Annabeth / November 30th
Frankly, I was getting tired of all of this. There was just so much going on right now, and way too much for my liking. As a daughter of Athena, I liked to have things planned out ahead of time, but things were just getting thrown left and right.
I had only reunited with Percy for two days now and we were already fighting a great evil that threatened the world - as if we didn't already do that a few months ago.
It was early in the morning and I was the only one awake as I stared down onto Greece from the balcony. It was hard to imagine the chaos that went down there with Layton mainly situated there.
Not to mention that it was soon going to be the place where a large battle would go down, maybe even the biggest in centuries. The Titans seemed hellbent on having the battle here so they could kill the gods from their roots.
As a strategist, their battle plan did make sense, but I had no idea how they were going to do it. How does one exactly destroy a god? The thought seemed basically impossible.
"Hey"
I turned around and Percy stood behind me, rubbing his eyes. It didn't make any sense for him to be walking on his own already considering the injuries he had sustained yesterday, yet here he was.
"What are you doing up so early?" He asked as he stood next to me
"Me? You should be resting Percy" I replied
"Too much to think about" He muttered
"What's on your mind"
"Probably the same thing your thinking. We're already being thrusted back into something so large and we only defeated Kronos three months ago"
"Yeah" I agreed
There was silence after that but it wasn't an awkward one, it was more peaceful and relaxing to be just standing here and looking down onto the beautiful land below me.
"I wish we could stay here for a bit, there's so many places I want to visit" I said
"Who's to say we can't? We have a week after all" Percy argued
"We're going to need all the time we can get though. We're still unsure how to beat Majin Kai, much less Xander"
"Annabeth, it's going to be alright" Percy assured. "Let's just take one day, it won't hurt us in the long run"
"But I really don't want to bore you, I just think it's a better use of our time to continue on"
Percy took my hand. "I'm not going to be bored Annabeth, I promise. We haven't done something together in months so if anything, I'm looking forward to it"
I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Percy"
"No problem. What kind of boyfriend would I be if we didn't go down there anyway" He replied
"You're an amazing boyfriend, Percy" I stated, "seriously. You couldn't be better"
"Well an amazing boyfriend requires an amazing girlfriend" Percy smirked
Someone cleared their throat from behind us. "If you two are done flirting, breakfast should be ready soon"
We turned to find Leo staring at us with bore written all over his eyes. He wasn't that injured except for the one bandage on his right cheek.
"Leo, it's seven in the morning" I said
"It is?" He said. "I must've set my alarm wrong"
"It's fine, but me and Annabeth were thinking on having a day off down in Greece" Percy explained
Leo put on his thinking expression. "I don't really know about that, but if you insist, I can't stop you. We do need to find Layton first though, at least let us get that out of the way"
"We can hit two birds with one stone" Percy nodded
"Might as well get an early start then, I'll wake the others" Leo said
Needless to say, we all weren't in the best of the shape except for maybe Leo. Jason looked exhausted as if he hadn't slept in a week, Piper had bandages covering her arms, Hazel's hair was messy and she had a large bandage on her forehead. Frank's shoulder was bandaged and parts of his hair had caught fire.
For me, I was struggling just a bit to walk and I had bandages on my legs while Percy had taken the most damage out of all of us.
We sat around eating breakfast, all of us too tried to really speak up and say anything. Not that we had anything to say though, besides I can't believe we got our butts kicked that bad.
"I can't believe we got our butts kicked that bad" Hazel sighed
"Obviously Majin Kai, is no push over. Makes me think about what else is in that book" Jason said
Frank shivered. "Don't even mention it"
"Let's just focus on the present" Piper advised. "Hopefully we won't have to deal with anything else from The Hidden Archives"
"Sssshhh Piper!" Leo scolded. "The fates are listening!"
"Leo, the fates -"
"I don't want to hear it!" Leo cut Jason off. "We're messing with stuff beyond our imagination, so I don't want anyone jinxing us!"
Hazel sighed. "Leo, just ca-"
"Don't tell me to calm down! Coach Hedge had me fix the internet at least ten times yesterday alone and -"
"Maybe if you we're better at your job that wouldn't happen" Piper crossed her arms
"Ok miss beauty queen, don't get me start-"
"Ok ok!" Percy said. "I think we're all just a bit cranky after yesterday. Lets just finish our breakfast and move on"
"I'm not cranky" Piper muttered as she continued to eat her cereal
Frank cleared his throat. "Anyway, do we know where we're looking first?"
"We should probably search the lesser populated areas first, that would make the most sense" I said
"Makes sense to me" Hazel agreed
"I got it!" Leo exclaimed. "What if he hired him to -"
"Leo" Jason sighed. "First of all, that would mean killing someone. Second of all, we don't even know how to -"
"Then we can figure it out" Leo said
If this was how the rest of our meetings were going to go, I wasn't so sure about success let alone survival.
Piper scoffed. "I say we hire him on Leo, and then maybe -"
"Woah woah woah. No one's dying just so that we can find someone" Frank said
"Yeah Piper" Leo mocked
"Guys, stop -"
"No, we're finishing this! Piper needs to -"
"Leo just drop -"
"Frank, I haven't even gotten to you yet, so -"
"Alright, enough!" I ordered and everyone went silent immediately. "I don't know what's gotten into you guys, but we need to stay focused and stop acting so childish"
Leo groaned. "Okay, fine. But if Coach Hedge makes me fix the internet or the TV one more time then it's staying off, and he -"
"Leo!" Coach Hedge barked. "The TV isn't working!"
"Ah, good old Greece" Leo said
"You've been to Greece?" I asked
Leo frowned. "No I was just saying - uh, you get the point"
"So where are we?" Hazel inquired
"We're in Agrinio on the west side" I answered
"Let me get this straight. You want to search a country with a population of over ten million for one person that likes to stay in the shadows?" Leo summed up
"Well, no. Like I said, if we start with the lesser populated areas then we can maybe find a clue" I explained
"Maybe we can ask a local" Percy suggested
"Good idea"
We walked through the city looking for someone who might have a good idea of where we could find an assassin. The others seemed to be somewhat interested in our surroundings, but I was the one amazed by the architecture.
Agrinio looked like an excellent mix of both modern and old designs, but sadly some areas looked worn out as if they hadn't been touched in a long time. It was kind of crazy to see some worn out houses next to ones that seemed to be in pristine condition.
Eventually we noticed we were walking in area of the town where there was absolutely no one in sight. Then we all seemed to realize that we hadn't actually seen anyone in the entire city.
"Hold on, where is everyone?" Frank asked
Cued perfectly, fast paced footsteps began to approach us. We turned to our right and a man who seemed to be in his mid thirties ran out of an alleyway looking fearful for his life.
"You guys! Help!" He pleaded as he ran up to us and caught his breath
"What's going on?" Piper replied
"He's after me! You have to stop him! I know you all are demigods so please!"
"What are you talking about?" Percy raised his eyebrow
Over by the alleyway where the man had emerged, white-gloved fingers gripped the corner of the wall. Then, the figure stepped into the full sunlight and spotted his target almost instantly.
"No way" Hazel quietly said
"No no no" The man panicked
"What do we do? We can't let him die but at the same time I'm not sure what we can really do about Layton" Jason said
"I - I'm not sure. Maybe if we stall him then the real Layton will come out" Percy suggested
"Hand him over or you'll meet his same fate" Moon Knight demanded
"I don't like the sound of that, maybe we should just hand him over" Leo said
I had to say, this really was a tough decision. On one hand we would be fighting someone who we had no measure of power, but had been warned not to mess with. On the other, we couldn't just give up a seemingly innocent...
"What'd you do?" I questioned. "Why is there an assassin after you?"
"I don't know! I swear on the River Styx! I've never done anything that bad!" The man insisted
"You're a demigod?" Jason asked
"My father was a son of Hermes, but that's besides the point!"
The man seemed to be on the verge of tears, and considering he hadn't been smitten by swearing on the the River Styx, it most likely meant he really was innocent.
Moon Knight motioned with his hand to hand him over, but Jason stood in front of him protectively.
"We can't let you take innocent lives" Jason said
The assassin twitched like something was trying to take him over - and there most likely was - but he held his ground. "You've got ten seconds"
"Jason, we would risking all of our lives for one person we don't know" Leo argued
"Ten"
"But he's innocent!"
"Nine"
"There's nothing else we can do" Hazel admitted
"Eight"
"Like Percy said! We can just stall for time!" Frank pointed out
"Seven"
"Stalling sounds good" I agreed
"Six"
"You guys forgot he kills people for a living! He'll do the same to us!" Leo said
"Five"
"I've got a plan" Jason whispered
"Four"
"What is it?" I asked
"Three"
"When he hits one, this guy will run like there's no tomorrow and we hold him off until he's far enough" Jason explained
"One"
Without question, the man bolted off like an olympic sprinter and Moon Knight watched, standing in place as his target got further and further.
Leo sighed with relief. "Hey, it work-"
The man collapsed like he had fainted from running. The attack was almost invisible except for the faint purple outlines that made it up.
We turned and indeed, the assassin had his fist out in order to send the attack.
"You're playing a game you can't even begin to understand, son of Jupiter" Moon Knight said
Jason looked like he didn't know how to reply
"Time is a valuable thing. I of all people should know. Maybe you will pay with your life"
Percy pulled out Riptide, Piper unsheathed her dagger and Hazel brought out her own sword, but they stood frozen in place after that.
Piper gritted her teeth. "I - I can't move"
"N-Neither can I" Percy said
Frank transformed into a bear and stood up on two legs, but midway, he froze also. On my right, Jason released his lance and readied himself. I tried to move also but it didn't work, it was like my body and my mind refused to cooperate with each other.
"Come now. You will die an honorable death"
Jason lunged forward and swung his sword like he was trying to cut Layton in half, but what he tried to strike disappeared for a split second and then reappeared behind him. Jason stood confused, and looked around.
"Jason! He's behind you!" Leo exclaimed
Not giving a second thought, Jason jolted around and swung his sword, but it was stopped by a single index finger that resisted the force of the blade.
"You're fast. You would be able to beat me naturally, but you can't so long as I stay in this form"
He continued to push his blade but Moon Knight's finger wasn't budging a single inch. With a single kick, Jason was disarmed of his blade and it skidded across the ground behind him.
Then, I got surprised. Jason bear hugged Layton and a thunderbolt crashed down onto the two of them violently. Smoke from the impact covered the result but we waited impatiently. It cleared and Jason was alright, but Layton was slouched over and looking at the ground, steam coming off of his suit.
A purple glow flowed around Layton's suit until it exploded into those particles that got absorbed by the ring he wore. He scratched his head as if trying to remember something.
"What just happened?" He asked
"I think Jason fried your brain" Percy said
"Weird" Jason mumbled
"Good things you guys found me though, I might have found a way to beat Xander and Majin Kai" Layton revealed
"Finally, some good news!" Leo celebrated
"But there's a catch"
"We'll take what we can get" Percy replied
"Better than nothing" Hazel added
"We should probably head back to the ship. It's a big catch"