miss Annabeth." She turns to us. "Change of plan girls. We're going to Chiron!"
Servants pack baskets of food and clothes for them and they mount the horses. I give Annabeth a celestial bronze dagger. "Take care of yourself." She looks at me in confusion. "You're not coming?" I shake my head. "Nah, Athena knows those lot will get themselves killed if I don't help." She laughs. "Well, take care of yourself, sis." I smile. "You too, sis." I turn to find a servant holding a brown mare by the reins. "Your horse, Miss Ava." "Thank you! Now, you better get out of the way before they get here." The boy nods and runs away quick as lightning. I feel my chiton morph once more into armour and sling my bow over shoulder. I manage to mount the horse, patting it gently to calm both of us. I ignore Clarisse's complaints of "How come she gets to go to war?" and kick my heels in and we gallop away towards the distant sounds of swords.
The sound grows as I make my way further into the city. Many are trying to flee, carrying their possessions in bundles. I urge the horse through the crowds, straining my neck to try and see where the fighting is. There seems to be a traffic jam further ahead. I spot an overturned chariot and who's standing beside it only the obnoxious politician who challenged me in the market. I roll my eyes at him and try to get around him.
"Hey! You there! Soldier! Come help me with my chariot!" I turn to see him staring angrily at me. His anger turns to shock when he recognises me. I raise an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?" He splutters in surprise. "You're that girl from the market! What? How? Hey, come back!" I smile sweetly at him. "I'm sorry. I'm too lowly to help you. It's not my place."
The look on his face is priceless. I turn and continue my way through the thronged streets. The sound of metal clanging against metal grows, and shrill war cries follow. Eventually, I make my way into the market square to be met with a sore sight.
The stalls have been completely destroyed. The sounds that fill my ears are deafening. A cacophony of screams yells and shouts. Swords clang, shields smash and the air is filled with the snap of released bows and the whoosh of flying arrows. Our soldiers are locked in combat, slashing and stabbing relentlessly. The blood that dyes the ground isn't red though, and these are no ordinary enemies. And this is no ordinary war.
The opposition is made up of what seem to be faceless bodies. From far away they seem like ordinary soldiers. But close up, they're nothing but dummies. Dummies with a mind.
My stomach drops as I realise what they are. The dummies mother trained us with back at Camp Half Blood. The dummies with a weak spot. The ones that learn the more you fight them. The practically invincible.
I dismount, and the horse runs away in panic. My eyes search the battle field. I catch sight of a familiar blonde head and race towards it. I draw my sword, and slice of the dummies head before it can deliver a death blow to Will. He stares at me in shock as the dummy collapse in a heap of silver liquid. "Ava? What are you doing here?" I grab his hand, pulling him up. "Well, would you prefer if I wasn't here and you dead?" That shuts him up. "We need to find the others!"
I spot Conner battling two dummies at once, leaving Will to deal with the reforming dummy. I draw an arrow, shooting it so it hits the dummy in the neck. I run to Conner, drawing another arrow to shoot again. I get it in the shoulder blade, and it crumbles to dust. Conner slashes at his dummy. "How did you do that?" he shouts over the loud din. "I've fought these before. They have one weak spot. They're immortal otherwise!" I jump on another one, stabbing furiously, trying to find its Achilles' heel. Eventually it crumbles, leaving me gasping for breath. Another one comes up, this time with a spear, just as Conner's one crumbles. "Tell the others about them!" I yell as my sword connects with its spear, and we struggle to overpower each other. I twist my sword and the spear slices in half, but the dummy catches it, using it as a dagger to stab my arm. I cry out in pain, and kick it off me.
Clutching my arm, I unsling my bow again, notching an arrow, and let it fly into the dummies armpit. It crumbles, and I run to Conner, where he's with Travis, Percy and Leo, fighting a hoard of the dummies.
"It's no use!" Percy shouts as he slices Riptide through the air. I shoot my last arrow into another dummy, and it staggers back, giving me a chance to draw my sword, slashing a gash through its chest for a fountain of silver liquid to erupt from it. Malcolm stabs it in the back and it crumbles to dust.
"What's with them?" he asks me as we circle back to back as more dummies surround us, "They seem to learn from our mistakes!" I clutch my arm, trying to stop the blood flow. Malcolm notices this, unfortunately. "Ava, you need to get of here! It's not safe!" I shake my head angrily at him. "No! We're in this together, until the end!" and with that, the dummies pounce.
Summoning my shield, I push as many of them off me as possible. More and more seem to appear. A never ending supply of soldiers. Never dying soldiers.
They fight back harder now. I get a gash on my cheek, and I find myself being slammed to the ground by a shield. I thank the gods for my ADHD as, just in the nick of time, I notice the taller dummy arc his sword for the death blow, and roll out of the way.
Conner helps me to my feet, and we leap once more into action. We move in sync, working in harmony to take down more and more of the soldiers. I find myself becoming exhausted. The more enemies we destroy, the more arrive. It's as if we're battling a hydra.
"We have to take down the leader. Stop the source!" I shout to Conner and he nods, stabbing the last dummy and we run up behind a broken stall.
"What's the plan?" he asks, as soon as crouch down. I struggle to catch my breath. I'm usually never this exhausted from fighting. I lean back against the stall, chest pounding. Conner looks at me, worriedly. "Ava, what's wrong. Are you okay? Ava!" I gasp, pain searing through my head. "I…I'm fine," I manage to croak out. "We need to take down the…," I struggle to breath. It feels like an elephant is Irish dancing on my chest. "Down the source of the soldiers." Conner's eyes search my face. "Ava, tell me what's wrong?" I cough hoarsely. "Nothing, I swear! Just get to a rooftop, find the source and report back to me!" I manage to glare weakly at him and he nods, racing off as fast as the wind.
I wince in pain. Tearing a strip of fabric from my tunic, I try to clear my mind. Wrapping it gingerly around my arm, I try to concentrate on breathing. 'Come on Ava, you can do this! Just keep fighting!' I find it hard to believe myself though.
Conner returns back moments later, a grim look on his face. "There seems to be some portal or something." My mind spins. Could it be a portal to my world? To home? I gingerly stand, but instantly regret, spots clouding my vision. "Ava?" Conner's voice cracks slightly as I half fall into his arms. "I need to see this portal," my voice is weary, tired. Just like me.
He nods, and we run across the raging battlefield, right into danger.
I sway dizzily as we push through, Conner slashing his way through. My mind spins, and my breath comes in quick rasps. Before I know it, we're before a purple haze. Every few seconds a dummy appears which Conner quickly beheads. I look closely as he battles the quickly reforming dummy. Through the purple haze I see Camp Half Blood. The cabins, the lake, the Big House. It seems so close, waiting tangibly in front of me. Just within my grasp.
I shake my head. It's a trap. It has to be. I glance back at the fighting. My friends. My family. One wrong move and they're all dead. I look back at the portal as another of our men fall with a blood curdling scream. I can't let them die. I'd rather I did than them.
"Leo!" I scream, and he runs over. "What? What's wrong?" "Blow up the portal." "How?" I sigh in frustration. "I don't know. Use an Archimedes sphere or fire or something! Just blow it up!" He nods and I turn my back form my last ticket home.
The explosion Leo causes must be a spectacular one, judging by the noise. I don't look back though. Why hurt myself anymore.
The second I hear the explosion however, I feel nothing but pain. Shear pain, coursing through every inch of my body. Fear and panic spread through me like wildfire, burning up every inch of me. I fall to the ground, crying out. I clutch my head, urging it to stop, as if I could control it. But this was the one thing I couldn't control. It was as if I blew up a bit of me with that portal. I feel myself becoming surrounded, the walls closing in. My eyes search for Conner, but he's preoccupied. I scream as more and more pain shoots through me. I've never experienced pain like this. 'Just let me die', is the one thought running through my head.
Just let me die.
The world becomes silent, and the darkness closes in like never before.
