This chapter contains spoilers for Night Broken, the 8th book in the Mercy Thompson series. If you like the series, but haven't read it yet, don't read this story, go buy the book. My writing can't compare to Patricia Briggs or Rick Riordan's.

Note, I'm skipping a lot of flavor text and background info, I figure if you're reading a fan fiction about a book, then chances are you've read the book and know, at least in part, that information.

Also, I own none of the characters, not even the OC I made as she is part of the PJaO books and anyone is free to duplicate her for their own stories. Writing a story using characters from published books, I certainly can't complain if someone likes my idea enough to run it in a different direction, but please, no slash.

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I also found the story I got the idea for the Shadow Travel mistake from; Shadow-Worlds by Musafreen. A really good story, to bad he's pretty much dropped it. I figure since we're all playing around with other people's ideas anyway, as long as I didn't copy exactly, it wouldn't be a big deal. But still, check his story out; it's well worth the read. Maybe we can convince him to restart it?

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A few notes on my reviews and some messages; Thank you for your kind words. I'd been about to give up trying to write again when I actually got a good review. So thank you.

When Mercy say's that Percy "smelled of violence near habitually used", she actually smells the magic of the 'Curse of Achilles' but if you actually pause and think about it, half-bloods really do live a violent life, Percy more so than most.

I know the purse is similar to the one used in Harry Potter, but I honestly didn't even think of that series when I made it. After all, purses and bags (and boxes, drawers, saddlebags, ships, trailers, buildings and campers) of holding more than they should are quite common in stories with magic made real. They are also canon in both series as well. I actually thought of the idea of giving her one when I was reading the description of the Hephaestus Cabin in the Lost Olympian when trying to find a suitable minor character. In it, the book mentions the interior being bigger, and hidden magic spaces behind the beds. When I mentioned the Son of Sobek, I thought about something from the Kane series, and for some reason, something from a comic book as a direction I might want to take the magic purse. Not sure if I will, just some ideas percolating in the back of my mind.

As for the 'Son of Sobek', I have decided that this story takes place beforehand simply because I can't see Percy and crew, much less Rachel, risking the lives of Rachel's parents if they thought they couldn't kill monsters. I've come up with another idea of how to introduce magicians if necessary. Having said that, when Carter says that Percy looks 17 or so, that's a guess, he really doesn't know. One of the things I've been trying to do with the overabundance of descriptions is to show how wrong some impressions can be. Personally, I've always felt that 'Son of Sobek' takes place in the narrow window of the half-bloods figuring out that the monsters aren't dying like they should and him disappearing before 'The Lost Olympian.'

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If I've done it right, there should be a picture on my profile of the gun I based Terry's on. It's a real weapon that fires real shells, shotgun in the case of the gun in the picture. Terry's has more decoration, including an engraving of the Drakkon she killed on the handle (made of Drakkon Ivory) and Greek lettering spelling out "End of Infinity" along the barrel. It's also a lot more powerful, but then, most of the weapons used by demi-gods are.

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Spirits Run high

Mercy

Adam sent Paul (his forth) and Mary Jo to bring Eric Meyers down to the holding cell so he could heal safely, both to keep him confined if he lost control, and to keep some of the more ambitious of the lower ranks from trying to take advantage of him. Werewolves have a lot going for them, but they've also got more than a few downsides as well.

As we're walking out, Jack comes rushing back in; "Um, sir, we have a problem outside. There's, um, there's a naked lady made out of water running around trying to kill a baby horse with wings! Sir!"

Ok, my ability to deal with weird is somewhat higher than most werewolves, but I'm seriously about at the end of my rope here. Percy mumbles a curse, and rushes outside; we're not a foot behind him. We get out to the back patio and sure enough, there is a foal, with bluish grey hair and white markings like clouds and wings of the same coloration, running around trying to evade a lady made of water (or as Jesse tells Bran; naked water lady and baby chicken horse) and a bunch of werewolves that it probably thinks are trying to eat it, but are most likely trying to save it. Since Honey is in the group, that's almost guaranteed, she's something of a horse lover. Her dead mate, Peter was a Calvary officer back when horses were the only option for travel other than walking, boats or possibly trains, not sure if trains were invented before or after Peter was born, I never thought to ask him.

The young girl steps up to the railing, aims her monstrous pistol at naked water lady and fires. The flash actually has a blast wave to it. The concussion from the flash lifts dust and debris off the railing and topples a potted plant off more than three feet away. The projectile hits naked water lady and blows apart her chest causing her to stumble and pause before reforming, and blowing up a large fountain of dirt downrange.

Everyone is staring at the girl, whom I'm starting to think of as Tiny Terror, when she quite calmly, but loudly explains; "The first round was a bog standard 50 caliber rifle round with a tungsten core and tip. The next round I fire will be made of Celestial Bronze. Anything not strictly mortal will be blown apart into dust and glitter."

Naked water lady, in a humph, starts walking away when Percy yells "RED LIGHT!" causing her to stop mid step and fall to her face.

Do water elemental beings play red light green light? Who knew?

As she gets to her feet, Percy say's; "Come here!" while pointing at the ground in front of the patio. The foal meanwhile has run up the steps to the patio and is jumping around and touching Percy in a manner that is every bit the same as a stressed werewolf who needs reassurance from their alpha. Percy is undoubtedly alpha material, but do horses have alphas? His magic does smell of horses, and it almost seems like the baby horse (pegasus) is speaking to him. Maybe there is herd magic like pack magic.

Naked water lady slinks up to the edge of the patio, keeping her head down and glancing at Percy in the same way that martial arts students will bow their heads to an instructor who smacks them whenever they take their eyes off someone who might be a threat. Percy has assumed a pose that is designed to intimidate whoever is being looked at, and has his head cocked back a little so he is literally looking down his nose at her (or as Jesse puts it; "looking like my dad when staring at someone in that pack that's been Really dumb").

When he speaks, it is with barely controlled violence, and I can smell the magic of water and violence on him become immediately more powerful. He is barely holding his temper. "What in the name of Poseidon do you think you are doing?!" Poseidon?

She starts to answer, pauses to rethink what she was about to say, and then replies with a slight quiver; "That, that creature was created using power and material stolen from me. I want it back."

"Explain; who you are, and how that came to be."

"I, I'm Columbia. I am the river that flows just beyond where we stand. Several minutes ago, powerful magic was released here and swept out over me, merging with me and creating this thing, I want my power back! These things around you keep stealing from me." She's looking at Adam and me with loathing. Ok, ignoring the whole 'I'm a river' thing and her apparent hatred of us, that probably wasn't the best way to put things. I can hear Charles on the other end of the phone whistle in surprise. Charles, super scary, uber powerful and mega mysterious Charles is surprised. CRAP!

"The power you felt was released by me by mistake. I did not intend for it to happen. However, that power was still mine, not yours. To say you want it back, is to say you wish to steal what is mine. As for the theft of water from a river by living creatures, that is the course of the will of the gods. As long as the river can continue to flow, you have no cause to be upset." So, Percy isn't one of the 'we most get back to nature' people. Admittedly, I'd like to clean up the river a bit, but I'm not so sure this is a good time to mention this.

"No milord," did she just say milord? "Those two have taken from me before. They have killed, with intent, the creatures I had chosen to protect and warn me. They interrupted the pattern of sacrifice the magic otters had established, and then murdered them, and their friend who was their protector."

"The River-Devil!" I shout, "You are mad because we killed the damn river-devil and the otterkin? How dare you?!" I'm about to continue, but I'll admit, I'm damn near incoherent with rage, and the rest of the pack isn't much better at this point.

Adam puts his hand on my shoulder to calm me again, and turns to Percy; "The otterkin were a type of fae that lived just down this river a ways. They were a vicious and murderous bunch, but thankfully, low powered. However, a while ago they stumbled on an ancient creature from Native lore that was unable to be permanently killed, so the Guardian Spirits of the native tribes tricked it into a slumber it was unable to escape from. Until, that is, the otterkin found and released it. They killed dozens of people, including many children, and the beasts' intentions were to eat the entire world. With the help of some medicine men and the old native spirits, we were able to defeat them." Adam is being very diplomatic here, and not just to give us the moral high ground. I'm pretty sure he's come to the conclusion that these kids; and Percy especially, need to be treated like a Grey Lord. He's also noticed, I think, that Percy is holding an impromptu court, meaning the river spirit here considers Percy boss. I've never heard of that before, but then I've never actually met a spirit like this before.

"Is this true? Do you truly mourn for those creatures? One of whom sounds like one of the Titans of old. Do you wish for a return to the chaos and destruction of their rule? Do you truly feel it is your right to steal power from others? These claims laid against you are serious, and demand answers."
Naked water lady is at this point flipping between fear and anger. "Yes it is true; I'm tired of the mortals. I want them all dead. Suffocated in my embrace so that they may know the proper fear of my power!" Anger evidently won out, she really should have held her tongue.

With a snarl, Percy leaps over the railing and cuts naked water lady in half with his sword. She bursts into a spray of water and glitter with a scream of pain and terror leaving behind a swirling pattern of water magic visible to all. Percy takes a moment to visibly take control of himself and sighs. He glances at the river and frowns and holds his left hand up; "Come!"

A second later, another water girl steps out of the river. Much smaller and more solid appearing, it's taken the form of a young girl, around 7 or 8 wearing one of those frilly bathing suits I've always thought were designed to keep young girls from actually being able to swim. She walks up to Percy with her, its, head down, "Milord, what happened to my sister?" Ok, it's a her.

"I destroyed her for her crimes."

"Good! She was mean." No solidarity in spirit families here huh.

"She claimed the name of Columbia. She is no more, but the Columbia most continue to flow." I looked out to the river and realized that the water was starting to recede from the banks and lower in depth. "Would you take upon yourself the mantle of River Columbia? To hold true to your course and flow ever downstream?"

"Yes, milord, I do. Thank you!" With that, she grabs the swirling magic and merges with it, then runs back to the river before Percy can change his mind. When he doesn't call her back, she starts to skip the last 50 feet or so.

There is a stunned silence for several seconds that is suddenly cast aside when Miss Invisibility Cap starts yelling at Percy in Greek. I look at the other 3 and they're just standing there watching with various smirks on their faces. I look at Ben and he comes over and offers up the gist of what is being said. "Evidently, he shouldn't have been able to do that. She's mad as hell about something, but I can't really understand that bit, but I gather that she thinks someone more powerful might take insult, now he's replying that their parents don't exist here and there is no way he should have had the power to create a pegasus from the water in the first place. That seems to have shut her up but I got to say, I agree with that bit. "

At that, the two of them turn back to us. Percy looks down at the foal, "I'm going to name you Riverwind. Do you like that name?" The baby pegasus whinnies a conformation at him and he escorts it over to Honey, maybe he can tell a horse lover when he sees one. Honey then escorts it out into the field to eat and sends another wolf of to get some apples and carrots while Ms. O'Leary romps over and lies down beside it. We walk over to him; "Sorry about that," he says, "but the release of power wasn't, evidently, confined to your kitchen. We may have to go out and correct a few things in town later."

Adam looks at him; "I'll have the rest of my people keep a look out for odd things. May I ask what that was actually about?"

"In all honesty sir, I'm not entirely sure. I was acting on instinct there. But evidently, I just killed a river god and chose a replacement."

None of us, including the other kids, really know how to respond to that. As we are standing there trying to think of a reply, I hear three cars pulling up to the house. We're out in the field behind and off to the side, so we can see them come up the driveway at a pretty good clip. One of the cars is driven by Warren, of course he felt the power drain from my adventure into the abyss. He's got a lady in the front seat and Kyle, his mate with a couple of kids in the back. He jumps out of the car and Kyle quickly climbs into the driver's seat and prepares to haul ass if it looks like a violent situation. I should be furious at Warren for bringing Kyle and his client and her children into a werewolf battle, but I know he wasn't really thinking clearly, and in any case, it pales in comparison to the other 2 cars. In one, with a temporary flashy red light on top, like in detectives use on TV, is Tony, surprise, surprise, a local police detective. I found out later he had approached Sam when his mate, Ariana, had picked him up from a shift at the hospital. When the power drain hit the Marrock, his son Samuel had felt it as well. And they all came running straight here, not thinking a wit about their passengers. Tony had figured out that Sam thought there was serious trouble here, and tagged along to provide a police cover for all the run red lights. Thankfully, he didn't call for back up, that would have been bad.

Several of the pack wave to them, so the two of them can pause and think. About that time, Ms. O'Leary stands up and gives a bark of challenge at the newcomers. I hear one of the little kids shout out something about Clifford, but I'm looking at Ariana.

Her eyes turn a flat silver color and their car starts to shake.

"OH SHIT!"