Hello readers!
Happy Friday :D I do feel somewhat guilty for making you wait so long for the next chapter...
But- This time you won't have to wait for the resolution of last Chapter's suspense! That's right, we're picking up right where we left off: right down to the word. So strap in for some action! But first... shoutouts.
Shoutout to: RevanShan, NicholasDreamer4, Winterleaf123, twanshows, MorningStarGazer, PirateQueen890, The Patterned Juggler, ettie16, chrystalsp, Ropoleader, WirelessGrapes, Simbylosis, masterofAUS, MissNyxKnight, and SerendipitousPixel for following this story!
Shoutout to: NicholasDreamer4, Winterleaf123, Moon-Wolf262, b31nobody, PirateQueen890, The Patterned Juggler, newtown54, Ropoleader, Simbylosis, masterofAUS, MissNyxKnight, and LillyDorn for adding this humble tale to your list of favorites.
Okay, here we go!
Please enjoy the next chapter in the PJO/TKC Crossover: When Worlds Collide!
-Ardoa88
Chapter 21: ...And All Hades Broke Loose
(Leo POV)
"Roman."
The Muse spat the word with such venom that Leo feared she was about to turn into a snake. Thelxinόe's sisters gaped at the dmeigod for half a second before mirroring expressions of fury twisted their barbie-like features.
Leo- still reeling from the unexpected trip down memory lane- had no time to react as Meléte shifted, chucking her dagger like frisbee. It's aim was true, knife end hurtling towards the demigods' exposed chest-
Thunk!
The Son of Hephaestus jerked back, eyes wide as he stared down at the knife. It was embedded all the way to the hilt in the magic barrier that had suddenly materialized. Still, the golden shield cracked under the sheer force of the blow, spiderweb fractures stretching to the four corners before the barrier shattered. As the knife clattered harmlessly to the ground, Meléte's eyes snapped to where Walt crouched, half-hidden by a bookshelf, hand outstretched as one of his amulets crumbled.
"Anubis." She growled.
At the unspoken cue, the Muses began their offensive. Aoide surging towards Leo while Meléte moved to engage with Walt, the magician hastily throwing up another shield. For such petite looking females, they were incredibly strong. And fast.
"Filthy Roman! Get out of our Library. Get out. Get out! Get OUT!" " Aoide spat, accentuating each shout with a swing of her guitar.
"Technically, I'm Greek-"
But Leo's declaration only seemed to infuriate the goddess further and she loosed an agitated cry. Leo backpedaled between the rows of bookshelves, swiveling and ducking and dodging. The Muses' attacks instead slammed into the obstructions, dents beginning to pepper the metal shelves.
Now, normally, the hispanic would have taken this prime opportunity to crack a joke about the goddess being a hardcore fan of heavy metal. But he was too preoccupied with not getting hit. If that guitar could warp steel in a single blow, Leo worried at the damage it could to do his head. He had no intention of finding out.
Leo darted to the end of the row while Thelxinόe began to chant from the dias, a red glow emanating from her palms. The goddess moved her hands slowly, drawing a symbol in the air with her magic. Even as he pulled out his hammer, the demigod's multitasking brain felt the need to remind him that, when it came to magic, red means bad. Really bad.
There was a yell of defiance and Leo spared a glance up as Zia joined the fray, dropping down from the second story like some kind of ninja, her staff descending in a murderous arc towards Arche's head. Without so much as a glance, the tall goddess raised a lazy hand, uttering the monosyllabic word "Déno."
Weirdly enough, Leo had understood the phrase. It was Greek for Bind. Crimson ribbons rose to meet the elementalist, wrapping around her arms and legs like a mummy. Zia thunked to the ground, rolling slightly as Arche resumed her work on the staff. The elementalist squirmed against the restraints.
Arche scoffed at Zia's efforts. "Don't bother. Perfectly balanced spells are remarkably durable."
Leo was afforded little time to dwell on the goddess' turn of phrase, forced to refocus on his own opponent as Aoide lunged. It was all the demigod could do to to avoid her blows, the fervor of the goddesses' swings providing no opportunity for a retaliatory strike.
Beaten to death by a guitar: Leo could practically hear the Stoll brothers laughing over his grave.
The Son of Hephaestus raised his weapon to deflect another of Aodie's swings, the angle of his hammer causing the body of the guitar to ricochet to the side, leaving the Muses' side exposed. Without hesitation, Leo took the opening. The demigod slammed his hammer into her midriff with enough force to send the goddess careening into a nearby shelf. The guitar broke on impact, snapping at the neck so only the strings were connecting the two halves. If Aoide had been human, her ribs would've shared the same fate as the instrument. As it was, the goddess merely crumpled to the floor with a groan, temporarily dazed. The bookshelf didn't fare as well, starting to tip to an alarming degree before a soft red glow enveloped it, setting it straight.
"Be careful with the tomes!" Thelxinόe cried from the table, lowering her hand. "It took me a whole two hours to transpose them."
Ensured that her precious books were in no further danger, Thelxinόe continued with the incantation. The red lines had almost converged, and even though he was no expert in magic, Leo instinctively knew he couldn't let her finish the spell.
On impulse, Leo snatched up two books from a nearby shelf, waving them over his head to get the goddess' attention. "These tomes?"
Instead of answering, Thelxinόe narrowed her eyes at him, incantation slowing. Leo's lips twitched into a devilish grin as felt the prickle of flames on his fingertips, the fire easily licking up the spine of the book, curling into the binding and between the pages of the fresh tinder. An expression of horror quickly clouded the goddess' face as she beheld her beloved books-turned-fireballs.
"Hot Potato!" Leo shouted, lobbing the flaming volumes in a high arc.
Thelxinόe's attention was with the books and Leo turned, running down the length of the aisle and back. His hands trailed over the spines of countless tomes, leaving a blazing path in his wake. He made it down another aise, then a third.
"No!" Thelxinόe's concentration immediately broke at the sight of her precious books being engulfed by the blaze. "You little miscreant!" The hieroglyph dissolved as she frantically reworked the magic to quell the flames. Instead of an odd pattern of squares, the new set of lines now zigzagged up and down. At the command of "Was!" a shower of water streamed from the symbol, hissing and sizzling at it touched the fire.
The demigod's head turned to the center of the room as Zia screamed- more in frustration than pain, he realized- her bindings bursting into flames. The elementalist stood, heat rolling off of her in waves as she dove at the goddess again. Arche turned to face Zia's charge with a growl of annoyance; abandoning her work on the three pronged staff.
Walt was nowhere to be seen, although from the sounds of battle coming from the back of the room- metal screeching on metal, blasts of magic, and… was that a camel Leo just saw fall from the air?- the magician seemed to be holding his own.
Decision made, Leo took two steps towards Zia before the air was driven from his lungs; a small body tackling him from the side. His head smacked the side of a shelf as he went down, stars bursting across his vision. Cold, thin fingers proceeded to wrap around the demigod's neck.
"You broke my guitar!" Aoide screamed, grip tightening around Leo's throat.
Leo's hands instinctively moved up to grip the goddesses arms, trying to pry them from his neck. But it was no use. He'd have better luck trying to move a steel beam. Still he tried, tugging and pulling fruitlessly as Aoide's cold hands clamped down further. Leo gagged, desperately trying to pull air in through his collapsing throat as the goddess continued to babble hysterically. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe.
"You broke my guitar! You broke it! Now I'm going to break you- see how you like it!"
He had to think of something fast, before he ran out of oxygen to think with. Leo had dropped his hammer in the fall, the weapon only a few feet away. But those feet might as well be a mile for all the good it did him; his fingers stretched to their limit but the hammer remained out of reach by a good four inches. It was at that moment Leo realized the Muse's mistake. A crucial mistake. She'd left his hands free. The demigod buried them into his toolbelt as darkness shrouded the edge of his vision. Panic mixed with the fear and finally, finally his fingers ghosted over the device he'd been fiddling with earlier.
Leo gripped his salvation, pulling out the crudely constructed circuit and slapping the device to Aoide's back. The demigod drew in a ragged gasp as the goddess released some of the pressure to his neck, confusion briefly crossing her face. Then Leo flipped the switch, allowing 50,000 volts to flow freely through the closed circuit otherwise known as Aoide.
The Muse's back arced, mouth open in a soundless scream as the electricity coursed through her. Small tingles ran up Leo's arms but he maintained the pressure, keeping the taser in contact with the goddess until she dropped limply to the ground; twitching as small shocks continued to course through her body.
Only then did Leo let himself slump back, coughing roughly as his lungs tried to inhale as deep and fast as physically possible. He tipped his head back against the bookshelf, eyes screwing shut as he forced himself to take slow, deep breaths. The back of his head throbbed where it'd hit the shelf (he wouldn't be surprised if he had a concussion) and Leo's heart was pounding in his ears, drowning out all other noise. That had been close. Way too close for his liking.
The spike of adrenaline faded, exhaustion taking its place. He must have drifted off into unconsciousness for a good moment, because when next he opened his eyes, Leo realized the abnormal silence wasn't just in his head anymore: The sounds of battle had died away. It took more effort than usual to raise his head, and the sight Leo was greeted with wasn't one of victory.
Aoide was still unconscious next to him, and Thelxinόe hadn't stopped fretting over her books. But the other two Muses barely had a scratch on them. Meléte had returned; dragging Walt behind her like a rag doll as she strolled towards the center of the room. The unresponsive magician had thin cuts on his exposed arms, most of which were still bleeding freely. Leo cast his gaze around, eyes eventually lighting upon Zia. The elementalist was faring a little better (well, she was conscious, at least) and seemed to have enough energy to glower at the goddesses. For the first time, Leo really wished that looks could kill. Glaring was the best she could do, however, as Zia appeared to be immobilized- probably by some kind of spell. Frozen mid charge so that it looked as though she was posing for an athletics magazine. Her ivory staff lay in pieces at her feet, the white rod splintered down the shaft.
"-start with this one." Meléte was saying, dropping Walt next to the three pronged staff. "The mortal has almost no essence left, but he is hosting a god."
"Yes." Arche hummed. "As good a start as any."
Like Hades he was going to let that happen. Leo staggered to his feet, fighting back a wave of nausea. Definitely a concussion, the hispanic grimaced, one hand pressing to the growing lump on his head.
Meléte noticed the movement, hazel gaze shifting towards the demigod. "You're still alive?"
But instead of sounding peeved, the goddess seemed… excited.
"Lucky me!" Meléte clapped her hands together, grinning wider than the Cheshire Cat. "And here I thought Aoide had finished you off- she never shares. Looks like I get to have my fun after all!"
"Make it a slow death." Thelxinόe hissed. "Make the Roman suffer."
"Look, I all for some good, old-fashioned suffering." Leo said, spreading his hands. "But I'm not Roman."
Thelxinόe jabbed an accusing finger at him. "You've conspired with them in the past."
"That's like saying a taco and a burrito are the same." The hispanic retorted.
"You burned my books!" Thelxinόe screeched. "Just like the Romans did!"
"They burned the library down when they conquered Egypt." Leo recalled in a rush of clarity. He couldn't remember where he'd heard it. Probably from Annabeth, or one of her half-siblings. Maybe from Chiron during one of his Myths and Monsters lectures: though, the hispanic had a bad tendency to sleep through those.
It gave Leo an idea.
"Yeah, well, you know what the problem with history is?" The Son of Hephaestus asked rhetorically, flexing his wrists and summoning his energy. "It tends to repeat itself."
The goddess' eyes widened in understand as flames exploded out from the demigods hands. Arche threw up a shield but Leo continued his discharge, attention tunneling as he poured every last bit of energy he had into the flames. His fingers prickled as he urged the fire to grow white hot, sweat beading across his brow. From his periphery, the demigod registered Zia dragging the unconscious Walt towards the exit, having somehow broken free of the immobilizing magic.
Once they were clear of the danger zone, Zia turned back to the fight, shouting, "Suh-FAH!"
Leo looked over as a new hieroglyph, a good fifteen feet tall, blazed on the wall behind the Muses. Mortar disintegrated. The side of the building groaned, the entire wall crumbling in a brick tidal wave. The goddesses vanished under the rubble, a cloud of dust blossoming up from the ground. Leo stumbled to Zia's side, the elementalist was staring at the gaping hole she'd made in the building.
"Well… that worked." She muttered.
"Absolutely genius." Leo agreed, giving the Egyptian a once over. She looked tired, but otherwise okay. "What spell was that?"
"Loosen." Zia said, "I figured… it's easier to break things than fix them."
As if in agreement, the remaining shell of the building creaked and rumbled.
"Come on," Leo tilted his head towards Walt. "We should get out of here before-"
The foundation shook, from beneath the rubble came a chorus of very angry, very feminine screams. Shafts of red light shot through the gaps in the debris.
"Oh, please!" The demigod protested, even as he hauled one of Walt's beefy arms over his shoulder. "Don't tell me they're still alive?" And here he'd been hoping that the Egyptian gods weren't as immortal as the Greek ones.
A sleek hand crashed out of the rubble, horror movie style, the goddesses slowly clawing their way back to the surface. Meléte was the first to emerge, covered in dirt and dust so that she looked like a ghost. Her eyes lighted upon them and fury snaked across her face.
"Kill you!" She bellowed, just as Zia yelled an encore: "Suh-FAH!"
Demigod and elementalist beat a hasty retreat, and Meléte screamed, "NO!" as another three story section of wall crumbled on top of her. The other walls shuddered, leaning precariously inwards. Leo choked on a cloud of dust. His eyes stung. It felt like he'd been parboiled in a rice cooker but he somehow managed to stumble outside, supporting all of Walt's weight with Zia following close behind.
They cleared the building before the rest of it collapsed, shuffling down the beach a good twenty five yards before dropping to the sand, exhausted. The trio was covered in lime powder, like a coating of sugar had been rolled onto their skin. Zia panted heavily, the exertion from casting those spells having taken their toll.
Leo turned his attention to Walt; the dude wasn't looking so great. Most of the cuts had clotted over by now, but up close, Leo could see a peppering of blue and purple bruises littering his face. There was also a sizeable lump at the back of his skull. A number of his necklaces were broken- some cracked, some crushed. Leo wasn't really sure what that meant, but he felt it couldn't be anything good.
"Here. Let me." Leo shifted as Zia crouched next to her fellow Egyptian, holding a ceramic vial in one hand. Taking great care, the elementalist supported Walt's head, tipping the contents of the container into his mouth. Leo saw Walt's throat move up and down, instinctively swallowing the potion. The magicians bruises faded, cuts sealing and fading until all that was left were thin, pink scars.
The elementalist then took a short swig of what remained before offering the rest to Leo.
"Nu-uh. No thanks." The hispanic shook his head sharply. "I know what that stuff does to demigod stomachs. 'Sides," Leo reached into his toolbelt, pulling out a ziploc bag with three pieces of squashed ambrosia. "I've got my own magical healing food."
The elementalist shrugged, downing the rest of the potion as Leo popped a piece of godly food into his mouth. Instantly, the pain in his head all but vanished, and the finger bruises around his neck faded. Even his stomach was satisfied at the homemade, taco-flavored taste. Gods he loved ambrosia. From the sand, Walt groaned, eyes flickering open as he started to come around.
"What-" He rasped. "What happened?"
Leo glanced back at the lighthouse ruins, the dust cloud still lingering in the cool night air. "Well, Zia found a very effective way to demolish a building."
The magician looked past the demigod at the pile of bricks. "Oh... I see."
After a few minutes of silence, Leo had to ask, "What was that thing they were making? That tri-staff doohickey?"
"The Staff of Serapis." Walt informed, grimacing as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
Zia cursed.
"Hang on…" The demigod snapped his fingers. "Carter's cookie uncle said something about a staff!" Twin looks of incomprehension crossed the Egyptian's faces. "The Famous Amos guy? Nevermind. What's so special about it? Don't all magicians have staves?"
"The Staff of Serapis is a three pronged scepter," Walt explained. "Each leg of which controls a fragment of time: Past, Present, and Future."
"So, what, it's like a time machine?"
"Not exactly. It-" The magician froze, mid-sentence, eyes blowing wide.
Seconds later, Leo and Zia felt it too, that same warm wave of power from before washing over the beach. Looking back at the rubble, Leo gaped. The ruins had become a swirling maelstrom of bricks, pipes, boards, books, and other debris, along with glowing hieroglyphs and red neon tufts of energy. As they watched, a scattering of boards and nails came together to form a frame, a cluster of stone assembling like Legos to make an arch.
The library was rebuilding itself.
"-can do that." Walt finished grimly. "We have to go back."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Leo waved his hands at the magician. "We just barely got out of there with our lives and you want to go back?"
Walt nodded. "If we don't, then all of our work will have been for nothing. The staff is the key. If we can get that-"
"-They can't control the outcome." Zia finished, drumming her fingers on the bag.
"Wait- Back up." The demigod was beyond confused. "I don't think I get how this whole thing works. If the Muses have the staff, why didn't they use it earlier? And what's to stop them from using it on us?"
It seemed that Carter wasn't the only magician who could go into full-on teacher mode. Walt cleared his throat, launching into a miniature lecture to answer Leo's questions.
"Before, they were still in the process of imbuing the staff with magic, that's why they didn't use it against us. It wasn't fully operational. With its activation, the time-warping capabilities will pull at all aspects of the gods; their past, present, and future selves. The lighthouse is acting as a beacon, an amplifier so that the signal reaches the far corners of the world. And while it's power is directed at the gods, it can't be used to combat us. Think of it as if the gods are on a different frequency, a different wavelength of power." Walt paused, seeing the demigod's utterly baffled expression. "This is advanced magic theory. Complex stuff. It's alright if you don't quite understand."
Leo wouldn't argue with that. Magic was too confusing. Give him an animatronic or an Archimedes Sphere any day.
"The fact of the matter is that, in order to stop the Muses' we have to get that staff." Walt concluded.
Leo's fingers tapped on the edge of his toolbelt. "Their power is both Greek and Egyptian, right?" The demigod smirked. "I have a plan. And it might even work."
The demigod talked for an uninterrupted five minutes, laying out his idea. At the conclusion, Walt shook his head. "What you are suggesting is impossible." The magician frowned. "Or, at the very least, highly improbable."
"Hey, you know me- well," Leo paused, pursing his lips. "Okay, actually, you don't know me that well yet- but I'm all about doing the impossible. And, frankly, I've heard worse plans."
"I've heard better." Zia said.
"It'll work." The demigod wasn't confident about a lot of things. But this? His gut instinct told him it was the right call. "I know it will. The real question is, do you guys trust me?"
The Egyptians shared a long look.
Finally, Walt turned back to the hispanic. "Yes. There's… only one problem. Now that they've activated the magic of the staff, Anubis… Even now it's taking everything we have to resist its pull. I'm sorry." The magician's gaze slid to the ground, his voice turning bitter. "But that's a risk he- we, cannot take."
And, oh, didn't Leo understand that tone. That underlying hint of self-loathing at the idea of holding others back. Of being useless and burdensome. To come so far and wind up watching from a distance. Not that Leo could blame the guy for sitting this one out. From what Walt had told them, his connection or bond or whatever with the god was the only thing keeping the magician alive.
"No worries, man." Leo clapped Walt on the back. "Zia and I got this, right Z?" Zia ignored him as usual (which no doubt meant she thought he was as cool as ever). Looking back at Walt, Leo asked. "Can you fly that magical boat?"
"Yes. Why?"
The demigod shrugged. "Once we grab the staff I have a feeling we'll be needing a getaway driver. If it's anything like a basic circuit, the magic should deactivate when it's key component is removed. Then you and Anubis would be good to go near the lighthouse, right?"
After a moment, Walt nodded slowly. "Yes… that, that would work."
"Great!" Leo rubbed his hands together, smiling at the two Egyptians. "Then let's get sharing."
Leo was captured the instant he stepped back in the library. Not that he wasn't expecting it, but the crimson bindings were squeezing unnecessarily tight, in his opinion.
He'd strolled in through the front entrance, much the same as he'd done before. The second the goddesses saw him, he'd been frozen with the same magic used on Zia. Then had come the red ribbons, twisting around his body and pinning his arms to his side.
All part of the plan. He reminded himself as he was effectively disabled. This is all part of the plan.
"Dibs on killing the mortal!" Meléte called. She was behind him immediately, the cold steel of her blade pressing to the flesh of the demigod's neck.
"Wait!" Arche raised a hand, frowning. "Where are the other two? The flame elementalist and the godling?" She cast her gaze around the room.
Leo cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to himself. "Gone. They fled like cowards."
"And you didn't?" Thelxinόe wondered.
The demigod shrugged as much as he could in the bindings. " I thought we could make a deal. I'll-"
"You thought wrong." Aoide hissed. "We don't make deals with Romans."
"Good thing I'm Greek then!" Leo plastered on a smile even while alarm bells were going off in his head. Keep stalling them, his mind prompted, buy Zia more time. "As I was saying, I'll tell you where the elementalist and the godling went. And in return, you let me become your Some Priest."
"Sem Priest?"
"That's the one!" Leo winked at Thelxinόe. "You don't have one yet, right? So allow me the honor, and I'll tell you where they went."
Three heads swiveled in unison towards Arche, the younger Muses' deferring to their oldest sister. The tall brunette's fingers tapped on the length of the staff as she considered the offer. Leo held his breath. The pregnant silence drawn out for a good minute before the goddess spoke.
"No."
Leo's breath escaped in a rush. Not good. Zia wasn't in position yet.
But Arche was still talking. "If what you say is true, and the godling fled, it is of no matter where he flees to. Once the lighthouse is fully activated, he will be drawn to its power as all the other gods will be. As for the elementalist," The goddess waved a dismissive hand. "She was a nuisance, but of little import. Have your fun, Meléte. Just try not to make too much of a mess."
The knife flashed back up to his neck.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." The Muse cackled, delicately tracing the blade across Leo's adams apple. "Your death will be slow and painful. Any last words, mortal?" Meléte sneered. "Aside from screaming, that is."
"For you? Yes!" Leo somehow managed to sound confident even when trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
"Taerif nafsak bila mawt," Leo chanted, praying that he wasn't butchering the words Walt had taught him, "waqawiat mithl... aldawda!" The delicate Egyptian pronunciation gave the Muse pause but the demigod plowed on.
"Anubis hear me! Hephaestus to my aid!" He spoke a few more phrases; some Greek, some Egyptian, a few Latin words he'd picked up up from Jason. He even tossed in a bit of Spanish for good measure. "Cuneum formate! Di Immortales! Katastrépste ton pýrgo sas! Consumir su vida! Alpha, Beta, Gamma!" Leo cried. "Gryos, spanakopita, tres, cuatro!"
The Hispanic beamed in triumph. "There. You're done for!"
The Muses stared at him, clearly baffled. Meléte's knife lowered a fraction. Aoide glanced down, subconsciously patting herself as if to make sure she was still there. The red symbols on the wall dimmed ever so slightly. A few even turned into question marks and sad faces.
"Done for?" Meléte parroted. "What on earth are you talking about, mortal? I'm about to destroy you."
Leo barked out a laugh. "And if you do, you will activate the death link that sends you into oblivion!"
"Death link?" Thelxinόe frowned, "No such magic exists."
"Yes it does. It's the most advanced spell in the world- only three people in all of history were ever privy to the information needed to cast it." Leo puffed out his chest as much as he could within the restraints. "And I'm one of them." He poured as much conviction as he could into the words, praying that the Muses' wouldn't call his ruse.
Meléte cocked an eyebrow, glancing at Thelxinόe, "Is that true?"
"No. It isn't..." But the goddess didn't sound so sure anymore. "He lies!"
"Try me." Leo countered with considerable heat. "I've bound you with a Greek-Egyptian-Latin hybrid spell so powerful, it will scatter your atoms to the stars."
Arche spoke up, having remained silent for most of the exchange. "I feel no such magic binding me. The mortal is bluffing. Kill him."
"It's undetectable magic." The demigod sputtered, desperately trying to maintain face. Nevertheless, Leo's heart rate ratcheted up a few notched as Meléte's weapon reclaimed it's position at his neck. "Can't say I didn't warn you! I hope you enjoy oblivion."
"Your threats do not frighten me, mortal." Arche said.
"Then maybe that will."
As one, the Muses looked up, following Leo's gaze. A ring of green vials perched precariously on the upper balcony, the jade contents churning angrily in the glass confines. Standing at the west corner was none other than Zia, her hands extended, fingers spread wide. At Leo's cue, she clenched them into fists.
The containers shattered.
And all Hades broke loose.
Emerald flames licked at the air, cascading down the stone walls as if they were dry tinder. Zia angled her arms down and out, directing the fire to race across the floor towards the goddesses. The only Muse who didn't look at all worried was Arche, the goddess raising her palm to the flames and casting the zig-zag hieroglyph spell. Fire and water collided, the former sizzling and hissing at its counter element. But the jade inferno blazed onwards, unhindered by the magic.
Arche's brows furrowed, the Muse taking a hesitant step back. "How?"
"Like you said." Zia snarled, "Perfectly balanced magic is remarkably durable." And with a yell, the Egyptian magician sent the Greek Fire crashing over the goddesses.
But even caught flat footed, the Muses' were fast. Arche made a lunge for the Staff of Serapis, snatching the rod away and shouting, "Aspída!" Shield.
The other Muses quickly followed suit, forming their own barriers against the all-consuming flames. The restraints binding Leo loosened as the goddesses concentration shifted from him to the new threat. The demigod wriggled out of the ropes, watching as the magical shields wavered under Zia's constant barrage.
Arche's barrier was holding up the best, and Zia seemed to notice, focusing the brunt of the flames at the tall goddess. Gritting her teeth, Arche placed both hands on the staff, spreading them wide to brace herself. Her shield rippled with fresh red energy.
They needed to get that staff away from her, pronto. But if her grip was even half as strong as her sister's… the demigod rubbed his healed neck, recalling how much strength the youngest Muse had possessed.
They'd have to find another way to get the rod away from the goddess.
What Leo did next was so impulsive and dangerous he should've been named ADHD poster child of the year. He pulled a large spanner wrench from his tool belt, darting forwards. Arche's gaze shifted to the demigod as he pulled level with her. But it was too late. Holding the wrench like a baseball bat, Leo swung with everything he had, bisecting the space between Arche's hands.
CRACK!
Fin! Thanks for reading!
Final things:
First, to aRTsyisAwesome: No Percy this time. This is a second-main character quest, supporting cast ONLY! Haha :P To answer your question, yes... I think. I am (as you can probably tell with these last two chapters) attempting to roughly follow Riordan's crossover stories. They weren't bad, far from it, but I wanted to expand on what he could've done. So yes, there is a 99% chance of a demigod merging with an egyptian god. Still haven't decided which ones yet. Thanks for the review!
Secondly, to Fiction is the Truth: Haha- YES! Exactly. Although... I don't think the Muses really cared all that much ;P Thanks for the review!
Next, to Elise142: Good eye :) I'm glad someone caught the references. I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to the last chapter!
To surya: Aww... thanks so much! I hope you continue to enjoy reading the story :) Thanks for the review!
To Winterleaf123: I'm honored by your praise :D Here's the 'more' you need, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
To DarthDestroyer2: Haha. Yeah, someone actually left me that as a review. Rude, right? Like, at least tell me what kind of cheese you like- gouda? cream harvarti? swiss? provolone? american? cheese demon? A little context would've been helpful. ;) Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
To RadioDog77: Annabeth and Carter will be in the next chapter. It's been a good- what, 3?- chapters since we caught up with them. Glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the review :)
To Guest (Ch. 12): I'm not Uncle Rick in disguise. I promise ;P If I was, I wouldn't have to post this story on fanfiction, I'd just publish it. Thanks for the review! It made me smile :)
To demi-witchdaughterofHades: Oh yes, I have a triple black belt in the art of hanging cliffs. And yes, Leo is Greek thank-you-very-much. Though... the Muses' didn't really seem to care all that much. It's a wonder why ;P Thanks for the review!
That's all for now, folks! Thanks to all my readers for your continued support and patience. I'm not the fastest writer in the fandom, but I'm honored that so many of you have stuck with this story up until now.
It seems like 3 weeks is the average amount of time it takes for me to get a chapter out... so I'm going to officially start a schedule of updating once every three weeks. If I can get a chapter out sooner, I will. But if not, three weeks will be my latest deadline. Deal? Cool :)
As always, I crave your input. I long for you critiques. I swoon for your commentary. (You know the drill) Drop me a review if you have the time, I value them all, and it's a great motivator :)
Until next time!
-Ardoa88
p.s. Greek Translations: Déno = Bind, Katastrépste ton pýrgo sas = Destroy your tower, Aspída = Shield
p.p.s. Egyptian Translations: Was = Water,Suh-FAH = Loosen, Taerif nafsak bila mawt waqawiat mithl... aldawda = Know that I am deathless and strong as the... worm
p.p.p.s Spanish Translations: Consumir su vida = Consume your life