Chapter 21
Authors Note:
I'm so terrible sorry for not updating sooner. I had finals all last week and I had no time whatsoever. Please forgive me and u hope you enjoy this chapter. Please Review and thanks to all my followers and reviewers.
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson nor any of its characters, I just own my own character Antheia/Alyssa.
Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stood in Hades throne room, surrounded by hundreds of dead skeleton warriors with their weapons raised at them; a speechless god staring dumbfounded at them.
"It's-it's Luke.." Annabeth said again, unable to believe what she was seeing right in front of her.
Percy felt his heart harden, how could he have been so stupid not to see the signs. Alyssa didn't leave, she was taken.
"What.. Exactly happened to Antheia?" Hades voice was at a dangerous level, the kind of tone that could kill if possible. His face was full of fury and his body tense, ready to zap someone with a killing strike.
"We thought that.." Annabeth said, her face deadly white and her lips trembling, "we thought that Alyysa-I mean Antheia- had found out who she is and went back to Olympus or something.."
"You thought.." Hades said, standing up towering over them. "The most important person who has been missing for ten years was in your grasps and you let her get taken!"
He roared and started pacing back and forth, with hands clenched behind his back.
Percy stepped forward. "Please, sir... Allow us to go find her. She is my sister after all, and I was so stupid not to realize that she was in danger sooner."
Hades stopped pacing and glared at him, fires glowing in his eyes. "What makes you think that a pathetic human as yourself can rescue a goddess?"
Percy gulped and slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the three, glowing pearls before slowly holding them up to show Hades. "This will help us, sir."
Hades grunted, "There are only three pearls though, and four of you."
Percy looked confused as Annabeth and Grover gave each other worried glances.
"What do you mean, four people?" Percy said.
Hades snapped his fingers and a glowing picture of Sally appeared before him. "She is the main reason why you came here, not for the bolt or anything else. I knew I had to have a reason to get you here, so I had my Minatour capture her."
Percy's face flushed with anger, but he kept him cool as a single sentence dawned through his mind: 'You shall fail to save what matters most in the end.' Hopefully it was talking about his mom and not Antheia, because he could always get his mom back later if he asked Hades nicely, but with Alyssa, she was taken by someone who will do who knows what to her.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking at the picture of his mother, "I'll be back. I'll find a way."
Hades face clouded with confusion before realization fell upon him. "Perseus Jackson, you cannot possibly mean.." He trailed off as he watched Percy hand a pearl to Annabeth and Grover e
Before they placed them at their feet.
"Perseus, you better bring her back, or..."
He was interrupted by Percy, "that's my sister your talking about, and we will get her back."
Percy handed Hades his helm of darkness before they smashed the pearls at their feet. For a scary moment, nothing happened. Hades cocked his head to the side.
Suddenly, the pearl fragments at their feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. They were encased in a milky white sphere, which started to float off the ground.
"Look up!" Grover shouted. "We're going to crash!"
Sure enough, they were racing right towards the stalactites, which Percy figured would pop their bubbles and skewer them.
"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted.
"I don't think you do!" Percy screamed back.
They screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and... Darkness.
Percy still felt the racing sensation as they were still going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. Percy remembered what the sea Nereid said, 'What belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.
For a few minutes, they couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of the sphere, they their pearls broke through the ocean floor. The two other milky spheres, Annabeth and Grover, kept pace with him as they soared up to the top and exploded on the surface. The seemed to be in the Santa Monica Bay.
He looked to the shore where in the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, caused by Hades temper tantrum.
But at the moment, Hades wasn't his biggest issue, it was returning the bolt which was still in his backpack, and rescuing his sister.
-:-
A coast guard boat picked them up and dropped them off at the dock, apparently having several distress calls from the earthquake.
After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against the beautiful sunrise.
"I can't believe-" Annabeth started.
"It was a trick." Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."
"Hey!" She warned.
"You get it, don't you?"
She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."
"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody-"
"Percy..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."
He pretended not to hear her. If he talked about his mother, he would start crying like a little kid. His mother was left in the underworld, probably a till scared out o her wits. But there was something much worse... His sister, Antheia, alone with a jerk who betrayed her.
His clenched his fist. "We have to find her."
Annabeth put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's gonna be ok, Percy. She can take care of herself until we find her." She cracked a smile. "Luke won't know what hit her."
His lips rose into a faint smile. "Yeah, I suppose. But where the heck could she possibly be?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Anywhere. That's the problem."
The continued walking slowly down the beach, their shoulders sagging with worry and exhaustion. Grover started mumbling something about food as he repeatedly had to pull his hooves free of the wet, mushy sand.
Percy listened to the gentle crashing of the waves, memories of past events flooding his mind.
"Well, there is one thing that could be worse than our current situation." Annabeth said.
Percy looked at her irritated. "What could that be?" He growled.
She suddenly stopped in her tracks, her mouth hanging open as Percy and Grover barreled in her from behind.
"What's a the matter?" Grover grumbled.
With a shaky hand, she lifted her arm and pointed down the beach before answering both of their questions. "That..."
Both boys quickly followed her hand and both of their faces drained from color.
"Great," Percy murmured. "Just what we need at this minute..."
Standing about thirty feet away from them, wearing a black, leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled behind him, it's headlights turning the sand red.
"Hello, kids." Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see them. "Now where might Antheia be?"
The three of them stood perfectly still, none of them daring to say anything.
Percy silently wished in his head that he wasn't really seeing Ares, that it was just his imagination.
Ares narrowed his eyes. "Tell me where she is, kid."
Percy gulped nervously. "Well, Lord Ares, about that-"
Ares eye sockets lit on fire and the overwhelming sense if anger filled the air. "What happened?" He said, his voice low and dangerous.
Annabeth nervously stepped forward. "You see, Lord Ares. She's..well, she's.."
"She's what?!" He roared, yelling so loud Percy had to cover his ears.
"She's... Gone." Annabeth's voice was barely a whisper.
Thunder immediately filled overhead, lightning crashed to the ground with such force, it shook. The sun disappeared and a heavy rain began to pour down.
Ares face was indescribable. He mouth grimaced in anger and his aluminum bat hovered in and out if the Mist with a doubled bladed sword.
He said the words very calmly, with made it all the more frightening. "You mean to say to me that the person whom we have been waiting ten years to see just happens to be gone when we need her most?"
Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. Percy looked from Annabeth to Ares. "Sir, what she means to say is that Antheia was kidnapped a short while ago and we have been trying to find her ever since. She was taken by our friend Luke, or at least who we thought was our friend..."
Before he could even finish, Ares basically exploded, his eyes and mouth spurting fire and death hung in the air. The wind blew ferociously and they had to brace themselves, otherwise they would be blown away!
Ares grabbed his now double bladed sword and charged towards Percy, bellowing in pure rage. He threw his body against Percy, spending him sprawling to the body and drew his blade to Percy's throat.
Percy laid there, frozen in shock as his brain tried to process all that thoughts couldn't relate to the fact that he was about to die.
Ares growled and drew back his sword, preparing to strike him when suddenly, there was a massive explosion from about three hundred feet away from them in the ocean. Hundreds if tons of water shot straight up in the sky before a massive tidal wave came crashing towards them.
Annabeth took this distraction to her advantage and quickly pulled Percy away from the crazy god, who was too stunned staring at the tidal wave rolling towards him.
"Percy!" Annabeth yelled over the thundering of the water and the still pouring rain. "Did you do this?!"
"No! I have no idea where this came from!"
Percy put up his arms protectively around Annabeth and Grover as the water came pounding upon them, shielding them from the icy ocean water.
Ares was ripped off his feet and sent flying twenty feet down the beach.
Then, the most surprising thing happened. Instead of having the tidal wave crash into the city, it suddenly stopped, like it hit an invisible wave, and dropped to the ground, creating about a foot of water before slowly retreating back into the water.
Ares started sputtered water out of his mouth and stood up grumbling, grabbing his sword with his eyes still furious.
Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide, pushing Annabeth and Grover behind him.
"Listen, Ares. You don't have to do this." Percy said calmly. "We can still find Antheia if we work together."
Ares started walking towards him through the small streams of water and the rain, with the wind whipping around his leather jacket.
"It's too late." He growled. "You've screwed up everything."
Percy brought Riptide up in a defensive pose and the god drew closer and closer to him.
When Ares was ten feet away, brining his sword back to strike, Annabeth gasped and stepped in front of Percy.
"Annabeth! What the heck-" Percy yelled wildly.
"Shh, Percy. Lord Ares. There is still hope and we haven't failed. Look."
She pointed out into the ocean where the tidal wave water was flowing and creating almost a pedestal as it rose up out if the water. On top of it stood a women, in a long flowing dress with caramel hair curled down to her waist, blowing gently around her face. He bright eyes shining and her mouth formed into a smile.
Ares dropped his sword next to Percy, too stunned to remember that he was just about to kill him.
Percy squinted his eyes, trying to figure out who the beautiful woman was. She appeared to be about twenty, yet that face looked so familiar, those eyes he'd witnessed a million times before, showing all different emotions.
"Who is that!" Grover exclaimed next to him, breaking the silence.
"I think..." Percy said, seeing the women look at him and smile, the pedestal if water drawing nearer and nearer, "It's Alyssa!" He shouted, dropping his weapon and running towards her.
She opened her arms in welcome as he came racing to her, throwing his whole body at her in a embrace full hug.
"Hello, Percy. Good to see you again." She said, though her voice sounded more magical, more grown up.
Percy stepped back and looked up at her. "Alyssa, what happened to you."
Her face clouded as she said, "Luke told me he was going to surprise you and I went along with it and he knocked me out and brought me to some abandoned cave underwater. It was then that Pan came to me through a vision and helped me remember who I was."
Grover drew a sharp breath and turned to her. "You-you met Pan?"
She smiled and nodded and he gave a cry of happiness and started dancing around.
Annabeth came up to her next, her head lowered. "Antheia, I'm soo sorr-"
Alyssa put her finger over Annabeth's mouth. "It's ok, Annabeth. I forgive you for everything and I'm willing to be friends if you are."
Annabeth's eyes shined brightly as she nodded gratefully and stepped away.
Antheia saw Ares standing there, tears filled his eyes, making him seem way less aggressive. She stepped towards him and he offered her his hand.
"Hello, little lamb."
She rejected his hand shake and instead threw her arms around him.
"Ares, I've missed you so much. Thank you for everything."
He smiled, his face relaxing and growing tender and he put his arms around her.
"Are you ready?" He asked her.
Her eyes clouded with confusion. "Ready for what?"
He chuckled. "Ready to go home and see your family again."
Her eyes started watering as she nodded yes, unable to make out words.
"I know there's someone who is very eager to see you.
Her eyes widened and her heart burst with love.
"Yes, please." She said as quickly as possible. "Please let's go see him, I need to see him again. It's been too long."
Ares turned to Percy and glared down at him. "I'm sorry, kid, for almost killing you. I can offer to take you to Olympus so that you can return the bolt.
Percy smiled and nodded in accept.
Ares closed his eyes and snapped his fingers and the air around them seemed to hum. Their skin rippled and sooner felt almost papery and then, they were gone, leaving the light up city of Los Angeles behind them.
Authors Note:
Hehe sorry for the cliffhanger but it had to be done. The last chapter and epilogue will be up tomorrow, I promise and I apologize again for the delayed updating. Please remember to review, thanks!