AN: Ok folks. This is the beginning of the end; or one end, at least. We'll see if y'all want more (And if you do, please tell me.) There's going to be a lot of plot coming up, so be prepared. I own nothing.
Camp Life, Chapter Eighteen
Sibling Arrivalry/Immolation
Another explosion sounds in the distance.
Then another.
And another.
"What are they doing?" asks Percy quietly, studying the towering profile of Mount Olympus.
His father shrugs. "Exactly what they did last time. They're going to pile the nearby mountains together, and use them to ascend Mt. Olympus and crush it."
The messenger is running full tilt through the Greek valley because he knows someone is after him. He can feel it.
He slides down into another ditch and uses the weeds to help pull him out of it. His hands and arms are scratched up, his shirt is practically transparent from sweat, and his legs are officially numb. He's been running for . . . for . . . for what? Well, a long time. He can't really remember.
But he can still feel those eyes on the back of his neck.
The messenger's name is Ngo, but that is neither here nor there, because in a few hours, he will be dead.
He climbs a small, rise, tripping on a rock at the top and sprawling. As he looks up, getting to his feet, he sees his destination. The Cave.
The Cave is only a small, smoothed-out hole in the side of a mountain, dark and inconspicuous. But it is one of only three other caves in the world: one in rural Kochi prefecture in Japan, one in the Arizona deserts traditionally inhabited by the Hopi Native Americans, and one on the extreme northern island of Svalbard in the Kara Sea.
Four veins in the earth that lead to one place: the essence of Gaea, the Earth Mother.
The messenger leaps to his feet, his strength rejuvenated by the proximity of his goal. His message is extremely important: Echelon had recovered a Doorway, and possibly used it, in eastern Brazil. The fact that the enemy in possession of such a powerful artifact, created by the Titan Krios, and possibly unique, was dire information that Gaea needed to know; and he couldn't risk anyone else finding out. She was not omnipotent or omniscient; merely very, very smart and unbelievably powerful.
He scrambles to his feet, his weary body groaning with the effort, his back aching and his neck stinging, and sets out for The Cave. As he tries to avoid a large bush, nearly collapsing again, he feels the stinging in his neck begin to throb, and curses in Vietnamese. He slaps the back of his neck, trying to squash the bug. His hand comes back with a white finned dart, its tip red with his blood.
He stares at it in stupefaction, then falls to the ground, convulsing.
Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Reyna, Piper, Clarisse, Chris Rodriguez, Thalia, and Grover meet in the large tent set up for this group: the commanders of the Greek-Roman Coalition Army. Poseidon hops into the comfiest chair, props his feet on the table, which holds a large topographical map of Mt. Olympus and it's surrounding areas, and beams at the teenaged leaders of his troops.
"Okay, boys an- Er, ladies and gentleman," he begins, clapping his hands cheerfully. "The time for waiting is now over."
This news is met with mixed reactions. Piper and Jason exchange grim looks, Percy and Reyna nod approvingly, Clarisse pumps her fist in the air and asks permission to go get her unit ready.
Poseidon chuckles. "Hold your horses, my dear, I meant that in a general sense." The horses on his Hawaiian shirt toss their manes and swish their tails. "We will attack at first light tomorrow, and of course, the vanguard is yours." Clarisse nods, looking excited (or like she has to pee).
"What are we going to do though?" Reyna asks. "I mean, we're going to attack, but what are our objectives?"
Poseidon beams at her. "That's a great question, bro!" He offers a fist bump. She stares at Percy, who shrugs weakly, as she accepts. "Sorry," he murmurs, "he gets like this sometimes."
"Our goals, homies, are threefold: we must kill or incapacitate all the giants, keep them from destroying as much of Mt. Olympus as we can, and close the Doors of Death. The Prophecy says seven Demigods, but clearly we have no way of knowing exactly who - though I have my suspicions."
The demigods exchange looks. Percy scowls at the mention of prophecies. Leo fidgets and plays with the bit of string and a few washers in his hands, creating a yo-yo absentmindedly.
"We are still waiting for Hades to get ready, but my sources tell me it shouldn't be much longer now. His army, and your friends with them, should be here in at least a couple of days; maybe sooner, maybe longer." He grins cheerfully, as though their much needed reinforcements aren't really too much to worry about.
"Well, that's all folks!" Poseidon leaps to his feet, giving them a thumbs up. "Anyone who wants to chill with me by the fire is totally welcome! I'll give you some seaweed pizza, even!" With one last dazzling smile, he bounds from the tent.
Silence reigns for a long moment. Then Chris speaks up. "Percy, bro, no offence," he says, sniggering, "but your dad's a nutcase. Even by our standards."
Everyone laughs and heads out, wondering what tomorrow will bring.
Micheal Yew waits a moment after the body falls to see if anyone is watching.
Nothing happens.
After about sixty seconds, he quickly disassembles the dart rifle and packs it into his backpack. Getting to his feet, he jogs down the hill to the fallen body of the messenger.
The little Asian fellow is staring up at the sky, his chest rising and falling slowly. Drool is leaking out the corner of his mouth.
Micheal reaches down and hoists the man onto his back. Setting off for the edge of the forests to the east, he gives the Cave an uneasy look as he jogs away.
The messenger, Ngo, wakes to find the sky dark and his limbs restrained.
Tight, chafing rope binds his wrists and ankles to the tree his back is against. His throat is parched and he feels queasy and light-headed.
A campfire is crackling merrily in front of him, the only light in a small clearing of pines. A pack is laying propped up against a tree nearby. Sitting before the fire, watching him curiously, is a young man.
The teen gets to his feet and smiles grimly. "Hey, you're awake. Excellent. I just want to ask you a few questions."
He pulls a serrated knife from his back pocket, and the messenger feels like fainting.
The Dining Hall of the Second Cohort is usually a quiet and orderly place, where officers and legionnaires alike can enjoy a warm breakfast, and maybe read the Senate Handbook for Proper Discipline or An Idiots Guide to Killing Greeks, and Anyone Who Looks Like One, after morning workout. It is a peaceful, studious place, with skylights that give the room a calming, cheerful aura.
Not anymore.
"Jesus Christ, you people are boring," says Lou-Ellen through a mouthful of toast-and-scrambled egg sandwich. With her free hand she flicks some egg at Castor three places down, who shouts at her to fuck off. A Captain of the Guard, passing the table, looks scandalized.
"I mean, seriously," the daughter of Hecate continues, swallowing, "What the hell do you do all goddamn day? Do pushups and run laps, then eat and read - what is that, an STD guide?"
Hank and Tony exchange glances.
"Um . . . no," says Hank carefully, keeping his hands where the insane girl across from him can see them, "No, we have squad drills and then Cohort drills after this, then lunch, then Individual Duties, and then - "
"Boring shit, in other words," Lou-Ellen sneers. She turns to Miranda, sitting next to her, and begins talking about girl stuff that neither legionnaire or Commander can follow.
A polite cough comes from their right. "I must apologize for my colleagues' . . . lack of tact. She was raised in a barn."
Tony and Hank glance over at the small, slight, well-dressed fellow sitting next to them. Gardner Peck sighs and reaches down to clean his glasses.
"Yeah, don't worry about Lou-Ellen," agrees Malcolm cheerfully, chomping down on bacon. "She's always like this. You get used to it."
Tony shakes his head. "She's completely insane," he says hollowly. "Are all Greeks this crazy? Or only some of you?"
Gardner and Malcolm blink, then roar with laughter, even the usually dignified son of Asclepius.
"Praetor Jackson isn't too crazy," Hank says fairly.
"No, Percy's pretty sane," agrees Malcolm, tossing a sausage into his mouth. "It's ones like di Angelo and Rust and Clarisse La Rue that you gotta watch out for."
"Which one is the tall guy with all the swords and stuff? Is that di Angelo?"
"Ah, no. That would be Rust."
Tony shakes his head. "How can he walk with all that crap hanging off him?"
"No idea, dude."
"Hey," Miranda breaks in, looking at Tony and Hank curiously, "What do you guys do for fun here? Do you have Capture the Flag?"
Hank frowns. "There's plenty of things. Chariot Racing, of course. We can get you a few tigers and lions from the cages if you want to fight them in the Coliseum. And we have War Games tonight."
Lou-Ellen and Miranda look at each other, then slowly smile. "War Games?"
"I wish they would stop doing that," growls Emily, rubbing her thumb in circles absentmindedly on her antique rifle. Her voice is muffled by the crash-crash-crash sound of swords and spears on shields. Even on the other side of the plain, the sound is like thunder. Very repetitive thunder.
Adalina nods tiredly. It's a little after five in the morning, local time, and the Greek plains are foggy and the moon is still well above the horizon.
The noise from the enemy army is briefly drowned out by the sound of another rock crashing down on the pile right next to Mt. Olympus. The Giant-made mountain is now a quarter the size of the Home of the Gods.
"Goddamn bloody Romans," mutters the Swedish girl, covering her ears. Matt, tall and blonde, gives her a comforting squeeze on her shoulder.
Ady sighs again. She knows what's really the matter with the Swedish girl, and it's not the cacophony of the demigod army on the other side of the plain. It's the man sitting fifteen meters away in the tent with Ana.
As if on cue, the tent flap opens and Ana strides out. To the casual observer she appears to be confident and unruffled, but Adalina knows better: the tight jaw and clenched fists are tell-tale signs that her sister wants to kill somebody. Painfully.
Ady glances into the tent before the flap closes and sees the probable targets of Ana's wrath: Hermann Goring and Adolf Hitler are seated at the table inside, arguing in rapid German. Well, Hitler is arguing and Goring is meekly agreeing, from the sound of it.
Ady quickly stands, motioning for Emily and Matt to follow her, and catches up to Ana. She'd really like to keep Emily away from Hitler as much as possible, because not only is the man an odious, arrogant little bastard, who would make anyone want to kill him, Emily has even more reason to want him dead (again): Hitler was, however indirectly, responsible for her beloved grandfather's disability; the loss of his legs courtesy of a Nazi artillery shell during the second World War. And their Mother had given Adolf to them as a gift, they couldn't allow him to be murdered straight off.
"What's the plan?" Ady asks wearily.
Ana opens her mouth, then closes it in frustration. She stops abruptly in the middle of the path; a group of cyclops carrying massive bundles of lumber hastily step around them. Ana doesn't seem to notice.
"Fuck it," she says finally, a grim smile sketching her face. "Let's just attack. I'm tired of that racket, anyways."
Matt, Adalina, and Emily exchange excited looks, and Ana adds, "Gather your units, and somebody send Wes to me. Whoever crosses the middle of the plain first gets extra loot."
She says it loudly enough that the monsters and soldiers around them can hear. An enormous roar goes up, and Ady can clearly see battle frenzy starting to take them. Matt claps his hands in excitement and sprints for his tent, dodging yelling monsters. Emily reaches over and grabs Adalina's hand, her blue eyes shining. "Good luck, love!" she says, and turns to find her troops.
Ady sprints for her own tent, wondering how she can find Atash and her troop leader, a cyclops by the name of Big Wrench (She didn't want to know how he'd earned that name) in time.
She races into her tent, a reasonably large affair with a table and chairs, a bed, and her trunk.
Sitting on her bed, looking utterly relaxed, is Micheal Yew.
On the deck of the Argo II, Percy watches Reyna gallop Scipio down the lines of Romans, arranged in two massive blocks, standing at attention. As she screams encouragement and orders, the Romans smash their spears and swords against their shields in a steady, intimidating rhythm.
On one side of the Romans are Clarisse and Ares cabin, all of them sitting comfortably in war chariots developed by Hephaestus cabin, led by Jake Mason. Bristling with spikes, pulled by animatronic horses with glowing red eyes and (So Percy had heard) flamethrowers embedded within their mouths. The chariots contained dozens of horribly lethal surprises and actually had folded up to fit easily in the Argo II's cargo bay.
On the other side of the Twelfth Legion, the rest of the Camp Half-Blood forces are setting up. Percy can see Chris Rodriguez and Will Solace in the front of the Campers' loose formation (Loose formation? Who was he kidding? They were just standing around!). Chris is palming his forehead as Will waves his arms wildly. Percy wonders for a moment what's going on down there, then shrugs to himself. He knows the campers will do fine.
Footsteps come from behind him, and Thalia steps up next to him. They say nothing for a moment as the sun rises slowly in the East. Then Thalia nudges his side gently, and he punches her shoulder, and they grin briefly. Jason steps up to stand beside his sister, and Annabeth, Rachel and Grover next to Percy.
No one says anything as they enjoy the moment, then Annabeth rests her head on Percy's shoulder and murmurs, "Kinda wish Nico was here."
Percy nods in agreement and Thalia chuckles. "That little punk," she says. "He'll get here, but not till the last minute, so he can look all stylish and stuff."
Everybody laughs, even Jason, who has no idea what they're talking about.
Percy takes a deep breath, then a step forward and nods at Kevin, Travis and Connor's little minion, who excitedly picks up a small red flag lying at his feet and waves it frantically. Reyna catches the motion and raises her arm in response. Scipio flaps his wings and takes flight and the Legion roars. Clarisse waves her spear, Maimer the Third, and Will and Chris give the Argo II thumbs up.
Percy glances down at Kevin, who looks back at him expectantly. Percy winks, and the boy gives him an ear-to-ear grin and reverently produces the Conch Horn from Camp Half-Blood from a case on the decking. He gives the son of Poseidon a hesitant look, but Percy nods and smiles encouragingly. The boy takes a comically huge breath and winds the horn.
The minute the call echoes throughout the demigods camp, the Twelfth Legion Fulminata begins to march forward. Clarisse's chariots begin to race for the enemy lines and The Greeks begin an untidy charge.
Percy draws Riptide and glances at Jason, who has his gladius in hand. "You coming?" he asks Thalia, who laughs at him and strides away towards the gangplank. Grover shoulders his cudgel and joins Coach Hedge, who's doing the Potty Dance of Battle Rage at the plank. Annabeth gives Percy a tight smile and says, "We'll be watching." He nods and blows her a kiss, grinning goofily, and she has to cover her mouth to hide her smile. "Take a hike, Seaweed Brain," Rachel says, rolling her eyes. "She needs to concentrate. On strategy and stuff."
Percy strolls down the gangplank and through the mini tent/wooden debris hut village that's sprung up here in the last few months, now deserted except for relief fighters napping. At the end of the makeshift dwellings he finds Travis, Connor, and Katie waiting for him.
"There you are, chief," says Travis cheerfully. "We were hoping to catch you before you left. Want a few battle buddies to watch your back?"
Percy grins. "Well, if this was capture the flag, my answer would be, no way in hell. But this - I'd be glad to have you."
They cheer and join him in marching towards the plains.
Lester pops up as Ana strides through camp. He's dressed in a black tuxedo, of all things, and his hair is slicked back. "What do you want, Les? I'm busy," she says over her shoulder as he tries to keep up with her.
"Actually, madam," he says in a deep voice, with a perfect British accent, "The name is Bond. Jam-"
"Lester."
" . . . Sorry . . ."
"What do you want?"
"Ah, so, I just wanted to know - you're going up the mountain?"
"Yes."
"And we're staying here?"
"That's right. Well, except for Wes. He's coming with me."
"Right, ok. I'll get my unit then, I guess - "
"Get out there, Lester." Ana's eyes go flinty. "The time for words is over."
She leaves him standing in the sand scratching his head, watching her go.
The first two to meet on the field of battle are Clarisse, in her chariot, and a very large, very fast Cyclops with a long scar marring its brutal face.
The cyclops dissolves with a single blow from Maimer, and within seconds two of it's brethren, and a large wolf belonging to Lycaon, meet a similar fate.
Then the rest of the Ares chariots barrel into the disorganized charge of monsters and wolves and demigods, and chaos reigns.
Will's first kill is a slobbering telekhine who is so hell-bent on reaching the Demigod army that he doesn't seem to notice when he has, in fact, reached the Demigod army. Will spears him in the throat with his sword, then bashes him out of the way with his shield. The telekhine, its saliva mixed with blood, falls away, revealing a very large, very angry Myrmidon with a club the size of Will's torso. But before he has a chance to react (read: run away) the fish-man goes down with an arrow in its throat. Kara, winking at him and pulling another arrow from her quiver, joins him as Vinnie kicks a smaller then average Telekhine in the midsection and stabs it through the eye with an arrow from his quiver.
"Just like old times," Will mutters, swinging at another monster.
"Admit it, big brother," says Kara, grinning impishly, "You missed this."
A few feet away Chris Rodriguez opens a dracanae's throat, and a shower of golden dust splatters all over Will's face.
"Not really."
Hazel's spatha sword cuts another monster down, then another. Frank, leading their squadron straight into a tightly packed group of monsters, glances over his shoulder to make sure she's okay, and she's tempted to smack him for it.
"Pay attention, you idiot!" she hollers at him as a trumpeting Myrmidon comes charging towards him.
Frank doesn't even look at the monster, he simply drives a massive fist into the fish-man's cheek, halting it's forward progress, and then smashes it into the ground with the same fist like playing Whack- a - Fish Man.
"I am!" He shouts back. "It's called multi-tasking!"
Hazel rolls her eyes and follows his lead.
Emily discharges her rifle in the face of a Roman demigod, then yanks the lever back, reloading the chamber. The Romans' friend comes at her, screaming at the top of her lungs, but instead of aiming and firing the Swedish girl jams the long bayonet on the barrel of her weapon into the girl's chest, ending that threat.
As the fighting swirls and undulates about her, she sees Matt locked in a struggle with a tall girl with blood-red armor and a large spear, while that weird Middle–Eastern kid, Atash, stabs a Greek in the eye with a long dagger.
Emily starts forward to help Matt, but before she can reach him, a tall boy with golden hair and a shiny sword in his hand steps between her and her half-brother.
Jason Grace eyes the rifle in her hands with a curious look in his eyes, then meets her gaze slowly. "Daughter of Gaea?" he asks.
Emily nods. "Son of Jupiter."
There's really nothing more to say.
Leo gets to about the middle of the fighting, the point where both armies are smashing against each other, when his troubles really begin.
He's already created a pretty pimpin' set of armor, if he does say so himself - lots of black, lots of interlocking plates - he looks like the most badass, scary, and Latin samurai ever. He has his hammer in one hand and the other ready to make a fireball. Basically, his whole demeanor pretty much screams, "Come at me, EVERYTHING!"
Unfortunately, the Fates apparently interpreted this to include that evil bitch Khione.
Now he's throwing fireball after fireball at her, just melting the stinging flurries of snow she's sending his way.
The problem with fighting gods, as many demigods, including Hercules, Percy Jackson, and Orpheus, have discovered, is not so much their destructive capabilities (Though these should never be discounted), because gods are hindered by the Old Laws and are very rarely able to bring their full might down upon any kind of mortal. Of course, generally speaking, an Olympian's full might is much more than is required to snuff the life out of a demigod, but the real problem with fighting an immortal is that they almost never get tired.
And so, Leo knows that in about twenty minutes he's going to run out of fireballs, and in about never Khione is going to run out of snow.
This is what he calls Bad Situations.
And if it continues, he knows he's going to be in a world of hurt.
"I kind of don't miss this."
"I hear you. This was way more fun when we were setting wells on fire and shit."
"So I'm thinking . . . after this is over - watch your left - maybe . . . maybe it's time to get our business started."
"Are you guys really having this conversation now? Right now?"
"Why not? It's a serious thing! This is a serious topic for us!"
"Besides, all you really have to do is watch Percy's face. It'll tell us when we're in trouble. Don't worry, Katie, I'll protect you!"
"I don't need protection."
"Jesus, Travis! Will you pay attention?! He nearly took your arms off!"
"I am, don't worry."
"How do you put up with this, Katie?"
"I hit Travis until he shuts up."
" . . . Oh."
Hank and Tony, released from their normal duties to show the Greeks around, take Miranda, Castor, Gardner, Malcolm, and Lou-Ellen around Camp Jupiter. After a few stops for ice cream and some gawking at the ghost people, they invariably end up at the Coliseum.
The massive building is just as large as the one in Rome, not that any of the demigods had ever been there to compare it. Unlike the one in Rome, it was in far better condition, having been continuously and lovingly cared for by whatever legionnaires had lost at War Games that week (As a matter of fact, Daniel Henson, a Praetor during the 80's, had attempted to create a Food-for-Work program to get begging Fauns off the streets of New Rome. This plan failed when none of the Fauns bothered to show up - it was much more comfortable, they claimed, to sit around on the sidewalks all day then to actually do work). On the sandy floor of the arena, Hannibal the War elephant was cheerfully rolling about and trumpeting while a hapless probatio attempted to give him a bath.
"Where'd you get the elephant?" Lou-Ellen asks, eyeing Hannibal curiously.
Hank frowns. "It was a funny thing, actually. A while back - before your time, Tony, I think - Reyna was leading a quest out in Oakland - not too far away, a short little thing. This was back when she was just promoted to legionnaire. Anyway, she happened upon this semi truck during the mission that was transporting these animals to a zoo, except it was like a prison truck, and poor baby Hannibal was starving in there with only a bit of hay. Ironic thing was, the company was called Kindness International. Long story short, she rescued Hannibal and brought him home."
"That's beautiful!" says Miranda.
"Yeah, gorgeous," mutters Lou-Ellen, but everyone ignores her.
"So," says Tony, grinning, "You guys want to see the lions? They're animatronic, so you can kill them without feeling bad, but they'll still eat you. They don't give a fuck."
"Sounds like fun. I was getting bored," says Lou-Ellen, yawning and hopping down into the arena. The others, save Gardner, follow her.
"I'll just watch, thanks," he mutters.
Jason tries to staunch the blood flowing from his leg with his free hand while keeping his Gladius between him and the blonde girl. He'd had no idea the girl would be this tough, though she is admittedly the worse for wear of the two of them. Blood from a scratch on his scalp begins to blind him, and he quickly uses his shoulder to wipe it away.
The girl is using her one good arm to keep that rifle in between his sword and her body. Her other arm is limp and motionless at her side, and he notices her left ankle is dragging.
She sneers at him, an unsettling sight thanks to the blood leaking from either corner of her mouth. "Better than you thought, huh?"
"A bit," says Jason absentmindedly, watching the rifle. She'd fired three times during the encounter, one of the shots resulting in the scratch on his temple. He's no expert, but that magazine doesn't look big enough to hold more than five or six rounds, so he'd just have to keep her from getting those last few off at him. Since her arm was busted, that seemed like a pretty good chance.
Stall, he thinks, and says, "So, uh . . . what's your name?"
She blinks, then snorts. "That's the best you've got, is it?"
"Pretty much."
She tries to heft her limp arm, and winces. "It's Emily."
"Emily, huh?" he murmurs, feeling around his back for another knife or dagger or something to give him a bit of an edge.
"That's what I said."
"I kinda expected something less . . . normal. More sinister."
"Sinister? You're the bad guys here."
"What?! No we aren't! You attacked us!"
"I really don't want to argue the historical precepts of this . . . I just want to kill you."
"You're doing a great job so far."
As soon as Jason says this he regrets it, because her mouth tightens in determination and his free hand is still empty. She whirls her rifle at him, somehow keeping it steady with only one arm, her finger curling around the trigger -
Then something crashes into her: a massive, snow-white stag with a magnificent set of antlers. Jason barely notes Emily's perplexed expression as she is hurled away.
There is now a small clearing around him and the stag in the forest of whirling combat, and as he hesitantly reaches out to pat the animals muscular neck, something tells him to turn.
Standing behind him, her head cocked slightly to the side, is a glowing twelve year old.
Icy cold snow stings Leo's side for several seconds before he manages to generate enough heat to dispel it.
He's in deep shit and he knows it. He doesn't have a chance of defeating a goddess in open combat anyway, even with his advantage, but the few campers and Huntresses who had tried to come to his aid had been discouraged by flurries of blinding, freezing flurries of snow crystals.
Khione sends another blast at him, laughing as he performs a clumsy somersault away from it.
"Ready to give up yet, little boy?" she asks, her beautiful face lighting up as he rises to his feet slowly. He has frost burns all over his arms and face.
"Not yet," Leo mutters, frantically grasping inside his tool belt for something - anything - helpful.
Zilch.
Just as his hand comes up empty, a horn sounds over the battlefield. Low and menacing, the sound makes Leo shiver. His hackles are up, as his Mom would have said. Khione looks up sharply, then stiffens.
She raises her hand and another blast of snow reaches out for him. He lifts his hand to throw a fireball and only gets a few wisps.
Tiny ice shards shred his hands and face, and he crumples. Blood begins to obscure his vision.
As his vision begins to fade to black, he hears Khione shriek in surprise and pain, and something whooshes over him at high speed.
Annabeth watches the battle from the prow of Argo II, focusing her binoculars on Percy's back. Inside the ships hold, they'd found a number of super fancy special ops binoculars with night vision and variable zoom and other gadgets, presumably packed by Rust, but Annabeth much preferred her beat up, bright blue bird-watching binoculars her dad had given her when she'd turned nine.
As she watches, Percy cuts through another wave of monsters with a single blow, enhanced by his newfound water abilities. Travis, Connor, and Katie are right next to him, watching his back.
An odd suction noise from behind her makes her whirl sharply.
On the deck of the ship, the air is warping and twisting, finally coalescing into a murky, shimmering aura.
As Rachel steps back and nervously lifts her knife, a figure steps from the vapor.
Nico offers them a wave and a smirk. "Miss me?"
Annabeth crushes him in a hug, followed by Rachel, as Drew Tanaka and Amanda Brooks step from the portal. Then a man she doesn't recognize appears on the planking.
Tall and scarred and wild looking, Orion the Hunter gives her a cursory glance and asks, "You in charge here?"
Annabeth hesitates, then squares her shoulders. "Yes, I am."
"Okay. I need this portal wider and I need a ramp big enough and strong enough for a war chariot."
Annabeth snaps her fingers at a pair of her brothers, who immediately run off in search of wooden planks. Orion begins issuing orders as more and more dead people arrive on board the Argo II.
"Where's Rust?" the daughter of Athena asks Laurel, who is peering down at the war-torn plain with interest.
"He was here," she says, looking back around the deck. "I don't know where he went."
"Probably went down there already," says Drew, rolling her eyes.
Jesse appears out of nowhere, hugging her tightly around the middle, and she laughs, squeezing him back.
Then Luke Castellan steps from the Doorway, flanked by Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf, and Annabeth goes numb with shock.
Rust barrels into the Snow Goddess at something like a million miles an hour.
She's strong, but she still goes tumbling into the dirt. He skids to a stop, pulling weapons from his coat with either hand - a tomahawk in one hand and a sawed-off in the other.
Even with her face in the dirt, she catches the tomahawk in her hand and rolls away from the scattershot.
Steven glances over at Valdez's fallen body and grimaces, offering up a quick prayer to Apollo. The kid looks mangled, which is bad, because Steven is pretty sure he's important. Also, he'd quite liked him - a pleasant, impressionable young chap, to be sure, and Rust had always admired the capacity to create destruction like Valdez possessed.
As these thoughts flit through Rust's brain, Khione struggles to her feet, looking more like a bedraggled cat lady than an elegant princess.
The son of Aeolus reaches into his coat with his free hand and finds a 40 mm grenade. Firing the sawed-off at her left, he pulls the pin and tosses the grenade to her right.
Instead of staying in front of him like he'd hoped, she leaps straight up in the air and floats, using the snow to somehow stay aloft.
"Two can play that game," he mutters, and levitates until he's level with her.
Hades barely spares the Chase girl and her tearful reunion a glance. As his war chariot rolls out the portal, Nico steps up into the carriage and, with a nod from his father, winds Hades' war horn.
The mournful, menacing sound rolls over the plains. Hades smiles and ratchets up the Helm of Darkness, letting waves of fear buffet the enemy army.
Heracles salutes as he passes the chariot. Already dozens of undead warriors have charged down the ramp and into the chaos on the plain.
The god of the Underworld impatiently flicks the reins, urging his skeletal horses faster. He wants to hit something.
Percy is knee deep in dead, disintegrating monsters when Zoe Nightshade approaches him from behind, pats him on the back, gives him a smile, and strides into the carnage, pulling arrows from her quiver.
"What the fuck?" he says weakly.
Clarisse is pulling her spear from the carcass of one of those annoying sons of Gaea when something large comes crashing down at her.
As she picks herself up, she sees what hit her - that black-skinned Giant, grinning at her with blood-red teeth.
"Goddamnit," she snarls, reaching for Maimer. All she comes up with is the broken haft.
"Goddamnit."
Steven slams Khione into the ground again. "You gonna get up again?" he calls, wishing he feels as confident as he sounds.
She hisses in fury; no more taunting now. She pulls her beautiful sword from its sheath and hops back into the air.
Steven tosses another grenade at her, using the air to hurl it towards her st super speed. The explosive crashes into her and knocks her into the ground. Again.
Rust decides to press his luck and drops to the dirt next to her. As she props herself up on her elbows to stand, he grabs her by the hair, yanks her head up - it takes all the strength in his arm - and slams a dagger into her throat.
It doesn't penetrate, and she meets his eyes with a look of hatred and swats him in the stomach. He flies twenty yards away.
As he gets to his feet, she's already standing over him. Khione grabs his neck with one hand and his ankle with the other, about to rip him in two, when -
"I decided I didn't want your phone number after all."
Almost puzzled, she turns to see Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, standing behind her, exhausted and bloody, his body still frozen and burned. His outstretched hand is pointed at her.
Fire rockets from his palm and immolates the goddess of snow. Her body shields most of the flames from Rust, who presses his sawed-off to her chest and pulls the trigger. The celestial bronze scattershot blows half her torso away. Golden ichor splashes everywhere, and her grip on him relaxes infinitesimally. Taking advantage of her momentary weakness, he jams his prosthetic left arm into the cavity left by his shotgun and rips her heart away.
"Thanks for the metal arm, bitch," he hisses into her face.
Khione shrieks. Before he can really register what happened, he's lying in the dirt, Valdez is nowhere to be seen, and Khione, her chest leaking ichor, starts to glow.
"Oh fuck," he says, and rolls onto his stomach and covers his head.
Percy is back-to-back with Albert Eienstein when something explodes off to the south with the force of a five - megaton nuclear bomb.
He uses all his strength to blow away the telekhines and hellhounds facing him, then turns to the German-American mathematician (and monster hunter) and yells, "What was that?"
Einstein shrugs and dispatches a cyclops with a single cut. As they continue fighting, Percy notices Graytion, the massive giant, shrieking and squealing and falling as Clarisse and Pan, god of the Wild, stab him with random discarded weapons (Clarisse) and strangle him with thick vines (Pan).
Heracles and Achilles overtake Percy and Einstein and begin smashing deeper into the Giant army's ranks. As Percy takes a quick breather, the fighting undulating around him, Nico appears next to him.
"Sup."
"Hey."
"How's it going?"
"Not too bad."
"Annabeth said Travis and Connor were with you?"
"They went to go pick on those myrmidons over there. Al's watching my back."
"Oh, gotcha. Tell him hi for me. You seen Hazel?"
"She's with Frank somewhere. I haven't seen them."
"Alrighty. I'm gonna go find her. See you later."
"Later, dude."
"They're starting to retreat," says Diana, hopping up onto her stags back to peer over the fighting. Jason doesn't know why she doesn't just grow twenty feet or so, but he's certainly not about to say anything about it.
"Er . . . yes, milady," he says cautiously.
She glances over at him. "Why so glum, little brother?" she asks cheerfully.
He blinks. "Uh . . . I don't know. 'Cause there's a war?"
"I like wars,"says Diana brightly, hopping from the deer and punching him playfully in the arm. "They're fun."
As his entire right side goes numb, Jason can only stare at the slightly glowing twelve year old whom he supposes is actually his older sister (By a few millennia).
"Sure," he says weakly.
Steven Rust opens his eyes and wonders why he isn't standing in Charon's lobby.
He's still laying on the dry Greek dirt, and his body still hurts all over. Raising his head, he finds the god of the Sea sitting next to him in a beach chair sipping tequila and lemonade.
"Hey there," says Poseidon cheerfully.
"Er . . . hello, sir. I thought I was dead, actually."
"No, no, I got here in time to stop her from incinerating you. Not that other boy though, I'm afraid."
Rust winces, and looks down. That was two friends lost in two days. Neither of them his fault, but still. He has a feeling Valdez would have perished anyway, even without Khione assuming her true immortal form. His wounds had looked terrible.
"I guess the fighting is over, sir?"
"Oh, more or less. We've taken the plain and we'll reach their camp in a few minutes. They're fleeing up the mountainside."
"Are they still trying to knock the mountain down? Sir?"
"Oh, yes. They've stopped for the moment, but I'm sure you'll start hearing them soon. Are you ready to head back, boy?"
Rust takes a deep breath, offers a prayer for Leo, and gets to his feet. "Yes, sir; I'm ready."
As her much-depleted forces begin to refill the camp, Ana, Wes at her side, pushes monsters aside, searching for one of her siblings. Any of them.
The first she finds is Emily, unconscious but alive, being transported on a stretcher by a pair of dracanae. "Take good care of her," she snaps at them, and continues.
A minute later Adalina's dirty, scratched face appears in the crowd. "Where is everybody?" Ana asks, grabbing her sister by the shoulder and ducking into the nearest tent.
"Matt's dead," the Spanish girl answers hoarsely. "Emily's hurt, I haven't seen Hayden or Elizabeth. Lester is fine, last I saw. And Graytion's dead."
Ana grimaces. "I've got two legions into the mountain passes already. If you aren't hurt, grab some soldiers and head up there."
"Right, okay," says Adalina, nodding tiredly.
Ana nods and exits the tent. "Wes, go find Lester and start heading up the Mountain. We need to find the entrance as quick as possible."
"Okay," says Wes bravely, and runs off.
Ana looks up at the orange afternoon sky and sighs.
Percy leans back in his chair and sighs slowly when Annabeth curls into his lap and tells him the news.
"Kara and Will are trying to heal as many of them as they can, but we still lost over a hundred total. Most of them were Romans, a few Hunters. Thalia's friend Phoebe didn't make it, and Travis, Hazel, and Reyna are all really hurt."
Percy nods grimly. "Okay. How are . . . how are Jason and Piper?"
"Not good."
Percy closes his eyes and squeezes her tighter.
"Hades and Nico are leading the dead army against the Giant camp right now," she murmurs, "But I expect it's nearly deserted. They're going to retreat into the foothills and passes."
Percy nods, then leans down to kiss her before she can keep talking strategy. They both need rest.
"Come on, Wise girl," he whispers. "We'll deal with it in the morning."
She nods against his chest, and then her breathing evens out into sleep almost immediately.
"Goodnight, sweetheart," he says into her hair, and closes his eyes.
Lily Mérida stamps her foot impatiently. "I'm serious! I've been waiting here for like six hours!"
"We've been waiting for twenty years," an older gentleman ventures from a couch near the reception desk.
Lily whirls on him. "Shut up, you!" She glares back at her current obstacle.
Charon looks unimpressed with her shouting. "I don't care who you are or how long you've been waiting, little girl. No fare, no passage."
"But I'm like, a veteran or something! It should be complimentary!"
"If I had a dime for every time someone used that - well, I'd have made a lot more boat trips."
"But I'm fighting the Giants, who want to kill you! And another thing, why the hell am I in the Greek hell? Shouldn't you be in your Roman form?!"
"This is my Roman form."
"But it's exactly the same!"
"So?"
"So - so - it should be different!"
Charon opens his mouth to reply, but instead stiffens.
"Hey, kiddo," says a voice behind her, and Nico's hand gives her shoulder a squeeze.
"Hi, Nico," she says without turning "Will you tell this numbskull - "
"Yeah, I got this. Go on through."
Lily gives him a hug and a peck on the cheek, tells him to tell everyone hi and goodbye from her, and strides into the back towards Charon's ferry without looking back.
Charon turns his baleful gaze on Nico.
"I really, really, really - "
"Yeah, yeah. Save it for your captive audience. You're going to have a lot of people coming in here in a minute. They all ride free."
"What?!"
"Dad says."
"But I -"
"You really need to work on your labor re-negotiation tactics."
"I hope you - "
"Later, dude."
He disappears in a murky black flash. Charon stares at the air where Nico had just stood.
"I hate this job," he mutters.
AN: Whew! Holy Jesus! It's finally done! I really, really beg your forgiveness for the lateness of this chapter. I had to really make sure I nailed it. Also, it's 27 pages, which is 7 pages more than the next longest chapter, so. Next time is going to be crazy. Reviews, comments, what have you, are really, really appreciated. Thanks everybody! Chalk out!
Next Time: As Demigod forces begin to scale Mt. Olympus, and the Giants continue to try and crush it, Percy, Jesse and company run into hard times. Good thing Poseidon has a few tricks up his sleeve, such as General Tyson, General of the Cyclops army and Commander of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Can you say, "TYSON SMASH!"?