Wow. Two chapters in one week. And, again, this is a long chapter. Don't worry, guys, this isn't finished yet. I'm anticipating another two chapters, maybe three depending on how things work out.

A warning to those who understand Greek. There is swearing in this. I've also got a translation at the end of the chapter, so I guess that warning carries over as well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

The Cursed Demigod

Chapter 25 – How It Ended

I've heard of people losing their friends to cancer or a freak accident or something like that. Most of the time, those people weren't there when it happened. I've even heard the story of how Annabeth had saved Percy's life during the battle of Manhattan. But considering she was still leading my cabin, I was almost certain that she had survived. Percy had even said that Apollo had healed her after the battle had been won. They were nothing compared to this.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Karla and Glade were running towards Lysias with weapons raised. I'm not sure where Apollo was during all of this, but I think he was minding our bags. It would make sense seeing as the gods weren't actually supposed to be helping demigods on their quests. My hands had gone all clammy and sweaty. And only one thing buzzed through my mind. Why him?

John's agonizing scream pierced my ears like a high soprano shattering glass. The colour of his blood was staining my own vision. And the scent was making my wolf squirm inside of me. The ring on my finger was burning into my skin, but I couldn't turn away from the scene. My stomach was going on a rollercoaster ride again, but my chest felt hollow. A lump had formed in my throat and was threatening to kill me through suffocation. But was I really still alive?

Finally Lysias let go of John's shoulder, forcing the son of Apollo to his knees. I don't know how the ghost wolf had managed to clasp his jaws around my best friend's shoulder when he was positioned for the neck, nor did I care. I was seeing red. This guy had already killed my father. And I have every right to blame him for the deaths of the rest of my family. But he had no right to claim my friend as his own. None!

" Μπορείτε κάθαρμα!" I screamed… but my voice wasn't my own.

That's right. Come. I was almost certain that he would be speaking Ancient Greek if he hadn't died as a wolf.

I don't know what it was, but that ticked me off so bad I practically flew at the ghost. Kleitos was in my hand in sword form. My bow was forgotten on the ground where I had once been standing. And my fury was indescribable. Even Karla looked slightly scared as I flew at the ghost. But what satisfied me most was when Kleitos slipped deep into Lysias' neck with silent ease and devastating effects.

I have one question. Can ghosts change their colour? If not, then I want to know why this one turned red. I also want to know how I managed to actually wound this ghost because I'm pretty sure you can't wound something that's already dead. Which leads me to my next question. Is this guy even a ghost? Because he seemed pretty transparent a few minutes ago. Seriously. How, in the name of Hades and the rest of the Olympians, did I manage to do that?

If I had time to look shocked, I probably would have. But there were a lot of things that took that time instead. The first thing was that I was still pretty angry with my ancestor for attacking my best friend. The second was that I could hear Karla, Glade and Apollo trying to ease John's pain. The third was that Lysias's howl of pain and anger was edging me on. And the forth, and probably the most important thing, was John screaming.

That was the only thing that made me withdraw Kleitos and stab again. Lysias, however, had different plans. He leapt, dodging my initial attack to his neck, and tried to get his fangs into my already injured shoulder, probably trying to hurry my death along by giving me a new dose of poison that he could control. But Kleitos seemed to have plans of its own. I prayed that was Karla's doing because I did not want to think about a sword having a mind of its own.

" Πώς τολμάς να σκοτώσει τον αδελφό μου!" I growled as Kleitos plunged itself into Lysias's shoulder.

Just think of it this way. You will no longer be lonely when you become part of me. He, like you, only has a few hours left to live. I swear that sadist was laughing as he said that.

" Μπορείτε γαμημένο μπάσταρδος!"

I told you, Lysias. Nothing will stand in my way to kill you. The ghost wolf growled in reply.

" Ορκίζομαι στον ποταμό Στύξ ότι εγώ είμαι πρόκειται να σας γαμήσω τόσο άσχημα που δεν θα ξέρουν τι γαμημένο αιματηρή σας χτυπήσει!"

" Lee, mind your language!" I heard Glade yell as thunder boomed above us.

To be honest, I didn't care about my language. I only cared for the fact that I had just made an eternal oath to kill my ancestor. Again. So it was that we fought tooth and claw against shield and sword as the sun began its slow descent below the horizon. And that's when it came to me. Desperately I called over my shoulder to Karla, telling her my brilliant yet slightly insane plan. Karla, being Karla, kept yelling at me to concentrate more on the battle and less on the things that were happening around me. So I'm not sure if any of this got through to her. Hopefully it did. I never thought I'd say this, but my life depends on her.

Finally I managed to swipe under Lysias's stomach, spilling all sorts of disgusting things that I didn't know even existed in a ghost. And the smell! Now that was another story. I decided to go on what Glade and Karla told me later about the putrid stench. My mind was kind of on a one way track to killing the guy I was fighting. Of course, I didn't go without my own wounds. But he did catch me off guard when he nearly ripped my arm off a few seconds later. The only thing that stopped him was an arrow in his side.

" I don't understand this, wolf-boy." Karla growled, my bow in her hands. " How can your weapons penetrate his shield?"

" What do you- woah!" I dodged another low branch and Lysias's claws before trying again to speak. " What do you mean?"

" I mean this guy's got a shield around him. Look!"

She picked up a large rock and aimed it at the ghost's head. It sailed straight through him and landed in his stomach a few feet away with a sickening slurp. It was just as disgusting as it sounds. The unfortunate thing about Karla sending a large rock through the head of an already angry ghost was that said ghost went after her. So I went after the ghost to protect her from him. All this time, however, I was trying to make it so that I wasn't transforming before I could destroy the curse.

That was when Lysias scratched at Karla. Don't get me wrong, she did dodge his initial attack which was probably to poison her as well. But seeing her blood being drawn by my ancestral monster just made me angrier. And the fact that Glade was following me with another one of my arrows kind of didn't look right. Either way, I don't know how it happened, but a drop of Karla's blood found itself on my ring… and the burning intensified.

Somewhere during the mass chaos that followed, I found myself thinking about my father's last words. He had said something about calming the spirit of the white wolf. Judging by the way Karla, Glade and I were in mass chaos against the spirit of the white wolf, I would say that that was a definite fail. Then my father had said something about four drops of blood destroys the vial that connects my blood to the curse. I didn't understand it, but it definitely explained the burning of my finger that the ring was currently bent on. And that was when I noticed a flaw in my father's words.

Everything was leaning on Karla basically killing me. And if that happened, then Lysias would be destroyed because, really, his own poison would be working against him. But dad had said that the vial had to be destroyed after we had destroyed Lysias which would collide with the whole ice of hate turning into fire of love thing that he was so keen about. Personally, I think in his drunken state, he got his facts mixed up.

It made more sense if we broke the vial first before we killed Lysias, that way the spirit of the white wolf had nothing to fall back on if and when he was destroyed. I wanted him dead for the rest of eternity, stuck in the underworld where Hades could do whatever he pleased to him. I didn't want him corrupting another innocent youth into claiming his blood if they ever got their hands on the vial that was around my neck. Unfortunately I had been thinking for too long because the next thing I knew was that I had a massive ghost wolf attached to my side and pinning me to the ground. How did I know this? The pain was unbearable.

You think that your little playgroup can harm me? You make me laugh. To prove his point, Lysias laughed.

I spat out a wad of blood at him. " We've been doing a pretty good job of it so far, if you haven't noticed. But I don't think you have considering you're already dead. And because you're already dead, you really shouldn't be able to feel this. Glade, now!"

Glade came charging out of nowhere, waving his crutches around like a madman…er, satyr. It was the only time I ever felt sorry for the ghost wolf. From what I could see out of my wavering vision, Glade was swinging those metal poles around and actually managing to hit him. I'm not joking. One of them ended up in Lysias's eye and so Glade was sent on a little ride of his own as Lysias tried to extract the crutch. If it wasn't scary I would have been laughing.

" By the gods, Glade! Can you not get yourself into trouble?" Karla called out, trying to work out the scene herself.

" Unfortunately, no!" Glade replied, though it sounded weird considering he was being thrown around the place.

" Let go!" I yelled, just as the burning of my ring began to get excruciating.

He managed to let go, though it was at the cost of his right arm. Lysias had bitten it clean off in his attempt to get the crutch out of his eye. Now it just lay there on the ground. The bad thing: Glade had now become left-handed. He was going to have to relearn everything. The good thing: the crutch was still embedded into Lysias's eye. Or was that a bad thing? Either way, he was distracted which was the main thing.

" Great. Now you're both hurt. And John and I are dying. I didn't want this." I panted.

" Shut up. It'll just make things worse." Karla growled, stuffing a square of ambrosia into my mouth.

The godly food did enough to ease the pain in my side and settle my wavering vision, but that was all. What it didn't do, however, was staunch the blood that was pouring out of my side. Karla was desperately trying to stop the bleeding – pouring nectar over the wounds where she dared or stuffing random bits of fabric over the wounds to try and soak up the blood – but I was already feeling myself beginning to lose consciousness. If I didn't die of poison, I'd die of blood loss. That I was sure about.

" Lee. Hang in there." Glade's voice sounded from somewhere to the right of my head.

" Where's John?" I choked, more blood spilling from my mouth.

" What?"

" …John."

" Lord Apollo's with him."

" That ring is messed up." Karla randomly announced.

" What?" I weakly managed, though my vision was dimming.

" Your ring is glowing. Is it supposed to do that?"

I tried to focus on my ring and, sure enough, it was glowing. A silvery red colour, though I was sure that was because of the blood that it was covered in. That was when I realised that my hand had gone numb with the pain that the burning had caused. For some strange reason, I looked to the horizon. At max, I had about ten minutes before my transformation actually began. Then my ears picked up on the angry yet victorious howl which alerted me to the fact that Lysias had succeeded on removing the crutch from his eye.

Your attacks are futile, Lysias. You are only postponing the inevitable. The ghost growled.

" Oh, shut your trap you annoying phantasma!" Karla growled back.

" Karla…" I sighed.

" You shut your trap too." But her growl was filled with worry when it was directed towards me.

But I was persistent. " Karla, I…"

" Need to shut up." Apparently she was too. What did I see in her?

" No. Listen."

That's right, pup. Say your final prayers. They will be the last thing anyone hears before I destroy you all. Lysias laughed. We ignored him.

" What?"

My eyes locked onto Karla's and I just managed to make out the little lost puppy in them. But there was something different about that puppy, like it had found something that it didn't want to leave behind. I didn't like that look. I'd seen too many people and animals with that look in their eyes when something different, for bad or worse, was about to happen. But, unlike with those times, I wanted to try and do something about it. Weakly, I tried to raise my hand to hers. The only thing I accomplished was managing to move it the tiniest bit towards the vial that was lying on open ground. She ended up moving her hand to mine.

" What?" She repeated, quietly.

Ten minutes very quickly turned to five when I realised that Lysias was charging again.

" If… if something happens that I… that I don't make it out alive," I had to stop to in order to catch my breath.

" Go on." Karla urged, clearly not liking what I was trying to say.

" I want you to know… that I think I've fallen for you."

" Nice play on words."

" I mean it Karla. I think I love you."

Time seemed to slow down again as I watched Karla struggle to find the right words to say to my confession. I found myself praying to Aphrodite that she wouldn't reject me. I also found myself praying to Hades that he would allow me enough time on Earth to at least give her just one kiss… even if it was on the cheek. Unfortunately, our short confession time was interrupted by our now one-handed satyr friend.

" I know this is a touchy moment and everything, but we're running out of time." Glade said, spurring Karla into grabbing Kleitos from beside me and rushing to meet Lysias.

Great. Not only do I lose my chance at finding out if Karla returned my feelings or thought I was a complete idiot, but I also lose my sword. And I think I forgot to mention that I might be losing my life as well. Now I seriously hated my ancestor with a burning passion that made my wolf want to claw at my insides and unleash its full fury. Of course, something had to make me stop and this time it was the fading glow of my ring.

' Strike the bloodied ring to the vial.' My father's words echoed through my head.

" Glade." I called weakly, still trying to move my hand; this time to the vial.

" Yeah, buddy?" The satyr replied.

" I need your help. I can't move my arm."

" Where do you want it?"

" I want it to smash that accursed vial!" I wanted to say those words with so much hate and passion but my weakened state wouldn't let me.

" You want me to…" I don't think Glade understood.

" The ring needs to… strike the vial or the curse won't… be lifted. And I'm running out of time."

Without another word, Glade raised my hand and positioned it so that my fist was closed over where the vial lay. I think Lysias must have realised what was going on because he yelled out a rather bad curse as he jumped over Karla and ran towards me and Glade. Thankfully, Glade was faster. Before the ghost wolf even had a chance to leap at Glade, the satyr brought my fist down and, with a satisfying crunch, the ring shattered the vial. Ancient blood spilled onto the ground, instantly being soaked up. The last little bit of Lysias and his father Herodes had gone back to the land. Now for the final encounter.

" Karla!" I tried to call.

Glade ended up getting her attention for me and she rushed over, swiping at Lysias as she did so.

" What is it?" she asked.

" It's time."

It took her a minute to realise what I meant, but when she did… " No, I won't!"

" Karla please."

" I'm not going to lose you!"

" There's no other choice. It has to be done."

" No!"

We argued like that, amusing Lysias and worrying Glade. But I was well aware of the time bomb that still hung over my head. Karla needed to shoot that arrow before the day ticked over. This was the most crucial part to destroying Lysias completely. This was that final chapter in the story of Pan's final curse. I had to finish it. I needed to see the curse finished for the rest of eternity… even if it meant living with poison for the rest of my life. I just needed to convince Karla that what she was doing was the right thing.

It took forever (or it seemed like forever), but she finally picked up my bow again and ran over to where John was lying with his father still working on trying to ease his pain. Thank the gods Glade had decided to distract Lysias while this was happening otherwise I was afraid that the ghost wolf would have managed to stop it from happening one way or another. Frankly, I didn't want to think about that. Instead, I watched in the glowing light of the stars above me as Karla dipped the arrow tip into the jar of poison that she had taken with her.

I prayed to every god I knew, especially the twin archers, that Karla would get the shot. I had a feeling that Karla was doing the same. She was probably willing the bow and arrow to do her bidding as well. But there was one slight problem. Lysias noticed what was going on, though. He tried desperately to prevent Karla from shooting the arrow, but Glade was a master at reed pipes as well as tree branches, crowbars and crutches. The satyr conjured up a bunch of thick vines to hold Lysias in place. That wolf had no choice but to watch as the arrow soared through the air, gold and silver light pulsing around it. Apollo and Artemis must have both heard us. Remind me to send them an offering of thanks if I ever manage to live through this.

The arrow met its mark. The poisoned tip sank into my chest and I felt my heart skip a few beats. Every muscle in my body went stiff. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes stung. Somewhere in my head I was almost sure I could hear my deceased ancestors having a celebration. I wasn't sure why though. If they were celebrating my death, I was sure I didn't want to join them. But I could hear the occasional cheers. Then their voices vanished back into nothingness. And my mind was instantly filled with agonising screams. All that vanished, however, when I heard her voice.

" Lee Harvey-King." Karla muttered, despite the distance between us. " I give you fifty-four years and six months to live."

I swear I could hear the tears in her voice. But that was when my world erupted in a blaze of white fire that I was sure was not natural. The last thing I remember seeing was the starlit, silver streak running down the right side of Karla's face.

And so completes the... wait, what am I saying? This isn't the end of story. It's only the end of the century old curse that was placed on Lee's family. You've probably figured that out by now, though. Maybe. Hopefully. Anyway...

translations: (please note that there is swearing)

'Μπορείτε κάθαρμα' = 'You bastard'

'Πώς τολμάς να σκοτώσει τον αδελφό μου' = 'How dare you kill my brother'

'Μπορείτε γαμημένο μπάσταρδος' = 'You f****** bastard'

'Ορκίζομαι στον ποταμό Στύξ ότι εγώ είμαι πρόκειται να σας γαμήσω τόσο άσχημα που δεν θα ξέρουν τι γαμημένο αιματηρή σας χτυπήσει' = 'I swear on the river Styx that I am going to f*** you so bad that you won't f****** know what bloody hit you'

I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the translations, but I did warn about language.

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed. Please R&R and tell me what you think.