Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter
The Ever Twisting Wind: Of Monsters and Titans
Chapter Fourteen: I Dine With the Fishes
Beta: ShadowofAxios
"I'm going to scramble it, Bethy. I swear to Olympus." Andi glared daggers at the golden egg lying innocently -Too innocently!- in her lap.
Annabeth just rolled her eyes in exasperation at Andi's dramatics.
"It's made of metal Andi," said daughter of wisdom deadpanned via I.M.
"Then I'll melt it."
"Let's not. And even if we did," The blonde told her. "How would you figure out the clue then?"
"At this point, I don't care about the clue! I just want to get rid of this gods awful thing."
The only thing she'd managed to get out of the devilish egg was that annoying screech that stung her sensitive ears. The sooner she could toss it the better.
She was about ready to pull a Percy and toss it at a wall.
"Well, have you been researching magical languages like I recommended?" Annabeth asked. "I did say that the screeching was probably one of them."
"I looked up about fifty different languages. From fairies, to gnomes, and a whole a whole bunch of other stuff too. Sadly, no dice."
Okay, so Andi was exaggerating somewhat. She hadn't exactly gone through fifty different languages. She'd been smarter in her research than that and just cross-referenced languages that sounded like screeching to humans. She'd had a few hits, but mainly for things like ancient harpy languages or those of other avian races. Too bad her attempts to use translation spells for those languages proved that they weren't a match.
"Well, you'll just have to keep looking. I'm sure we're on the right track there."
"You're a great help there." Andi noted sarcastically.
Annabeth frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry about that. You know I am. But there aren't exactly many books on magical languages that I could get my hands on and I've already looked through those."
The daughter of Zeus rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm just frustrated that we're making so little progress."
"You're worrying too much." Annabeth reassured. "I mean you still have a while till the Task, right?"
"Yeah, like a week or so. Still, I just don't want to go into this thing half-cocked. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."
Annabeth nodded. As a child of Athena, she was someone who liked to be super battle ready, and so hated going into a situation without being fully prepared.
Andi's combat lessons had pounded that mentality into her as well. Especially with the type of opponents she had been facing lately.
"Well, maybe a suggestion?"
"I'm all ears?" Andi said as she leaned into the I.M. image eagerly.
"You might want to try looking for calls of magical beasts too. The wizards are super racists, aren't they?" Annabeth said with a disgusted face, her opinion on the topic clear.
"Yeah, pretty much." The child of Zeus wrinkled her nose.
"Right." The blonde continued. "So it's possible they classified this language as a call. Or maybe it's really not a language at all, and it's just that: a beast's call."
Andi turned to a set of bestiaries by Newt Scamander that she had lying around her bedroom. "Yeah, I've thought of that. No luck there either, unfortunately."
At hearing that, the daughter of Athena looked frustrated. "Then… I'm out of i-ideas."
Her friend looked very displeased at admitting this, like she had swallowed a lemon.
Hubris, thy name is Annabeth.
Andi sighed. "I guess, I'll just need to keep looking and hope I come up with something?"
"Looks like." The daughter of Athena said, sounding disappointed. "I really wish I could help more."
"Don't worry about it. You've helped a bunch already." Andi offered kindly. "Besides, who knows, maybe they'll tell us what it is after the task. If they do, I'll fill you in."
"You better." The blonde gave her a firm look at this, before she gave a yawn.
"Long day?"
"Yeah, Bobby filled Mathew's shoes with dirt. It wasn't fun to break up that little spat. You mind if we call it here?" Annabeth said with a wistful smile. "I'd love to catch up, but I'm exhausted."
"Not a problem. Have a good rest, Bethy."
Waving goodbye and receiving a lazy one in reply, Andi wiped her hand through the I.M. thus ending the call. She flopped back on her bed, groaning as she held the egg up in the air. "You are going to be the death of me, I swear."
Using her powers, she made the golden egg float by itself. She used her foot to spin it, glaring at it as she thought about the clue for the Second Task. What the heck was that screeching all about?
It was probably going to be something stupid again, Andi had little doubts about that.
"Alright, one more time you little bugger. Speak bloody English this time. Please." Andi opened the latches.
"Andi, it's time for di-" Wendy said as she opened the door to the room and poked her head in. She winced as the terrible noise reached her ears.
"One sec!" Andi shouted back, louder than the egg itself and latched it up once more. Rubbing her ear, she said. "Sorry, was trying to figure this stupid, asinine, piece of junk out!"
The Aura just shook her head, as if clearing the ringing from her ears. Once she seemed to regain her cool, she turned to Andi with an adorably confused look. "Why are you listening to Mermish above water!?"
"...What?" Andi asked slowly as she mechanically turned her head to her little Aura friend. "Say that again?"
"Mermish. Why are you listening to it above water. It only comes out as incoherent screams if it's not in water."
Andi promptly tossed the egg at the wall.
"Son of a-!" The daughter of Zeus jumped off the bed and glared daggers at the egg once more. "Of course, it has to be about water. No doubt swimming in it too! And it involves fish too. I know Uncle Poseidon doesn't totally hate me, but his fishy minions do."
Could this task get any dumber?
"Wait a minute." Andi stilled suddenly as she just realized something. "Wendy, did you know the egg's clue was in Mermish all along?"
The little wind nymph just blinked in even more confusion. "That was the egg's clue? This is the first time I've heard it."
The daughter of Zeus palmed her face as she realized that her partner was right. It hadn't even occurred to her to ask Wendy for help with the egg. She'd only approached Annabeth, who despite her best efforts hadn't helped out much, and Ida, who had just smiled and told her that she saw solving the clue as something Andi had to figure out on her own. Her nanny had even made it into one of her graded assignments.
"I forgot that as a spirit you're a darn translator for naturey stuff. Okay, so what does it say?"
Wendy shrugged. "As I said, outside of water it's incoherent gibberish. You need to place it underwater and listen."
Andi nodded with a vaguely embarrassed blush. Wendy had mentioned that first bit.
"Uh, yeah, sure." The demigod said sheepishly as she scooped up the egg and jogged to the bathroom, Wendy right at her heels.
Turning on the faucet, Andi waited for the tub to fill impatiently.
As the minutes ticked by, her impatience got the better of her and she pointed at the tub and invoked her magic. "Aguamenti."
A small trickle of water shot from her finger and started to help fill the tub.
"Ugh, why is it producing so little water?"
Andi's spell was barely making a difference.
"What do you mean?" Wendy asked in surprise. "That you, a daughter of Zeus, can do any magic with water is already a big deal."
"Huh? What do you mean? The last time I used this spell it produced tons more than this." Andi said gesturing in annoyance to the squirt gun level trickle her spell was conjuring.
"Oh! You mean during the fight with Chimera?"
"You know about that?"
"I did my research on you. Ida insisted." Wendy said with a shudder. "Something about how studying your previous fights would help me understand your fighting style and learn to fight alongside you better."
"What, do gods have a fantasy demigod league or something?"
"You're ranked in the top 100." Wendy said with pride. "And that's out of all the demigods that have ever lived."
Andi opened her mouth to respond, but she failed to say anything. Shocked that her jest was an actual thing.
"Okay." The demigod drawled, not wanting to know more. It was getting a little too weird, even for her. "So you were saying there's something different with me using the spell now and back when I used it in the fight with Chimera?"
"Yup." The Aura nodded, even as she popped the "p". "You're not helping Lord Poseidon's son in a life or death battle right now, so he's not blessing you and boosting your affinity with water right now."
"That's fair." Andi conceded with a bob of her head. "I'm guessing what affinity I do have comes from dad's power over rain, clouds, and storms?"
Zeus did powerwash the world once after all.
"Exactly."
The daughter of Zeus blinked in annoyance.
She thought that she and Poseidon were on better terms now.
Guess it wasn't by much.
"I think the tub's done."
Looking down, and noting that her partner was right, Andi proceeded to toss the egg in and turn off the tap. Giving Wendy a quick glance, Andi took a breath and ducked her head in. She reached for the egg and opened it once more.
Not having her ears ringing from screeching was the first thing she noted.
Next was the pretty voice now coming from the egg as it sang a creepy little song.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
The voice trailed off into a beautiful wordless melody after that before it repeated the song once more. Andi listened to it one more time, wanting to be sure that she memorised the thing properly, and then closed the egg up.
Popping her head from the tub, the daughter of Zeus looked at Wendy. "So am I missing anything from the room?"
"Err… No?"
"Oh right! You didn't hear the song." Andi looked sheepish. "It said they took something I'll really miss. I'll get an hour to find it and take it back."
"Do you know where it is?" Wendy pondered.
The child of the Olympian King scrunched her nose. "I've got a pretty good idea."
She glanced out the window, where the Black Lake sat, looking super sinister as usual. The daughter of Zeus had held the lake in contempt ever since she nearly drowned in it thanks to a bunch of overzealous Grindylow.
"It doesn't have to be a thing, right? What if it's a person?"
Wendy had a point.
"Who? I mean, I seriously doubt the wizards would manage to nab you or Ida. And Will, Bethy and the others are all in the States. Don't think they'd go intercontinental just to grab someone for this silly Tournament. On the other hand, maybe I should I.M. him. Them. Yeah, just in case."
"So you can make kissy faces at each other again?" Wendy asked innocently.
"We do not!"
"Uh-huh. You totally do!"
The two girls would have likely continued bickering for a while, but they were interrupted by Ida walking into the room. "Wendy, Andi? What's taking you girls so long? We'll be late for dinner if we don't hurry. By the way, Wendy has a point!"
"How do you even know what we were talking about?" Andi asked defensively. "The room is soundproofed."
"I can guess." Ida said with a knowing smirk. "You were denying that you make kissing faces at your boyfriend when you I.M. him."
"And now they're ganging up on me, lamesauce." Andi pouted.
Hedwig hooted as she flew onto Ida's shoulder.
"And there's the third! There a fourth hidden in the walls?"
The two nymphs and one snowy owl all burst into laughter.
Andi grabbed the egg from the now draining tub and promptly tossed it right at Ida's head.
The nymph caught it effortlessly and raised a brow.
"Stuff it!"
It was a dreary and chilly February morning at Hogwarts, even more so as Andi stood by the cold lake in an insulated wetsuit. Despite her best efforts though, including a warming charm, the cold still seemed to somehow seep into her very bones. All in all, it was a terrible day and all Andi wanted to do was go back to bed and wait out the bad weather.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury as it was time for the Second Task.
On one bank the seats that had encircled the dragons' enclosure in November were now ranged. They were packed to the bursting point by a crowd whose excited babble echoed strangely across the water. Next to her were the judges sitting around a gold-draped table at the water's edge with the remaining Champions shifting impatiently next to them.
The demigod swore the water was glaring at her, she knew she had some of her dad's paranoia, but she couldn't help but think that this time it was justified. The lake had tried to claim her once, Andi wasn't going to enjoy giving it another chance to do so.
She didn't have much of a choice. Not when Ron had disappeared overnight, and was almost certainly serving as her hostage. She'd been keeping an eye on all her friends for days now, to try to figure out who the judges would take as the person that she'd "sorely miss".
In all honesty, she was a little baffled by their choice. Sure, Ron was a mate and all, but it didn't make much sense to have him be Andi's hostage. They haven't been the best of chums in a while.
They were still close of course, but they hadn't hung out as much as they used to lately. Not with her constantly studying, being away fighting the Titans, and doing demigod things. Her schedule was pretty booked. Not to mention how he was drifting away from her as he found new friends. Many of whom hated her, like his new girlfriend Lisa Turpin.
The less sad about Lisa the better.
The judges must have been grasping at straws or something.
Shaking the thoughts away, she focused on the problem at hand. Distant or not, Ron was still her friend and she wasn't about to abandon him under the lake to whatever fate awaited him. She was sure that the wizards thought they had the situation under control, but that didn't inspire much confidence in her. Not when the lake was giving her such bad vibes.
The Champions were all lined up, spread out a few feet from one another and eying the others Andi couldn't help but roll her eyes. Especially, at the overt sex appeal that Fleur's swimsuit oozed.
Begging for attention much?
Sure, it was just a simple white one piece but considering the amount of cleavage it showed and the cold weather, it was wholly inappropriate. Not that the lone male Champion was any better, dressed as he was in his swim shorts.
Was this a competition or a modelling ad?
Ugh, stupid ADHD, I'm getting distracted again. What's taking them so long? Let's get on with it.
As if hearing her thoughts, and maybe they did, the Fates obliged.
Bagman, who was apparently playing announcer again, suddenly looked up from a pocket watch, pointed his wand at his throat and said, "Sonorus!" and his voice boomed out across the dark water toward the stands.
Thankfully, he seemed to have decided to skip any flowery speeches this time around and instead chose to get straight to the point. She wanted to get this over with.
"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One...two...three!"
As his countdown concluded, the starting whistle echoed shrilly in the cold, still air and the stands erupted with cheers and applause.
Not that Andi paid it any mind. The moment that the whistle was given, she'd leapt into the air with a power assisted leap and jumped into the lake. In the same instant, while she was still in midair, Wendy who had been nearby the whole time in her wind form, proceeded to encase her in their Storm Mail.
To the crowd, it looked like nothing more than Andi's form suddenly being cocooned by a swirling red tempest.
Armored up, they dived in, Andi inhaling the air Wendy provided as they glided under the water. It was a neat little trick that they had learned to help the daughter of Zeus breathe and move more freely underwater. It was apparently something that had been done before and Ida suggested they could try out. It had taken quite a bit of practice in the swimming pool provided by the Room of Requirement for them to get the whole thing down but in the end it was worth it.
Under the sea, under the sea~!
Wendy, stop singing that. Please?
But it's catchy~! Wendy whined.
Stop or no more Disney for you. Andi chided her as she glanced around, pushing some kelp out of her way as they made it into the deeper parts of the Lake.
Wendy silenced her singing and softly said. But it's eerie down here. I wanted to fill the noise. Besides, you don't like it much down here either. Isn't that why we never came down here to practice before now?
That and I didn't want to try my luck with the Lake until I absolutely had to. Getting attacked once was more than enough. But, seriously, now's not the time for music. We've gotta pay attention, who knows what's going to-oh, seriously? Andi groaned as a massive school of fish surged out of the depths and surrounded her. Shoo, shoo!
The fish circled around her and obstructed her view. Andi batted her hands at them, knocking a few away, but they seemed determined to continue encircling her. Even as she tried to swim away, they followed her relentlessly, always keeping her in the centre of a swarming mass of fins and scales.
If that was not weird enough, the school was an odd mix of fish. There was everything from the typical fish of all sizes to flying sea horses to Plimpies, small round magical fish with two legs ending in webbed feet. Andi wasn't a fish expert, not like Percy, but she was pretty sure that fish from so many different species didn't normally all school together like this.
If I didn't want to get on Uncle Poseidon's bad side, I'd be making sushi out of you all right now.
She tried to continue forward, except there was a problem. Andi didn't know which way she was going now. Not with the large fish screen obstructing her vision.
Uh, Andi, the fish are behaving very oddly. Wendy noted with some worry.
You think? Oh shite! Andi cursed, as suddenly the fish started to dive at her and ramming into her body at full speed like tiny living torpedoes. They're attacking me!
Reacting quickly, Andi pulled as many air bubbles around her as she could and released a small air blast. The shockwave scattered the fish around her.
The demigod looked around and saw the massive school was even now quickly shaking off its disorientation and regrouping. Knowing that she couldn't afford to get caught by it again, she swam for the shallow end of the lake that was fortunately not too far away.
Pour on the speed, Wendy!
They shot through the kelp forest that ringed the lake shore even as the reformed school began to pursue them. But between their speed and the cover provided by the seaweed, they seemed to lose them.
They were just slowing down to catch a breather and sighing in relief when they were ambushed again.
From out of nowhere, Grindylows sprang forth from hiding places in the kelp forest all around them. Their green teeth stretched in vicious grins as those elongated fingers of theirs reached out towards her. The very sight of them made Andi's heart race in terror as she recalled her near drowning the last time she ran into the foul things.
Like bloody hell they were getting a hold of her again!
This time, she came prepared with Skyline in tow. Bringing her sword forth, she swung at them in fury.
Die! Die! Die!
She launched conjured blades of air that cut through the water and chopped dozens of them to pieces at a time.
But just like last time, there were too many of them. That combined with some unusual cunning by the blighters had them sacrificing themselves by deliberately getting in the way of Skyline and her wind blades, soaking up the damage while their fellows swarmed her. Soon dozens of them were latched onto her body with their strong fingers and tentacles. Slowly but surely they dogpiled her and began pulling with all their strength.
Let me go! Andi shouted in her mind as she felt like her limbs being twisted off. She tried to swing Skyline around to hack at them, but those on her arms simply pulled in the opposite direction and kept her sword arm still.
If Andi had been on her own, that might have been the end of her.
But she wasn't.
While the daughter of Zeus was screaming in pain as the Grindylows pulled her apart, Wendy saved the day. Acting quickly, the Aura expanded the Storm Mail into a large bubble of air that pushed all the little water demons back.
Andi panted as she rested at the bottom of the bubble. Looking up, she said. "Thanks Wendy."
I can't do this forever! The little Aura told her in a strained tone.
"Well don't." Andi said, glancing at the sheer number of the things. "We're bolting, we don't have time to deal with them anyway. Get back to armor form and add on more rotation, that should keep them off for now."
Wendy did just that, the air armor now rotating so rapidly that it sent bubbles escaping in every direction. It was spinning so fast, that the few Grindylows who managed to close with her couldn't latch on. They didn't rest on their laurels though and blasted off, flying right through the weak wall the Grindylows were trying to make.
Sadly though, despite their speedy getaway, the bastards were strong swimmers and were quickly nipping at her heels.
Come on Wendy, we need to outpace them.
I'm a flyer, not a swimmer!
In the confusion of their escape, the duo had gotten turned around and instead of heading to the shallows like they originally intended, they shot back out into the open water.
Something that the school of fish from earlier seized upon as they shot towards them.
Oh bugger all! Dive, Wendy! Dive!
What?!
They can't go that deep, do it! Andi ordered.
I hope you know what you're doing.
Andi really didn't. She was mostly flying by the seat of her pants at the moment, but anything was better than staying here to become fish food.
I heard that!
Sorry.
The Aura nevertheless compiled and the duo shot into the lake's dark depths, quickly leaving a swarm of aquatic menaces behind them in their wake.
Okay, I think we're safe for a minute.
Give it five seconds before we're attacked again. Wendy opined in resignation.
Andi quirked her brow, Well, aren't you little Miss Pessimist today.
We were assaulted by fish! I can be pessi-
Wendy never finished her sentence, instead opting to jinx to the side as a gigantic tentacle swung at them from out of the deep.
Wha- Bob!?
Indeed, rising out of the lake bottom was the massive form of Bob the giant squid. The usually playful creature was swinging its tentacles aggressively at the pair as they jinxed about in the water, desperately evading his attempts to ensnare them.
"Is everything in the Lake out to get me?" Andi shouted in frustration as she narrowly avoided a massive tentacle swing as she and Wendy sped away from the jet propelled giant cephalopod.
"Bob! I used to tickle your tentacles! Why the betrayal?!"
He says he's sorry. Wendy translated. But he has to listen to Nessie. He owes her too much.
"The Loch Ness monster? What's she got to do with this?" Andi asked as she pulled up sharply, dodging a superfast stream of water by a hair's breadth.
Different Nessie, this is the Lake's Naiad. Not the kelpie in Loch Ness. I met her at the Yule party in the Forest. She doesn't like you. At all.
Well she can join the list of people who hate me. Still, that explains everything. Thanks for the warning, Wendy!
Dislike does not equal murder! Wendy weakly argued as they ducked around the swing of a tentacle.
Have you met our Pantheon?!
Point!
While the partners argued, Bob seemed to have changed tactics as he began filling the surrounding water with ink. Knowing that fighting the squid while blinded by the ink was a bad idea, Andi shot them towards the surface. Bob seemed to expect this and fired a barrage of water jets in a bid to cut her off. Andi and Wendy proved a lot more agile than he expected though and with some fancy maneuvering and some lightning fast reaction times, they blitzed pass his attempt to box them in.
Out of the water! We need a break. Andi thought breathlessly, the frantic pace so far forcing her to breathe hard. By that patch of flotsam. It'll hide us from the things in the lake.
Right.
Obligingly, the Aura shot them out of the water, right in the middle of a patch of floating logs that seemed to have floated down into the lake from one of the many tributaries that ran into it from the Forest.
"Son of a bitch, I hate lakes. Now and forever." Andi sighed as she scanned the murky waters. She had no idea where the mermaid village was. I guess I'll have to use the Point Me-
Andi!
Wendy's warning was a little too late though and even as Andi turned her attention back to her immediate surroundings, she found herself being attacked by dugbogs - swamp dwelling magical creatures that looked like bits of dead wood when stationary - that had disguised themselves as some of the floating logs. The magical creatures started clawing at her with their finned paws and sharp teeth, while trying to use their weight to drag Andi back into the water.
The daughter of the skies was having none of it.
That's it! I'm officially fed up!
Letting her frustration loose in a wordless scream, Andi detonated an air bomb with herself as ground zero. Protected as she was by her Storm Mail and her natural immunity to the effects of the winds, she was unscathed. Her surroundings however weren't so lucky. The dugbogs were reduced to meaty chunks and their woody camouflage into splinters.
This seemed to elicit a cheer from the stands, but Andi ignored it.
Instead as she regained her breath, the demigod assessed her options.
The mermaid village was nowhere to be seen, Ron was still missing, … Oh! And everything in the lake was trying to kill her.
Andi was highly tempted to just opt out of this round. Sadly, with how much the naiad of the Lake seemed to loathe her, she doubted Ron was going to be let go anytime soon. Even if the timer ran out.
The things I have to do as a hero.
It's not safe in the water. Wendy noted, nervously.
Thanks for stating the obvious there. Andi snapped, her frustration getting the better of her. Sorry. This is becoming a pain.
No worries. Wendy replied soothingly. I understand. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that we should just fly to the water over the village and then dive back in.
Andi blinked her eyes in surprise at that. That's actually a good idea. Let's do it. Just give me a minute to figure out where the village is.
She took out her wand and held it atop her palm. "Point me." She declared and the wand began to pivot south west.
Aha! Gotcha now. Andi grinned wickedly.
Why didn't you use the spell from the start? Wendy asked her.
"I was going to." Andi replied. "Didn't get the chance, not with the constant attacks."
You just forgot, didn't you?
I didn't, now hush you.
The duo floated over the lake until they were directly on top of the village. Holstering her wand, Andi gripped Skyline tightly as she glared down at the waters. "Ready? We're blitzing the village with a Sonic Move, got it?"
Roger!
"Hang on, Ron." Andi said as she blasted right into the lake with a chant of "Sonic Move", causing quite a large splash in the process as she rode the lightning down.
I think we didn't think it through. Andi thought to herself as her dive threw up a mass of bubbles and had her shooting through the water so fast that she couldn't make out anything around her.
As she levelled out in the water and the bubbles from her dive cleared, Andi looked around to regain her bearings. The first thing she noticed were the charred bodies of dozens of fish falling to the bottom around her, victims of either being hit dead on by her in Sonic Move or cooked alive by the heat created by her streaking through the water as lightning.
Whoops.
You are a walking environmental disaster. Wendy said with a groan.
Don't tell Grover. The demigod pleaded as she looked around quickly. Now where's that ginger?
Andi redirected her attention to her surroundings and was greeted with a sight that made her gulp nervously. She was face to face with an army of merpeople armed with tridents and nets; a quartet of Kelpie, shapeshifting water spirits that currently looked like hippocampi; Bob; a large school of fish; and a Naiad that literally glowed with malicious intent.
All of them did, as they eyed her murderously. Even Bob.
"Okay, I'll be frank. I just want the ginger. Hand him over and I will leave, forever afterwards. I swear." She offered to the assembled armies of the lake.
The lake nymph's only reply was to drag Ron to her side from where he was floating in the water at the back of the village and placing a deadly looking dagger against a sleeping Ron's throat.
"And it seems negotiations have failed."
Like they had a chance to begin with!
As if echoing Wendy's sentiment, the lake's denizens charged.
"And now we're doing this!" Andi complained as she defended herself and tried to weave through the ranks to get to Ron, but the enemy were just too well coordinated.
The merfolk used their tridents like javelins, forcing Andi back. Every time she tried to aim a ranged attack, the massive school of fish acted as a massive screen that blocked her vision and threw off her aim. When she tried an area of effect attack, the kelpie just used their powers over the water to negate it by stilling the waters or hardening it into walls that tanked whatever she threw at them. While all this was happening, she still had to contend with Bob's jets of water and his massive tentacles.
Despite the insane melee the fight had become, Andi still managed to spot Krum and Fleur as they made use of the distraction to dart through the deserted merfolk village, grab their hostages and swim away. All while shooting fearful looks at the epic fight.
"Oh sure, run and let the demigod do all the fighting. Typical mortals." Andi cursed under her breath as she once again ducked under a barrage of javelins from the merfolk.
At least someone is making progress. But I think they might have the right idea.
What do you mean?
Just wait and see. Andi assured with a mirthless smile as she shot them back out of the water. Ron was over that way, so I'll need to aim over here.
Aim? Aim what?
Andi's answer was to fire a barrage of airbombs into the water below, sending up massive sprays of water now tinged red with blood and full of the remains of her enemies.
Ever hear of a depth charge? Andi smirked menacingly as she eyed her handiwork.
...No. No I have not. Wendy said in a low, horrified whisper.
Well you just saw a whole bunch of them.
You are fiendishly good at clearing crowds. Wendy noted with a tinge of fear. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.
"I just hope I didn't miscalculate and accidentally hit Ron."
That would seriously suck. She didn't want to kill him, but she really had little chance of getting him out of there without thinning the fishy herd.
"Right, nothing for it but to go check I gues-"
Before Andi could even finish her sentence, the blood red surface of the lake churned into a maelstrom and a roar of unbridled rage echoed through the air seemingly coming from the waters itself.
Slowly, ominously, from the maelstrom emerged a single massive sea serpent. It was wide as a jet liner, at least, and who knew how long. Flanking it were the four kelpie from earlier, now supersized and with their lower bodies looking serpentine.
In the distance, a collective gasp escaped from the stands.
"Oh, wow, you're- you're a big one." The daughter of Zeus eyed the massive clear pearl of water that hung on the serpent's neck, within which a still unconscious Ron floated limply. "Son of a-!"
Seriously! Was it hard to ask for something to go smoothly? Just once?!
"You will pay!" The serpent exclaimed, hissing at her. "First, you get me in trouble with Lord Poseidon and now you massacre my subjects?"
"You did this, I was only defending myself." Andi snapped, glaring frighteningly at the serpent with glowing blue eyes. "Get the Hades over yourself you psycho nymph."
Andi, maybe we shouldn't make the psycho even more angry? Wendy warned.
"No no no, she wants to rumble? I have aggression to dish out if she wants it!"
"Kill her!" The enraged naiad ordered her kelpie henchmen as she too took action. She breathed out a dozen massive lances of bloody water.
Andi swerved through the air to avoid them, but they impossibly seemed to track her. They twisted and turned in the air to do so, relentlessly hunting Andi down. In fact, from the way they moved Andi almost thought they might have minds of their own.
It's because they do. Wendy noted in a fearful whisper. They're animated by the spirits of those you've just killed and they want revenge. They won't ever stop chasing you Andi.
The utter amount of bullshit that is this lake! I redub thee Lake Bullshit! Andi fumed inwardly as her dodging was made all the more difficult by the kelpies as they joined the fight. The water spirits kept conjuring waves of water to cut her off whenever she got too close to the Lake and when she tried to shoot up to the safety of the clouds, they fired jets of water to intercept her.
"You lot like to shoot at me?" Andi screamed at the kelpie. "Well eat this!"
With that she used her powers to conjure up a cyclone and caught the lances that were still hunting her in its winds before using it to shoot them back at the water spirits. The shapeshifters were transformed into living pincushions but seemed largely unaffected. Instead, their only reaction, if their furious neighing was anything to go by, was to get even more pissed off.
They are all spirits now, Andi! You can't defeat them with physical attacks.
"You'll have to do better than that, little girl!" The sea serpent shaped naiad taunted even as she continued to fill the air with more of those accursed blood lances.
Wendy, tell me that a little earlier next time! Andi screamed in exasperation in her mind as she narrowly avoided being skewered by one of the lances.
Sorry! Wendy apologized even as she frantically pulled them out of the way of a jet of water that the kelpie shot at them. I thought it was obvious.
Spirits? Hmm… I guess it has to be that.
Diving between the bloody lances and twisting upward to get some altitude, Andi pointed her open palm towards the raging spirits.
"επικαλούνται: καθαρό αέρα: καθαρισμός (Invoke: Pure Air: Purge)!"
Immediately, white tinged gusts of wind surged out of the aether to entangle the forms of the spirits. The sea serpent, the kelpies, the bloody lances, all of them were wrapped up in bindings of pure white. They struggled furiously against the restraints, but Andi held on, pouring more and more magic into them to sustain them even as the spell reached its crescendo and the bindings glowed a blinding light.
As the spots from her eyes cleared, Andi was happy to see that her foes were gone and Ron was floating still unconscious on the still crimson tinted surface of the lake.
The stands erupted into cheers at this point, but the daughter of Zeus didn't give a damn. She was just glad the stupid Task was over.
"Wendy, grab Ron and take us to the platform." Andi ordered before the strain of the long running battle finally took its toll and she slipped into unconsciousness.
Done and done!
Nameless: So Andi is ganged up on by the people in her lives, huh? Well, someone has to keep her in line. XD It's actually just a little bit of good fun to show that Andi has fun with Ida, Wendy and the rest of her little 'family'.
Tis most humorous! I love doing little slice of life bits, so it's always good for me.
So, Black Lake turned into the lake of rage, huh guys? Good thing there ain't no Gyrarados' around for her to fight, oh wait! She kinda did. She also might have gone overboard. Who knows!
Nameless: Wow! The lake scene was an incredibly long run on scene, wasn't it? I hope it was good. We put in a lot effort into making it exciting and original. Including as many magical aquatic creatures that might be native to a Scottish lake as possible. I think some people would be shocked by the way Andi went all mass murderer at the end there. I know I was.
Nameless, please, it was fishy genocide. Not mass murder. Or would it be overkill via Zeus lineage? I'm sure Big Z would be proud. So, yeah, kind of a grey blot of morals here.
Nameless: The merfolk, the kelpie and the naiad herself were all fully sentient beings, so yeah… It was mass murder. It might have been in self-defense but it still was seriously overkill. Basically, the whole situation is a huge grey area, like E4E said. I mean, sure, the naiad started it, but Andi went way, way overboard in how she ended it.
Well, Andi drew a bad lot with it being water themed and we all know how well that went last time. Hopefully the next task won't be need tartar sauce.
So tell us what you thought of the chapter, smash that review button! No flames and peace off my peeps! Bye!