And welcome back everyone, not much to talk about so I'll get right to it. Also, just to give you a little something to look for, I'm gonna tie this chapter into that little Demigod/Vietnam bit I did a while ago.
Chapter 4: Love bites
Antonio:
When the sun rose the next morning, I found Reyna, Eli, Raven, Artemis, Amber, Thalia, Percy, Leo, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and Justin already assembled on the front porch of the Big House, ready to go. Reyna cast an awkward glance at me, which I'd like to think I returned with a smooth and casual grin, but I'm betting it came out more of a grimace.
Not that I had anything to grimace about, I was just still kind of caught off guard about the whole thing, and yes I was still thinking about it.
"Glad you got your beauty sleep," Eli nodded to me "I've been here for an hour and a half."
"To be fair, we never agreed on a time." I shrugged
"Can we get breakfast first?" Percy yawned, stretching his arms out "It's way too early."
"I could go for some food." Raven agreed as an afterthought
"Answers," Annabeth told them "Then food."
"Awwww." Percy, Jason, Leo, Thalia, and Raven all groaned in unison
A few moments later, Chiron came rolling outside, looking as if he hadn't slept any more than the rest of us. There were bags under his eyes, his face sagged, but he rolled on, a cup of coffee in his hand. Without a word, we all entered the Big House and headed towards the basement stairs.
"Nobody lose their cool," Piper told everybody "We appear calm, collected, in control, and we'll already have the edge on her."
I figured it was much easier said than done, but I nodded along with everyone else as we descended down below. Vaguely, I wondered what was normally kept down here, as once we entered, the entire room was completely bare, except for a cell in the corner, with a woman inside, sitting cross legged, seeming at peace.
Circe.
The cell didn't look like anything special, but I had no doubt that Leo had pulled out all the stops on this thing and I knew Circe wasn't going anywhere. If she was, she would've already been gone the night before.
"Give us the room," Reyna told the guards "Get some food and sleep, we'll let the next shift know when we're done."
In response, the two heavily armored legionnaires nodded and headed up the stairs, leaving the fourteen of us in the room alone with Circe, who still hadn't opened her eyes from what I guessed was her meditation. Silently, everybody looked back and forth at one another, wondering who was going to get to have first go at her.
But, almost as if mentally pushing everybody out of her way, Reyna stepped forward, snatching the keys from Leo and opening Circe's cell.
Her hands and feet were cuffed in what I knew were also magic chains, but that still didn't stop me from drawing back when the cell opened, as if Circe would suddenly regain her magical strength and blast her way out of captivity.
She didn't though, only opened her eyes and looked up at Reyna, smiling that evil smile of hers, as if we were the ones who'd been captured.
"Reyna, dear," She said sweetly "My, you're glowing, the days have been treating you well."
In response, Reyna backhanded Circe so hard it made the slap she'd given me the night before look like a love tap. Instantly, her face started to bruise, and I knew she was in for a long day, and there were thirteen other people waiting in line.
"That seemed unnecessary." Circe chided with mock offense, spitting some blood onto the floor
"Where are the pieces of Uranus?" She demanded
"I'm afraid I'm not following." Circe smiled, feigning confusion
Reyna dragged her out of the cell and threw her on the ground in front of us and we gathered around her, forming a semicircle around the front of the cage, making sure the only way she had to go if she tried anything was back inside.
"Can it, witch," Justin spat, drawing his knife "We know what you were looking for, you can tell us, or you can die."
"Well, it seems I'm going to die anyways," Circe shrugged "What's the point."
"If you cooperate," Reyna growled, kicking her in the back and pushing her to the dirt "I'll take your head off, quick and painless. If you waste my time, I'll cut off a few other limbs before your head, I'll make your death last days."
Reyna was starting to scare me, and I vaguely wondered what I'd gotten myself into. She'd kissed me, that means she was definitely interested, which means there's no turning back if she decided she wanted to cut my head off.
"Hmmph," Circe huffed "You're not very good at being civil, dear. I'd much rather deal with Percy Jackson or Jason Grace, even the Alistair brothers are nicer than you."
In a flash, Artemis snatched the witch up and pinned her to the side of the cell, getting up close in her face and making a deep growling noise in the back of her throat, almost like a wild animal giving a predator their last warning before it pounced.
"Where are they?" She snapped "The pieces of Ouranos, where?"
"Not ringing a bell," She taunted, her smile not even faltering "Could you be a little more specific?"
"Just tell us," Piper told her "That's the best option."
"It is," Circe nodded, agreeing before looking confused and shaking her head violently "Stop! Your tricks don't work on me, Charmspeaker!"
"They seem to be," Piper said, stepping forward as Artemis dropped Circe to the ground in front of her "Where are the pieces of Ouranos? You can tell me, I'm not going to tell the others."
"You seem like an honest-ARGH!" She screamed, shaking her head violently "Stop!"
"Where are they?" Piper said, more forcefully this time
For a moment, Circe's eyes remained defiant, but then they became hazy, darting around in confusion before locking onto Piper and staring intently, as if trying to peer into her very soul. Piper stared back, not folding under the gaze of the witch, and Circe eventually looked away.
"We have most of them," She said in a daze "Hidden on my old island in the Sea of Monsters, where we'll perform the sacrament. We only have one left, but it's hidden away, sealed by ancient magic."
"Where?" Piper asked again, maintaining her same, forceful tone
"The fields of Punishment," She answered, still dazed "Guar-ARGH! NO!"
"Guarded by what?" Piper demanded, her sudden bark making me jump
"Guarded by hordes of tortured souls, those who have broken their vows on the River Styx, traitors, murders, thieves," She said "In death, they sword one, final oath to the goddess, protect the heart of Ouranos."
"And you haven't been able to kill them?" Piper asked
"No, they cannot be killed, only temporarily disposed of," She confirmed "We've wasted thousands of troops trying to get to it. Everytime we got close, they reformed and cut us off."
"Ask her about the rest of it," Percy whispered "Blood of the innocent and all that."
"Sounds self explanatory." Eli remarked
"What about the rest of it?" Piper asked her "A gift from the enemy, flesh of the virgin, blood of the innocent."
For a moment, Circe was silent, but then she began laughing. She cackled madly, as if she had just scored a huge victory, and I wondered what was going on in her head. Reyna started to step forward, but Justin and I grabbed her, holding her back.
"No losing your cool," Justin whispered to her "For now, we need her alive."
Reyna glared at him, but nodded, stepping back as Circe continued to laugh, eventually looking at us with a wild look in her eyes. Despite myself, I shuddered, seeing that look in her eyes shook my to my very core, like she had finally snapped.
"They seem very obvious, don't they?" She asked, still laughing "Tells you exactly what I need."
"You've spilled plenty of innocent blood in your time," Jason told her "So what's holding you back?"
"It isn't that simple, dear," She continued to cackle "Nobody in this world is innocent. All of us have done something that takes our innocence from us, we all have a bit of evil."
"So then where do you plan on getting the blood?" Piper demanded
Circe said nothing this time, she just laughed, that deranged, evil, maniacal laugh. I couldn't figure out what it was she thought was so funny, but she continued to laugh for a few minutes, never slowing down to even catch her breath.
"I think we're done here," Raven said, reaching under his hoodie "Piper's charmspeak isn't working anymore, and she's getting on my nerves."
In the same breath, he pulled his gun out of his waistband and leveled it at Circe's head, his finger dashing immediately to the trigger. Time froze for a moment, and everything happened way too fast for any of us to react to it.
Everybody, that is, except for Eli, who seemed to anticipate his brother's move. Even so, he was still in the nick of time, grabbing Raven's wrist and forcing it upwards just as he squeezed the trigger. Everybody jumped as the round hit the ceiling and sent a dust cloud falling down around us.
"What?" Raven demanded, sounding more annoyed than anything "Why not?"
"She isn't yours to kill," Eli said firmly, not letting go of Raven's wrist "She was captured by Romans, she'll face Roman justice."
"What's the difference?" Raven asked, rolling his eyes "I blow her brains out right now or you guys hang her or whatever you do in a couple weeks."
Eli said nothing, but he kept a firm grip on Raven's wrist. Circe had now stopped laughing, and was watching the brothers with mild interest, as if they weren't debating her death. I don't think she cared either way, I'm sure there was some kind of backup plan.
"Alright," Percy said, stepping between them carefully "Lets take a little break, cool down, discuss what we've learn."
Silently, I think everybody agreed. Justin and Thalia grabbed Circe's arms and lifted her up, putting her back inside the cell Leo had constructed. As the door shut, I saw Circe smiling, looking at Reyna with evil intent. I had a feeling deep in my gut that Circe wasn't done tormenting her, and if I had known what was going to happen, I probably would've stopped Eli and just let Raven kill her then and there.
Raven:
Hours later, things had settled down a little bit. We had talked over what we learned, which was a considerable amount given that we all didn't think Circe would talk. There was one concern, however, that continued to be the main point of conversation, how easy it had been.
Piper's charmspeak was powerful, but even she wasn't completely sure it was powerful enough to force Circe to tell us the truth, leading us all to agree on one, single, conclusion.
Circe had a plan. She'd wanted to be captured, she wanted us to know the location of Ouranos' heart, so that we could go and get it for her, or die in the process.
We could only hope she hadn't accounted for being brought to Camp Half-Blood.
"This whole thing's a suicide mission," I groaned, looking at Thalia "If we just leave it there, it'll be much safer than with us."
"They'll figure out a way to get to it." She told me
"Without Circe's leadership?" I argued
"There's backups," Thalia told me, as if speaking to a child "There's always backups."
Finally, I gave up. My mother agreed with her, so if I didn't go along with it, they were just going to go anyways and I'd have to live with the knowledge that I let them all go right into the waiting arms of death without charging into it's all too familiar embrace with them.
I'd just have to figure out how to break it to Eli and Antonio. Couldn't exactly just be like "Hey, you guys want to go running off to a suicide mission with me?" Sure, we'd done it before, but this was something else all together.
In one, final effort, I looked over to Amber for support, knowing she would be able to talk some sense into them.
Except, she wasn't on her bunk. I looked around the cabin, sitting up as I did so, but I didn't see her anywhere. I wondered where she could possibly be during such an important time like this, and I was a little irritated that she'd left me to fend for myself on this one.
Silently, I left the cabin to go find her. The winter air bit at my skin as I stepped outside the door, and I looked around to see if I could spot her. The snow was falling gently around the camp, so I could see very far in front of me, much less make out anybody's faces wrapped in their hoods.
I kept walking, checking all the normal spots she liked to hang out, but she wasn't in any of them, I was starting to wonder if maybe she was asleep and I had just missed her. Just as I was about to give up, I spotted something in the treeline of the woods. It looked like a figure on one of the limbs, I might've turned away, assuming it was nothing, except the figure was so well concealed I knew it was a Hunter, the only one who wasn't inside enjoying the warmth.
"Mind if I join you?" I asked as I pulled myself onto the branch next to her
"I'd really just like to be alone." She sighed, stuffing something into her jacket
"What's that?" I asked her, peering at her neck
She'd always worn a necklace, but I'd never thought much of it, I'd always just assumed it was, like, something girly that girls liked to wear. But I was starting to get the sense that whatever it was was pretty sentimental to her, and probably painful too, judging by her face.
She sighed, probably realizing I wasn't going to drop the subject, the Hunters were my family, and you never let your family burden their demons alone, whatever they were.
"My dad gave it to me," She told me, pulling off her necklace "When I joined."
It was a set of dog tags, an old pair by the look of them. They were scuffed up, with a slight bend to the top.
Adella, Oscar D
O Neg
465273928
USMC
"So do you often go hide in a tree to look at them or is something wrong?" I asked her
"My stepmom sent me an iris message last night," She sighed "My dad is dying."
I wasn't sure what to say to that. Oh, well I'm sorry really wasn't going to cut it. Thing about Amber, and even me for that matter, is that sometimes, silence and just knowing somebody else was there with you did more than sympathy ever could.
"You want to go and see him?" I guessed "Don't you?"
"I do," She nodded "But, with everything that's going on, it seems like every time I turn my back you get yourself into something."
"Not true," I argued "But I see your point. Regardless, I think you should go if you want to."
"This is a really bad time for me to up and leave." She sighed
"You aren't up and leaving," I told her, rolling my eyes "You're going to visit your dad. If it'll make you feel better, I'll go with you and you can keep an eye on me."
"Would you?" She asked, almost hopefully, looking up at me "Really?"
"Of course," I nodded "It'll probably make my mother feel better too."
She went silent again, and I didn't say anything. The two of us just sat in the tree silently, looking out into the woods. I felt, for just a moment, like the entire world had just disappeared and it was only the two of us and that tree.
She was beautiful, with the moonlight shining off of her hair, the snow falling around her. I found myself, very violently I might add, screaming every curse word I knew in my head, and even making up a few, for her being a Hunter. I had feelings for her, sure, but she didn't want anything to do with it, so, out of respect for her, I had to shove those feelings down and pretend they didn't exist.
Who knew falling in love was such a pain in the ass?
