Chapter 8

My Dreams Come True and Try to Kill Me

We didn't speak, just ran. I'd shrunken Anfisa down, but my lungs had still begun to burn and my feet were dragging. I hadn't realized how far we'd gone until trying to sprint the whole way back to camp.

Finally, I couldn't keep it up anymore. I dropped to my knees, hands on the ground. Thalia turned back, face conflicted, and I shook my head.

"Go," I told her between breaths. "I'll…catch up."

She hesitated a bit longer, then nodded and took off. Her back disappeared between the trees, combat boots clomping as she rushed away.

When I was sure she was gone I dropped all the way to the ground, rolling onto my back. My chest burned. My shirt was soaked. The heavy humid air was thick in my throat.

It was still only afternoon, which seemed crazy given how much had already happened. The sky was blue without a cloud in sight. Perched in it, shining onto everything, was the summer sun.

Which was why when a shadow covered me, I knew instantly that something was wrong. I kicked up, exhaustion forgotten, and shot from the clearing as fast as my body could move. The telltale bark of a hellhound rattled behind me.

It wouldn't be until much later, when I had the time to calm down and think things through, that I would realize how little sense the interaction had made. Not only had the hellhound waited for me to notice it, there was also no way I could've outrun one.

But none of that occurred to me as I sped back to camp at top speed.

When I got there I skidded to a stop and didn't like what I found. Thalia was a few feet ahead of me, Aegis on the ground in front of her. The shield was face down, as if it had been dropped and then flipped over with a foot. When she saw me arrive Thalia cursed under her breath.

Luke was a ways away, his sword on the ground too, and beyond him was a sight that made me want to rub my eyes. The two wrinkly old ladies from my dreams were there, low-cut dress and leather jacket and all. The biker looking one had Annabeth by the throat, claws resting against the exposed skin ominously.

"We did what you wanted," Luke was saying. "Now let her go."

"Ah ah ah," Megaera said, shifting her dress and casting her eyes onto me. "There's one more now."

When she looked at me I felt feelings I never had in the dreams. I wanted a happy family like so many other kids had. I wanted the power that Luke and Thalia had, their ability to kill monsters. I even remembered the shiny red bike one of my classmates used to show up to school on and wanted that, too.

"Well child," Megaera prompted. "Would you mind dropping your weapon? If you won't it's not a large issue. We'll simply gut your friend."

I didn't move, still buried in the inexplicable feelings of envy. Tisiphone scoffed.

"See where finesse gets you?" she said. "This is how you do it."

Her attention settled on me, and the jealousy was washed away in a white-hot wave of anger. I wanted to stab something. I wanted to stab everything. As long as I was killing something, I was sure I'd be happy. Rather than drop my weapon I gripped it tighter.

"Percy," Luke said. "You gotta drop it."

But I barely heard him. It was like I was underwater and words were just barely trickling down to me. Kill, sounded in my head. I took a step forward.

Then Tisiphone dug the tip of her claw into of Annabeth's neck and the girl grunted sharply. The sound cut across the haze, like my head had been shoved back above water. I dropped Aelia.

"Good boy," Megaera chimed. "Continue taking my advice and you'll certainly die well."

"Your advice?" Tisiphone growled. "Your advice just had him standing there like a damned fool. It was my words that moved him, just like it was my senses that led us to them."

"Still with that?" Megaera said. She rolled her head to the side, looking at her sister from the corners of her eyes. "You'll have to come to terms with my success sooner or later. It's either do so now, or when Hades rewards me and I ascend to the role of favorite."

At Hades' name Annabeth began to struggle, trying to force her way free. Tisiphone lifted her clear into the air as if she weighed nothing.

"Still, girl," she commanded before looking at her sister. "And you, where do you come up with these delusions? It was my screech owls – which Hades personally entrusted specifically to me – that found their location."

"The screech owl!" Megaera cried. She looked at the ground in disbelief the way most people would look to the sky. "Good Hades, the screech owl she says! Do you have any inkling how many blasted days it took to track down which owl raised the alarm, all because someone wasn't paying enough attention? You better, given you were tramping along beside me every step of the way! And you want credit for finding them? All you could say was, 'they're east of us,' as if our sister hadn't told us that weeks ago."

The two were facing each other now, glaring. Luke slowly bent down, reaching for his sword.

"Don't even think about it," they snapped at once. He jerked upright.

"Don't tell me you actually think it," Tisiphone carried on, "that it was your ability to, what did you call it, 'sniff crime' that found them for us?" She snorted. "What a load of tripe."

"You'll find, sister, that any of us could do it. Even you, if you weren't such a meat headed buffoon. But why bother with conjecture. Here." Megaera faced Luke. "You! Hermes spawn! I have a query."

Luke's hand clenched, but he ground out, "What?"

"Did you or any of the others- Oh who am I kidding. Did you commit a crime recently? Come now, out with it quickly."

"A crime?" Luke asked.

"You know, breaking the law. Vandalism, assault, a particularly bad case of Jaywalking…"

"Patricide," Tisiphone added.

Megaera nodded. "That too."

"Or Fratricide." Tisiphone's voice ticked up at the end as if the prospect excited her.

"Yes, yes, also that. Any of the-"

"Suicide, even?"

Megaera wheeled on her. "If you are going to interrupt incessantly, at least use what brain power you do possess. You can see quite well that he is alive."

"Well excuse me for trying to have a good time," Tisiphone mumbled. "Gods know you could do with a bit of lightening up…"

Luke looked pale. "Would stealing do it?"

"In sufficient quantity," said Megaera. She nodded, the creases in her wrinkly skin deepening as she smiled. "Of course that would be it. A child of thievery indeed, what else would it have been."

She faced her sister. "Well? Do you still believe my ideas fallacious, even with proof shoved under your nose?"

"We can discover the details later," Tisiphone growled. She looked like she'd sucked a lemon. "Unless you're eager to waste this opportunity. Do you want Alecto to swoop in and snatch this from us? After we're so close to showing her up?"

"Very well." Megaera's face looked like a cat that'd nabbed the best cut of meat. "Onto business, then."

She gave us her full attention, Thalia in particular.

"One step and your friend dies," she said. "One motion toward your weapon, and your friend dies. I see one bit of lightning, and your friend dies. So be a dear and accept your death conveniently for her sake."

"Don't!" Annabeth shouted. "You ca-"

Tisiphone's hand squeezed tighter, and the words stopped in a hiss of air.

"Quickly now," Megaera said. "Patience is not my sister's strongest virtue. Nor, in these circumstances, is it mine."

She snapped her fingers and all around us the sound of growling echoed. From every direction came hellhounds, springing out from beneath trees and rocks and anything else that cast a shadow. There were ten of them, all pawing at the ground in anticipation of the meal they'd make out of us.

"Fine!" Thalia shouted. Her fingers were trembling, but from fear or anger I couldn't tell. "I'll do what you want, but you let the others go. Swear it to me."

"No-" Luke started, but Thalia shot him down with a glare.

"You heard my terms!" she shouted at the women. "Take it or leave it!"

"They're reasonable enough," Megaera said, head lilting to the side. "Very well. If you accept your death without struggle, no harm will come to your friends by the Furies of Hades. I swear it on the River Styx."

Thunder boomed in the clear sky. Annabeth's eyes widened and she opened her mouth once more, but nothing came out. She was being held too tightly to speak. In fact, she was being held too tightly period. Purple and red splotches were forming on her cheeks. I wasn't sure how much longer she could go without air.

Luckily with the deal they wanted struck the furies had no need for her. In a seriously impressive one-handed granny shot, Annabeth was sent sailing through the air straight at Luke. The son of Hermes wasted no time in catching her and setting her gently on the ground, where she lay coughing and gasping.

A moment later Luke's sword was in his hand and murder in his eyes.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Megaera commented.

"And why's that?" Luke asked, closing the distance between them at a brisk walk. "You can't touch me, in case you forgot. You swore."

Megaera shrugged. "True. But they can."

"The hellhounds," Annabeth choked out. She'd recovered enough to speak, if with some difficulty. "She said the furies wouldn't hurt us, but never that their servants wouldn't!"

"Clever girl," Megaera said. "Too bad it's useless."

"Quite unfortunate," Tisiphone agreed. "But the result was decided when we found you. Everything else was just a formality."

And the two wailed hissing, bubbling cries and began to change. Wrinkled skin darkened and stretched. Black, fleshy wings sprouted from their backs. Their faces remained mostly the same but the teeth filling their wide-open mouths sharpened to points. At that same moment, taking their shift as some sort of unspoken sign, the hellhounds began to close in, padding towards us with surety of predators that knew their prey had no way to escape.

Thalia went for her shield, realizing that there was no point in honoring her deal. But the furies were already moving, shooting forward like ugly wrinkled cannonballs. Luke jumped to intercept them but three hellhounds converged on him at once, forcing him to roll away or become a demigod sandwich.

Thalia had to abandon Aegis, instead drawing her spear from her pocket. It formed just in time to deflect a slash from an eager Tisiphone, then stabbed at Megaera as she arrived, forcing the Fury to abort her own attack.

That was as long as I got to watch. Two hellhounds leapt at me, coming from opposite sides. I ducked and let them crash into each other. They dropped, dazed but not disintegrated, and I nabbed Aelia from the ground just as a third came snapping.

It was small for a hellhound, but still plenty big enough to snap me in half with one good bite. It lunged, and I decked it. There was a crunch as my metal hand connected with its nose and the thing backed off with a yelp.

Growling alerted me that the first two were back on their feet. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed this; they were prowling in a slow circle, waiting for an opening. The one I'd walloped joined them, still sniffling but eager for a chance for payback. Anfisa formed in my hand, but they didn't look nearly as impressed by the sword as I'd hoped they would be.

In the lull I got a look at the others. Annabeth still looked worse for wear but was managing to dive and dodge her way away from a pair of hellhounds. Luke was growling almost as much as the monsters he was fighting, whirling and slicing like a man possessed at the full five that had gone after him. He'd taken out two, but his shoulder was bleeding, he was favoring one side, and the monsters just kept coming.

Then there was the main attraction: Thalia duking it out with two Furies at once without her shield. For every attack she deflected another grazed her, slowly forcing her backwards. As I watched she went for a Hail Mary, a massive lightning bolt blasting from her spear. She caught Tisiphone in the chest, and with a sound like burning toast the fury was fried into dust as she let out a final hideous wail.

But Thalia had overextended. In order to line up the shot she'd had to turn her back on Megaera, and the remaining Fury exploited this without mercy, lunging in before she could reraise her guard. The Fury's claws raked across her side before another, much smaller discharge forced her to retreat.

"Thalia!" I shouted, watching the girl stumble backwards, clutching at her side. I didn't have the time to worry about her though. The hellhounds around me took my distraction as their queue to pounce.

I met one with a slash and managed to catch it head on. Any possible thoughts of pride at the kill were immediately smashed from me by an oversized paw.

I tumbled, feeling my ribs buckle, but sprung up in time face the follow up charge. I swung for the hellhound on the right but found less success than I had the first time; it darted backwards, escaping injury. The other was too close now to bring my sword around on.

I tried to stomp its paw. My celestial bronze foot broke through the hard dirt where it struck but missed the meaty paw by a full inch. Jaws appeared in my face, foul gums plastered with bits of meat and teeth speckled with blood.

Time slowed down. There was nothing I could do- it was over for me. Elsewhere Annabeth cried out, her own evasions apparently taking a similarly bad turn. It wasn't just me, we were all done for.

Then something incredible happened. Something shot past me, straight into my soon-to-be killer.

It was another hellhound, this one nearly twice the size of the biggest the Furies had brought. Hanging from its mouth by the strap was a scratched and faded backpack.

I said, "Mrs. O'Leary?"

Mrs. O'Leary didn't turn to face me, not taking her eyes off the opponent she'd sent sprawling, but her tail thundered into the ground, wagging with the force of a sledgehammer.

"What is the meaning of this," Megaera bellowed. "You! Hound! Obey immediately."

Mrs. O'Leary looked at her. Then, very slowly, began to lift her hind leg. She couldn't be-

But she was. That big, beautiful dog was peeing, holding eye contact with the Fury the entire time. Everyone else came to a stop and watched, surprised into dropping whatever they'd been doing.

"You dare!" Megaera shrieked.

"Woof," replied Mrs. O'Leary, and chaos broke out once more.

Two hellhounds leapt at Daedalus' dog and she flicked her head toward me, flinging the backpack. I caught it as it slammed into my chest, watched as she batted away one of her attackers and took the hit from the other, rolling across the ground with the smaller hellhound.

With my opponents occupied I could actually pick my next step for the first time since the fight started. Thalia had managed to get ahold of Aegis once more and was forcing Tisiphone backwards. Luke had offed another hellhound and was working his way through the remaining two with relative ease, a vindictive smile on his lips.

The decision was easy. I ran for Annabeth.

The daughter of Athena had recovered somewhat from her stint as a hostage but was clearly still exhausted as she stumbled and dove her way around two hellhounds. A gash on her leg was bleeding heavily enough to stain her pants.

When I got close I dropped the backpack to free my hands and waved my sword like a madman. "Doggies want a stick?" I shouted.

Both hellhounds turned to me, giving Annabeth a chance to scuttle away and properly draw her knife. She was panting and sweaty, but I knew from one look that if I could create an opening she'd be ready to take it.

"Yeah," I said, keeping the monsters' attention, "look at me, tasty demigod with the shiny weapon. Just keep looking at me…"

A faked like throwing my sword past them, the same way I always fooled my neighbor's dog when playing fetch. The pooches of the underworld proved themselves more astute than that poodle had been- their heads didn't turn for a second.

"I guess that was optimistic," I said. "Fine, hard way it is."

As if taking my words as a queue, they rushed me. Or one did. The other tried but stopped with a squeal and dissolved. Annabeth stood behind it, knife outstretched. The remaining hellhound seemed torn then, whether to continue after me or get revenge for its friend. We didn't give it time to choose.

We charged it from both directions, and when it finally decided to snap at Annabeth I was there, burying Anfisa into its side.

Annabeth gave me a nod. "Thanks."

"No problem," I said. "Nice coordination."

She said, "I'm a daughter of Athena, of course I can coordinate," but her smile gave away that she wasn't nearly as defensive as she sounded.

Luke had finished his enemies and moved to help Thalia, bruised and cut up but still moving well. Mrs. O'Leary had just gotten her last 'playmate'by the neck and her fangs sunk in with a crunch. She howled as its body faded.

It was almost over. I wandered over to the backpack and picked it up. Annabeth eyed it curiously.

"That hellhound, the rogue one, it gave that to you, didn't it?"

"Oh, um, yeah," I said. "Strange huh?"

"Definitely. Just like you knowing its name."

She stared at me hard. I tried and failed not to shift. "She had a collar. I got a look at it, that's all."

Maybe the fight had left her too exhausted or maybe I'd earned the benefit of the doubt, because Annabeth let the topic drop, though she still looked a bit suspicious. A shout reached us, and when I looked over I found Megaera on the ground, Thalia's spear at her throat and Luke's sword aimed at her chest.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" she complained, sounding more irritated and less irate than she should've. "It will be decades before we get another chance like this. Maybe centuries."

"Shouldn't you be more upset?" Thalia said, puzzled.

Tisiphone made a hrgh noise from the back of her throat, like she was clearing phlegm. "Of course I'm upset. If you'd done what you were supposed to, just died, I'd be returning to the Underworld triumphant right now. Ascending to the role I deserve: The favorite of Hades! All the best jobs would be given to me, no more punishing mortals that can't even fight back, no more directing traffic in the Fields of Asphodel! But no, you just had to go and struggle, just to survive a week or two longer."

Thalia started. "What do you mean 'a week or two'?" she asked, jabbing lightly with her spear.

Tisiphone looked startled, as if the question caught her off guard. The she began to laugh- loud, hard, manic. "Did you actually believe you'd escaped?" She broke off, laughing too hard to speak, until she got it back under control. "Oh, you poor thing. Hades is after you, and when he wishes a soul claimed it will be. You nearly died here, with just me and my sister. What about next time, or the time after that? We'll keep coming, and coming, and coming until Hades' will is reality. Death is persistent if nothing else, my dear. None escape him."

Thalia said, "You're bluffing. Monsters don't come back that quickly," but she didn't sound convinced.

Megaera didn't answer, just laughed harder. She laughed so hard that her body began shuddering, from her chest to the tips of her wings, right up until Luke stabbed right into that shuddering chest. Even as she dissolved the laughing didn't stop.

"Luke!" Thalia chastised. "We could've gotten more out of her!"

Luke was breathing hard. He was staring at where the Fury had been, but his eyes seemed focused on something far away. "She wasn't going to say anything," he said. "She was crazy."

He looked like crap- he was leaning his weight onto one leg, his shoulder was bleeding, and his shirt was ripped and torn. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Crazy as shit," he said, and tromped away toward the hut without looking back. When Thalia called after him, he didn't even turn his head.

(-)

This chapter kept growing and growing so when I got to this point I decided to split it in half. The next chapter shouldn't be too long out I think, but I can't make any promises as midterms have descended, and they have a way of fucking over my time for damn near anything else. Still, I'll do my best to keep the turnaround quick.