Sapphire XXII

There was a big difference between having to fight off monsters that attacked you and planning an attack on a location. A monster attack was a high adrenaline, fast-paced, do or die situation. There wasn't much time to think about what could go wrong or wallow in a feeling of impending doom. The same was not true of the planned invasion of Asher's warehouse. It felt like there was nothing but time.

Sapphire had to force herself to finish her hot soba. Normally it was a comfort food, but since it was also how nectar tasted to her every bite reminded her of the battle that was coming. There was no way Asher was going down without a fight.

Next to her, Amber was eating with one hand and tracing hieroglyphics on the table with the other. At least her sister would be staying back. Sapphire wasn't sure that hosting Khonsu for two weeks in an alternate universe counted as being an Egyptian god, but Melinoe would absolutely use it against them if she found out. She'd snitched on Apollo and gotten him punished for caring too much about his kids and their friends. An Egyptian god attacking a Greek goddess would have even further reaching consequences.

"Hey." Amber tapped Sapphire's ankle with her foot. "I can hear you worrying. Relax."

Sapphire scoffed. Who was worrying? She wasn't worrying.

Percy and Jordan had done a good job of reassuring the parents without totally lying. The last minute trying to talk them out of going that Sapphire had expected didn't happen. Instead, Mom and Dad hugged her and Amber and told them to come back. Then Richie collided with Sapphire.

"Don't die or I'll go to the Underworld and drag you out," Richie said. There was no joking tone to his voice. He absolutely would storm Hades's castle to get his sisters back.

Sapphire smiled and ruffled her little brother's hair. "Got it, no dying."

The warehouse had four entrances: the door on the roof, a side door that led into a narrow alleyway, a window that looked out on the same alleyway, and a loading bay that was large enough for one transport truck. The window barely counted. Amber and Sapphire could maybe fit through it and Asher definitely wouldn't be able to.

Amber and Olivia sealed the door on the roof and went to wait on a different building in case backup was needed while Leo and Sapphire melted the side door shut. Sapphire sensed a mortal and a demigod inside the warehouse. Then Percy and Nico led the rest of their team inside through the loading bay and the building almost immediately became a storm of too many souls to track.

"Lots of ghosts," Sapphire said.

Leo nodded. After one more blast of white hot fire, they ran around the corner and drew their weapons. Leo went with a hammer. Sapphire chose her Stygian Iron swords. She wanted every bit of her Underworld power for this.

Their entrance went unnoticed by all of the living people in the building. Jordan disappeared carrying a girl with a bleeding head wound, warping space around him between one step and the next. Piper was holding back a swarm of ghost women dressed in white who seemed to be crying at what she was saying. A shadowy creature was occupying Nico and Will's attention, swiping at them with four clawed hands. On the far side of the warehouse, Percy and Asher were battling with deadly slashes of bronze and a furious lack of quips.

"Can you help Piper?" Leo asked quietly.

Sapphire nodded. They moved to split up but had to stop when a dozen ghosts rose out of the floor in front of them. The bayonets on the ends of the ghosts' rifles looked very solid and very sharp.

"Confederates," Leo grumbled.

Confederates were the bad guys, right? So Sapphire didn't feel bad when she parried the bayonet of the ghost charging at her and stabbed him in the chest. The ghost dissolved with a shriek.

The remaining Confederate ghosts were more organized. Six of them leveled their bayonets and charged. The other five backed up and started shooting. The bullets passed right through their comrades without harming them but Sapphire and Leo struggled to avoid being hit. Leo set himself on fire but the molten metal that didn't splatter across his forge-proof clothing was only slightly less dangerous than the bullets. Sapphire was pretty sure part of her sleeve had been melted into her skin. Will was going to yell at them later.

Sapphire parried two bayonets. Shadows reached up from the ground and dragged one of the ghosts back beneath the earth, leaving her free to behead the other.

"Saph, shield!" Leo shouted.

That wasn't a lot of information. Sapphire wove shadows together into a wall twice as tall as and a little bit wider than the bay door behind them. Leo dove behind it seconds before there was a series of explosions. Sapphire raised an eyebrow in a silent question, mindful of the wax stuck to the back of her ears.

Leo shrugged. "Ghost gunpowder explodes like the real thing."

Actually, it looked like ghost gunpowder exploded more than real gunpowder because when Sapphire took the shield down several of the Confederate ghosts were missing hands. That did make it a bit easier for Sapphire to destroy them.

When all the Confederate ghosts were gone and nothing came to replace them, Sapphire returned to her original goal of banishing the ghosts surrounding Piper. Those ghosts had changed at some point. Their white dresses had become mildewed and Sapphire could see sunken eyes, rotting skin and several sets of claws. They weren't crying anymore. All signs were pointing to imminent attack.

Sapphire didn't risk pushing through the ring of Women in White (they looked like Women in White, if Supernatural was anything to go by. Sapphire had to learn more about ghosts). She stopped behind one of the ghost women and met Piper's eye.

"Why don't we talk about why we're here?" Piper said. "Let's start with you, with the dead fish."

The woman Piper pointed to had several dead fish tangled in her hair. The ghost hissed. "Where are my babies?"

Stories of Women in White often involved them killing their children, so Sapphire was going to guess the Underworld, probably Asphodel or maybe the Egyptians' Field of Reeds. As Piper continued questioning the ghosts the likely filicide count went up. It made Sapphire wonder what Piper had said earlier that made them cry.

Then Percy and Asher crashed through the circle of ghosts with all the care of a bull in a china shop. Piper dodged. Sapphire stopped being nice (that was a stupid idea in the first place) and cut down three of the ghosts from behind while she got out of the way.

Not fast enough.

Another inch and Asher wouldn't have been able to grab her arm and pull her in front of him. Percy stopped his sword a second before Riptide cut a matching scar into the other side of her face.

Asher was breathing hard but his hand didn't shake as he held his sword to Sapphire's throat. "What's the plan now, Perseus Jackson?"

Sapphire went completely still.