Chapter 6: Light and Dark
Percy POV
I was aware of the other wrath hunters getting to their feet, but I stayed on the ground. The sudden impulse that had overwhelmed me to destroy Achlys had abruptly dwindled. The thoughts of my friends dying were holding me back. One decision was that I didn't have to add them on my team…but I've never faced a monster without one of them. Facing possibly one of the strongest monsters of history, how could I face it without my friends? They could die…what was I thinking when I accepted the request? Well, I could back out now…but something didn't let me. Memories of losing Tyson kept coming back to me…
"Percy," Winter whispered.
I was so lost in thought; I hadn't noticed Winter getting back down.
"Achlys is a strong monster, extremely strong, if you must say. But, you are a son of Poseidon-the son of one of the strongest gods in the world. One cannot face her if they do not have confidence. Someone else may substitute you, but if one of the strongest half-bloods at camp backs out of this, do you think they'll face Achlys with the faith they might've had? You have the power to face Achlys and there will be many people supporting you. I don't know why you want to hunt Charybdis' daughter, but I know you won't back out of it, whatever it is that makes you want to quit," Winter said, "Your decision is clear, Percy, the choice is how you are going to go into it."
He slowly got to his feet, obviously ignoring the suspicious whispers of the other campers. Then, the campers started to move out of the way for someone.
"Hey, Tyson," a camper said, "What's going on?"
"We finished the cabins!" Tyson said clapping his hands, "Hello, Percy! What's happening?"
"Percy…is going to fight a monster," Grover said.
"Can I help?" Tyson asked, eagerly, "Explode monster boom time!"
Seeing Tyson enthusiastically talking about exploding monsters, reminded me of not only the bad times, but also the good memories of fighting monsters with my friends. Winter was right; a lot of people would be helping me. If my friends were helping me, I would be able to do better than I ever could. Feeling better, I got to my feet. I glanced at Winter. It was as if he had read my mind. He had his arms crossed and he wasn't looking at me. Well duh…he's blind.
"Do the wrath hunters agree to the oath?" Iris asked.
"Yes," the chorus of seven half-bloods said.
"The call is answered," Zeus declared, "Goddess Iris shall explain the rest of the matter to the wrath hunters."
The Iris message materialized in the wind.
"Each of the seven half-bloods must create a team to destroy their monster," Iris began, "In each team, must be one satyr. I will give each satyr a pithos." Iris held up an intricately decorated clay jar, "Each pithos contains the scent of each demigod-wrath."
"Hunters? Please choose a satyr to be on your team," she said.
I waved over to Grover. He nervously trotted over to my side, chewing a tin can while he was at it. I tried to put on a reassuring smile, even though I was nervous, too. Luckily, Grover's seemingly permanent jumpy expression slowly changed into small timid smile.
The others had a difficult time getting a satyr to join their team, since they didn't have a half-goat as their friend. Eventually, each of them managed to get a satyr on their team. The satyr on Queena's team was trembling so hard, I could see him shaking and I believed I could hear his teeth chattering. I didn't blame him-Queena was scary, demanding, and bossy. Sure, Winter was scary, too, but more in a silent way.
Iris beckoned the satyr on Winter's team to come forward. She handed him a dark green, black, and sapphire colored pithos. When the satyr held the jar, he started trembling. Winter asked the satyr something.
"The scent is so…so strong," I heard the satyr reply shakily.
"Grover," Iris said, "Please come forward."
I realized that six…pithi? had materialized next to Iris' feet. She bent down and handed Grover the next jar. It was pure ebony with swirls of azure.
"The scent is unbelievable," Grover whispered to me, "I've never smelled anything like it before."
"Is it like the boy's locker room at Yancy?" I asked innocently.
Grover's eyes widened, "It's much, much worse."
Okay, that really sucks. I'm glad I'm not a satyr. But Grover's and the other satyr's expressions got me wondering-exactly how strong are these wraths? I glanced at the crowd of demigods. Tyson was pinching his nose, his face contorted into a disgusted expression. Couldn't Cyclopes also smell monsters, too?
The other satyrs took the jars, each one with a frightened expression. I noticed, however, that none of them were shaking as terribly as Winter's satyr. Winter had taken the pithos into his own hands and his satyr was shuddering a bit less.
"Next, the wrath hunters must carefully select a team of demigods that will hunt the wrath with them. The team will be required to be ready in three days time and depart to track their wrath and destroy it. Of how you approach in destroying your wrath, it will be up to the hunters," she said, "I have done my task and must now depart. Good luck, half-bloods."
"Wait," I said, "Why did you come? You don't have to be here to deliver an Iris message."
"You see, Percy," she said, "That pithos are sacred to your mission. The gods put seven of them in my hands directly and put me of full responsibility of protecting them until the satyrs had them in their hands."
"Isn't that Hermes' job?" I asked, "Being the gods' messenger and all…"
"Lord Hermes is still busy settling the confusion and disarray of Typhon's destruction. It is an agonizing job, and I must go now to help Lord Hermes."
She whispered something in Chiron's ear and vanished with a swirl of rainbow mist.
"Please assemble a group of demigods, hunters," Chiron said, "Please use the next two days wisely to create a plan."
A plan-that would be Annabeth's job. I immediately went over to Annabeth and Tyson.
"You guys on my team?" I asked.
Tyson nodded excitedly. He had seemed to forgotten about the monster's foul stench.
"Of course," Annabeth said, "But what's up with all these people. And are those kids of Zeus and Poseidon?"
"Yep," I replied.
"What? How is that possible…?"
"Well, you know Nico and Bianca? How they got stuck in the Lotus Casino? Well, its Zeus and Poseidon put their kids there as well. The gods are kind of forgetful, and they didn't remember that they had kids in there until they promised to claim all of their kids."
"How many of the Big Three kids are there at camp?" she asked.
"Besides Tyson, I have two siblings: Nicholas Eston and Josie Vileguard." I pointed them out. "Besides Thalia, Zeus has five kids. There's Byron Rivers, Queena Karena, Ash Aslan, Jade and Alex Wong. Oh yeah, and Winter Shakler is the son of Hades."
"Was he also put in the Lotus Casino?"
"No, I don't know much about it, but people said he was kept immortal in the Underworld."
"Wow," Annabeth mused, looking around, "I really haven't been around for such a long time."
"Tell me about it," I muttered.
"What?" she asked.
"Huh? I didn't say anything."
"Yeah, right. You…
"Hello?" Tria said, coming from behind me.
"Oh, hey, Tria," I said, relieved I didn't have to argue with Annabeth anymore, "This is my friend, Annabeth. They're Grover and Tyson."
"It's nice to meet you all," she said.
"You have pretty eyes," Tyson said.
Instead of being disgusted she smiled and said, "Thanks."
Annabeth looked questionably at me.
"Tria is a new camper…like she arrived at camp an hour ago," I said.
"I was wondering if I could join your team to hunt Achlys," Tria asked abruptly.
"What?" I asked.
"Why?" Annabeth asked suspiciously.
"Well, I remember how to use these knives," she said, gesturing at the weapons, "But I don't remember…well, anything. If I fight a few monsters maybe I'll regain some of my memories…I don't know..."
Shoot, how could I turn down a request like that? It was my fault she got hit on the head in the first place.
"Why do you want to be on our team? There are plenty of other teams to join," Annabeth said.
"I don't really know anybody," Tria said nervously, "Percy showed me around camp, so he's really the only one I know."
"What's that you said about losing memories?" Grover said.
"I don't…remember anything," she said carefully.
Grover, Tyson, and Annabeth stared at me.
"I'll explain it later," I said quickly, "But, sure. Tria you can join our team."
"Thank you, I…" Tria started.
"SHUT UP, PINECONE FACE!" Queena interrupted.
"She's Queena, right?" Annabeth asked.
"Yep."
Wait…Pinecone Face? Oh shoot, Queen and Thalia were fighting…again. A horrible flashback of demolished buildings crossed my mind. I ran over to the screaming girls, not even sure of what I would do.
Timoleon POV
"It seems they're starting to plan our deaths, eh?" Idylla said.
"No shit, genius," my sister, Alice muttered.
"Don't be so mean," Alcander said.
"They're such a noisy bunch," Proteus muttered, "Two of the wrath hunters are already fighting each other. Do they really think they have the discipline to kill us?"
"'Course they do," Melanie replied, "Why else would they be sending a call?"
"Should we go on with the original plan?" I asked, "After all, there are people after us now. I don't think we'd make it on time."
"We're strong enough to eat…kill them all, Timoleon," Idylla said.
"Call me Leon," I said.
"Sorry, I forgot."
"What do you think, Proteus," Alice asked, ""You're captain after all."
"I'm not sure, Alice. What do you think, Obelix?" Proteus asked.
Obelix dug a hole in the beach with his sword.
"There are a lot of demigods," Obelix remarked, "It all of them come to the seven of us, we might be in trouble. We should separate-go where they would assume we would be."
"Our birthplaces?" Alice asked.
"That means I'll be going back to dad's ranch," Melanie said, "I miss those cannibalistic horses."
"Alice and I can't go back to our mom," I said, "Skylla would eat us."
"Go to an island near it, then," Obelix said, "Proteus, do you know where to go? Since, you know…"
"Yeah, I'll find a place."
A flash of lightning appeared in the puddle of water on the ground. Through the water we could see what was going in the camp of demigods that were trying to kill us.
"They're really fighting now," Melanie said, "They're even using their Zeus-iness powers to try disintegrating each other."
"Doesn't he look like Proteus?" Alcander said.
"Who?" I asked.
"Boy who steal Daddy's wife. Is he called Prissy?"
"Percy," Proteus corrected, "His father is also Poseidon."
"That girl on his team…Tria? Doesn't she also kinda look like you, Proteus?" Melanie asked.
I peered closely at the girl with silver-green eyes. As far as I saw, I couldn't see the resemblance.
"She doesn't look anything like Proteus," Idylla said, "You're hallucinating, Melanie."
Proteus said nothing, and he looked bored.
"We should separate now," Obelix said, "If you meet the demigods sent to kill you, take the pithos with your scent and burn it. After you're done, meet over here."
He drew an 'X' on the sand.
"We can't kill them?" Idylla complained, "I haven't eaten human in such a long time."
"It isn't necessary," Obelix said.
"Obelix," Proteus said, "If they don't understand why we are revolting, why should they have the right to come and kill us?"
"They think of us as monsters, Proteus! They don't actually know who we are. The gods are deceiving the hunters. We can't actually blame the demigods that are coming to try to kill us. The deities basically commanded them to do so."
"They look forward to killing us," Proteus hissed, "And if they kill us, you know some of us won't see the face of Earth again. You, Obelix whose mother is human, will be one of the ones who would stay in the Underworld forever if they manage to kill you."
Obelix flinched. Proteus' voice was dangerously tense. Behind his sunglasses, his chilling eyes glinted with frightening light.
"If they are so shallow as to kill us with delight, and not realize the painful and true reason we hate the gods-they don't deserve sympathy!"
Proteus turned to us. "If the half-bloods approach you…"
He unsheathed his knife and sliced through the water connection. The image of the camp faded into the murky water.
"…kill them."