Chapter Twenty–Six:
Hey, guys! Guess what? THERE'S ONLY TWO MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS ONE! What?! We're almost to the end! This has seriously been a rollarcoaster of an adventure (and not just for the characters!). I'm glad I could experience this adventure with all of you guys. It's been amazing! However, I'm going to continue writing, so this isn't goodbye! :D Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Reviews:
ShadowTravel: Heehee "You too, Robin Hood!" Really, Jason? Yeah, Jason doesn't strike me as the "good comeback" kind of guy (neither does Percy). Hence the, "Robin Hood." Haha ;D
LaSauterelle: I love Thalia Bolt... I seriously completely love her... she's amazing! And all the characters in this story too, 'f course Oh my goodness, thanks so much! It really means a lot that you enjoy my story and characters so thoroughly! :D
Disclaimer: Nah, Bruh. I still don't own anything. Just Thalia.
I don't recommend using a bow as a close–range weapon, if you can help it. If I hadn't of been a daughter of Apollo, I probably would have been skewered. Using a bow in a close–range battle, you have to draw and fire as fast as you possibly can. If you don't draw an arrow quickly enough, you're essentially weapon–less. I'd much rather be up in a high perch where you can take cover from flying javelins— as opposed to being close enough to have your eye poked out by one. Nevertheless, I rapid–fired arrow after arrow; taking out monsters left and right. Several times I found myself back–to–back with one of my friends. A couple of monsters had gotten in some lucky jabs; small cuts and bruises littered my body where the armor didn't cover it.
A yell rang out. I turned just in time to see Annabeth flying through the air. She hit the ground hard, rolling a couple of times before coming to a stop. She didn't get up.
"Annabeth!" I yelled. I ran over as fast as I could, dodging monsters as I went. I stood over her, firing arrows to keep the monsters at bay. "You okay?" I asked, not risking a look at her; instead keeping my eyes on the monsters.
Annabeth groaned before mumbling something about, "Of all the laistrygonian giants.." And, "Babycake's brother.." I figured this meant she would live. My suspicion was confirmed when she heaved herself to her feet and picked up her dagger.
"Thanks, Thalia." She said, straightening her silver helm.
I sent her a quick smile as I continued firing. Annabeth nodded, and we both ran back into the crowd of monsters.
We fought for hours, becoming more battered and bruised in the process. However, the waves of monsters were thinning. 'I can see the end!' I thought happily. 'I can't believe it. We can actually win this!' On and on we fought. Partially through the battle, I caught sight of Nico. He met my gaze and sent me a smirk. That's when I knew we were about to win. 'If the god of the dead's son can smirk, we have to be winning.' A dozen sword slashes and fired arrows later, we had dispelled the last monster.
"I don't believe it.." Jason breathed, looking around the mountainside.
I scanned our surroundings as well. No monsters were in sight.
"We won?" Leo asked.
Annabeth glanced around, still breathing heavily, before nodding. "I-I think so."
We stood in silence for a moment.
"WHOO HOO! We won! We won, mi amigos!" Leo yelled, doing some sort of a victory dance.
Jason slung an arm around Piper's shoulders as they began to laugh. Annabeth smiled, looking pleased. I sighed in relief and let my shoulders slump in exhaustion. Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate. The vibration grew until it turned into a rumble. Then the rumble grew into a quake. I stumbled to keep my footing. It was almost as if the earth was... Laughing. Then I heard a woman's voice. She was, indeed, laughing.
"Foolish heroes! Did you really think it would be that easy?" The woman asked.
Dread built up and settled in my gut like a stone. 'Gaea.'
"That little show was merely the warm up. Now, the real battle begins."
The ground started to rumble again. A huge section of the grassy mountainside turned into a mud pit. Suddenly, a huge mound of clay began to rise from the mud's surface. We watched in horror as the mound of clay revealed itself to be the head of a massive earthborn. The head was followed by the the torso and long, thick arms. Then the pillar-like legs came up, before finally: the huge feet. The earthborn stepped out of the mud pit with earth–rattling footsteps.
"Oh my gods.." Piper breathed.
We all instinctively took a step back, as we stared up at the massive being. I couldn't help gaping at the monstrosity Gaea had just created.
"What's the matter, Thalia? When Dylan said that my army was saving the best for last, you didn't think that meant YOU, did you?" Gaea laughed again. "You thought you could defeat my army. Tell me, do you still think so now?"
I swallowed hard. Without taking my eyes off the monster, I addressed Annabeth. "What's the plan?"
"Working on it.." She muttered.
"I'm afraid there's no time for a plan, little heroes."
Just as Gaea said that, the earthborn roared.* I quickly drew another arrow from my dwindling supply. Somehow I knew that my quiver was enchanted like Leo's tool belt; it could hold more arrows than a normal quiver. However, there was a bottom to the supply and I was vastly approaching it. The others drew their weapons. With another roar, the earthborn charged.
"Hold your positions!" Annabeth shouted.
Despite everything in me telling me to run, I stayed still as the earthborn barreled towards us. Just when I thought we would be trampled, Annabeth shouted:
"Scatter!"
We all dove out of the way and spread out. The earthborn barreled past us, going at least twenty feet before it realized we weren't trampled. 'Good. It's not very bright.' The earthborn whirled around and glared* at each of us; realizing it would have to choose who to go after. Unfortunately, it decided to set its sights on me. The earthborn came charging, its clay fist raised. 'Of course the earthborn chooses to smash me first.' I thought, sarcastically. I tried to fire arrows at its face; the only part I thought would slow it down. However, the clay was so thick that the arrows did little more than make it angry. I didn't have enough time to move out of the way. I braced myself for death. 'This is it.'
I heard the others yell my name. Then something slammed into me, knocking me down onto the ground. A flash of light blinded me followed by a giant BOOM of thunder that shook the ground. My ears were ringing and bright spots danced in front of my eyes. When the spots in my vision cleared, I realized multiple things at once: the thing that knocked me down was Nico, Nico was now on top of me, the flash and the boom was Jason calling down lighting on the earthborn, and the earthborn was smoking but still very much alive. The ringing in my ears finally subsided. I still felt disoriented, and having Nico so close to me was not helping my brain function.
"Uh, th-thanks." I stuttered out.
Seeming to realize where he was, Nico quickly jumped up; his cheeks slightly pink. "No problem." He said, holding out a hand for me.
I took it and stood. The others were trying to take out the still–smoking earthborn. However, they didn't seem to be doing much damage.
"Stay back here." Nico said. "Keep firing your bow. Try to find a weak spot while we distract it."
I nodded.
Nico drew his Stygian iron sword from its sheath and charged towards the earthborn. I notched another arrow and began firing at different parts of the earthborn, hoping to find a weakness. Nothing seemed to be working. The earthborn was too big and powerful. Jason's lightning just made it angry. Swords and daggers sunk uselessly into the clay, as did my arrows. Leo's fire managed to make small holes, but the melted clay would just slide back together; closing the holes. I knew we were just prolonging our inevitable deaths. Everyone was already exhausted when we began fighting the earthborn. 'It's only a matter of time before the earthborn gains the upper hand..' Just as I thought that, a scream pierced the air. The earthborn slammed its hand into Piper, sending her flying.
"Piper!" Jason called out. He quickly flew through the air and caught her. However, he didn't have the strength to keep them both in the air. They tumbled to the ground, hitting it hard.
The earthborn tried to go after them. With a yell, Leo intercepted it; shooting flames out of both hands. The earthborn growled and wrapped one of its thick, clay hands around Leo before throwing him across the mountainside.
"Nico! Go make sure he's okay!" Annabeth ordered.
Nico looked reluctant to leave us, but he nodded and took off to where Leo had landed. The earthborn swatted at Annabeth but she rolled out of the way. That started a game of keep-away, with Annabeth being the ball. I kept firing arrow after arrow. Suddenly, when I went to grab another one, my hand met empty air. 'Oh no..'
"I'm out!" I shouted at Annabeth.
Even from a distance, I could see the cold and calculating look in her storm grey eyes. "You have to do it!" She yelled back.
"Do what?" I asked, as she continued dodging strikes from the earthborn.
"Use your gift!" She shouted.
I gaped. "Are you crazy?! You could all wind up dead!" I yelled, beginning to panic. Flashes of memories from the last time I used my gift began to resurface.
"It's the only way!" Annabeth replied.
"I-I can't!" I was nearly hyperventilating. All the memories of Mt. Saint Helens were coming back. All the screaming.. All the pain... And none of it had been my own.
"You can do it." Nico suddenly said, supporting a limping and badly battered Leo. Nico's dark eyes bore into my icy ones. "You have to."
Tears stung my eyes. "I could wind up killing all of you! I can't!" I cried.
"You won't kill us!" Annabeth shouted back. "Remember the prophecy! The last line? It's about you! We'll all die if you don't!"
'Without healing, all will lose...'
Everything slowed down. The earthborn caught Annabeth, wrapping it's hand around her neck and lifting her off her feet. Annabeth's eyes bulged and her face turned red as her air supply was cut off. The earthborn turned towards Nico and Leo; raising its fist to smash them. Jason and Piper were nowhere to be found. Nico's eyes suddenly met mine; dark brown boring deep into icy blue.
'I can't let this happen.'
I focused on all the pain in my body, starting deep in my core; and let it build. I felt my temperature begin to rise as the power grew stronger. Needing more power, I began to draw the pain from my friends bodies into my own. I gasped, the pain nearly crippling me. Sweat began to bead my forehead as the heat grew stronger. Despite the pain and power radiating from my body, I knew it wasn't enough. I extended my senses out to the city, drawing pain from the mortals miles away. Hundreds of people's pain entered my body. I groaned, feeling like I had taken on Atlas' burden. The pain was agonizing; searing every part of my body. I felt like my insides were being crushed and lit on fire, all at the same time. Sweat poured down my body as blazing heat scorched my skin. Finally, I had enough power. With a scream, I collapsed to my knees and released the pain in a huge blast.
Suddenly, everything went silent. Not like, everyone-tried-to-be-really-quiet silent. Like, there-were-no-sounds-at-all silent. The heat and pain was gone. All of the pain was gone, even the pain that always lingered in my core. I no longer felt like I was being crushed. I felt strangely weightless, even though I was still on my knees. I realized I was in my own little force-field of golden energy. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, a soft smile on my face. I let myself relish the feeling of peace and freedom. The feeling of being painless.
When I opened my eyes, chaos greeted my sight. Everything was still silent, but my friends were in agony. They were crumpled on the ground, writhing in pain. Cold horror washed over me. I wanted to take back the pain immediately, but Annabeth caught my eye. Tears streamed down her face as she writhed, but her grey eyes were still determined. She shook her head and mouthed, 'Not yet.' I looked up at the earthborn. It was slowly melting, its mouth opened in a scream. The heat from my powers– and the pain I was radiating– was melting the clay. It was only halfway melted, however. If I stopped using my powers now, the earthborn would just reform. Tears filled my eyes as I realized what I had to do: 'I have to watch my friends endure agony. Agony that I'm causing.'
They continued to writhe and thrash in pain; some crying while others screamed. 'This is all my fault.. All my fault! I told them I didn't want to do this!' I caught sight of Jason and Piper. They were on the ground next to each other. Their eyes met and they gripped each other's hands. Feeling sick, I realized they thought they were going to die together. I started sobbing. 'This is my worst nightmare... In the end, I did exactly what Gaea wanted.' Then my gaze landed on Nico. His face was so full of pain, of agony, that it tore my heart. 'All this time I wanted to take away the pain from his expression. Instead, I added to it. What kind of a monster am I?' I managed to tear my eyes away from Nico's writhing form to look back at the melting earthborn. It was nothing more than a pile of clay. 'Just a little more..' The clay sunk into the ground, leaving no trace of it ever having been there. I quickly turned back to Annabeth, but she was too far lost in the pain to give me the signal. It didn't matter, I knew it was time.
I stumbled to my feet. I took another deep breath and raised my arms. Feeling the pain that was radiating towards the others, I focused on drawing it back to my body. As it left my friends bodies, they went limp; breathing heavily. The pain converged into one massive ball of energy. Once every last tendril of pain was collected, I let it come flying back towards me. I watched as the golden sphere hurtle towards my body; tears still streaming down my face. The only thought in my head was: 'This all my fault.'
"I'm sorry!" I cried, unsure if my friends could even hear me.
I thought I heard someone yell my name, before the ball of energy slammed into me. The pain overrode all of my senses. Everything was fiery and scorching. Icy and freezing. Painful and agonizing. Numbing...
I blacked out.
*I have no idea if earthborns can roar or glare. But for the sake of this story, let's say they can.
Hope you guys enjoyed! I'm not sure on an exact update time, but it will be sometime soon! And I'm super excited because I'm posting the final chapter AND the epilogue AT THE SAME TIME! It'll be one epic finale. Ahhhhh! I can't wait! Anyways, let me know what you guys thought. REVIEW! :D
Thalia Bolt