Isabella held a fierce gaze at the two demigods before her. The third, that stupid daughter of Aphrodite, was tense underneath her grip. It felt like she was getting ready to twist away, but that would be idiotic. Isabella had the knife resting right against her throat. A centimeter of wrong movement would end with the girl's windpipe being torn wide open. This was not the first hostage Isabella had to keep immobile. Hopefully, it wouldn't be the last.
"You're not going to get away with this," Jason threatened. His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword. Leo's hands blazed with fire. Isabella wasn't worried about the two of them hurting her. She was worried about Reyna though. Losing Hylla was hard enough, but Hylla would come back just to kill Isabella if something happened to Reyna.
Isabella shrugged and glanced at where Reyna and the others had gone. Reyna could barely stand on her own two feet. She had been shaking miserably, but there had been confidence in her words. Reyna thought she could pull this off, and Isabella couldn't doubt her. Not at this point.
"How could you do this?" Leo demanded. "We had an agreement? We just needed you stupid sky pirates to get us off this island."
"I believe the agreement was for us to bring your friends here, which we did. And then, we were supposed to destroy the island. That is what we are trying to do. If anyone isn't holding up their end of the bargain, it's you annoying children," Isabella countered.
"We can't destroy the island without the rod!" Leo snapped.
"According to your friend, we can destroy the island using magic," Isabella argued. "So, it sounds like we don't need the rod. Your girlfriend is just an idiot."
"You're an idiot!" Leo snapped back. Jason grabbed Leo's arm, warning him to calm down.
"Am I so much of an idiot that I don't remember how to hold a knife?" Isabella wondered, and she started to move her wrist.
"Don't you dare," Jason growled. He started to step forward but finally looked down. "Just let her go."
"When Reyna comes back," Isabella stated. Jason glared but remained silent. Isabella glanced at the girl that she was holding hostage. Piper had not tried to fight her, which was odd. Isabella felt a small vibration and looked down at the ground.
There was a loud churning noise. Leo and Jason shared confused glances with each other. Then, there was the sound of an explosion, and the island shook like a tsunami was hitting it. Isabella felt an elbow slam into her stomach, and she felt the knife slip out of her hand. Piper slammed her to the ground. Isabella tried to roll to her feet, but she was met with the tips of two swords and a hand of fire in her face.
"We need to find Nico and Calypso," Piper said, retracting her sword from the pirate captain.
"Can you two watch her? I'll go get them," Leo volunteered. He turned and ran after his friend. Isabella slowly looked up at the two demigods and held her hands up in surrender. Her eyes moved back to her ship. It was on the other side of the island, but the pirates had to have heard that noise. Sooner or later, her crew would come to investigate. Would it be soon enough?
"You're going to need medical help for that son of death, and you'll need a reliable way off of this island," Isabella informed. Despite her words, her mind moved over to the golden dragon that wasn't too far from them. The loud noise seemed to have woken the robotic beast, and he was slowly moving closer to them. What the hell did they call that thing? Festus? "We have a ship that you will need to escape."
"We have a dragon. We don't need help from you," Jason said coldly. The ground shook again, and Isabella heard creaking and whirling noises. She knocked one of the blades away and scrambled to her feet. There was a crack of thunder, and lightning slammed into her chest. Isabella was thrown backward and hit the sand hard. Her head whiplashed off of it.
"Jason, we need to go. The pirates aren't worth our time," Piper said. Isabella blinked rapidly and heard the two run away. She rolled onto her stomach and took a few breaths. Isabella pushed herself to her hands and knees.
Isabella wasn't just going to lay there while Reyna was in trouble. Who knew what the demigods were going to do to her? If she hadn't already blown herself up trying to destroy the island. Isabella made it to her feet and stumbled along the sand. She followed the tracks that the demigods had left behind.
The trail ended near the golden dragon. Thankfully, it had its back to her. Isabella ducked behind a large rock as she saw the hut. After studying it for a moment, she saw Leo walk out. He had one of Nico's arms wrapped around his shoulders. Calypso had Nico's other arm wrapped around her, and the two were carrying him between them.
Jason rushed towards their side and took the weight of Nico. He followed Calypso towards the dragon as the island shook again. If Isabella had to guess, the island was falling apart. Considering the person who had lived on this island for so long was rushing to leave it, Isabella figured they needed to as well.
Isabella waited for the demigods to have their focus solely on the dragon. Then, she ran into the hut. Her gaze moved to the smoking thing on fire in the middle of the hut. It seemed to be like a console. Black smoke was pouring from it. Fire was going to consume the hut soon.
Isabella looked down and found her captain. Reyna was laying on her stomach and not moving. Isabella ran to her side and knelt by her. She carefully picked Reyna up and cursed as the girl was dead weight. Isabella heard footsteps and looked up. Piper stood at the door of the hut and eyed the pirate carefully.
After a moment, Isabella tried to reach for her sword. It was extremely difficult with an unconscious demigod in her arms. Piper stepped back and spoke, "I wasn't going to leave her or you to die. You should leave with your ship. Calypso says we don't have long before the island consumes itself."
Piper left the hut. Isabella only waited a moment before she stood. She shifted Reyna's weight and ran out of the hut. Isabella ran as fast as she could through the sand and towards her ship. Two of her pirates met her halfway, and one took Reyna from her.
"Let's go," Isabella ordered. She ran towards the ship at full speed. Isabella boarded the ship in one swift motion and looked at her crew. "Let's get the fuck off this island!"
Her crew rushed to prepare the ship to leave. Ever since Reyna had her first argument with the demigods, Isabella had the ship on standby to leave. All they needed to do was finish raising the sails and anchor, and they would be gone. They still needed to gain speed and be far enough from the island to find the exit.
Isabella watched her two other pirates make it onto the ship. They laid Reyna down, and Isabella moved to their side. She felt Reyna's forehead. The girl was burning up, and she was sweating bullets. There didn't seem to be any physical injuries to her, but if she had shared her strength, who knew what it was doing to her body?
"You are going to be okay," Isabella whispered. She cradled Reyna's head and brushed the hair out of her face. "Just breathe. Everything will be fine. I promise."
"Get us off of the island already!" Isabella yelled, looking back at the pirate crew. "I'll be on the wheel. Get Reyna below deck and get her some water. Everyone else get moving!"
Isabella stood and moved towards the wheel. She gripped it with both hands and stared ahead. They were going to make it off of the island. Then, they were going to rest and heal their wounds. From there, Isabella planned on wiping the Mistveil off of the face of the planet. One way or another.
