Still one of my favorite chapters to write. You are going to love the next couple of chapters... I am wondering where my story went wrong... it started early with the Percy obsession but it hit harder down the line, I just wonder where...
The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D. The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy. Aaron loved it instantly and wanted to come back here again, there was just something epic about the old ghosts that this place had to have. Memories of better times, happy thoughts and so much more.
"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," Percy said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."
"Why? I thought you hated Ares."
Punching his brother hard, he glared at Percy with a rare rage that left the boy almost quivering. "Aphrodite is his girl friend, be careful and be respectful." His words were cold, hating that someone so smart as Percy could constantly be doing something so potentially wrath inducing. Looking skyward, he smiled and waved. " Sorry, Lady Aphrodite, he didn't know and would never insult you like that. I promise he knows better. Say sorry, Percy."
Frowning, Percy rubbed his arm but did in fact nod and look skyward. "I really am sorry... but I thought she was married to somebody else, " Percy said. "Hephaestus."
"Gods and fidelity are not exactly linked Percy, besides they are immortal so I imagine sex and love is more fluid for them." Shrugging, Aaron thought about it. " Besides, I can't blame her for cheating. She was literally sold off like an animal the day she was born, she never decided to marry anyone. I get it hurts her husband but I can't see her having any fault in it.
"Oh."
Annabeth turned to him. " You really are good at that."
"At what?"
"Stating things beyond more then we are taught... I think it's your mortalness or maybe it's that your a natural philosopher but you might want to be careful about it. Someone might not appreciate it, well they might have a problem with that or your tendency to say whatever your thinking."
Sighing, Aaron nodded." Fair point."
Percy groaned a little. "So how do we get in?"
"Maia!" Grover's shoes sprouted wings.
He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"
Annabeth, Aaron and Percy had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as each crawled over the top.
The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
No monsters came to get the questers. Nothing made the slightest noise.
It was a wonderful surprise to find a souvenir shop, something that made Aaron smile with sheer happiness. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-
"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," Percy, the pinnacle of honor apparently, said. "But you can't just-"
"Watch me, besides Aaron pick pocketed earlier and you said nothing about that." She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room. A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.
"What the heck." Grover shrugged.
Soon, all four of the Questers were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park.
Aaron hugged Annabeth close. "I am so proud of you, evading your morals for being smart. So proud." They shared a laugh while she hugged him back, and in that moment he liked her and realized that they had become friends. Well, at least, that was his hope... "What else did you grab, I found some pencils and a notebook of all things. I want to write down some notes that I want to share with you."
Her smirk was beautiful. "Oh you'll see, lots of great things."
""""
They continued searching for the Tunnel of Love but while they did, Percy felt the need to chat. "So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said. "They have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
"What about Aphrodite's husband? What does Hephaestus think about the whole thing."
"Well, you know," she said. "He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"
"She likes bikers."
"More like passion." Aaron shrugged. "You felt what he could make you feel with a few minutes of being around him, for a literal incarnation of love and passion I cannot see her being able to resist that. Plus she's also a goddess of beauty, so maybe she is drawn to his good looks. He was very handsome."
Percy looked horrified. " Your attracted to him?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I be. I mean not his personality but hey a pretty face is a pretty face. Why ignore that?"
Percy shuddered. " Your weird."
"You'll get used to it."
Annabeth actually started laughing. "He's got a point Percy, Ares was very handsome, but I think we're here." She pointed forward, and they all saw the source of her words.
In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!
Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"This is too easy," Percy said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"
Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue.
"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."
Aaron froze. "Isn't that the sign of Hephaestus?" He pulled out his Grimoire, moving the pages until he saw the chapter on the Gods, focusing on the page of Hephaestus. " Look, it says that his is his symbol, it is used to invoke the powers of his domain."
"Your right, I was right... oh wonderful, this is a trap." Groaning, Annabeth turned to the group. " This is a trap, like with the Golden net millennia ago. After that Hepheastus has been catching Ares and Aphrodite together, so they met in out of the way places. Still, we don't have time to waste, we need the ride to the west."
Percy turned to Grover. "Grover," He said, "you smell any monsters?"
He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."
"Okay, I'm going down there."
"I'll go with you." Grover spoke up, leaning down to tighten his magical shoes.
"No," Percy told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."
Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure, but be careful, if this really is a trap.
"I know. Aaron, your the best at a range, keep your bow at the ready and shot anything that attacks us. Annabeth, come with me-"
"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if he just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red.
"What's the problem now?" I demanded.
"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"
"Who's going to see you?" Percy's face reddened in the most adorable way. "Fine," He told her. "I'll do it myself." But when he started down the side of the pool, she followed behind, muttering about how boys always messed things up.
As Percy reached the boat, he picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and was about to rub the scarf against his cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
Aaron's focus shifted, turning to look at the shimmering, beautiful scarf.
"What?"
"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here. I'd rather not get caught or killed in a trap."
Eyes widen, Aaron sent a prayer to Aphrodite. 'Please, we will get you back your scarf but please protect them...' A realization overtook him, knocking Aaron almost flat on his back, a solution that could save their lives. Gathering his breathe, he yelled out, desperate for them to stop so they could at least pray to Hephaestus so he might disarm the trap. " Stop!" He was too late.
Then they touched the shield and everything went to hell. Percy recoiled, eyes wide and Riptide in hand immediately. Noise erupted all around, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine.
Grover yelled, "Guys!"
Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before anyone could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at them. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.
Just like the webbings that held down Ares and Aphrodite eons ago
"We have to get out," Percy screamed.
"Duh!" Annabeth said.
He grabbed the shield and he ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.
"Come on!" Grover shouted.
Aaron and Grover were trying to hold open a section of the net for Percy and Annabeth to get out , but wherever they touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around their hands as if it was alive. Aaron shivered, feeling waves of very specific magic rushing through the strings. It was hot and potent, like pure magma and inspiration shivering through the metal. This was the power of a God stronger then Ares, by a considerable margin.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cam-eras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fiftynine seconds, fifty-eight ..."
"Damn it, even if prepared we set off the trap. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"
Percy and Annabeth ran, almost making it to the edge of the boat before a row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.
Annabeth screamed.
It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp-sp-aaaah!" Aaron watched in horror and confusion as She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before Percy pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat.
The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding the center of the dry pool. Making their way to attack, bind or do who knew what to Percy and Annabeth.
Aaron's knees shook and his heart pounded in his chest, utterly terrified. "This is a Big problem, this was meant for God level beings, not two barely trained mortal kids. This could get bloody... they could die. No, no... shit, what the hell do we do! Book, please give me some kind of inspiration!" Aaron started to panic, tearing through his book as he sought for a spell to break them free. Tears prickled at his eyes as he heard Annabeth's screams, too afraid to look down and see her injured or worse.
"Come on, come on... please, some spell... um... weapon making spell, no... hemlock murder spell... disruption spell... maybe... okay,... Uh..." He panicked, realizing he needed to channel another magic user to cast such a spell, or a source of nature magic which wasn't easily available to a pure human like him. Hell he hadn't ever actually channeled anything but his talisman. Thankfully A panicked bleet drew his attention and a wonderful, wicked thought over took him. Grover, I need your blood!" Turning he held out his hand to Grover, the funny goat looking at him in shock but before he could react, Aaron grabbed his hand and pulled it close, using his other hand to grab an arrow from his back and tear it across his palm.
"What in Hades!" He bleated out as Aaron threw the pooling blood at the spiders and metal.
"No time! INCANTE: Distractis potestatem natura sanguinis est. Habe in virtute et motu non desines, etsi tibi iubes!" Doubling over, black dots danced across Aaron's vision as every trace of magic was ripped from his talisman, knocking him to his knees, leaving his body achingly warm. He couldn't breathe or see or do much be endure the ringing in his ears. The pressure in his chest, the dull beat of blood was too much... and he passed out.
'''
"Foolish boy!"
Aaron opened his eyes, startled to see the beautiful unfamiliar beauty of a women staring at him. She was clearly a goddess, though he wasn't sure how he knew it with her childish appearance. She didn't seem too much older then he was, with skin fairer then white. Her lips were the deepest red, her eyes the darkest green and her body was covered in a blue dress the color of midnight.
She was gorgeous and utterly pissed.
A growl escaped her lips and she reached down and pulled him up. " Look around us, what do you see!" It was not a question, but an order.
One he obeyed, realizing he saw... " Nothing...uh, literally... " And he was right, there was a nothing, a vast emptiness with him floating in a vast void. "What, where am I?"
"Nowhere, you are in the space between space, where magic and souls gather to be collected by death!"
He stepped back. "I'm dead... "
She shook her head. "No, barely though. You strained your soul, casting such advanced magic. You tried to disrupt a god's spell, born out of sheer panic and deepest love and your willingness to suffer it worked, barely... but at great cost." She reached down, pulling his talisman, showing him the horror. "You cracked this... and your soul is damaged. Your very mind could have been next, you are very lucky."
And so it was, the talisman was cracked down the middle, spreading it out. "You expended so much of it's power, the spell upon it is weakened. Should it fail early you will lose your connection to magic before you gain sensitivity and that would also mean you lose my blessing."
Her sternness and words hit him at once, he tried to kneel but found that he couldn't really do that while floating in the void, so he settled for bowing his head. "Lady Hecate, I didn't know it was you."
She frowned as he looked up. "You wouldn't would you, unlike most Gods I rarely had statues of me carved so you have nothing to compare me too, other then my children and they are conceived through three different forms. "
He nodded, trying to collect himself. "So Ummm... why am I here?" He looked up, shaking. " I thought you said I wasn't dead?" he didn't want to be dead, not when there was so much more life to be lived.
Her eyes tightened with disgust. "Your soul wandered for a moment, I caught it before it went back. The backlash banished it for a moment, a risk of overdoing it." Then she sighed, turning away. " You must be more careful, too much rests on your shoulders. I will not intervene again. Should you fail, your soul will drift endlessly until I choose to collect it. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am..."
"Good...One more thing. You must be careful with the prophecies." She frowned, looking less disgusted and more sad. "Knowing too much, figuring out too much too soon can disrupt the power of those answers. You have a talent for divination, I can tell. You are smart and see patterns where you sometimes shouldn't. That is fine but sharing it might not be. I will try to warn you when I see you telling too much but only when I can and only where it is relevant to me. I cannot fault you for not knowing what you haven't been taught... Now, return, your friends need you to waken." With cold fingers she flicked his forehead and everything went black again.
"""
Pain, sharp and explosive, danced across his face shaking off the Darkness, leaving him with eyes wide open and shiver. He was freezing, hungry and everything ached. Percy was soaked, looking at him in shock along side a very concerned Grover and Annabeth.
" What was that?" Percy all but screamed. " Everything started sizzling then the spiders collapsed."
Shivering, Aaron tried to stand. "Disruption spell. I needed to help you, that was a god level trap... I..." A pained coughing spell sent waves of pain throughout his body, leaving him in agony. "Damn, that hurts... I over did it though."
Grover sniffled as they helped him to stand. "Why my blood?"
"Nature magic disrupts technology, I figured it counted since your technically a spirit of Nature... I almost died." And so he explained his dream, his vision of Hecate and asked them how they survived. Turns out that after his passed out, Percy managed to cut through the now disrupted wires and they just walked out, with a flying Grover helping pull them safely out, only to find him unconscious. Percy used his powers to flood the river afterwards, just to make sure the spiders didn't make a comeback. "Good, your alright... that... sucked."
Percy socked him in the arm this time, eyes very red and tight. "You almost died, that's not okay."
Sighing, he nodded. "I know... but at least we made it... I just can't cast any more spells for a bit, not at least until the talisman refills. I tapped it and my soul out..."
"Your lucky." Grover actually growled. "Time passes differently in the in-between, you could have spent lifetimes in there and it would have felt like an infinite amount of time. Your soul could have become a Mania or worse, drifting in the void like that. ."
Nodding, he accepted the criticisms. " I panicked... but your right. I'm sorry. I didn't realize it would cost me so much... but I know now..." Sighing, he managed to stand on his own, stepping away from the others. " We need to go... Once we are alone, we have a lot to talk about. I think I figured out the truth about this quest."
Chapter over, tell me what you think in the reviews.
Still one of my favorite chapters to write. You are going to love the next couple of chapters... I am wondering where my story went wrong... it started early with the Percy obsession but it hit harder down the line, I just wonder where...
Disruption of power, by nature's blood. I hold your power and command you cease motion
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.