"Absolutely not."
Percy and Alex had been trying for over an hour to convince Annabeth to let them go on the quest. She was adamant is keeping her family together at camp.
"There has got to be another way," she pleaded, pacing next to the ping pong table.
"Annabeth," Chiron stepped in, "You know better than anyone that there is no other way. The oracle has spoken."
"Sorry," Rachel mumbled from the corner of the room. She was sitting on a stool, looking exhausted and dejected since she had just delivered a possible death sentence to her friend and his daughter.
"Annabeth," Percy tried again, "You saw what happened last time this happened. The attacks won't stop. Mesperyian has an endless supply of monsters coming her way through the Labyrinth." He tapped his fingers against the table in frustration, a habit Alex did as well. "We know its bait for us, but what other choice do we have? If any other demigod goes, she'll simply uproot their infrastructure and move throughout the Labyrinth so we can't follow them."
"What about Hazel? Or Nico? They can help with the tunnel system." Annabeth shot back, still pacing.
Percy groaned. "We've been over this. We can't reach the Romans because of the communication jam, and Nico's underground capabilities aren't strong enough to fight against Eupalinos."
"Who?" Alex butted in.
"Son of Athena who created an irrigation tunnel under Samos Island. It's over a kilometer long and still stands to this day. Amazing feat of engineering at the time, but that's beside the point," her mother ranted. "The problem is that Eupalinos is somehow working for Mesperyian now, but he's stronger. Your dad said he has god-like powers. He's able to destroy and resurrect tunnels better than Hazel can, even in the Labyrinth."
"As soon as Mesperyian senses a demigod that isn't a child of Poseidon walking through the Labyrinth towards them-" Percy snapped his fingers, "-poof, they're gone. But because of Eupalinos, they can always find a way back to Camp."
"They will only allow children of Poseidon to approach them," Chiron finished.
There was a pause as that sunk in for the group.
"But what if we-" Annabeth started in protest.
"Chiron, Rachel," Percy interrupted her, "Can we have a few minutes alone, please?" He and her mom were in a glaring contest, one that Alex was happy to not be in the middle of.
Chiron and Rachel glanced at each other before nodding and exiting.
"You're being irrational," Percy said once the door closed.
Annabeth threw her hands in the air. "Can you really blame me? This isn't just you anymore, Percy. This involves our daughter! Does that not bother you?"
"Mom." Alex knew she needed to interject. "Shouldn't it be my choice to go on the quest? You know, since it is my blood and all."
Her mom huffed and crossed her arms. "This isn't the time for jokes, Alex. This isn't some training exercise you can just restart if you mess up. One screw up can get you and your father killed."
"Mom," Alex said firmly, "I've been training with you for ten years now. I've been in fights. I've been in battles. Yeah, we weren't exactly planning on my first quest being a battle to the death, but here we are. If I'm not ready now, I never will be." Alex thought about all of her friends that had died. She thought about Sierra. A lump grew in her throat. "I need you to trust me." Alex watched her mother's reaction to her mini monologue, seeing if she got through at all. Her mom sighed again, looking at the ceiling to hold back tears.
"She's right, Annabeth," Percy said softly. "It's not your choice to make."
Alex obviously understood her mother's hesitation. She had already lost her husband for twelve years. Now, after getting him back, he was asking to literally walk back into the same place, to the same monster that took him in the first place, and, oh yeah, their daughter has to go too, but if they don't, lots of people could die.
It would tear apart any person, but especially Annabeth. Her brain knew they had to go, but her heart couldn't let them.
She finally looked at them, the two still sitting at the ping-pong table. She was openly crying now. "Percy, I don't-"
There was a loud crash in the distance.
Their time had run out.
/
"Nobody cut a head off!" Percy yelled over the sound of battle, as he deflected a bite from one of the many hydra heads in front of him with the flat of his blade.
The hydra had more heads than Alex could count. It was almost like someone purposefully cut its heads before sending it into the Labyrinth just to make the demigods' day harder.
Alex was holding off her own hydra head, dodging and rolling to avoid its snarling teeth. She was on her own, as were most campers. The frequent attacks had left the number of healthy demigods small, at a mere twenty-six even as reinforcements came in during the day from around the area.
Each hydra head was occupied with one camper and there were few archers supporting them, telling Alex that the hydra had somewhere around twenty heads. She couldn't figure out how that was possible as almost all hydras started with nine heads.
Did someone cut their heads on purpose? Alex thought as she ducked under the attacking head. It was the only conceivable idea she could come up with, but it only confused her more.
Alex heard a scream come from her right, seeing an older Hephaestus camper getting snatched up by the head he was fighting in the corner of her eye. Her stomach flipped in dread, so she focused on the battle in front of her. Then she heard a cry from her left.
They were all going to die if they stayed there.
"We need fire!" Alex yelled, hoping her father would hear.
"I know!" she heard him yell back. She dared a glance over at him, seeing him fending off two heads. "Anyone got an ETA on Leo?" he yelled to everyone.
"Tomorrow morning!" Alex heard her mom yell from somewhere on her left.
Only the sounds of battle could be heard as they mulled over that information.
"I have an idea," he yelled, "but you're not going to like it!"
"I never do!" her mom yelled back."
"Move it to the lava wall!"
"That's across camp!"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"You're crazy!"
"Love you too!"
Alex doesn't know how they could a full-blown conversation in the midst of a battle, but that was her parents.
"Campers!" Alex commanded. "Fall back to the tree line! We're taking it to the lava wall!" Alex stabbed her knife at the head, hitting it under the eye. It was enough to distract it. allowing her to roll away and take off towards the edge of the woods. She scanned around her to see the other campers doing the same. She heard yet another scream behind her as someone could not run fast enough to escape one of the hydra's jaws. Roars came from behind her, as well, telling her that the hydra was in pursuit. It only made her run faster.
They reached the edge of the woods on the south side of the creek. Alex ran to her parents who were together, watching the approaching hydra. The only positive of the large number of heads on the monster was that it seemed to slow it down.
"What's the plan?" she gasped.
"Take it through the mess hall. Avoid the cabins at all costs," her mother said. "That should cause less damage."
"Yeah, we might have to reconsider that plan," Percy suddenly said, his eyes on the monster. "I think it's taking a detour."
The monster was no longer coming at the group of demigods. It had changed his path due south.
Alex cursed and took off. "The Big House!"
/
Alex could hear people following her, but she didn't dare slow down to check.
She ran past the arena, which was now half rubble. The archery range was completely destroyed. The hydra was now making its presence known. She followed the path of destruction, seeing the hydra not far ahead. They still had a couple hundred yards before they reached the Big House.
The monster had slowed its pace, making it easy for Alex to run by it. It roared as she passed and picked up its pace again, shaking the ground beneath their feet. However, it was forced to slow once more as the other demigods reached it and fought for its attention.
Alex continued to the Big House, which seemed to have noticed the incoming guest.
Alex saw Aunt Piper on the porch, who was on medic duty that day. "Evacuate to the pine tree!" Alex called to her and the other medics who were outside. She ran right by them and into the Big House, yelling out the same order to everyone inside. Quickly, injured campers were being moved out of the house. Alex desperately searched everyone who passed, not seeing her best friend.
Finally, she saw her being brought out on a stretcher between an Apollo camper and Piper. Both of her lower legs were in a thick cast. A sob left Alex's throat as she ran over, seeing Sierra for the first time since her injury.
"Si," Alex reached her side and walked alongside the stretcher as it moved through the Big House.
Sierra looked exhausted, but she smiled when she saw Alex. She reached up and grabbed Alex's hand. "I heard I missed a lot."
Alex laughed despite the situation. "You have no idea." Alex squeezed her hand. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Me?" They walked through the front door. "Don't worry about me. Go save the world for me, okay?"
"Alex, you have to go," Piper said, but she had a small smile on her face. "It's getting too close."
Alex gave her hand one last squeeze for good luck before separating and taking off back towards the battle.
The other demigods had managed to keep the hydra at bay, but it was still slowly advancing towards the Big House.
Alex stopped short, surveying their surroundings. She knew they weren't going to be able to turn the hydra around with just their weapons. They needed something bigger. She got an idea.
She ran around to the back of the hydra, facing it. "Hey, Dad!" she yelled out to her father who was again fighting two heads, this time with her mother at his side. She saw him quickly glance at her in acknowledgement. "I have an idea, but I need your help!"
He nodded. "Annabeth, you got them?"
"Got them!"
Her dad slipped away from the fight, leaving Annabeth to fend for herself, her knife a mere flash as it gracefully parried the heads away.
Percy reached her side. "What's the plan?"
Instead of answering, Alex summoned the creek. She felt her gut tighten as the water rose, tens of thousands of gallons of water raising thirty feet in the air.
Her dad whistled. "Oh, I like this plan."
The pain in her stomach loosened slightly, as she felt her father take some of the weight of the water off of her. She took a deep breath.
"If you can hold the majority of this, I can shoot water at it to turn it towards us. Hopefully it's dumb enough to follow a massive blob of water across Camp," she said, keeping her concentration on the water.
"If there is something I've learned over the years-" he took more of the weight with a small grunt, "-monsters are dumb."
Alex clenched her teeth as she shot a jet of water at the hydra, hitting multiple of its heads. "Hey, pea-brain!" She shot another powerful stream at the monster. All of its heads snapped towards her in annoyance, but they quickly turned their attention to the giant floating ball of water in front of it. "Does your brain get smaller with each new head or are you just dumb?"
The hydra roared and started towards them.
Alex turned, shooting more water at the hydra behind her back. "This is the part of the plan where we run!"
The duo took off towards the lava wall, the ball of water bouncing in the air behind them with the hydra close behind.
They were approaching the cabins. Knowing they had no other choice, they continued forward. Alex said a silent apology to her mom.
They barreled through the minor cabins first. Alex didn't dare look back to check the damage, but the flying debris over her head told her it was extensive. They then reached the larger major cabins. With no hesitation, the monster crashed into the left side of the 'U', destroying the Hermes and Hephaestus cabins.
There was a loud explosion behind them, and Alex felt heat sear her back. She checked over her shoulder to see the remains of the Hephaestus cabin and the Apollo cabin burning, likely from a prototype bomb left in the make-shift forge of the Hephaestus cabin. She shot more water at the monster to keep its attention on them and not on the cabins. Their ball of water was about half depleted.
They veered right, looking to slip between the Hera and Demeter cabin. While the demigods and their ball fit through just fine, the hydra had other plans. Its many heads smashed into the cabins, sending pieces of quartz and wood at Percy and Alex. She could feel splinters digging into her back. A sharp piece of quartz nicked her arm. She continued to run, her lungs started to burn from the smoke and debris. She shot yet another line of water behind her.
They approached the Mess Hall, its tall columns suddenly looking dangerous in their situation. Alex and Percy weaved their way through the tables and columns, cringing as they heard crashing rock. Alex quickly glanced behind her, only see one of the massive columns falling directly at them.
"Watch out!" she yelled, grabbing her father's shirt sleeve and pulling him with her to the right. The column fell with a heavy crash next to them, hitting a hearth which sent burning wood scattering across the floor. The plume of dust made it hard to breath. Alex's eyes stung as she tried to navigate her way out of the Mess Hall.
Another column fell on their right and the hydra roared from behind them.
"We're almost there!" her dad yelled. Even he sounded winded.
They finally made it through the Mess Hall, the Lava Wall coming into view in the distance.
"Alex, go ahead and set the lava distribution to its max! We need enough lava to burn all of the heads at once!" he yelled at her.
Alex gave a yell of approval and picked up her speed. Using the creek like a trampoline, she shot herself an extra hundred yards forward to give herself a head start.
The control center was, thankfully, at the bottom of the lava wall so Alex was able to reach it quickly. She bounded her way in, stumbling over to the controls. She had only had to work the controls once, when a camper she was instructing almost fell into a stream of lava. She had simply pulled back on the switch to rid the wall of lava.
Now, she took the control and shoved it forward with all of her weight.
There was a loud screeching sound, as the wall's various sliding doors quickly opened all the way, leaving no obstructions to the lava.
For a painful second, nothing happened. Did the wall even have a reservoir big enough to drop that much lava? Alex realized she had never actually seen someone use the wall at maximum capacity.
Then, the ground shook beneath her feet. Lava erupted from the doors that were scattered all over the wall, gushing out tons and tons of molten rock.
Alex left the control hut, only to get blasted by a wave of heat that nearly knocked her off her feet.
Her plan might work.
"Get out of the way!"
Her head snapped around to see her father sprinting straight towards her, the hydra in pursuit. The ball of water was no longer depleted, in fact it seemed bigger than the original. It was starting to change shape, stretching out like it was going to wrap up the hydra in a massive water blanket. Her father's face was white with strain as he got closer.
Alex hurried to the side of the lava wall, out of the way of the stampeding monster. She could see her father's plan, but she didn't like it.
When they were about twenty yards from the wall, Percy quickly changed his direction and jumped towards Alex. The (now) sheet of water stopped where it was.
The hydra, all twenty of its heads, was unable to move as swiftly. It ran straight through the sheet of water, one of its heads snapping at her father's feet as he dove.
As soon as all of the monster cleared the water, he yelled, "Push!"
Alex's knees almost buckled from the piercing pain in her stomach as she called on the water to shove forward with as much strength as it could. Her father let out a yell next to her.
The water moved at the turning hydra, stretching around its form like a rubber band and shoving it towards the heat source.
The monster's momentum and the sudden push from thousands of tons of water pushed it straight over the safety wall and into the gushing waterfall of lava. It shrieked as it fell into the pool at the bottom, the lava streams fall over the majority of its heads. There was a sickening smell of burning flesh, before the hydra exploded into dust with one last wail, coating the lava in gold before it was burned away.
Alex collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, her dad next to her laying on his back as well. He let out a laugh.
"Not bad for an old man, huh?" he teased, breathing heavily.
"Alex! Percy!" They heard Annabeth yell, her footsteps getting closer. Alex could see her and Piper running towards them, weapons drawn.
Alex held up a thumbs up. "We're good. Just waiting for the world to stop spinning." Her voice was hoarse.
Her mom let out a dry laugh. "Di immortales, we saw the whole thing. A massive ball of water? Really?"
"It worked, didn't it?" Her dad defended her plan. He sat up with a groan and held a hand to his head. "I'm going to sleep well tonight."
Piper's face fell. "I don't know about that one. The cabins…" she trailed off.
Alex cursed and sat up. "Oh Hades, how bad is the damage?"
"They're still putting out of the fires right now. Think you can help with that?"
/
After putting out the fires with lake water, the Jackson family and Piper receded to the Big House which was untouched due to their quick actions. They were having a Council meeting to assess the damage.
"We have six dead, nine injured, and two missing," Piper reported.
"The archery range is destroyed. Half of the arena is destroyed. Hades. Iris, Hypnos, Hermes, Hephaestus, Apollo, Demeter, and Hera cabins are destroyed. Nemesis, Ares, and Athena cabins are heavily damaged. Zeus and Artemis cabins are damaged, but still livable. Mess Hall is destroyed. The lava wall needs to be drained and reset. And lastly, the water stunt left hundreds of marine life dead so we have to submit an environmental impact report to the Council of Cloven Elders," Annabeth read off from a piece of parchment. She sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"Sorry," Alex muttered.
"If we get attacked like this again, we're as good as dead," an Ares camper spat.
"Our resources are low. We were making most of our weapons in the cabin forge. That's all gone," a Hephaestus camper said.
"The Apollo cabin is stretched too thin. We can't staff a sufficient number of medics and archers right now to help in another battle," another camper said.
"Forget about a fight," a Hermes camper said, "Where are we all supposed to sleep tonight?"
They fell into a grim silence.
"Everyone," Chiron said, "Annabeth and I will figure out the logistics. In the meantime, go to your cabins and assist in the clean-up. Reconvene at five, tonight."
All of the cabin leaders stood to leave, leaving Chiron and the Jackson family behind. Piper gave Annabeth's hand a reassuring squeeze before leaving with everyone else.
"You need to go," Alex heard her mom say softly once the room was clear. She looked up to see her mother already staring at her. "I've been stupid. Selfish." She shook her head. "You have to go."
Alex looked at her dad, whose jaw was clenched tight in sadness.
Alex only felt tired and numb. Her throat still burned. Her legs ached. Her gut was sore, never had she controlled that much water before. She wanted it to be over, for things to go back to normal.
"You will leave tomorrow morning, at sunrise. Use the rest of the day to prepare for the quest and sleep well tonight. All three of you can stay in the Poseidon cabin. I will make sure no other campers get assigned there," Chiron said somberly. "Let us pray there are no more attacks tonight."
/
By the gods, they got peace that night.
Everyone that night received US Military MREs for dinner, kept only for emergencies such as the one Camp suddenly found itself in. Campers were assigned sleeping quarters in other cabins, using makeshift cots and sleeping bags. The injured were transferred back to the Big House, which was quickly running out of room.
Percy and Alex packed for their quest, albeit there wasn't much. Percy told Alex that if they were there for more than a day, something terribly wrong must have happened. They decided to keep it light, each having a small pack that had water, a few protein bars, nectar, ambrosia, and string, just in case.
Alex couldn't help but watch her dad as they prepped. While she was nervously fumbling over herself, pulling things in and out of her pack, adjusting the straps, he did it like he was packing for school. He was done in five minutes before he came over to help her.
It was a little intimidating to Alex. How many times had he done this before?
Alex went to see Sierra that night before bed, leaving her parents in the Poseidon cabin. Thirty minutes later, a camper showed up at their door, telling them that their daughter fell asleep at Sierra's bedside and no one had the heart to wake her up. They decided to leave her there, knowing she was so tired she could sleep well on a rock that night.
This left Percy and Annabeth alone in the cabin, which was technically against Camp rules, but no one was going to say anything.
Just like old times.
It was late, around midnight, when Percy finally gave up on sleep. Neither of them could stop their racing minds. Annabeth was just as awake as he was.
He tightened his arm around his wife and said quietly, "Want to go for a walk?"
She nodded so they both stood, grabbing sweatshirts to keep out the night air before sneaking out of the cabin hand-in-hand.
They reached the beach easily. There were around-the-clock watches going on so a demigod out of their cabin at night was no longer an incriminating sight.
They found a small area at the corner of the beach that was out of sight from the patrolling guard. They were surrounded by trees in a 'U' shape, facing the ocean. The surf was rough and restless, just like Camp. It crashed onto the beach, the water rushing up to the edge of their alcove before falling back to the ocean. The moon was large and bright, the trees around them casting shadows which further hid them from wandering eyes.
They sat in silence for a while, Annabeth's head on his shoulder as they watched the water.
She broke the silence. "I really want to make you promise that you will come home this time," she said softly. "On the River Styx, on the gods, on blue cookies. Promise that both you and Alex will come home safe and alive so we can finally put this shit behind us."
Percy smiled sadly. "You know I can't do that. Not when she is with me."
Annabeth buried her face into his shoulder. "I know."
She couldn't help but imagine her little Alex, young and careless trying to pick up her first sword. Alex was six when she first held a weapon. Annabeth had brought her to a class she was teaching, and the campers took turns letting little Alex hold their swords, of which almost all were too heavy for the young girl. Even now, ten years later, Annabeth still saw that little girl every time they ran into battle.
"No matter what, she leaves that place alive." Percy embraced her. "I can promise you that."
They were both crying. "Bring our baby home, Percy," she sobbed quietly.
"Bring our baby home," he whispered to himself, promising to himself. He tightened his arms and he felt her squeeze back.
No matter what.
/
Let me know what you thought about the hydra scene. I'm self-conscious about my fight scenes. I always feel like my words don't do the picture in my head justice.
I'm spoiling y'all. It's only been a little over two months since my last upload. Go me :D /s
College starts soon. Hopefully another chapter will be out before then, but don't count on it. In a perfect world, this would be done before I leave but that's just heresy. Sorry about the spelling errors blah blah blah.