After breakfast, we marched to Mount Tamalpais. The hike was long, but it wasn't unbearable. I felt a bad feeling of dread in my stomach. I didn't know why it was happening though. I tried to shrug it off. We went up to the Mountain of Despair. Frank had turned into an eagle and was scouting out the area.
"Annabeth, what are you doing here?" Artemis asked.
I looked at her with the calmest expression I could muster. "We've come to try and find the evil maiden Horatia."
Artemis looked at me curiously. "Horatia?"
"That's her true name, but she has used the aliases of Sandya, Tiana and Diana." Percy answered.
"No wonder I recognized her. Next to Zoe Nightshade, she was one of the best hunters ever until her supposed death."
Frank the eagle landed and turned back into a human form. "Looks like Annabeth was right. Mount Othyrs has been repaired and the front doors are being guarded by Queen Sess and Kampe."
"I didn't expect Queen Sess to reform that quickly." Jason muttered to himself, unheard over Percy's screaming.
"Kampe?!" Percy shrieked.
"Keep it down, water boy!" Leo whispered.
Percy glared at Leo. "I thought I told you not to call me that." He then turned to me. "Got any ideas, Wise Girl?"
I explained a fully-detailed plan and a few minutes later, we infiltrated the fortress. Frank, in eagle form, flew around the monsters in a circle, completely confusing them and making them dizzy. Then Hazel appeared forth and used the mist to make them fall into an abyss. The abyss disappeared and we marched inside. As we expected, several guards tried to kill us. Geryon and Chrysaor were the first to charge towards us. Percy fought Chrysaor and Geryon as Pheme, Enyo and Eris ran towards us.
I frowned. "I thought me and Khione defeated these guys!"
Eris smirked. "Diana freed us before the gods showed up to take us away."
The war goddess looked at me curiously. "Why do you think Ella and Alabaster returned, resulting in the latter's death?"
I didn't answer and instead fought against the war goddess. She threw grenade after grenade at us. We all had difficultly dodging them, and Piper even dropped to her knees by the time Enyo was done. Fortunately, Geryon and Chrysaor were not so lucky to survive the exploding chaos around us and they disintegrated into dust. Unfortunately, the war goddess was not done with us.
"And now for my next trick..."
She got a bow and arrow and started shooting at us. Frank was kept busy by using his gladius against Eris, who wielded a Celestial bronze dagger. Pheme fought against Leo without any physical weapons. As she punched him and kicked him down, she taunted him.
"You're all alone. You're just an eighth wheel!"
He covered his ears and then glared at her. "No! Shut up!"
We needed a plan. I suspected more guards would be here soon, and we had to stop Horatia once and for all. I was somewhat surprised that she didn't attack me. Then again, she was trying to kill all of us. Soon Pasiphae and Hecuba had arrived. Calypso dueled against Prometheus while Pasiphae went up against Piper. Hecuba was a pretty looking adversary. Her skin was tanned to perfection, one would argue and it accented her green eyes and long black hair pulled into a knotted bun. She wore a long black dress with matching elbow-length gloves. Her black heels added three inches to her height. She wielded a spear and charged towards me.
I swiftly dodged her moves with little effort. Partially because I was a skilled fighter and partially because she was really bad at wielding a spear. I'm not kidding. She thought she was supposed to twirl it as if it was a fidget spinner. I easily dodged her moves, although Percy was not quite so lucky. Neither were Pheme and Eris, the latter of which was just knocked out thanks to the combined efforts of Frank and Hazel. Pheme was thrown into the wall with a blast of fire and knocked out. Eris and Pheme were soon tied up and thrown into an imaginary pit created by Hazel.
Koios and Antaeus charged towards us.
"Where are Diana, Hercules and Atlas?" Percy asked.
I suddenly saw an image of Melinoe, Atlas, Hercules and Athena stood on a rooftop with Horatia. Horatia glowed with golden energy.
"The invasion of Olympus starts now!" the evil maiden declared.
The vision ended. I looked at my friends. "Guys, we've got to get to the rooftop! Horatia and her allies are about to invade Mount Olympus!"
Our enemies gasped. They knew what their master was doing (or trying to do).
"Stop them!" Koios ordered.
Why was it that we were battling impossible odds? Then again, Magnus Chase, Sadie Kane and her brother Carter did this all the time; Battle against all odds. Pretty much sums up the life of a demigod (or Magician in Sadie and Carter's case). Me, Percy and Grover ran away from the battle up to the rooftop. We ran to the nearest staircase, which, unfortunately, was a spiral staircase of stone. Before I had time to think (or internally groan or panic), Percy grabbed me by the hand as we sprinted up the stairs. Within less than a minute, we found the five immortal deities on the rooftop.
"You're too late fools! The portal to Olympus is already open! You cannot stop us!" Athena proclaimed.
I growled loudly and ran towards her. My boyfriend and his best friend quickly followed suit.
"You want us to handle it?" Hercules asked.
Horatia smirked. "I got this." She snapped her fingers, which glowed with golden energy, and suddenly, we found ourselves frozen in time. Surprisingly, I was still aware of everything going on around me. "You see? Kronos in his host form couldn't even do that. Just imagine what I can do once I have ultimate power!" She laughed to herself before turning back to her servants. "Those effects are only temporary. We need to move!"
Athena entered the portal, followed by Melinoe, Atlas, Hercules and finally Horatia herself entered the portal. The portal vanished, leaving the three of us frozen in time. True to her word, the effects of being frozen in time wore off within a few minutes.
"This is bad... Really bad." Grover started whimpering.
The others showed up. Hazel looked at me, giving me a status report. "We've slayed Antaeus and defeated our other foes."
"Great, but Diana's gotten away!" Percy exclaimed.
"Nico, Hazel, shadow transport us to Olympus!" I ordered.
They used the large shadow of the fortress and we tumbled through darkness.