Percy's eyes snapped open and he sat up, sweat pouring down his face. He then fell back down, clawing at his throat as he felt someone squeezing his neck tighter and tighter until his head would pop like a balloon.
Black spots began to dance across Percy's vision until a man rested his hand on Percy's head, causing the choking sensation to stop.
Realizing this, Percy shuffled backwards towards the wall of the train cart behind him.
Was he on the train with the others?
"Don't worry, Perseus. I'm here in peace." The man said, and Percy looked him up and down quickly.
Wearing a freshly pressed pair of jeans and t-shirt, the man was tall and lean. He had golden blonde hair that was gelled up in some fashion, his eyes a startling blue like the sky. A golden bow was strung across his back, almost similar to the one Percy remembered Artemis having all those years before.
"Who are you?" Percy asked weakly, rubbing his throat due to the close call with death-by-asphyxiation.
"I'm Arty's brother. Can't say my name unless you want my father to blast us all to the Pit." The man said, before snapping his fingers.
His immaculate skin began to dark and develop a sheen of sweat and grime; his now-greasy hair clung to his head. The fresh clothes he wore began to shrink a bit and tear; along with that the man now grew a small, filthy beard.
Percy rummaged through his memory of immortals he had heard of while in Hell, and one name popped out to him: Apollo.
"Apo-?" Percy was cut off by Apollo's grimy hand going across his mouth, silencing him.
"Shh!" The Sun god held a finger to his lips, before telling Percy "You may call me Fred."
"A god named Fred?" Percy was slightly confused by the alias. Why Fred?
"Yes. It was the first I could think off that didn't have a nickname or meaning that is something inappropriate and laughable." Apollo nodded dumbly, spouting out his rather stupid excuse.
"Like Richard?" Percy asked, understanding to an extent.
"Yeah. I was going with something like Harry until I searched it on the Urban Dictionary. Never again." Apollo shivered as he mentioned the 'Urban Dictionary', as if it was incredibly disturbing.
"And that was?" The Champion of Hell arched an eyebrow, but Apollo shook his head.
"Na, nah, na, nah. How old are you?" Apollo asked quickly.
"...Fourteen...?" Percy answered slowly, somewhat unsure of his age.
"Yep, definitely too young. Ask me when you get some hair on you're chest! Or you search it yourself. Your call." The god shrugged, before looking around carefully and reaching into his coat pocket and handing Percy a small satchel.
Percy opened it up and peered inside, only finding a flask and a doggy bag filled with some toffee-like substance. "What is this?" Percy was very curious as to why a god gave him a flask and some candy.
"It's ambrosia and nectar, food of the gods. Surely Hell teach you of these details, Percy?"Apollo casually answered, breaking character for a moment.
The grandson of Poseidon got defensive, his hand inching its way to the Sword of Enoch nearby. "How do you know of Hell?" Percy growled, his hand wrapping around the hilt of his sword and picking it up, aiming it at Apollo.
"Arty tells me everything, Perce. We're twins, trust each other and always have one another's backs." Apollo answered quickly, his sky blue eyes fixated on the sword. He tried to push the blade away with his finger, only to jump back in pain, clutching his left index finger. A severe, black burn grew over the sun god's skin. "OW!" He cried out, cradling his injured digit.
"Well, that's new." Percy raised his eyebrows in surprise before lowering his sword. He really never expected the sword to have this kind of effect on those with ichor running through their veins.
"NEW?!" Apollo cried out, "You gave my finger GANGRENE!"
"And burnt it. Now stop crying, Fred. It heals." Percy rolled his eyes, and the undercover god instantly stood up straight and at attention.
"Uh, yeah. Anyway, I'm here incognito. I'm glad y'all found my train." Apollo said as Percy took a seat back on the ground, staring down at the aisle of fancy cars.
Apollo sat down next to him, feeling bored.
"How far have we travelled?" Percy asked curiously.
"Quite far. Sunset is near, however, so I can't help you guys for much longer." Apollo answered, and Percy nodded thankfully. He had been unfortunately roped into the quest to save Artemis and Annabeth.
"Where are they? Artemis and that?" He asked, and noticed Apollo's features darken.
"Not even I know that, Artemis has somehow been hidden from me. This means that nothing good is going to come of this, especially the part concerning the Titan's Curse." Apollo grumbled, glaring at the Lamborghini in front of him.
"Titan's Curse?" Percy inquired, clearly confused after his lack of Greek knowledge other than the names of the Major Gods (including the Olympians) and a few of each of their powers.
"Well, one of them anyway." Apollo shrugged, unsure himself. "There's Prometheus, for example, who's getting his liver pecked out by Zeus's Eagles. All Titans were locked up or killed by Zeus after the Titantomachy and the Gigantomachy, most given some form or punishment or burden, so it's really hard to think of which one."
Percy nodded, before saying: "I don't particularly find getting my liver pecked at for eternity entertaining. Sounds like Prometheus would have a grudge."
Apollo liked the suggestion, but it was blindly made. "True, but Prometheus is a snake, and would do anything to win. However, he isn't known to make gambles like this one. But there are also Titans like Atlas, who holds up the sky, who would make this kind of gamble. Especially one like this."
"So, any chance you could find out who has captured your sister?" Percy asked again, thinking over what Apollo had just said.
"No, Percy. Not without breaking even more of the ancient laws. It's stupid, but they must be abided." Apollo had to look away from Percy, distain that he was powerless to aid in the rescue of his twin sister.
"Alright then. Well, this is rich. Going against a possible Titan with no proper back up..." Percy grumbled, and Apollo smirked.
"When you find the Titan, I'm sure you will understand what must happen to allow you to succeed. Now I must go, kiddo. Make sure you rain Hades down upon the Titans." Apollo grinned slightly, before disappearing in a flash of gold light, leaving Percy to stand alone in the damp train carriage.
A gust of cold wind rushed against Percy's skin, causing him to shiver. The biting cold almost reminded him of the Ninth Circle, with how it bit away at him and cause him to squirm. The Devil's evil cackle then filled his head, almost convincing Percy that he was there. But he wasn't, thankfully. The demons made sure of that.
A monstrous cry cut through the air, startling him. It was unnatural, and a familiar feeling passed over Percy when hearing it. The power of the Demon Princes was nearby. Percy mentally ticked off any possible beast from Hell it could be. Hell Hounds are more wolf-like, so no. A lesser demon would take over a mortal host, so that's a no-go too. Demon Princes themselves would avoid coming out of Hell, as the Angels would most likely attack at a moments notice, obliterating them. Before he could think of another possibility, a much closer shriek sounded.
Thinking quickly, Percy pulled out his sword and rushed to awaken the others he was on the quest with. Zoë glared at him as he awoke her, almost shoving an arrow into him. A third shriek was then heard, almost right outside of the train cart they were in.
Seconds later, a claw tore through the cargo door to the train cart, allowing the moonlight to poor into the carriage. With a feral snarl, the wall came crashing down and the entire cart groaned, the beast barrelling into the cart and through the other side of the cart. Percy was almost taken with the shadowy beast; it was moving so quickly that nobody could make out any of its features.
Momentarily later, it leapt back in, on top of Percy, and Percy's sword clattered as it hit the ground outside of his reach. The beast snarled as it tried to rip at his throat. "Get... OFF!" Percy snarled, punching the creature a number of times in the head, causing it to retreat.
Leaping to his feet, Percy used his foot to kick up his demonic sword, sighing in bliss as the dark powers from the sword ran through his body, filling him with energy. Looking at the beast, it was almost humanoid, but it's body parts had ben seriously mutilated to that of weapons or some different kind of appendage such as a claw. Then Percy saw his face, and almost recognised half of the beast's face.
"Jack...?" Percy asked, hoping he remembered the name correctly. The... beast standing before them was one of the candidates from the Demon Rites, but he had been killed by Percy back at Westover... right?
The monster stared at Percy, before bellowing out an anguished cry, and lunging at the group. Percy didn't want to, he remembered this boy as one of the many who had perished a slow and painful death. He may have been one of the arrogant people from the Rites, but none deserved a fate such as this. Raising his sword, Percy met the beast and sliced it down the middle, grunting in effort as the he felt the sword tear through the monster's skull and brains, the sickening squelch almost echoing out as the two halves of the mutated boy hit the ground with a thud, blood everywhere. The squelch noise came from a part of the boy's brain falling out and landing on the ground, right behind Percy.
"What in the name of Zeus is WRONG WITH YOU?!" Thalia screamed out, glaring at Percy as Grover turned away and threw up over the sight of the mess caused by Percy.
Percy didn't answer as he just stood there, running his finger carefully down the blood-coated sword, relishing in the raw power oozing from it and the feeling of the thick, red blood all over him.
"A lot, Daughter of Zeus." Percy answered after a few seconds, wiping his finger off on his jacket and proceeding to wipe the blood from his sword on the corpse of the beast.
"Who was that, Perseus? Thou two were obviously acquainted with one another." Zoë demanded, her dark, obsidian eyes burning holes into Percy.
"Just somebody I thought I recognised from my old home." Percy bluntly answered, sighing as he ran a hand through his long hair. He should probably think about cutting it down to a tameable length.
Zoë had had enough of Percy constantly avoiding these topics, and explain everything – from where he came from, and why he was even helping them in the first place. Percy sighed, almost cursing as to how he would even explain anything – he didn't even know that he would have to at some point. He wasn't expecting there to be demigods on this quest so soon. But it was perhaps just something that he would have to deal with.
"And where is that? We know nothing about you other than your name and you carry some evil sword – so I think it's time you spill the beans." Thalia snapped, her whole body tense as if she was resisting the urge to pounce onto Percy and rip the information out of him.
"Hell. I would tell you more, but that is for some other time." Percy answered briefly, putting his sword away and carefully looking out through the hole in the train carriage.
"Why not now?" The Daughter of Zeus almost demanded, electricity crackling in her hand as her anger rose.
"Because I have a bad feeling about this... Monster. I doubt he is the only one, there's going to be a lot more of them on their way by now. So it's best if we leave this train and continue by foot." Percy explained to an extent. He didn't have the slightest clue on how to explain any of the situation regarding Hell.
"Won't that just help them in getting us quicker?" Grover asked from the back, still on his knees and averting his eyes from the gory sight of the dead monster.
"If I'm right, it would make it harder for them to get us. I don't know how to really explain this, but this train line runs across quite a few doors to Hell, so if we leave we will have some distance between us and them." Percy was choosing his words very carefully, trying his best not to confuse the others with trying to explain Hell Gates, portals between them, and such. It even still boggled his own mind to an extent.
"Then it is settled: we get off at the next stop. Get sleep, thee will need energy for the next few days." Zoë stated, and everyone agreed. They all sat down somewhere to sleep, except for Percy. He threw the dead body off of the train along with any of the gore such as the brain too.
Sighing, He stood there and stared out at the rapidly passing scenery, thinking to himself about his life so far. All this time he had hated everything about Earth, especially the deities that protected the fragile world of mortals, but he had grown to love the lands very much. He found the constant life... exhilarating, to say the least. The thought of the power he had over these mortals did excite him, as they were so weak in comparison, he could snuff all of their little lives out with little effort. But at the same time, he felt as if he had some sense of duty towards these mortals, as if he was the only being that stood between Hell and them destroying the beautiful plains of Earth. Yes, humanity was flawed – there was no use in denying that fact, as he had seen this himself through the souls trapped down in Hell and the wars they wage upon one another for the most immature of reasons, a simple pissing contest if so – but the species held so much promise, so much potential.
And amongst these thoughts, he had grown somewhat fond of the gods he had met so far. While it may have been very few – Artemis and Apollo – they both carried similar traits of extreme care towards the people they knew, which was a trait Percy had believed to be non-existent amongst those who sat idly minded atop of their golden thrones of Mount Olympus. But that was only two gods – there is an entire pantheon that Percy is still unaware of, and they could be exactly how they were described in Hell: arrogant, self-loathing, incestuous bastards who slaughtered millions of innocents (including their own children) during their conquests of the past, such as the Second World War in the 1940s. Only time would tell, and Percy prayed that the rest of the gods were not ignorant, but with his luck, they're likely to be the most ignorant of any being in the whole universe.
Absent minded, the young boy turned and paced away, choosing to take a seat in a dark corner where he would slowly fade out of consciousness, his thoughts fading along with his mind in the waking world, allowing his dark unconscious to take over.
The Demon Rites
The bellowing echo of a train horn started Percy awake, causing him to slip and fall onto his side from his sleep. He had not slept easy as it was, his head was pounding violently. Rubbing his eyes as he sat back up, Percy heard movement from the cars the rest of the group had decided to sleep in. Using this time to stand up, Percy was almost blinded by the rising sun glaring light through the gaping hole left from last night's ordeal. Running a hand through his hair, he knew that he would probably need to get it all cut off. Not entirely... just most of it. He would not go bald like Alistair's chosen mortal form – that is something he never wishes to become.
"Percy?" Thalia's voice sounded from one of the cars as she climbed out, her clothes creased due to her sleeping in them. Percy undoubtfully looked like a serial killer with the amount of blood that is over him.
"Yes?" He answered bluntly, turning slightly so he could face her.
"Might be best if we get off this train, I doubt anyone will be all too thrilled about a gaping hole in the side of their train." She jokingly remarked, and Percy shrugged.
"Yes. I don't think Fred will be too happy." Percy tried joking, and Thalia raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Who?"
"Oh... You guys didn't meet him. It's a certain sun god who loves himself, but assumed a pseudonym so your father does not find out about him meddling in the quest at this stage." Percy deadpanned, almost facepalming at his stupidity. Why would Apollo have told the others about him helping them? The less he revealed himself the better, perhaps.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Now the train line makes sense. But you met him? Why?" The Sky Princess began to interrogate Percy in a manner of speaking, and he groaned.
"He was giving me some intel about Artemis. He mentioned the Titan's Curse, and that there are many of them. He gave me a name though of someone likely to take a gamble like this – Atlas. There was also some Apollo stuff from what I gather, where he mentioned an urban dictionary?" Percy answered, and Thalia stifled a laugh when she heard about the Urban Dictionary.
"That's useful, maybe we should tell Zoë and the others this information too – it will be useful. And as for the Urban Dictionary – Google it once we save the damsel in distress." She joked. Percy was just confused, if not more so.
"I'm sorry; but what is Google?" Percy asked, clearly confused.
Thalia facepalmed. "I'm sure we'll explain everything once all of this is over with. But speaking of the devil..." Thalia trailed off just as a car door slammed shut, and Zoë emerged from said car, having clearly to have just woken up. Both turned to face the Lieutenant of the Hunt as she walked up to them, her face in a permanent scowl. Percy almost made a comment about her being like a statue – one face all the time.
"What is wrong?" Zoë immediately asked slowly, as if she was trying very hardly to use modern English. She could easily read Thalia before her – Percy on the other hand just seemed his usual self – troubled, self-loathing and a dark violent nature on the verge of boiling out and wreaking havoc.
"The sun god visited me last night, before we were attacked." Percy began. Zoë's eyes widened slightly when she heard that, her full attention aimed at Percy. Percy paused for a second before continuing. "He told me something of the Titan's Curse. He gave me a name, too, of a possible Titan to have done something like this: Atlas. But to keep the option open, as it can be many different Titans."
Zoë nodded. She was not surprised at Apollo's interference. Instead, she was actually... Proud? It seemed a suitable word for the circumstance, as she knew that Artemis would give her life for her little brother, and it actually warmed her millennia-old heart to know that Apollo is risking his immortal life for his little sister. And this much information was very valuable. However, she already had her suspect as to who the Titan they are after is.
However, Percy was keeping something from them all. And Zoë wanted to know what it was; she would find out.
"Atlas did this. Thou would not know, but he is the General of the Titan Armies. He is powerful." Zoë said with certainty. Percy rubbed his chin, thinking. Everything was clicking into place now...
"Atlas is free." Percy said, his eyes widening. Zoë nodded, and even Thalia made sense of it, remembering the Smithsonian.
"And you're only telling us this now?" Thalia snapped at Zoë, whose obsidian eyes glared daggers at the Daughter of Zeus.
"Yes. I did not wish to worry thee." She answered, and Thalia tensed up, her fingers beginning to crackle with electricity. "But thou have not told us all." Zoë turned to Percy, her eyes glaring at him.
Percy sighed, and looked away. He mumbled something, but it went unheard.
"Speak up." Thalia said, her electric blue eyes glaring at Percy.
The boy felt his eyes water as he remembered what he had seen in his dream when he was unconscious. "They killed my mother..." He said, refusing to look at them. "I just found out about her before I found you guys. Then I was out after the Nemean Lion and... Well... Luke killed her, drive a sword through her back." Percy continued, but Thalia's eyes flared up at the mention of Luke.
"Did thou see where?" Zoë asked, unsure of what to do other than lightly rest her arm on Percy's dirty shoulder.
Percy nodded slowly. "Artemis was there. She was looking for me with my mother. Some cave, and Artemis was holding up some boulders. That is all."
Zoë's eyes widened at that. "And thee mother is?" She asked, dreading the answer.
"Sally Jackson, Daughter of Poseidon. Why?" Percy asked, unaware that his mother was well known.
"Percy," Thalia said, her eyes momentarily meeting Percy's, "Your mother is a hero to us demigods... We're going to find her."
"I know where they are." Zoë said quickly, and Percy turned to her.
"Where?" Percy demanded.
"Where the Sky and Earth meet, where they are held apart so thee may never sire another child together. Mount Tamaulipas." She answered, and Percy nodded.
"Wake the others up then, we need to get on with this. We need to get off of this train as soon as possible." Percy said to the others, and the train whistled again as they felt the train starting to slow down, suggesting that they were about to make a stop.
A few minutes later, Bianca and Grover were up and waiting for the train to stop. They got off in a small town, apparently somewhere in New Mexico. The air was bitterly cold, and even Percy had to adjust his clothing to lessen his shivering. It felt as if the Ninth Circle of Hell had opened up on top of Earth, and was crawling all over the town.
Zoë passed Percy some form of pelt, noticing Percy's shivering. He looked at her confused, but she forced it into his hands. "The spoils of war from thy Nemean Lion. Thou killed her so they belong to thou." She explained, and Percy took them carefully, draping the pelt over his shoulders and watched as it glowed and changed into a simple fur coat.
"T... Thank you." Percy said, the phrase feeling incredibly strange to say. He had never had to express gratitude before. It felt... abnormal to him. But, at the same time, it felt pleasant. Like he could feel genuine... Nice, perhaps? He wasn't so sure. But he liked it, and that was all that mattered.
Zoë just nodded and walked ahead with the others as they explored the small town they had entered.
They entered a gift shop and brought some junk. Percy stole some rubber rat, thinking it looked funny. He sat down outside on the pavement, and sat the rat down in front of him. He really was bored, and thought about the candidate from the night before. He had killed Jack back at Westover Hall, when he turned on Hell. So how had he attacked them last night? Something was going on in Hell, and Percy wasn't sure if he really wanted to find out how that had happed to Jake.
A light thud tore Percy away from his thoughts. He looked to his left, and saw Grover sitting there, resting his crutches down on the sidewalk.
"I can read emotions, you know." Grover said randomly, his voice sounding nervous.
"Is that a Satyr thing or something?" Percy asked, trying to keep the topic off of him.
"Yes. But what aren't you telling the group? I feel emotions coming off of you in strong waves." Grover stated, and Percy refused to look at the satyr.
"I have nothing to tell you lot. Last time I checked, you don't trust me – so I don't trust you." Percy snapped, staring at the toy rat at his feet.
"Well that's because we don't know you, and you killed two people in front of us for crying out loud!" Grover seemed like he was about to explode, something that seemed very abnormal for his character. Then Percy thought quickly – the Sword of Enoch. It was making him more prone to anger, along with everyone else.
"Well, when you spend your entire life in Hell, you learn its either kill or be killed, Grover." Percy answered.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Grover looked dead at Percy, locking with the corner of Percy's eye. "I can feel the hatred you carry for that place, along with the pain. You are confused, as you feel like you don't belong, and guilty that you caused something. But I also feel that you have an attraction towards someone on our side – are they why you turned to us?" Grover very quickly spoke, and Percy was taken back a bit by that. He had not expected the Satyr to get this much.
But the attraction? Percy mental scoffed at that thought. Relationships were just a means to an end, a distraction most of the time. He could not risk forming any in case the world turns to chaos.
"I watched my mother get killed by Luke, that's the anger, guilt, and everything. If she hadn't been looking for me, she would be safe at home..." Percy said darkly, is stare becoming a glare as he wished to destroy everything around him. But he looked at Grover when he said the next part. "That attraction is merely a farce. I have no time or reason to feel that, so please stop confusing something like that with me."
"You're mother...? But Artemis is who we are going to save, is she why you...?" Grover started, before his eyes widened when he saw Percy's glare lessen slightly at the sound of the Moon Goddess' name, and the slightly increased heartbeat. But then realisation set in. Percy was the grand child of a god. "Your mother is a demigod?" Grover asked, intrigued by this revelation.
"Yes. I was told by a... mother figure from Hell. I trust her, and she still told me after my betrayal." Percy nodded, confirming what he knew.
Grover, however, could not believe his ears. A demigod had actually lived old enough to have a child? How was that possible? They must have been hunted by monsters forever.
A sudden breeze hit the two as they sat there, and it felt oddly warm. It was familiar to Grover, and then he heard somebody speak to him.
"Come to me! Find me!" The voice cried out. It was a faint echo, but the power rolling off of the voice caused Grover to collapse onto his side, grabbing his head as he cried out in pain. Percy jumped onto his feet as the rat at his feet suddenly came to life and scurried off, but he didn't have any time for such a distraction.
Hearing Grover's cry, the three girls ran out of the shop and saw Percy kneeling over Grover, having taken off his coat and placed it over the Satyr as he began to shake violently. As they approached, a sense of dread washed over Percy. Something evil was approaching.
Seconds later, a jeep screeched around the corner of the road and out jumped what seemed to be around ten to twelve Spartoi, and Percy's eyes widened in surprise. No, something worse was coming. Much, much worse.
The skeletal monsters each pulled out assault rifles and were about to begin firing upon them when Percy threw the Nemean Lion hide coat on and stood up, arms out and stopped each of the bullets from reaching the others, grunting in pain as they were all definitely going to give him masses of bruises the next day.
"Watch him while I hold them off." Percy ordered, and grabbed his sword from his back. He turned around just as the Spartoi began reloading their guns, and charged towards them.
The young boy was savage as he dived and impaled the first one, and it appeared to choke and explode into black flames before the flames were swallowed by the sword, and the skeleton crumpled to nothing but dust. Bianca and Zoë ran up next to Percy, and began hacking at the Spartoi with their hunting knives. Zoë was only causing them to cackle and fall apart, only for them to reattach themselves. Bianca, on the other hand, only got one but it burst into flames, dying with a scream before it exploded into dust. Everyone was confused as to how she did this, but didn't stop to ask as the rest of the Spartoi drew swords and other weapons. Using his coat to deflect any incoming damage from the weapons, Percy hacked and slashed at the rest of the monsters, Bianca helping as she could somehow kill them as well. Soon, the Spartoi were all dispatched off and away with the wind in clouds of dust.
They began to make their way back over to Grover who was beginning to come to, Thalia carefully giving him some bottled water she got from the convenience store behind them.
Then, the sense of dread grew even more, and then a roar echoed throughout the town. Cursing, Percy instantly knew what it was. Another mutated candidate.
"No..." Thalia said, her eyes wide. Down the other end of the road to the jeep, a candidate sleeked out of the shadows and revealed itself. This one was more humanoid, but barbed chains replaced the hands in the form of whips and spikes crudely stuck out of the elbows and shoulders.
They needed to think quickly just as more came up behind the monster, almost like an army was starting to form.
Bianca pointed to the jeep. "We can use that!" She said to the others, and without a second thought, Percy picked Grover up over his shoulder and aimed his sword towards the monsters stalking towards them. A man slowly emerged from the shadows, and Percy almost began to tremble with fear.
A pair of ghastly white eyes locked with Percy's own, gleaming with malice and promising pain. His hair was cleanly shaven and his face had some stubble, and the man cocked his head at the group of children. He wore a black suit, and his mouth turned upwards into a sadistic grin, almost like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
"No..." Percy muttered, fear evident in his voice. The jeep roared to life and sped down the road, stopping behind Percy.
"Get in!" Zoë yelled, behind the wheel. The back doors to the jeep opened and Percy threw Grover in, but he couldn't leave. He was there.
"Leaving so soon, dear boyo?" The man asked in a British accent, his voice not very deep but rugged.
"…" Percy was speechless, he was filled with fear. Then, he felt the need to say something.
"I'm going to kill you, Alistair." Percy snarled.
"Uh, uh, ah. Don't make promises you can't keep. You never know what the consequences of breaking a promise can be!" The man, now known as Alistair announced, his grin widening even more. "But first..." He trailed off, and his eyes glowed brightly. He raised both arms towards the quest group, palms facing upwards.
Thalia reached out of the jeep and dragged Percy inside, almost causing him to drop his sword.
"SICK 'EM, MY CHILDREN!" Alistair roared, and the monsters roared to life, and charged towards the vehicle.
Zoë put the car into gear and slammed her foot down on the gas, turning around and speeding out of the town and down the mountain road, and Percy remained deadly still as he lay over Thalia's lap, lost in thought and shocked.
Alistair had done this to the candidates... The monster had finally done it...
And Percy had never felt so scared in his entire life. He was next to be put through the mutations.
The Demon Rites
So, uh, hi guys. I'm back I guess? It's been a year and a month, I know... Heh.
So, I can't really say sorry for my absence. I just needed... Time? Space? I don't really know, but I felt as if I needed to stop for the time being, and sort myself out. I was going through a rough patch back last year, Exams and everything. And a lot has happened over the past year. Lots of which weren't exactly pretty, but my mind has been far away from FanF .
Until recently, that is. One of my school friends found out about my... hobby in this, and convinced me to start writing again, stating that I have "talent". Heh, could've fooled me, thought I was pretty crappy at this due to the massive lack of reviews I got.
But as I previously said, I have changed a lot over the past year. I have matured (it was much needed, trust me), but more importantly I learnt that I can do something, no matter how screwed up I am. Why am I saying this? Christ knows, but maybe this can help out someone else who feels like I do every day. Other than maturing, I learnt about relationships, and how important they are for us to function, and the void left behind once it breaks down. But, we all get through it. This website, these stories for example, are my release to all of the stress I face in life. All of my problems expressed through words, and I can use them for stories.
But, none the less, other than the negative and deep stuff (bloody hell), I am almost 18 now, and I am taking three A-levels at an all-girls school (they allow boys for sixth form... It's confusing, I know), that include Chemistry (ugh), Law (yay), and Psychology (my favourite by far – I have included some things I learnt from this subject into this chapter and will do so to increase the depth I can reach with character development along with telling the story). With all that has happened, my goal for this story has not changed, same for the sequel I thought up when I first started writing this story.
Outside from all of this, I have thoroughly missed all of you guys here on FanFiction, and the support I got (no matter how little it was) for this story. I am thankful for those who supported me, and will continue to be if they find the heart to read my stories again, after my year off. But, I also hope that you guys understand why I had to take a year off.
Finally, I am going to ask for each of you to leave a review. They, no matter how small, mean lots to every author and make their day, as they show us that our peers enjoy our stories, and lets us know that others want more. So please, do leave a review! 🙂
Alas, this is where I am going to end. 5.5k chapter and this 0.5k A/N is very long winded, I understand. But third time lucky – REVIEW!
Farewell, I will update as soon as I can – and not in a year's time, I promise.
~ The Prince of Souls