First Person: Emily
Once we got there, it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. The others strapped themselves in below - except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!" Our team was with Leo at the helm, who aimed us as best he could. Festus creaked and whirred warning signals that were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck.
"I know, I know," Leo said, gritting his teeth. Zyanya had her hands over the controls, a shimmering aura spreading around the ship, though it was extremely thin.
"Don't have a lot of control, but I can't manage a little." We didn't have much time to take in the scenery. To the southeast, a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range, blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. A flat desert landscape spread to the south, and directly beneath us, the Great Salt Lake glittered like aluminum foil, the shoreline etched with white salt marshes.
"Hang on, Coach!" Leo shouted. "This is going to hurt."
"I was born for hurt!"
WHOOM! A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, but Zy twisted in the opposite direction, as though she was pulling on a rope, and the boat righted itself and rocked on the surface of the lake. Machinery hummed as the aerial blades that were still working changed to nautical form. Three banks of robotic oars dipped into the water and began moving us forward.
"Well, that went swell," Audrey muttered.
"Good job, Festus," Leo said. "Take us toward the south shore."
"Yeah!" Coach Hedge shouted, pumping his fists in the air. He was drenched from his horns to his hooves, but grinning like a crazy goat. "Do it again!"
"Uh, maybe later," I said. "Just stay above deck, okay? You can keep watch in case the lake decides to attack us or something."
"On it," Hedge promised. Leo rang the all clear bell and we headed for the stairs. Before we got there, a loud clump-clump-clump shook the hull. Arion and Zoltan appeared on deck with Hazel and Veon on their backs.
"How…?" Leo began. "We're in the middle of a lake! Can that thing fly?" Arion whinnied angrily.
"Arion can't fly," Hazel said. "But he can run across just about anything. Water, vertical surfaces, small mountains - none of that bothers him."
"Oh." Hazel was staring at Leo strangely, considering he looked exactly like Sammy. There was so much turmoil within her, and I hoped we could clear up this little matter between them soon.
"Zy, are you okay?" Veon asked, dismounting and walking over to her.
"Fine, why?"
"You look extremely tired out."
"You try driving a 200 foot long ship with nothing but your power. Don't start getting overprotective now. I can curse you to speak nothing but poetry for weeks."
"Backing off." Coach Hedge crept forward with his baseball bat, eyeing the magic horses suspiciously.
"Valdez, does this count as an invasion?"
"No!" Leo said quickly. "Um, Hazel, you'd better come with me. I built a stable below deck, if Arion and Zoltan want to-" Zoltan whinnied in protest.
"Uh, they're more free spirits," Audrey said. Hazel slipped out of the saddle.
"They'll graze around the lake until we call them. But I want to see the ship. Lead the way."
The Argo II was designed like an ancient trireme, only twice as big. The first deck had one central corridor with crew cabins on the either side. On a normal trireme, most of the space would've been taken up with three rows of benches for a few hundred people to do manual labor, but Leo's oars were automated and retractable, so they took up very little room inside the hull. The ship's power came from the engine room on the second and lowest deck, which also housed sickbay, storage, and the stables. Leo led the way down the hall. He'd built the ship with twelve cabins - seven for the demigods of the prophecy, four for Zyanya's team, and one for Coach Hedge, who Chiron had apparently assigned as a responsible adult chaperone. At the stern was a large mess hall/lounge, which was where Leo was headed.
On the way, we passed Jason's room. The door was open, and I saw Piper sitting at the side of his berth, holding Jason's hand while he snored. Piper glanced at Leo as he passed. She held a finger to her lips for quiet, but she didn't look angry. None of us should be blaming Leo for what happened. In a war against an earth goddess with many minions that could've influenced or controlled him, his incident wasn't new at this point. We continued forward and reached the mess hall, where we found Percy, Annabeth, and Frank sitting dejectedly around the dining table.
Leo had made the lounge as nice as possible, since he figured we'd spend a lot of time here. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink you wanted on command. There was also a magical ice chest with canned drinks, perfect for picnics ashore. The chairs were cushy recliners with thousand-finger message, built-in headphones, and sword and drink holders for all your demigod kicking-back needs. There were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood - the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields - and it made me both homesick and happy. Leo had put a lot into building this ship with tons of tricks, and I was happy that I was a part of the team that built it with him. You had to admit that this place was awesome. Hopefully it would survive this quest so we could keep it.
Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.
"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?" Frank plucked on his bowstring.
"Figure out the prophecy? I mean…that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"
"The what?" Leo asked. Frank explained how Ella was great at remembering books, and at some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome. "That's why you didn't tell the Romans. You didn't want them to get ahold of her." Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill.
"Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want…" He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there." I wondered if they really would, now that we'd angered a camp of Romans on top of the problems we already had with Gaea and the giants. Annabeth laced her fingers in thought. I guess the prophecy was talking about her, after all.
"Let me think about the prophecy, but right now, we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. What do we need?"
"The easiest thing will be tar," Zy said. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Maybe a tar pit, cause why not?"
"Also, Celestial bronze and lime," Leo continued. "According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."
"I'll delay him with as many trivial prophecies as I can," Zy said.
"You can do that?" Veon asked.
"Sure. My grandfather's Apollo, god of prophecies and such, and with my mom's power boost along with the goddess's, I can influence things a bit. I can't stop him from trying, and I can't tell him fake prophecies, but I'll try and delay Octavian with prophecies on what breakfast he's going to have, or how the weather's going to be. I'd love to see his face if I gave him a magic-eight-ball prophecy like, "try again later." Anyway, that won't delay him for long, so I suggest we still hurry. They'll be on our tail. At the least, they know we went inland, and they're gonna be pretty determined to catch us."
"Guys…I don't know what happened," Leo said. "Honestly, I-" Annabeth raised her hand.
"We've been talking. We agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned…I felt it too."
"Me too," Audrey said. "It must've been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened-" Frank grunted.
"How can we be sure it won't happen again?"
"We'll use the buddy system," Zy suggested. "No one goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge on board with Jason, while the rest of us split up, one team to get tar, the other to go after the bronze and lime."
"Split up?" Percy asked. "That sounds like a really bad idea."
"It'll be faster," Veon pointed out. "Besides, if we drag everyone around, we're gonna be a homing beacon for monsters."
"I've masked my scent as a normal human, and have worked to hide my team's scent as well," Zy said. "The rest of you, well, it'll take time and energy to do so; too much for me to constantly sustain. There will be no more than three of you on a certain task, and my team can't have any more than two at a time with said group."
"You're right," Annabeth said. "The same reason we needed the Argo II…outside camp, too many demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board, but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than four, including Zy's team members. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to." Percy still didn't look too happy about it, but he took Annabeth's hand.
"As long as you're my buddy, I'm good." Hazel smiled.
"Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Annabeth and Percy into town for the tar?"
"I'll take Zoltan and join them," Veon said. Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest.
"I…I suppose. But what about you?"
"I'll ride Arion with Sa - with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark."
"Emily and I can join you," Zy said. "Audrey, you watch over everyone on the ship and be prepared for a quick exit."
"Right."
"Leo, if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?" Annabeth asked.
"With luck, just a few hours."
"Fine. We'll meet you back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it." We nodded and headed off to our groups. Hazel and Leo were going to ride Arion while Zy was going to carry me, removing her jacket and summoning her one wing. Before we left, Percy pulled Leo aside and explained Hazel's story, with a slight undertone like, "If you mess with my friend, I will personally feed you to a great white shark."
Zy took my hand and we flew off beside Arion. It felt like I was flying, and I guess I was. The wind seemed to lift me up so that I was hovering and yet it didn't bother me much more than a light breeze would, so my eyes weren't getting wind blow at them at top speed, maybe the result of Zy's magic. Ahead of us lay an island - a line of sand so white, it might have been pure table salt. Behind that rose an expanse of grassy dunes and weathered boulders. Arion thundered onto the beach before coming to a stop, and Zy landed us beside him as he stomped his hooves and whinnied triumphantly, like Coach Hedge yelling a battle cry. Zy wrapped her wing around her as Hazel and Leo dismounted, Arion pawing at the sand and muttering things.
"He needs to eat," Zy translated. "He likes gold, but-"
"Gold?" Leo asked.
"He'll settle for grass," Hazel finished. "Go on, Arion. Thanks for the ride. I'll call you." The horse zipped away, leaving nothing but a steaming trail across the lake.
"Fast horse," Leo commented. "And expensive to feed."
"Not really," Hazel said. "Gold is easy for me." Leo raised his eyebrows.
"How is gold easy? Please tell me you're not related to King Midas. I don't like that guy." Hazel pursed her lips, as if she regretted raising the subject.
"Zoltan likes gold too," Zy said. "Veon put a few nuggets of gold he got from Camp Jupiter in his pockets for him. It's a Hades thing. Hades and/or Pluto are the god of the riches of the earth, hence gem and metal power." She kneeled and supped a handful of white sand, letting it fall through her fingers. "Ah, well, that's one problem solved. This is lime."
"The whole beach?" I asked.
"Yeah. See? The granules are perfectly round. It's not really sand. It's calcium carbonate." Leo pulled a Ziploc bag from his tool belt and dug his hand into the lime. He froze for a moment, seemingly remembering all the times Gaea had appeared to him in the ground - her sleeping face made of dust or sand or dirt. His mind was swirling to imagining her taunting him, and I kneeled to put my hand on his shoulder and calm him. I was pretty tired from my stunt back in New Rome, but I could still do the basic thing I always did and calm people down.
"Do we just need a bag of this?" I asked. He nodded, brought back to reality. Gaea wasn't here.
"Yeah." He started to fill the bag. Hazel and I helped him while Zy looked around for anyone else, hostile or otherwise.
"We should've brought a pail and shovels," Hazel commented. Leo smiled.
"We could've made a sand castle."
"A lime castle." The two of them locked eyes for a second too long before Hazel looked away. "You are so much like-"
"Sammy?" Leo guessed. She fell backward.
"You know?"
"I have no idea who Sammy is, but Frank asked me if I was sure that wasn't my name."
"And…it isn't?"
"No! Jeez."
"You don't have a twin brother or…" She paused. "Is your family from New Orleans?"
"Nah, Houston. Why? Is Sammy a guy you used to know?"
"I…it's nothing. You just look like him." We finished filling the bag in silence. Hadn't Gaea mentioned, back when Hazel was drowning in muskeg, that Sammy grew up and moved to Texas, married, and had a family? Wait, Hazel had never said that aloud to us. My powers were still giving me information that would put people's mind at ease. Leo's last name was Valdez, same as Sammy's. Leo had to be Sammy's grandson based on the years between when Hazel knew him and now. Heck, Hedge called Leo "Valdez" all the time. Hazel had even been present last time when Hedge was ready to attack Arion as an intruder earlier. I wonder if they'd ever figure it out, or if we'd have to give them hints. Granted, it wasn't like we had any confirmation yet, but the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together.
"Now to the Celestial bronze," Leo said, slipping the filled bag of lime into his cool tool belt.
"That way," Hazel said, pointing up the beach. "About five hundred yards."
"Handy talent," Leo commented. "Lead the way, Miss Metal Detector."
First Person: Zytaveon
So, tar. This is gonna be fun. My ADHD was getting to me as I waited for Frank to arrive with Annabeth and Percy. Unfortunately, Frank wasn't as fast as the fastest horse in the world (crazy, I know) and I made it to town long before them. I was currently standing behind a building at the edge of a town, Zoltan having run off to graze when I arrived, and was singing "Carry On" by Olivia Holt (sung by a female, I know, but Zy sung a lot in school and she's rubbed off on me, and I have a very good singing voice, mind you). It was a pretty good message for this quest: it's gonna be hard, but we're still marching forward.
"No one said this would ever be easy, my love,
"But I will be by your side when the impossible lies to come.
"We will travel this life well worn, no matter the cost, no matter how long.
"We will leave our footprints behind, and carry on ~ carry on~ carry on ~ carry on~"
By the time they finally arrived, I had only gone through about three songs, but it felt like it had been an eternity. We met up and began walking to our destination, Percy saying that he sensed some liquid-like stuff that had to be tar somewhere in the city. Zy said she didn't care where we got the tar, just as long as we got it and came back with enough to repair the ship. Of course, I was bored out of my mind (BOOMM, as I'd come up with in middle school), walking behind Percy and Annabeth beside Frank. He had seriously gotten good at his animal transformations fast. I guess once you unlock the ability, it comes a lot easier to you. I'd been taught that back in the Underworld when I was unlocking as many abilities as my trainer could think of. Percy and Annabeth were catching up while we walked, and I was humming "Fireflies" by Owl City.
"Where are we going?" Frank finally asked.
"I think there's a large amount of tar somewhere in the city," Percy said.
"How much do you think he needs?" I asked.
"I'd say we overcompensate," Annabeth said. We stopped at a store to buy a couple five-gallon plastic buckets to hold the tar. Turns out, Percy wasn't very clear when he said he'd sensed a large amount of tar somewhere in the city. I'm not sure what I expected, maybe some kind of tar factory or a store where we could just walk in and say "Fill 'err up, please!" but of course that's not what we found.
"A tar pit?" I asked with a deadpan face. "Of course it's a real tar pit." We stood in front of what looked like a small lake, except it was pure black, bubbling, radiating heat, and of course-
"Oh gods, that smell!" Frank exclaimed, holding his nose. I had stopped breathing through my nose a while back. I had taken one whiff out of curiosity, and instantly it felt like my nose was burning. It was an interesting smell, one that I may have liked for some odd reason if it wasn't so strong.
"What died in there?" Percy agreed. "Wait, don't tell me. I don't wanna know."
"Nevermind," Annabeth said. "We need to collect the tar and get back to the ship."
"Why couldn't we have just gone to a shop or something?" Frank asked.
"Fresh tar is more effective, especially for a battleship and not a house roof," I said. "Even I know that. Do you know what mortals do to stuff like this? The tars they sell in stores can be such rip-offs. This way, we won't get ripped off by some salesman for ineffective tar that could mean the difference between life and death considering we're repairing the thing that we're relying on to transport us halfway across the world. I doubt regular roofing tar would last nearly as long as this stuff under our conditions. Not to mention the less people we run into on this trip the better. None of us know who could be working for old Dirt Lady. No matter where we go, there could be enemies anywhere. Besides, it's not that bad."
"Speak for yourself. I am not getting any closer to that." I sighed, and grabbed the two buckets. Even back in school, it was either me or Zy who always sighed and did the dirty work when everyone else was too scared or grossed out to do so instead (dissection in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade science class, for example. We missed 11th grade dissections since we left school at the beginning of the year for CHB) so I stepped into the tar, thanking Hades (quite literally) that I had on combat boots that didn't let the tar in. I dipped the buckets in and let the thick goo slide in and fill them, nearly taking the buckets down once they were full from the heavy and thick liquid(?) It bubbled, and some specks of tar stung my skin, but it wasn't burn worthy, more like just really hot water. Once the buckets were filled, I hefted the now very heavy buckets (which were steaming; I hoped that wasn't a bad sign) and walked back to the others.
"That was easy," Frank noted, taking one of the buckets.
"Dude, you never say how easy something is!" Percy exclaimed. "Now you've totally jinxed us!"
"Then we should get moving before-" Annabeth began when there was a slight rumble in the ground and the tar pit began to vibrate like it was being held over a speaker.
"And this is why you never say how easy something is," Percy said. The tar began to bulge in numerous places and formed vaguely humanoid figures, with a torso, head and two arms, though they had no faces. They were as tall as us despite being without the lower half of their bodies, there were at least a dozen of them forming in front of us, and they did not look like friendly nature spirits that just wanted to chat.
"Great, it's like Bendy and the Ink Machine but with tar," I muttered. The creatures waddled (is that the right word?) forward, swinging their arms as though they were walking and we slowly backed up. When they reached the edge of the tar pit, they continued forward onto the grass, the torsos of their bodies gliding across the ground and leaving a trail of tar behind them.
"Okay, time to run," Frank declared. We turned around but then tar began to pool out of the ground before revealing more of the things.
"What the heck are these?" Percy asked.
"I don't know," Annabeth admitted.
"They're tar monsters," I said.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Frank said.
"You're welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm." The creatures began to circle us and we formed a square, back to back (to back to back), drawing our weapons, but Frank and I both were an arm down from carrying the buckets of tar, and Frank only had his bow with him. "I'm gonna call them Searchers, since they look like Searchers from Bendy and the Ink Machine. Or Flan from Final Fantasy XIII. They look like black Flan. Searcher Flan? That sounds cool. I'm gonna call them that," I rambled, but realized that none of these guys would know what either of those videogames are. Eh, who cares?
"You do that," Percy said. "Think Celestial bronze will work on them?"
"There's only one way to find out. Can you control any of these things since they're sort of liquid?"
"No. It feels like I'm trying to command dough. I've tried to stop them, but they're not enough liquid for me to do anything with." There was a gloppy noise beneath us and I looked down to realize that the ground beneath us had turned to tar…and we were sinking in it.
"Schist!" I cursed (and yes, that was officially one of my new favorite kid-friendly curses). The monsters were still forming in the tar pit and the ones circling us were still advancing, and when one came close, I swung my lance at its head like a baseball bat. As expected…well, it went through the thing's head with a gloppy SPLAT, but unexpectedly, I actually took the thing's head off. But of course, it just reformed its head so…yeah.
"Frank, got any exploding arrows?" Annabeth asked.
"Don't know. This isn't my quiver. I got it from the ship."
"Explosives might be a good idea though," I said. Percy swung at the tar monster with Riptide, smartly using the blunt of his blade to more smack it than slash at it, and it went flying back into another behind it, both exploding into a bunch of tar, which of course got some of the stuff on us. Great. How was I ever going to get this tar out of my hair? Well, I suppose that solved the whole explosives (or lack thereof) issue. I tried to pick up my feet and stay at ground level, but all of us were sinking into the tar that had now become more like quicksand.
I considered all our options. Frank might be able to transform into a dragon and fly us out of here, but that did run the risk of him being attacked by these things and taken down into the tar like those elephants you'd see at a tar museum. Tar was heavy and thick and sticky, and living tar was one of the worst things we could've fought. Percy's hydrokinesis was worthless, and Annabeth seemed to still be coming up with some kind of plan now. Frank only had his bow with him, and was currently swinging his bucket of tar like a mace and using his arrows like daggers, but he was still sinking in the tar with us and seemed to be contemplating what he could transform into that would get us out of this mess. I could summon my lance and fly Annabeth and Percy up and out of the tar while Frank flew himself out, but we did have to consider if these things could form just from the tar that we had on us, and that leading them back to the ship could be disastrous. Not to mention the fact that the ones we were destroying were being replaced pretty quickly from us being literally right next to a tar pit. At least we were outside, so we weren't boxed in from above. That did leave us with some options…
Suddenly Frank shouted as he was suddenly pulled under into the tar faster than the rest of us, as though something beneath us had grabbed him and sucked him under. I quickly grabbed his hand, but as I was also standing in the tar, it was hard for me to get a grip and pull him free, causing me to sink a bit as well. I passed the bucket of tar to Percy before raising my hand with my lance and having it pull me up while I kept my grip on Frank.
"Child of Mars, this could be yours. You would have your mother, your grandmother, and the life you always wanted."
"Frank?" I asked. His head broke the surface but he seemed unconscious.
"This is the life you deserve, with your family, the ones you love. Do not aid these so called friends on their fool's quest."
"Frank! Whatever she's showing you, it isn't real! I'm sorry, but your mother and grandmother are gone! It's a lie, Frank! Frank!"
"I think there was a myth about these things," Annabeth said. "There was some mention of monsters like this. They were described as the result of those who've died from the tar. Some story about a man who was killed for being some kind of evil alchemist. He was thrown into a tar pit alive in the hopes it would keep his magic from saving him, or something by that logic, but it only ended up creating these things. They were named Mavro Kako, "Black Evil," and after that, anyone and anything that died from tar pits joined their ranks as these things, their souls forever trapped and never taken to the Underworld."
"Great, but how were they killed?!" Percy asked, still trying to fend off the Kako and wishing there was some water nearby. We were in an open acre of land, so no buildings with plumbing, and no water underground. Just tar, tar, and more tar. It was entirely possible that the tar was purposefully blocking access to any water, or maybe it was just a coincidence that there was no water available. Granted, I didn't believe in coincidences, but I did believe in the rotten luck of a demigod.
"There are a few versions. Sometimes they were never defeated; they just destroyed places then disappeared. Other times they were frozen into statues and then destroyed, their souls freed from whatever spell they'd been put under."
"Can you free their souls, Veon?"
"No, it's like the tar is acting as an insulator against my powers. They were created from some kind of curse, right? Unless it's a curse that I placed, I can't get past it."
"You can cast curses?"
"No, at least not to my knowledge."
"There are tales of the gods fighting and defeating them, and I think there were powerful priests that could purify them as well…" Annabeth was muttering. "Oh! There was a story about them being roasted by a dragon's fire that caused them to be freed too!"
"Hear that, Frank?" I asked. "We need you! Come on!"
"Never…!" His eyes suddenly snapped open with a gasp, and he realized what was happening.
"Thank Ra," I muttered. "Frank, we need a dragon's fire! Get out of the tar so you aren't sucked under once you transform, and then roast these guys!" He nodded.
"Right." Frank transformed into a dove and flew up and out of the tar, luckily leaving any tar that had been on him behind, or else he wouldn't have been able to fly. I guess we're never getting that bucket of tar back, though. He must've dropped it when he went under. We slashed at the Kako and bashed them with our weapons like they were clubs. I struck one with my lance and then swung it slightly upwards to rip completely through the thing's torso, and suddenly the Kako exploded in my face. The tar was pretty hot, by the way, so it was like I just got doused in very sticky and scolding hot play dough. I hissed at the heat, but it wasn't unbearable, and I wasn't gonna have third degree burns or anything (but hey, I wasn't a doctor, so don't quote me on that).
"Destroy their chests and they explode!" Percy realized.
"Not sure why that works, but okay!" I shouted. We slashed through the bodies of the Kako, making sure to cleave them through thoroughly. Of course, this resulted in us getting covered in exploded tar, and the things were coming reforming and more were spawning. Destroying them the old fashion way must not free their souls like Annabeth had told us, therefore we could destroy their bodies, but they could just use the tar to create more. We were gonna be overrun at this rate. Whenever the Kako got too close before we could strike them, they lunged at us and tried to swallow us into their tar bodies (as if we needed to get any more tar on us); most likely trying to kill us in the tar and make us join their ranks.
I grabbed the nearest Kako and then did a test. It froze and then exploded into a pile of ash, and I could feel its soul going properly to the Underworld. That worked for me, but turning this many things to ash would surely wipe me out even with my training behind me, and I did not want to pass out while sinking in quicksand-like tar. I didn't even know if more could just spawn afterwards, anyway, and if the tar beneath us would let us go even if I did destroy them all. Suddenly a big blast of fire engulfed some of the flan-like creatures and instantly caused them to explode, their souls leaving properly. I looked to see Frank had transformed into a dragon again. I'll admit, I forgot about him. Maybe it was my ADHD, but it felt like we'd been fighting forever before he finally started blasting away.
"Well that certainly speeds up the process," I commented. "As they say: kill it with fire."
"Great, now we need to figure out how to get out of this tar," Annabeth said. I grabbed her and Percy and then willed us to melt into the shadows before we reformed from Frank's shadow. "Why didn't you do that before?!" She demanded, though looking a bit dizzy from the trip.
"Slipped my mind…?" I tried, shrugging. Annabeth was pretty scary when she got ticked off. The girl wasn't as power-oriented as my friends, but she still gave that aura of respect me or die. It was the truth though. I got a lot of powers and it's hard to keep track, okay? My trainer in the Underworld made me do a good deal of training without using certain powers or any of them, so I wasn't dependant on them. Sue me; or rather, sue my trainer.
"Look, I can't take more than two people through a shadow travel without help, and no matter where we landed, the tar might have followed us. See the logic?" She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, so I took that to mean she did see my point. Frank continued to blast away at the never-ending swarm of tar creatures. Despite his proper killing of the Kako creatures, there were still many of them spawning. They weren't afraid to walk to their doom, they were following orders, and who knows how many of them there'd be? They were going to keep trying to get to us no matter how many it took.
"Time to go!" Percy announced, hopping on Frank the dragon's back. I saw the ground beneath Frank darkening and realized the tar was going to try and grab Frank if he didn't take off. Annabeth climbed on next, but when I moved to step on, the ground beneath me suddenly gave away, and before I knew it, I was engulfed by the earth.
This wasn't a muskeg, it was much different. First off, it was much hotter than the freezing mud back in Alaska, scolding in fact. Ever accidentally made your bathwater way too hot and only realized it once you had gotten in? Yeah, this was how that felt. It felt like my skin was burning, so much that it kinda felt cool, meaning it was so hot it was practically overwhelming my nervous system. It seemed that I had fallen into a small vat of tar, just big enough for me to have fallen through. I tried not to panic as I summoned my lance and tried to fly out, but as I held it up as far as I could, I felt that I had already sunk too deep for Percy or the others to reach me and the lance could no longer pull me put against the tar surrounding me and pulling me down. I could hold my breath for a long time, even when caught by surprise, but right now there was no way I'd escape. There was also the fact that I could barely feel any of my body from the heat and confinement of the tar trapping me, so I doubt I'd be able to do anything anyway.
Great, I could just imagine how lame of a death this would sound like. Fought countless monsters, defeated three giants (scared off a fourth), awesome son of Hades, King of Souls, and chosen demigod of the goddess Zyanya, centurion of the Twelfth Legion with all these cool powers…was defeated by a single pit of tar when out on a small errand to gather supplies to repair the ship. No honorable death in a battle to save the world, just an accident at the beginning of the big Prophecy of Seven quest. I inwardly sighed, both from that embarrassing fact, and the realization that this was what was going through my head when I was about to die.
It was then that I realized that I could breathe. There was a pocket of air around my head like a helmet, even though the rest of my body was restrained by the gloppy earth. I couldn't see anything, but when I struggled against the tar around me, it seemed to grip me like a vice.
"So you are the boy, hmm?" A woman's voice boomed around me. It seemed to be coming from all around me, shaking the earth and vibrating me to my very core. There was a kind of interest in her voice, but also a coldness within it that scared me to death (and not the good kind).
"Gaea…" I realized.
"Interesting." Some dim light formed to allow me to see a woman's sleeping face form within the tar. Though her eyes were closed, she was smiling. I could almost convince myself she was just a mask, but when her voice boomed throughout the earth and tar around me, I knew that was her. "Son of Hades, do you understand your value?"
"I…uh…" How was I supposed to respond? "Yes, my dad isthe god of riches, after all. I'm worth millions of dollars. Your point?" Was this about my worth as some bargaining chip for my father or Zyanya?
"I speak not of your father, child. Your soul is very interesting. You will be a useful tool. My husband speaks highly of you. I see he was not exaggerating. I also understand why shewould be so intrigued by you as well. But in the end, her host shall be her downfall. People like her break so easily, and it won't be long before my revenge upon her is taken."
"You mean Zyanya? What have you done?!"
"She will find out soon enough. Why are you so protective of her? Do you even know what she has planned for you?" I hesitated.
"She…she chose me to help guard the seven of the prophecy."
"Allow me to enlighten you, son of Hades. That goddess is no ally of yours. She plans to betray you, to break your heart and soul once she's done with you, throw you away just like she did her brother. You are nothing but her pawn."
"You're…you're lying!"
"We shall see. I have great plans for you, boy. What a pity it would be if you were to die so easily."
"Don't remind me how embarrassing dying here would be; I don't need you to rub salt in the wound."
"You should not be loyal to that traitorous woman you call a goddess."
"And I should be loyal to you? Sorry lady, but I sure as hell ain't working for you, and no way am I going to be your tool or pawn." The smile on her face seemed to grow and she hummed in amusement.
"Choose to stay with your master or not, you will see soon."
"She's not my-!"
"Until next we meet, I grant you this gift, Zytaveon Kanazoi, to help you survive and consider my words. See how your so called friend is twisting you to her needs, and how simply she can throw you away." With that, the earth goddess's face disappeared and the tar closed in on me once more. I tried holding my breath again, but I no longer felt like the tar and earth were closing in on me. I was resonating with the tar, as though…I was made of it, as though it were a part of my body. It was like with the shadows, just a bit thicker, though not impossible to order around. I willed it upwards until I broke the surface, and then when I opened my eyes, I was above ground. I looked to my body, to find I was completely tar free (thank goodness because I seriously did not want to deal with the stress of cleaning tar out of my hair and jacket).
The Kako were still there, but they were just standing there, as though someone had hit pause on the TV. Frank, Percy and Annabeth were gone, most likely having gone back to the ship with the bucket of tar for Leo. I'd have to shadow travel to them or something. It was evening, after all, and the shadows were at their greatest. I stared at the Kako, who, though they didn't have faces, seemed to be staring me down. I raised my hand awkwardly.
"Hey…how's it going?" The Kako all mimicked me, raising their hands as though they were about to take an oath. "What the…?" I put my hand down and they did the same. "Uh…okay…" Was this what Gaea said she was giving me as a gift? The ability to control an army of tar dudes? I could already control zombies and the dead, thank you very much. "You guys can like, go back to the tar pit now. The fight is over." They all turned around and waddled back to the tar pit, sinking into it with a few bubbles to signify their exit. One of them remained and walked up to me, putting its hand on my shoulder. "Um, what do you wa-?" But I was cut off as I melted into the ground.
