Sorry, this has taken two weeks instead of one, but today was the first time I've had an actual free day to write for hours on end in-well, the last two weeks. I have way too much going on.
I'm probably not going to be working for much longer, though-currently, that's the only thing I'm willing to give up, and I've already proven that all I have going on right now is way to much with all the stress when I had a mental breakdown because I couldn't untangle my annoyingly long hair. (My dad picked me up in the convertible, and I didn't have a ponytail...plus my scalp was seriously sunburnt.)
Anyway, here's the chapter-it's pretty long, so hopefully that makes up a little for the wait. I'm going to try and start writing more during my free time at school, which isn't much, but still makes a difference. If I stop working soon, too, I'll have much more free time. I've gotta get it finished before October 7! Aghhhhhhhhhh!
Enjoy the chapter-next one soon! Meaning, not two weeks...hopefully only as long as one week this time. At most. I'm going to be writing a lot in the next few days.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter CIV
Percy
When Percy realizes they're not in the mess hall anymore, the first thing he does is reassure himself that Annabeth is still right next to him, and tighten his grip on her hand. Whatever happens, he's not going to let himself get separated from her.
The second thing he does is scan their new surroundings. They look like they're in some sort of underground cavern, complete with shadowy tunnels and rough walls. Wherever they are, he's never been here before.
He spots something on the wall that catches his eye, and pulls Annabeth over to look at it-it's a symbol, carved into the cavern wall. Something eerily familiar...
His fingers brush against it, tracing the lines, and then it hits him. He knows this symbol-and it's not a symbol at all. It's a letter. The Greek letter delta.
Annabeth gasps next to him, and he knows she's recognized it too. They both spin around and start looking around at the cavern in a whole new way, scanning for traps or another potential danger.
"What is it?" Jason asks urgently, glancing quickly between them, having noticed their sudden recognition. "Where are we?"
Percy exchanges a long look with Annabeth, and sees the same fear and desperation mirrored in her gray eyes.
Finally, though, he looks back at the others, every muscle in his body tensed for an attack. "We're in the labyrinth."
Hazel eyes dawn with realization, and she steps forward, craning her neck to look up at the ceiling and around. "I thought I felt something...something familiar. But I didn't think that could be it. Why would Eris take us here? Pasiphae is working for Gaea."
"Exactly." A voice rings out across the cavern, echoing through the tunnels.
Eris steps out from behind a rock outcrop, twirling her knife in her fingers, those endless black wings folded neatly behind her. "The gods want to know how you handle yourself in a place where every inch is hostile." Her voice quiets, becomes an eery whisper, yet she pronounces the words like a caress-she's enjoying this. "Where every step yields a new threat."
"Why?" Hazel repeats stubbornly. "It still doesn't make any sense. You're practically giving us over to Gaea, all neatly wrapped in a little package with a bow on top." Her voice is undeniably hostile, and it takes Percy by surprise. He doesn't think he's ever heard such venom in her tone.
"No." Eris replies, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. "The gods are keeping you hidden. Neither Pasiphae nor Gaea have any idea you're here. You should be able to feel that, with the blood of witches running in your veins."
"I can control the Mist." Hazel answers tightly. "That doesn't make me a witch."
"We'll argue the semantics later." Eris says dismissively. "But you should learn to accept who you are, Hazel. It does you no good to run away from it."
Whatever Hazel might've said to that, no one will ever know, because at that moment, a roar bursts through the cavern with a force that shakes the ground, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling and cracks to widen in the walls. Percy has to resist the urdge to clap his hands over his ears, but through it all, Eris just tilts her head back, looking contemplatively up at the ceiling, and lets a smile play at the corners of her lips.
As the sound fades away, she turns calmly to them, running a finger along the edge of her knife, heedless of the drops of blood that drip to the layer of black dust settled on the floor. Something about it bothers Percy, but he doesn't have time to think about it. "Take the tunnel that calls to blood. Follow it through to the end, no matter how difficult it gets, and find your way into the hall of souls." Her vague smile breaks into a genuine one, full of pointed teeth and blazing black eyes. "Face your ghosts and win. Triumph is the only accepted outcome here." Her grin morphs into a dark smirk, and she runs the blade of her knife delicately along her wrist, letting more blood flow, running in rivulets down her hand and staining her fingers. "Don't forget to have fun, kiddies." She tells them in a singsong voice, and then, with a laugh, she spreads her wings wide and vanishes in a burst of fire and ash.
"That was...cryptic." Piper comments dryly, and Percy laughs humorlessly.
"You think?" He adds sarcastically. Then he takes a deep breath, forcing the dark feelings away. "We need to figure out which tunnel she meant. Once we do that, we can go on from there."
Hazel stirs suddenly with a sharp intake of breath, her head turning to a tunnel on her right-one that's shadowed in mesmerizing darkness that makes it impossible to see where it leads. "That one." She says, her voice certain.
"How do you know?" Frank asks, curious.
She looks up at him, taking his hand again. "I don't know how. I just know that's the tunnel we have to take."
Percy studies her for a few seconds, wondering how she knows with such certainty. Then he turns to the tunnel she pointed out, and peers unseeingly into its depths. "Now would probably be the best time to get out our weapons." He tells the others, and pulls Riptide out of his pocket, uncapping the pen and letting the bronze blade spring into being. He has the trident in his pocket too-something in his gut told him to bring it, even if he's always been infinitely more comfortable with Riptide. "Let's go. The sooner we get started, the sooner we get back." He takes a step forward, but a tug on his hand stops him.
"Percy-" Annabeth starts, and then bites her lip. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, and he knows that inside, she's terrified. But she nods and draws her own sword. "We'll go first."
The others fall into step behind them, each with a weapon in hand, and Percy takes the first step forward into the endless inky darkness, letting himself wonder what it was about Eris' blood that had bothered him so much.
He takes the second step, letting the tunnel swallow him, and then it hits him.
The blood of gods-ichor-is always gold.
Eris' blood is black.
Frank
Even on a good day, Frank wouldn't particularly feel like following his friends blindly into a pitch-black tunnel. And even with the euphoria from the night before still on his mind, he knows today isn't a good day.
The only thing that convinces his feet to step into that tunnel is the feeling of Hazel's hand in his, and the determination not to screw this up for everyone else. Not to let everyone down. Of course, that's never been an easy thing for him.
Still, there's something in him that's ready to step up if Percy...can't. Frank saw something in Percy's eyes when he realized they were in the labyrinth, and it terrified him more than anything they might have to face before the end of the test. There's something he isn't telling anyone, and whatever it is, it isn't good for any of them.
So Frank takes a deep breath and steels himself, releasing Hazel's hand to set an arrow to the string of his bow, telling himself he has to be ready for anything.
Of course, it is kind of difficult to be ready for anything when you're stumbling around in the dark.
"Ow!" Piper's voice yelps in front of him, accompanied by a thud and the scrape of skin on stone.
"Are you okay?" Jason's anxious voice asks.
"Yes, Jason, I'm perfectly fine." She replies, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm just sitting here on the ground for no reason."
"Oh, for the love of-" Leo comments, his tone obviously exasperated, and the next second, Frank hears a scuffle and the sound of what he assumes is Piper being lifted off the ground. "Better?"
Frank hears a thud and guesses Piper punched him-the next second, Leo's soft swearing confirms it.
"Shut it, all of you, and keep walking." Annabeth orders. "All you're doing is telling any nearby monsters exactly where we are."
None of them make a sound, and a moment later, they start walking again, and Frank falls into step behind them with Hazel by his side, making sure to glance behind them every once in a while to check that nothing's following them.
"What's that?" Hazel asks beside him, her clear voice startling him in the dark.
"What's what?" He says, confused. Then he realizes he can see-not much, just shapes, but he can see.
"There's a light up ahead." She tells him, and he follows her gaze to the end of the tunnel-or what he assumes is the end, considering there's a dull orange glow coming from ahead.
"Is that...?" Percy asks, glancing at Annabeth, and she nods.
"Yup." She replies grimly, and Percy's jaw tightens.
"What?" Frank interrupts. "What is it?"
"You'll see." Percy answers vaguely. "But watch your step."
When they get there, Frank realizes what he means-they're standing on the edge of a precipice that plunges directly into a pool of molten lava.
"How'd you know what it was?" Jason asks, looking down in fascination.
"I blew up a volcano a few years ago." Percy replies, in a dismissive tone that implies it isn't really a big deal to him. "Annabeth thought I was dead for a few weeks before I made my way back."
Leo and Annabeth both send sharp looks his way-Annabeth's glare, Frank can understand. But why would Leo care?
"Which volcano?" Jason asks, mildy impressed.
"Mt. St. Helens." Percy tells him, testing the edge and sending a few crumbling pieces of rock down into the lava.
Frank stares. "You did that?"
Percy glances back at him, his brows furrowed. "Yeah. Why?"
Piper lets out a strangled laugh. "You evacuated over half of a million people!"
"Not really my fault." Percy pronounces, craning his neck to look up at the ceiling. "I almost died in the eruption, and if I hadn't done it, I would've been dead anyway. And where would we be then?"
Annabeth punches him, and her foot slips, nearly sending her tumbling into the precipice. If Percy hadn't grabbed the back of her jacket, she'd be toast.
"Careful." He comments mildly, and she shoots him a troubled look before backing a safe distance away from the edge. Percy goes back to inspecting the place-a task that Annabeth normally would've been doing.
Frank knits his brow in confusion. What is wrong with Percy? He isn't acting like himself, at all.
He shares a glance with Hazel, and sees the same puzzlement mirrored in her eyes.
Percy continues scrutinizing the cavern, and after some minutes, Jason is the one who finally breaks the silence.
"Find anything?" He asks, and Percy turns to him, leaning back against the wall of the tunnel.
"There doesn't seem to be any obvious way across, which means we'll most likely have to do something improbably impossible to get across. I can always blow it up, but barring that, I can't really do much except go first when one of us comes up with a plan that's so crazy it just might work." He explains, grinning crookedly at the end-so much like his usual self that Frank almost dismisses his strange attitude. Almost.
Annabeth, who walked over to the very edge of the cliff and started doing her own examination while Percy was talking, tries to lean back to get a good look up and slips for the second time-she catches herself, though, and the flash of worry in Percy's eyes in that split second reassures Frank that he's still mostly himself. Still, there's something weird going on...
"Hey, Perce, come here..." She tells him, her fingers straining to keep a tight grip on the handhold she has in the tunnel's ceiling. He immediately obeys, copying her position to see what she's looking at. "Do you see-up there. You can just make them out..."
Percy squints for a few seconds, and then his mouth widens in a grin before he pushes himself safely and completely back into the tunnel, pulling Annabeth back from the edge with him. He looks fondly down at her, and then taps her forehead happily.
"And that, my friends," He announces, "is our so-crazy-it-just-might-work plan."
"What?" Piper asks-the only one, apparently, with the courage to find out what, exactly, this insane plan might be.
"There are monkey bars." Annabeth explains. "Up attached to the ceiling. And there's a ladder of sorts carved into the side of the cliff, here, right above the tunnel. If we can climb up, we can use the monkey bars to get across. My bet is that the tunnel's either directly at the end of the monkey bars, or there's another ladder on the other side. Whichever it is, it works."
"Um." Leo says. "I'm not particularly well-endowed in the department of upper arm strength."
"You don't look it, but you're still really strong, Leo." Annabeth tells him. "You handle heavy metals and equipment in the forges all the time."
"Okay, wait." Jason interrupts. "Can't Frank just turn into a bird or some sort of animal and carry us across?"
Frank momentarily freezes at the idea-both because it depends on him and because of its utter simplicity. Why didn't he think of it?
He shrugs. "Maybe. The space here is kind of limited for any animal big enough to carry a person, but I could try."
"Please, do." Leo pleads, obviously a little worried about the idea of having to climb up a ladder and swing on monkey bars hundreds of feet about a chasm full of boiling lava.
Frank's brow knits in concentration as he tries to change into an animal-he tries an eagle, first, since it was so effective during their quest into Pylos. But it doesn't work. He closes his eyes, his muscles clenching in the intensity of his focus, but still nothing happens. He tries a series of other animals, all without success. It feels...like something's blocking him. The ability is there, it's just out of his reach; not like when he's panicking and can't change back. Just like some sort of magic is distancing him from it.
He opens his eyes, frowning. "I can't do it. There's something-or someone, I guess-blocking me from it."
Jason's look of disappointment makes him feel woefully inadequate, but Hazel touches the back of his hand in a reassuring way that helps him take his mind off of it.
"Well, it doesn't really matter." Percy says cheerily. "We have a way across, however difficult it might be; we just have to make sure we all get safely onto the ladder. Oh, and that no one loses their grip and falls hundreds of feet before getting incinerated in a pool of lava-well, Leo won't get incinerated right away. But I doubt he's fireproof on the inside, too, and drowning in lava is probably worse. But except for that, piece of cake."
Leo groans and beats his forehead once against the cave wall.
"Percy already said he'll go first." Annabeth offers, although Frank sees a hint of unease in her eyes that shows him just how much she hates that idea. "I'll go next, and then Piper, you should go-you didn't have as much practice as Percy and I did with things like this at Camp, so you should be between Jason and I. That way we can help you if you need it." Piper nods, her eyes warily flicking up towards the roof of the tunnel. "Then, Leo-wait." She stares for a second, a little frown on her face. "Never mind-Leo, you'll go after Percy, and then I'll go right after you." He exhales in relief, sending her a grateful look. "Then, Frank, you'll have to lift Hazel up after Jason goes, so you'll have to go last. Is that okay with everyone?"
Everyone nods or murmurs agreement. Frank knows he's the best person to go last, so he doesn't complain about it. Besides, this way he can keep an eye on Hazel and make sure she doesn't fall, without having to worry about another person behind him.
"Okay." Annabeth sighs loudly. "Percy?"
"On it." He replies, and caps Riptide, sliding the pen into his pocket. Then he takes the same position he was in earlier to look up at the monkey bars, except that he holds on only with one hand and reaches up with the other, searching until he finds the first handhold-the first rung on the ladder, as it were. Then he braces one foot on the cave wall and scrambles up, his arms straining until his feet finally disappear from view and he wedges them into a rung.
"So far so good!" He calls. "Leo, you can go ahead and follow."
Leo swallows nervously and slides his hammer back into his tool belt, tightening the straps on the belt before rolling up his sleeves so they wouldn't get in his way and moving into position at the edge of the chasm. His arms just barely reach the first rung, and Frank can hear his fingers scrabbling for a hold for a few seconds before they find one. But after a minute, his feet disappear from view too, and it's Annabeth's turn.
She pulls the straps of her backpack as tight as they'll go, sheathing her sword and tightening the sword belt wrapped around her waist. Then she turns momentarily to Frank and the others to flash them a warm, reassuring smile before pulling herself up after Percy and Leo.
It goes on like that-neither Piper nor Jason have any more trouble getting up than the others did, and just as Jason's feet disappear, Percy calls down from his place at the top.
"I'm at the first monkey bar! It isn't that high up, guys, just maybe somewhere between fifteen or twenty feet." He assures everyone, and Frank feels a calm settle into him.
"Come on, Hazel, your turn." He rumbles, and she lets him lead her over to the end of the tunnel. Her eyes catch his, questioning, wondering how he's going to lift her up, and he swiftly explains. "Here, I'll lift you up a bit so you can grab a hold of the first rung and then I'll give your feet a boost so you can reach the rest."
She nods her assent, and he grabs her firmly around the waist-blushing a bit while he does it-and lifts her up so she can easily reach the first part of the ladder. When she has a good grip, he lets go for a few seconds to grab her feet and push them up, cupping his hands beneath them to make a foothold while she starts to pull herself the rest of the way up.
Her foot slips a little on a loose rock, and he unconsciously jerks his arm up as if to help her, even though he can no longer reach her at all. His brow furrows in worry, and he doesn't look away-doesn't even blink-until she has her foot firmly wedged into the so-called 'rung' of the ladder.
Then he ducks back in the tunnel to tighten the shoulder strap of his quiver, rearranging it so the leather band stretches diagonally across his chest. He checks to make sure the bow itself is wedged firmly into place, as well, and that the extra sword and dagger he brought along are both strapped securely to his belt. When he's satisfied that nothing will fall, he edges carefully along the crumbling cliff before easily pulling himself up with his arms. He gets his legs into place, scraping his fingers a little when he reaches for the next handhold that allows him to do so, and then he's climbing-hundreds of feet up from fiery lava that would kill him in a second, whether or not his firewood is protected by that fireproof bag.
Hazel
There's something almost poetic about swinging your way across monkey bars hundreds of feet above a boiling pit of lava, where one mistake can mean your death.
Okay, not really, but even Hazel has to admit it'll make a nice story to tell someday.
And technically she's not even up to the monkey bars yet-but she can see Annabeth hanging half on the wall and half on a monkey bar as she transitions from the ladder to the bars.
Apprehension courses through her-the shoulder that was bitten by the deer is already starting to throb a bit, and she isn't even halfway finished with this acrobatic circus show.
She wonders, briefly, how Piper's arm is holding up-after all, she had that bad gash on her arm. And Annabeth's ribs must be aching a bit, too-no way could they not be. Broken bones heal even slower than cuts and bites, even with as much ambrosia and nectar as they dare to eat and drink.
Come to think about it, most of them all have recent injuries that could pose difficulties during the tests. Not so much Leo, Jason, and Frank, but everyone else-Percy was bitten by the Chimera's rattlesnake tail.
Hazel feels a flash of surprise as she remembers that the others don't know about that-the boys haven't told everyone about what all went on at Pylos. Frank just told her when she asked, and she has no doubt that Percy told Annabeth what he knew. Jason might've told Piper bits and pieces as well, but she wouldn't know for sure.
"Doing all right there, Hazel?" Frank calls quietly from below, and she nods confirmation before remembering that he can't see it.
"Yeah." She replies. "Fine. You?"
"Brilliant." He grunts, and then they both fall silent, concentrating back on climbing.
Minutes later, when Jason is just starting to reach for the first monkey bar and Hazel is waiting patiently below him, Leo slips.
Hazel doesn't know how it happens. Maybe he missed the next rung when he reached out for it, or his fingers got too sweaty and just slipped off when he grabbed it, but one second he's doing fine, stolidly swinging across the chasm, reaching for the next monkey bar, and the next second he's just barely hanging on by his finger tips, swinging wildly back and forth as his right arm windmills furiously through the air, trying to steady himself.
"Leo!" Piper bursts out, Hazel's own cry echoing moments later. Annabeth adjusts her grip on the bar and reaches out with one hand to try to help him, but she's still several bars behind him, too far away to do any good.
Leo's fingers start to give out, and he would've fallen if Percy hadn't suddenly been there-Hazel could've sworn he was too far ahead to get there fast enough, but his hand is suddenly wrapping around Leo's wrist just as his hand gives out completely, holding both himself and Leo up with only one arm.
His right arm-his sword arm, the same arm that Frank told her was the one that was bitten by a monstrous, venomous rattlesnake just two days ago.
Hazel can see the strain in Percy's face-there's sweat pouring down his forehead, and she can tell by the harsh line of his jaw that his teeth are gritted painfully in a grimace. But he doesn't let go-either of the bar or of Leo. He just tightens his hand on the bar and starts to pull Leo up by his wrist, the muscles in his arm shaking as he brings it to an almost right angle so that Leo can reach well enough to grab onto a bar of his own.
Leo quickly does so, his face pale and his dark eyes big in his face as he glances down-once-and then clings even tighter to the bars, looking back at Percy's face.
"You all right, Leo?" Percy asks-ironically, Hazel thinks, considering that he's the one who's muscles are now visibly shaking with effort, and who's skin has a pale, almost greenish cast to it that she really doesn't like. It reminds her too much of the way he looks whenever he has one of his Tartarus attacks, and she has to wonder if maybe he had one while he pulled Leo up.
"Great." Leo answers, his voice strained. "I'm all rainbows and kittens and butterflies. Can we get this over with now?"
Percy spares him a half-smile before turning and continuing on, while everyone else releases the breath they'd been holding and Hazel lets her body relax a little, noticing with some surprise that she'd been completely rigid during the entire incident.
It isn't much longer before she's making her own transition onto the monkey bars, and after she gets the hang of it and finds her rythm, her body goes on autopilot, her arms swinging her repeatedly from bar to bar. Halfway across, Percy calls that there isn't another ladder-the tunnel continues directly from the monkey bars, so they don't have to climb back down again.
Hazel's grateful for that, at least-she doesn't think her arms can take much more of this. They feel like noodles-rubbery, shaky, and really hard to control. But she keeps going, reaching and swinging, reaching and swinging, until she finally makes it to the opposite wall and Jason and Percy are both standing there-they each grab one of her arms and help her stumble a safe distance into the tunnel, where Piper steadies her and Annabeth rubs her back soothingly.
The next second, Frank is there, too, silently slipping his hand into hers and squeezing reassuringly.
We made it, his eyes say. He smiles gently, kisses her softly on the forehead. "You did great." He tells her out loud, and she nods, closing her eyes and leaning against him, grateful for the brief respite.
Annabeth passes around water bottles for everyone, and they take a brief break to rehydrate and rest their arms and legs for a bit.
Five minutes later, Percy calls for everyone to get ready, and Hazel hates to wonder what the next leg of the test will yield.
Jason
"This was meant to weaken us, wasn't it?" Jason murmurs quietly to Percy while the others lean against the tunnel walls, gathering their things and trying to regain some energy. "To tire us out before we even face the real tests?"
"Most likely." Percy answers grimly, just as quiet. "A test of strength and endurance. But I'm betting you're right too-Eris wants us good and tired when we face the real test, so that she can see how well we perform as a team when we're under stress."
"She'll be surprised, then, when we work even more fiercely to protect each other." Jason says, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Percy grins-not entirely sincerely, Jason notices-and nods. "Definitely."
Then he turns and calls to the others that they need to start moving again-the sooner they get going, the sooner the tests will be over. Jason falls into step beside Piper, his hand slipping naturally into hers, and they gravitate towards the middle of the group-sandwiched between Annabeth and Percy walking side by side, and then Frank, Hazel, and Leo all walking in a group behind them.
Piper steps a bit closer to him, still watching her step but placing her lips closer to his ear. "Have you noticed..." She trails off, her tones hushed but not unintelligable. Her eyes flicker to Percy's back.
Jason nods, and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure everything's fine. You remember the first few days, right?" She nods, a troubled look settling on her face as she recalls those terrifying few nights and days, when Percy and Annabeth both spent most of their time alone and refused to talk to anyone but each other. "It's not as bad as all that, and doing this has to be hard." He keeps his words purposefully vague-he doubts it'd do them any favors if either Percy or Annabeth overheard and realized that he was referring to them.
"It still worries me." She whispers, her hand clenched tightly around the hilt of her dagger.
Jason doesn't reply this time. Instead, he pulls his hand out of hers and wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer so they can walk precisely side by side. He keeps his right hand resting lightly on the sword at his waist, but with the other, he rubs reassuringly circles across Piper's back.
He doesn't tell her that it worries him too. That he doesn't believe Percy's strange behavior is just because of flashbacks, or because he's been deposited into what is essentially a game that could cost him his life if he loses. He doesn't tell her any of that, because he doesn't want her worrying any more than she already is.
Percy stops suddenly in front of him, jerking Annabeth to a halt next to him and drawing Riptide with a quiet shink as the pen transforms into his bronze sword.
Annabeth mirrors his actions only seconds later, drawing her drakon bone sword and then grabbing a dagger with her left hand. As soon as she draws the dagger, Jason knows they've reached the second part of the test-otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered with a second weapon.
He and Piper unsheathe their own swords, and he can hear rustling behind him as Frank, Hazel, and Leo grab their weapons as well.
After a few minutes of agonizing silence, Jason tentatively whispers a question. "What is it?"
"Not sure." Percy murmurs in reply. "But there's something close by."
"Do you have any idea what it could be?" Piper asks.
"Plenty." Annabeth answers. "But there aren't any signs to help narrow down the list, so I can't be sure."
A few more beats of silence.
"We should keep going." Frank finally says. "With any luck, there's a larger cave ahead. The monster-whatever it is-might be waiting for us there, but we can't fight very well in this tunnel anyway."
Annabeth hesitates, and then reluctantly nods. "He's right, Percy. The tunnel's too cramped for us to be able to do much."
Percy nods, and does a quick scan, squinting into the darkness of the tunnel as far as he can see. "It doesn't look like anything's coming after us. My guess is that the monster's smart enough to be setting up an ambush, or-"
"Or it's too big to fit in the tunnel." Annabeth finishes.
"Lovely." Piper comments, her voice tight.
Percy cautiously leads the way forward, and they all follow, tense and wary of every shadow.
"There's a cave ahead." Hazel calls, and when Jason turns, her skin is pale and clammy. She's scared, and not entirely recovered from the ordeal with the monkey bars yet. "I can feel it."
Jason makes a mental note to watch out for her, and exchanges a quick look with Piper-he flicks his eyes back to Hazel, and she nods once, agreeing to watch out for her as well. They have to protect each other, and while Hazel is one of their best fighters, she doesn't look like she's doing so well right now.
As they get closer, Jason can see the end of the tunnel-it's a bit lighter in the bigger cavern, apparently. But yards away from the entrance, they all have to steady themselves against the walls (and each other) as an earth-shattering roar shakes the ground around them, nearly knocking Jason to his knees.
Annabeth pales visibly, and Percy's skin has a grayish tinge to it that Jason really doesn't like.
"What is it?" He asks, his voice shaky.
"Drakon." Percy replies, his own voice half-strangled. "We had to fight one in the Battle of Manhattan."
"Did you kill it?" Leo pipes up, curious.
"No. Clarisse did." Annabeth answers. "But not before we lost someone."
When Jason looks at Piper, he's surprised to see a look of dawning realization on her face-like she knows who they're talking about. But how could she know, and not him? He was at camp just as long as she was...
Oh. Wait. The old Aphrodite cabin counselor-what was her name? Serena? No, Silena. She'd died in the Battle of Manhattan. No one had told him the whole story, but it had something to do with impersonating Clarisse. Jason wouldn't be surprised if she was the one that the drakon had killed.
Percy draws a shaky breath and stands up straight, his jaw set in determination. "The only way to go is forward-we're going to have to fight this thing. Maybe not kill it, but I bet that's what Eris intends."
"Don't look directly into its eyes, don't get in the way of its mouth or claws, and try to aim for the eyes." Annabeth lists off. "And brace yourself-drakons are huge."
With that, she turns and leads the way into the cave, with Percy, as always, by her side.
Jason hurries to follow, making sure the others are keeping up, but he runs right into Annabeth when he steps out of the tunnel, and barely avoids falling.
"Don't. Move." Annabeth breathes.
Jason follows her gaze up to the place where the wall meets the ceiling-and there, clinging to the rock wall with its wickedly sharp talons, is a fully-grown drakon.
Or at least he assumes it's fully grown-there's no way it could ever get any bigger, is there?
Because this drakon is massive. It's almost as large as Roseus, and Jason's mind still finds it difficult to register Roseus' impossible size. It's no different with the drakon.
Its teeth are all longer than his sword, and its talons are longer than his body. It has yellow eyes as big as shields, but Jason takes care to avoid looking directly at them-he doesn't want to be frozen in place by the serpent's hypnotizing gaze while his friends fight for their lives.
The drakon hisses like a very loud, very large boiling teapot, and the stone cracks under its claws as it adjusts its grip and kneads the wall with its feet.
"Strategy?" Jason asks, his voice embarassingly weak.
"Surround it." Annabeth replies promptly, keeping her voice low and barely moving her lips. "Make as much noise as you can. Try your best to draw its attention-annoy it, harass it, confuse it, taunt it. Make it mad. Aim for any chinks in its armor-but above all, stay out of its way. Keep moving, don't stand in any one place for longer than you have to."
"Got it." Jason nods, and swallows dryly. He's faced monsters before, but none like this. And he hates how afraid he is, but he can't shake the fear. So he just pushes it down, focuses on the test, and straightens his spine in determination. He's not going to let an overgrown worm be what finally has him beaten.
Piper
Next to her, Piper sees Jason shove his fear away and steel himself for the battle, and she does the same. She's not so afraid of the drakon-but she has the feeling it's just because her brain still can't register the enormity of the thing. The whole thing has a strange quality to it, like she's in a nightmare and any second she'll wake up.
Of course, that's not the case. She's stuck here just as much as the others.
So she hefts her sword and summons iron to her veins.
I can do this, she tells herself. Her mind doesn't seem to get the memo, though, because it keeps calling up the moment when Lacy told her what happened to Silena Beauregard.
She opens her mouth to ask how they're going to kill it-or if they're just going to distract it long enough to run to the entrance to the other tunnel on the opposite side of the room. Which just happens to be right below where the drakon is clinging to the stone.
The cave they're in is huge, too-it'd have to be, to accommadate a creature over 200 feet long. But it gives them an advantage-plenty of hiding places, and a few high rock piles that would make great vantage points for Frank to shoot from.
Piper tries to maintain that positive outlook as Annabeth warily and ever so slowly shuffles forward a step.
The drakon growls low in its throat, the sound rumbling through the cavern.
An answering rumble makes Piper flinch in surprise, and she almost starts whirling around to look for it-she barely manages to keep herself from moving and setting off the drakon. So she forces down her flare of panic and looks around, searching for the source of the sound.
When she finds it, she makes an involuntary sound of surprise in her throat-Yes, the drakon is growling at them, but Percy is growling back.
The drakon seems just as surprised as Piper is, if not more so, and its growl abruptly cuts off as it swings its head to contemplate Percy with its horrible yellow eyes. Percy glares back, defiant, his eyes locked on a place just above the drakon's eye so that its gaze can't paralyze him. For a moment, the drakon is completely focused on Percy, and even if Piper doesn't understand his tactics, Annabeth does.
"NOW!" She yells, and sprints away towards a corner of the cavern.
"Scatter!" Jason calls, and heads off in the opposite direction.
Piper follows their lead and races from place seconds after them, heading for an outcrop of rock not far away that'll make decent temporary cover.
Behind her, the drakon roars in outrage and drops from the wall-Piper stumbles as its landing shakes the ground, but quickly recovers and keeps running, determined to reach a defensive position before it has time to decide who to go after.
She dives behind the outcrop just as the drakon roars a second time, causing shards of rock to crumble and fall from the ceiling around them-one narrowly misses Piper's head.
She peeks out at the drakon, not surprised to see it jerking its head agitatedly from one person to another, its legs stumbling uncertainly as it attempts to decide who it wants to eat first.
Jason chose to run in a direction that put him behind it-in danger of its lashing tail, but safely out of its sight. Percy is to Piper's right, closer to the tunnel they came from, and he signals something she doesn't quite understand to Jason before straightening, drawing the drakon's attention straight to him, and makes a big show of being threatening-yelling, slashing his sword through the air, all that.
Piper realizes that he's directing the drakon's attention to himself so that Jason can get a shot at attacking it from behind-a good strategy. She decides to help out a little, and climbs on top of her rock outcrop, pulling Katoptris from its sheathe and brandishing it and her sword threateningly.
"Look at me!" She calls to it, infusing her voice with charmspeak. "Over here, you overgrown worm!"
It swings its head to her, and almost as soon as it does, Hazel starts taunting it from another direction-soon it has six demigods shouting and making as much noise as possible while Jason gets into position behind it.
The drakon keens in frustration, totally confused. Piper grins-chaos is something she generally does well.
Jason strikes-plunging his sword into a chink in the drakon's armor, causing it to scream in pain and spit green acid that rains down around the cave in streams and droplets. One of the drops hits Piper's thigh, burning through her jeans to her skin, and her foot slips on the rock, causing her to fall onto her butt. Katoptris clatters out of her grip, landing a few feet away, just out of reach, and she swears loudly.
The drakon abruptly stops wailing and fixes its attention on her, hissing and coiling itself up as if to pounce.
Piper realizes what's going to happen a second before it happens, and scrambles up, ignoring the pain in her leg, sliding down onto the ground from her rock outcrop and trying to run. When she glances behind her, the drakon shrieks a challenge and surges forward-Jason has to throw himself sideways to avoid getting crushed by its tail.
She dodges sideways, behind another finger of rock jutting out of the ground, this one almost as large as the drakon's head-if nothing else, it should serve as a decent obstruction.
And it would have too, if the drakon had been interested in going around it. Which it wasn't.
Its head slams into the rock, causing chunks of rock ranging from the size of a pebble to bigger than Piper's head to explode outward-a sudden rockslide that makes it look like an entire mountainside is raining down on her.
Rocks slam into her back, making her stumble forward-and then her legs, which twist beneath her and send her to the ground.
Her head hits the stone and everything goes black.
Leo
A strangled cry bursts from Leo's throat at the sight of Piper hitting the ground, her legs twisted and blood staining her clothes, before more rocks rain to the ground and hide her from view.
"PIPER!" Jason screams, his voice raw with pain. He starts to run towards where she fell-except that there's a drakon in the way. If he tries to get to her, he'll be killed.
"Jason!" Percy yells, trying to get his attention. He's running too, but not towards Piper-towards Jason. "Jason, stop!"
Either Jason doesn't hear him, or he ignores him, because he keeps running.
Leo takes a few steps forward, wanting to help but too far away to do any good. The hammer in his hand feels infinitely heavy.
Not Piper, not Piper, not her. He chants in his mind. She's the closest thing to a sister I've ever had.
But his thoughts are forced away from her as Jason gets closer and closer to the drakon, which is shaking itself free of the rubble. As soon as Jason tries to pass it, the drakon will attack-and he'll be gone too.
"Jason, stop!" He shouts, but his voice is shaky and not near loud enough.
As Percy runs, he caps Riptide, which Leo thinks is probably the most idiotic thing he can do, considering he's running straight into the path of an annoyed drakon.
What are you going? He wants to yell. Are you trying to get yourself killed?
But it's too late now for him to say anything, and even if he did, he doubts he'd be listened to.
The look on Jason's face as he runs is one of mixed pain, grief, and blind determination-a look that reminds Leo why he's running straight at a drakon in the first place.
Piper. He thinks, and feels an expression similar to Jason's settle on his face. She can't be dead. Eris said the test wasn't fatal.
A wave of doubt washes through him even as he thinks the words-what if they've been tricked? What if Eris has been on GAea's side this entire time? After all, she is one of the oldest gods-a child of Nyx, according to Annabeth, the same goddess of night that almost killed her and Percy while they were in Tartarus.
Fear pulses in his mind, forcing him to focus back on the events in front of him-Percy has almost reached Jason, and Leo waits anxiously, feeling utterly useless, to see what Percy is going to do.
The drakon shakes its head, dazed eyes struggling to focus. It blinks-once, twice-and then it finally realizes that there's a demigod running straight toward it with a weapon in hand. It coils back to strike, lips curling back from razor teeth in a snarl, its claws gouging huge furrows in the rock as if the hard black stone was nothing but flimsy paper.
Out of the corner of his eye, Leo notices movement, and glances sideways to see Annabeth speaking intently to Frank, obviously explaining some sort of idea. Hazel is standing as still as a statue, her eyes closed and hands out, palms facing up. Her sword is sheathed-if Leo had to guess, he'd say she's trying to manipulate the Mist.
He's so distracted by the three of them that he almost misses what happens-but he turns just in time to see it.
Percy tackles Jason to the ground and uses their momentum to roll them both out of the way-Jason's sword goes flying out of his hand and lands a few feet away. Even as they're getting out of the way, the drakon lunges forward, its jaws snapping shut on nothing but rock and air.
While the drakon is distracted, Percy stumbles to his feet, pulling Jason up as well, and drags the son of Zeus bodily behind a cluster of jagged boulders as he continues struggling to get to Piper. Leo sees blood staining the dust where they landed, but he has no idea whether it belongs to Percy or Jason.
They disappear from Leo's line of vision, and he hopes that Percy can get through to Jason, but to do that, he needs time.
Making sure the drakon is still busy choking on the cave floor, Leo starts pulling things out of his toolbelt to do exactly what he does best-create a distraction. He sets to work, one eyes on the gagging drakon the entire time.
Percy
"Jason, snap out of it." Percy grunts, grimacing as his friend's elbow digs into his stomach.
"I have to get to Piper." Jason insists, oblivious to Percy's efforts at restraining him. "I have to help her, I have to make sure she's okay!"
"Jason, it isn't real." Percy replies, hoping he's right. "Piper is fine-Eris said the tests wouldn't be fatal to anyone."
"And you're willing-" Jason pauses as he digs another elbow into Percy's ribcage, trying to get him to let go, "-to believe a goddess-" Another pause as he struggles to reach the knife strapped to his waist, "-who works for people that have never cared about the personal well-being of any of us?"
Percy falls silent, considering Jason's words-he doesn't know how to explain it, but despite his own doubts, every time he thinks about Eris, he gets an iron-strong impression that she's someone he can trust.
"Yes." He answers simply, and maybe his answer surprises Jason, because he stops struggling, his muscles stilling as if in shock.
Percy seizes the opportunity to get through to him, tightening his grip around Jason's stomach in case he starts fighting again. "Jason, if they were going to kill us off, they would've done it before now. Our power might scare them, it might make them angry that they need us, but the fact is exactly that-they need us. They aren't going to destroy their only hope of survival. And if Eris wasn't who she said she was-" Percy's had his own doubts about that, having not forgotten her appearance in Tartarus- "then we wouldn't be alive right now. They're testing us, Jason-the chance that at least one of us will die during the battle is almost guaranteed. They have to make sure we won't fall apart on the spot; that we won't break down and stop fighting if someone dies. But this isn't real-right now, this moment, Piper is okay, she's alive, and getting yourself injured by throwing yourself at a drakon isn't going to help anyone."
"The gods have a thing for sport-we both saw that firsthand in Rome. They love the theatircs. Whose to say they wouldn't kill us off in the most dramatic way possible? Whose to say they aren't laughing at us right now?" Jason replies, his voice tight, and something in his tone makes Percy realize that this isn't the first time he's thought about this.
"We've caused the gods so much trouble-well, at least I have-that I'm pretty sure, if they were going to kill us, they'd just want to do it as fast as possible, before we have the chance to make some sort of miracle escape. And I don't know about you, but my dad would raise Tartarus-" Percy winces at his choice of words, "-before letting any of the gods lay a hand on me. Without him, I wouldn't be alive today to have this conversation. He's helped me more times than I can count, and even though I've had my doubts in the past, I know he loves me. He once went so far as to tell me that I'm his favorite son-something Annabeth resented, since she said it would only give me an even bigger head." He smiles faintly at the memory. "I know you've never met your dad, but based on how protective he is of Thalia, he's had your back for a long time. Think back to all the times you've asked for his help-has he ever let you down?"
Jason's quiet for a long time, and then, just when Percy thinks that he wasn't near convincing enough, he relaxes.
"No." The son of Zeus murmurs softly. "He's never let me down."
"Okay then." Percy says, not sure what to say anymore. Slowly, he pulls his arms away, leaving Jason free to move.
Jason steps away, and Percy can see him composing himself-something in the line of his shoulders-before he turns around, his expression still bearing remnants of pain, grief, uncertainty, and then, overlying it all, a steely resignation. All of that disappears momentarily as his eyes widen in surprise. "You're bleeding." He says, with all the surprise as if Percy had grown a unicorn horn or suddenly turned blue.
Percy can feel blood slowly trickling from various places on his face and arms-he lightly touches the corner of his mouth and his fingers come away red. For some reason, his blood looks a much darker red than it should be, with a strange, unfamiliar tint to it-but he forces his puzzlement down and focuses on the task at hand.
"Yeah, well," he starts wryly, smiling a bit and then wincing when it stretches his cuts painfully. "That tackle move probably wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had." He tries for a smile again and succeeds this time, ignoring the pain. "Might've opened up the cut on my back a little too."
Regret weighs heavily on Jason's face, but Percy shakes his head and claps him reassuringly on the shoulder. "It's not your fault, man. I do a lot of stupid things; this was just the latest. I'll be fine."
Jason nods once, curtly, and then gestures to Percy's pocket. "Eat some ambrosia before you plan any more stupid stunts, though."
Percy nods and digs the Ziploc baggie out of his pocket, breaking off a chunk of the ambrosia, which has been crushed into one big piece. He pops it into his mouth, feeling the relief spread through him as the pain lessens. The taste of his mother's homemade chocolate chip cookies fills him with a mixture of longing and nostalgia that makes his heart squeeze painfully in his chest.
He forces a smile. "Good to go."
Jason leans out from behind their hiding place to check how things are going. "The drakon doesn't look very smart right about now. I think you scrambled its brains a bit when you amde it take a bite of the cave floor."
Percy takes his own look out at the drakon and almost laughs out loud-the idiotic thing is biting at the air, snapping at its own body, looking for all the world like a dog infested with fleas-and Percy should know, since Mrs. O'Leary has an unfortune infestation just last summer, right before...well, right before Percy was kidnapped by psycho Hera just so he could recreate the story of Sleeping Beauty for eight months-Greek style.
As much as Percy wishes it was true, he knows that the drakon wouldn't have gone crazy from a little bump on the head, and his eyes are inevitably drawn to the opposite side o fhte cavern, where Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel have gathered. And Hazel, with her eyes closed and hands palms-up with her fingers bent like claws, as if she's dragging something up from the depths of the Underworld, is very obviously doing magic.
"Hazel's manipulating the Mist." He tells Jason. "I don't know what she's making the drakon see, but it sure as Hades doesn't like it."
"Leo looks like he's working on something too." Jason adds, pointing out the place where the son of Hephaestus is furiously working on some sort of mechanical invention, his concentration so intense that orange flames are flickering through his mess of curls.
"Let's hope that whatever he's making doesn't bring the entire cave down on top of us." Percy comments, grinning.
"Since they seem to be focuising on buying us more time with distractions, and I currently don't have a weapon that's going to do any sort of damage-got any ideas?" Jason asks, his eyes intensely analyzing the situation, searching for advantages, disadvantages, the wheels in his head turning as he scrambles to think of a solution for their current predicament.
Percy's about to answer no, he doesn't have a plan, but then something occurs to him. He taps Riptide (in pen form) against the rock, staring thoughtfully at the enormous monster.
"Clarisse defeated the drakon during the Second Titan War using her electric spear." He starts slowly, and Jason turns to him, obviously sensing a plan in the making. Percy meets his eyes, a grin pulling painfully at the now-scabbed-over cuts on his face, his excitement building as one of his so-crazy-it-just-might-work plans froms in his head. "Electric, Jason."
It takes Jason a second, but as soon as he understands, a matching grin spreads across his face. "Perfect."
Percy twirls his pen furiously through his fingers as he explains the rest of his plan, his words stumbling over themselves in his eagerness to get it out.
Piper
Pain is the first thing that Piper is conscious of feeling. The second thing is a sticky wetness that she knows to be blood, which is currently all over her. Which makes more sense once she realizes she's laying in a sizable pool of her own blood.
She opens her eyes, her only impression of blurred, vague gray shapes far above her head. Her eyes slide closed again, and she almost can't open them again, but she does, and registers that the gray shapes are rocks-stalactites or stalagmites? She can never remember which-hanging far above her head.
She remembers the tests, and the cave-but what happened...? How did she get hurt...
Then it rushes back to her-the drakon, the explosion of rock shards, getting half-buried in a monster-induced rockslide before hitting her head.
She blinks again, hard, and the features of the cave swim into focus. Her nose is filled with the metallic smell of blood and rock, but she still can't hear anything-not like post-explosion temporary deafness, but just as if there's nothing to hear.
She sits up-too fast, too soon-and pain flares sharply, starting in her chest and radiating outwards along her ribcage. Her head spins so much that she thinks she's going to fall back onto her back, but she closes her eyes and grits her teeth and the dizziness fades enough that she can start evaluating her current state.
There are several main points of pain-her chest, her left arm, her head, and her back (mostly her lower back and along her shoulderblades). Her legs hurt-they're a mess of cuts, scratches, scrapes, and bruises-but nothing seems to be broken.
Her left arm, on the other hand, is a different matter.
Piper has to swallow against her gag reflex when she sees it-it is very obviously broken, with a defined bump where the bone has been displaced. Besides that, her entire forearm is black and crimson, the skin scraped almost completely away. Patches of discolored skin are still webbed over the mess, but the edges are scabbed and raw. A steady stream of dark crimson, almost black, blood is pouring from the abrasions to her hand, where there's much more skin still intact, even if there are patches of bad scrapes here and there and her knuckles are split and bleeding.
She looks away, deciding not to look too closely anymore. There's nothing she can do about it yet anyway. So she moves on to her chest.
Looking down, there aren't many visible injuries. A few holes and tears in her shirt where shards of rock sliced through, leaving shallow cuts and bloody circles where round rocks punctured her skin. But it isn't until she lifts up her shirt-with her right hand, obviously-that she really starts to worry.
Her chest and abdoment are covered in purple and black blotchy bruises, and there are bumps and harsh lines stretching her skin-broken ribs, maybe worse. Every breath is like inhaling razors, and she feels like she can't get enough oxygen.
She closes her eyes briefly, steeling herself. She can't lose it now, not when the others might need her. She refuses to be the weak link.
Piper already knows without a doubt that her head is bleeding-she probably has a concussion-and if she had to guess, she'd say the most painful parts of her back look similar to her left forearm. But she's not going to try and look-she's not out of it enough to try and twist around to see.
Eyes still closed, her right hand moves slowly, jerkily, to her pocket, where her cracked, torn, bleeding fingernails dig for the plastic baggie that could quite possibly be the only way she'll survive past the next few minutes.
She finds it, manages to get a strong enough grip to pull it out, even with her weak and shaking hand, and opens her eyes so that she can see to open it. Which is much more difficult with one hand, but she manages it, because it's her only hope at this point.
She crams a large square of ambrosia in her mouth, for the moment heedless of the warning that too much will burn her up. Mostly because too little will only prolong a painful death, and feeling a little feverish is a cost she's definitely willing to pay to survive.
Her whole body shudders as the ambrosia works to repair it-she watches as fresh, baby-pink skin webs its way up her arm. It doesn't cover it completely, she's definitely still got some dangerously severe scrapes, but it helps. The split skin on her knuckles closes, leaving only faint scratches as evidence. The scrapes, scratches, and bruises on her legs fade until they look a week old instead of minutes old. Her head starts to feel lighter, less like she's being dragged into unconsciousness, and her back stings and tingles as new skin presumably starts to cover the scrapes there as well.
As all this is happening, Piper knows that she's going to have to set her arm-if she doesn't, the ambrosia could cause the bone to fuse back together in a very unnatural, painful way, so she needs to do it soon.
She closes her eyes for a second, bracing herself, and takes a deep breath through her nose, which still sends stabs of pain through her chest, but feels more like inhaling dull nails than razors. Then she opens them back up and looks at her arm, gingerly resting her right hand on the bump where the bone is poking against her skin.
Even that almost causes her to lose consciousness. But she just waits for the darkness at the edge of her vision to fade before gently bracing her left arm against the ground, inhaling sharply, and then pressing down with her right hand as hard as she can.
Three things happen at once-she screams out in pain, her vision goes black for the count of ten, and she feels the bone grind back into place.
She sits there panting with her eyes closed, her stomach churning, not sure if she can handle standing.
"Impressive." A voice says, startling her so much that she jolts sideways and has to brace herself on her left arm-which hurts about as much as you'd expect from a broken arm.
She manages not to scream again, but she bites her lip hard enough to draw blood. Then she turns, glancing up, and sees Eris leaning casually against a rock outcropping, cleaning out from under her fingernails with a knife.
Piper scrambles painfully to her feet, careful not to put her weight on her broken arm again. Upon standing, she discovers several things-one, her right ankle is either twisted or sprained; two, her head does not like being so far from the ground all of a sudden; and three, moving makes her chest feel like it's being crushed in a trash compacter.
"What do you want?" She manages to gasp out, struggling to breathe.
Eris regards her with a cool expression. "You shouldn't be standing right now, daughter of Aphrodite." She points the knife at Piper, a slightly stern, almost motherly concerned look on her face. "You shouldn't be able to move at all."
"Yeah, well." Piper responds, her voice breathless and raspy. "I probably shouldn't be alive right now either, but obviously I am. Otherwise I'd hope I wouldn't be in so much pain."
Eris looks at her with a puzzled look on her face, as if something Piper said surprised her, but then her face smooths back into her careful neutrality.
"I hate your mother." She finally comments, wrinkling her nose, completely ignoring Piper's earlier statement.
"Praise the miraculous nature of the universe, we have something in common." Piper mutters sarcastically.
"We have more in common than you think." Eris replies mysteriously. For some reason, it irritates Piper, and she mutters several uncomplimentary things under her breath, mostly comparing Eris' brain to the intelligence of inanimate objects, like bricks. Then she glares back up at Eris, hating the amused smile on the goddess' face.
"Are you ever going to answer my question?" She asks. "What do you want?"
"From you? Nothing. Except perhaps your cooperation." Eris tells her dismissively.
"Whatever she might mean by that, Piper doesn't like it. She doesn't want to cooperate with any gods, let alone the goddess of strife that stuck them in this place to begin with.
"My cooperation with what?" She asks warily, her voice still rough.
"Oh, just for you to stay put. I'd rather you didn't try to get back to the others quite yet. It's futile for you to even try, of course, but if you do attempt to, you could inure yourself more." Eris explains, sounding bored.
A cold feeling creeps over Piper, but she doesn't even know if she should be worried yet. The goddess' cryptic words don't mean anything to her.
"What do you mean?" She asks frostily, her tone obviously irritated. "Your answer's about as clear as mud."
Eris huffs an irritated sigh, muttering something rude under her breath, and then she finally just waves impatiently at something behind Piper.
Piper turns around, heedless of her complaining body, to see what in Hades the goddess is talking about.
When she sees what Eris was waving towards, she makes a choking sound in the back of her throat reminiscent of a dying cat. Because what she sees...is herself.
She's half-buried in the rubble from the shattered rock, with her entire body twisted at an unnatural angle. One of her arms is thrown clear of the rocks, as if reaching for someone to help, and her hair is matted to her face with blood. She looks...dead.
Piper stares for several minutes, her brain struggling to understand, but she's still hopelessly lost. She's alive, she's fine, and most definitely dead-and yet her body is laying on the ground just a few yards away.
"What the hell is going on?" She demands, whirling back around to face Eris. (A/N: Sorry about the cursing; it just sorta seemed like what she'd say)
"Oh, you're fine." Eris tells her. "Don't be so melodramatic."
Piper points back in the general direction of what looked a helluva lot like her body. "Then what is that?"
"The gods wanted to know how you would handle yourselves during the battle if one of you were to die." Eris explains, her face and voice suddenly devoid of emotion. "Right now, your friends don't see you as you're really are-all they see is your body."
"What?!" Piper screeches, her voice an octave higher than usual.
Eris massages her ear, her eyes scrunched in a grimace. "Not so loud."
Piper is about to open her mouth and unleash a torrent of hot words about just how loud she can get, but Eris cuts her off.
"I have to say, it was quite touching how your friends reacted at first." She goes on. "Your boyfriend-that Jason Grace-he tried to get to you immediately. He ran straight at the drakon without hardly even seeing it, only knowing he had to get to you." She tilts her head sideways, a slight smile on her lips. "Isn't that sweet?"
The anger fades into the backround, replaced by worry for her friends' safety.
"Hazel, as well-she screamed when she first saw it all, and then had to be restrained by her own boyfriend to keep her from following after Jason." Eris' eyes are faraway, full of fondness. "Oh, but she was angry, not despairing, as your Jason was."
"What happened after that?" The words spill out before Piper can stop them. "Is Jason okay?"
Eris' slight smile abruptly turns to a scowl. "Oh, he's fine. Percy tackled him before he could get eaten by the drakon-strange, isn't it, that he would be the first to realize your supposed 'death' was a trick? I would've thought it'd be the daughter of Athena-she figured it out as well, but only after Percy did."
Piper slumps in relief-at least they're all okay. Then her anger comes back in full force, after her worries have been appeased, and she turns a fierce glare on the goddess of strife.
"Let me go." She demands, her voice steely, even though it stills sounds like she's been gargling with gravel.
"I can't do that." Eris tells her, almost regretful. "The others haven't completed the test yet."
Piper tries to just turn and walk away from the goddess, but she smacks into something and almost falls down-an invisible wall of some sort that effectively keeps her from her friends.
She whirls back, eyes blazing. "Let me go." She hisses, but Eris' black eyes are hard and unrelenting.
So Piper is forced to watch in suspense as her friends go into battle without her.
Annabeth
As soon as Percy and Jason erupt from behind their hiding place, Jason with no visible weapon, Annabeth knows that Percy has one of his crazy plans. And apparently this one sounds like it might work, otherwise Jason would probably be a little more reluctant.
Whatever it is, Annabeth knows they can't do it with just the two of them. If the drakon manages to focus on them, they're both dead.
"Frank, can you climb on top of that outcropping over there, like we talked about? Start shooting at the drakon, wherever you think it'll be weak-just don't shoot any of us. And make sure Hazel doesn't get hurt." Annabeth tells him, adjusting her grip on the hilt of her sword as she talks and pulling her second dagger back out of its sheath.
"Hazel's safe with me." Frank rumbles reassuringly. "And I'll do what I can to keep it distracted."
Annabeth nods. "Good."
Frank gestures to Percy and Jason. "Hurry and get over to them, though, before they do something stupid-as far as I know, you're the only one who can control the both of them together."
Annabeth feels a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Thanks, Frank." She takes the time to say, and then she turns and runs lightly across the ground towards her idiot boyfriend.
She has to duck by a stumbling drakon to get to them, which is always dangerous, but she's had plenty of practice with similar things. It isn't long before she makes it to Percy's side.
"What's the plan, Seaweed Brain?" She says into his ear, and he grins.
"About time you showed up, Wise Girl." He teases, but then he grows serious again. "The last drakon we fought was defeated with electricity. Jason and I are thinking that if I can get a shot at its eye with either my trident or my sword, he can send a couple thousand volts of lightning into its skull."
"How does Leo's distraction work into all this?" She asks. "You do know he's probably creating some sort of explosive, right?"
Jason nods. "No doubt. That's kind of what we're counting on."
Percy opens his mouth to explain more, but Annabeth beats him to it. "Going to get to it while it's focused on Leo?"
They both nod. "Pretty much. Although we're betting it'll be more focused on the fact that it'll be on fire. You know, most likely. That way we don't have to worry too much about it trying to eat Leo."
"Works for me." Annabeth replies. "How can I help?"
"Maybe just try to distract it?" Percy answers, obviously a little uncomfortable. Annabeth gets the feeling he'd prefer if she stayed out of it, but he knows she's not going to agree to that.
"I'm okay with that." She looks over at Jason. "Shall we?"
"Let's go kill a drakon." He says, his eyes steel. She notices him glance behind her for a second, pain flitting across his features along with a burning anger, and she knows he's looking at Piper.
"Hey, Jason." Percy says to get his attention, his green eyes seeking those electric blue ones. "She's fine. As soon as we make mincemeat out of the drakon, I'm sure we'll see her again."
Jason just nods. "Let's go, then."
And they walk deliberately towards a 200 ft. long drakon that's towering above them and thrashing around, snapping unpredictably at the air.
(A/N: This Annabeth POV sucked-sorry)
Jason
Piper's fine. Jason tells himself, repeating it over and over in his head. She's okay, and after this is over, I can find her and make sure she's okay. Then I'm going to grab her hand and I'm not going to let go for the rest of the duration of this test.
Thinking that makes him feel better, and he summons his courage, gagging the annoying little voice in the back of his head that says he's being an idiot for going into battle without a decent weapon. Stupid legionnaire training-he's never going to be able to do anything impulsive without having that annoying voice telling him he should have a better plan before just charging in.
Which is exactly what he's doing now. Their plan is rough, at best, with no sure chance of success. But it's the best idea they have.
They've just about closed the distance to the drakon when Jason notices Leo straighten up out of the corner of his eye, a completed device in his hand. From here, Jason can't tell anything about what he's holding except that it looks dangerous and potentially explosive. Which is exactly what he and Percy were hoping for.
"Hit the deck!" Leo yells, and throws it.
Without a second thought, Jason ducks, using a small boulder protruding from the ground as a shield.
The explosion-thank the gods for Leo's predictability-immediately snaps the drakon out of Hazel's spell, and it roars in pain, stumbling back and sweeping its tail over more super-sized stalagmites, flattening them. Jason winces as it gets dangerously close to where Piper is-even if Percy says it's not actually her, just some sort of trick of the gods, it still hurts him to think of her getting stampeded by a drakon.
He straightens, with Percy and Annabeth right beside him, and they start making their way towards the drakon again, which is currently writhing in pain, the source of which is most likely the enormous patch of smoking black scales on its back that are curling with smoke and slowly disentegrating-whatever Leo added to that explosive, it must've been more than just your average bomb material, considering drakon scales are supposed to be fireproof.
Percy yells a challenge and swings Riptide at the drakon's leg as soon as they're near enough, and even though the sword just sparks off of the drakon's impossible armor, it gets the monster's attention-and then as soon as it looks at him, Annabeth attacks from the opposite direction.
Then Frank starts shooting arrows, sinking them into chinks in the drakon's armor, getting a few right in the middle of the smoking crater on the drakon's back, which it definitely doesn't like.
Leo calls taunts and throws various mechanical tools at its face-a wrench nails it right in one of its murky yellow eyes, making the drakon wail and scrape at its head.
Hazel summons jewels and precious metals from the ground around them, smashing them into the drakon's body-some of the stronger pieces (presumably diamond or something similar) punch directly through its scales and cause blood to flow from its wounds.
Jason smiles faintly at the combined efforts of his friends-if Piper were here, she'd be charmspeaking it to look the other way as she hacked at some part of it in an attempt to kill it.
He can't really help much, not without his sword, so he tries to find it-it should be somewhere nearby. It takes a minute or two, but he finally spots a glint of gold half-buried in debris, and quickly uncovers his golden gladius, hurrying to join the others and get this stupid monster killed.
He doesn't hesitate in attacking it, drawing blood wherever he can find a chink in its armor, but the drakon isn't entirely stupid-it won't let either him or Percy get a shot at its head. Every time either of them gets close, it swings its head in the opposite direction and rears its neck up, out of their reach.
They go on like this for several minutes, before Leo sends a fireball down its throat when it opens its mouth to spit acid, and it lowers its head-probably to eat him. But it doesn't get the chance.
By some lucky coincidence, Percy and Jason are on opposite sides of it, and they both go for it at the same time, aiming unerringly for its eyes.
Jason concentrates as hard as he can, both on stabbing the murky yellow eye and on summoning lightning underground. His eyes close for a fraction of a second, and when he blinks them back open, it's as a jolt runs up his arm when his sword buries itself deep in the drakon's eye.
The hair stands up on his arms, and seconds later, a bolt of blue-white lightning crackles from the ceiling and down his arm, wrapping around his arm, down his sword, and then radiating into the drakon's skull-he can feel the same happening on the opposite side, with Percy-and then the lightning disconnects and he goes flying backwards as the electricity crackles throughout the drakon's entire body, disentegrating it into nothing but a grisly pile of bones and hard scales.
Jason picks himself up, breathing hard-as he does, the room seems to warp around him, and he blinks hard to dispel the blurriness. When he opens his eyes, he sees Piper on the other side of the room, cradling one arm to her side and covered in scratches, cuts and bruises, but otherwise looking okay.
"Piper!" He calls, and her face lights up in a mixture of relief and joy as he runs toward her. She starts towards him as well-walking, stumbling unsteadily, with a definite limp, but it's okay because it's only seconds before he's at her side and throwing his arms around her.
"Ow." He hears her groan, and loosens his grip to pull back, but she quickly shakes her head, using her good arm to pull him firmly back against her, where she buries her head against his shoulder and holds on as hard as she can.
After what seems like far too short a time, Jason pulls back, carefully sheathing his sword, and then places his hands on her shoulders, looking intently into her eyes and up and down her body. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." She answers. "Broken arm, broken ribs, probably a concussion, and I think I twisted my ankle, but I'm fine."
"Did you-" He starts to ask, but she cuts him off.
"Yes, I already ate some ambrosia, and set the bone in my arm, and I am perfectly fine." She tells him.
He knows that's not entirely true, considering her injuries, but he's so relieved and happy to see her in one piece and with her usual fierce attitude that he doesn't even care. He just shakes his head at her, and then, without even thinking about it, pulls her in and kisses her hard on the lips; a desperate kiss that helps convey all his feelings much better than he could have ever done with words.
When they both finally pull away, the others have joined them-Leo has a sly smirk on his face, but everyone else just looks relieved.
"Sorry to interrupt-" Percy starts, but before he can finish, the room starts to dim around them, the ground beneath Jason's feet suddenly feeling far less solid than it should be. His last sight is of Piper's kaleidoscope eyes looking worriedly up at him from her pale face.
Chaotic chapter. But not too bad, I hope.
I love you, don't swim in a shark pool full of blood (unless you're an impulsive child of Poseidon like Percy), don't blow up your school bus with a Civil War cannon (it'd be very fun, but dealing with the aftermath would not be pleasant), and THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS COMES OUT IN LESS THAN A MONTH SO STOCK UP ON TISSUES AND COMFORT FOOD BECAUSE HTIS IS GONNE BE A HARD ONE *LOUD SCREECH*! LOVE YOU GUYS!