Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. All my fanfic writings are non-profit. 'Tis all for fun.
Piece of Darkness III - Middlegame
Chapter Twenty-One
"We know," Prometheus said. "We want peace, but we are prepared for war."
"In my experience, when you turn up at someone's gate with an entire army behind you, there is always war," Scathach said grimly.
–Michael Scott, 'The Enchantress'
The last few hours before I left camp were like the final moments before emigrating to a foreign country. People were bidding me goodbye, wishing me luck, reassuring me (badly) and expressing their certainty that I would return.
The main difference between this and a regular departure was that most people who I spoke to were anything but certain that I'd come back. In fact, they were probably already imagining how my shroud would look when it burned on the funeral pyre.
(Which made me wonder: apparently camp funeral shrouds always bore the emblem of the appropriate godly parent, so what would they put on mine? A pair of glasses? A broken sword? A bad smiley face? Or would they just send my body back to my parents with a few broken flowers and an apologetic letter?)
It didn't really matter what people thought of my chances of survival, of course. I was coming back, and that was it.
(Still, it would've been nice to see a little bit of hopefulness.)
Anna the Hermes counsellor, for example, was far from helpful.
"If I were you," she told me sagely, over lunch, "I'd make a will before you leave."
"Um," I said, eyeing her. "Why would I do that?"
"Otherwise people will just take whatever stuff you leave here," Anna said, shrugging in a manner that tried to simultaneously justify and apologise for such behaviour. "You have to make a will, otherwise it'll all vanish, I promise you."
"Oh. I see," I nodded, not sure whether to laugh or not. "Would… people here really take a dead guy's stuff?"
Anna shrugged again. "Hey, look, man, you just can't trust some people."
I couldn't help wondering if "some people" meant the Hermes cabin in general.
I didn't make a will, but when I went back to my cabin to finish preparing, I put anything I wasn't bringing with me under my mattress.
Even Chiron wasn't exactly a morale-booster.
"Remember," he told us, as we all assembled for departure, just inside the tree line of the Black Woods, "your actions could make the difference between war and peace, and if war breaks out nonetheless, what you achieve could determine the kind of battle we have to fight."
He paused and then added, in an almost blatantly ironic tone, "But no pressure."
We were assembling at the forest because it was a deeply shadowed area that made it a lot easier for Jane to shadow-travel our asses to the other side of the country. I'd thought that it would be a very difficult trip for her to make, because shadow-travelling to places you've never seen is much harder than going to places you know. However, by some implausibly miraculous stroke of luck, it turned out that Jane had actually visited Alcatraz a few years ago, so she was able to more or less visualise where we needed to go.
"The place we need to aim for is on the third floor," Alice explained to her, as we separated into two groups of ten. Jane was going to transport us in batches to avoid pushing herself too far. "The tunnel down to Rhea's chamber begins inside a cell on that floor, but we can't travel directly into the cell because it's protected."
"Protected how?" asked Jane, standing with her feet planted squarely and her arms folded, as she gathered up her strength.
"There's a solid rod of Stygian iron running along the bottom of the cell's bars," Alice answered, standing in front of the daughter of Nyx as she briefed her. "It's been there for years. I don't know for sure, but I think it blocks any attempts to shadow-travel past it."
"How do you know that?" I asked. I was standing a little apart from them, leaning against a tree. The rest of the half-bloods were arguing among themselves over who should go in the first group.
A slightly pained look passed over Alice's face, and her voice was lower when she replied, "When we were there for the Flame of Olympus, Nico told me that the bar of iron blocks any energy, shielding the cell."
"Oh," I muttered, lowering my head a little at the mention of the long-missing son of Hades.
Alice was a very useful person to have on this mission, because she, along with Nico, had gone right through Alcatraz, down a hidden tunnel and into Rhea's chamber. The two of them had recovered the Flame of Olympus, and she had important knowledge of the layout of Rhea's chamber.
"I thought her cave would have been destroyed," the daughter of Apollo said to Chiron, who had approached us. "There was so much magic and power flying through the chamber when we escaped. I heard a number of explosions as we ran."
"The residences of Titans are not so easily demolished," the centaur told her, with a grim shake of his head. "Even severe damage can be quickly repaired if the Titan puts their power to work."
I looked over at our troops. They'd sorted themselves out, and were now assembled in two neat groups of eight and seven. I walked over and took my place in the smaller group, alongside Olivia, who had a heavy backpack slung over her right shoulder.
"What's in that?" I asked her, nodding towards the pack. Even without drawing on my sight, I could see a dim fuzz of greenish energy surrounding the bag, like incorporeal hair.
"Some supplies," she said coyly, arching an eyebrow in reply. "Ammunition. Defences. Emergency explosives. Snacks."
I nodded. "I like the sound of that."
We waited, as Alice finished instructing Jane. Chiron stood near them, listening but saying nothing. The edge of the tree line was only a few feet away, but the position of the sun in the sky meant that we were in deep gloom. All around us, the long, broad shadows of trees littered the ground, overlapping and blending together like great brushstrokes. Birds flitted through the branches overhead, but somehow they seemed distant, as though their calls and croaks were merely echoes coming to us from another world.
My usual unease at being in the Black Woods was being totally overshadowed by my nerves about the conflict that lay ahead. Certainly, there was the possibility of a peaceful resolution to all this, but everyone on the team knew that that was about as likely as Rhea giving us cookies and milk.
Alice finished, and she joined the other group. Jane, too, was ready, and she instructed the first group to join hands. They did so, with a couple of the larger, dumber guys making the painfully obvious jokes. The whole procedure took a lot longer than it really should have done, which didn't improve Annabeth's mood. She was in my group, standing just in front of me, and her flickering aura and endless fidgeting showed that she was anxious to keep on schedule.
Finally, the first team got themselves in order. Jane placed one hand on Alice's shoulder, closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. The shadows surrounding her and the group contorted with a shocking abruptness. The darkness rustled around them for a brief moment like insubstantial leaves and then, in the blink of an eye, they all vanished.
Annabeth stared, with an irritated air, at her watch, as though watching the seconds go by would make them move more quickly. Perhaps she felt that merely glaring at the watch's hands as they ticked along would make them flee before her withering gaze.
(In all fairness, that didn't seem like a wholly unreasonable idea.)
I was about to make some throwaway, time-passing comment to Olivia, when the shadows shivered once again. Jane appeared, alone, in front of us.
"You guys next," she told us. She grinned, as though that first trip had been simple, but as we formed a human chain, she bent over, resting her hands on her knees.
We organised ourselves rather more quickly than the first group, and in about a minute we were ready to move out. Jane took the time to regain her composure, breathing in and out deeply, calming her harried aura without even realising it.
Chiron had been quiet since we'd gathered here at the forest's edge, but he spoke to us a moment before Jane whisked us away to the other side of the country.
"My final advice is to do everything within your power to maintain the peace," he said, with a concerned tone. He spoke mainly to Annabeth - who was the unofficially official leader of our little troupe - and I got the sense that he was building up to say something else. "War is not our first or our only option. We need to seek reconciliation, not conflict."
"That's right," Annabeth nodded, as she checked her knife for the tenth time. "We'll do everything we can, Chiron, I promise."
Jane finished gathering her strength, and took a firm hold of Annabeth's arm.
"And remember," Chiron said to her, more quietly, "remember above everything to be alert. We have planned well, but we may have missed something important. Always be watchful and ready to reconsider."
Annabeth nodded again, and Jane drew in a deep breath, preparing for the shadow-travel. In the brief moment before we were plunged once more into the shadows, Chiron stepped over to stand in front of me, and murmured, "Cyrus."
I looked up at him. His gaze was steady, but he had that air of saying something which he wasn't quite sure of, but which he wanted to say anyway. Chiron looked at me and said simply, "Remember your purpose."
And then we were gone, before I could begin to wonder what he meant.
The group materialised back onto solid ground, on the other side of the continent, in Alcatraz. We were standing on a deserted floor, high up in the prison. In front of us there was, as Alice had said, a cell with a Stygian iron rod running along the bottom of the bars.
The first group had already pushed upon the bars. A few half-bloods were standing around in the cell, some of them patting the wall in search of the secret entrance, others scanning the floor for non-existent trapdoors. The rest stood outside, looking around for any approaching mortals or monsters.
Annabeth took charge the moment she emerged from the shadow-travelling. Shaking off the effects of the journey without even blinking, she began giving quick, clear orders.
"Three of you guard that side of the level, three of you on the other," she said, making rapid gestures. "Watch for any mortals coming near us, and be ready to use the Mist to make them turn back. Alice, show me how to open the tunnel entrance. The rest of you, keep back until we get the passage open."
Percy and Clarisse stepped out of the cell to let Annabeth and Alice inside. I glanced around us as they examined the back wall of the cell. We were on the highest level of the prison, with the roof not too far above. I could hear people down below, talking and walking around, but no-one seemed to be coming up here. I wondered if the tours normally came all the way up. If they did, it was always possible that the Rheans had put up an illusion to deter the mortals from wandering this way. The last thing any arcane Titan-worshipping cult needs is a camera-toting mortal tourist stumbling upon the entrance to their ominous secret hide-out.
I turned to glance around at the half-bloods. They were all keeping quiet, in case of attracting unwanted attention. In the cell, Alice and Annabeth were holding a frantic conversation: things weren't exactly working out the way they'd expected. I stepped closer to the bars, listening.
"It was right here, I swear," Alice said, pointing at a nondescript patch of dirty wall. "I remember Nico pulling it open. We thought there was going to be some kind of hidden way in, but there just a normal door."
"But that makes no sense," Annabeth murmured, slapping her hand on the wall in frustration. "It can't be just gone."
"Maybe they moved the entrance?" suggested Josh, a son of Hermes who was standing next to me. "They heard we were on the way, and they moved it?"
"No, that's not possible," broke in Zack, who stood just behind us. "You can't simply move the entrance to a Titan's residence. You'd have to move the residence itself to a completely different location, but usually that only happens when the centre of western civilisation moves to a different part of the planet."
I looked through the bars, at the blank wall that was meant to hold a door. At first glance, it was just like any other bit of wall, with nothing upon it except dirt and crumbling paint. As I looked closer, though, something about it seemed to shift or shimmer, as though I was looking at a mirage.
"Maybe we're in the wrong cell," Annabeth said, turning away from the wall, shaking her head. "Let's check the other ones on this level."
"Wait," I said involuntarily, still staring at the wall. Something about it seemed to be trembling, but only very slightly. A certain patch was vibrating, as though it was covered by a heat haze, but the wall around that patch was still.
"Let me in," I said, pushing past Josh and a few others to slip into the cell. Annabeth gave me a puzzled look, but Alice understood what I was doing and stood to one side.
"Let him look," she told Annabeth and the other watching demigods. I heard a couple of people making doubtful sounds, but everyone stayed quiet.
With a deep breath and an even deeper tugging in my gut, I focussed, and drew on my pure sight.
As I looked, that slightly-trembling patch of wall seemed to melt before my eyes. It was like a disintegrating hologram - particle by particle, it winked out of existence - revealing the metal door that was hidden behind it.
I blinked in surprise, coming out of my intense concentration.
"There's some kind of illusion blocking the entrance," I said, looking around at Alice, Annabeth and the other demigods at the bars, who were all watching me carefully. "It's not a shadow-based trick, but something else, like a mirage or something. I don't know how we can get around it…"
"Olivia can dispel it," Alice said promptly, turning to look at the team. "Olivia? Where are you?"
"No," Annabeth countermanded, stepping up to the bars. "Olivia needs to save her energy for later. Her brother can do it. Alex! Come over here, please."
The son of Hecate - a sturdily-built fourteen-year-old, with shoulder-length dark hair and small, clear green eyes - appeared outside the cell. Alice stepped out to give him room, and I pointed out where the illusion was hiding the door. He put his hand on the wall, his aura rippling as he examined the energy of the concealment spell.
"I see," Alex nodded. His voice had the same resonant quality as Olivia's. "It's a kind of chameleon charm. It makes the door blend in with the wall around it. Very well done, I gotta say, it's a really nice piece—"
"Okay, great," Annabeth interrupted, looking irritated. "We don't have time to admire magical craftsmanship, I'm afraid. Dispel it, and we'll keep moving."
Alex nodded, unruffled by being cut off. He withdrew some kind of silver amulet from his pocket and, with that clenched in his left hand, he began to work his own magic. As he did so, Annabeth gave us all some new instructions.
"We're not all going down the tunnel together," she told us, raising her voice a little to make sure that everyone heard. "I'm only bringing our less offensive people down there, to begin with."
This wasn't a popular decision. A number of demigods erupted in protest, chiefly the warrior ones.
"That's crazy!" called Percy, from where he stood watching for approaching mortals. "What if there's more Rheans than we know? They could kill you all before you have time to call for help!"
"That's right," Clarisse nodded, scowling over from her position at the railings. "You can't rely on your words to protect you against these people, Annabeth."
The daughter of Athena made no reply, but waited for the dissent to die down, before continuing.
"You're forgetting our goal," she told them, her voice and gaze firm. "We're here to reclaim the ritual, not to have a battle. The first step is to negotiate, and we only fight if it's necessary. If I bring everyone down there right now, Xavier is going to assume we've come to attack, not talk. This has to be done in stages."
Annabeth paused, then added, in a placatory tone, "And remember, if the Rheans attack us and suddenly find our ranks doubled, they'll be disorientated, and we'll gain the advantage."
The protests simmered down at this, as the more warrior-like members of the team understood Annabeth's strategy, even if they didn't fully agree with it.
She went on to pick who'd be part of the negotiation team. She chose the less intimidating section of our group: the two Hermes children, the daughter of Hypnos, Alex, me, herself, Piper and one of the Apollo kids. It struck me, as she laid this out, how carefully Annabeth had chosen her overall team. It was very tightly balanced, with enough fighters to provide a distinct attack force, but also enough peaceable half-bloods to form a credible negotiation team.
It was true what they said: the daughter of Athena always had a plan.
"This is where Alice comes in," she explained, as Percy asked when the second team needed to come down to the chamber. "Alice, I need you to be fully focussed on your foresight from the moment we head down. The secondary team will advance as soon as you sense that it may be necessary."
The daughter of Apollo nodded, looking admirably ready to deal with such a crucial task, though I knew her well enough to sense that she was a lot more nervous than she'd ever let on.
As Annabeth finished explaining this, Alex clapped his hands victoriously.
"Got it!" he declared. We all looked around at him and, sure enough, the illusion was gone. The door - a nondescript, grimy service door - stood visible in front of us.
"Good," Annabeth nodded, her expression neutral now. "Okay, Last thing. Jane and Olivia, you two need to follow my group. Stay about twenty paces behind us, and keep completely silent. Once we enter the chamber, get over to the obelisk and seal it as soon as possible."
Jane, who was the nearest of the two, gave a quick thumbs-up. "Got it."
"Right," the daughter of Athena said, pausing to take a deep breath, before giving the next order.
"Advance team, prepare to descend."
She turned and stepped over to the door. Without breaking step, she pulled open the door to the depths. It swung with a quiet squeal of rust, letting in a blast of cold air from the tunnel, making us shiver. Beyond the door, there was only blackness. Not a sound could be heard coming up from the tunnel, and not even a suggestion of light could be seen.
"What are you all staring at? Hurry up, everyone in the first team get over here," Annabeth snapped. Everyone started moving around, shuffling into the cell or getting out of the way of whoever needed to get to the tunnel. I checked my knife, which was strapped to my belt, and my pockets.
My fingers brushed against that tin which Nico had given me, seemingly so long ago and yet nearly yesterday, and I thought of him, and how he'd once passed here on a quest. I imagined how things would be if he were here now, and wondered, too, if we would be even in this mess if he was still with us.
The advance team was quickly assembled. Everyone was quiet, almost afraid to speak in case they drew a telling-off from Annabeth, which was exactly the atmosphere she needed. There was no time, now, to talk. Total concentration was crucial.
A son of Hephaestus passed Annabeth a wide-beam torch. She switched it on, and drew her dagger. She stepped up to the doorframe, peered inside for a moment, then said over her shoulder, "Come on."
She stepped into the tunnel, and, in a loose line, we followed. It was a small, tight passage, so we had to go in single file. One by one, we slipped into the dark.
I had a strong sense of deja vu as we made our way along. I'd been in quite a few small, dark tunnels back in the summer, and this made me feel as if I was back down in the Underworld. Oddly, that didn't make me feel as uncomfortable as one might expect. Indeed, it made me a little more ready - as though I knew what to expect.
We kept moving in silence, being careful to even breathe quietly. In the utter silence, any instance of noise, any clank of metal or rustle of fabric, seemed to be louder than a nuclear explosion. Jane and Olivia were utterly soundless behind us. After a while, I forgot they were even there.
Eventually, after ten or twelve minutes of careful walking, the passage began to widen out. The air grew colder, the atmosphere becoming heavier as we neared the chamber. A very slight hum seemed to be making everything tremble, just a little. The entire tunnel was shaking, almost imperceptibly, rumbling in tune to a soundless song of growing power.
Then, quicker than I expected, the end of the tunnel came into view. Beyond it lay a dimly-lit chamber - too dark to see into from a distance, but just bright enough to make out the figures moving around in it.
I was a couple of people behind Annabeth. She turned and whispered to us, "We need to enter openly. Don't try to be quiet. We have to show that we don't want to fight."
We all nodded or otherwise communicated understanding. I glanced back at the rest of the team, and the dark tunnel behind. I wondered where Jane and Olivia were, right now.
Annabeth switched off her torch and, performing the strange task of being deliberately noticeable, marched forward. We hurried behind, no longer trying to stay unnoticed. In a moment, we were at the chamber's entrance, and then we were through, standing at the edge of Rhea's stronghold.
It was a great, cavernous place. The ceiling was over twenty feet high, and the air weighed heavily on us. I felt like we were deep underground, perhaps even below the ocean. The chamber, from one end to the other, was at least a half a mile long, and it was similarly wide. Most of it was dark, though, with just a small area being illuminated.
A relatively small circular area, ringed by stone columns, lay about fifteen feet ahead of us. Blazing torches were mounted on the columns, which formed a circle no more than twenty feet wide. Within that, there were smaller circles drawn upon the floor in chalk or paints. As I looked closer, though, I saw that all these circles were broken in one place or another.
At the very centre of all this stood Rhea's obelisk, though perhaps obelisk was the wrong word. It was a great free-standing stone, about eight feet tall and four feet deep. It was perfectly circular, shaped like a coin. The stone was unremarkable, but it was wrapped in an aura of power of such intensity that it seemed close to shattering the great obelisk into tiny pieces.
A ring of men and women stood around Rhea's stone, all wearing similar white robes. Their hands were joined to form a closed circle, and they were chanting quietly. Outside the outer ring of stone columns, there were more Rheans, joined by the hand: one at each pillar, forming a larger human circle.
Only one man was apart from them all. He stood halfway between us and the outer circle of Rheans, holding the ritual book open in his hands. When we entered the chamber, his back was to us, as he focussed on the book. Annabeth was about to speak, when he looked around.
"Well, hello, godlings," said Xavier Graecus, his chalk-white face given an unnatural colour by the flickering flames upon the pillars. "Have you come to begin the war?"