Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Story: Guardians of Light and Justice
Chapter 16: The Golden State Battle, Part 1
Camp Half-blood
Annabeth's POV
We're waiting on the beach for Apollo and Hermes to arrive. They will be providing transportation to California. Artemis, Thalia and the rest of the hunters were already in California setting up camp with the help of Grover and the other satyrs. Chiron and Mr. D would stay at camp with the ancient Chinese monsters, they would guard camp in case of a sneak attack. Clarisse and I were placed in charge of getting the campers together. Our forces included; ten children of Athena, thirty children of Apollo, forty children of Ares, twenty Aphrodite children, ten Hephaestus children, five children of Dionysus, fifty children of Hermes, ten children of Demeter, four children of Aether, three children of Nike, and two children of Hecate. In total we had an army of 185 demigods, and one immortal, me.
Apollo and Hermes would be join our forces, while Athena, Ares, Hephaestus, Aether, Nike, and Astraea would be joining us with the remaining guardians. I was worried about Percy I heard from Athena that the battle had already begun in Atlantis. I knew Thalia was worried for Nico as I knew he would be fighting in the underworld alongside his father. We were all apprehensive about this battle, we didn't know the size of the enemy force, but my mom estimated it to be large. A combination of demititans, monsters, some demigods, titans, and a few minor gods.
Suddenly, I was broken away from my thoughts by a blinding light, suddenly two large buses appeared on the beach in front of us. The first bus was driven by Apollo, and the second was driven by Hermes. I got on the Hermes bus with the Athena, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aether and Demeter cabins, while Clarisse got on the Apollo bus with the Apollo, Nike, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, and Hecate cabins. Once everyone was on board we took off toward the west coast at remarkable speed. After only twenty minutes I could feel the bus descending until we softly touched down in a grassy field. Hermes told us to leave the bus; I was one of the first outside. I saw dozens and dozens of large tents that were laid out in a grid pattern around a central courtyard. A large tent that must have been the mess hall was in the middle. I saw the Hunters of Artemis milling around as well as a few satyrs. One person stood out among the others, it was the dark haired and blue eyed daughter of Zeus, my old friend Thalia.
"Thalia" I yelled as I ran to her. She turned toward me, and a huge smile extended across her face.
"Annie, glad you're here." Thalia said.
"So what's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing much, I have a few hunters keeping an eye out for the enemy, the rest are hunting for dinner. The satyrs are investigating into the countryside trying to see whats around camp. Grover is off helping to setup our campsite." Thalia said.
"The camp looks good to me." I said.
"I agree, but Grover is setting up the infirmary, the Apollo kids are here I take it?" Thalia asked.
"Yes, Clarisse split them into two groups; a group of archers and a group of healers." I said.
"Good, I'll send the healers to Grover." Thalia said.
"Any word on the rest of our forces?" I asked. Thalia looked at me hopefully.
"We hoped they would arrive with you, we just have to pray that they get here soon." Thalia said. I nodded in agreement. "I'll walk you to the Athena tents." I followed Thalia through the camp, I couldn't believe how quickly they had assembled the tents. We arrived at a group of three tents that all had the symbol of the owl over the entrance. I walked into the nearest one to find it currently unoccupied, I placed my stuff on a cot, and then followed Thalia out towards the mess hall in the center of camp. We walked into the large tent, and sat down at a table where Malcolm was sitting alone going over a map of the area.
"Hey Mal, what's going on?" I asked. Malcolm looked up, and smiled when he saw Thalia and I.
"Just going over this map of the valley that I printed off before we left Camp Half-blood." Malcolm said.
"What's the assessment?" I asked. Malcolm gave me a worried stare.
"Not good, I'm afraid. There are no natural obstacles that we can use to our advantage, its basically all open terrain except for the hill we're currently on. Our camp has the high ground, but its just a long flat plain before us. All open ground, perfect for monsters to rip us to shreds." Malcolm said.
"Wow, aren't you a ray of sunshine, if I didn't know any better I would think that you had been hanging around with Nico." I said, Malcolm glared at me, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Thalia's pained expression. "Excuse us Mal." I grab Thalia by the arm, and pulled her out of the mess hall. "Thals, I'm sorry, I know your concerned about Nico." Thalia's eyes narrowed in to a glare, but she relented when I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I'm concerned, and don't tell me that you're not concerned for my green eyed cousin." Thalia said.
"Of course I am, but I'm not a hunter." I said, earning an angry glare from Thalia.
"I haven't forgotten that, I can be concerned for Nico without going against my oath." Thalia said, as she leaned against one of the tent posts.
"You're still upset that he left without telling you?" I asked pointedly. Thalia gave me a surprised stare.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Thalia denied.
"Don't lie to me Thalia, I've known you for too long. You still have feelings for dead boy, you might not admit it, but I can see it in your eyes when you look at him." I accused.
"Brain, you're not always right, even if you're an immortal daughter of Athena. I'll warn you this last time, stop prying into affairs that don't concern you." Thalia warned. I gave my friend a shocked look.
"I'm sorry, I just want you to be happy." I said apologetically. Thalia's glare softened, she placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I know you're happy to be back together with kelp head, but I'm happy as a hunter. I'm not going to ruin that for a man, not even for a stupidly brave son of Hades." Thalia said as she gave me an amused smirk. I roll my eyes as we walked back into the mess hall, and sat down with Malcolm to discuss the upcoming battle. We talked for a good two hours until we heard the conch sound. The three of us jumped up from our seats an ran to the edge of the hill top. Standing on top of the hill next to two huntresses were our godly reinforcements; Athena, Aether, Ares, Hephaestus, Nike and Astraea. Then several figures walked out from behind the gods, these were the guardians; I instantly recognized Will Solace, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Michael Yew, Jake Mason and Pollux. They each gave us a broad smile, making Thalia and I smile in return. We ran over to them, and gave each one a welcoming hug.
"Michael, we thought you died." I stated. Michael's smile broadened as he remembered something.
"Thanks to Percy, I'm alive and well." Michael said.
"What happened?" I asked. He chuckled softly.
"Its a long story, and I'm afraid that it will have to wait. As we flew over the valley, we spotted the enemy; Atlas, Prometheus, Nemesis and Crius were all clearly visible. We need to get ready, they will be here within the hour." Michael said. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned to see my mother standing behind me with Aether at her side.
"Erebus was there too." Aether stated, I could feel the emotion in his voice, he would have to face his father again today. I looked at my mother, and I could see the worry in her eyes.
"Thalia and Malcolm, go get the demigods, the hunters are already in preparation. I need to speak with Annabeth. Athena said. Thalia and Malcolm nodded, Thalia gave me a hopeful smile before she ran toward camp. My mother turned toward me again, she put her arm around me as we walked away from the others. "We haven't heard anything from Percy or Nico. That doesn't mean anything so don't worry. I know Malcolm must already have a strategy outlined, and I assume you helped him."
"Yes, mother." I said in confirmation.
"Good, we need to talk with Malcolm, we'll need to make some changes." Athena said. I gave my mother a curious look.
"Why?" I asked. My mother looked at the ground, I saw a little fear in her eyes, like I had never seen before. "What's wrong?" My mother cleared her throat, and looked into my eyes. "Erebus brought back some help." A feeling of dread filled every inch of my being. "What kind of help?"
"I'm afraid that Percy was correct, Erebus did find some help from the east." Athena said.
"Mom, go ahead tell me, what kind of help?" I asked.
"I don't know exactly who are what they are, but there are at least ten of them; they are the largest and strangest monsters I've ever seen. Percy might recognize them, but I'm not familiar with these creatures." Athena said.
"How can the goddess of wisdom not know them?" I asked. My mother just shook her head.
"I'm afraid that these must be of Hindu or Buddhist origins, I'm familiar with Chinese mythical beasts, but not the others." Athena said. I suddenly remembered something, I pulled out a small statue of Shiva from my pocket, Percy had given it to me for luck.
"Mom, Percy gave this to me, he said it was for luck, but now I'm not so sure." I said, as I showed her the small statue. My mother's eyes grew wide with surprise. She took the statue from my hand, and then said something in a language I never heard before. The statue began to glow until it started to move in my mother's hand.
"Lady Athena, it is an honor to speak with one so revered by my friend Perseus." The statue said.
"Who are you?" I asked. The statue turned toward me, and his smile was incredible, I couldn't help, but smile in return.
"I'm the avatar of Shiva, well a projection of the avatar. You must be Annabeth, you are right Percy gave you this statue for more than just luck." Shiva said.
"Shiva can you help us?" Athena asked. The statue nodded solemnly.
"Yes, the creatures that you face are a group of giant Hindu monsters, they are very powerful, you will have to keep them busy until I can send you help." Shiva said. My mom and I nodded. "They are led by Garuda, he is a giant half man and half bird, he is incredibly powerful. At all costs you must avoid a head on attack on him, he must be kept busy somehow. The other nine monsters are powerful, but your guardians should be able to hold their own against them. I will explain how, let's go somewhere and talk in private." My mother carried the small statue, I followed her into a small tent she created, Malcolm would meet us here later. We had a lot to discuss with the small avatar of Shiva. I just hoped that we could hold out until the help he promised would arrive.
AN: Sorry for the delay, the next few chapters will clean up the battle in Atlantis, start the battle of the underworld as well as the battle in Cali.