Hello everyone and welcome back to Hidden Secrets and Shared Lies!
GUESS WHO FINALLY FIGURED THIS THING OUT!
I have been trying for so long to try to figure out what to do next, I was totally stuck. But not anymore! I finally figured this out! Thank god too. My head was starting to hurt from how hard I was thinking. Good news though, we finally get to see some action!
HELL YEAH!
Also, what happened to y'all? There was like a million reviews and followers and favorites on the original version. Do you guys just not like this? Cuz there's these things called "reviews" and it's a cool thing that lets you voice your thoughts and opinions. So if you're like "Hm, that's okay but I totally would have worded that different" then leave a review and let me know. I'll go back and fix it. I hardly ever ignore reviews. Your opinions and ideas are important to me
ANYWAY! STORY TIME!
I hope you enjoy and let's get right into this!
Waking up the next morning, Makayla felt a pit in her stomach.
As she dressed, she tried to calm herself, reminding herself that being unfocused could cause her to lose focus and losing focus could become a fatal mistake in the mission to come. So she took another deep breath and buckled her sword around her waist.
As she did so, there was a knock at her door. Opening the door, she was surprised to see familiar faces.
"Hunter, Sam. Hey, what's up?" She greeted.
"Hey gurl! Boss asked us to come to get you," Hunter explained as he adjusted Sam's hold on his arm.
Makayla nodded and, after grabbing her bag, followed the two down the halls to what looked like a large meeting hall. There were a little less than a dozen people occupying some seats, Kratos standing at the head of the table. He no longer wore his cloak from the day before so he was clearly visible. He gave Makayla a small nod and flashed a quick smile as she entered the room.
Following Hunter and Sam, she claimed a seat.
"Welcome. Now that we are all here, we may begin," Kratos announced.
The next two hours passed Makayla in a blurred flash. The twelve others and herself were given in intense detail the plan of action.
She, Kratos, and a hunter named Liam would hide in sight of the Serpent's Base's entrance until a guard would leave. Liam would them ambush the guard, drugging them to unconsciousness. Being a god, Kratos would then take their place, Makayla acting as though she were his and Liam's prisoner. The three would then enter the base via the secret entrance.
As they did so, the other members of their team would sit in wait ways down the road. Once inside the base, Kratos would send a signal to the others alerting them. Then by two groups of four, several of the Hunters would too enter the base, leaving a large time-gap between each group.
Makayla would break off once inside while the god searched for Ganabranth. Once found, Kratos and/or Liam would send a second signal to the group leader (who Makayla had failed to remember the name of) and one of the small groups would let the other twelve Hunters into the base before joining Kratos for an ambush attack.
Makayla replayed every detail of the plan in her mind as she double checked she had everything she needed and climbed into Hunter's car. She, Hunter, and Liam would take Hunter's car while Kratos and the other group members followed in the Giant Hunter's vehicles.
"It's an eight hour trip to Georgia. Got everything you need?" Hunter asked his two passengers as he started the engine to his car. Makayla answered in the affirmative, as did Liam, and the three were off.
To Makayla, the eight-hour drive seemed to take days. She felt more and more sick with each mile. Anxiety bubbled up in her chest until she began to feel suffocated. She tried several times to sleep but was unable. When stopping for meals, she found she had little to no appetite.
'Just calm down,' She repeatedly told herself. 'You can do this. You don't even have to fight him. Or see him. Or maybe even hear him. You just gotta go in, find her, and get her out.'
Makayla shook her head and took several deep breaths.
"Yo, you okay?" Liam asked from the backseat, seeing her nervous breaths.
"Yep! I'm fine!" Makayla answered, a little too fast. The hunter looked unconvinced.
"You sure about that? You look and sound very not fine." He noted.
"Yeah, you're like super pale." Hunter agreed, turning the volume of the radio down. "You good?"
Makayla frowned, giving up her act.
"What do you think?! Of course, I'm not okay!" She exclaimed. "Would you be okay if you were in my place? If you were going back to the place you were beaten, tortured, captured, branded, and traumatized at?!"
Seeing the surprised and hurt expressions of the two boys, Makayla felt immediately guilty.
"I'm sorry." She sighed, playing with her hair. "I'm just- I'm so nervous and anxious. I really don't want to be doing this."
"Then why are you?" Liam asked. Hunter turned off the radio to let Makayla talk.
"I'm going back… well, because I have to." The redhead admitted. "While I was there, I met a friend. Her name is Lauren and she's the reason I'm alive.
"Lauren was a prisoner of the Serpents long before I was. She said she remembered counting four years being there before she lost track. She was actually a member before one of the other members turned on her. She um… she didn't remember why though." Makayla lied. She took a breath before continuing, seeing the interest the two boys gave.
"We were in separate cells at first but she either bribed the guard or annoyed him until he brought her to be in my cell with me. I don't remember which. We were apart from the majority of my time there as one of us were usually taken away for, um… for-uh, questioning. So many times I wanted to give up or give in but she kept me strong and kept me sane. She was- she is my rock." Makayla smiled faintly as she thought of her friend. Then the smile faded. "I owe her my life. More than my life. Getting her out of that horrible place is the very least that I can do. She deserves that much. Plus… I promised her I'd be back for her."
"How do you even know she's still there?" Hunter asked, his question more curious than rude, eyes still on the road.
Makayla paused then reached down and untied something from her leg; it was a small anklet made of thick string with a small silver L in the middle.
"She gave this to me a few days after we met. I've kept it since." She explained. "She said that as long as it's still together, she's still alive. I'm not sure what that means exactly but I trust her. And I just know she's still alive in there. I can feel it."
Makayla replaced the string back around her ankle. There was silence in the car for a short moment.
"I'm not the smartest person when it comes to magic anklets or evil gangs," Liam started "But I can tell when someone means a lot to a person. Don't worry Makayla, I can tell just from the way you talk about her that you'll find a way to keep your promise."
Makayla smiled.
Makayla cursed the gods for the millionth time that day.
As soon as they got to Athens (Georgia) thing went wrong almost immediately. Makayla, Hunter, and Liam had arrived at the rondevu point early and were waiting for Kratos and the rest of their group at a fast food joint down the road. The three made small talk before Liam got a message saying that the rest of their group were about half an hour out, so the three left and headed back to their rondevu point, a back corner of the nearby mall.
They had the hood back on Hunter's convertible and were just sitting and thinking of ideas for an Alias for Makayla when there was a large crash and explosion followed by loud screeching. The three demigods exchanges a glance before jumping out of the car and running in the direction of the explosion.
Makayla knew that there were bound to be monsters almost everywhere in the States so she wasn't surprised to see a dozen or so Dracaena and Empousa ganging up on a few half-bloods. Their backs were turned so she was unable to see their faces but she noticed they were two boys and a girl dressed in all silver. One wall of the mall had been blown open, bricks and broken shelves scattered through the parking lot. A couple of nearby mortal pedestrians were running away from the scene. As Makayla, Hunter, and Liam got closer, several of the monsters then noticed the newcomers and rushed at them. So the redhead drew her sword and charged.
Within a minute, those monsters were destroyed and only four were left. So Hunter ran to help out the girl and boys and in a second, the last Empousa exploded to dust. The older looking of the two boys turned to thank Hunter and Makayla gasped, quickly turning to duck behind a nearby brick pillar.
"Amber, what's wrong?" Liam asked, seeing her stunned expression, using her new alias.
Makayla said nothing for a second. She brushed her long hair behind her ear then slowly peeked her head around the corner to get another glance at the three, hoping she saw wrong. She pressed her lips together and leaned back against the bricks when she saw that she had seen right the first time.
"Goddamnit." She muttered. "Why and how the hell...? Why me…!"
"You know those guys?" Liam asked, chin nodding to the three others. Hunter was walking back over with the two following. He gestured for them to pause and the four stopped. Hunter gave him a questioning glance but Liam shrugged, nodding to Makayla who remained behind the pillar out of sight. Hunter shrugged in return but nodded in understanding. To his right, the two boys and girl in silver were talking quietly, sneaking quick glances towards Liam and Makayla's hiding place.
"What's wrong?" Liam tried again. "You know these guys?"
"Yep," Makayla replied tightly with a low voice. "But they can't see me, they can't know I'm here."
Thinking they were Serpent members, Liam's eyes widened for a split second before he fixed his expression, nodding. He gestured to Hunter and the four started over again. Left hand moving to his front pocket, Liam then slid his right hand across his forehead as though brushing his hair away.
It was a casual movement but Hunter recognized it as the movement code for "Serpents member(s)". His eyes flicked to the girl in silver and two boys. He moved his right hand to his pocket and slid his left hand across his forehead, the same movement at Liam's but mirrored, showing that he understood the message. His fiery spiked hair shone from the sun.
A second later, bother Hunter and Liam had pulled their weapons out, Hunter holding his short spears and Liam a pair of matching bronze pistols, and had them aimed at the three. The small group started, not expecting the movement.
"Tell us where your base is now or each one of you will-" Liam threatened.
Makayla's eyes widened and she jumped from her hiding place, jumping in front of the three and grabbing Liam's arm.
"No! That's not what I meant! Don't hurt them!" She quickly exclaimed before he could say or do anything else. Liam and Hunter exchanged a glance.
"Well what else would you have meant and how would we have known they were anyone else?" Hunter asked a bit sarcastically.
"Makayla?!" The older boy exclaimed at the same time.
Makayla closed her eyes and breathed out slowly. She slowly turned around and forced a weak smile.
"Hey… Percy. So, uh... what're you doing here?"
And that concludes the thirty-ninth chapter of Hidden Secrets and Shared Lies!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you chose to continue. Please, leave a review because criticism, complaints, advise, and/or compliments are welcome to be said.
Have a good one and I'll see you later!