Hi! It's been so long since I wrote fanficiton! I'm really ashamed to admit that the first one-third of this chapter was written by Hazel because I didn't have time. But anyway, I followed the plots she came up with and finally finished this chap! I hope my writing skills haven't weakened because of my lack of practice. Next week, we're going to have a flea market at school. I'm super excited! Just imagine all the cool things I can get. I've heard one class will be selling Harry Potter things. I'm definitely not missing that one. Haha. :D
Well, let's just get to the point. Enjoy Chapter 9!
-Amber-
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson series.
Chapter 9 Landyn
July gulped at the sight at the bees, eye widening in fear. Aristaeus rose one of his hand slowly up into the air, as if about to give an order to kill.
"No, wait! Please!" I shouted. The god's arm stopped mid-air. He narrowed his eyes.
"Any last words?" He said coldly.
"Yes, please make a deal with us, my lord." I said, stealing a glance around us. I caught sight of a piece of glittering blue somewhere outside the woods. How far was it from here? 300 meters?
"Another deal?" July whispered in a strangled voice. I nodded at her assuring.
"A deal?" Aristaeus repeated suspiciously. His arm was back down, hanging by his side. I secretly let out a breath.
"That's right. We want to make a deal with you. How about this," I said in a hurry, "You set your bees on us and if we get away without any beestings, you tell us the information we need."
"What?!" July cried incredulously. "Set his bees on us?"
But the god of beekeeping roared in laughter. "You have guts. I like that. But no one can escape from my bees."
"Well, then there's nothing to lose, right?" I said.
"No, there isn't." Aristaeus agreed. He thought for a moment, probably wondering if this was a trick. But in the end he said: "You have a deal. I'll count to 3 and I'll set my bees on you. If I were you, I'd run as far as possible can before that."
"1…" He started to count.
"Wait!" July interrupted. I whipped around and looked at her in surprise. Aristaeus stopped counting and looked at her too, slightly annoyed.
"Swear on River Styx." July said defiantly. "Swear on River Styx that you'll tell us what you did to Grover if we get away unscathed." I stared at her in admiration. Obviously she was still freaked out by the idea of a game with the bees, but she had made up her mind that she would play it. I could also sense that she was thinking about how Nico had made Python swear on Styx too in Underworld.
Aristaeus laughed again. "Oh you're careful, aren't you?"
"A friend taught me that." She replied, clenching her fists.
"Very well. I will make the oath, if that's your last wish." The god said generously.
"I swear on River Styx!" He said solemnly. "Satisfied, girl?"
July nodded. "You can start now."
"1…" Aristaeus boomed.
"RUN!" I cried and pulled July into a sprint.
"…2…"
I rummaged through my backpack frantically. "Don't put away your bow!" I shouted at July.
"…3!" Immediately, a deafening buzzing sound closed on. I could hear Aristaeus roaring in laughter behind us.
"Shoot it before it lands!" I called to July. We ran as fast as we could, avoiding crashing into trees at the same time.
"Shoot what?" She cried.
"Just shoot!" I shouted and turned around abruptly. July jerked into a stop too. I threw a plastic bottle filled with viscous liquid at the bees with all my might. July drew her bow and aimed at it. With a zap, she let loose and the arrow flew at the bottle. The bottle burst and honey spilled everywhere. Bees stopped following us and flew towards the sweet stuff instead.
"Keep running!" I urged and we ran. Halfway there! I thought.
"Landyn, it's not working!" July cried, her voice laced in panic. I bit my lips; I had foreseen that. But I had hoped it wouldn't come to that.
"Can your arrow pierce thermo bottles?" I asked.
"I think so. Whatever you're thinking, just hurry. The bees are closing in on us!" She replied.
I whipped out a thermo bottle out of my backpack and threw it at the bees. "Shoot!"I shouted. Another arrow zipped past. With a loud noise, the metal bottle blast open and "ice tea" splattered onto the trees and the ground. Nectar. The bees went crazy, totally forgetting about chasing us.
"Now, run to the lake!" I turned to July. She nodded with wide eyes. Together we ran and suddenly, we emerged out of the woods. We continued to run, dodging mortal families. They cried in surprise and then complained at we ran past. Suddenly, someone screamed behind us. The bees were back on track.
Just when the bees caught up with us, we jumped into the water, making a huge splash. Whoam-fshhhh.I opened my eyes with difficulty. Millions of tiny bubbles surrounded us, rocking upwards. When the bubbles disappeared, I could see July only a few feet away. She had her eyes shut tight and her fingers pinching her nose. Such a childish gesture made me want to laugh. Then, a beautiful girl's face appeared in the water next to me. More naiads with flowing hair floated to us.
"Are the bees gone?" I tried to ask, but only bubbles came out. I shut my mouth again. I couldn't hold my breath much longer and I doubted that July could either. Her face was red from holding her breath.
The naiads disappeared for a moment and when they came back, they nodded and smiled. They reached out and pulled us to the surface. When my head finally broke through the surface, I gasped and drunk down the air gratefully. July came up next time, spluttering and coughing.
"Are the devils gone?" She gasped.
I looked around, "Coast clear." I confirmed.
"Oh, thank gods!" She cried.
With the help of the naiads, we got onto the shore. I fell back onto the grass and panted. July dropped down beside me. People stared at us, naturally. Probably visitors weren't allowed to swim in the lake. Well, it was an emergency, wasn't it?
"I'm surprised your plan worked." July said feebly.
"And I'm surprised your head didn't burst down there." I joked.
"Well, it might if I stayed a little longer." She laughed.
"I'm impressed." A voice said. "Nectar?"
We scrambled to our feet. Aristaeus was standing behind us. Bees still surrounded him, but none of them bothered us.
"I didn't imagine you would use the precious Nectar as bait." The god said.
"Sometimes sacrifices must be made." I said.
"Yeah, at least the sacrifice wasn't a person." July muttered."Now can we know what happened to Grover?"
Aristaeus waved his hand and several nymphs appeared around us, wrapping us in fluffy towels. I didn't ask where they got the towels, but I had a strong suspicion that they were from the souvenir shops. After drying ourselves up briefly with the towel, the nymphs used large leafs to fan at us. Thankfully, the sun was hot, so we dried up pretty quickly.
"As I have told you, I captured Grover by the orders of Gaea." Aristaeus started to tell the story. "She also wanted me to kill him. But I was reluctant-"
"You were?" July blurted.
The god glared at her. "Yes, I didn't want to kill the satyr. I am a god of the nature, after all. I befriend all who are friends with nature."
July argued: "Then why did you listen to Gaea?"
Aristaeus glowered at us: "As I have already said, I owe Gaea my immortality. The great goddess made me a god thousands of years ago and in return, I tame her bees and keep them in hives. I also tame her oleaster and make it bear olives- Oh yes, Gaea loves olives. In addition I do some favors for her from time to time. It's not a bad bargain, you see."
"Yes, you got a great deal." I agreed quickly before July could say anything else, trying not to dwell on the fact of the goddess who wants to destroy the world likes olives. "I totally understand why you captured Grover now."
"You do?" July stared at me. Apparently, she thought Aristaeus' tale was a load of dung.
"You do?" Aristaeus looked at me expectedly, even eagerly. He must usually receive quite a small amount of approval.
I smiled and replied: "Of course. You were just keeping your promise and repaying your debts, as any good god would do. I'm impressed by your loyalty and perseverance."
No one moved or spoke. I could hear every leaf rustle with the wind. July averted her eyes, watching the grass by her feet. The god of the bees stared at me. Slowly, an expression of gratitude with a pitch of regret unfolded on his face. I kept my smile warm and encouraging. I admit, it was all a part of my plan to find Grover, but I couldn't help feeling glad that Aristaeus got some approval, even if it was only from me.
"Thank you, my boy. It's been so long since any one acknowledged my existence, much less praise me. I'm very sorry if my deeds had brought you trouble."
July glanced at him swiftly. Thought no words were spoken, I knew she was thinking how his "deeds" would likely do a lot more than "trouble".
"It's fine. But I wonder if you could tell us why Gaea wanted Grover. I can't understand what good a small satyr would do to Gaea's great plan."
Aristaeus pursed his mouth but after second thought he spoke up: "I'll only say these things once. The satyr is not very important, but he is Gaea's back-up plan to destroy the two demigod camps. If Gaea's plan now doesn't work, she will use Grover's disappearance to ignite Percy Jackson's anger and therefore turn the two camps against themselves."
July sucked in her breath besides me. A chill ran down my spine as I took in the god's words. Though everything was already as Gaea wanted—Camp Jupiter declaring war against Camp Half-blood, the Seven off on an impossible quest to save a dying son of Hades, she still had back-up plans. Our winning possibility suddenly seemed minute. I took a couple of deep breaths, calming myself and thinking my next step.
"You wouldn't tell us the specific details of this back-up plan or what the on-going main plan, would you?" I asked.
The god grimaced: "No. I have already said as much as I could. Now, begone."
"But," July started in a rush. I warned her with a look. She slowed down immediately: "I mean, Mr. Aristaeus, what did you exactly do to Grover? It seems that he is no longer with you."
The god's face now was so remorseful that I could barely bear to hear him answer. "He is in the hands of Polyphemus. I'm sorry, son of Aphrodite."
At first, I didn't realize how bad things were, but July said shakily: "Oh, gods, tell me it's not that Polyphemus."
"Who's Polyphemus?" I asked in confusion.
July looked at me in shock: "You don't know? He's the giant Cyclopes that Odysseus blinded in the legends and also the one that Percy Jackson and Grover met with a few years back."
"Yes, I gave Grover to him. I traded the satyr for a small flock of sheep. I didn't want to have the satyr anyway, besides, I was tired of looking after only bees and cattle…" Aristaeus whispered, looking more and more shameful. Sensing his agitation, the bumble bees hummed louder and swirled around even more violently.
Somehow, I felt that I had known Grover was with a Cyclopes already. But first things first, I figured that this was a good time to leave. "It's OK, God Aristaeus. We don't blame you. In fact, we're grateful for your help. Now, we mustn't trouble you longer."
While the god kept mourning, July picked up my cue and added: "It's been nice meeting you, Lord Aristaeus. But we must go now. Farewell!"
Without waiting for a reply, we turned and walked away as fast as we could without drawing the angry bees' attention.
After we were sure we were well out of the bees' scope of attack, July dropped down onto a park bench, and groaned: "This is bad. Really bad."
I sat down next to her and put on my sunglasses. It was still midday and there were quite a few people wandering not far from us. I didn't want to risk my powers going off unexpectedly.
July raised her eyebrows at me: "Huh. It's been some time since I've seen you wore sunglasses."
"Yeah," I replied absent-mindedly. I was mostly trying to find out why I didn't feel so surprised that Grover was in a Cyclopes hands.
"Grover had already been on Polyphemus' bad side. I'm afraid he won't last long in the Cyclopes' captivity. Polyphemus must hate his guts so much…"
While July went on analyzing how Grover must be dead, a little boy with mango flavored ice-cream walked by.
Mango…? Something struck in my memories. With a jolt, I remembered the dream I had last night on the Loras' sofa.
I was in a dark underground place that looked like a parking lot. It must have been abandoned as there were no cars or people around except for one large rusty pick-up truck. In the dream, I sensed a fire crackling. Gliding towards the sound, I reached the other side of the truck. What revealed before my eyes was nothing like anything I've seen. A little pile of broken wood cart splinters was on fire. Next to the tiny flame, a huge creature crouched.
"You stupid satyr, I see you're not dead from last time?" The monster growled, swatting a mummified figure on the floor. I moved closer and saw it was a satyr, with small horns sticking out of his wild brown curls. His pupils were dilated in fear and his mouth stuffed.
"No one will save you this time, goat." The monster laughed, "They've forgotten you. The great Percy Jackson is now with better and more powerful friends. Who needs you?"
The satyr twitched so hard his hooves kicked the giant in the shin.
"Ow!" The monster screeched. "You insufferable goat! You still think I'm kidding? Then why else no one has come to save you? Or even look for you? Admit it, you've been forsaken by the demigods."
The satyr's struggling went slack. His eyes filled with tears.
"That's right, no one needs you. It's better that I eat you. Just wait till I find some mangoes. Don't think I have forgotten. I will eat you grilled with mango chutney!" The giant stood up. "I'll be back at midnight, the latest, since mangoes are such tricky things…What are they anyway?"
With one last well aimed kick at the satyr that left him unconscious, he stood and turned around. Seeing his face, I was paralyzed in fear. A single eye sat on his brutal menacing face, webbed and covered with cataracts.
"Hey!" July shook me. "Did you hear me or not?"
"No, I'm sorry. But I think I have an idea of where Grover is." I said grimly.
July's eyes widened: "Really? Where?"
I remembered the logo on the parking lot floor. "An abandoned department store. But I don't know where it exactly is."
"What department store? How did you know?" July asked in awe.
I shrugged. "It was my dream. But we'd better get going, I'm not even sure if Grover's still alive. It depends on how fast Polyphemus can find mango chutneys."
"Mango chutneys?" July seemed lost. But we had no time to waste. I was already getting up and heading towards the park exit. July followed quickly.
Once we got onto the streets, I hailed a cab. After July climbed in the back seats, I smiled at the cabbie: "Hello mister. Happen to know where the abandoned department store site of Macy's is?"
July looked questioningly at me through the review mirror. I nodded at her confidently to show I knew what I was doing. The driver scratched his head: "The abandoned Macy? You mean the one that was given up because of some building issues? Yeah, I know where it is. But do you kids want to go there for?"
"Oh nothing. It's just for a school social studies project." I lied.
It took us half an hour to arrive at the empty building site. After paying the cabbie, we were left standing alone in front of the "danger—stay away" streamers.
"So…let's go." I lifted the old torn streamers a little and they snapped easily. That showed just how long this place had been abandoned. I started to go in, but July grabbed my arm.
"Wait!" She said. "Didn't Rachel warn us about building sites and…and parking lots?" Her pale blue eyes were full of fear. She glanced around, though no one was around. But that seemed to make her even more apprehensive. I wondered whether the Loras twins were not only afraid of the dark, but also terrified of places without people around.
I patted her gently and said: "If we want to save Grover, we don't have a choice, do we?"
She shut her eyes tightly and sighed. When she opened them again, she nodded in determination. At last, we stepped past the border line, with July sticking close behind me. Just as I expected, an archaic blue parking sign pointed towards a slope leading underground. If my dream wasn't lying, we were about to find Grover, tied up and silenced. But whether Polyphemus had found mangoes and returned remained to be seen.
The parking lot had only one layer, expanding in the dark. July whimpered and shuffled next to me, drawing out her golden bow. I drew my bronze sword too, to bring us some light. The fire I've seen in my dream was out, obviously, as no other light could be seen apart from that of the Celestial bronze. Considering the fact that no giant one-eyed monsters came leaping on us, I guessed Polyphemus wasn't having much luck looking for mangoes. Or he was asleep so he couldn't see our light. I led the way, trying my best to see into the dark. At one point, I made out a bulk of a truck in the shadows. Being the only vehicle I saw in the dream, I was pretty sure Grover was behind it.
"There." I nudged July. "Grover should be behind that truck."
July gulped but took out a golden arrow. I steadied my breathing and inched forward. As quietly as we could, we made our way to the truck. When we finally reached it, my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't hear anything else. Tentatively, we peaked over the edge.
Lying on the floor was Grover, motionless. No Cyclopes was in sight. July rushed over and cut the bindings with her knife without hesitation. "Grover!" She called, shaking the satyr's limp body. "Wake up! We're here to save you! That is, if you wake up. Or we'd be committing suicide…"
I started towards him too, but a strange chill made me stop in my tracks. I turned slowly and looked at the truck box, which we ignored until now. It was huge, big enough to fit a small room, I estimated. Ever so slightly, I reached out to pull the doors open. But I didn't need to.
"Haaaaa!" A huge shape roared and burst from the truck. I dropped to the ground, barely escaping being crushed, and screamed at July: "Watch out! He's here!"
Polyphemus whirled around towards me and swung his club. I dove to one side and the truck was smashed to a wreck, flying towards the other side of the parking lot. Hades, that was some strength.
"Who are you, skinny pin demigod?" The Cyclopes sneered, "I've never seen you before. So someone is here for that dumb satyr. But never mind, a few more appetizers won't do any bad."
I held my sword as best as I could, but I was still unfamiliar with the grip. I yearned for my revolver. Just then, a gold arrow whizzed and implanted itself on the back of Polyphemus' knee. I scrambled back and joined July in front of the stirring Grover.
"We need to get Grover conscious! We'll never make it out alive if we have to drag a sleeping goat with us!" July cried out.
I nodded. "You try to wake him. Use your Apollo powers, your Loras ferocity, whatever. I'll stall the Cyclopes."
July swiftly dropped the ground next to Grover and started yelling at him. I, on the other hand, gave an experimental swing of my sword at the monster. But Polyphemus was agile, jumping away just in time. I yelled and charged, but Polyphemus opened his mouth.
He said: "Stop, Landyn! Don't kill me!" It wasn't what he said that cut me off short, but his voice. It was the voice of the Loras twins.
In the short instant when I was caught off guard, Polyphemus grinned in satisfaction and swung his club.
The blow was overwhelming. I fell to the ground, fading into darkness as July screamed somewhere besides me.
So, people, how d'ya think? Give me some reviews!
Also, check out my HP one-shot, Fred's Wand!
-Amber-