OMG I am so sorry! I had to do so much research for this chapter! But hopefully it reaches your expectations! I seriously don't know how Rick Riordan does it! Anyway plz plz plz review it helps me with ideas and I love them! Also only a few more chapters then I've got a sequel for it! Yes that's right this story is the first of either two or three! So without further a due...
Chapter 20 Hazel's POV
I nodded. "You're right, but I don't know. By looks of it Percy, Annabeth and Lucy have a secret, maybe Jinx as well. But something is very wrong."
Leo nodded.
Jason tapped us on the shoulder then tapped his mouth with his finger telling us to be quiet. He led us downstairs to join Piper and Frank who were watching where Lucy, Annabeth and Percy were talking privately.
"Are you sure Lucy?" Percy asked.
"No she's right." Annabeth defended. "Jinx is hiding something, and I think we all know what it is."
Lucy nodded. "This must not get out though. We must wait. The situation is very fragile. If this were to get out then all bonds will shatter. Trust and all. We must be delicate."
Percy started to protest. "But you said-"
"I know what I said. But this is dangerous we just have to pray no one bothers her. Hopefully she'll be able to take her anger out in the fight..."
"And if not?" Annabeth asked.
"Then we are screwed. Come on we must go."
We all scrambled as fast and quietly as we could up the deck. Everyone filed out on the deck to watch as Rome came further and further into sight.
"Pray to the fates my children, only they can save us now." Lucy said.
*** The Ship Docks ***
Jason's POV (A/N sorry I changed it so soon, I just don't like Hazels POV but I felt I should)
As soon as Jason's foot touched the ground he swore he felt the ground rumble, he saw Leo stumble and nearly fall as well. Piper clutched his arm.
"Where first Lucy?" Jason tried to sound confident, but his voice felt shaky.
Lucy turned to Jason and smiled reassuringly and confident. It made all the Demi-gods smile that she could act brave for their sake. "The quest is to find Nico di Angelo, nothing else, we find him and get the heck out of here. Sophia knows where he is. You will follow her and I will try to put Gaia to sleep, maybe save us some time. I can get at least a year for us to prepare. Similar to Kronos, and hopefully you will have your lives back for a while, but we need to prepare, it would be stupid to fight Gaia now, when all of Camp-Half blood is exhausted, Camp Jupiter have just finished war and both camps have fought the Titans. I will distract Gaia and put her to sleep while you get Nico." She paused. "With Mary." Mary nodded and followed Lucy who was speeding to a forest.
"We have to keep going." Jinx said. "Which way?" She asked Sophia, but she looked grim. She was facing the trees as if Lucy would never come back. Then Jason heard a choking sound. They all turned to see Annabeth. She was facing the trees with a look of horror.
"No." She croaked.
"Wise girl?"
Annabeth was so pale she looked like she was going to faint. "Her-her mind. I saw-I saw..."
Percy was panicking. "Annabeth, what did you see?"
Without warning Annabeth took off running to the trees.
"Annabeth! No! You can't stop them!" Sophia called.
Percy sprinted after Annabeth.
"Percy stop!"
"Eight months!" He called back. "I'm not losing her again!"
All the Demi-gods were ready to run after them when Sophia stepped in front. "No." She said. "We must find Nico. They're safe, I promise you. They're protected. If we all go...I fear we will get into an even worse mess. They will be fine. Together, Percy and Annabeth are unstoppable."
A roar was heard in the distance and Jason had a horrible suspicion it was a giant.
Sophia paled. "Quickly! Follow me!" They then made their way to The Great Coliseum...
Percy's POV
"Annabeth!" Percy raced after her, but she was still way faster than him. "Annabeth! Wait!"
For some odd reason she actually listened and stopped in front of another line of trees. She was breathing hard and had collapsed.
When Percy caught his breath he knelt down next to her. Percy put a hand on her shoulder, "what happened, Annabeth?"
She made a choking sound. "They-they have a plan, Percy. An awful plan."
"Who?"
"Lucy and Mary. They've been hiding it. We have to stop them." Percy helped her up but she shook her head. "There's a shield we can't get through." He lifted his hand but it wouldn't go past tree the tree line, like there was an invisible barrier. But it got worse. An army of monsters was heading their way. Maybe not an army, but there was at least two dozen weird creatures. It was hard to describe them but imagine a big serpent with another head at the end of the tail.
"What are-"
"Amphisbaenae." (A/N actual Greek monster!) Annabeth interrupted. "They're horrible things! The front head is poisonous!"
"Why just the front?"
"Does that really matter?"
Percy shut up. "Um...What about that?" He asked pointing to the monster that was leading them. It looked like a giant dog with two heads and had a serpents tail.
Annabeth swallowed. "Orthrus." She said. "He was defeated by Heracles."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Percy looked at the army. There was no way them could defeat them by themselves. They'd need a miracle. Wait a minute...
"Annabeth! The prophecy!"
She looked at Percy like he was crazy.
"Wisdoms daughter walks alone, the Mark of Athena burns through Rome. It's not Sophia, it's you!"
Annabeth's bottom lip trembled. "I don't know how!"
Percy grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "You can do it." But then Percy froze. "It said alone though" He felt so stupid, but other than that it seemed to add up.
Annabeth shook her head. "That was part of Lucy's plan. She changed the prophecy. I don't know which part but I'm guessing that part."
Percy didn't know why Lucy would change the prophecy, and if so, why that part of the prophecy, but he ignored it. "We're not far from the ocean Annabeth, concentrate. I'll help you."
She smiled and nodded. Then she closed her eyes. He did the same. Percy felt the familiar tugging in his gut start. "One... Two... Three!" He heard gallons of water rush towards them, sounding like a giant waterfall, but he concentrated and held Annabeth's hand to reassure her. She squeezed his hand so hard it went numb, but Percy could hear the water doing it's work as he concentrated on the power of waves and thought about it slicing through the monsters like a sword and destroying them. Percy timidly opened his eyes to see absolute chaos. Monsters were fighting against actual waves, being strangled by water and just plain being bombard with so much pressure they exploded. They managed to keep it up until all the monsters were just dust. Annabeth collapsed into Percy's arms, and he held her tight. He kissed her head and helped her stand. "Are you okay?" He asked timidly.
"Is it always like that?" She asked on wobbly feet.
Percy shook his head. "Only at first, especially with that much water." Percy conjured a puddle of sea water at his feet, which was the size of a pond to be fair, and helped Annabeth sit down. She put her hand in the pond and Percy could see the comfort and strength it brought her. She rested her head on his shoulder and relaxed for a few seconds. "What do we do now?" Percy asked.
Annabeth shrugged, "I don't know. Their plan...I can't really talk about it...but we can't stop it either."
"Why? Are they going to be okay?"
Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. I just know they have a plan, and they didn't tell anyone for a reason. Lucy changed the prophecy for some reason, and they have a plan for something on this quest. But if Lucy's gone to Gaia...and we can't get across this barrier..."
"Lucy might die..."
Annabeth nodded. "We all know Lucy would give her life for us. She's not afraid of death. We have to get to her."
Percy nodded. "But how?" He looked at the barrier.
Annabeth looked up at the sky, then to her Mark on her shoulder and smiled at Percy.
"Oh no. What have you got planned in your head?"
Annabeth smiled and took out her dagger. She handed it to him. "Just cut the back of my shirt so the wings can come out." She commanded standing up and turning around. Percy did not like holding the knife. It reminded him of the Titan war but even worse it reminded him of when he made the Mark, even though he couldn't remember. He cut down the shirt and, with a huge blush on his cheeks, cut down her bra strap as well, considering it was over the Mark as well. She didn't even flinch when he did it, but she did shiver a bit when she felt Percy's hand pick up the back of the bra to cut it.
When Percy was finished Annabeth asked, "just touch the Mark, Percy," She said blushing. "Lucy's came out when I touched it and I don't know how to do it at will."
Still blushing Percy touched the scar-like Mark on Annabeth's spine, softly. It caused Annabeth to shiver, the Mark felt like normal skin, as if, if Percy didn't see it, he wouldn't know it was there. As soon as his fingertips brushed it, flaps of skin emerged from the Mark and huge, delicate, feathered wings sprouted from Annabeth's back. For a minute Percy was so stunned he couldn't say anything, her wings were a misty, pale grey, but each feather was tipped with silver. When Annabeth turned around Percy thought he might faint, she looked just like an angel. He shook his head out of the trance and wiped the tiny bit of drool from the corner of his mouth, which, somehow, Annabeth hadn't seen.
"Well?" Annabeth asked nervously, looking over her shoulder at the beautiful wings.
Percy's mouth was dry, and he still couldn't stop staring at her. He cleared his throat, but no words could come out his mouth, so instead he kissed her. Being careful, he wrapped his arms around her waist. He felt an odd sensation and found he was in Annabeth's mind, something he'd never thought he'd experience, he saw all the wisdom and joy of structure and how she was so interested in architecture. Something Percy had never understood, but he loved it so much. He felt Annabeth's mind purr and remembered what Lucy had said about the cord, he smiled into the kiss and felt Annabeth's wings flutter around them, wrapping around both of them like a private cocoon.
Percy wasn't sure who pulled back, but when they did they were high in the air. Percy tried not to panic, but it was hard. The air was supporting him, but Annabeth's wings were flapping elegantly, with one of her knees bent and that foot higher than the other, Percy guessed it was easier to fly that way, and easier for her to support just him and let her wings to the work then have the winds support both of them.
"I'm not looking down." He said.
Annabeth snorted. "Good luck with that, you might as well get used to it now." She said.
Percy cautiously looked down and almost had a heart attack. He wasn't afraid of heights, but they weren't his favourite thing in the world either. "You did that on purpose." He moaned.
Annabeth chuckled. "Come on. Let's go, and hope Lucy didn't make the barrier reach this far up."
Percy nodded, and followed Annabeth, literally walking on air, which really freaked him out.
They got past the barrier, but Percy could feel the energy from it even though they were so far above it. To his relief they went back onto the ground and Annabeth retracted her wings easily.
"How did you do it?" Percy found himself asking.
Annabeth shrugged. "I have no idea. Come on let keep going."
Percy's eyes widened. "You don't know something?"
He got a punch in the shoulder for that. "Shut up." But she was smiling. "We have to find Lucy."
"Do you know where she went?"
Annabeth closed her eyes and put her middle and index fingers to her dimples in major concentration. When her eyes opened Percy saw that there were tiny highlights of sea green in them. "No." She sighed, "they're too far. We're stuck here."
Something in the sky caught Percy's eye. "Well we won't be bored." He said shakily.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He pointed to the sky were the same pigeons, who had attacked them at the first chariot race ages ago, were coming right towards them.
"You have got to be kidding me." Annabeth groaned.
"Nope." He said. "You've mastered the sea...pretty much. Any chance you can do the sky by yourself."
Annabeth gulped and closed her eyes. Clouds started forming in the sky, thunder humming in the background, then lightning started crashing around the pigeons. They were stuck in circle of continuously crashing lightning around them. Annabeth's eyes snapped open, a circle of sea green surrounding her pupils. "I've got an idea."
Percy looked up at the birds, worried. "As long as it doesn't include me in the air, I'm happy."
Annabeth smiled.
"I just jinxed it didn't I?" He asked.
Annabeth didn't answer. Instead she thrust her arms to the sky and the lightning crashed so loud Percy had to cover his ear. The birds froze and began to fly in circles in pain if the noise.
Catching on Percy manipulated the water to form hundred of icicles and shot them at the pigeons. About ten minutes later all the birds were on the floor and turning to dust.
Percy uncovered his ears and caught Annabeth as she collapsed of exhaustion. He scooped her up and decided to keep walking.
"By the way this is going Wise girl I'm going to be carrying you the whole way." But he didn't mind, Annabeth wasn't really that heavy, in fact she was quite light.
She clung onto his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling.
"You are going to be the death of em, you know that?"
Annabeth only smiled wider and kissed his neck. Percy shivered, but managed to croak an answer, "don't even think about distracting me now, Wise girl."
Annabeth pouted but rested on his shoulder. Percy kept walking forward, "you hear them?" He asked.
"No. They're still too far away."
Percy sighed and looked up but instantly regretted it. "We can't get a break today can we?"
Annabeth shook her head in horror as she watched the army of Hellhounds lead by the Kampe. (A/N sp?)
Percy put Annabeth back on her feet, but she still seemed wobbly.
"You stay behind me-" He stood in front of her. "-I don't want you to get hurt." No matter how bad the situation was Percy's voice was brave and confident. He had fought for her, lost her, now he had her forever and he was not going to lose her now.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "I'm not playing damsel in distress!"
"And I'm not letting you get hurt!"
Annabeth's eyes got another highlight of sea green. "Lucy said soulmates make each other stronger." Annabeth laced her hand with Percy's. "We fight together!"
He didn't like it but he nodded, but he wondered about what Lucy meant when she said that. He felt more confident and determined but that didn't make him stronger. He kissed Annabeth quickly on the lips and suddenly all the colour returned to her face and she stopped wobbling. Annabeth's eyes widened as she looked at Percy and the both realised the same thing. They smiled and got ready to fight.
*****
Three armies, five sneak attacks, eight two-on-two fights, six ambushes and about a twenty traps later, Percy and Annabeth were still full of energy and confident, and had arrived at a temple which Percy had no idea what was called.
"Annabeth?"
"Not sure. But Lucy and Mary were heading here. I can hear them but they're...I don't know maybe under us?"
"Where are we?"
Annabeth squinted. "The Temple of Portunes. Roman God of Keys, doors and livestock."
Percy nodded. The temple was tiny and run down. With bushes on the side if it, vines growing up the Walls and columns and a forest behind it, no doubt filled with Gaia's army.
Annabeth looked behind her and gasped. Percy turned expecting another ambush but was looking at the chaos they had made. Miles and miles of woods trampled, waterlogged, electrocuted, burnt, destroyed.
"Well..." Percy said. "I think the prophecy burns through Rome really wasn't kidding..."
OMG! You had no idea the amount if research I had to do for this chapter! How does Rick Riordan do it?! Well either way tell me what you think! All facts are true by the way! There really is a temple like this! Well sorry it took so long! 5 reviews = next chapter!