Chapter 6

Athanasios stood at the mouth of the Acheron River, staring out at the Ionian Sea.

Up here, on the surface, the Acheron wasn't as terrifying as it was in the Underworld or Tartarus. Down there, the souls liked to scream and shout bloody murder. After all, it was the river that Charon rode his ferry across to get dead souls to judgment. Still, Athanasios wouldn't dare step into those waters.

He knew the Necromanteion was just a little upriver — the House of Hades.

So what was Ionna doing there?

For several months, Athanasios had waited patiently after Ionna had gone out on her secret mission. He knew he wasn't supposed to know, but the longer it took, the greater his curiosity became. Finally, after months of waiting, the dream came.

But why the Acheron?

Ionna sat on the shore, staring out at the water beside him. She didn't seem to notice his presence.

Sometimes, Athanasios had the power to appear as a ghost through his dreams. But it was a pretty rare occurrence. When it did happen, he usually felt exhausted when he woke up. Sleeping would end up being more tiring than being awake. And it never happened during important dreams. Only useless ones like dreaming of his father torturing damned souls.

There was no boat next to her, and she looked completely at ease, as if she was just enjoying the nice view.

Athanasios wanted to call out to her, to tell her to hurry up and come back to camp. But he knew she couldn't hear him. Instead, he watched sadly as she sat there, a beautiful glow reflecting off her ragged expression.

"Are you okay?" someone asked.

Ionna turned around, and Athanasios followed suit. His heart clenched up when he saw a dashingly handsome young man with windswept black hair and dazzling green eyes. But, oddly, the first thought that came to mind was Hey, he looks like Xanthe. And it wasn't just a partial resemblance. It was a full-blown, head-to-toe, everything-looks-almost-the-exact-same type of resemblance, of course, other than the fact that Xanthe was a girl and the person in the dream was a man.

The question of who he was popped to the forefront of his mind, but it quickly disappeared as Ionna spoke.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she sighed. She smiled and looked out at the river. "This place puts me at ease."

"You sound like you're glad to be here," the man said, raising an eyebrow. "The House of Hades? Seems more unsettling than comforting."

"It reminds me of home," she said wistfully.

Athanasios felt his heart jump a little. He knew she was talking about him.

"But the path you're taking now," the man said, "is not one that ends in happiness."

Ionna pursed her lips and stood up. Brushing some of the dirt off her clothes, she turned to face him and frowned. "Do you think I don't know that? I abandoned my home for this. But if I can get my hands on this, we can win the war. You're one of us too. A Greek demigod. That's why you're helping me, right Percy?"

Percy looked down, a dark shadow cast across his face. There was a menacing expression in his eyes, and for a moment Athanasios felt the cries of a thousand or more lives, as if the man had killed them all. "I am... not exactly who you think I am. A Greek demigod, yes. But not just an Athenian. You know your trip will be dangerous. That's why I warned you to take your time. I don't think you are yet ready to make the journey. This is a particularly bad time with the conquest. You will find enemies no matter where you go."

"I knew this when I left," Ionna argued. She put a hand to her belt, where her knife was securely strapped. "I am a child of Athena. I wouldn't impulsively rush off to do this if I hadn't thought of a plan."

"And I told you," Percy said darkly. "You are not ready to face all those enemies. There are more you can even think of, and your final test... I don't know if you are ready to survive..."

"Then what do you expect me to do?" Ionna snapped. Her calm serenity was gone, replaced by anger and masked fear. "I've spent months preparing for this journey. I am already seventeen. If I am not ready now, I will never be ready."

"I say this because I cannot go with you," he shot back. "I cannot help protect you, Ionna."

"I don't need your protection!" For the first time, Athanasios watched her blurt without thinking. "I have a man at home I want to marry. I need to come back from this quest and help us win the war. Then we can live a happy life."

Athanasios' heart soared. If it wasn't for the fact that she was headed out on a supposedly dangerous quest, he would have been lost in his thoughts, staring at her, for the rest of his day. Also because it was a dream.

"Happy life?" Percy laughed humourlessly. "There is no happy life in this war. We need as many of our kind alive as possible or we'll never win the war. If you die, we lose a great strategist and that hampers the war effort."

Ionna shook her head. "No, we can win this war with or without me. Thanas and Xanthe are the two most powerful demigods I have ever met. They can fight this war without me. But getting this is the major catalyst that can tip the war heavily in our favour. That is what this war is for! We have to destroy our enemies so we can live a peaceful life. That is what our goal is."

Percy opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it. He took a deep breath. "Then I will not stop you, sister."

Sister?

Ionna eyed him carefully. "I still find it hard to believe you are a descendant of Athena and son of Poseidon."

Percy's lip curled in amusement. "I find it hard to believe, too. But it's true." He turned to look at something in the distance, but Athanasios couldn't see what he was looking at. "You are not ready, but if you insist, I cannot hold you back any longer. The legions approach the camp. It is time I returned to unite the three. They've grown much since I last saw them."

"And so have I," Ionna said. "It has been over a decade since you saved me from the plague that killed off my family."

Percy nodded sadly. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your father. I brought him to my old hideout, but the sickness Apollo cursed your family with was beyond my magical ability."

Ionna shook her head. "It's fine. You tried."

"Percy," another voice said. Athanasios looked around, but couldn't find the source of the voice. "We should go. They're closing in."

Percy pressed his lips together in worry. He turned to Ionna. "You're strong. But you are not invulnerable. Be careful."

Ionna saluted with a bow. "Thank you, Percy. I will not fail. Like I told Xanthe, I will follow the Mark and find the Athena Parthenos and bring it back so we can win the war." Her gaze flickered to the side. "And Irene. Take care of Thanas for me, will you?"

"We'll try our best," the voice confirmed.

For a moment, Athanasios thought Percy glanced straight at him, as if he was physically there. But then Percy's eyes flickered to something outside his field of vision. Percy brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled, sharp and loud and clear. Two pegasi swooped down from the sky and landed in front of them.

The figure he couldn't see earlier, Irene, shimmered into existence as she pulled herself up onto one of the pegasi. At a first glance, she was the prettiest girl Athanasios had ever seen, but her expression was cold. She kind of resembled what he figured an Amazon was supposed to look like. When she and Percy flew off, the only one that remained was Ionna. The daughter of Athena gazed out at the open ocean and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Thanas. I didn't have the heart to tell you. If I don't come back... I'm sorry."

Then, the dream dissolved and Athanasios' heart nearly stopped.

He'd heard stories about the Mark. Old children of Athena had gone on that quest before; it was suicide. Supposedly, a terrifying monster awaited all those that attempted to take back what was stolen, and no children of Athena had ever succeeded before. Ionna believed she would be the first, but Athanasios had heard enough stories to be scared for her.

Shooting up in bed, he quickly put on his clothes and went to find Xanthe.

She was alone at the lake, smiling at the naiads playing in the water.

"Xanthe!" he shouted, catching her attention.

Her smile faded as she turned to face him. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance and she stood up to meet him. If there was one thing Xanthe was good at, it was being annoying. They had a knack for arguing about stupid things, like which food tasted better and how she had random bleached streaks in her hair. He had a feeling she could tell what he was so angry about, even if it had been months.

"Ionna—"

"Will be fine," Xanthe snapped sharply.

"Why didn't you tell me Ionna left for the Mark?" Athanasios growled.

Xanthe glared back. "Because you'd react like this. How many times do I have to say...? Ionna will be fine. You have to trust her."

"This has nothing to do with trust, Xanthe!" he snapped. He was being perfectly reasonable with this. "Every single child of Athena who has gone to follow the Mark of Athena has disappeared or died."

"Then she'll be the first to return," Xanthe said, sticking her chin out stubbornly.

"And what if she isn't?" Athanasios shot back. "What if she dies without anybody knowing?"

"Thanas, nothing comes without a risk. If Ionna comes back with it, we can win the war. Isn't that what you want? The Romans want to come and take everything from us. If that's the way they want to fight, then we'll fight. We'll find what was taken from Athena and restore pride back to Greek demigods. Isn't that what this whole war is about?"

"That risk is far too great!" He was tired of Xanthe. "You wouldn't understand."

"And so what?" Xanthe grabbed the collar of his clothes. "We can all die at any moment. The Romans are almost on our doorstep. Ionna left months ago. She's safer than we are, Thanas."

He retaliated, grabbing her collar as well. "She is in the heart of enemy territory. I don't care how close the Eleventh Legion is to this place. We are far better off than she is. She has to hide to survive because to everyone she is the enemy. Here, we are safe from those prying eyes!"

"Hey!" Alexandros voice suddenly shouted. "Fish-head and Ghost-boy! Meeting in the War Room!"

Athanasios gritted his teeth. "We'll be there later!"

"Are you cheating on Ionna?" the son of Ares teased, with a bark of laughter.

"Shut up!" Xanthe shoved Athanasios away and lifted the half the lake out of its bed. "Run before I hurl this at you, you lazy slob!"

Athanasios looked up at the water in amazement. He knew Xanthe was powerful, but this... this was something else. He looked over toward Alexandros, who seemed to understand that having a lake thrown at him was a bad idea.

Once he was gone, Xanthe turned toward him. "Shall I throw this at you instead?"

Athanasios glanced up at the hovering liquid. He muttered, "No thanks."

"Good choice," she said quietly. Letting go of the water, it splashed back into the waterbed with a thunderous roar. Even though she hadn't hurled the lake at him, he was still drenched with an unwanted shower.

He wiped his face and flicked the water back at Xanthe. She didn't get wet.

"Let's go to the War Room," he grumbled.

It wasn't really a "War Room" per-say. It was more like a dusty old room they used for meetings and the sort. It didn't have any furniture, so they either stood or sat in a circle on the ground. If he looked closely, he could see that there were spider webs in the corners of the room. The Athena children really didn't like the room. In fact, when Ionna was their representative, they always met in the side-room of the Athena building. Her younger half-brother didn't wield such influence.

"So, what's going on?" Athanasios asked.

Alexandros and Viviana glanced at each other. In that moment, Athanasios couldn't help but think that the two had come a long way. After years of fighting and bickering, they finally got together. Everyone who had been at camp knew that it was just a matter of time, but, oddly enough, the two of them made a great team. They were basically in charge of the camp. From sentry-duty partners to camp coordinators, they ran the whole operation.

It was incredible how much Alexandros had matured. His teasing had become harmless and good-natured, rather than the cruel and brash undertone of his early adolescence. He was also a lot smarter than Athanasios had initially thought.

Chiron stepped forward. His face was weary and tired, as if he'd gone a few nights without sleep. "I fear the Eleventh has found our campsite. We must prepare for an evacuation."

A rumble of whispers filled the room.

Alexandros stepped up. "Look, we know that we should address the whole camp, but this is much easier. If we tried to get everyone together to tell them, it would just be chaos and I doubt we would be able to organize anything. That's why we'd practiced those emergency drills for years. For this very situation. But I need you all to follow these orders specifically. Viviana will explain."

The daughter of Hermes brought out a map of the camp. "Our scouts are in the west, near the town of Lychnidos. They spotted parts of the Eleventh Legion in the town, and on the way back, they saw giant golden eagles flying in the sky near our camp. We sent out another group of scouts, but we're not sure if we'll hear back from them. Since they were in Lychnidos a few days ago, we have at most two days to prepare traps and evacuate. Our target is to escape to Thessalonica where we'll have ships ready to sail for Constantinople. In there, we will have the protection of Empress Theodora."

"It'll take half a day, maximum, to ready the traps," Alexandros explained. He pointed to the western edge of the camp in the hills. "Here, we need Hephaestus kids to set up underground traps and pitfalls. You guys know what to do. While they're doing that, Apollo kids and Hermes kids will gather up food and supplies..." He paused and glanced at Viviana. "No stealing. Equal portions for everyone."

Viviana just grinned.

"In any case," he continued, "you guys need to pack up the horses and pegasi and prepare carts for transport. Horses will leave through the small trail down here." He pointed to the trail in the south of the camp. "They leave no later than tomorrow night. Pegasi can remain longer. Then, I want the rest of the campers to help out here and there where they can. Food, supplies, armoury, traps. Burn the forge down. Raze anything the Romans can salvage something from. When we sound the signal, I need you all to gather your siblings and initiate this plan. You can use your discretion as to what you want to help with. Athena children should be split up evenly, one or two of each in different spots helping organize everything."

Viviana pointed to the northern forest. "Here is where non-carted horses should gather. Children of Apollo and Hermes, with designated leaders from Athena, will circle around and decide whether to launch a surprise raid on the Roman forces. Tell them that this should be done with calculated risk. We don't sacrifice more than than half the number we kill. Period. If there's even a tiny doubt, don't do it. Escape north toward the mountain and down Skopos Pass to get back onto the main road."

"At the center of camp, near the stables," Alexandros said, gesturing to it on the map, "I want our best, most elite fighters." His eyes landed on Athanasios and Xanthe. "That means you two. Along with myself, a couple of my brothers and sisters, and two archers from Apollo. More can join, but ten of us at the most. When the Romans come, we will fend them off with all our remaining strength. Xanthe and Thanas. I need you both to help set up our last trap. At the fire pit near the stables, I need you two to set up a Greek fire trap. This will give us the necessary time to escape. And the Apollo kids we have with us need to be the best of the best. Giant eagles will be upon us before you can blink. They need to be shot down."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Someone was banging on the door.

Suddenly, everything felt real. Athanasios thought about their months of preparation, and Ionna's journey into the heart of enemy territory. Dread and excitement simultaneously rushed through his body. This was it. Just as Ionna was launching her search for the Mark of Athena in Rome, they were launching an evacuation back home. The war was upon them.

"Who is it?" Alexandros barked.

The door swung open wildly. Arxios, one of the scouts that had been sent south to Thessalonica, looked like he'd been through Tartarus and back. His eyes were wild with fear and face dripped with sweat.

"What's wrong?" Viviana asked her half-brother.

At that moment, Athanasios felt a cold dread bubble in his chest. It was another one of those sensations. He tensed up, knowing someone important had just died.

"Thanas?" Xanthe asked, noticing the tension in his shoulders.

"We misjudged," Arxios said, breathing heavily. "Not all the Romans were in Lychnidos. There's a force of fifty Romans marching from Thessalonica."

"No..." Alexandros' eyes widened.

"And they're headed straight here."

"Did you have to kill one of them?" Leon grumbled as the raced down the path on horseback.

The sorceress, Xanthe's mother, just smiled. "They would have killed us."

"We have like fifty Romans after us!" he exclaimed. He held onto the sorceress' robes as tightly as he could. The wind whipped past his face, forcing him to squint. "This is not fun!"

"Says the boy who chose to live out in the middle of nowhere whilst knowing his heritage," she pointed out.

They skidded down a rocky path just off the main road toward Lychnidos.

"Where are we going, Sophia?" Leon shouted.

"To the place I took my daughter five years ago," she said, whipping the reins. The horse whinnied and put on a burst of speed. They sprinted through the forest at breakneck speed, and Leon wondered how they were able to not run into all the trees around them. "It's a camp for children like you."

Leon looked up toward the sky. He thought he saw a flash of gold somewhere up there, but he ignored it and focused on the path ahead of them. "I survived well enough on my own."

"A miracle," Sophia laughed. "You must be powerful."

Even though the sorceress had made him flee his village, startling the whole village when the Romans chased him away, he couldn't help but be thankful for her presence. With the Romans there, he was sure that he was going to die. If there was one thing he was more afraid of than monsters, it was those Romans the old seer had warned him about. He knew he would never be able to return to his village without being cast off like the un-Christian demon he was.

Most of all, he felt bad about his mother. Birthing a fatherless child and the child turning about to be some ungodly demon from Hell? That was a seriously bad omen.

The thing was... if the Romans hadn't shown up, and the sorceress had come for him alone, he probably wouldn't have followed her to the camp. He'd been surviving well enough on his own for five years. Surely, he could last longer.

There will be a point in which you will save or destroy our world, the seer had said. To cleanse the world... just as your father did thousands of years ago.

The old seer had told him about the Fates, how they wove the threads of fate, how his life would be dictated by the course they had set out for him. Leaving his home and finally joining this camp, he figured, was his fate.

"How far into the wilderness is this camp?" he asked.

"Far enough that no straggler would stumble upon it even if he was drunk beyond his wits," the sorceress replied.

"So your daughter has been there for five years while you've just been roaming around the world?"

"No." The horse leaped over a fallen log and made a rough landing. "I haven't been roaming around the world. I have been keeping an eye on the Roman legions to make sure my daughter remains safe and to find my son, who went missing. I've also been keeping an eye on you to make sure you weren't dead. I have a feeling you'll play an important role in Xanthe's future."

"Xanthe's her name?" Leon asked. He couldn't remember from the last time he saw her all those years ago. "Doesn't that mean fair-haired or something?"

"When she was born, I changed her hair colour to match my own," she explained. "After a while, when it became clear that she would look like Poseidon in every other way, I changed it back. She was only five at the time, so she hardly remembers it, but I just wanted her to fit in. With her skin colour and her eyes, she was already distinctly different from her half-brother and myself that it didn't matter anymore. I considered changing her name to Zoë, but I figured it would be too much of a hassle for her to learn to respond to a new name. Is it not the same for you, Leon? Why were you named after a lion?"

He pursed his lips. "That's a good question."

The forest began to thin out. They were ascending a winding slope on a path wide enough to fit large merchant carts. He blinked. How was this possible? There was no human life out here. In what world...?

Leon froze. So did Sophia. She must have sensed it too. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and instinctively, he whirled around and summoned a bolt of lightning. The air turned cold and thunder screamed across the sky as the flash of energy shot down from the heavens and struck the giant eagle that had dove to attack them.

Unfortunately, summoning the bolt of lightning also meant he'd electrocuted himself and anything he was touching. He was sent flying into the brush as the horse bucked and tumbled off the road. The sorceress also went flying, though he couldn't see where as he slammed into a tree.

With a groan, he picked himself up off the ground.

Lying dead on the path was a giant eagle, one of the creatures Sophia had briefly mentioned as being under Roman control. It didn't look particularly harmed on the outside, but he could tell his strike of lightning was powerful enough to stop its heart, the thing that pounded in an animal's chest to keep it alive.

Leon grimaced as he walked, his whole body throbbing in pain. He looked around for the sorceress. "Sophia!" he shouted. "Mother of Xanthe!"

After a little while of searching, he found her lying just down the hill. There was a cut on her forehead, and she was bleeding pretty badly from it. He had never dealt with an injury like this on another person before, but he quickly tore a piece off her cloak and wrapped it tightly around her head. She moaned in dazed pain, but her eyes didn't open.

Fortunately, she was a lot lighter and shorter than him. The horse was nowhere to be found, so he had to carry her up the hill.

The farther up he got, the worse the situation got. He realized that even if the giant eagle hadn't snatched him up, the fact that they weren't mounted and Xanthe's mother was practically unconscious was almost as bad. The Romans would definitely catch up with them soon. He could almost hear their forces sprinting up the dirt path.

When he got to the top, he nearly dropped the sorceress.

After cresting the hill, the landscape revealed a small valley, tightly packed between rolling hills and mountains to the north. There was a small creek running through the center of the valley, eventually meeting a lake near the center of the camp. The landscape was dotted with old-style architecture—giant marble columns marking an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater built into the side of a hill, a circular arena—sparkling white even in the cloudy day. Nestled in the woods near the lake were miniature houses, twelve of them arranged in a semicircle around a fire pit. Near the center of camp was a larger fire pit, ringed with torches, with nearby stables for horses and... winged horses?

There was a group of maybe ten people dotted around the main fire, all wearing full bronze combat armour and wielding an assortment of weapons, ranging from spears to swords to bows. But aside from them, the camp looked deserted.

They were prepared for war. They knew an attack was coming. They had evacuated.

Leon rushed down into the valley, desperate to get to the ten remaining demigods before the Romans arrived.

There was an explosion somewhere off to the west, like a battle had commenced.

"Let me down," mumbled the sorceress. She revealed a vial that she'd kept in her pouch. "Help... help me take this..."

He looked up. The ten of them hadn't noticed him yet. If only he could get their attention...

"Please," the sorceress pleaded.

He gritted his teeth and relented. Setting her down, he helped pop the vial open and helped her drink the liquid inside. Suddenly, she looked a lot less pale. Energy and colour returned to her face, but her eyes told him that it was only temporary.

She kept an arm around his shoulders as they stumbled toward the central pit.

"Xanthe!" she shouted. "Xanthe!"

The first one to look their way was a girl with black hair and sea-green eyes. In many ways, she looked the same as she did five years ago when they first met. Same hair, same eyes, same facial expression. But she was a lot prettier than he'd expected. Even in full battle armour, she looked beautiful... almost like an Amazonian warrior. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock.

"Mother!"

Xanthe rushed down to attend to her. Leon couldn't take his eyes off the daughter of Poseidon, and when their eyes met, he thought his heart stopped for a moment.

"Sophia?" A centaur galloped down, his eyebrows knit in worry. "What are you...?"

"I brought him here, Chiron," the sorceress said, pointing to Leon. "I've kept an eye on him like I said, but the Romans had found him. I had to get him out of there. I'm sorry, I had no choice but to come this way. There's no escaping the giant eagles alone."

"Speaking of giant eagles," a tall, muscular man with a long spear said with a tight voice. He pointed up in the sky. "There they are."

The two bowmen with the group shifted to their positions and readied their bows.

"Mother, what happened to your head?" Xanthe asked in worry.

A boy in bronze armour approached, his eyes suspicious. He was a little shorter than Leon, but despite his slim appearance, Leon somehow knew that the boy was strong. He looked about his age, maybe older, maybe younger. He couldn't tell. A dark black sword hung from his belt. Leon looked at his own arsenal; it consisted of a small bronze dagger. The boy was definitely intimidating. It even seemed like the boy recognized him from somewhere.

"It's nothing," Sophia replied. "The important thing is that you need to leave before the Romans arrive. With their standard, you will be no match for them."

More sounds of anguish and explosions in the west.

"The traps are working, but they won't hold for long," the muscular man with the spear said. "Xanthe. Thanas. Deal with this situation. Viviana and I are going to deal with any Romans who cross the line."

Sophia cried out, "No! Don't!"

The man glanced at Chiron, as if to ask 'Who is this woman?'

The centaur sighed, his tail swishing nervously from side-to-side. "Sophia is an old friend of mine. She knows this world as well as you do, Alexandros, if not more. She has been keeping an eye on the Romans for me and has provided very vital information on their whereabouts." He gave her a sidelong stare. "However, it seems she neglected to reveal to me that there was a cohort of Romans in our path to Thessalonica."

"You never told me that your plan was to flee to Thessalonica," she argued. "I had expected you to flee north, into the mountains and far from Roman lands. Disguising yourselves in Constantinople is dangerous. The Romans frequently travel to the capital."

"Empress Theodora has guaranteed our protection," a girl shot back. Leon figured it was Viviana, as she was standing next to Alexandros. She looked angry that this mysterious woman had suddenly appeared and was interfering with her plans.

Sophia just smiled. "You will see soon enough, girl. The world is dangerous, and not even the Empress can save you when it comes down to the worst of possibilities. Meanwhile, you and your husband-to-be are great leaders for young Greek demigods. So, in spite of our disagreement, I believe it is time for you all to leave. You will not buy enough time for the carts to set out for Thessalonica. The giant eagles will track them down and destroy them instantly. Your safety is more important. Great minds are irreplaceable."

"Mother!" Xanthe exclaimed. She looked shocked that he mother could say such a thing. "You must have hit your head hard. How could you say that? We're trying to save as many lives as possible!"

"Quantity against quality, my dear," the sorceress said.

"The eagles are getting too close!" one of the archers said. "They're carrying advance forces in their talons!"

"We can save this chat for later," Alexandros decreed, stepping in between Viviana and Sophia. He turned to the sky. "For now, we fight." Nodding toward the archers, he commanded, "Fire!"

It wasn't working.

Sure, a couple of the eagles retreated after taking a bad hit, but there were only two archers. The eagles numbered at least a dozen. They were fast and nimble, in addition to being big, and they were hovering at just the right elevation where they could avoid the shots the archers were taking. Leon cursed. Each time the archers missed, the further the advantage swung to the Roman side. They were wasting too many arrows.

And then, just as the blonde-haired, grey-eyed boy noticed, he realized that the eagles were waiting for exactly that.

"They're waiting for us to run out of arrows," the boy cursed.

"You're right, Cyril," the boy with the dark sword, Thanas, noted. "At this rate, we'll have to face them in combat. I'm not sure if they know what's waiting for them here, but we also need arrows for later when the other foot soldiers arrive."

Cyril nodded. He turned to the archers. "Hold your fire and wait for the foot soldiers to arrive. We'll wait for them to land before we—"

Schlack!

An javelin cut through Cyril's neck, and the boy collapsed to the ground, dead. Just then, a wave of projectiles rained down on them from the Romans above.

The nine demigods, Chiron, Sophia and Leon scattered as they ran for protection.

"My gods," Chiron said, staring back at the body of his fallen student. He raised his bow to shoot at the eagles.

"Wait!" Sophia shouted. "I can handle this!"

Chiron stared at her incredulously. "How?"

"Leon!" the sorceress shouted. She took something out of her pouch and tossed toward him. He couldn't see it at first, but as it got closer, he realized it was a silver ring. He snatched it out of the air, and the first thing he saw was the engraving on the inside of the ring, an old word spelling... "It's name is Koptos. The Cutter. A gift to you from the Champion of None. Wear it on your ring finger on your dominant hand, and you can summon the blade whenever you want."

Another shower of projectiles rained down on them, and they scattered again. But when the danger was avoided, all eyes on the ground turned to Leon. He put the ring on. It fit perfectly. He summoned the sword and, just as Sophia had said, a beautiful leaf-shaped bronze sword shimmered into existence.

"You are a son of Zeus," Sophia shouted, her voice echoing across the valley. "Son of the sky! Don't ever forget that!"

Sky...

Leon looked up at the eagles, which were descending quickly. If they reached the ground, there would be over twenty Romans for the group to fight. On land, the Romans held a distinct advantage. Of the many warriors in front of him, he got the feeling only Xanthe, Thanas and Alexandros were capable of holding their own. If Leon could stop the eagles from getting to the ground... if there was a way he could engage them all at once...

He closed his eyes and felt the gusty wind around him. Perfect conditions. Using the same tug in his gut he used when summoning lightning, he tried to call on the winds. Son of Zeus, Lord of the Sky!

And he took off. The winds rushed beneath him, and before he knew it he was thrust into the sky. The giant eagles broke their dive, startled by his sudden ascension. He rose to their height. In that split second, as the eagles flapped their wings, as the winds bent to his will, as those on the ground stared up at him in astonishment, Leon felt like he was the king of the world. The clouds gathered above him, darkening like storm clouds. The air buzzed with energy, building up like an electric charge.

Now! his mind shouted.

And with an ear-shattering scream, he let loose lightning.

Hey, sorry, it's been a while, eh? We're still following the Trio, but Percy will appear soon. I might be adding a few more chapters to my original plan due to the fact that the current draft feels a little rushed. Hell, I think everything I've written so far is also pretty rushed. But any feedback is welcome! Y'all prefer a slow burn or 'quick-and-done'?

Cheers!
Sharky