"So where are we going?" Jason asked, not because he wanted to know but to break the tension, Leo had been throwing him looks of loathing which he knew he deserved
"Where going to a place called Mount Othrys, it's where Percy is being held, the Titans left the place when Kronos fell and The Mistress moved in"
"But isn't that in Greece?" Jason asked
"Erm…sort of, when the gods move, they move their things around too, like Olympus moved, well Othrys right now is over Mount Tamalpais" Nico explained
Leo and Piper were sat in silence, both looking up at the stormy sky right above them, both were thinking the same thing, Could Zeus' bolt get them from here?
Jason looked at them, they were avoiding his eyes
"Guys look I'm sorry all this happened but I am your friend even though them memories were fake and Leo I swear I didn't know what I was doing, I just lost control, you reminded me of my old life and I just…lost it"
"What was your old life Jason? Oh yes you were a murder working for some psycho Titan" Leo said in a mock friendly voice
"It's not too good to talk about the crooked one, even up here" Nico warned, he turned the dragons head and they flew west
"So how are we going to fight this The Mistress we have no weapons" Leo pointed out
"Oh yeah" Nico said, he reached down and pulled out a bag, he handed Leo and Piper their swords back and handed Jason his coin
"I also forgot to tell you…we need to get past Ladon the dragon" Nico turned away so he didn't have to see their faces.
Nico landed the dragon after two hours flying; the four demigods looked up at the mountain
"We need to go through when it gets dark, so we should go now, follow me" Nico walked through the mist and the three demigods followed
"Right we don't want him to wake up or his keepers" Nico pointed to a tree, on it was a dragon but it had loads of heads and no wings, not what Jason had been expecting
Nico waved to them and they move to the tree, all four of them creped past the sleeping dragon, its breath was repulsive.
They got around the tree when Piper sneezed loudly, the dragon woke
"Run" Nico shouted, the dragon uncoiled itself from the tree as the demigods ran up the mountain.
The Mistress turned away from Percy and hid with her two servants, Percy was looking down the mountain at the people coming, he didn't know the three with Nico and none was Annabeth.
"Where is he?" Piper asked Nico
"He's just up here, lets hope The Mistress isn't here last time I was here she nearly killed me"
They walked up the mountain, it was very misty, they could hear Atlas moaning somewhere ahead of them
A dark shape was laying on the floor, his hands chained to a the feet of a marble statue of Coeus
Nico ran to him
"I've come back like I said I would, I've brought some friends to help, can you move?"
Percy muttered something, his face twisted in pain
"What did you say I can't understand you" Nico bend right down to hear his words
"He said something along the lines of she is right behind you" A woman's voice said.
They turned and saw a woman, she was very pretty, she had a kind face and curly brown hair and bright green eyes. Not someone to fear
"She doesn't look like that all the time, when she attacks you she is so ugly you'll be sick" Nico said
"I don't like your attitude young Nico, you didn't say that last time" The Mistress said, she looked nice enough but Nico pulled out his sword
"I'm taking him, you can stop this stupid experiment, I am sure his father will see you put in Tartarus"
"Experiment?" Leo asked
Nico pointed to Percy's ankle, a tube was filled with blood leading to a box.
"I am taking small bits of his blood everyday, it's not like I am killing him" The Mistress said with a smile
"What you are doing is sick" Nico shouted, he raised his sword
"Nico you cannot win against me" The woman said, she looked at Leo, Piper and Jason
"When gods produce mortal offspring or demigods their blood smells to monsters and the demigod has powers from his or her parents, I am going to use his blood to find out why it had a certain sent and why powers get transferred to the child and stop it, I will stop demigods, you will die out and future demigods will be like regular humans, a much better life for your kind"
The woman stood watching them, she sniffed in the air
"Also with what I have left over I can feed to my daughters, they always are hungry for fresh blood"
"Yeah right, you want to make copies of powerful demigods for an army more like,why don't you use your own children?" Nico shouted, he looked back at Percy, he was very pale
The woman's face now wore an ugly look
"My demigod children are weak, they have little or no power at all, they are useless"
"What, you're a goddess?" Jason asked, taken back
"I am Hecate, goddess of Magic" The Mistress said "I was able to place a spell over the Gods eyes to make them believe you three were all in with his disappearance"
"Why would you do that for?" Piper asked, she reached for her sword
"I sent my two servants to your school at the start of the year, we had been watching you for some time, it was my servant who said you can borrow that car and I phoned the police, Leo I made your family send you to the school. I wanted you both for this experiment; you are both too powerful for a son of Hermes and a child of Aphrodite, but you forte and my servants were unable to take you"
Hecate moved closer
"I already knew about Jason, I got my servants to organize a field trip on the same day Hestia was searching for a safe place to put Jason, I had the bus going the same way so she would sense you two and she did, all three of you came together…straight into my trap but you had that sword and my servants had no choice to run"
"No they were only one servant on that bus, it was that Dylan guy" Leo said, he eyed Jason up
"I knew it, you are the other servant, why else did you just appear on the bus, lead us half way across the country and try to kill me"
Leo pulled out his sword and held it, ready to block a blow
"No I'm not the servant" Jason said, he looked straight into Leo's eyes "Believe me, I've never meet this goddess before Leo"
"He is right" a voice said behind them, Jason felt a sword tip on his back, Piper gasped
Standing behind them, holding the sword was Coach Hedge
"You" Piper screamed "But you helped us"
"No" Coach Hedge said "I planned the trip remember Piper dear, the cow says moo, I got Leo out of detention and got him on the bus, he's in the year below you, he's 15 you both are 16, he wasn't even suppose to be there, but I pulled a few strings, helped by The Mistress of course"
He bowed to Hecate
"And I have done my job, here you are, not three but four powerful half bloods, can you smell their blood Mistress? Nice powerful blood, I daresay Mr Jackson is running a little dry, he will not last any longer but these are full of godly blood"
"You have done well Gleeson" Hecate congratulated him
Nico was looking between the goddess and satyr to him and the demigods
"It was a trap; you sent the dream that showed me where Percy was and…was Luke in on this? Nico asked
"Luke Castellan? No I have better things to do than speck to dead half bloods" Hecate said
she opened the box and emptied Percy's blood into a tank, it steamed and they could smell the sea
"Right, I guess the son of Hades is more powerful than you three so I'll have him first, Dylan get him"
The storm spirit appeared next to Nico and dragged him on the floor, he struggled and reached for his sword
"Oh keep still" Hecate moaned, she grabbed a second tube with a sharp jagged edge and pushed it into Nico's ankle, blood spread down the tube so fast it was unnatural
"It's sped up by my magic, you vain has been pierced, now just lay there until I have enough to mix your blood up with Mr Jackson's, then we'll see what your blood is made of"
Hecate pointed at Jason, Leo and Piper and Coach Hedge tied them up, Hecate opened the tank and dipped a glass into Percy's blood
"I am going to add some of his blood to a mortal and see what happens. The mortal will burn up or will get some demigod powers, I can use him for my army"
"That's horrible" Piper shouted
"Then I will find out how powers are passed on from god to child and stop that too, that could take some time, so make yourself comfortable" Hecate walked out of site and came back with a young boy about six
"Now watch what happens"
Hecate cut the boys arm with a knife and pored Percy's blood into him; he fell to the floor dead
"Oh never mind, I wonder what will happen if it was the other way around, mortal blood into demigod…"
Hecate looked at Piper and Coach Hedge dragged her over
"Now this will only hurt a little sweetie" Hecate cut Piper's arm and pined her down on the floor, Hecate waved her hand and mortal blood started to pump into Piper
"Stop please" Piper begged, it felt like her veins were going to burst
Jason watched Piper wiggle on the floor, Nico was trying to pull the tube out of his ankle but Dylan was holding him down, the other demigod Percy was now unconscious
"Leo" Jason whispered.
Leo ignored him, he didn't want to hear Jason's pleas for forgiveness when Piper was in trouble
"Leo" Jason whispered again
"What" Leo snapped in a mutter "What do you want?"
"My coin is in my hand but my hands are behind my back can you get it and toss it?" Jason moved back, closer to Leo
Leo reached out and took the sword in his own hands and tossed it, the sword landed on the floor near his feet
"Pick it up and cut my hands free" Jason whispered
Leo's hands were tied in front of him; The Mistress said he was not a great threat.
The blade cut Jason's rope; he picked up his sword and freed Leo.
"Do we fight her?" Leo asked
"No she's a goddess, it's impossible to beat her but she can't attack us unless we hit her first" Jason remembered his father told him that once
Jason looked at Nico fighting with Dylan
"Get him, I'll go for the satyr" Jason stood up and walked up behind the old goat man
"I can smell you demigod" Gleeson said, he turned around and conjured a tree branch
"I though all Satyrs were on the good side" Jason asked as he and Gleeson dulled with sword and tree
"I will never listen to that Grover" Gleeson shouted
Hecate was watching her servant and the demigod fight, she was still stood over Piper, she couldn't do any more magic as she was busy filling Piper with mortal blood.
She didn't see Leo run Dylan through from behind, he exploded into golden dust.
"What can I do for your leg?" Leo asked Nico, he was looking at the blood gushing out of him
"Leave me for now Leo, Percy needs help, can you cut through the tube with your sword, then pull the tube out slowly, she's slit his veins open, after you've got it out hold his ankle really hard, you'll need to stop the bleeding, I'll get Piper and we'll run back down the hill, we can't fight her, she's too strong even without her servants"
Leo done as he said, Nico took his sword and slit thought the tube and pulled it out, it felt like he was dragging every muscle out too, he gritted his teeth and pulled it fully out, blood poured from the wound
Nico felt around into his pocket, trying to ignore how dizzy he was feeling and took out a small flask and took a drink, his body felt warm and his wound healed.
He handed the Nectar to Leo
"Pour that really slowly into his mouth" Nico instructed Leo.
Nico got up and ran to Piper, he stopped the blood flow but Hecate kicked him.
Jason cut through the tree branch Gleeson was holding and swiped at the satyr's legs; he jumped back and ran at Jason with his horns
Jason cut off his horns and stabbed him in the chest
"Sorry Coach"
Gleeson fell to the floor and turned into a weed
"Well Jason, you have stopped my Satyr and my storm spirit, but you cannot avoid the world falling into storm or fire, the prophecy will come true, you and your friends will see to that"
Jason raised an eyebrow to the goddess
"What are you talking about?"
Hecate grinned more and pointed into the sky, a big shape was moving near to them, it came closer and Jason saw it was one of those winged horses. Hecate cried
"Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire, the world must fall,
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death"
Jason just looked at her
"What was that suppose to mean?"
"It means Jason, that you have answered my call, I now have enough blood in that tank to find out all about demigods and I will destroy you, I will make an army of cloned super demigods who will destroy the world…and you shall lead them"
Jason nodded and pulled a face
"That's great, now I know demigods mostly have dyslexia, but I never knew gods had it too"
Hecate looked angry
"Do not mock me; seven demigods have answered my call"
Jason grinned and shook his head
"They are only five of us here" he pointed out.
The Pegasus landed and they was a cry of "Percy". Jason turned and saw Annabeth running up the hill; she stepped over Nico and held Percy in her arms
"Ok six, you're still one short"
Hecate looked at Leo who had come to stand next to Jason
"Tell me boy…who spoke to you in The Underworld?"
"Luke" Leo said unsure
"My seventh demigod, you have all answered the call, the end of the world is near"
Hecate walked to the tank, placed a hand on it and vanished
"What was that about?" Leo asked Jason
Jason stood silent, he'd been set up, they all had and now each of them was responsible for the world ending
Leo thought Jason's silence was in return to how Leo and Piper had ignored him, so he turned and walked off without another word.
He went to Piper to see how she was doing, she was in a bad way, she felt faint and her head hurt
Over by the statue Annabeth was hacking at the chains with tears in her eyes
"Open your eyes, I didn't come all the way here just for you to give up, now open your eyes seaweed brain!"
She took out Luke's old knife and cut Percy free
Nico realised Percy hadn't moved for a while, he was laying in Annabeth's arms, his skin was ghostly pale, the Nectar hadn't worked, he'd lost to much blood
"Annabeth, we should return to Olympus, the gods can heal him" Nico pattered her on the back and picked Percy up and put him over his shoulders.
Together all six demigods made they way back through the garden with ladon and out into the road below.
Annabeth put Percy on the Pegasus with her, and the four other demigods were on the dragon.
Annabeth flew ahead at top speeds to reach Olympus first, she prayed to every god she knew to keep Percy alive, for what seemed like a life time she finally could see the white and gold buildings in the air
She landed and shouted for help, she felt like she was dying herself as Percy was taken out of her hands…
"You do realise that he's going back to Olympus, to the gods who want to kill us" Piper whispered to Leo, her head was on his shoulder
"We'll find a way out, maybe they'll be busy and wont notice us" Leo whispered back
"Jason too" she muttered
Leo looked over to the demigod sat next to Nico
"Yeah, Jason too, we can't leave him to be killed after he killed goat man and saved us"
Soon Nico was bringing the dragon down and he landed it. Piper and Leo slid down and waved to Jason
"Come on, were going to go before the gods…get here" Leo's eyes widened
Piper and Jason looked up; running to them was Zeus and a few others
"All four of you will come to the throne room now" Zeus ordered