We Get Ambushed by a Shadow
Annabeth frowned at the lousy pile of wood we had gathered for our fire. It was a leaning pyramid of finger width twigs that looked like it would burn for a whole three minutes at best. Even Leo would have a hard time keeping it a flame for long. I sighed.
"I guess I'll gather more wood," I grumbled, feeling glum.
"Go ahead," said Annabeth, "I'll try to start it." I nodded, and re-entered the dark woods behind me. "Don't do anything stupid, Seaweed Brain," she warned. I grinned.
" 'Kay, Wise Girl." I rolled my eyes and turned them to the ground. I figured it was no good snapping branches off of trees. It would make a ton of noise, and the wood wouldn't burn as well. Not counting all the smoke.
I wondered why Annabeth had been so jumpy lately. She practically freaked out every time I tripped or a bush rustled. I heard her murmuring something about Chiron warning her about shadows, or something like that. Her being jumpy, was making me nervous. Annabeth usualy was worried for a good reason. Usualy.
Chiron sent us on this little trip to recover a valuable relic from the woods surrounding Camp Half-Blood. He said he could smell the power from it, but it couldn't be pinpointed. We brought enough supplies to last for a few days, so we wouldn't have to travel back and forth from Camp. We brought weapons, but only a little bit of armor.
As I walked deeper into the woods, I began to see better wood for the fire. Within a few minutes, I had a good sized armload. I headed back toward our campsite. I noticed a small rustling in the brush next to me. I turned my head. I caught a glance of something coming toward me, when WHAM! A sharp pain sprouted between my eyes.
"Gamoto!" I yelled, cursing in Ancient Greek. I dropped the firewood on my foot, and hopped around on my uninjured foot, cursing my clumsiness.
"Percy?" Annabeth called. I tried to respond, but nothing came out. The words felt stuck in my chest. An eerie silence had settled over the entire wood. The leaves crunching beneith my feet were soundless. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I took Riptide from my pocket. I spun around and uncapped my sword. A short figure darted noiselessly from behind a tree and charged me, a black sword in hand. At first all I could see of him was his outline. The rest of him was a dark mass, in the shape of a person.
I parried his charge and answered with a sidestroke. The figure blocked with a half foot dagger and jabbed with his Spartan sword. I dodged. Slowly he, scratch that she, began to materialize, starting with cold, calculating amber eyes, that looked completely calm and collected. She had dark brown hair, in a single braid and inch or so farther down than her shoulders. Her jaw was set, and her body matched the style of her Stygian Iron sword: Spartanly tough. Despite her obvious strength, the girl wasn't bulky or slow. She moved quickly, raining down blows with both blades constantly. Neither was she angered or frustrated that I kept parrying her cuts and thrusts. I'll admit It was getting harder and harder to do so.
When the Shadow Girl took off an inch of my hair, I decided I needed more protection. I pushed her back and pressed a button on the watch Tyson made me for my birthday a few years ago. My shield popped out and I held it at the ready. The girl's expression didn't change, except for a slight widening of the eyes. It was then I realized how young she was. She couldn't have been older than fifteen at most. She used my hesitation against me, and she scratched my shoulder with her blade. Young or not, she was going to beat the Hades out of me if I didn't concentrate. The Spartan Shadow Girl set up an over hand toward my neck, but luckily I blocked with my shield. She wasn't giving me any time to think, because as soon as I looked over my shield to strike, the girl kicked me in the stomach. I stumbled, and my opponent sent my shield flying into a nearby tree. My anger rose in my chest, and I felt the familiar tug in my gut as I summoned water from the creek behind me. I sent gallons and gallons of water hurtling toward her, along with all of my anger. A split second defeated my plan, when she disappeared. I gaped and let the water fall to the ground harmlessly. Suddenly, I felt the cold flat of Shadow Girl's blade on my neck, pulling me backward.
Oh . . . look, I mused, what are those little black dots doing . . .I mentally kicked myself as I realized I was slipping from consciousness, and it was getting harder to struggle. Shadow Girl turned the sharp end of her knife into my neck, and I grabbed the blade, desperate to stop it. Blood trickled from my hand and my windpipe felt bruised. Desperately, I flung the girl over my shoulder, and blessed all the Judo training sessions Annabeth insisted on taking with me. Apparently my friend the Shadow knew Judo too, because she rolled to her feet as soon as she touched the ground. I took a few steps forward, then was hit by a literal wall of darkness. I blindly swung Riptide, hoping to get a lucky blow. All of the air rushed out of my lungs when the Deadly Shadow landed a kick to my liver/ribcage. I crumpled to my knees in pain, and another gods darned kick hit me on the temple. I was barely managing to stay conscious.
If I could only get to water . . . A front kick to the face knocked me onto my back, and the icy tip of Shadow Girl's sword touched between my eyes. I followed the edge of the sword and arm of the girl to her face. Young, bitter, cold. I could see the adrenaline rush fading from her systems, and she relaxed, a triumphant look in her amber eyes. It was hopeless, I knew, so I dropped Anaklusmos and raised my hands over my head in surrender. Then I realized how ticked off I was about how easily I was beat, and I swatted the sword away. It only barely nicked my face, thankfully(but that still hurt like Styx, literally), when it flew off to the side. In an instant Spartan Girl was on me. She went for an arm triangle choke by folding one arm across my neck. When I struggled, she socked me in the ribs. Oh man, those were my bad ones. I groaned, and realized I could hear again.
I rolled the girl onto her back and stood up. Within a split second she had me by the wrists, and her combat boots were pressing painfully into the insides of my elbow. I tried backing up. Apparently, she wasn't just the Spartan-Shadow, she was the Spartan-Shadow-Jujitsu- Blackbelt. As soon as I started backing up, she pulled me forward violently, after she placed her feet on my hips, and launched me over her head. Again, the wind got knocked out of me, and I was pretty dazed. My Dark and Deadly friend kneeled on my arms and pinned them to the ground. She drew her dagger warily and held the blade to my Jugular vein. I gulped. It was over.
Nike, I prayed, please, just this once-
"Percy? Where are you? Percy!" Annabeth shouted. She was close! Spartan Girl picked her sword off the ground and stood, muttering in Greek about terrible luck.
"Annabeth!" I called weakly, "It's a-" The black heel of a combat boot struck me in the cheek, and Annabeth ran onto the scene with her dagger drawn. Her grey eyes locked on me.
"Did you kill him?" she asked quietly. I croaked miserably. Relief, then anger flooder her face as she stared cold daggers at my assailant. Annabeth began to advance. The younger girl melted into a semicircle of shadow surrounding Annabeth. She swiped, but the blade passed through. Suddenly, the Shadow materialized next to Annabeth and swept her feet out from under her. Annabeth latched onto her ankle and up-kicked toward her face. She easily dodged, but Annabeth drove her knife into the foot she captured. Sparta's favorite Shadow stifled a cry and wrenched in pain as the blade was jerked out of her foot. Annabeth's dagger was dripping with blood, onto her hand. The injured girl vanished as Annabeth jumped to her feet. Darkness flooded around her, and the Invisible Assassin bashed the knife out of her hand. Shadow Girl reappeared and held the icy tip of her black dagger under Annabeth's chin.
"Annabeth," I croaked feebly, "It's no use." I could see her resolve hardening even as I talked. "Please." She softened, looking around hopelessly and dropped her blade.
"Sit," commanded the girl, and Annabeth obeyed, watching her tersely. Shadow Girl knelt, and not taking her eyes off of Annabeth, muttered something. Black bars appeared around her like a cage. Annabeth grasped one of the bars. It didn't look solid, but she couldn't pass through it. Curiously, she picked up a stick and tried. It slipped right through the bar like it wasn't there. My brain wasn't too foggy to process the fact, but my head was thumping like a thousand elephants were marching on it. I noticed how pale and wan Shadow Girl looked since the fighting had stopped. She seemed drained and tired. She swayed a little, almost like Nico did when he was summoning the dead . . .
Our friend the Shadow pulled something from a satchel she wore at her side, and I realized it was ambrosia. She devoured the square and took a ring off her finger. It expanded, and turned into a large black backpack. I had seen plenty of magic items and tools, but this was pretty cool. The girl pulled out a first aid kit and untied her bloody combat boot. She bit her lip and gingerly removed the shoe, revealing a drenched sock, dripping red liquid. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she took it of. Shadow Girl's face was ash white. Her foot, stained red, had an opening the size of Annabeth's knife straight through it. My gut wrenched. Annabeth looked green. Our friend groaned. By the angle her foot was at, I could tell it was broken. I noticed the blood on her lip, too. Must have bit it really hard. She opened the medical kit and applied some ointment, which seemed to help some with the bleeding. Hands trembling, the Spartan Shadow she wrapped the foot in at least ten layers of gauze, which she bled through in about half a minute. She ate another ambrosia square and a shot of nectar, bringing a little color back to her face. Now she sported more of a whitewashed wall tone, and less of a half dead corpse's. Carefully she put her mutilated boot back on, and stood up. She limped heavily over to me, and dragged me by the collar of my shirt over to a tree closer to Annabeth and propped me up on it. Again she knelt, expanding the shadow cage over to my area as well. I groaned sleepily. Shadow Girl turned around and limped off into the woods. Annabeth listened for her to be out of earshot. I opened my eyes fully.
"She's good," I said, "I thought she was gonna send me to see Nico's daddy. But you nailed her good." Annabeth snorted.
"That didn't seem to stop her from winning, did it?"
"Well, who says she's won? We might be able to escape. You saw how drained she was." Annabeth shrugged.
"Maybe." She frowned for a second. "She reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who." I remembered the tired, exhausted look.
"Nico?" I suggested. "He gets that same drop dead tired look after shadow traveling. And she had dark, shadowy powers." Annabeth nodded slowly and smiled.
"Possibly. Did she summon the dead during your little skirmish?" I shook my head. "Hmm. She doesn't quite radiate death like Nico. More like she's dark and hard to pinpoint."
"I think she's a daughter of Hades," I replied. "After all, she was-"
"Silent as death?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow. I smiled, and winced as I realized, maybe now wasn't a good time to smile with a razor cut on my cheek.
"You could say that."
"The only thing is," She furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully, in that cute way I love when she thinks, "if she is Nico's sister, why di-" she stopped abruptly. "Play dead. She's coming." Play dead? I thought incredulously, but looked sickly and unconscious. Shadow Girl appeared as a dark mass that shifted into human form again, leaning to one side and groaning softly. She had an armful of wood(presumably from our old campsite) and mine and Annabeth's backpacks. She set them on the ground and looked through them. Taking out Annabeth's lighter, she formed a circle of rocks and stacked the wood in a teepee like shape. Shadow Girl gathered a handful of dried leaves into the makeshift fire pit and lit them. As the flames began to catch the larger pieces of wood, she glanced at the sun and squinted.
"Just in time," she murmured. Annabeth voiced my thoughts
" 'Just in time' for what?" Said it with a superior attitude, that I wouldn't have dared use with this dangerous demigod. A flash of annoyance crossed Shadow Girl's face as she answered.
"Sundown. I got the fire set just in time for sundown." It was true. The sun was beginning to inch its way down the sky hidden by the woods surrounding Camp Half-Blood. "You, of all people should know that, considering your parentage," she retorted, a little hotly. Annabeth shut up. I was surprised. This girl knew how to end the conversation then and there by hitting where it hurts.
I moaned, to have an excuse to 'wake up'. Unfortunately, I didn't have to pretend to be in pain. My head was still in its elephant-stomping state, and the cuts between my eyes and on my hand hurt like Hades himself had poisoned me. It was only his daughter, though. Shadow Girl must have guessed I was in pain, and she brought out her first-aid kit. She opened a kanteen and took my injured hand in hers. I sighed in relief as cool water washed over it, counteracting the cold, yet burning sensation from the Stygian Iron. After a few minutes of this treatment, the wound had healed completely.
"Thanks," I muttered gratefully. Spartan Shadow Girl grunted and dabbed some ointment on the cut between the eyes, and on my shoulder. She moved on to the bruise on my head. She placed her freezing hand on it, and some of the pain left it. A touch of ointment was applied, and I winced at its touch. The girl recoiled, and I motioned for her to go on. Instead she capped the ointment and kanteen.
"That should do for now." She groaned and got to her feet, looking pained, but satisfied. "I'll give you some privacy." She unraveled a dark grey sleeping bag and lay down on top of it.
I scooted closer to Annabeth. "Whaddya think?" I asked.
"Hades' spawn here doesn't seem completely off her rocker like his kids are notorious for. More like dark, and brooding."
"And quite the smart aleck," I snickered. Annabeth elbowed me, but laughed a little uncomfortably. She glanced over at Shadow Girl, who was sleeping soundly.
"She's on the older side for a demigod, but to be alone, obviously for a long time . . . she's so young." I nodded grimly. Turning to look at me, she said, "I wonder why she's wandering around here." Shrug.
"Maybe for the same reason Nico does himself sometimes. He wants to get away from the Underworld. Persephone is a pain, and Hades doesn't exactly have a sparkling personality.
Annabeth snorted. "No he doesn't." The comforting sounds of the night and the cheerful crackle of the fire was pleasant. I wrapped my arm around Annabeth and rested my cheek on her head, breathing in the sweet smell of her hair. She placed her hand on my knee. "I don't think Nico even knows she exists."
"I agree," I affirmed. "It seems like he would have told Hazel, who is a bit more open and readable than he is. She probably would have mentioned a sister at some point." Annabeth nodded.
"Yeah. Probably."
"The domes!" Shadow Girl announced, making us jump. "I'm looking for the domes." She sounded a little less sure of herself the third time she spoke. "Not . . . the domes . . ."
I gave Annabeth a look that said what the heck? We shrugged in unison.
" 'The domes?' Does that ring a bell?" I asked shook her head.
"I don't remember anything about domes, only spheres. I think she's just having wacky dreams. What demigod doesn't?" I chuckled ruefully. It was true. Once I had a dream I was under water, swimming, when Hermes popped out of nowhere and offered me a cup of tea. If that wasn't weird enough, Tyson appeared and kept rambling about mud puddles. Then an empousa tried to convince me that Gaea was a turtle, who needed a turtle fence. Like I said. Weird dreams.
Annabeth shivered and rubbed her arms despite the fire. It must have been the effect of our prison. I took off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She kissed my cheek and I pulled her closer, tugging the hood of the sweater over her head, which rested on my chest. Sighing contentedly, Annabeth burrowed into the jacket.
We stayed that way for half an hour or so until Shadow Girl started to stir. She rubbed her eyes groggily and groaned, as she slid out of her sleeping bag. Her sock was soaking wet with blood. I mean, dripping wet. It made me feel kind of bad for the girl, but then my headache reminded me how badly she kicked my sorry butt. She went through the painful process of treating the wound and re wrapping it again. A few times, the cage spell almost completely vanished, and the bars looked less substantial the whole time. Her face was still paper white. She nibbled some ambrosia and sipped nectar, but even after that she looked dangerously faint. Shadow Girl finished the godly food, and pulled out a vial of what looked like beer. I gave Annabeth a look. Shadow Girl uncorked the bottle and fumes spread out toward us. The smell wasn't like alcohol at all. It was sweet and tangy, kind of like a soda's smell. Our captor downed the drink and smiled a little, and she looked the slightest bit better. She looked at us.
"You two hungry?" she asked. I looked at Annabeth, who nodded.
"We can eat."
The food was pretty darned good for roughing it. It was hot clam chowder in bread bowl, somehow stored safely in Shadow Girl's ring/bag. She finished off the last of her bread.
"I take it you've figured out I'm a demigod," she guessed, choosing her words carefully. Annabeth and I nodded. "And that I'm the daughter of Hades." We nodded again. "Well, I think I'm sorry I ambushed slash attacked you. I tend to be paranoid." Shadow Girl poked at the fire with a stick.
"You think you're sorry?" Annabeth asked incredulously. Shadow Girl laughed. Her face was a huge contrast to that of when she was trying to kill you. She seemed genuinely amused.
"So. . . are you going to let us out?" I requested, silently praying and begging for the answer to be yes. Sparta's favorite Shadow thought for a few moments.
"If you swear on the River Styx you won't attack me." Annabeth and I nodded.
"As long as you don't try to kill us."
"Good," the daughter of Hades looked at us suspiciously. "No fingers crossed, no eyes, no toes?" she asked. I tried really, really hard not to laugh.
"I swear," both Annabeth and I said. Thunder rolled in the distance, even though there wasn't a cloud in sight. Shadow Girl relaxed and released the cage spell.
"So," she said casually, tossing the stick she was playing with into the fire. "who are you?"
"I'm Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon."
"And I'm Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." Shadow Girl pointed to us.
"I've seen you both before, in the Underworld. That was a good trick you pulled with Cerberus. Father ranted and ranted about how he would pulverize you if he could." She chuckled. "His whole demeanor gets ten shades darker whenever I mention the incident." I thought back, but I didn't remember seeing her in the Underworld, or anywhere else. . . Annabeth interrupted my thoughts by kissing my cheek.
"That was only about a week after we met," she recalled. I smiled fondly at the memory of Annabeth back then. Just as pretty, but a whole lot younger.
"I remember," I told her. "We were twelve." She kissed me again. I noticed Shadow Girl was watching the interaction, and I felt embarrassed when she realized she was staring and blushed.
"I'm Phoenix Rubidoux, daughter of Hades," she said, obviously trying to move on from the awkward moment. She extended her half gloved hand, and Annabeth and I shook it.
"Rubidoux. . ." Annabeth wondered aloud, "isn't that the name of a city in California?" Phoenix nodded.
"It's miserable having my first and last names being also the names of cities." I laughed.
"I'll bet."
"Fortunately," she continued, " 'Phoenix' with an 'i' isn't how my name is spelt. Hades, my dad, replaced it with a 'y', as a play on words. He says I'm the symbol of his power rising from the ashes, thus the 'nyx' part." Well thats slightly scary, I thought. I mouthed to Annabeth, ask about Nico. She nodded and inhaled.
"So," starting nonchalantly, "do you know any other Hades' kids?" Phoenyx flinched and stared into the fire for awhile.
"No," she said quickly. "They're all dead." I glanced at Annabeth.
"Actually, that's not true." Phoenyx gave a rough laugh.
"Yeah. Right. Like I can't tell. I can feel it." She looked miserable talking about it, but something told me she wanted very badly to believe it.
"You do," Annabeth insisted, "We've met them. You have a brother and a sister." Phoenyx shook her head sadly.
"Hades would have told me if I had other siblings. And Nyk-" she faltered at the name.
"Who's Nyk?" I asked. Phoenyx stared into her palm intently.
"He's gone," she muttered softly. Annabeth jumped on it.
"But your other siblings aren't. They didn't even know you exist. Come with us tomorrow and meet one." Phoenyx looked skeptical.
"I'll believe it when I see it, Annabeth."