Sup, peoples. Okay, let's get started. I personally think this chapter is flipping awesome. Yes, reviewer john, I think it's time too. Don't worry, everything's according to plan. During this chapter you'll learn all about Irina, the new Hecate sister, and more of the battle, plus some awesome bonus stuff. I'm sorry it took so long, I was super behind, but at least I gave you an extra long chapter, right?
17/
Percy's POV
We were all in the Big House basement. Again. The Order members had vanished, but not without taking six lives with them.
Elizabeth Bentley from Cabin Ten had been killed by Carissa Johnson, daughter of Mnemosyne, before Clarisse la Rue got to her. Leena Greene from Cabin Four was caught in the crossfire and died. Adam Blair from Cabin Eleven was overwhelmed by a crowd of monsters and bled out in the forest. Madyson Montague of Cabin Ten and Alec Salazar of Six were apparently spies for Anastasia, under the threat of killing their families. They were shot by seven-year-old Ashley Richmond, daughter of Athena.
James Bentley, Elizabeth's twin, was shaken and splotchy-faced in his chair. Katie Gardner looked like she would pass out; she'd lost two sisters already. Connor and Travis Stoll weren't making jokes for once. They weren't even grinning. Annabeth was shivering in her spot, covered with spider bites.
Someone had told me she, Tony, Emily Archer, and Shawn Spencer had been assigned to guard Thalia's tree for the night. Anastasia's spies told her who they were, and she sent their worst fears to attack them.
Annabeth had been screaming and crying in a field of spiders. Tony was attacked by panthers. Emily and Shawn had nervous breakdowns trapped in piles of snakes.
Annabeth should've been in the infirmary, but she insisted on coming. Now that she was here, though, she didn't look so good. But then again, she looked great at the same time.
I peeled my eyes away from her, trying to stop the aching of my broken heart. Instead I turned my attention to the meeting.
"Who are you?" Clarisse interrupted Connor, rudely glaring at Tatiana and the red-cloaked girl. She was as pretty as the girls in Cabin Ten, with long gold hair and deep blue eyes.
She regarded Clarisse like gum on the bottom of a shoe. "My true name is Olga," she admitted. "But I prefer Irina. Irina Romanov." She had a thick accent, trilling her R's and pronouncing her W's like V's. Russian?
"I'm sorry, could you explain this whole thing? I'm confused," Katie Gardner said.
Irina began. "I was born in Odessa, in southern Ukraine. I was the eldest, and at the time, the sole daughter of Hecate. I was also her main agent for the world. I received my most urgent mission when I was fourteen years of age. I was to conquer Kiev for my mother; she promised me a position as Prime Minister of Ukraine if completed my quest.
"Anastasia ambushed me just as I reached Kiev. She and our mother had been plotting my downfall since she learned of our plans. They wished her to take my place. She killed me in St. Michael's Cathedral in the year 1996."
"Wait," Miranda Bowman interrupted. "How can you be this young if you were fourteen in 1996?"
Irina looked at Miranda without expression. "I am not young, daughter of Apollo. It is an illusion. I was Hecate's main attendant; she taught me much of her trade."
Miranda scooted away from her, even though she was across the room from her. "Oh."
"What happened?" I asked.
Irina's cold blue gaze made me uncomfortable. "I was brought back from the dead."
"Impossible," Nico scowled.
She gave him a look that was unnecessarily steely. "It is true, son of Hades, my guardian did indeed bring me back from your father's realm."
"How?" Will Solace asked.
"He gave me his life," she answered. She fingered the gold ring around her neck. "A soul for a soul."
"Who?" the Stolls wondered in unison.
Irina frowned slightly. "Rasputin." The whole room blinked at her.
"He was the Romanov's priest," Annabeth piped up weakly. She frowned at everyone's blank expressions. "The Romanovs were the royalty of Russia in the 1800s. They had four daughters and one son; Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei. They were—" She cut herself off sharply and stared at Irina with wide eyes, suddenly awake. "Wait, is there…?"
Irina shook her head. "I have heard no news of Maria being reborn."
"What about Alexei?"
Irina hesitated. "I believe the rebirth of my brother has already occurred. I have yet to find him."
Annabeth seemed fascinated. "But he would be extremely powerful by genetics," she said excitedly. "He would be the son of Hecate, wouldn't he?"
"Yes," Irina answered. "Rasputin arranged this many years ago."
"I still don't understand," Jake Mason said, looking confused.
Annabeth turned to us. "Like I said, the Romanovs had five children. Alexei was the crown prince, the heir to the Russian throne. He had a really bad disease that would cause him to swell up whenever he got a bruise. The Empress of Russia brought Rasputin into the Russian court to heal Alexei with prayers. He was supposed to be some sort of corrupted magician or sorcerer. They say he hypnotized the entire royal family into ruling Russia however he wanted. He could pretty much manipulate anyone."
Irina and Tatiana nodded their heads. "Yes," Tatiana said. "I remember, he used to read us from the Bible."
"Useless book," Clarisse muttered. [A/N: No offense to any devout Christians or Catholics. They're demigods, remember. To them, God doesn't exist. At least, I think.]
"What now?" Travis asked.
"Our sister is not gone forever," Irina stated. "She merely escaped. She will avenge Damien Morneau's death by killing each and every one of you."
"Well thanks," Thalia rolled his eyes.
"We will stay to help you defeat her," Irina said. "We can promise you that."
"Meeting adjourned," Connor announced.
Thalia caught up to me outside. "Percy, you need to talk to Annabeth," was the first thing out of her mouth.
"What?" I demanded. "Thalia, how many times do I have to say it? Annabeth dumped me. I'm the last person she would want to talk to right now. You do it."
Thalia grabbed my arm. "Percy, Annabeth was just attacked by spiders and watched her sister kill her brother. What do you think needs to be done?"
I looked at her for a second. "I think someone should make Annabeth go to the infirmary, then get Ashley some serious counseling." And I walked away from her.
Naturally, I drifted towards my thinking spot: the beach. The soothing sound of the waves against the rocks, the sand, the sun, that was all bound to make me feel better at least a little bit. Right?
I found that the sand and water had completely washed away any trace of my earthquake disaster. That's what's cool about the ocean; you can do anything, and when you're done, you pretty much get a clean slate. I liked that.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, staring pointlessly at the water. I wasn't at all surprising to hear, "Great day, huh? Look at that sunrise."
I didn't bother looking at the sandy-haired teenager in Ray-Bans beside me. "It's not a great day," I said. "Six kids are dead."
The sun god sighed, pushing his shades up his head. "Believe me, I know. Can't blame a guy for trying to lighten the mood."
"Why are you here?" It was probably rude, but gods don't visit unless they're going to help you, or incinerate you. Thinking on it, I wasn't sure which one was worse.
"Just to give you some metaphorical and literal light," he replied, replacing his sunglasses.
"Light?" I repeated.
"Percy," he began, and I got scared he was going to start reciting poetry, but he went on, "life is like the sky." He gestured to it. "Sometimes, a.k.a. during the day, you get a totally awesome, completely hot icon to brighten up your little world. Other times, a.k.a at night, you only get my sarcastic little sis. But if you wait long enough, the day comes around again, and you get your ball of yellow happiness back. Get it?"
"I guess," I said. And it did make me feel a little okay. He was saying that I just had to see this through and things would turn for the better. I brightened just a bit. "Thanks."
He grinned. "Good, 'cause I came to warn you."
I stiffened. "What?"
"Yep, you're gonna get a nasty little surprise in about two minutes."
"Why didn't you say anything?" I demanded.
"Hey, sometimes even the Sun God's gotta have a little fun." He grinned one last time, shot me with a finger-gun, and vanished.
I was about to run for Thalia's tree (all the attacks seemed to be happening there for some reason), but a cold hand on my shoulder had me jumping out of my skin. I whirled, pen out, but it was only—
"Summer?"
The Oracle looked pale and weak, wrapped in a shawl over her Greek outfit, but her grip was strong. "Percy, the visions. It's—"
"What?" I demanded fearfully.
"It's starting." She pointed one finger at the water.
I turned. My beloved ocean was caving in on itself—changing from calm waters into a raging, whirling abyss, like the water was fighting against the cold hands pulling gray, lifeless bodies to the surface. Dead eyes appeared over the surface of the salty foam, focusing on Summer and me.
Lightning flashed. Thunder boomed, announcing Zeus's disapproval. The water swirled angrily, trying to push the skeletons-came-to-life back under the waves, but they kept coming up, swimming like mad men towards the shore.
As soon as the first one's foot touched the beach, the air got freezing cold. Its head was rolling instantly.
"Go!" I yelled at Summer. "I can take them."
Summer's eyes flickered with fear, an emotion that only came over her if she knew something bad was going to happen. "Percy, I—"
"GO!" I shouted.
She kissed me on the cheek. "Kill only the strangers," she whispered quickly. Then she was gone.
My feet were cemented to the sand by Summer's peck on the cheek, but seconds later I snapped back into action. I sliced through dead Greek warriors, Confederate soldiers, zombified civilians. I had a painful memory of the science museum in D.C. as the skeletons re-formed themselves, snarling with their clawed hands raised.
I did a crescent sweep with Riptide, chopping half of them in two, but they just reformed. I did it again. And again. And again. If it wasn't for my invincibility, I would've tired out and been ripped to pieces by bony fingers. But I kept at it.
Only later would I find out I fought for only ten minutes. But right then, it felt like hours. I froze when I saw it—just a flash of a familiar face among the crowd of dead ones. "Silena?" I yelled. I sliced a few monsters out of my way. And I saw her clear as day.
The girl who so resembled my dead friend paused. She looked different than the others. Sure, she was deathly pale and withdrawn, but she looked like good old Silena Beauregard, not zombie girl.
"Percy," she whispered. Her voice was strange, wispy, like a flutter of dead leaves. I almost didn't understand my own name.
Suddenly I was surrounded by all my friends—Beckendorf, who died on the Princess Andromeda, Lee Fletcher and Castor, who were killed in the Battle of the Labyrinth, Michael Yew, the Battle of Manhattan, Ethan Nakamura, who lost his life on Olympus by Kronos' hand, Luke, Zoë Nightshade, who died at her father's hand, they all closed in on me, talking in the echoing, fluttering voices of the dead.
Kill only the strangers. Summer's warning echoed in my mind. What was she talking about? Like I'd kill one of my already dead friends?
I felt a cold, clawed hand on my shoulder. So I did the natural thing; I stabbed the thing behind me. My heart dropped when I realized I'd gotten none other than Bianca di Angelo.
The second Bianca dropped, the rest of my friends changed. They started to look like the other skeletons; ash-gray, glowing-eyed, gnashing teeth.
Zoë was the first to attack. Hissing, she jumped on me, trying to stab me with one of her tainted arrows. I threw her off. Lee was the next one to jump forward, followed by Ethan, then Beckendorf, until it was a zombie dog-pile.
The weight was tremendous, but I gritted my teeth, got a good grip on Riptide, and jabbed the blade into Lee's leg. He yelped, but it wasn't a zombie yelp, it was Lee's voice. That sent a shock of pain through me.
I clenched my jaw, then drove Riptide through Ethan's gut, right where he was stabbed when he died. He yelled too—exactly like when he fell through Olympus's floor.
Each time Riptide stabbed into one of them, they shrieked in their voices. My friends, the ones I knew. They fought like when they were alive, too. Luke held Backbiter, his old sword. Dead or not, he was still a better swordsman than I was.
Michael and Zoë shot arrows directly for my face, and would've killed me for sure if I hadn't had the Cure of Achilles. I sliced through Michael and kicked Zoë out of the way.
I didn't know it then, but tears were falling down my face as I was forced to kill each and every friend whose death I regretted. Castor, whose name I didn't even know until his death. Zoë, who was one of the bravest people I ever knew. Silena, who—just by having her name said—was a daily source of depression.
I was panting when the last one of them dropped. I was surrounded by piles of bones and rags. They collected themselves suddenly, burying themselves in the sand. Nico.
"Percy…" The voice behind me didn't startle me. It wasn't Nico's. It wasn't Thalia's. It was Annabeth's. Her voice, talking to me for once, sent a painful stab through my body.
I gritted my teeth. My fists clenched. I wanted nothing more than to whirl around and hug her, to bury my face in her hair, drown my nose in the lemon soap scent. But I didn't. I didn't say anything. Instead I ran.
Next thing I knew, I was in the water. I swam down deeper than I'd ever dared to go, past the reef, down into the nearest abyss I could find, and let out everything. Everything I'd been bottling up inside since my breakup, since people first started dying.
I released it all. I bellowed so loud I could feel the water rumbling. I punched the nearest wall of rock. It felt so good, I did it again. And again. I kept going, yelling and screaming, pulverizing the wall to pieces, trying to rip my own hair out, thrashing and kicking.
That tug in my gut started up again, the one that always meant bad news, but I didn't care. I knew I was crying, but I ignored that. I gave the wall a last kick for good measure, then— That was it. All the anger was gone.
Only sadness was left.
I felt myself floating down, down, down, into the dark, the pressure increasing so much it would've exploded a normal person. Lucky I wasn't a normal person. I finally hit the bottom, curled up in a fetal position. And I just cried.
I didn't remember falling asleep. Maybe I threw myself into unconsciousness. Whatever it was, I dreamed.
I was standing in a place I immediately recognized, but couldn't place. The instant solution was that some god was sending me this, but hiding information. Yay me.
A girl's voice threaded its way among the leaves and branches, singing an alien song in foreign words no one can understand. I braced myself, since nice things in dreams don't usually mean good things, but when the girl came into view, I felt kind of stupid for thinking she was a threat.
Her caramel hair hung in a straight sheet to her back. Her face was pretty, and young. Her green eyes were so familiar it made me jittery; familiar things in unfamiliar situations were never good.
The girl swung her willowy arms and twirled on her little toes and danced from foot to foot. A basket rested on her head, and I had to admire her skill. She jumped straight over a little fountain without the basket even wobbling.
Only when she stopped to pick flowers did I realize she'd begun to sing in English.
Have you ever met a boy called Jack?
His hair is like the night, this boy called Jack,
His eyes are like the sea at bay, that boy called Jack,
Your world will never thrive without my boy called Jack.
Have you ever kissed a boy called Jack?
His lips are your haven, this boy called Jack,
He tastes of the salty sea, that boy called Jack,
You don't know what you've missed, until you get a kiss from my boy called Jack.
Have you ever loved a boy called Jack?
His smile is your day, this boy called Jack,
His life is more than yours, that boy called Jack,
You can never live, you can never love, you can never joy until you've loved my Jack.
My love called Jack.
That stirred something in me. I knew that voice. It was a distant memory, an almost ancient one. I just couldn't place who it belonged to—there was a buzzing in my head, keeping me from remembering. I cursed silently.
The girl stopped singing suddenly and whirled around. Her eyes fastened on me and widened; I suddenly realized she could see me.
"Mother!" she shouted.
And I woke up.
When I walked out of the water (completely dry, mind you), the sky was dark. The sun/Apollo was long gone. Not even Artemis was there.
I found Nico snoring on the beach. I frowned, but I nudged him with my foot. "Nico."
He sat up. "Dude, where have you been?" he demanded.
I raised an eyebrow. "At the bottom of the ocean. Where else?"
His face was grim. "Dead?"
I looked past him. "Why're you here?"
"Annabeth's got a plan."
I scowled at the sound of her name, ignoring the beat my heart skipped. "Will I hate it?"
"Lil bit."
"Nico, I hate this," I grumbled.
He gave me an amused look from his spot below me, his black armor blending into the night. I shifted my position in the tree, cursing. "I hate trees," I muttered.
I almost had a heart attack when a face morphed from the bark, glaring at me through narrowed eyes in a glare fit to kill. And if looks could kill, I'd be dead. "Sorry?" she asked.
"Nothing, Daphne," I said quickly. She gave me a hard look, then disappeared back in the bark. "Dryads," I muttered to myself. "So touchy." I got an acorn in the face for that.
"Percy, shut up," Thalia hissed from the tree next to mine.
"What?" I demanded. "You know I'm not good with trees."
"Yeah? Well this tree's going to kick your butt if you don't shut your trap."
I grumbled, but I stayed quiet. Thalia could be super defensive of trees sometimes, considering she used to be one.
Annabeth's plan was that she and the rest of camp were attacking straight on, while me, Nico, and Thalia would go and hide in the trees, since the Order—what was left of them, anyway—wouldn't expect the children of the Big Three to be absent from the fight. We'd be leading the charge if we had the choice. We were plan B. I knew Thalia was just as annoyed as me, but she didn't question Annabeth's judgment.
Nico winced suddenly. "Damn."
"What?" Thalia and I demanded.
He hesitated. "Remember Hanna Gonzales?"
"Unfortunately," Thalia and me said together. We glared at each other.
"She's gone," he said.
"So?" I asked. "Isn't that good?"
"She didn't go down without a fight."
Annabeth's POV
Fighting was a good anger-mechanism. I knew it was strange, but I found stabbing multiple things quite therapeutic.
All these emotions gave me an adrenaline-like high. Thinking about it, I wondered if the hormones would worsen as my…condition progressed. I'd already thrown up on multiple people multiple times. And I punched one of the Hermes kids for absolutely no reason.
That's not true. Percy was the reason. He's always been the reason. The most annoying, irritating, idiotic, brave, handsome, kind thing that's ever happened to me. I fumbled in my pursuit of a monster, but I shook the thoughts from my head and sank into the fuzzy mode of battle.
The sight of my Celestial bronze knife had monsters cowering for about a second, but as soon as one got the guts to come at me, the rest followed suit.
Destroying monsters was something that was automatic for me. I'd been doing it since I was seven, since I first tried to brain Luke with a hammer. I grimaced at the thought; Luke was long gone. The rush of old feeling welling up in my chest wasn't something I wanted to remember. I gave an empousa an extra stab as a result.
I noted there wasn't much Order left. Carissa Johnson had been impaled by Clarisse la Rue. Jessica Marina had been thrown to the metaphorical sharks (a.k.a. Ares cabin) by Thalia. Julius Night had been electrocuted by, again, Thalia. Megan Morgan, Michael Morgan, and Damien Morneau had all been killed by Irina Romanov.
That left Anastasia, Karapet Nychta, Ryan Marshall, Hanna Gonzales, and Sofia Foss. I could see them, fighting for their lives. Hanna and Karapet were surprisingly calm, considering almost a quarter of my army was after them both.
So was Ryan. He and Sofia worked in perfect synchronization; she stabbed over his head, he threw knives under her arm. She whirled to slice, he whirled with her back-to-back, embedding blades into whatever he could. She flipped, he rolled under her, slicing at the legs of my friends.
Anastasia was…a monster. Her black eyes were wild—but not in determination, or concentration, or the rush of the battle. Feral. An animal, tearing its way through a crowd of enemies, going for prey. Though her fighting style scared…well, pretty much everyone, she didn't seem to be even thinking about it.
"Annabeth!" My name had me searching the crowd frantically.
It was Tony, fighting Hanna Gonzales with a few others. They were losing quickly; Hanna's spells had them dropping fast and falling hard. I knew it was risky, but I took the chance. I threw my knife at her.
It'd taken a lot of practice, but my aim was good enough that it sliced her arm, leaving a long gash there. She glared my way, and I swear I saw fire in her eyes. She mouthed something I couldn't hear. A wave of force slammed me back twenty feet, crashing through monsters.
I groaned and rolled over—barely missing my own knife spinning back towards me. I grabbed it. Invisible, I crept behind Hanna. I doubted she wouldn't sense me there, but she didn't turn even when I was right behind her.
She was killing off her attackers fast. Diana Hunter was already down, a wicked gash in her stomach. There were more, but I refused to look at their faces. Instead I sank my knife into her back, all the way to the hilt.
She gasped like a fish out of water, then evaporated into mist.
I did a quick status check on the battle. My heart sank. We were outnumbered, and would be overwhelmed quickly. So I resorted to plan B.
Percy's POV
"Anyone else dead?" Thalia asked Nico.
He frowned. "Too many. Their deaths are clouded."
"That makes sense," I said sarcastically.
Silence. Then, "Oh my gods, I can't take it anymore!" Thalia's exclamation almost made me fall out of my tree.
"The hell—? What?" I demanded.
Nico was giving her the death glare. "Thalia, you know she's going to—"
"No! I can't do it! Watching all this sobbing and crying and whining and moping! I'm going crazy!"
"Thals! She'll kill us!"
"What are you guys talking about?" I shouted.
"Shh!" they hissed.
I frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm telling him," Thalia said immediately.
Nico hit her. "No, I'm telling him!"
"Nico, just spit it out!"
Thalia gave me a glare for that. Nico faced me, and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm probably going to be dead after this, so just be thankful you know."
"I don't know yet!" I protested.
"Shut up and listen," Thalia told me.
Nico hesitated for a second. "Percy, Annabeth's pregnant."
That sentence struck me oddly. I felt strange. Frozen. Numb. Shocked. It took me a few minutes just to process—What? Annabeth…was? That just… I couldn't register it. "What did you say?"
Nico looked sympathetic. "You heard me, Perce. Annabeth's pregnant."
"Percy!"
I turned stiffly. There she was, standing in an Iris-message, blood streaked across her face and her hands stained red. "Percy, we're losing ground! NO, LEENA, WATCH OUT!" She paused to shoot an arrow out of eyeshot. "Percy, we need backup! NOW!"
"Why didn't you tell me?" was all I could manage.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me you're pregnant?"
Her face was frozen in shock. "I didn't want you to hate me. I was afraid you'd abandon me. I thought it'd be better if you didn't know." Her features changed from remorse to anger. "Did Nico tell you? NICO I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
"Hormones," Nico muttered.
"I love you," I told her. "You're not allowed to think I could ever abandon you."
Her eyes were glazing over with tears. "I'm sorry. I should've told you. I love you too." Her voice was fading away. Her face was getting hazy.
"Percy, there's a Titan who wants to see you." Thalia.
I cursed silently. Last time a Titan wanted to see me, things didn't go well. I turned back to Annabeth, opening my mouth, but she spoke first.
"Go. And don't you dare die you son of a—" Something exploded behind her. "—'cause as soon as this is over, you're going to marry me!" Then an arrow flew toward the message, cutting us off.
I blinked, dazed. "Did she just propose to me?"
Nico looked amused. "Dude, I don't think you have a choice."