Author's Note:

And now, the five man band is finally reunited!

Cheers!

justapercyjacksonfan

Chapter 18

Bri ached all over. Their wrists had been tied together for who knows how long, they'd lost track of the days, and their hands had had to deal with the constricted amount of blood. Their hair, despite being cut chin length, was tangled and stained brown from the blood that had matted in it, and the only reason the cut on their forearm had semi-healed was from the few gulps of nectar they'd managed to get days ago.

And once again, they were tied to a tree. While being semi-recovered, the lack of proper nutrients and exercise meant there was no way for them to heal completely. So yeah, things had been….rough for the last few days.

It was dark again. Well, not dark dark, the sun was only just setting. But there was a sharp difference between today's sundown, and every other one she'd been with the cyclops. Normally, they didn't even assign a guard. Today, they hadn't started a fire or hunted down anything to eat, let alone cook anything. The only thing they had done was get some more water, which Bri had been allowed a small amount of. Clearly, something was different about today.

There was a soft rustling sound outside of the tiny clearing. Bri strained their eyes and ears, trying to figure out who or what it might be.

"You got our message." one of the cyclops called out

"Yes." Bri's ears pricked up. That was Caleb's voice….wasn't it? "Although you could've been a little more specific than just this park."

The son of Khione entered their line of sight. Bri noticed he was sporting a new coat, even though it was summer. "What do you want for her?"

Bri winced. One, they didn't appreciate being treated like an object, two, they didn't appreciate being called her. Maybe they would have to tell them about it later….if they even wanted them back. But they had come out of their way to retrieve them, they had to have some reason for coming.

"She said you'ould be 'illing to give us a lo' o' mon'y for'er re'urn. Wha' 'ould you 'ave to off'r?"

"You don't expect a large amount. You've hardly kept her in good condition."

"Ha!" a second one jumped in. "We don' fall for poison'd wor's. You a son o' the love goddess, boy? Su'pris'd tuh see ya by any such figh'in."

"Quie', Squelch!" the first one interrupted. "Bu' 'e's righ'! We don' neg-o-ti-ate wi' thuh dan-ger-ous talk'rs!" He separated the larger words proudly, like it was an accomplishment to say them.

"I'm not a son of Aphrodite. I'm here to negotiate her return. What do you want?"

"Where'd ya get thuh coa'?"

"Did you want the coat?"

"May'e. If ya coul' offer tha' and somethin' else."

"What do you want besides the coat?"

"Wha's thuh staff made of?"

"Iron and magic."

"Enchan'ed iron! And ya ain't a dan-ger-ous talker?"

"No."

Bri's attention was taken away from the negotiations happening, which had attracted all of the cyclops' focus by a voice next to her ear. "No noise, or this will all go to shit. Can you walk?"

"I don't think so." Bri breathed back. Duh, this would be the best strategy. She just kind of wished she didn't immediately have to be confronted by Jess.

"Fine. I can carry you away. It's just vengeance for you." She said as she cut the ropes holding Bri down. "Please, not like last time." she muttered.

Bri had the sense not to ask what she meant, but as Jess grabbed them, slinging them onto her back like a backpack, Bri noticed a dull mauve glow encasing the daughter of Nemesis.

She brought them a fair ways into the woods, and set her down next to Jo and Ian, the former of whom immediately gave Bri some nectar, and poured some more onto the head wound, and who for some reason was wearing a sling?

"How's Caleb doing?" Jo whispered.

"Certainly distracting them. I don't know how long it will be until they notice she's gone. Ian, we need the illusion soon." Jess said, before running back off, and shimmying up a tree and out of sight.

"Alright. Jo, change of plans, you stay here with Bri, I'm going to have to do illusion work now."

He sprinted off, muttering, "Please, dad, I need a little help, please, please, please…."

"You hurt your arm?" Bri asked

"You have a head wound," Jo retorted, going back to trying to patch her up. "And are severely nutrient deficient?"

"I'm sorry." Bri muttered.

"Yeah, just…...please don't do it again?" Jo asked.

Bri was surprised to see that she didn't look mad, exactly, just...disappointed.

Caleb continued to make empty promises to the cyclops. They were extremely interested in his staff, for some reason. And they were getting impatient as he kept trying to negotiate, which is why he was extremely grateful when he heard Jess whistle a soft bird call from somewhere in the trees above him.

"I don't particularly want to trade it. It was a gift from a goddess afterall. Perhaps you'd prefer this?"

From inside his coat, he brought out a handful of rocks, which, as he did so, gained a new appearance. Ian was behind him, using the Mist to make them seem like thousands of dollars worth of diamonds.

"Diamonds are the hardest substance in the world. Imagine what you could forge them into."

Their eyes grew wide with greed.

"She wasn' lyin' then. You coul'pay." the leader, whose name had been revealed to be Lug-nut said. "Yur wel'ome to our 'ostage then."

With a sweeping gesture, he turned toward where Bri had been held, only to realize they were gone.

"You tricked us!" he howled. They picked up clubs, and began to attack.

Caleb was quick on the draw. He was already holding the staff, and stabbed it into Lug-nut's foot before he could grab his own weapon. Both the staff's power, and his own began to freeze the monster solid. It kept his focus and his weapon occupied though. Ian stepped in to help.

He hadn't used his sword enough to be very good with it yet, but he could at least stab and slash at monsters around him. They were big and slow, and generally not very coordinated, and while Ian's scratches at them didn't kill them right away, they did inconvenience them.

Meanwhile, Jess, her aura still a pulsing mauve also entered the fray. Her tried and true method of dropping out of a tree once again her tactic, although this time, she had a pretty good motive. Their weakness couldn't be more obvious. It was the eye.

With a yell and a stab, she drove a dagger into the singular socket, and the monster exploded into dust beneath her, which she luckily had come to expect by now. It still made her teeth rattle, but she managed to shake off most of it. The total number of enemies was down to four.

Or rather, three. The frozen Lug-nut finally died, coating the ground beneath him in a thin layer of sand colored particles as well, freeing Caleb up to help Ian.

All three dodged club strikes and tried to get in hits.

"The eyes! Aim for the eyes!" Jess yelled to them.

Caleb took the advice, aiming his wintry blast towards Squelch's singular eye. He screeched, and grabbing at his face and dropping his club, but it didn't help. Only two more.

One of them finally succumbed to the multitude of imperial gold cuts Ian had dealt to it. Which left on cyclops, defiantly dual wielding clubs, despite the deaths of all it's friends.

It went down quickly, with a combination of being frozen in place, slashed across the back by two bronze daggers, and stabbed in the gut by a golden sword.

The three of them looked at each other hesitantly.

"Did we just do that?" Ian asked

"I think we did. Are we actually getting better at this demigodding stuff?" Jess asked.

"We might be. But come on, we need to find somewhere to stay for the night."

They rummaged around for a bit, finding Bri's pack, missing the majority of its contents as well as their sword, before heading back to Bri and Jo.

Bri looked up at them when they got close, a face full of absolute misery.

"Hey guys."

Author's Note:

Yippee, I finally got out of my writing slump.

Shout-outs?