And I'm back. I have so much going on, I hate not being able to write, but I'm getting at least one chapter every other day or so, so its not that bad, right? I've been obsessively playing Poker in my free time, so saying I'm busy is a stretch, but I do other things.
Branches smacked against my face. A trickle of blood was already dripping on my chin. My feet snagged against a tree root, and I stumbled, but caught myself and kept on running. Where was I? What was going on? All valuable questions. Not now. I Glanced over my shoulder, and saw the black mass chase after me. Goddamn Hellhound. Stupid creatures. I leaped into the air, grabbing onto a branch, and was pulling myself up when it swiped its paw. The claws ripped through my shoes and snapped my Achilles tendon. I screamed, but pulled myself up. It was almost tall enough to reach me from here without jumping, so I crawled higher up the tree. It stopped growling when it saw how high I was, and started circling. I gripped my foot. Blood poured out, and I was already feeling faint. I grabbed it with my hand, and felt both my hand and the wound heat up. The blood curdled almost instantly, forming a giant red scab. I pressed my foot against a branch, and screamed again. The noise was definitely going to alert the other three hounds where I was. I could feel the tendon snap back together, but it was too slow. I fished around in my pocket. The last cube of Ambrosia. I'd used the last of the Nectar fighting a Dracanae. I sighed, and popped it in my mouth. Despite the pain, I still moaned in delight, and felt the tendons in my foot snap back into to place. The Ambrosia healed it, but it'd be weak. My powers will bring it back to normal after maybe twenty minutes. Too long. Typical. Nothing is ever easy. I stared at the other treetops. The tree I was in was rather small. Where was I? I guess I have the time now.
Central Park. Yeah. Manhattan. I had to leave camp and find some more materials. Basic defensive gear. I had delivered most of it. Wood, Rope…easy stuff. But my final task was more Celestial Bronze. Now, back in the ancient times, it was mined from under Mount Olympus. So…under the Empire State Building? That where I was heading. But monsters love demigod. They smell nice. Demi-titan? I smell like monster Ambrosia. So yeah, I've already killed three Dracanae, two Empusa and four evil dyads (That hurt. I sucked to see nature spirits corrupted. I definitely wouldn't tell Grover). Now another four Hellhounds were after me. Anyway, I saw the Hellhound underneath me was no longer alone. Another had joined it. I glanced around. I was on the edge of The Great Lawn. Tourists and locals alike crowded the area. I couldn't just charge through, although the Mist would probably make it look like I was being chased by four angry dogs. I looked down again. The hounds weren't paying attention to me, rather waiting around. I guess they assumed I had to come down sometime. I carefully felt me calf. The tendon was healed, and maybe fully strengthened again in under ten minutes. I carefully stretched across one tree to another, trying not to make a sound. It was working, but the trees would grow taller before I escaped. Now five trees down, I sped up, running between branches.
I leaped across a gap between the clumps of woods. I very narrowly missed kicking a young woman in the head. She cursed and shouted at me, but yelped ad jumped aside as what she thought was two angry rottweilers ran past. Curse their hearing. They kept up with me easily, as I had to carefully plan my jumps. After a short time, I saw Turtle Pond on my left. Then disaster struck. That's like the Half—blood slogan. I had jumped, and a hellhound snapped at the branch I was going to grab. It snapped slightly, but me grabbing it broke it the rest of the way. I tumbled to the floor, ignoring the constant curses of American locals. Piss off! I'm in a life-or-death situation here! I was struggling up as the first Hellhound leaped at me. Not having enough time to grab my keyring, my hand shot inside my pocket. My Balisong lay inside, jumbling about as I rolled away from the vicious bite, narrowly missing my neck. I spun, flipped the knife open, and sank the tiny blade into the side of the monster. Yeah, what did you expect would happen Fayden? Tiny blade, huge monster. It swatted me aside, and I sank down to the ground, having hit into a tree. The two Hounds looked apprehensive now. I hadn't had the chance to fight them yet, so they must have thought I was unarmed.
This short time was all I needed. I performed the short routine needed to transform my butterfly knife. It became a shimmering bronze Siccae. The hounds barked, and charged anyway. I jumped to the side of the first one, and this time, jabbing the blade up into the chest of the creature from behind its foreleg actually did something. The Hound yowled and dissolved. This seemed to enrage the second one, which leaped through the air at me. I jumped back, and suddenly found myself at the edge of Turtle Pond.
"Crap!"
I had almost fallen in. The Hellhound advanced, almost grinning, its dirty white canines bearing down on me. I swiped at it, and it actually bit the blade! The audacity! It ripped the blade out of my hand, and tossed it into the river behind me. Motherf…I turned to see where the water rippled. Cursing, I leapt backwards into the lake. The last thing I saw was the Hellhounds surprised face, like, 'I didn't expect you to do that. Damn'. I swam through the dark water. When I reached where I thought I saw it sink I looked around. Still super dark. You know those lightbulb moments? I didn't have one. My breath was running out, and I was just spinning around, staring at different shades of black. Then I randomly thrust out my hand, hoping to stop the blade sinking to the floor and being lost amongst the crap at the bottom. A soft golden glow caught my eye. The blade! When things are affected by my power, they glow slightly! I swam towards it, all too aware of the lack of oxygen. It was starting to get uncomfortable. I snatched the blade, and swam to the surface. Black dots had started appearing in my eyes as I broke the surface of the water. I gasped for breath, then swam to shore. Still gasping, I lay on the bank, heaving. Then a black shadow covered my face.
"Shit crap fuuuuuu…."
I yelled as I rolled over, dodging the claws. STUPID HELLHOUND. I shouted at it,
"Give me a break goddamn it! Let me get my breath back!"
I was shocked to see the monster stop.
"Wait what?"
Good sportsmanship didn't cut it. Monsters were notorious for lacking that. Then I saw the faint pale glow around it. I glanced down, and sure enough, the fingertips of my right hand were glowing. My anger had activated a limited version of my power temporarily. I heaved for a few seconds, before the spell broke. The creature continued its leap, and I yelped and fell backwards. I guess I dodged the leap…in a way. I blindly thrust to my side, and felt the ever so satisfying 'SHLUNK' of a blade hitting flesh. Next thing I knew, I was laying next to shadows, then nothing. I struggled up, panting, then, cursing about not getting a break, ran on. The other two would be about, and I needed to get to the Empire State Building. I had sprinted through Sheep Meadow, apologising as I interrupted various picnics. I had reached the end of Central Park, and leapt onto the pavement of W. 57th St., when I saw the third Hellhound. It was glaring at me from opposite the road, in front of the entrance to Carnegie Hall. I skidded to a halt, and stared back. My hand crept to my keyring. It was like an American West Standoff, just with swords, claws, monsters and half-immortals, not Cowboys and guns. The Hellhound moved first. I grabbed Astyfilaka and it elongated as the dog leapt at me. Easy kill. It landed on my sword as I thrust up. Unfortunately, the beast was the size of car, and knocked me over. One claw had managed to dig into my shoulder before it dissolved. I cried out, clutching my arm. A decent sized trickle of blood crept down my chest, leaking from the stab wound. It was small, but deep, the claw having sunk down rather than ripped through. I didn't have time to tend to it. I just kept running. I loved Manhattan. I've lived here my whole life. 17 years. I knew this place inside out. I had an internal clock, compass and map for this place.
I ran past Carnegie then turned right. I sprinted past St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Rockefeller Centre. Up ahead, I could see the giant skyscraper of my destination. The Empire State Building. It would take me around 12 minutes to reach it from where I stood, outside the Ney York Public Library. 12 minutes. Easy.
I kept sprinting. Sprinting. Jogging. Small walk. Back to sprinting. I could see the entrance to the lobby, less than 50 metres away, when the final Hellhound announced itself. It was small, smaller than a car, but that meant it could surprise me. A taxi crossed my eyesight, then when it passed, the beast leaped at me. I didn't even have time to yell. I rolled to the side, barrelling into a man dressed in simple running joggers and a polo shirt. He shouted at me, but I just ignored him as I ran into the road. I know. Dumb. But it worked. The cars started swerving around me, yelling obscenities and the Hellhound stupidly chased me. I loved traffic dodging. The Hellhound, it turned out, did not. No sooner had it leaped after me, a black Nissan hit it, and it tumbled over. It did nothing, but the Hellhound charged even faster. I leaped out of the way of an awfully yellow Mini Cooper. The Hound smacked against it, and both went tumbling over. This was my chance. I ran towards the final beast, and leaped onto the upturned small car. Jumping down, sword pointing down, I thrust into the monster's head. It dissolved in a painful growl. Quickly turning the weapon back into a keyring, I threw it up in the air, and ran to the door. I could feel it slip around my waist. Bursting into the lobby of the Empire State Building, I suddenly stopped. What now? Everyone stared at me. It took me a few seconds to realise I had technically caused a crash. That kind of collateral was a given in my life, but I guess mortals aren't used to it. I looked around. I marched over to the counter, but turned away before I got there. Then, a deep voice that I very much despised sounded out.
"Looks like you're lost pipsqueak. You need help."
It wasn't a question. I turned, and yep. My least favourite deity stood in the middle of the lobby, eyes aflame behind his shades, biker jacket and jeans gleaming. Ares, in all his dickish glory. I then realised the entire lobby has frozen, and we were the only things not completely silent and still. I was about to insult him when he raised his hand.
"No kid. I still hate you, but that set of armour you gave my daughter? Nice. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this once. Clarisse seems to like you. Why, I have no idea. But if you want any chance of that Bronze, a little respect would go a long way."
I ground my teeth together.
"Fine, Lord Ares…"
I said it with as much venom as I could possibly muster, then continued,
"How could I get enough Celestial Bronze for more weapons in this upcoming battle?" I finished with the most sarcastic, girly courtesy ever. Ares boomed a laugh, and walked over.
"I like you kid. Sure, you're more disrespectful than…I don't have someone to compare you too…but you don't give a shit. I love that."
I couldn't help it. I smirked. Then frowned.
"So…?"
Ares nodded. "Right. Its not as easy as walking into the basement and grabbing a few sheets of the stuff."
I sighed. "Of course it isn't."
"It was never mined from Mount Olympus. Sure, there was normal Bronze at the foot of the mountain, but humans needed one of the Olympians to bless it before it became Celestial Bronze. And we gods don't just bless things for nothing."
I groaned. I had already seen where this was going before Ares had finished speaking.
"What do you want?"
Ares grinned. "Heroes. So ready to just do our chores…I mean…complete our important tasks."
I nodded my head. "Uh huh…so what is it?"
"Right." He clapped his hands together. "It is both easy and difficult."
I scowled. "I swear to the gods Ares, if you give a damn riddle or prophecy, I'm gonna shove Astyfil…"
He laughed. "Nah. I want Clarisse to live."
"What?" I was confused. I want Clarisse to live?
"Apollo let slip that my daughter might be in grave danger in this upcoming battle. I want to see her live if at all possible."
"So that's it? Keep Clarisse alive?"
Ares frowned. "Yes. I you will do it."
There was no 'or else'. He just left it hanging. I will do it. But it wasn't a boost of confidence either.
"Uh, sure."
Ares sighed. "I'm counting on you Fayden. I rarely rely on Half-Bloods, but I can't intervene myself. I may shout at her a lot, but I hate weakness. I love her. She's by far my favourite child."
I nodded. "She my favourite of your children as well."
He laughed, but I couldn't help but feel bad for Ares. In a way, I was more powerful. At least I could help the people I cared about. I had some control over my fate. The gods? They were completely enslaved by the Moirai. Ares could end battles with a snap of his fingers, but he wasn't allowed. He could kill a human by looking at them, but he couldn't. He had to watch his kids die, when he could've blinked and their enemy would be dead. Hell, he could freeze a lobby of people by thinking it, but he needed a lowly mortal to protect his loved ones.
I nodded, and he smiled. I was shocked to see an expression I'd never thought Ares was capable of. Gratitude. Then he vanished. Possibly such quantities of niceness repelled his natural nature. In his place, a sack had appeared, with obvious spikes pressed against the fabric, exactly like when you put a sheet of metal in a bag. I walked over, and opened it. Twenty large sheets of Bronze lay in the sack, stacked on top of each other. They were glowing palely. I shouldered it, and walked out. The moment I left, I heard the lobby unfreeze, and everyone started going about what they had been doing before. I called a taxi. What? After the bloody few days, I've been through, I'm not walking to Montauk. I ignored the first few questions the driver had sent me.
"You ok?"
"What's in the bag?"
"You need treatment for that cut?"
I just told him where to go, and he got the gist. I long and silent ride later, I emptied my pockets of the last of the mortal cash Chiron had given me for my trip, then walked up the winding track. The Delphi Strawberry Service was just up ahead. I climbed the crest of the hill, and then there it was. Camp. I'd been gone for nearly three to four days, and now I was back. I shouldered the bag slightly higher, then marched down the hill.
Next chapter will tie in roughly when Pan dies. Percy and the others will be watching Pan die and everything, while Fayden finishes preparing camp. Chapter 31, will be the battle. Peace.
