The Lost Goddess

A/N: I honestly JUST finished this. Sorry for the delay. I've been working on my own novel (so close to the reveal ... so close!). Anyways, I finished this and I love the chapter. In my opinion, it shows Cora really returning to herself. So enjoy!

Cora: World Famous

I crouched down in the alleyway, poking my head in through the crack in the doorway. I watched the Cyclops as he worked around the forge. It was a good cover, I had to admit. It also meant this Cyclops was close to them.

I jumped when a hand touched my shoulder. It was Hunter. He looked concerned. I realized I'd been clenching my hands. He tugged on me gently and I withdrew from the doorway to join Percy and Annabeth.

Percy gave me a worried looked and he and Annabeth started talking. I translated quietly for Hunter, but I wasn't really paying attention. I kept glancing over my shoulder at the door. I couldn't focus. To think, that this Cyclops was working for them . . . that he might have information . . . that he could explain why they took me . . . to think, that their weak link was a Cyclops.

Before I knew what I was doing I said, "Wait here," and was stalking off to the door.

"No, Cora –" But it was too late, because I was slipping inside the building.

I pushed my back against the wall and inched behind a support pillar. It was hot in here, sweat already trickling down the side of my face. I took deep, slow breaths, trying to remain as quiet as possible. Edging sideways I looked around for the Cyclops.

Don't focus directly, watch in your peripheral, scan for the easiest path, check liabilities, figure out assets . . . I wasn't sure if those were my thoughts, or if they were the voice.

I twisted my head, watching the Cyclops while taking in the workshop. The Cyclops was huge, much larger than a person. I'd have to get it right to take him down. He suddenly jerked his head up, sniffing loudly.

"I smell something . . ." he growled.

With a slight gasp as he turned around I dropped to the ground behind the pillar. After a quick glance I snatched a silver nugget off a table and tossed it to the other side of the room. It landed with a clang. The Cyclops was after the sound in an instant.

I crept forward, partly crouched, keeping under what I could till I was behind him. The Cyclops was sniffing, holding a pole like a bat.

Before I could possibly have second thoughts I pushed myself forward, slamming my right shoulder into his knees while my left hand expertly caused his ankle to fail.

The Cyclops crashed to the ground. With a curse he swung the pole. I hardly registered what I was doing as I caught the pole in my hands, snapping a foot up to jam his wrist. There was an audible sound of something breaking.

The pole was in my hands now, and I thrust it hard at his stomach as the Cyclops tried to rise. He deflected it with one hand, and I let it go off, spinning. I sprung to my feet, the Cyclops lumbering up unevenly.

I feinted to the right, the Cyclops throwing his weight to much to that side. Quickly I was darting to the other side, reaching up to pinch the nerve ending in the shoulder. He bellowed in pain as a slight move found him on the ground, his arm twisted awkwardly against his back as I applied steady pressure against the broken wrist.

The Cyclops was yelling, and I was screaming something back, but I'm not sure what.

Someone place a hand on my back, and I jumped, everything suddenly rushing back into real time. I blinked and looked up. Percy, Annabeth, and Hunter were staring at me. Oh dear gods . . . what had I just done?

I shakily got to my feet, Percy stepping forward with Riptide uncapped, and moved back. Hunter's hand was still against my back. I covered my face with my hands.

"What happened?" I whispered. "Did – Did I just -?" Hunter removed his hand.

"Cora, it's okay," he said gently. "You just got upset and carried away, it could happen to anyone."

I lowered my hands and gripped my arms, staring numbly at the clear injuries I'd caused. For a minute I was stuck staring in a detached sort of way. I couldn't believe I'd done that. Taking in a breath, I looked up at Hunter. He only looked worried for me, not scared like I would have thought. After all, I'd taken down a Cyclops without harm to myself.

"I can't believe I just did that," I breathed. For a moment I thought Hunter was going to hug me, and I found myself hoping he would. The moment was ruined by convulsions from the Cyclops.

Nervously I moved closer. "Cora, you didn't try to kill him, right?" Percy asked me, the point of Riptide never wavering.

"No," I said quietly. "I just hurt him. Nothing's life-threatening, except your sword to his throat."

"Well, that's a relief," Percy said, his expression steely calm. "Now maybe you'll answer questions." But the Cyclops wasn't focused on Percy, he was looking at me.

"I know you," the Cyclops said.

"Yeah," Percy snapped. "Your bosses kidnapped her."

That caught the Cyclops off guard. "She's the jailbreak? Well . . . I suppose that makes sense."

All of us frowned. "How do you know her?" Annabeth demanded.

"Anyone of us who worked in the forges a couple years ago know our dad's daughter," the Cyclops replied, rather calm for all the wary looks. "I recognize the smell."

We were frozen for a minute. Finally Percy said, "So your father's Poseidon too, then. Mind explaining how you know my – er – our sister?"

"Why don't you ask her?"

Percy and Annabeth shared a glance. "We don't answer question from people working for our enemies," Annabeth said.

Hunter nudged me. "What's going on? You look panicked."

I hastily explained everything to him. "I don't understand how people keep knowing me," I added.

"What do you mean?"

"Well . . ." I shifted. "First Nico di Angelo, then the spirit of the Hudson, then – then those who took me, now this guy . . . I don't like it."

Hunter opened his mouth but we whirled around when the Cyclops started yelling in response to whatever Percy and Annabeth had been saying.

"I had no choice, ya here me? No choice!" he bellowed. "They forced me! Ya think I want to be working for a pile of underground crazies who –"

"Save it!" Percy snapped. "You really think we're going to –"

"Percy," I said, stepping forward and placing a hand on his arm. "Stop. I believe him."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Why would you believe him?"

"I just do," I replied. "Put your sword away." Percy grumbled but did what I asked. Taking a deep breath a knelt down next to the Cyclops, who was watching me in amazement. "I'm sorry for attacking you," I said. "I thought you were an enemy."

"Cora . . ."

"Thank you, and I don't blame you," the Cyclops said. "I would have done the same to myself. You seem to have more forgiveness than our brother."

Percy snorted. "You haven't seen her –" I elbowed Percy in the kneecap. "Ow!"

"Stop being a baby, it doesn't hurt," I told him.

A few minutes later we were all sitting wherever we could find purchase while the Cyclops was wrapping up his wounds. I tried not to show how pleased I was that Hunter was next to me, for translation purposes. Part of me was wondering what was suddenly wrong with me.

"Do you want somethin' to eat?" the Cyclops asked, wrapping his wrist as he jutted his chin to a takeout container.

"No thanks, we already ate," Annabeth said. "That's actually how we spotted you, from the takeout shop."

"Ah," he nodded. "That explains things. At first I just thought they were roasting something, but I'm thinkin' now it was you. Stupid on my part." He cleared his throat. "My name's Rider, by the way. I'll try to help ya all out, but I'm afraid I don't know too much."

"That's okay," Percy said. "Anything's helpful."

"What do you know about me?" I asked. "I don't know anything before I woke up in June. It's a mystery to me."

"The gods steal 'em, huh?"

"Something like that," I muttered.

Rider thought for a moment. "I don't wanna run the risk of getting on the bad side of the gods, but seein' as I don't know too much, I guess it can't hurt." I leant forward eagerly. Finally, someone willing to tell me something!

"Now, you need to understand that I've never actually met you. Most of it is rumors, or if I overheard something."

"Eavesdropper," Percy mumbled. I cast him a glare.

"See, if anyone has worked in the forges for the past year – maybe two, we're bound to have heard of ya," Rider continued, ignoring Percy. "It's just been a couple of tales, mostly. Our dad, he usually has sons, and apparently you're the first daughter in a while. Favoured child and all that – none of us really blame you, he always likes his demigod children more than us.

"Been talk about how you're gifted, and all that. Nobody's really sure of all these details, see, but you got special treatment or somethin'. Dunno what exactly. Dad took an interest, I guess. Helped ya out. Met a seer once, told me a half sibling would give Olympus a hand. Probably you, seeing as Percy here's done his part. 'Fraid I don't know much more."

"Oh," I said, after a moment. "That's okay . . . at least – at least I know something. I never realized Dad payed that much attention. Maybe he's the one who gave me my weapons, or something."

"That does happen with Big Three children," Annabeth commented. "Their parents usually do give them something."

"Okay," Percy said. "So Dad knew about Cora, and kept her secret for a while. I can understand that. I don't suppose you know anything about the memory loss?"

Rider shook his head. "Nope. I can't picture Dad doin' that willingly to one of his kids. Must be some reason I don't know about."

I tried to hide my disappointment. It was nice to know my dad cared, but I wanted to know why my memory had been stolen. There wasn't any sort of obvious reason. I forced some degree of cheerfulness into my voice. "It's fine. I don't suppose you know anything about . . . them?"

The Cyclops scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Specifics? Naw, they wouldn't trust a blacksmith with info like that. I know some of what they plan, seein' as I've built half of what they need."

"If they have a plan, and you're building stuff, why did they kidnap Cora?" Percy demanded. "What use could they possibly have for her?"

"Power source," Rider said. "What I build for them needs an awfully large power source. Maybe she's able. Or . . ."

"Or what?" Annabeth asked.

I stopped listening. I didn't want to know what the 'or' reason was. I had a bad feeling; my skin tingled and pain jolted around behind my eyes. A power source, or . . . I had a sick feeling it would have been or a key. That was absurd. Absolute nonsense.

Holds great power to the key, said the little voice in my mind.

Shut up! I thought, squeezing my eyes shut and shaking my head. No power, no keys! No, no, NO!

"Cora?"

I opened my eyes and looked over. Hunter was watching me worriedly.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Sorry, I guess I – I should translate." I hastily told him what had been exchanged, adding in the small snippets I heard from Percy, Annabeth, and Rider.

He didn't say anything afterwards. I noticed he looked a little pale, and there were moments when he seemed off. I frowned at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He looked startled. "You're asking me that?"

I gave him a flat look, arcing an eyebrow. "How's your arm?"

"Uh, it's okay." He purposefully didn't look at me. Before he had a chance to react I'd pushed the sleeve of his tee-shirt up. The bandage on his arm was soaked in blood. I stared, horrified. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Good gods," I hissed at him. "How long has it been like this? Why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't want to worry you," he told me.

"Bit late for that." I looked around the shop and snatched up bandages Rider hadn't used. He was arguing with Percy and Annabeth about some point; I didn't really want to know. "Here, let me help."

For a moment I thought Hunter wanted argue, then he nodded. "Thanks," he said, "I suppose I haven't been doing a very good job on my own."

"You should've asked, dummy," I said.

Hunter flushed. "You felt guilty enough, pointing it out would've made you feel worse."

I finished tying off the new bandage. "As sweet as that is," I said with a slight smile, "don't ever do that again. I'd rather feel guilty than see something seriously wrong with you. 'K?"

He smiled. "I got it."

"What do you mean, two days?" Percy swore explosively. I looked over in surprise. Both he and Annabeth had worried expressions on their faces, bordering on panic.

"Well, they said full moon, and that's in two days," Rider said, a lot calmer. "All I know is something will be happening – uh, routing of the usurers of disgrace. I think that's what they said . . . not sure what it means, but I bet it ain't good 'cause nothing they do is good."

"So they want you to finish building some part, before two days," Annabeth said, "to use in some sort of evil whatever, only you don't know anything? And last you heard was that they need a – a controller?"

"I think it's suppose to be a person," Rider added, unhelpfully. "But yeah, that's about it. And they wanted me to deliver it to . . . the Weaver's Needle. Yeah, that was it. Take it over Flat Iron Peak to the Weaver's Needle. I was supposed to do that, when done."

"You're not really going to do it, right?" Percy asked. "You're not going to make this thing and – and just give it to them."

Rider shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to, not a bit. But I gotta. That's the problem . . . you don't know what happens, if I disobey or if I lie."

"You could say I attacked you," I suggested in a small voice. "That's not a lie. It's just . . . twisting the truth."

"And instead of getting what they need, they'll get four very deadly demigods," Percy said. He looked at me and grinned. "How do you feel about beating up those men and showing them what it means to mess with you?"

I smiled. "I say, they'll regret it for the rest of their short, miserable lives."

A/N: What do you think? Cora's gotten back to her usual, awesome self.
What are the evils planning? What do they want? What will happen? Heh, I know but you don't! Stay tuned! A chapter you fans of Cora/Hunter will love is coming up very soon! Meanwhile, tell me what you think through reviews and favs and alerts
(Hey ... why are their pages numbers in this word document? It's new! What did I do? *panics*)(Did I use "usurers" right? I don't think so ...)

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