Chapter 26
When they lost sight of Tantalus Leah used the remnants of his scent to track him down, speeding across the forest floor. Percy watched the world around him as trees came up slowly, only to seem warped with speed as they passed by his peripheral vision. Leah's running motion was smooth, fluid like water as she used previous motion to spring into the next. Her paws were powerful hammers and they struck the earth with great strength, yet her muscles absorbed the impact and used the force to drive forward.
Percy studied they way she ran with childlike wonder, the beauty of nature and the majestic power of strength.
He himself felt stronger than he ever had before, pure unrestrained energy hummed just beneath his fingertips. He felt as if it would absorb him if he used it, his own power drowning him as his human body could not handle the strength.
The world had never looked clearer. It was as if he had been looking through dirty glasses his whole life. Every color was vibrant, every detail astounding. How beautiful the world was!
He smiled, a brief fleeting smile before he remembered. He remembered Seth, he remembered his joyous attitude about the world. Seth had always seen the world as he saw it now, beautiful. He hadn't needed any change, no unlocking of some hidden power, he had just seen the good in the bad. To many times Percy found himself looking at the bad, it almost seemed like human nature to find the worst in things. A strange evil game where people compete with each other to find out who has it worse, who deserves more pity. As if by playing victim, he can be shrouded in a light of righteousness and therefore justify any action done in return.
But who is to decide what is righteous judgment and what is wrong. The worlds judgment brings no good in the end, hate leads to hate, destruction breeds only more destruction.
Gods, what was he going to tell Leah... when would he tell her. He should do it soon, she deserved to know, but it's such a hard thing to say and they're in the middle of a battle and she could be distracted by emotion...
And...
and excuses.
If Percy was on the other side of the situation he would want to know, he would need to know.
He prepared himself to say the words that would change Leah's life forever. But how does one prepare themselves for that? Perhaps it would be better to live in lies, blissfully unaware. The truth was too painful to face, much easier to forget about the whole ordeal, he'd think about it later.
No, that wouldn't be fair to Leah.
"Hey... Leah." Percy said softly. "I've—I've got some bad news.."
If Leah even heard him she didn't respond. She just kept moving forward, running without stop like a machine.
"It's about-" Percy took a shuddering deep breath. But before he could speak again he noticed something at the edge of his vision. "Hey! There he is!"
Leah was running towards the middle of a clearing, one open spot in the middle of the dark and misty forest. In the center of the clearing there was a crystal, a little over knee hight and in dull white color. It pulled on him, the crystal, even from this distance he could feel it slowly goading him into its warm embrace. He had to get away from it, he knew what it was, what it would do.
Next to the crystal stood Tantalus, his body as still as the rock to his right. In his hand he held a sleek black pistol, and it was pointed right at them. His arm was steady and his eye was trained through the sight, locked on their moving bodies.
For some strange reason Leah kept running forward, straight for the danger, almost as if she couldn't see it.
"Stop! Get in cover!" Percy yelled.
Leah stopped abruptly, almost flinging him from her back as his body threatened to tumble forward.
It seemed as if Leah's vision wasn't completely gone as she dashed behind a tree and some bushes, Percy frantically holding on.
BANG!
And not a second to late, a bullet skidded past the dirt ground where they had just been running.
Percy slid off Leah's back and into the crumpled dead leaves, leaning his back on the tree. Leah pressed her chest to the ground, her paws laid out in front of her and she rested her head on them. Her ears were perked up, completely still as she listened for any sound of movement.
"That wasn't going to be a killing shot, it would have hit your leg. He needs me alive." Percy glanced over his shoulder, trying to peek around the thick tree trunk. "Let's use that to our advantage."
It was strange how the crystal pulled on his very soul, trying to trap him in its prison. It was a warm feeling, not uncomfortable in the slightest. Like sinking into a pool of warm water, his body yearned for it, his heart wanted it but his mind knew better. Somehow he had to stop Tantalus, preferably before Leah went fully blind from his spell, and all without getting too close to him and his weird crystal.
"I've been preparing for this moment for all to long!" Tantaluses ghastly voice called out. "It all started a little over a year ago, you remember the day quite well. Impossible to forget. You see, I needed some of your DNA, just a strand of hair would do. Annabeth's death was just an added plus."
The memories of the attack flashed through his mind, his blade twirling through the air, cutting and slicing. The last fiery gleams of light from the sun shimmering over the dark blue ocean. The tall green trees that leaned over the sand from the edge of the forrest. Golden dust sparkling on its slow fall to the ground, joining the pale sand and getting washed away in the waves just the same. Annabeth at his back, Annabeth leaning on that cursed tree, the blood smeared bark, the wet sand beneath her dying body, wet with blood. His tears, dripping down the sides of his face, gathering at his chin and falling into the sand.
All of that, for a strand of hair.
Red hot anger burst forth and he almost stood up to fight Tantalus right there and then. But luckily he restrained himself, if he got too close the crystal would begin to consume him. They needed a better plan.
"I needed to bond the crystal with your soul somehow, your DNA was necessary. These crystals are very tenuous to grow. Took about a year for the first, little longer for this one. They grow in the Underworld, I found out about them while I was... enjoying my stay. They're used to hold the worst of the worst. Once inside completely there is no getting out, even if you were to break the crystal you'd still be stuck inside. Surrounded in complete darkness, alone, for all eternity." Tantalus continued. "Your the sacrifice I need, Percy. The only worthy one that can complete the spell."
It was just like with Mother Earth, except instead of raising a primordial goddess, Tantalus was completing a massive spell. What is up with evil people and human sacrifice.
He looked into Leah's oak brown eyes, watching as the faint light that made it through the mist got caught in her irises. She gazed back up at him sorrowfully.
Percy had been fighting fights for so long, his life had always been held on a tightrope. Maybe now, he could just relax, and let himself fall into oblivion. If he died, there would be no sacrifice, Tantalus would fail. Maybe... maybe he should let himself go.
Loyalty had always been his fatal flaw, he was willing to sacrifice himself so others could live. What a glorious end it would be, saving the world from chaos with a single stab of his blade, right into his own heart.
He slowly reached into his own pocket, a sad faint smile on his face. He pulled out the pen and twirled it between his fingers, watching as the light moved across the surface of the celestial bronze. He traced his finger over the engraved Greek lettering Anaklusmos and the tiny little trident pointed towards the word.
All he had to do was take the cap off, with the tip pointed towards his chest, and he would save everyone.
Suddenly the pen was snatched from his finger and throne across the ground. Leah had used her teeth to grab it and was now growling at him in a deep rumble.
Somehow she had known what he was thinking, somehow she had read the emotions playing across his face. Having heard Tantalus, she must have understood his train of thought. Now she guarded Riptide and refused to let him make any moves to pick it up. He would simply glance in the pens direction and the growl would become lower.
Percy sighed. He couldn't do that to her, kill himself and fill her with grief. Especially when they hadn't even tried another way. But if all was lost... no. He would find a way, there is always a way. It could be surrounded with darkness and filled with challenges but it would still be better than giving up. To die was to accept defeat, no monster had bested him yet, and none ever would.
"Thanks Leah." Percy smiled at her, a real smile. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
She tilted her head as if to respond, I don't know what you'd do either.
She walked up to him and nuzzled her head under his chin, pulling away and giving him a big sloppy lick up his face.
"Ew! Leah!" But Percy was smiling, filled with joy and bubbly with laughter. He ruffled the fluffy grey hair atop her head. "Come on. We got a ghost to kill."
He Has Risen! Happy Easter everyone! Glory to God.
Romans 6:8-11:"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. "
This was a fun chapter to write. I decided to end it a little happy just cause. Im so close to finishing this, I'm going to try and finish this Spring break. So be prepared for random chapter updates throughout the week.
R&R
-CreativeMode