Chapter 13: The Wolf House
Annabeth sat around a fire with Thalia, Leo, and Piper. Leo kept looking around, eyeing the Hunters appreciatively and nervously. Piper was listening intently to Annabeth and Thalia talk. All around them, the Hunters and their wolves were at ease, sitting around fires talking and laughing. Occasionally, they would throw a distasteful glance Leo's way, but Annabeth paid them no mind.
"…and then you guys came in and drove the werewolves away." Annabeth finished. Thalia nodded, looking kind of impressed.
"Seems like you've had a really interesting week so far." She said. Annabeth grimaced ruefully.
"You don't know the half of it."
"Well, my week hasn't been as exciting as yours, but it has had its moments. We've been chasing Lycaon all over the country for the past month, and this is the first time we've seen his pack up close. We managed to kill most of them tonight, partially in thanks to you. Other than that and running into a roving pack of hellhounds, that's about it." Thalia said.
Annabeth frowned. "Where's Lady Artemis?"
"An emergency meeting on Olympus. Been there for almost two weeks, and we've heard no word from her." Thalia grimaced. "So we've just been chasing Lycaon and waited for her to join us."
"Do you know of a place called the Wolf House?" Piper asked suddenly. Thalia went very still.
"The Wolf House." She repeated quietly, almost too quiet to hear. "What do you want with the Wolf House?"
"Yeah, what do we want with the Wolf House?" Annabeth asked Piper, confused. What was the Wolf House?
"That's where Hera is." Piper said confidently. Annabeth blinked in surprise.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"She told me. In a dream last night." Piper said. Thalia was staring at Piper, her face one of horror.
"She told you? You didn't just have a random dream?" She questioned with an intensity that surprised Annabeth.
"It was really her." Piper said nervously. "She said she was at the Wolf House, and the giant king was there as well. And there was some spire that-." She cut off with a startled jump as Thalia sprang to her feet and let out a piercing whistle. Immediately the Hunters rushed to their fire along with the wolves and falcons.
"Hunters of Artemis, we have a major problem." Thalia said in a loud voice. "I know where Hera is." She took a deep breath as if afraid to say what came next. "The Wolf House." A rustle of gasps went through the Hunters. "And Porphyrion is there too, being reborn as we speak. We have a new target. We make for the Wolf House immediately."
"What about Lycaon?" one of the Hunters called out.
"Lycaon and his pack can wait. This is top priority." Thalia announced. "Pack up! We leave in ten minutes!" The Hunters went off to pack up their stuff. Thalia had her tent collapsed and away in about thirty seconds. "Come on, demigods. You're coming with us." She said grimly, and Annabeth felt a tinge of fear. The Wolf House was waiting.
Line Break
The first thing Percy noticed was that his eyes were open. That was weird. He hadn't remembered opening them. The second thing he realized was that he was alive. That was wrong. Something wasn't right here. He remembered distinctly that he had died. What on earth…?
Abruptly it hit him- death. He sat up quickly, eyes the size of the moon. The temple around him lay in ruins. At least half of it had collapsed, strewing rubble all over the floor. A huge pile of dust was in the center, and Percy assumed it was the remains of the draugr. He moved his right arm and felt a pop. He froze, scared to look down, and scared to not look.
His head tilted down, almost of its own accord, and he saw his forearm. Anger and revulsion flooded through him at the sight. His left hand acted on its own, moving to his injured arm and beginning to fix the problem. Percy watched coldly until he could move his right arm as well as ever, then stood up.
The events of the fight with the draugr came flooding back to him as he stood up. Particularly when the draugr hurled him into the wall. He could actually remember the feeling of death, and had caught a glimpse of the Underworld. He knew that Thanatos had taken him, had seen the god himself. And yet here he was. Alive. And strong.
His mind searched for the reason, but he couldn't think of anything plausible. Unless….Looking down, he looked through his shredded shirt at his chest. There was a gash running from his shoulder to his heart. It was deep, but he felt fine. The pieces clicked together, and Percy breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you Daedalus!
He turned around and saw the armor hanging from the wall again. Reaching out, his hand touched the leg and the armor vanished. He felt it reappear around his body and looked down. The light blue armor encased him from head to toe. He instantly felt invigorated, like he could jump over the ruins of the temple. He could feel his reflexes being tuned, his eyesight sharpening, his endurance raising an insane amount. Strength coursed through his body, and without thinking he turned and punched the wall as hard as he could. His fist made a hole through it, and he withdrew his hand in wonder.
He moved away from the throne and felt like he wasn't even wearing the armor. It was like an extra set of clothes stronger than steel, stronger than diamonds! A helmet was over his head, with a piece that covered his mouth and nose, almost like a ninja cowl. The space for his eyes was easily large enough that it didn't restrict his peripheral vision. All in all, it was the peak of all armor.
He remembered Poseidon's words, about how it could be suspended in reality until called to the body of the wearer. How would that work? Maybe if he thought of it back on the wall-.
In a flash, the armor was gone and hanging on the wall in the exact same spot it had been. This time, however, an impenetrable shield of energy surrounded it. He thought about it surrounding his body, and the armor disappeared and shimmered to existence on him again. Cool.
He felt the presence behind him then, and spun around, sword in hand. Nothing was there. He squinted, looking around carefully. Nothing.
"Percy!" The deep voice resonated out of nowhere, causing Percy to jump.
"Poseidon?" he asked.
"Percy!" The voice called out again, and Percy knew it was Poseidon then. "You must act quickly! Your friends are in grave danger! They are almost at the Wolf House now! You have to go there or the queen will be killed!"
"How?" Percy asked.
"The sand dollar! You know how to use it! Hurry!" With that, Poseidon's voice was gone.
"Wait! No I don't! What do I do?" Percy asked, but it was too late. The god was gone. "Great. My friends are in danger, and I'm stuck out in the Sea of Monsters." Percy grumbled. He exited the temple with the Seafoam Armor still around him and went to stand at the edge of the cliff, staring out in the direction of the mainland. Of his friends.
He chanced a look down into the mist and froze. A crazy idea formed in his head, one that had saved his life against the drakons in Wichita a few years ago. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Percy muttered to himself. He reached for his pocket only to find the armor there instead. He willed it away and dug a sand dollar out of his jeans. "Hey Iris!" he called out. "I need a favor! I can pay! Sort of." He added that last one to himself, under his breath. He tossed the sand dollar over the edge and watched it disappear into the mist. Taking a few steps back, he started to run. Right as he reached the edge he jumped, as high and as far as he could. "Take me to the Wolf House!" He yelled, and plummeted. He hit the mist and ripped through it, falling. And falling. And falling. He frowned. Something should have happened by now.
Abruptly his fall went sideways, and he felt himself getting tugged to the right. It intensified until he was literally falling sideways, his downward descent halting. He could hear some sort of buzzing and the pull grew stronger, and suddenly, with a strange flash of light he was rolling over and over on dirt. He stopped, blinking, eyes adjusting to the dying light. He wasn't sure exactly what he was seeing. Then he realized he was staring right up into a werewolf's yellow eyes.
Line Break
The Hunters reached the Wolf House just as the sun was going down. Fog covered the area, making the burnt-down mansion appear dark and foreboding. The group stepped cautiously in, looking around, ready for anything. They weren't expecting to find Hera inside a cage made of earthen tendrils with dirt already up to her waist near a huge spire that was growing straight out of the ground. "That's new." Leo muttered.
"Well, what are you waiting for, half-bloods?" Hera snapped. "Get me out of here!"
"Piper, Leo, you guys are the ones who the prophecy says to break the cage. You all work on that, we'll stand guard." Annabeth ordered.
"Well, you're certainly doing a great job of that so far." A voice behind them said sarcastically. They all spun around to find Lycaon standing behind them, grinning, with Khione next to him. Out of the mist came monsters, surrounding them on all sides. Werewolves, storm spirits, and giant, six-armed Earthborn.
"Lycaon." Thalia spat, stepping forward.
"Hello, Hunter." Lycaon taunted. "I'm really glad you came. I'd like a little revenge for ambushing my pack. We all would." The werewolves snarled in agreement. Thalia had her bow in her hand with an arrow nocked and ready.
"You're annoying me." She growled, and released. The arrow shot through the air, but suddenly it froze over and dropped to the ground.
"I'm going to enjoying tearing your throat out." Lycaon snarled, unsheathing claws.
A strange popping noise sounded in everyone's ears, and then a boy was rolling on the ground, tumbling until he came to a rest at the feet of a werewolf. For a split second everyone froze, and then Khione let out a chilling yell: "Attack!"
A.N.: Hello to all my devoted (and non-devoted) readers!
Get ready! Next chapter is going to be the big fight! I've been planning for it since before I even had the first chapter written. So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, a little short, but it's kind of a cliff-hanger, eh?
I'm actually surprised no one caught that bit at the end of chapter 12. I was honestly expecting a few angry reviews. In case you were wondering, it said, "leaving the lifeless body behind him." I was waiting for some people to explode and start screaming, "HOW COULD YOU KILL OFF PERCY" and stuff, but I guess no one read that sentence carefully enough.
About changing the story name, sorry if that confused a few of you, but Ashes just felt to…normal. It needed something unique. And the new title makes sense, if you look at it from the right angle. As of right now. It'll be clearer nearer to the end
Now to respond to reviews.
Thatonekidnobodylikes: Thank you for giving the Black a chance. He's going to be a major character in this story, and also a really messed-up one. And seriously, thank you for not doubting me, that means a lot to me.
Guest: Yeah, the Black is going to be in it, and so is Luke. Just wait. They're both coming back, and play important roles in this.
Thank you all for reading this! Please review!
READ ON!