Chapter 13
Percy was desperate; he wanted everyone inside the car safe. To his surprise when the car collided with the hound the crack for which Percy had waited never came. The car was itself catastrophe but none inside the car were hurt this surprised not just Percy but all of them. Annabeth had woken up after the crash so were the twins. They immediately put themselves out of the car. They both looked in the direction of the hound which was crumbling to dust. Annabeth had a quizzed look on her face but Percy understood that it was the celestial bronze which Tyson had added while repairing the car for Paul after Blackjack had put a dent to it. They were all relieved that they were safe but that was only shattered as they saw hundreds of monster running towards them.
Percy immediately turned towards the satyr "Bob take these two and head to the Camp now. Inform Chiron of what is coming and ask him to send help." He then turned to his love "go with them and keep them safe. I will hold the monsters." Annabeth became red with anger she said "No, the last time I left you I almost lost you. I will stay and fight by your side no matter what. No Percy don't look at me like that I am not leaving. You are not getting rid of me seaweed brain." Percy had no choice; he motioned for everyone to bolt in the direction of the Camp.
Thalia and the rest of the hunters had a pleasant time flying. They had boarded the plane in Seattle and had just landed in New York and now they had to get to Camp Half-blood. They decided that they will wait for their mistress lady Artemis to arrive she had instructed them to wait for her. Most of the hunters were not happy to go to the Camp. They did not have anything against the Camp; it was the only problem for them that it was filled with boys and children of a certain love goddess. The hunters new they need some serious rest so the complaining was kept to a minimum. Then they saw a flash of light and the goddess of the hunt was standing before them. Most noticed that the goddess still looked a bit distracted. On her orders, they started to walk towards the bus which had come from Camp itself for the logo Delphi's strawberry was present. Once all the hunters were boarded and comfortable they started their journey towards the Camp.
Percy could feel that the monsters were catching up. He was not one of the best athletes. He was trailing behind and to keep him company Annabeth was running slower than she was capable of. The twins and Bob were well ahead that was the only relief they had. Percy looked sideways to his right where Annabeth was running, they exchanged a meaningful look. They had been together and fought side by side so many times that they knew each other too well and both had the knowledge that Percy could not keep the running for long. People would say that with Percy being the best fighter it would be easy to be fighting alongside him. That was a load of Minotaur dung. Percy was so unpredictable that fight alongside him took more than just skill and practice, no one but Annabeth was a master of the subject. They both decided that it turned the monsters to dust time.
They turned around and took a fighting stance. The monsters that had faced the duo before froze in their track. By seeing this all others stopped as well. Percy assessed the army of his enemy; there were at least a hundred monsters of different kinds and ten demigods in total. A tall guy with blonde hair and muscular features holding a sword of about four feet made up of bronze stood before them and spoke: "finally decided to surrender hero." Percy just snorted at this. The tall guy unmistakably who was the leader continued "too bad Jackson anyways you and your girlfriend are to die."
Percy who was standing tall spoke with his most convincing tone "really dude do you think that by having somewhere around a hundred monsters and a few demigods you are going to kill me. That would be something to watch. The Titans are defeated people and they are not returning any time soon. The gods are claiming all their children, come on guys, why do you want to continue with your foolishness. There are cabins for all minor gods now. The camp is a good place to be. Put down your weapons and you are always welcome to the Camp." To this, the leader of the group just answered with a command to attack and the monster and the demigods charged at Percy and Annabeth. First to reach them were the monsters. The very moment they came into the range of Percy's or Annabeth's weapon they were reunited with their friends in Tartarus. Percy was knocking down the demigods, he did not kill them. The fight was going on and more and more of the enemies were getting defeated. A monster was successful in distracting the daughter of Athena and one of the enemy demigods took this chance to cut a wide gash in Annabeth's left arm. This angered Percy, with one swift motion he killed the monster responsible and sent the demigod rolling on the ground.
The victory was near Percy thought but that very instant a fresh wave of monster came. More and more monsters were engaging the two heroes. Annabeth was getting covered with wounds and soon she would collapse of exhaustion. Percy immediately made the mini hurricane of his and with that, he started to attack the monsters. This provided Annabeth to rest for some time. Percy had done mist traveling many times but his success was with transporting only himself, he had not tried to take another person along. The major problem was that it was a dry day and there was no much water in the air so mist travel was out of the question. Percy was slowly getting tired. Last night something had happened and it had weakened him greatly so keeping up the hurricane which he had increased in size for a long time was not possible. He had to allow Annabeth to resume the fight.
Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair which magically hid his true for from others when wish for it. It had been a decent day, some new Campers had arrived and he had instructed the demigods in archery. For some reason, Chiron was feeling very anxious. He did not understand why but his instincts told him that something was going to happen and that it was not something good. As he sat in the porch he could see a satyr and two demigods running towards the big house. All three were out of their breaths as they reached the steps of the big house and the demigods understandable passed out due to exhaustion. The satyr's expression was enough to tell Chiron that some were terribly wrong. After gaining some steadiness and catching his breath he told the centaur of what had transpired. Immediately a fighting force of demigods was summoned the passed out demigod twins transferred to the infirmary and the literally ran for Percy and Annabeth's aid.
Percy was getting too tired to continue fighting he would drop any moment now but he could not do that his girlfriend was in danger she was injured and fighting in her complete form was not possible for her, they were getting overwhelmed. For the first time, an opponent was able to stab Percy straight at his heart, a natural thing to do when such an attack is made is to move to your right but in this case, he could not do so because Annabeth was leaning on his back. All hope seemed as to drain out of Percy but when a monster lunged at him. It froze in mid-attack; Percy could see a silver arrow sprouting through the monster's chest and then came the sound of the hunting horn.