Chapter 22: In my time of dying
It was time. Jaeden and I knew what was coming, and we both knew that this alliance would soon come to an end. I didn't expect that my friends would catch up to us so soon. Jaeden said that Nox would probably keep them busy for a while but obviously she failed. Now I had to deal with Luke, and I had to show them all a side of me they didn't think I had. I couldn't back down though, I couldn't let them stop me. What I was doing was wrong, and we all knew it but I knew I could handle it, and at the end of the road I would be rid of Colt and the world would be rid of Jaeden. Of course I wasn't the only one that was confident. Jaeden probably knew that I was planning to take him out as soon as he ended Colt's existence, how liberating that would be. That wasn't where my attention was going now though. First I had to get what we came here for. The staff of Hecate, the ultimate weapon for sorcerer's like Jaeden. I didn't know what his power was going to be like once he had that thing, I was sure that even with it I could beat him though, I had to. If I didn't then all I had done to get here was for nothing and more importantly I would have put camp in great danger.
The old Salem country club and golf course was completely empty, and not as hard to get into as I had thought. For a private club this place's security was rubbish. Then again most security companies weren't prepared for sorcerer's and demigods so my ability to shadow travel might have made it seem like rubbish. If you had told me that a golf course would be the final stage in the story of Colt I wouldn't have believed you but it seemed like it would be. I knew Jaeden couldn't be trusted but his word on the Styx to lift my curse couldn't be broken so Colt's existence would end here. He probably knew that, but he was awfully quiet. He didn't seem worried at all and that worried me. Maybe he knew that there was no point in fighting, neither me nor Jaeden nor Colt could break the oath to the Styx. Even if Colt took over and wouldn't given Jaeden the staff he would be dragged down to the Styx with me. It was checkmate. Jaeden and I walked across the grass of the course to where the staff was hidden into the darkness. I wondered how Jaeden could know the exact location of the weapon that my father hid centuries ago but it didn't matter. It wouldn't change the outcome of this event.
"Here we are." Jaeden said. He stopped at the top of one of the many hills in the course. I had to swallow some doubt and fear before I could say anything.
"We both know that once our oaths have been dealt with this alliance of ours is over." I said. I didn't think Jaeden ever believed otherwise. I also thought that we were both convinced that we would come out on top, of course only one of us would walk out of here.
"May the best man win." He said that with the same smile he wore on the day I met with him in the big house at camp half-blood, that seemed so long ago. If I lost this fight, I would never see it again, I knew that was the risk I took. But if I didn't take it Colt would be unleashed on the world again and that was something I couldn't allow either. I truly believed that this was the best of two evils. Without saying a word I disappeared into the darkness, ready to reclaim the weapon Jaeden desired. I was in exactly the right place. How Jaeden knew, I couldn't have known. Before me was the staff of Hecate. A long weapon, part staff part celestial bronze blade. The top of the staff was formed like a claw around a red glowing orb, I could feel the power radiate from it. It was the same kind of power I felt around the presence of gods. This was less intense but it was the same feeling nonetheless. I reached out for it, trying to grab a hold of but it pulled away. I knew this was my father's doing. This was his realm and the staff was his to keep safe. He wasn't going to let it go that easily. I tried to reach further and grab it, again it moved further away from me. I stepped forward, but I felt the darkness grabbing a hold of me, trying to keep me from the weapon. I pushed further going against the might of the darkness. The darkness got a tighter grip on me with every step that I took. I figured in the light it would appear as a tendril or a shadow but whatever grabbed me was part of the darkness and didn't look any different from the rest of the scenery. I couldn't let the darkness stop me, I had to push on, I couldn't let anything stop me! I pushed towards the staff one last time and this time the grip that the darkness kept on me was gone. Either my father had given up fighting or the defences he had put up had been beaten. I didn't care either way. I had tit, the staff was in my hands, and with a flash it had left the darkness after centuries of captivity.
Jaeden looked stunned when I returned, his eyes were fixated on the staff I held in my hand. I wondered how long he had dreamed of this moment. By the look in his eyes I was pretty sure that it had been a long time, maybe his entire life.
"It's magnificent." He said, his old looking eyes were fixated on the orb on top of the staff.
"It's just a relic." I said as I handed him the staff. For a second his eyes turned to me with a destructive look in them. As soon as he grabbed the staff I knew that my oath to the Styx had been fulfilled, now it was his turn.
"Angel don't!" I heard Sophie's voice. They'd found me. I was hoping that I could fight Jaeden alone. Just the two of us, but now my friends were involved. I didn't expect them to turn around and leave when I beat Luke but I hoped that they wouldn't find us here. "He's a sorcerer! He owes no oaths to the Styx." I figured she knew that I'd make him swear his part of the deal to the Styx but what she said confused me. Even the most powerful beings in this world couldn't break an oath to the Styx, so Jaeden's oath was going to have to be fulfilled. When I turned my eyes back to Jaeden I knew that I was wrong. He had that smile again and I knew that that meant that I was doomed. He pushed the staff towards me and the force that came from it pushed me back at least ten feet. I landed on my back and all the air was pushed out of my lungs as my body slammed on the ground. "Angel!" I saw Sophie running towards me. Luke and the other quickly followed but Sophie was ahead by at least fifteen feet ahead. Jaeden smiled again and smashed the staff on the ground. Between Sophie and the rest of the group a wall of fire was summoned. It burned in a circle around the three of us trapping Sophie and me with Jaeden.
"You made a mistake thinking that I would give you anything in return Angel. You made me all powerful and relied on an oath to Styx to be your life saver? You're a fool Angel." He pointed to staff towards a me again, this time he lifted me from the ground into a levitation just above the ground. With him just a bit higher on the hill we were on exactly the same height. "Now you're going to die for that mistake." Just as he was ready to finish me off Jaeden was struck by a dagger in his shoulder. For a second I thought it was Sophie, but when I looked behind Jaeden I saw Misty Blue, and Paxton Avery. She was the one that threw the dagger and Jaeden knew.
"Don't hurt Colt! Or Angel, or whoever he is!" She said. The childish attribute she had was shown even now that she was so close to her death. Jaeden was going to kill her for this, there was no doubt about it and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"Paxton get out of here." Jaeden was still staring at the dagger in his shoulder, he was apparently shocked that he was hurt but he didn't seem in pain. There was absolutely no emotion on his face. Then his expression showed, it couldn't be described as anything but pure rage. He pushed me back another five feet before turning to the two girls that had just entered the fray. With a swing of his staff Paxton's neck twisted, I could hear it crack from where I lay on the ground. Suddenly I was taken over, as soon as the realisation of Paxton's death hit Colt he took over. I had never felt his presence this strongly.
"NO!" He cried out as he went for Jaeden. I had never seen such an miscalculated move from Colt. He didn't even have a weapon drawn. He just charged. Jaeden saw him coming and before the blade on the staff of Hecate pierced the second layer of skin I was back. I had been stabbed before. In my shoulders more than once, even in my side and legs, but never like this. The blade had pierced my gut, right into all of my vitals. It didn't hurt, I just felt the cold bronze in my body, but there was no pain. Jaeden pulled the blade upwards, cutting up more vital organs now it hurt. He kicked me off his blade like a rag doll and before I hit the ground I knew I was done for.
Sophie ran towards the lifeless body of the son of Erebus, she couldn't believe what she just saw. Angel was gone. He couldn't have survived that. She knelt down beside him, Jaeden was close and he could kill her too if he wanted to but she didn't care. Her eyes were focused on Angel's corpse. His dark eyes were open, staring into the air like there was something interesting up there. He was dead, his blood was on her hands, she couldn't save him. She looked at Jaeden, the monster that killed him. He didn't show any emotion. He wasn't happy, he wasn't angry or anything else. This was nothing compared to what he was going to do, but it was all he needed to do. The demigod champion Angel was no more and the others knew his power. "I'll give you and your kind seven days, to prepare for what's coming." Sophie looked at him burning with rage but she couldn't do anything, she had to take this message to Chiron, to camp, she would die a pointless death if she died here. "If the daughter of Ares you have locked up isn't free by the third day your lives will end the fourth. If you let her go before that, seven days and then you'll die. Your camp will burn and your people will die. Just like you killed my people." After he said that the flames extinguished, and then he was gone. Sophie looked at Angel again. She wanted to scream but there was no sound. Just tears running over her cheeks.
"You weren't supposed to die like this." She whispered to a dead man. "Jake never said you'd die like this."
"And he was right." She heard a man say. A man with dark hair and dark eyes appeared next to her. He looked like a homeless man with his ragged clothes and long and untended beard but she knew who he was. She could feel it, and she had seen him before.
"Erebus?" He didn't answer, but he immediately tended to his son's body. His hands went to the wound and he laid them over it. Shadows crawled from the entire course to Erebus's hands. Sophie didn't understand what was happening. She just hoped that it would bring him back to the world of the living. The shadows crawled into his wound and were shaped to his organs and skin until the darkness had filled up the wounds and left nothing but a cut of pure black shadow surrounded by white skin.
"Now breathe."
The first thing I heard was my father's voice. I didn't understand how that was possible. I knew I died. I knew that because I remembered seeing Jaeden before I did. I was gone and now I was back. The second thing I remember after returning was something completely unexpected. Sophie could have done a lot of things to express that she was happy I was alive, she could have hugged me, smiled or she could have just said so. Instead she kissed me, which even though it was unexpected was a dream come true. It was even better than it was in my dreams though. Of course it didn't last long. Before the kiss ended I was dragged to my feet by Luke who didn't look particularly happy.
"Do you know what you've done! You've doomed us all!" I knew that Luke was right. Jaeden had the staff and was going to destroy camp, he was probably on his way now.
"Let him go Luke, he made a mistake but there's time to fix it. We've got seven days, and that's all we need. We can beat him!" Sophie was optimistic, she had also seen what he could do but she still thought that there was something we could do. I wasn't so sure about that. He was stronger than anything I could have imagined. That's when I remembered, Paxton. I broke Luke's hold over me and without saying a word I walked towards Misty Blue and the dead Paxton Avery. I wondered if my father could save her like he saved me. Using the cold darkness I could feel in my gut but I doubted it. Even if he could I doubted that he would.
"Are you all right?" It was a stupid question to ask but I didn't know what else to say. I looked over Paxton's body and as I did I could feel Colt screaming. I had never felt him do anything like it. It was like he actually care about this girl. If I didn't feel it myself I wouldn't have believed it.
"I'm fine...but Paxton is..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. She was just staring at her dead body and she had been ever since Jaeden broke her neck. "I shouldn't have taken her here." When she said that a question I hadn't asked myself before rose up.
"How did you know where I was?" It might not have been very thoughtful asking her that now but I had to know.
"I took her into the darkness, she thought it would be cool. Then I heard someone's voice and it told me to come here and then..." I knew what happened next. I had seen it just before I died. It was weird realizing that I had died but I was dead, for a while at least. My death didn't worry me now though. It was hers that I wanted to know about. Before I could get any answers though I felt something...something powerful was coming near. It was a feeling I had felt before, when I met Hades the first time.
"What did you do Erebus!" The lord of the Underworld ignored all the demigods and went straight for the lord of darkness. He looked furious, and even though Erebus was older, I didn't know if he could stand against Hades. "You broke the rules!"
"I did nothing that wasn't meant to happen. He wasn't meant to die here and you know it." Erebus said. I knew that this was about me. Erebus brought me back from the dead and Hades wasn't too happy about that.
"He died, and the dead must remain dead. You shouldn't have brought him back." Hades looked like he was ready to cut Erebus' head off but I doubted that that was even possible. Gods fighting each other was a weird concept as neither of the two could actually die.
"I just carried out the will of fate. You know exactly what will happen if this boy dies. What it might set in motion, no one wants that." Hades stared at Erebus, you could see the wheels turning in his head. He knew that my father was right, but a god like him wouldn't admit that very soon. He turned away from my father, and I figured it was over with but now he turned to me.
"Michael...you should be in my realm. Now as you're just another insignificant piece of the puzzle I won't put you there myself but know that you do not belong among the living, and I won't be kind when you finally join the dead." He disappeared. I don't know if fear is the right way to describe the feeling I felt, but knowing that Hades wanted me dead didn't make me feel very comfortable.
When I looked around me I saw nothing but broken people. I don't know if any of us could fully grasp what just happened. I saw Sophie, the girl that just kissed me. She was obviously shocked by the appearance of Hades but there was something else, something I couldn't put my finger on. Then I saw Luke, my best friend. Maria was next to him, she just seemed happy that for now it was all over. Luke didn't seem happy at all. He glared at me as if he was ready to attack me again. Max just stood there, as indifferent as he always seemed. Finally there was Misty, who barely seemed to have noticed that the lord of the underworld had been among us. She just cried silently.
"Her death wasn't your fault girl." Erebus said. I actually didn't expect him to say anything, or to care at all about her pain. Honestly I wouldn't have expected him to save my life, but he did.
"It was!" Colt said with a mix of pain and anger. "You shouldn't have brought her here, now she's dead because of you!" He yelled at Misty. Everyone seemed to notice that I was gone as they all drew their swords and got ready to strike. Misty just stood their staring at Paxton's dead body, and with tears running over her cheek.
"Colt!" Erebus yelled, When he said that name with fury the night seemed to turn even darker. "That's enough." He said with a calm tone. "I think these children have been through enough for today."
"There's a lot more coming Erebus and they should know it. When Jaeden strikes there will be nothing they can do. They will be crushed, and I will enjoy watching them burn!"
"That day isn't today. Today you should mourn your girl's loss and calm down." Colt didn't want to. I could feel it and everyone else could see it but for some reason he did. I returned as if nothing had happened. Erebus looked at all of us.
"There's a lot that needs to be done., and a lot of it is up to the six of you. You should go, prepare camp half-blood for what's to come. I'll make sure that the second victim of Jaeden is brought to camp for a proper farewell." Erebus said. Sophie put her arm around Misty and led her towards the car that was parked about twenty feet from the burned green. We all walked in that direction. As I walked to the car I realised that I made a mistake not too long ago. Raine wasn't the one that killed Grace.
"Not you Angel." Everyone turned around to face Erebus one last time. "You're coming with me, the others go." I wondered what was going to happen, I wondered if doing what Erebus said was the right thing to do. I didn't want to abandon my friends again. I did what he said though, what else could I do. The others left, just like Erebus told them.
"What's going to happen?" I asked him.
"There's too much you don't understand about being a son of mine, it's about time we speed up the learning curve but first there is something you must see." The darkness surrounded me and I saw the visions of someone else's life. A life that affected mine, and had affected many others. The life of Jaeden Swift.