The First Son of Artemis Book Two: A Mother Trapped
Nicolette Cassidy, Daughter of Apollo.
The monster army, didn't fight like a normal army. We stood there, in our ranks, Ares in front, in a shield wall, Hephestus behind them, my brothers and sisters from Apollo all behind them with bows ready. I was in the middle of them all, with Nico right next to me. It was about 5 o'clock in the morning and the sun was just rising. We had been here for almost two hours waiting now. Everyone was growing restless, the younger campers were starting to grow tired. My focus didn't waver however, my eyes rarely left Zeus's fist. I kept one hand on the sword that my father had given me, I decided to call it 'Dawn', since Percy told me all the best swords had names. The golden armor I also got from my father glimmered in the morning sun.
With our army on one side, and the fist on the other side, it was like one of those cheesy western movies. The silence was defining, it was like waiting for the other person to draw. What was going to happen first, were we going to get tired of waiting and break positions? Or would the enemy army attack.
I turned to Nico, "Are you sure they were close last time you felt?" I asked the son of Hades.
He shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head. "I don't get it, they were right near us last time I felt down into the ground." He said.
I sighed, and walked to the front of our army. "ALRIGHT! EVERYONE WE'RE MOV-."
Just as I said that, the fist shook. Everyone became frozen in their tracks. We all turned over to the entrance to the labyrinth that was just below. I could see the traps the Beckendorf and his siblings had laid out. Trip mines, they shot out shrapnel when stepped on. I slowly grabbed my sword from my hip, and brought it out. Now it was finally time, i took in a long deep breath as the ground rumbled, only louder and more violent this time.
After that, the entrance to the fist, exploded.
Everyone screamed, and out of the entrance all at once, monsters started to pour out! Explosions went off from the trip mines in front of the entrance. The sheer amount of hellhounds, dracaena, and Cyclopes and other monsters overwhelmed all the traps. Of course many of them were killed, but the number was only a fraction of the army. Clarisse began barking out for her siblings to hold strong on the shield wall, as arrows, rocks, and other projectiles came flying over the river. The Hephestus kids stayed behind the Ares shield wall, the noise was defining, but I looked over to Nico who had his sword out, and looked anxious.
"NICO, HOLD THE FRONT!" I yelled to him, he nodded and I ran back towards our archers.
I found Ella, the young girl from Hermes cabin who was serving as a message runner. I leaned down and yelled over the noise.
"RUN AND TELL SELINA AND CONNOR TO LIFT OFF NOW! TELL MALCOM AS SOON AS THEY CROSS THE RIVER TO CHARGE!" I told her, she nodded her understanding and with blazing speed she took off down the river towards the Stolls and Malcom.
I looked over towards the archers, who had not started to fire yet, per my orders. I looked at my siblings, they were in a tight line, all with quivers ready.
"LET'S SHOW THEM THE STRENGTH OF APOLLO!" I yelled holding up one arm.
My siblings let out a cheer, and all got ready to fire. I looked back, and the forces of Kronos were still pouring out of the fist. More traps going off was slowing their advance, but they were starting to accumulate enough troops to make the traps obsolete. They were slowly but surely marching towards the river. I held my hand in the air, standing in front of my line of siblings.
"APOLLO CABIN! READY YOUR ARROWS!" I shouted. All of my siblings armed their bows with an arrow.
I watched the monster army slowly march closer towards the river. I needed to wait for the perfect time to fire.
"DRAW!" I yelled, keeping my arm in the air.
Wait for it, wait for it. I told myself, it wasn't the right time just yet. Every Apollo cabin had an arrow raised and ready to fire. Some campers had even lit the ends of the arrow-head on fire from nearby torches. The whole lot of them were so concentrated I could practically see the sweat begin to drip from their brows.
Just as the first troop entered the river, I heard a loud whinny. I looked up in the air, and sure enough, right on time, the Stoll brother and Selina were riding through the air!
"LET'S SHOW THEM WHAT WE GOT CONNOR!" Travis yelled, as he began to rain bombs down from atop his Pegasus.
The Stoll's and the Aphrodite campers started raining down bombs from the air onto the advancing army. Some of the bombs caused the monsters to stop what they were doing and start dancing the robot on the spot. Others caused some monsters to hug the one closest to them. One bomb made a cyclops drop his club in the middle of the river and start singing some opera song.
All of the forces that were out of the labyrinth right now, were occupied either dancing, singing, or hugging one another. I smirked, I knew the Stolls wouldn't let us down with what they had.
"ARCHERS! FIRE!" I yelled to all my siblings. All at once a huge wave of arrows flew over the river and hit anything they could reach on the monster side.
A storm of golden dust from the killed monsters settled all over the opposite end of the riverbank. "FIRE AT WILL!" I yelled to them.
More and more monsters began to pour out. Arrows were flying in both directions, and cried from the monsters got louder and louder. Nico ran back and joined me behind the shield wall. He kneeled down next to me and everyone held their ground waiting for them to cross the river and for the real battle to begin.
"This is going well so far." Nico yelled to me as we kneeled down behind the line.
I nodded my head and yelled back. "Yeah key words 'So far.' The Stolls and the archers can only hold them for so long! There's so many of them!" I yelled ducking out of the way of a flaming arrow from the monster side.
I looked over at the line of archers and they all looked like they were running low on arrows. If they crossed the river the real fighting would begin. We needed more demi-gods for that. I looked back at Nico who looked like he was having a swell time.
"Nico! Run to the forest, tell Katie to bring herself and the rest of Demeter to the front! Shadow travel so it'll be faster!" I yelled to him.
The monsters were in the river now, and slowly but surely making their way across. Nico saw this and nodded to me. "Try not to die while I'm gone!" He yelled before snapping his fingers and disappearing in a puff of shadows.
I stood up, and ran over to Clarisse who was in the middle of the shield wall. "Tell everyone to hold when they cross the river! Malcom is coming in on the chariots! I don't want you guys getting caught in the middle of it!" I told her.
She nodded her head and yelled to her siblings. "ARES! SHIELD WALL! HOLD!"
Every Ares camper locked their shield together just as the first monster, a dracaena crossed the river and came running straight for the line of shields. She ran right into Clarisse's spear before disappearing into dust. More soon came, and within a few seconds of them being across, I could hear hooves start trampling on the ground! Malcom and the rest of the Athena cabin came riding into the battle with five chariots and Athena campers on all of them.
They fired arrows and swung swords from the sides of them and just as a bulk of the monsters crossed the lines. They cut them down like wheat and a loud cheer went up from the camp half-blood side! Malcom and his siblings dismounted the chariots and came to join the rest of us, just as another wave of monsters came pouring out of the entrance to Zeus's fist. There was also a mix of other demi-gods who had gone over to the side of Kronos.
"There's too many of them!" One of the Stoll's yelled.
"That just means we gotta kill more! COME ON! THIS IS WHAT WE TRAIN FOR! CAMP HALF-BLOOD! CHARGE!" I yelled to them as the monsters sprinted across the river, with no traps to stop them.
That was when all Hades broke loose. The monsters crossed the river and crashed with us. Nico had returned with the kids from the Demeter cabin, and himself. He joined the fray but it was still not enough to combat the sheer numbers the monsters. I cut down every monster I saw with 'Dawn,' the sword was light and perfectly balanced for me. I ducked a sword blow and stabbed it into the back of a cyclops, just as I heard a dagger wiz past my head, even cutting off a part of my ponytail.
I turned, and my blood boiled. It was the same cyclops women who had kidnapped Jay, and started off this whole thing. She was twirling a dagger between her fingers, with a smug look in her one eye. She had three of her hellhounds next to her all bearing their teeth ready to rip me to shreds.
I gripped the end of my ponytail that had been cut off. I shouted over to her. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" I shouted.
"You're more than welcome to try!" She shouted back before throwing another dagger at me.
I ducked and ran forward with my sword pointed. One of the hellhounds jumped at me, but right before it could maul me, a giant puff of shadow appeared in front of me! Nico was standing there, with his sword up. He slashed through the hellhound causing it to wail and splatter into blackness.
"Go on Nikki you take care of her! I got the dogs." He said confidently, he whistled and the hellhounds came charging after him.
After my shock wore off I charged at her again. He tossed two more daggers at me, one nicked my across my cheek, and one embedded itself in the shoulder of my armor. Wow, thanks dad. I thought to myself, as I pulled the dagger from my shoulder and kept my course. She pulled out a longer blade and swung it down at me. I blocked it, and tried to sweep down at her legs. She jumped back and swung her sword down on me. I rolled out of the way and on the way up I slashed my sword up the back of her leg.
She screamed in pain, before charging at me herself. The sheer speed of her strikes were hard for me to keep up with. I felt blood tickling down my cheek. The sounds of battle were all around me, battle cries, and swords clashing pierced my ears. I ran at her, and just as she went to swing her blade at me I slid underneath it, and brought my sword up, and stabbed it right through her back!
"This is for Jay and Nico." I whispered into her ear, before pulling my sword form her body. As soon as I did, the Cyclopes Nico told me they called 'One eyed Jenny,' was dead.
I felt a small moment of pride for myself, when Will Solace one of my brothers came running up to me.
"Nikki! We're being overrun, Castor's gone, and so is Lee!" He yelled to me.
"WHAT!? Lee's dead!?" I yelled, not being able to believe it.
Lee Fletcher had been like a big brother to me. Not only was he the head of Apollo cabin, he was easily the best archer out of all of them. Castor was a son of Dionysus, he had been really kind to me always… We needed to hold out longer though.
"Alright! Tell everyone to fall back to-."
"LOOK OUT!" Will yelled pulling me to the ground. An arrow whizzed past my head, and coming out of the water of the river a group of three dracaena were charging right at Will me! Will shielded me with his arms, but a blow never came. I looked up and opened my mouth in amazement. The dracaena were all being held upside-down by the water! They were flung across the battlefield, and I stood up a smile creeping onto my face.
"What the heck was that!?" Will asked frantically.
I turned heard a loud cry of a bird, and I looked up into the air. "There's only one person I know who can manipulate water like that!" I yelled.
Their timing was impeccable. Up above me, were Percy Jackson and Jason Nicholson! They were flying on top of Jay's falcon Agatha! Jay stood up and took in a long breath before leaping from her back, before doing a backflip in mid-air, and landing onto the back of a giant cyclops who had just entered the battle!
He took it down in one blow, and the cyclops tumbled into dust! Agatha came swooping down, and Percy jumped off and landed right into the water. He commanded the water to his will and caused it to sweep the monster right onto their feet. He pulled out his sword riptide and began to hack away at anything that moved.
Across the river from the fist monsters were still pouring out, but out of nowhere, the ground shook again! A huge crater opened up right in front of the fist, sucking down any monsters in tendrils of dark mist. I looked over and smiled, it was Bianca DiAngelo with her brother, bringing down anything that came out of the fist!
I forgot I was in the middle of the battle until I heard a loud cry from behind me. I turned and saw a cyclops with an axe raised, ready to chop my head off! Before it could, it stood there stunned, before crumbling into dust. I hadn't seen anybody stab it at all, I looked around, and then out of nowhere, I saw something shimmer. Out of nowhere, Annabeth appeared right in front of me, with her New York Yankees cap in her hands and a smirk on her face.
"Annabeth!" I yelled hugging her quickly.
She pulled away and her stormy grey eyes had a fierce look to them. "It's good to see you Nikki! Now come on we need to get to Jay, we have a plan!" She told me.
We ran through the crowd, the two of us hacking away any monster that stood in our way. The tide of battle was turning, everyone became inspired by the presence of Jay, Percy, Annabeth and Bianca. It was like a new confidence came over every hero, and they all fought with a new sense of vigor. When we finally reached Jay, who was now fighting side by side with Percy, I was amazed.
I always knew Jay was good, but I had never seen him fight like he was fighting now. He looked like a silver whirlwind, I guessed being kept underground for so long, finally being back near the forest gave him a new sense of vigor. He wasn't even using his daggers, he had his bow out, and was firing shots faster than any of us ever could. He was wielding his bow almost as if it doubled as a sword. I saw him shoot one monster, then vault using his bow and kicking another one in the chest, which sent him over to Percy who slashed him open with riptide.
When he finally spotted me he smiled. "Nikki, how's it going!?" He yelled sounding absolutely delighted.
"We were almost dead in the water! Good thing you guys showed up!" I yelled before slashing my sword through a hellhound.
"We got them on the run! Jay, is it time for the plan man?" Percy yelled over, slashing away with riptide.
Jay nodded his head. "I got it!" He yelled before bringing two fingers to his mouth. He let out a sharp whistle. "HUNTERS! NOW!" He yelled.
From the trees a crackle of lightning came, and fried a group of monsters who had just crossed the river! Out of the trees silver arrows came flying out by the dozens. The Hunters of Artemis rushed in from the trees and began to start cutting down anything they saw, they were led by Thalia Grace, who killed anything in her way with her spear, her shield Aegis, causing all the monsters to cower.
Before anyone could even yell charge. A large boulder got thrown towards the monster army, sending them all crashing down and dissolving into golden dust. It was Briaris! The hundred handed one, with Tyson tossing boulders towards the army!
"Is that Daedalus!?" Jay yelled as we watched the retreating army.
"It is! YES!" Percy yelled jumping up and pumping his fist in the air.
A loud cheer came up from the campers! The monsters were on the run, and were running back towards Zeus's fist, but were only cut off by Nico and Bianca's craters. They had nowhere to run at all.
"Well, it looks like we-." Annabeth started, before again, all Hades broke loose.
Out of the labyrinth sending rocks flying everywhere, burst Kampe. She was easily the ugliest monster I had ever seen. A belt around her waist that switched between animal heads, holding two swords dripping poison. All the nature spirits, dryads, and satyrs retreated from her, and the campers fled. This gave the monsters the chance to re-group, they started marching towards our lines again.
"We have to take her out!" Jay yelled.
"Even Zeus had a hard time taking her down! It's easier said than done!" Annabeth said.
Jay turned to us all and smirked. "Ha, I've heard that before. I'll take care of her! Percy, you and Nikki regroup everyone."
"Jay wait it's-." I started to yell.
But it was too late, the first son of Artemis was charging towards one of the most dangerous monsters of all time.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Jason Nicholson, Son of Artemis.
I don't know what's gotten into me this battle, being in the forest again just felt so good. It invigorated me. I don't know why I charged at Kampe, but I knew that it would help save my friends, so I did it. She was without a doubt one of the hardest monsters I've ever had to fight.
She was a lot bigger than me. She swung one of her swords towards me and I ducked and tried to slash at her waist, which was now a bear's head, but the head snatched my dagger out of my hand and flung it aside. Thinking as quickly as I could, I pulled out my bow and loaded an arrow, in a second I fire an arrow at the bears head, and it hit its target right in its eye. This only enraged her more and the head changed to the head of a bloodthirsty tiger.
I fire another one at that head, but Kampe flew over to me, and kicked me back down into the river. She came to slam her sword into me, but before she could, a wall of straight black obsidian came up right in front of me. From behind me, Bianca jumped in front with an arrow aimed right at Kampe.
"Nobody, touches my boyfriend! And certainly nobody attacks my boyfriend other than me!" She shouted firing an arrow right into the eye of the tiger at Kampe's waist.
Kampe reeled from the pain. Bianca turned to me and helped me to my feet. "You're the best do you know that?" I asked her.
She smiled at me. "Of course I do. Now distract her, I know a way to get rid of her." She ordered me.
I wasn't about to not follow her orders. I rushed at Kampe, jumping, leaping, giving her little stabs with my daggers, and she never knew what hit her next. I heard Bianca let out a scream and two walls of obsidian came up on both sides of her!
"Jay, get out of the way!" She yelled.
I flipped out of the way of one of her sword strikes, and landed next to Bianca. Her hands were glowing with black energy. She flicked both her hands up again, and two more walls came up, trapping Kampe between four walls of impenetrable obsidian. The next thing that happened reminded me that I should never get on Bianca's bad side, ever. She let out a loud battle cry and slammed her fist into the ground! A large gaping pit opened up around Kampe, and a loud tendril of black darkness pulled the four obsidian walls, with Kampe included down into the depths of Tartarus.
I looked over at Bianca with a look of amazement. She looked over at me and smiled lightly before reaching for her head, and almost falling over. I caught her in my arms, just as a loud cheer went up from every camper in camp half-blood. I turned around and looked towards the battlefield. Every monster was gone, and the labyrinth entrance was shaking. The ground shook, and I held Bianca tight to not let her fall. The entrance to the labyrinth at the base of Zeus's fist was covered, and it didn't look like anyone was getting back out towards our campers.
Every camper was cheering, but I was worried about Bianca. She stirred in my arms and rose to her feet by herself. She still looked amazing despite we were just in battle. I never really took the time to admire just how beautiful she really was. Her 15th birthday was June 30th, so it would be her birthday in a few days. She always liked to joke with me how she was older than me. My birthday was July 2nd so she was a few days older.
Right now she was wearing a camp T-shirt, and a pair of jean shorts. Her body was perfectly curved, and her hair sprawled out down to her shoulders in a ponytail. Her dark green eyes were beautiful, her face was flawless, and every inch of her was tanned. Any guy would be lucky to have her, and I was that guy. It was hard to believe that she could drag your soul down to Tartarus if you made her angry enough.
"You alright B?" I asked her holding her waist to steady her.
She nodded her head, holding one hand to it. She looked up to me with her sweet eyes. "Ughhh, i…I'm alright. Did… did we win?" She asked.
I laughed and cupped her cheek softly with my hand. "Haha, yes, we won, and you, you amazing daughter of Hades you, saved my life." I told her.
She laughed lightly and leaned her forehead against mine. "Well, I can't let anyone hurt you now can I?" She said.
I said the only thing that was on my mind. "I love you, you know that?" I said softly.
She smiled wider then I had ever seen her before. "I know. And I love you to." She said.
She kissed me, and everything that had happened to me in the last week or so, didn't matter. She kept kissing me and hugged me as tight as she could. And for the first time in the last week or so, I was completely happy.
A:N) AWWWWW I love writing those Janca scenes so much. I love writing anything with Bianca in it in this story. She only had half a book, so it's really great to be able to expand on her character.
So I really hope you guys are liking this book, because the next chapter will be its last :( after that we will start the last book of the PjO arc! Also, it's almost the end of school for me, which means much faster updates!
I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please please please leave a review guys, even the words 'good job' make me so happy in a review. So please, take a minute and write what you liked and what you looked forward to, it'll mean so much to me.
The more reviews I get tends to determine how fast I update, because the reviews usually inspire me.
So as usual guys, thank you so much for reading this! You guys are all amazing! Have a lovely day, goodbyeeeeee!:)