Chapter 12:

Mya's POV:

I knelt down and felt the ground. It was damp and almost seemed to disintegrate beneath my fingers.

"We're almost there," I whispered. There was a sound from behind me and I whipped my head around. Nothing was there and for a quick second, I thought Dylan allowed himself to hear me or whatever again. Luckily, he hadn't, and there was no movement behind me. I let out a quick sigh and turned back to the front.

I allowed my thoughts to wander for a few moments. I thought about Cronus and if he really did what I asked him to or not. I wondered how Annabeth, Percy, Reyna, and Luke were holding up if Cronus had done it. But what I thought about the most since I had left the House of Nyx was if Dylan truly believed my death. Did he see through my lie? There was only one way to find out.

Raising myself to my feet, I continued on with my journey. I began to imagine myself with giant golden wings as I walked.

'If you had those your journey would be over so much quicker,' I thought to myself.

As I raised my arms mimicking how I would flap those wings images flashed in my head. For the first time in a while, I saw the ocean. I had forgotten how vast and blue it was. Then, the sky and the sun overcame my vision. I flew towards the sun. As I got closer voices rang in my head telling me to turn back.

"Don't go!" they warned. "It's not safe!"

I didn't listen to them and instead flew closer to the sun. The closer I came to the large ball of light the lighter I felt. The wind passed through my hair and cooled me from the hot rays. I looked down at the ocean and I saw Luke, Annabeth, Percy, Cronus, and Reyna with their own set of wings. Their faces were full of fear. Their eyes were beady black and they were aimed right at me.

"What?" I tried to call out to them but my voice didn't work. As I looked down I began to see flickers of golden light flash towards them. That's when I realized what was happening.

I looked back towards Apollo's mighty chariot and noticed how close I had come to it in a matter of seconds. I forced myself to plunge into the sea but it was too late. I had lost too many feathers.

'I am really Icarus,' I thought.

As I fell I didn't scream, or make a single sound. I thought. I thought about how great my short life had been. I thought about the joy I had brought to my friends. I thought about my mother and how soon I would get to see her.

The sea came closer and closer but I wasn't scared. I was prepared.

'My friends will understand,' I told myself. 'It's for the best.'

I didn't fight what I knew was going to happen. I excepted the fact that I got to enjoy a wonderful and beautiful life. Sure some bad things had happened to me, but that was life.

The water finally made contact with my skin. I didn't try to swim back to the surface, but I allowed myself to sink. The wings on my back pulled me down and for the first time in a long time I able to enjoy complete peace. The metal feathers fell from my wings and floated around me. They glinted in the sunlight and reflected beams of light all throughout the water. I looked up to the surface and saw shadows circling right over me.

'My friends,' I thought. Guilt filled me for a second until I looked back at the scene that was laid out before me under the waves.

I heard the rushing of water and my mind ventured back into reality. I had made it. The River of Styx was laid out before me.

Dylan's POV:

I knelt before Tartarus. His eyes burnt into my skin seeking answers but I ignored them.

"I finished my task," I told him. "I killed my last demon."

"Good," he said with a creepy smile. "I'm glad that you came up with that idea. Now we can destroy the gods and the camps. Tomorrow we will march to New Rome, and easily take it."

"Yes, my Lord," I agreed.

"You are dismissed," he ordered. "Do not fail me Dylan, or it shall not end well for you."

'It will not end well for you,' I wanted to tell him, but I only smiled.

"I will not," I spoke calmly.

…

Nightmares of my mother filled my dreams.

I appeared in her empty apartment. The police were there, but I didn't worry. They would never find the weapon that killed my mother because to them it didn't exist. I placed my hand on my sword hilt and pulled it from my scabbard. It was still the same sword that Theseus wielded when he killed the Minotaur, but I had made the blade my own. Its name had been changed from, δολοφόνος ταύρου, otherwise known as Bull Killer too, σιωπή, which means Silence. It had been improved and I had taken some ideas from Mya's weapons. Instead of the sword being completely celestial bronze it had been speckled with some mortal iron, so now the weapon could kill both mortals, demigod, and monsters.

Near the hilt of the sword, a scale was engraved into the metal. The blade brought balance to the person who wielded it. Theseus proved it true, so I decided to touch up the hidden meaning when I designed the new look for the blade.

I returned my thoughts back to the crime scene that laid in front of me. I couldn't hear what the police were saying but I watched as they searched the room. Nothing was found just like I had planned.

"You did this to your mother?" I turned but saw no one. The voice sent a shiver down my spine. I knew who was talking to me.

"Hermes," I hissed. The god didn't respond. "I know you're not here! It's just a nightmare!"

"Is it Dylan?" the voice changed to Mya's. "Just like my death was a nightmare?"

"Enough!" I shouted. "Who are you?"

"Oh, Dylan," the voice was now my mother's. "It doesn't matter who I am, but who you are. Are you truly the person that will make the gods pay for what they have done, or are you just a nobody?"

I gripped the hilt of my sword getting ready to attack anything that might appear as a threat.

"With the help from my true masters I will destroy the gods," I said aloud. "Then I shall build my own empire! One that will never be destroyed!"

"Ah, your master lies to you," Tartarus's voice filled my head. "They blind you from the truth. The truth of your mother, the truth of Mya Gethern, and the truth of yourself."

"Lies!" I shouted ignoring everything that was being said.

"If you do not believe me then you are a fool," my father's voice was being used again. "Just like the gods themselves."

Mya's POV:

I stared at the murky water before me. Sometimes it would begin to bubble and then completely stop bubbling.

"Weird," I whispered in awe. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for one of the worst swims of my life.

"You're the one?" I turned and saw a man dressed in greek armor. He had an arrow sticking out of his heel, and the same blue light surrounded him just like it had with Luke.

"Ummm, I think you got something in your-" I started to say.

"Yes, I know," the man told me. "I am Achilles, and you are?"

I thought for a moment trying to remember the story of Achilles. Then I remembered something about his mother dipping him in Styx while he was just a child.

"You are?" Achilles asked again.

"Oh right, sorry," I apologized. "Mya Gethern, daughter of Poseidon, Champion of Nyx."

"Did you have a plan?" Achilles asked while gesturing towards the river. "You weren't really going to just walk into the river were you?"

"I mean that is the only way I have of escaping this place," I told him.

"Wow," he said with a chuckle. "And to think that I really thought you were the one."

"I'm sorry, but what is this whole thing bout being the one?" I asked him. My voice had a hint of anger in it.

"After my death, the gods told me that I must warn every person that decides they want to take after me," he said with a sigh. "The Fates themselves warned me of a hero that will take up this challenge and it will become something greater than a hero."

"What does that even mean?" I asked him.

"I do not know," the fallen hero told me. "It is a big deal for The Fates to choose a random hero for their games though."

I looked at his eyes. They poked out of his helmet, but nothing showed in them. I turned away from the river and Achilles and looked over Tartarus.

"I have come all of this way," I began to tell Achilles. "I will follow in your footsteps just like my brother did, and if The Fates decide to throw another challenge at me I will rise above it!"

"Very well," Achilles sighed. "I wish you the best of luck, and remember to focus on a point on your body. It will anchor you to the mortal world, and hopefully, when you resurface you shall resurface in the Underworld."

"Thank you," I whispered. The hero faded and I was left alone staring at the river before me. One of the biggest decisions of my life had been laid before me like it was nothing, and now it was time to decide.

Not a super long chapter (I'm sorry I'm just trying to set down the foundation for the upcoming chapters). Please review, follow, or favorite if you are enjoying the story it would mean a ton!

~Emily