A/N: How is it going Oh my awesome readers? Happy Fathers Day! I hope you guys like the way I portray Alaska. I've never been there myself, but one of my siblings lives there. All feedback is appreciated. I decided to post later rather than sooner, but I did so to make it longer. This chapter is over 2.6 thousand words so I hope you like it. Anyway without further ado:
Cora POV:
I drew my twin daggers from their hidden sheaths, and attacked from behind. I slashed at the beast, but my weapons went right through its body like it was a mortal.
"Step back Cora" Piper said, layering her voice with charm speak. As I backed up she said to the wolf. "Now Mr. wolf, why don't you just leave. You are far too kind to attack and innocent girl, aren't you?"
The wolf took a few steps toward the door, then growled and turned back to us. Just as he did a silver arrow sprouted from its neck. We looked up and saw Theodore with Connor and Travis.
"Where's Leo?" Piper asked.
"Right to business as always. He went to get Chiron" Theodore replied
Just then Leo walked in, saw Percy and a asked "what happened to him?"
"The wolf jumped on his chest, which made him fall back, and hit his head. The wolf was about to finish him, but I managed to charmspeak him into backing up a few steps. Then I found out the hard way that my weapons don't work" she said grimacing, as she pointed to her left arm which had obviously been slashed by the wolf.
"That sucks, here I think I have some ambrosia in here." He said pulling out some squares of the magical food from his backpack. He stuffed some down Percy's throat, and handed the rest to Piper.
"Why can't our weapons kill them" I asked annoyed.
"They must be from Lycaon's pack. Which means only silver can kill them, like werewolves. It's a good thing my hoodie knows what I need and provides it." Theodore reached to the back of his magic hoodie, and a quiver flickered into existence. He handed some silver arrows to Travis, the other archer. "It'll provide as many arrows as we need, but that means only Travis and I can kill them. Leo what did Chiron say, and why isn't he with you?"
"Chiron said he is going to distract them, so we can get Percy out of here." Leo reported. "He said we should take Percy to the safe house. He also gave me his car keys." he smiled his evil smile, which usually proceed pranks.
Theodore shivered, and said "You are NOT driving. I remember the last time."
"That was an accident." Leo said innocently.
"Sure" Theodore said sarcastically. "Anyway Travis, and I will take point. I want Leo as rear guard. Any monsters come near, burn them to a crisp. The rest of you guys take care of Percy. We need to make a break for Chiron's car. I'll drive to the docks. When we get there, Piper takes my bow incase we get attacked while driving." He spoke mostly in short sentences, like he always did when he was nervous. I knew being our leader was a heavy responsibility to him.
"Cool" Piper said. "you guys ready?" we all nodded.
Leo and Connor picked up Percy.
Theodore lifted his hand and counted down from five on his fingers. When he got to zero he kicked open the door, and rushed out. He and Travis took care of the few wolves in the hall.
We ran down the hall, into the big room that led outdoors. Right as we stepped out of the hall two clubs came out of nowhere, and hit Travis, and Theodore. They went down hard, and we found ourselves facing an Empusa demon, backed by a bunch of Laestrygonians.
The demon spoke "I always said Lycaon was incompetent. Couldn't even stop a few lone half-bloods."
Piper spoke "Back down." putting more power in her words, than I have ever heard her use before.
The demon stood unimpressed. "I have similar abilities to you, so your voice has no power over me. Now step aside, little demigoddess, and you and your friends will live. Our business is with him." She pointed to Percy.
That was weird, I had never heard a monster willing to compromise before.
Piper shook her head and said "He is coming with us."
She scanned us and said "three of you against us, well its your funeral. My thick skulled companions, will enjoy hero flesh."
The giants lifted their bronze balls, and grinned "Hero flesh" they coursed
We stepped into fighting stance. Three of us against them. We were screwed. Wait three? There should be four.
Suddenly Leo jumped out of his hiding place yelling "BURN SUCAS. EAT FLAME!" He was smiling like a maniac the way he always did when he was burning stuff. It suddenly became a lot easier to believe one of his half brothers had once burned down a whole city. The monsters never stood a chance, but they soon they weren't the only things on fire.
"Leo!" Piper yelled.
"I never liked this school anyway." Travis said muttered as the carpet caught on fire.
I had to do something, the amount of fire he had used had Leo snoring on the floor, we couldn't carry him, Travis, Theodore, and Percy. But they would burn if we left them. I searched for water with my mind. I felt all the snow outside. I could melt the snow, and bring it in, but it would take way too much energy and time. Maybe the first Percy Jackson could have done it. They said he was even more powerful than Hercules, but I couldn't. Ok that wouldn't work. I kept searching I had to concentrate and block out the noise Pipe and Connor were making. There it was. The answer, it had been hard to find with all that snow distracting me, but there was the water I needed. It was running through pipes in the walls, and ceiling. I called to it, and it broke through the old pipes obeying my will. I shot it at the fire totally dousing it. I felt my strength leaving me, as it had taken a lot of energy to break those pipes. I quickly shot water at all the unconscious people, except Percy who I didn't think we wanted waking up yet. They groaned and started getting up. As I felt myself falling I sprayed myself last. The water gave me the energy I needed to stay up, thanks the gods. This wasn't a good place to sleep. I said "lets go, I'm tired."
Leo grinned wearily and said "Tell me about it. With great power, comes great need to take a nap."
Theodore laughed and led us out the doors. Chiron's car was an old mini-van that could fit all seven of us. I had no clue how Chiron could drive it without working legs, but he managed somehow. We got in and Theodore started driving. We had a safe house on one of the of the little islands. We had chosen to have our safe house there since the island was secluded, and as long as you stayed on the enchanted path, you were safe from the... things in the woods, plus there was a thick veil of mist over it. It also helped that we got there by boat, and it was (obviously) surrounded by water. I was at my strongest there, and could sink most small boats that tried to reach us if I tried hard enough. I could also help us reach it quickly by speeding up the boat. It was lucky that Percy and his family had moved from Fairbanks to Seward a few years back, as here we had the perfect place for a safe house. "I hope Chiron is okay" I said sleepily.
"Don't worry about him. Centaurs, can bend distance as they run, he'll be perfectly fine." Piper said comfortingly right before I let the darkness of sleep over come me.
- Line Break -
Percy POV:
My dreams were weird. I didn't remember too much, but I saw a Centaur running through the woods being chased by wolves. Then my dreams changed to a scene which had been in my dreams a lot lately. I saw a bunch of small buildings, with fields of to one side, and a climbing wall that seemed to be glowing orange light. Then my dream changed once again to a place which had been in my dreams just as much as that group of buildings. I saw a beautiful city most of the buildings used classical architecture. My mom was an architect and I knew she would have loved this place. Then after a few seconds of marveling at its beauty, like I always did I slipped into a dreamless blackness.
- Line Break -
Percy POV:
I woke up once, and found myself lying on what I decided from its movements was a boat. I looked up and saw a cute girl sitting beside me. "Piper?" I croaked
"Yes, now go back to sleep." She said, but her voice sounded different.
As soon as I had heard that my eyes seemed to close on their own and I drifted off again.
- Line Break -
Next thing I knew I felt a bump, and was suddenly very wet. I looked up into Cora's smirking face, as she high-fived Connor.
Piper looked like she had enjoyed whatever had just happened, but was trying to hide it. "Was that really necessary Cora?" she asked trying to suppress a grin
"No, but it was totally worth, just look at his face." she said cracking up.
Theodore smiled, but said "Ok thats enough. Percy can you walk?"
I stood up and looked around. I frowned There was Piper and the rest of her siblings. I noticed I was dripping wet, and figured someone probably Cora, had dumped a bucket of water on me. I frowned at her, but she just grinned back. I seemed to have been laying on a dock, next to a boat. "Yeah, I think so. Where are we?" I said stumbling a bit.
Travis swung something over his shoulder. Before coming over and helping me. Was that a bow? Piper had told me that he and Theodore loved bow hunting, but everyone in Alaska hunted, even if guns were a more popular device. Still why would he have a bow with him now? It wasn't hunting season. Then I noticed that the others were all holding weapons. "Um... and why are you all carrying weapons?" I asked suddenly wondering if I really knew my friends, I was also beginning to wonder if I should run away screaming.
"We are on an island we like to call half-blood island. We will explain about the weapons later." Piper said something in my gaze probably prompted her to keep talking. "Trust me, we won't hurt you."
I nodded I had only known Piper and her siblings for a few months, but for some reason I trusted her. "I'm a freaking moron. Probably going with a bunch of armed criminals." I muttered but I don't think anyone heard me. "Ok, what next?"
"Now we play follow the leader!" Leo said pretending to be a little kid. He went skipping down a path through the woods.
Piper rolled her eyes "Come on I want to show you our safe house." she said pulling me along.
We walked down the path for about fifteen minutes. I saw weird flickering lights in the dark forest on both sides of the path, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know what they were. Piper saw me looking at them, frowned and pulled me along faster. Eventually we stepped into a clearing and I gasped.
Leo grinned when he saw my face and said "You like?"
I nodded mutely. The place in front of me was amazing. It was a gigantic multi-story mansion with cameras everywhere. It put my house to shame, and I certainly didn't live in a shack. "You guys live here?" I asked. I had seen pictures of more impressive buildings, but I had never seen one in person. Though it looked like something my mom might design
"Not usually." Connor said cryptically.
"Why not?" I asked. I had seen their other house before, and it was nice and all, but it was nothing compared to this.
"My thoughts exactly." Leo muttered, but no one answered my questions.
We walked into the house and Piper said. "We should wait for Chi- My dad, then I promise we will explain as much as we can. What do you want to do in the meantime?"
I shrugged, "What do you guys usually do?"
A mischievous look entered her eyes, and she said "You once told me that your dad taught you to sword fight."
I nodded unsure of what she was getting at. "Yeah he said it would be good exercise."
"Well, do you want to spar? We have an arena in the basement."
"You guys have a sword fighting arena in your basement? That is so awesome." I said excitedly. I loved sword play.
She laughed "I'll take that as a yes. Connor will show you and help you find a good sword. I need to change if we're going to spar."
Connor nodded and said. "Come on." as he led me down some stairs.
We walked down to the basement. It was huge. In one part there was an archery range. Another part had a bunch of training dummies, and were those some sort of robot? Connor led me to what looked like a boxing ring.
"This is the arena, and over there is the armory." he said pointing to a door that said Armory. "Lets get you a good sword." We walked into a room filled with swords, bows, arrows, shields, and about every other weapon imaginable. He sized me up. "Try this one" he said handing me a gleaming sword.
"No, this won't work." I said after feeling it out.
He nodded and handed me another one. When that one was no good he gave me a third one. This went on for a while till we found one that worked.
"These swords all seem to be in really good condition."
He grimaced. "Yeah cleaning all the weapons is one of Chiron's favorite punishments."
"Who's Chiron?" I asked
"Uhh, my dad." he said.
"but-" I began.
"Are you going to use a shield too?" he cut me off.
"I guess" I said deciding to drop the subject for now.
Just then Piper walked in wearing clothes that made it look like she was about to go running. She walked in, grabbed a sword and a shield, like she had done this a thousand times before.
"Piper, would you help him find a shield, and I'll go set up the arena?" Connor asked
Piper nodded, and handed me a shield. I kept trying different ones till we found one that worked.
When I did Piper said. "Ok lets get this show on the road." She led me to the arena. I looked around and saw Connor in what seemed to be an announcer's booth.
He grinned and spoke into a microphone. "And here our combatants come! Give it up for Piper the second best swords person the world, or at least this island has ever seen!" the words came from a bunch of speakers around the room, and recorded cheering started playing. "And here to face her is Perseus Jackson. Our newest punching bag. I mean participant. He is still untried, and untested" Connor hit a button and the area door opened
We stepped into the arena
Connor continued in his announcer's voice. " Rules are thus: no killing or maiming. The first person to get knocked unconscious, leave the arena, be at his enemies mercy, or have his opponent's sword touch him losses. Get ready." I stepped into fighting stance, and saw Piper step into a different, but similar stance. "On your marks, get set, FIGHT!"
A/N: So I hope you liked it. FYI: I am going to edit the prolouge, but I won't change anything important so you won't need to reread it. Please Review, and tell me what you think! ;}
-Clefspear