I didn't expect this chapter to be as long as I made it. I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written. But it covers some very important pieces of information, particularly what the bloodlust is that has been mentioned multiple times before this chapter. Plus, we get our first prophecy of the story here. I hope you guys enjoy what I put together. Review and let me know what you like, or what you don't like. Happy readings.
Reyna hated a lot of things. She hated how Lupa had left her and the remnant of the Roman citizens and campers here with a bunch of Greeks and gone on without another word. The praetor knew all too well the way the she-wolf worked, but she knew she didn't have to be happy about it. She hated that she had to deal with the Greeks without another praetor to back her up. She sorely wished for Jason to be here, but at this rate, she would've taken anyone, even that upstart descendant of Apollo, Octavian. She hated that the only place left for their broken and battered forces was the rundown ruins of the port city of Detroit. She took a longer breath in than she usually did and came up coughing and wheezing. She glared ahead at the dark hair that bobbed up and down in front of her. Maybe more than anything, she didn't really like dealing with the son of Pluto. Under other circumstances, she felt that it wouldn't be so bad. He didn't talk much, he thought pretty well on his feet. But something in her unnerved her to work with him. Maybe it was the fact that whenever she was as much as ten feet close to him, she felt an unholy chill raises the bumps on her neck. Or maybe it was the fact that the smell of death hung on him as badly as stink did on a skunk. And then he was always talking to ghosts…But he always brought back the good news that Jason Grace was still alive. That was something. To that end, she decided that she could put up with the things she didn't like in order to try and work things out and keep the peace. Tensions already ran high between the armies, and the last thing she wanted was for them to look at their leaders and see the two half-bloods bickering as much as they were.
The son of Pluto stopped in front of her and Reyna had to snap out of her stupor to refrain from bumping into him. Wearily, she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear as he opened the door that had been in front of him. It creaked and groaned heavily, as if it hadn't been opened in a long time. "The Oracle has more than one way out of this little hole," the son of Pluto told her. "So this door only gets used when someone is called to see her. As it is, not a lot of people get called to talk to her." He stood to the side, allowing the praetor to wander into the room reserved for the famed Oracle of Delphi. She looked around intently, expecting some grand figure, dressed in all white with a soft, but stern expression, offering sacrifices to her patron though he was lost in the War. What Reyna got was a girl who looked about eighteen with stark red hair and freckles plastered on her face. She had been stretching, which brought attention to the 2x-sized shirt that blanketed her thin body, along with a pair of plain jeans and completely bare feet. When she was done stretching, she dusted off her shirt when she noticed her visitors.
"Nico!" she squealed happily, rushing to the son of Pluto and embracing him warmly. "How have you been? My you've grown, has it really been that long?" She spoke rapidly, managing to unleash all of her pent-up thoughts in one long-winded sentence. What Reyna saw next simply stunned her.
The praetor of Rome watched as the dark haired youth wrapped his arms around the red head in front of them in a squeeze and a slight red flush breached his excessively pale face. She couldn't help but audibly gasp, catching the attention of the two teenagers in the room with her. She'd known Nico for a little while. Not enough for her to call him a bosom buddy or anything, but she'd been around long enough to know that Nico didn't display emotion around others. He hardly touched people, much less hug them. And she'd never, never seen the son of Pluto blush at all. It was mind-boggling!
The two easily separated and the red head turned her focus to Reyna. "Who's this?" she asked politely.
Nico stepped back and rested his arm on the hilt of his sword. "This is Reyna. She is one of the praetors of Rome, staying here with what is left of her army."
The Oracle's green eyes focused on Reyna, and she had no idea what was going on behind the eyes of the red head. The closest that they'd had to an actual oracle was Octavian, because he was the augur. Even then, he himself didn't have the powers, but read the signs given to the Romans by the gods, although he never did shut up about those stupid Sibylline Books. But no actual powers. This redheaded girl in front of her wasn't just an oracle; she was the Oracle of Delphi. She carried the spirit of the oracle that foretold Oedipus' patricide and the birth of Theseus. Nico had told her more and revealed that Oracle had given a "Great Prophecy", and that it had foretold the destruction of Olympus that had occurred.
"Nico," Rachel whispered, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. "Does she space out often?"
The son of Hades shook his head slowly before poking Reyna in the arm. Reyna jumped, Nico's unnaturally cold hand jarring her from her thoughts. Her eyes turned onto him sharply, glaring. "What?" she growled in her throat.
"Hey, you're the one who spaced out when I introduced you," Nico shot back.
"Now guys," Rachel said, stepping between the two leaders. She placed a hand on Nico's shoulder before holding her hand level with Reyna to keep the two away from each other. "Now isn't the time to get all bent out of shape. Besides-," she stopped suddenly, her eyes slowly drifting closed.
"Great," Nico muttered, snapping his fingers while he braced the redheaded Oracle on his arm. Immediately two skeletons crawled from under the ground, dusting themselves off as they appeared. As their bodies began to surface, muscles, tendons, and skin began to form until there were two pale gray, translucent teenagers standing before him, yellow eyes focused entirely on the one who called them. "Draco, Corinna, you know your job. Get the stool." The skeletons nodded before Corinna began scuttling around the room. Draco strode to Nico and bowed respectfully before transferring Rachel from Nico to himself as Corinna returned with a silver stool, placing it under the Oracle. Without hesitation, Draco placed the redhead in the seat supporting her until her eyes opened.
When Rachel's eyes did open, a bright green mist began to flow almost from within her own body, causing Reyna to slowly move back from the two, her guard up and aware of her surroundings. "This is part of being the Oracle," Nico spoke, telling Reyna what was going on without actually addressing her. The praetor nodded, though Nico's gaze was focused on the Oracle and couldn't see Reyna behind him. Reyna's eyes looked towards Rachel's, not intentionally trying to stare into them, watching the green mist swirl until it hung on everything around them, turning Rachel's eyes green, iris, pupil, everything in her sockets turned the green of the mist. And then Rachel opened her mouth and her voice changed from the bright, sunny girl Reyna had just met to an ancient, withered voice.
"Son of Hades, make ready to travel,
Your journey will force the bonds to unravel.
Wisdom and light, the sky and the sea
In turn will fight, set the demigod free.
Lightning, light and earth must shatter the cage
To begin the end, Titan's last age."
Rachel's body then slumped over, but the transparent arms of Corinna were there to catch the Oracle. She immediately transferred the limp mortal's body to Draco's stronger arms as she put away the silver stool. Reyna's gasp was audible, and as Draco laid Rachel in a nearby bed, Corinna turned and gave Reyna a smile, slightly marred with her skull being visible beneath her translucent skin. Corinna draped a small blanket over the redhead, then stood beside Draco, facing Nico and awaiting further instructions.
Nico looked the two skeletons over before nodding in approval. He whispered, "Well done," then raised his hand, closing it into a fist, and lowering it slowly. Corinna and Draco both smiled before disintegrating once again, falling into a pile of bones that sank into the ground like quicksand.
"What was that?" Reyna asked him, coming to stand in front of him.
Nico turned to face her, his hand once again draped over his hilt. "That was a prophecy, praetor," he told her. He walked to a stand nearby, pouring water from a bottle on the table into a glass before walking to Rachel's side. Rachel's eyes had opened again, now her normal green eyes. Nico supported her head while she took the cup gratefully and began to drink from it.
"What does it all mean?" the praetor asked him.
Nico looked at her, a half-grin spread across his face. He startled Reyna; he had never done much but scowl and give her bored looks in all the time she'd known him. Never had he given her a half-smile, much less a full one. "It means you get your wish. We're busting Jason and Percy out of the Arena."
"So," Percy said, gritting his teeth, "What do we do now?"
Annabeth looked Percy over, noting that his shirt held gashes in it from the attacks that had just barely missed cleaving him in half. Fabric at one knee had been ripped away from the rest of his pants. There was a cut above his cheek from being tossed into the rough bark of a tree trying to dodge a blow and his shoulder was bleeding from a slash suffered from an enemy's blade. Despite their current position, Annabeth smiled a little, reaching to touch Percy's other shoulder. "We've been through worse, Seaweed Brain. Remember, we didn't beat Kronos, but we survived fighting him. And you survived three encounters with him. We'll get through this," she told him encouragingly.
Percy looked back at her, all at once seeing and absorbing her appearance. Her usually clean blond hair was dark and wild and her face was dirty. A strap on her shirt had been broken and her pants were torn where she'd been injured the day before. The skin around the wound was red and angry, and while she didn't show symptoms of being sick yet, Percy knew it was only a matter of time before it became necessary to clean and bandage it before she did get ill. "I hope you're right, Wise Girl," he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath from the last fray he jumped out of. He looked out and saw the four half-bloods glaring at the two of them in the shelter of the trees. Percy gave them another once-over, noting two guys and two girls. The one boy, the one with cropped black hair and a powerful build, let out a powerful growl towards Percy and made to rush him when a bronze flash hit the ground in front of him. Percy looked over his shoulder and saw Annabeth glaring back at the boy, a throwing knife pinched between her fingers as she braced herself against a nearby tree.
The boy backed up slowly in order to regroup with the girl he'd been stalking Percy and Annabeth. Meanwhile, Percy turned, leaving his sword by the tree and supporting Annabeth before she fell in pain. "How's the leg?" he asked her.
"Oh it's just peachy," Annabeth bit out, wincing around her words. "Never felt better," she grimaced.
Leaning Annabeth against a nearby tree, Percy slouched next to her. "How long before the next attack?"
Annabeth began to breathe a little heavy, her chest heaving as she gulped in air. "Well, we've been here since last night and been attacked five times since sunrise, so…we might have an hour or two before they get antsy again."
Percy nodded almost absently. "How many of those throwing knives do you have?" he asked her, still staring hard at the tree in front of him.
If he stares any harder at that tree, he'll burst it into flames, Annabeth intoned drily. "I've got four, plus a couple arrows and the bow you took from that guy."
Percy dared a look back out towards their enemy, watching the four huddled bodies gathered together while a fifth body laid on the ground a distance away, as if it was forgotten. Percy hadn't forgotten how the dead boy rushed them, proclaiming himself a son of Mercury and bellowing his victory alongside a blond girl and a redhead boy before charging with the redhead at his heels. Percy hadn't been injured at that point, but after the first few swings from the two boys, he'd been backed into a tree and cut his cheek after ducking a block when he was kicked into the tree. The tree was still marred by the gash from the heavy overhead slash where his head used to be. He kicked and punched and parried as best as he could, but he just couldn't move as well as he had before. In the back of his mind, he was still bitter about losing Riptide and knew that not having that balanced weapon didn't put him at a hundred percent in this fight. In fact, he'd only nicked one of the boys with his blade in response to being tossed around by them.
As he fought them, he couldn't help but notice the dull red glow in their eyes as he fought, but he didn't know why their eyes did that. He'd managed to redirect them closer to the hideout and managed to lodge one of their blades under his foot and flipping when the powerful boy tugged on his weapon, the effort carrying his sword far behind him. A kick to the redhead and a swift jab ended the son of Mercury, but a second slash at the redhead was parried before he retreated with the girl, who'd been stalking the opening to get at Annabeth.
"Percy?" Annabeth called, tugging on his arm, trying to snap him back to the present. "What are you thinking?"
Percy looked back at the blond beside him. "Why are their eyes glowing?"
Annabeth looked astounded when he asked the question. "You don't know?" She watched as the son of Poseidon shook his head no. She took a deep breath before explaining. "It's the bloodlust." Percy gave her a blank stare, as if to say I have no clue what that is. Annabeth face palmed. "Come on Seaweed Brain." When it was clear that Percy had zero idea of what she was talking about, she began again. "When half-bloods are forced to become mindless killers, it changes them. They start becoming violent, arrogant…and it gives them great power. Fortunately, it also takes away most sense. They become wild, which means if you're strong enough or fast enough, you can work around their power and get them before they get you. They get red eyes when it happens, and they want nothing more than to kill."
Percy glanced back towards the group huddled together. "Then why aren't they killing each other? At least all of the boys had the bloodlust."
Annabeth sighed sadly. "They haven't completely given over to the bloodlust. All of the power and the red eyes, but all the mental faculties you had before the bloodlust took hold. It makes you even more dangerous than people who give into it. They can think, they can plan, they can hold off on killing people that they don't want to…for now."
Percy stared into Annabeth's gray eyes. "For now?" he asked her.
She nodded, wincing from the pain in her leg. She grasped at her wound while she talked. "Everyone that the bloodlust touches always gives in. Now it's just a matter of time. We just have to not become mindless in our killing, or we'll end up-,"
"Like them," Percy finished, watching intently as the redhead boy began to walk menacingly towards them, the blond girl behind him, ready to fight.
Lyca didn't feel safe in the grove she and Jason had been eating in; thinking that picking the apples may have brought the distorted centaurs out to have a little snack of their own. With a nod Jason agreed and began to pack the apples into the small bag that Lyca left on the ground. The stark white bag was now brown and dirty from the day of traveling and being trampled by the half-bloods and the centaurs during the fight. While Jason packed, Lyca scouted the immediate area, searching for any more surprises. Once she'd determined that there was nothing around that would randomly attack them, she headed back to Jason, who was waiting under the tree for the half-blood to return.
"Anything out there?" Jason asked her when she got close enough to him.
Lyca reached out to the son of Jupiter for her bag. "Not a soul," she replied darkly. She shouldered the bag before looking around. "Think we should cross that stream over there; get some water while there's some nearby." Jason nodded to her before taking the lead, walking the way Lyca had gone to the stream.
Jason and Lyca both knelt by the side of the stream to fill the bottles with cool water. "So, who's your parent? Y'know, the immortal one?" she asked, trying to make a little side talk.
Jason scowled for a breath of a second, but when Lyca blinked, the scowl was gone and Jason's face was blank. The half-blood remained silent as he filled his water bottle, and Lyca threw her gloved hands up in defense. "Okay. Touchy subject, I see. You aren't the only one. The Hermes' cabin is always full with undetermined kids. How long had you been there waiting for someone to claim you?"
As Jason screwed the top onto his bottle and stood, he gave Lyca a strange look. "What are you talking about? I've hardly ever heard anyone refer to Mercury by his Greek form in a long time, except maybe in a history class. And what do you mean, 'Hermes has a cabin'? No god has a cabin. And the entire legion lives in barracks."
Now it was Lyca who gave Jason a strange look. "What do you mean? Every major god has a cabin, except Hades and Hestia. A god's children live in that god's cabin. The Hermes' cabin takes on any undetermined demigods until parentage is discovered. Maybe being locked up has made you forget about Camp Half-Blood."
"Half-Blood? I've never been to a 'Camp Half-Blood'. I come from Camp Jupiter."
"'Camp Jupiter'? What's up with the Latin name?" Lyca asked him as she crossed the stream, waiting for him to do the same.
"The gods are Roman, so we use Roman names," Jason said matter-of-factly. He splashed water on his face before crossing the stream. "How'd you even end up in here?" Jason asked Lyca.
"The same way everyone in the first wave got here," Lyca replied, tugging on her hunting knife to make sure it slid easily from its sheath. "I was part of the army that got captured defending Olympus."
At that Jason stopped. "Defending Olympus? The gods did that themselves. No mortals were there."
Lyca scoffed. "What are you talking about? Me and about seventy other demigods were all fighting Kronos' forces in Manhattan while Percy Jackson fought Kronos himself on Olympus. Weren't you there?"
Jason shook his head. "I was in San Francisco. I was facing off with the Titan Krios. I aimed to take out Kronos' throne."
"Alone? That's brave, if not quite brazen."
Jason smiled. "Who said I was alone? I led an entire army up Mount Othrys."
Lyca's face scrunched up as she thought. "This makes no sense," she muttered to herself. "None of our information is adding up…which means we didn't come from the same place." Her amber eyes focused on Jason. "Where are you from?" she asked him.
"Camp Jupiter, I told you," he said finally, still looking ahead into the clearing in front of them. They kept walking as Lyca was about to answer, when Jason's arm shot out, keeping her from stepping into the clearing and a finger over his lips. Lyca watched him intently as he motioned from them to get down.
"What are you doing?" she asked him archly.
Jason pointed over the bush that currently hid the two. "More demigods."
Lyca dared a second peek over the bush and saw the four demigods Jason had seen huddled together as if they were planning. "Great," she said, louder than she'd meant to. Jason tugged on her leg, pulling the half-blood down as a blond girl's head popped up, as if she'd heard something. There was more muttering amongst the group as the blond's eyes raked the forest. The last thing Lyca noticed was a dull red glow in the blond's eyes.
"Be quiet, or they'll hear us!" Jason scolded.
Lyca decided that she'd be angry about him scolding her later. "Bloodlust," she managed to get out. "They've all got the bloodlust."
Jason swore as his electric blue eyes flashed. He peeked under the bush at them, studying the group. "They don't seem to be completely taken by the bloodlust. They shouldn't be able to plan if they were." Lyca bent down to watch them from under the bush and managed to see a redhead boy and the blond girl she'd seen stalk off towards some trees.
Lyca drew her hunting knife. "Then they're more dangerous now than at any other point in their lives. We have an alliance with each other. The whole point of this game is to be the last one standing. Think we should eliminate some opposition?"
Jason stared at his own weapon hard. "Won't that turn us into them?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Lyca replied. "The bloodlust takes hold when you kill for the sake of nothing but killing. If we kill them, it'll be for survival."
Jason gripped his sword, silently unsheathing it. "For survival," he whispered.
Lyca put a finger to her parted lips and slinked from under the bush. Jason watched Lyca as she dropped low, stalking the two demigods left behind, sinking to her knees when the boy turned to talk to the other girl. "I'm gonna get a closer look. Keep watch. And keep working on that bow. It wouldn't be in here if it couldn't be strung and used."
"Okay," the girl sighed. "I just wish Jacob hadn't lost the other bow to those demigods in there. I hope we get it back. This thing is hard to work with." Lyca lay in wait until the black haired boy walked away to watch the other demigods going away from him. Lyca stalked the girl who had been left behind, keeping low and out of sight. Jason was impressed when Lyca leapt into action, grabbing the lone girl and clamping her gloved hand over the girl's mouth so her screams wouldn't be heard.
Lyca drew her hunting knife, pressing it between the sections of the girl's ribcage. "I'm going to make this as swift as possible," Lyca told her softly and sweet, even as the girl thrashed in desperation to be free. "I hate that we are forced to do this," her voice dropped to a whisper. "Take the freedom that the Titans have deprived you from." Lyca's words were followed by a sharp push of the knife, plunging it between the spaces of the ribcage to pierce the heart, and Lyca watched the girl become lifeless in her grasp. She sighed heavily, laying the girl gently to the ground and noticing the bow the girl had clutched in her hand. The half-blood closed the girl's eyes and removed the unstrung bow from her fingers. She'd hardly begun to look at the bow when Lyca heard a scream and a clash of metal and watched as she saw the other boy fighting with Jason.
Great, Lyca intoned. Just great.