PERCY
There was nothing but darkness pressing in on them from every direction.
Percy felt a small jolt as the ground was abruptly removed from under Blackjack and immediately recognized a strange sense of - displacement, he guessed, as their black, smokey veil began to dissipate.
Did it work, boss? Blackjack whispered as he adjusted his wings to hover more comfortably.
Percy didn't answer right away and instead peered intently around them and into the impenetrable gloom. They appeared to be over water, no surprise there. The only thing that bothered him was he couldn't manage to tell where they were. His sense of direction and internal nautical compass seemed to be faulty. In fact, as he thought about it now, he hadn't had any sense of it since their encounter with Cetus…
The dense sea mist shifted heavily around them, messing with his eyes and making little human-like shapes appear in the distance.
"There," Annabeth said suddenly, having sidled up beside him, pointing down to a space in the clouds that seemed suspiciously darker than the rest.
Percy nodded and urged Blackjack on, the others forming a tight group as not to lose each other in the fog. Even Festus seemed to disappear at moments if Percy wasn't watching.
They moved hastily, uneasy about their total blindness and enemy's unknown location, but it wasn't long before they came to the dark landmass behind the cloud-wall.
It emerged faster than Percy expected and tore through the cloud cover with giant spikes of stone that appeared to rise up to the very top of the structure. A boulder strewn beach sat directly below them and they hesitantly descended towards it, meeting no opposition as they set down.
They were alone.
"I don't like this," Annabeth whispered as she climbed down from Porkpie's back and gripped her sword's hilt nervously.
Percy jumped down from Blackjack and uncapped Riptide. "Something's up alright." Blackjack nudged his shoulder from behind.
Don't you need the fork, boss? he said, motioning behind him.
"The fork," Percy repeated, thoroughly confused. "Oh, the trident. Yeah, thanks." He unceremoniously removed the weapon from its bungee and held it awkwardly for a moment trying to decide what to do with it.
The fork, he thought again, smirking a little at the image of Triton swimming around poking people with an eating utensil. Suddenly, the metal seemed to grow warm in his hands and he almost dropped it in surprise. The silver shone more brightly even though there was no light to make it do so, and the little designs seemed to shift slightly around in their places.
It took Percy more than a second to realize what was happening, and before he could react, the trident was shrinking until it was no bigger than a typical piece of silverware.
"That works," he mumbled, shocked that it was really that easy. He stuck the mini-trident in his pocket, praying to Poseidon that it wouldn't suddenly decide to grow again and spear him, and patted Blackjack's nose reassuringly.
He stepped away again, the others huddling tightly together and eyeing the eerie, empty blackness of the rock wall beside them. Annabeth caught his eye and nodded, motioning to the others to follow her a little ways along the beach, checking the surface of the slick, icy stone as they went.
"Everyone stay close," Percy muttered, not too keen on having anything hear them. Something told him that his discretion wouldn't matter; whatever was here was most definitely already aware of them. It was biding its time, letting them go on, watching them until its master told them they were ready.
Not like they really had much choice but to keep moving. They'd fought their way out of plenty of corners before. Percy was sure they could do it again. He had to be sure.
He gripped Riptide a little more tightly. "Let's go."
Calypso, Nico, and Hazel stepped forward to stay behind with the pegasi, promising to get some kind of message to the others if anything went awry. Eugene the hippogriff was happy enough to remain where he was while Festus gave Leo a mechanical grunt of worry before the rest set off.
Keep an eye on them, bud, Percy said as Blackjack nuzzled his shoulder, stamping his hooves a few times in obvious agitation.
'Course, boss. I ain't scared. No, you can count on me.
Percy definitely owed that horse big time.
For what it was worth, everyone seemed (almost) calm, even when they all could have agreed that it seemed they were walking in circles. The dark too easily disoriented their senses and nothing familiar seemed to be where it was supposed to. The sharp edged rock face glittered in the light of their weapons as they passed by and more than once did Percy imagine pairs of hungry demonic eyes peering out at him from the sea spray.
His imagination was not far off, but he was (not quite) happily oblivious.
The wall loomed overhead for several hundred more feet and the moon rose up behind it, full and distorted through the fog. It glared down on the little demigods who trailed along the sand, crisscrossing the beach with jagged bars of blue spotlights as if daring them to make a move.
Suddenly and without warning, the bars began to shift erratically as the ground started to tremble.
"Guys," Jason said cautiously.
"You don't say?" Leo whispered.
"This can't be good," Frank said.
The shaking increased, gradually at first, until it was difficult for Percy to keep his footing and he instinctively grabbed for the nearest outcrop of rock. He flinched as he slipped on its wet surface and felt the stone dig into his palm. A thick, dark line spread as he pulled his hand away, but he presently had greater problems to worry about.
Out of the darkness and the crashing of the surf, a louder, more dangerous sound resonated that made Percy grimace more than the fresh cut.
"Don't tell me - " Piper said as they took a collective step back and watched as two royal Hippocampi emerged from the gloom, drawing behind them a silver gilded chariot and a very unamused Triton.
