Disclaimer: so I didn't write PJO and HoO, RR did and I am very thankful for it.

Author's note: 5/25/15 - I am almost done of writing this story. It will end around 40 something, almost 139,000 words and I am spent. The feedback has been so so. I understand some things and some are uncalled for. Well, that's how it is with criticism: either constructive and destructive. 4,282+ views

CH 25 "Weapon of Choice" (Theo)

"We are going in a minute" I said to my family while Lana was hugging me. My dad ushered everybody else out of the kitchen.

As soon as my family was out of sight, I kissed Lana with fervor. I wanted to forget the last 24 hours with her lips. She kissed me with equal fervor. There was an underlying fear of losing each other. I was always afraid of losing her, first against Rhode, second by my running out time, then by my stupidity, I should had never kissed Em, now she was attacked. The Dark Sword was toying with us. The message was loud and clear to me 'I can and I will destroy everyone you love'.

"How are you?" asked Lana and rubbed the tears of my face. I wasn't aware that I was crying.

"I should be the one asking you. You were attacked" I said and held a sob.

Lana nodded and kissed me again. She leaned against my chest with her hands on my back. She said against my beating heart "It was a flesh wound, and you?"

"Nothing serious. I'm just tired" I said honestly.

Lana looked up to me and held my face in her hands. She smiled sadly and said "I can see it. Did you sleep last night? At all?"

"Honestly, no" I said and I could feel the sum of my tiredness reminded me how worn out I was. I was honestly moving by my own stubbornness.

Her hands held mine and pulled me in direction of the stairs. She said "Let's go. I will take you to bed. We can discuss this later"

"No, I want to talk about this now. I can wait another hour" I said and I was half saying the truth. I wanted to discuss this whole situation. I wouldn't be able to rest otherwise.

"Sure?" asked Lana and I could see how much she wanted me to rest.

I pulled her to me and kissed her softly. I said "Yes, I promise you to sleep without any complain"

"I love you" said Lana with a bright loving smile. I felt like the biggest idiot for keeping the secret. How could I be doing this to her?

I cupped her face and kissed her one last time. I said looking straight at her eyes "I love you so much. You are my everything. You know that, right?"

She smiled and said softly "Theo. Em is fine. You don't have to feel that you were close to losing me too, just because Taylor was". She kissed the tip of my nose "How is he by the way?"

"Like a tick over Em" I joked and giggled. It felt like an impossible quest to convince Taylor to leave Em's side.

"It's understandable. He has lost his parents, his siblings; he only has Em and you, now" said Lana.

"He has Piper, my parents, Em's parents, my sisters, Calypso's family... He is not alone" I said because I knew he wasn't alone. He had more people that cared about him.

"It's not the same. For Taylor, Em and you are the most important people and probably his only people left" said Lana.

I got what she meant and I said "That doesn't make me feel any better. Taylor would never forgive me if something happened to Em"

"Em is fine" said Lana "I'm fine. You are not losing me or anyone. We will fight this together. We will win" She took my hand.

"We are hearing everything, so you better hurry up" said Claire "We know you love each other. Please, get moving"

"Claire, knock it off!" yelled Aida "Let them have their corny love scene"

"I bet you and Charlie are even worst… You know 'We are two girls. Our love is forbidden and bla bla', right?" said Claire loudly "Ouch! You hit me!"

"Girls, calm down!" said Annabeth annoyed.

"We better hurry" whispered Lana. I nodded and we sat down in the dinner room table. My sisters were facing each other and my dad between Aida and mom. We sat in front of my parents. The dagger was in the middle of the table for everybody to see. It was the way I like it: small, lean, sharp and easy to conceal. If anyone knew about this weapon was the one killing demigods, everybody would be right to be suspicious of me. This was my kind of weapon.

"Who wants to start?" asked Mom all business like.

"You already know what happened. The Dark Sword attacked me" said Lana.

"Specifics, please. Any detail could be important" said my mom.

Lana sighed and started her story as slowly as possible without being dull "Well, I was on my way to the train station when I saw horses eating a dog. I talked to them. They were called Dasher, Prancer and Rudolph. I know, silly names. Then they attacked me. I vanished one and I used water to corner them. They don't like water, apparently. When I was interrogating them, I was stabbed in the back. The horses came to me ready to eat me but I fought back. Then, the Dark Sword talked to me"

"What, exactly? Try to remember all the words" said my mom.

"He, I think it's a man. Well, he called me Triton's daughter. I asked him how he knew. He just told me to be more careful about my choices and words. I think he saw when I talked to Triton" said Lana.

"Triton visited you? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked looking at her.

"It was simple visit. We bounded over a soda. He wanted to see my dorm room and check that I was eating right" said Lana almost rolling her eyes "Also to stop me from dating you, nothing new and really important"

"What else?" asked my mom reminding us to focus.

"I asked him if he was Ewan. Of course, he denied it claiming that he was my worst nightmare. I yelled him that he wasn't hurting Theo or anyone else. The idiot laughed at me and called predictive. Before he disappeared, he said that I had to hurry because time was running out" said Lana and I wondered if the Dark Sword knew about my shoulder. Lana started to sob "I thought, I thought you were in danger, so I ran here. I was scared" I pulled her closer and let her cry on my shoulder.

"Is enough for you, mom?" I asked weakly, almost muttering to my mom.

"Theo, time is running out" barely whispered my mom and I knew what she meant. I was getting weaker and now they were attacking at us. We needed any clue we could get.

Suddenly, Claire said "I saw Ewan today."

"What? Where?" said Aida loudly. Lana stopped crying all together to stare at Claire with the same disbelief and surprise than everybody.

"When I took a walk around the hospital at lunch" said Claire.

"What happened?" asked my dad.

Claire looked at each and every one nervously. She said "Snakes, little annoying poisonous ones and I left my sword upstairs. I was at their mercy… Ewan saved me and he told me to join him, that war is coming and he is no longer on Zeus' side"

"You are saying that Ewan is the killer. Is he Dark Sword?" said Aida standing up upset "I will murder him for my grandma"

"I'm not saying that. He is NOT. He told me" said Claire standing up too. Both of my sisters were facing each other.

"Of course, let's believe the guy who killed our sister!" snorted Aida sarcastically.

"The Dark Sword told me the same" said Lana defending my youngest sister and Ewan.

"Okay, now let's believe that the bad one is actually saying the truth" snorted Aida once again. She was mocking my sister and girlfriend.

"Aida Matthews, that's not helping" I said hotly. Aida looked at me and I knew this wasn't over. Aida plainly hated Ewan, to the core. If she could blame anyone for anything, Ewan would be the first on her list.

"Okay. I will shut up in a moment, little brother" said Aida and sat down "Claire, I want you to tell me about your dream, step by step. We have 4 versions of the same evil thing. Let's compare notes"

"Ewan is not the Dark Sword. I'm telling you" said Claire annoyed.

"Whatever, 3 then" said Aida rolling her eyes.

Claire sat down, took a deep breath and said "Well, it was your grandparents' house and it was dark. I walked to the kitchen and I saw two people. The one with the cape and a white doctor mask"

"The Dark Sword" I said "Why attacking your grandma? She was a mortal"

"Maybe because she was my grandma" said Aida "Mortals had died too"

"The Dark Sword knew your grandma" said Claire, and Aida gasped loudly.

"How do you know?" Aida asked almost painfully.

"He" said Lana

"Or she" I said.

Claire hit the table annoyed "Whatever!… Like I was saying he or she said 'You are right…' about the kind of 'monster' I am… but, but. Arg! Something about her and your father. I don't remember what exactly"

"She said 'monster', right?" I asked.

"Or he" said Lana.

"It doesn't matter" said Claire annoyed.

"Do you have any idea what they were talking about?" asked my mom to Aida.

"Not at the slightest" answered Aida.

"Once your grandma was on the floor, the Dark Sword left with a hellhound" said Claire.

"I saw the hellhound too" I said "It attacked me first"

"So we are looking for a psycho with a humungous dog. That's something" said Aida "What about the dagger?"

"I didn't see the dagger. The Dark Sword attacked me with a long and lean sword, like a katana" I said and I took the dagger in my hand. I was right. It felt good. I would definitely use a weapon like this.

"Was it like a saber?" asked Aida.

"Could be. It was dark and I didn't exactly ask her or him to show me the weapon for me to examine" I said.

Lana looked at the dagger in my hand and she shivered probably remembering how it pierced her skin. She said weakly "The Dark Sword used the dagger on me but I saw the sword. I think it looked more like a saber than a katana". We all sighed looking at each other.

Claire raised her hand like she was in class and said "Okay. I have a question. If Em was attacked with Stygian Iron, how did she survive? Isn't Stygian Iron completely deathly to us?"

"She has a little of darkness in her blood. It's good she is Hades' granddaughter" said my dad.

"When another demigod or legacy is hurt by Stygian Iron, they need Ambrosia or Nectar within minutes or the darkness will consume the body" I said remembering how Mer hurt me and Em when I was 15.

"Okay. That explains things" said Claire.

"Almost unrelated question. What happened to Mer's sword?" I asked thinking in how uncommon Stygian Iron was. Maybe the sword was a clue.

"We buried with her, of course" said my dad.

"Then it's not the same" I said almost to myself.

"Of course, it isn't. I know what you are thinking" said Claire "Theo, I was the one who put it in her coffin and nobody took it out. Ewan didn't dig it either. I saw his sword. It wasn't wearing a black Stygian Iron sword, but celestial bronze."

"She is right, Theo" said Lana "Besides, I saw both swords. The Dark Sword's was different to Mer's"

"I know…. But could they be from the same blacksmith?" I asked. "But who would make two swords?"

"Could be" said my mom "However, not anyone can forge Stygian Iron, less more of one. Only a couple of blacksmiths in the whole history of Olympus had done it, all of them gone or reborn as far as I know, maybe one still in Elysium"

My sister Aida rolled her eyes annoyed "Why are we talking about swords? The dagger is the key"

"I don't know yet. I'm not sure" I said wondering. Aida was wrong. "Anything could be a clue at this moment".

Aida sighed annoyed. She stood up "I think we are hitting nothing… Since I am here, I'm going to check on Grandpa."

"You shouldn't go alone. It's getting late" said my mom "I can go with you tomorrow if you want"

"I want to return to Boston before dawn" said Aida "I have finals and things like that"

"I can go with you. I don't think I can be alone either. We can help each other, you know, be each other bodyguards" said Lana shrugging with a little smile on her face.

"Are you sure? It's a long ride" asked Aida like she didn't believe her ears, me either.

"Yes… and I would love to spend some time with you" said Lana.

"Okay, thanks… Theo, she is a keeper" said Aida and winked at me.

"I know" I said and Lana took my hand.

"Let's go then" said Aida walking out of the room.

"I love you" I said and kissed Lana softly "Be careful and don't be a hero. Just run as fast as you can"

"I am going to stop your sister of getting in trouble. Don't worry. I got this. I love you" said Lana.

I walked them to the door and Lana kissed one last time before leaving with my sister on my dad's car.

After I closed the door, I walked to the living room where my parents were sitting together still talking about today's events. I sat in the recliner and I had no idea what to think. This whole day had been so long. I wanted to believe Aida. Ewan sounded a likely choice. He disappeared before the murders and Claire said he wasn't on Zeus' side anymore. However, I wanted to believe Lana, Claire and myself. I knew Ewan. He wasn't that kind of person.

"What are you thinking?" asked my mom.

"Maybe… Forget it. I'm just tired. It's been a long night and a longer day. I think I…" I said and with that I crashed in the middle of the sentence. I was so tired.