Greek Bearing Gifts
Chapter 2
"Well, what do we do now?" Annabeth scowled at her boyfriend. "We're going to have to carry him."
Percy rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry, didn't think that far! But then, are you sure we could have gotten him to walk there?"
She sighed, "Not really, Mom's earring is supposed to keep him from misbehaving or turning on us, but it won't make him do anything good either. He has to choose to do the right thing."
"Well, guess we carry him."
All eyes turned to the broad-shouldered Asian. He glared for a moment, and then sighed, "Fine, Frank's beast of burden at your service."
He shouldered past them to throw the god over his shoulders. Frank was actually shorter than Percy, but he was broader, making it easier to carry the god, whom Percy was sure, was a little taller than himself.
They ran out the door, knowing that there were other guards in other parts of the palace, guards that hadn't been charmed asleep by Piper, or knocked out. Guards that would have heard the noise of their fight with the God of Mischief and would come running.
They charged through the palace, water still streaming around their ankles as they ran toward the main palace door. They could hear the thundering of feet of the guards change to splashing as they came to where the water had been released. The footsteps only paused a moment before they continued on through the water.
Percy paused, feeling them run through the water, and with a flick of his mind, like pulling a rug, yanked them off their feet. He could hear the crash of multiple armored bodies falling into the water.
As the sound of colliding bodies ricocheted through the palace, Percy noticed that the noise seemed to be rousing the unconscious Norse God. He just hoped he didn't wake up before they made their escape.
But then, mischief doesn't always happen when it's convenient, and with a start, the god brought his knee into a surprised Frank's gut and pushed off, sending himself to skid into the water on one knee.
"How dare you!", as he stood, tall and imposing, "I will not be man-handled this way!"
Percy held his breathe for a moment as the gods hands reached out, a motion he assumed was for the summoning of magic… nothing happened.
Well, not quite nothing. Nothing to Frank, but something to Loki. He hissed, grabbing at the earring that was now glowing red. He yanked at the thing, as if he could pull it off. It wouldn't budge.
He then turned his glare to Percy, fire green eyes burned with rage and hatred, "What did you do?"
He once more attempted to reach out, and once more nothing came out, but the earring glowed red. Loki hissed, his hand shaking, as he was obviously trying to ignore the earring and still complete the spell. But, he seemed stymied, like no matter how he willed it, no magic would come forth. He didn't see the spear flying towards him.
Percy sighed, and reached out, grabbing the furious, yet distracted god, to the water covered floor, while sending a wave into the balcony, where guards had retreated in hopes of avoiding the swirling water.
"What have you done?" the god screamed, grabbing Percy by the front of his shirt and standing, lifting Percy off the ground. Loki's shoulder shifted, as if ready to throw Percy across the room, but, once again, the earring glowed red and the god froze up and eventually had to drop Percy as he grabbed at the jewelry.
The glow stopped and once again, another spear was streaking towards the god. Loki screamed in infuriated rage and swept his hand out sending the spear spinning away from him and harmlessly bouncing off a wall.
Loki stood there in confused shock as he looked once more at his shaking hands. Percy guessed he was figuring out the rules of Athena's earring.
Percy, once more, grabbed the god, and yanked him around a wall, and into a hall, as he heard the coming sound of more guards. How many were there?
"Stop dragging me!" Loki screamed.
"Well, if you stop standing in the middle of the battle, he wouldn't have to drag you around like an amateur."
Annabeth came running up to the two of them, glaring at the furious god. Everyone else was busy fighting.
"We need a distraction," she yelled over the din. "Where is Odin?" she demanded.
Loki bit back defiantly, "Why do you care? Is this what this is all about? Him?"
"Where is he?" she yelled. The earring glowed, as Loki's face twisted in discomfort and protest. He held his breathe, his body curling in on himself as he fought through the pain.
"He's in the dungeon. The old ones!"
The earring stopped glowing, allowing Loki to uncurl, and give Annabeth his full hate-filled attention. He started as she darted back around the wall and yelled at the guards.
"Your king is in the old dungeons! And I'm assuming those are below ground. With all this water flowing in, if you don't get moving, your king is going to drown!"
There was a collective gasp heard, and the thunder of multitude of armored bodies moving through the palace. Annabeth darted back around the wall.
"We just lost half of them, but we still have the others intent at getting at us." She turned her attention to Loki, "Or maybe they want you more!"
Her lips curled in a satisfied smirk, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they'll want you more than us! They aren't going to be nearly as merciful, after attacking their king.
"Merciful?" Loki sneered.
Percy snorted, "You're still alive!"
"You probably won't be for long, when they get their hands on you again." Annabeth countered. "But, my mother, Athena, wants you alive!" She narrowed her eyes, and smirked. "Ah, the choices, stay and get killed, or come with us strangers, and hope we mean it when we say we want you alive. But then, we could have killed you while unconscious."
Percy smiled, smacking the god on the shoulder, which earned him a shocked stare, "Well, come with us and you'll at least live a little longer. You can figure it out after that."
Loki's eyes darted between the two demi-gods, as the battle blared behind them.
"Fine!"
The god darted in the direction of the main entrance. Annabeth and Percy chased after him, calling the other demi-gods, who had bottle-necked the guards in the small entrance of the hall. The others charged after them.
They came into the large pillar filled main entryway. Percy watched as water and guards flooded into the room, the water swirling around the pillars, creating eddies and swirls. The guards immediately charged them, but were stopped by a wave of water that washed them away. Guards on the higher stair landing were blown over by Jason or knocked over by Frank's hard, yet blunt-ended arrows. Piper was yelling that they drop their weapons, which at least weakened their grips, so Hazel could yank the less-precious metal weapons from their hands.
Loki hands reached out, magic sweeping other guards back, knocking them out. He smiled, relishing in his magic.
Percy grabbed Loki, again, dragging him behind a pillar. The god yanked himself out of the demi-god's hands, snarling at him, but decided to stay behind the pillar, as he noticed the other demi-gods also move behind the pillars.
"So," he smirked at the young demi-god, "have you figured out how we're getting out?"
And, like that was the queue, the huge heavy entrance gate was blasted inwards. The explosion was soon followed by a large triangular shaped metal battering ram, smashing through the damaged door. A jet of fire streamed through the room, as a golden reptilian head entered after the battering ram.
Loki stared as the Greek trireme pulled out from the door, allowing the door to crumble to the ground. The dragon head continued to fire at the guards, who immediately scattered to avoid the flames.
A dark head of hair looked over the edge of the bow, dark eyes in a pale face stared down at them.
"Move it! I think the mist kept us covered till this point! They'll be coming!"
Percy smiled, "Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on. We're coming!"
Nico's head jerked back as if slapped, and grumbled, "Just get moving!"
Of course, Nico didn't need to say a thing. Frank had already turned into an eagle and grabbed Hazel, flying up into the ship as it floated above the courtyard. Jason grabbed Piper and Annabeth and with a gust of wind carried them up into the ship.
Before he could attempt a levitation spell, Loki found himself surrounded by a large spout of water that carried him up into the ship. He landed with an undignified smack into the deck with the water controlling demi-god on top of him.
He looked up, and watched as a tanned boy with a crazy array of curly hair, leaned over him.
"Hey Percy, didn't know you had an older brother?" he laughed jokingly.
Percy was up and pushing the boy away.
"Leo, shut up," Annabeth yelled, "get us moving before their ships are in the air."
Leo darted over to his controls, and started to play with them. At least, that's what it looked like to Loki as the trireme slowly rotated in place, the dragon figurehead turning away from the palace. Then, he was nearly knocked over as the ship streaked off, away from the land and toward the distant water.
Annabeth ran out, pulling out what looked to be a compass. "Leo, turn the ship 30 degrees to the port side."
The ship tilted mildly as it turned the prescribed direction.
"O.K., just keep going straight, "she yelled.
Loki turned, watching as they sped toward a mountain side jutting out of the Asgardian sea. He couldn't help but smirk. He knew the portal was there, but it was a more difficult entrance to get to. But then, it was larger and higher up than most portals, but now more convenient than usual, since they were in a huge floating ship. He still wasn't sure where it went to.
The trireme shot through the invisible entrance, and everyone held on as they sped through space.
The ship suddenly erupted into a blue sky over an ocean of equal blue. Loki looked over the rail of the ship, and couldn't help but grimace at the familiar sight.
"Well," Percy stepped up beside him, watching the god from the corner of his eye, as he smiled dryly, "welcome back to New York."
