Chapter 16

Strangers Ask for My Autograph

The weather on the day of the final test was annoyingly pleasant. I wished it would've been raining even a little, just to match my mood, but no luck. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Aelia twirled around my fingers while I walked slowly. It was a habit that helped me think, and I needed any help I could get with that right about now. All I had seen of Andi since the day before was a cold breakfast and a note telling me to report to where we trained. I needed to find a way out, but nothing would come to me, no matter how quickly I played Aelia between my fingers or scrunched my nose in thought.

I hopped across the creek the same way I had for the last month, but this time my legs felt like lead. Andi wasn't the type to change her mind at the best of times. With something she was this serious about I had better odds at strolling into Manhattan without getting zapped to ash.

But did I have it in me to kill her? Was I even good enough to find out?

When I arrived she was there. Her spear was propped against her shoulder. Her face was totally blank, and maybe even a little bit tired. But as soon as she saw me a sneer came out.

"Well?" she prompted, wrapping a hand around her spear. "Are you going to take my advice and give up?"

I stopped, double-checking that my feet were positioned right. Then I spun Aelia around and clicked it twice. Anthea took shape, the familiar weight helping to settle my nerves.

"I guess not. Don't say I didn't warn you. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"Probably not," I admitted. "Mostly because this is stupid." I looked at her, studying the appearance I'd grown to take for granted- her eccentric outfit, violent eyes, and unyielding posture. I saw her throwing bowling balls at me. I saw a story being told over a burning fire. I even saw her pinning me against the creek and missed that too; at least then she hadn't actually been out to kill me. In that moment I made my decision. "That's why I'm not going to kill you."

"No!" Andi shouted, and I blinked at what sounded like fear in her voice. But when she carried on her voice was frosty once more. "And here I thought you weren't giving up."

"I'm not," I said. "I'm going to beat you, and I'm going to do it so completely that I won't even have to kill you."

"Those are fighting words."

I grinned. "That is what we're doing, isn't it?"

"Damn straight it is."

No more words. Andi shot toward me. But compared to my memory of our first fight, it felt like nothing. She stabbed and I parried. She kicked out and I ducked aside. She brought her spear down like a hammer and I turned sideways, letting it pass harmlessly into the ground. She leapt backwards and started to circle me, watching warily.

"You've improved," she growled.

"That's your fault," I told her.

"I guess so. Too bad it's not enough."

She pounced again and this time I met her halfway, working like a maniac to dodge and defend through the onslaught. Then I ducked too late, and a strike slipped through. Now it was my turn to back off, creating distance and feeling at the thin line sliced into my left cheek. Andi let me go.

"See?" she said. "You won't survive on the defensive. You won't survive anyway. So why won't you attack back?"

So she'd noticed that. "Just waiting for the right time," I said. "I don't want to do too much damage by accident. You know how it is, you never know what'll do it with senior citizens."

Her lips curled. "Cute."

She closed in on me in a single breath, spear bulleting forward. Her movements were even faster than before, and I realized what I had been doing wouldn't work. I needed to counterattack and take the pressure off, or I would never get the chance to pick my moment.

We fell into a rhythm, trading jabs like the poles on an overworked foosball table. Andi made a grab for my head and I struck her hand with a left hook. I tried to follow up on it but she raised a foot and stomped with enough force to bust open the ground between us, spraying up a cloud of soil.

Andi still looked as fresh as if she had just woken up. A battle of attrition would only end one way. I had to do something, and I had to make the move now while I still had the energy to pull it off.

So I took a deep breath, held it in my chest, and sprinted.

Somewhere in all the dodged bowling balls something had clicked in my mind. I was always hyperalert when someone was out for my neck, like I had downed a dozen espressos and a 5 Hour Energy. That was the demigod perk I paid for with my ADD. But at some point, it was like a whole new level had been opened up.

The surroundings crystalized in my peripherals. I saw a blue jay take off from its tree with a squawk. I watched a squirrel drop its nut and dart behind a tree. More importantly, I saw Andi tense. Recognized her next strike the moment before it started. I sidestepped early and thrust, picturing a shiny new tennis ball right over her shoulder.

My strike landed. Not as square on as I'd hoped, but enough to leave a gash. Andi bit her lip but didn't stop, going for another stomp. I got in close before she could pull it off, and she stumbled back.

She sent off a few more attacks but it was useless. Her center of gravity was off, and there was no way I was letting her regain any rhythm. I closed in.

The chance came when I had forced her to the very edge of the woods. Her foot came down in a divot, and her ankle buckled. In a flash I struck her other leg with a Celestial Bronze kick to the shin. She dropped like a sack of bricks.

Her spear stayed in her hand, but it was useless- she could never get it across in time. I was above her, my spear pointed down, as free a shot as I would ever get. It was the end but-

But it wasn't the ending I wanted.

All it took was a moment. I hesitated, spearpoint hovering. Then a size sixteen combat boot found my sternum and shoved.

Suddenly it was me on the ground and Andi in the power position. She was on me in an instant, and one look at her face told me there wouldn't be any hesitation this time.

"Should've taken the shot, Percy." Her voice sounded genuinely sad. The smile on her lips was so far softer than the sneer from the last day. "Why couldn't you just take the shot?"

I opened my mouth to speak but there was no time. Her arms swiveled downward, starting the movement that would end me.

Flesh tore and red splattered.

Sprouting from Andi's chest was a blade, three feet long and jagged and coated red. It had pierced straight through her from back to front. The blade flicked to the side and Andi fell with it, body sliding listlessly off to reveal the least murderous looking man I had ever seen.

He couldn't have been taller than five-foot-two, and the skin around his mocha eyes was crinkled with laughter lines. Brown hair was cut short and shaggy. His collared shirt was buttoned all the way up, including at the wrists. He looked like a sixty-something volunteer at a food bank, just instead of a ratty sandwich it was a deadly weapon in his hands.

"Thank goodness I arrived in time." He spoke with a British accent, but it was kind of buried. Like one of those kids that had lived somewhere else for years. Bushy eyebrows scrunched together as he looked me up and down. "You are alright, aren't you? The bad woman didn't hurt you yet?"

As he spoke he moved closer, holding his sword unthreateningly behind his back. I scrambled up and kept distance between us.

"Stay back," I warned him, aiming Anthea at his chest. My eyes pinged between him and where Andi was laying. She wasn't moving.

"I understand that you're scared," the man said. He tapped the cover of a leatherbound journal hanging from a loop on his belt. "I've seen this scene a dozen times before, and I've got the names written in here to prove it. Androktasiai talk about wanting a good death, but what they really want is to kill. The poor students don't stand a chance. Every one of them I've met lost their life brutally."

Again, I noticed that he tried to close the distance as he spoke. For all his soft words and pleasant demeanor, he sure seemed hellbent on getting close.

"Out of the way," I said. "Final warning. I need to check on my teacher."

I tried to dart to Andi. The jagged sword sliced out an inch from of my nose and forced me to back off.

"So, you are one of those." All at once his voice went sharp, and a little disappointed. His skin rippled and morphed. Wrinkles swapped out for cuts and scars and burns. He looked like three corpses rolled into one, but twice as gruesome. He grinned, and I was suddenly very glad I hadn't had an appetite for breakfast that morning. "Well, I suppose luck was bound to run out sometime. Mark!"

"Yes teach?"

This came from a familiar voice, and when I heard it my eyes narrowed.

"You," I said.

With all that had happened I'd nearly forgotten about him, but from the woods strolled the teen that had asked me and Andi for directions so many nights ago. He looked the same as he had then, except for a wicked expression that matched his teachers perfectly and a machete dangling from his hand. The knife's surface was patchy and multicolored like it had never seen a single cleaning.

The teen – Mark – tilted his head. "It is me! Surprised? Don't worry, I would be too. We are so wonderfully unpredictable."

"Unpredictability." The man nodded sagely. "The only habit one should keep."

"All too true, Teach," Mark agreed.

"Who are you?" I asked, backing away. "Did Coeus send you?"

The man tilted his head. "Coeus? Doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid. Does it to you Mark?"

Mark spread his arms and shrugged. His machete caught the light of the sun, and I could make out the color of the splattered stains. All of them were blackish red. "I think he's a titan. The ruler of the North, or something goofy like that."

"Huh," said the man. "Three thousand years and I still accumulate useless trivia. Life sure is disappointing."

"It sure is Teach. It sure is."

I began to inch around, trying to circle my way to Andi. I made sure to Keep Anthea ready as I did so. The duo was way too unpredictable for anything else.

"You sure are helpful today Mark," said the man.

"I always am," said Mark. "Except for when I don't want anything."

"Oh? And what is it you want now?"

Mark lifted his hand and pointed straight at my chest. I froze, less than half of the way to Andi. "I want him."

The man's red eyes drifted over to me. A pale tongue darted over blotchy lips. He nodded.

"Take him," he said to his student. "Good boys deserve rewards."

Mark stepped forward, nearly bouncing in place. "So, are you going to let me kill you?"

Andi was still on the ground bleeding. I wasn't even sure she was still alive, and I had to check. But no matter how I looked at it I couldn't see a way that didn't involve going through the duo in front of me. I dropped into a fighting stance.

"Booo!" said Mark. "Come on, just drop the weapon and die. Things'll be fun that way."

My fingers squeezed and my whole body tensed up. "You know," I said, "I really don't have a clue who you two are or why you're doing this. But you're the second person to tell me that today, and I didn't even like hearing it the first time. I've gotten pretty good at stabbing things recently. I would love to show you."

Mark sighed. "Demigods always talk so much at the start. Oh well, good luck with that stabbing business. You'll need it."

He came at me then, but not quickly. He was basically walking, flicking his machete and whistling a scarily upbeat tune. If you had swapped his weapon for a dog leash I wouldn't have looked twice in Central Park on a Sunday.

It was so far from what I expected that I held back, certain he must have some hidden weapon or strategy. But by the time he got into swinging range no surprises had burst out, and even the attack didn't come that fast. I parried it with my metal arm and finished the motion with a left hook, planning to drop him in one go.

I remembered what had happened the last time I saw him about a second before my fist reached his face. Just like Andi's magic cup my arm passed through him like he was made of air. The lack of resistance threw me off balance and I stumbled a few steps to the side, thankfully out of range of any follow-ups from the knife.

He poked at his cheek . "That's a new one. A celestial bronze arm, huh?"

"So it wasn't a trick," I said, sizing him up again. "You really are mortal."

"Ding ding ding." He laughed. "You must never have expected a mortal to attack you. None of the others did. They couldn't wrap their heads around it, even when I, you know-" he jerked the machete back and forth, pantomiming chopping something into bits.

"Good job Mark," called the man. He was stood back with his hands linked behind his back and his sword pointed down, watching appreciatively. "Always play with your food. To do anything else is immature."

"If you're mortal," I said, "then it doesn't matter even if you can see through the mist. You should give up- you can't do anything to me."

"Ah-ah, you've got it all backwards." Mark started closing in with the same sedate charge as before. "You saw it for yourself, your weapons won't touch me. Terribly silly of demigods, using weapons that can't kill indiscriminately."

"Truly spoken!" called the man. "A worthwhile stance. Whomever taught you it must be very commendable indeed."

I took in his complete confidence and almost felt bad for what was coming. He was a few years older than I was, and he had some extra height and muscle. If he'd been fighting properly I might've had a hard time. But he was certain I couldn't hurt him, and boy could I.

"You know," I said just before he reached me, "You should really do more research. Celestial Bronze isn't the only metal out there."

I aimed for the wrist holding the machete. Anthea sliced a gash midway up his forearm and he dropped his weapon with a scream, falling to his knees. The sadistic confidence evaporated, replaced by features twisted with panic.

"No no no no no," he moaned, keeled over and rocking. I kicked his machete across the ground, making sure it skidded out of sight. Then I stepped straight over him.

"Come on," I said to his teacher, pulling my fingers back in a 'come at me' gesture. "I really need to check on Andi, and that means getting you out of the way."

"Andi?" The man coughed in disbelief. "Truly? Andi is what she's going by? Their creativity only gets worse."

"I'm not asking you to judge her name," I said. "Let's fight."

He scoffed. "Her name. As if Androktasiai have real names, those damn fools. Where do you think she got Andi from, demigod? She shortened the word and called it a name. So dreadfully dull. Then again, the others were exactly like that as well."

"The others?"

"You know, the rest of the Androktasiai." He tapped the book resting against his side. "Such a shame to end the list on so uninspired a note. A true anticlimax."

A nasty feeling settled over me. Andi had been so confident that her siblings disappeared because they found good students. Staring at the grinning creep-show in front of me, I wasn't so sure. Hoping to take him down before he could get his sword out from behind his back, I charged.

"Still, they were quite tough." He grinned at me, unmoving. "That's why we don't work alone."

If I had spent any less time dodging projectiles then the throwing knife would have lodged right into my neck. As it was I ducked just in time, popping up to see two women and two men appear from every direction. They were all dressed nondescriptly. If it weren't for their disfigured faces they would've looked like ordinary tourists on a day out. One woman was casually juggling throwing knives. All the others carried weapons too- swords and axes and knives, anything with a blade.

"I never introduced myself, did I?" The man gave a slight bow, nodding his head to me. "I go by Jack. A pleasure for you to lay eyes on me. That-" he pointed at a man with a beefy face and a broadsword held in both hands "-is Charlie. Or Chop-Off, if he's feeling excitable."

"The lovely knife thrower there is Alphabet. Her penchant for alliteration isn't quite healthy, but who are we to stand in the way of her fun." Alphabet grinned and picked at the gap between two teeth with the point of a knife.

"Then we have Doodler – quite the artist, in more ways than one – and Zodiac, our female riddle master."

A man with twin axes blushed. A woman wielding dual Stilletos, one gold and one grey, gave a little twirl.

"And now, with our names shared…" Jack leaned forward, one hand unclipping the journal from his belt. "I think it high time you gave yours."

It was like all of them were waiting with bated breath. Given that I couldn't see a reason for them to care so much about my name, I guessed it was excitement for something that would after. Call me childish, but I didn't like my odds in a fight, and I wanted to at least get one over on them some way.

"I think I'll keep that to myself. You know, stranger danger and all."

"Don't be that way." Jack was still grinning. He opened the journal and let the pages blur by before stopping it on the last two. He scribbled something in, then turned it toward me. Dozens of words were scrawled across the pages. The only blank space was at the bottom of the last page, just enough to fit one final entry. Above it, in fresh ink, was 'Andi'.

"It's quite the point of honor. The last entry, marking completion!" Around the clearing the others oohed and ahhed. Jack leaned forward, rapidly clicking the point of his pen in and out. "Two words, your first and last name, and that spot is all yours."

I raised my eyebrows. "Something tells me you won't just leave if I give it to you."

"Of course we will, as soon as you're written in. I swear it on the River Styx."

The tell-tale boom of thunder echoed. There was no trick, Jack's oath was a real one. But I knew there had to be more to it. I kept silent.

"You also have to die, but really, don't you worry one iota about that. We'll do all the work. You won't even have to move, except maybe to give a few whimpers and beg once or twice. Nothing to it."

I grimaced. Begging wasn't really my thing, and I didn't exactly want dying to be either. But the pack knew how to stage an ambush. They were stood exactly far enough apart that I could only see three of them at a time. Just because I had gotten good at dodging didn't mean I had eyes in the back of my head, so I made my mind up to stall.

"What are you all really?" I asked. I wasn't even sure they would answer, but apparently talking about themselves was something of a hobby: Jack jumped at the chance.

"I'm glad you asked," he said. For a moment his book of names was forgotten, hanging from his hand as he gesticulated. "We are what you would call Phonoi."

"I've heard that name," I said. "You're children of Eris, siblings-"

"Of the Androktasiai," he finished. "It sure is nice when the prey comes informed. So many banal details cut out."

It was only once, but Andi had mentioned the name in passing. The other children of Eris. There were fifteen types in total, but the Phonoi were linked to the Androktasiai because-"

"You're spirits of killing outside of battle," I said. "Of murder."

The Phonoi all groaned except for Charlie, the burly one, who booed in a deep voice.

"And this, is why you don't let Androktasiai explain things," Jack complained. "They always muck up the important bits dreadfully. You see, we are the true spirits of slaughter, not them and their meat-headed ideals."

He stopped, and Alphabet picked it up. Her voice was smooth, like she spent her free time reading poetry in the park. "They were always boasting of battle this and battle that, the bastards. Horrifically hollering about honor. Sickeningly, they search out striking struggles. The fools."

Doodler shifted his twin battleaxes and said, "Real beauty is in two things: procreation and mortal terror. That's why I capture my victims in both. The complete package"

He broke off giggling, and Zodiac pulled a face.

"Don't worry," she said, her voice frighteningly pleasant. "We aren't all like this lunatic. Mortal terror is all the rest of us focus on. Though each has their own methods."

"Like me!" Charlie rested his massive sword against his shoulder and poked his chest. "See, once I do the deed I chop 'em up a bit. Call it desert- the cherry on top."

Jack nodded like a proud parent. "Never underestimate a personal touch, Charlie. Keep up the good work." Charlie beamed, and Jack turned to me once more. "The battlefield is a terrible place." He looked at the ground beneath his feet in disgust. "Even just standing here is rather sickening, to be frank. So much death, and all of it the wrong sort. There is no art in a fight, just two animals clawing at each other's necks for position. Only in helplessness is there beauty. Like the rabbit in the wolf's jaws- or, say, a demigod hemmed in on all sides."

I shivered. The look on his face was that of a butcher eying a slab of meat, and it was mirrored across the face of every one of them. I started to take a step back, then realized that would only take me closer to Charlie and stopped. Jack caught the motion and the curve of his lips steepened.

"Oh I like that," he said. "Keep playing up the hesitant angle. You'll go down a treat."

Apparently, the others hadn't missed my wavering either. Zodiac started giggling and jabbing the air with her Stilettos. Doodler was whispering the chorus to Holiday in Cambodia while sizing up how I would look in chunks. The Phonoi began closing in, all of them except for Alphabet who hung back and prepped her throwing arm. I spun in a circle trying to figure out which way to face before deciding, not for the first time, that I was screwed.

Then Charlie bellowed. His colossal sword dropped from limp arms. Stabbing out of his chest, right where his heart would be, was a thin black and red spearhead. The spear yanked back, and Charlie fell. Standing above his crumpled form was Andi in full battle-ready glory.

She had a deep cut, but not where I had seen her get hit. Instead of the center of the chest it was along her side, like she had jerked out of the way of a killing blow right at the last second. At her appearance Jack began to sputter.

"I killed you!" he shouted. For the first time his composure was nowhere to be seen. "Sliced your life away! I even wrote you into the list, and you have the nerve not to die after that? You… You philistine!"

Rather than answer him Andi looked straight to me. "What do you say, kid? Not the one I had planned, but it makes for a hell of a final exam."

I glanced back and forth between her and the place I had seen her laying just a minute ago. In fact, she was still lying there, looking vaguely dead as she bled on the ground. Then that version fell apart, evaporating into steam. An illusion.

"For the record," I said to her, "your curriculum was at least as bad."

Andi snorted. "For you, maybe." She turned her attention to the Phonoi, and Jack in particular. "So, you guys got to the others, huh? I heard it all. And here I was thinking there was some wellspring of students I was missing out on."

Jack still looked livid, but he seemed to have dragged himself back under control.

"Right," he said to himself. "Right, of course. It's so simple. Why am I worrying about your name in the book? I can just kill you, and then everything is right as rain again."

"You sure you can swing that?" Andi asked. She frowned. "And why was I the last one you guys went for? It was because I'm the strongest, right? Right?"

"You're already wounded," Jack pointed out, ignoring her. He shifted a few steps to the side and the others all followed suit, completing the circle that had been broken by Charlie's death. "There are still five of us, and only two of you."

"Five?" I glanced around and counted again. Unless I was even worse at math than I thought, they were one short.

"Get up, Mark," Jack said.

Mark didn't move. He stayed curled up and bawling.

"Quickly now. I don't want to have to ask again."

At first nothing happened. Then the sobs stopped dead.

"C'mon teach, I don't wanna. That kid can hurt me, and pain isn't fun. Not when it's your own."

"If you help now, I'll let you take the next three kills for yourself."

Before I could blink Mark had popped up, like he was finishing a burpee. His cheeks were stained with snot and bits of grass, but he was grinning. "Why didn't you say so earlier! I would slice up my own mom for that sort of offer. Though I guess I did that already for free … Whatever, I'll think of something else for a figure of speech. Give me a minute."

It would've seemed like a joke from anyone else. But there was this look in his eyes – hollow, vacant, and distant – that chilled the me to the core. I didn't doubt for a second that he had done it. I didn't doubt that he enjoyed it. He would do the same to me if I let him, then to three complete strangers afterwards.

"I want that one," I told Andi, pointing to Mark.

She shrugged. "There's enough to go around. Take him- just make sure you finish the job."

"Finish the job," Jack mused. "You seem rather confident for being outnumbered and injured. Do you really think you can?"

Andi smiled- no, she grinned, teeth and all. She reached up and tossed off her headband, letting it skid across the ground. The black hair that had been pinned up sloshed down to her neck. With it hanging loose she looked like a Keltic berserker, primed to let loose.

"I don't have a clue if we can win!" she bellowed. "Seriously, I have no idea! Isn't that amazing? That's everything a battle is supposed to be about! Come on, let's die so that we can live!"

Jack sighed. "I cannot wait until you are done with," he said, and it was like a ref had blown their whistle.

Andi bundled toward Jack at full speed, but Doodler got between them, repelling her with his axes crossed like an x. That was all the time I got to watch. I had my own job.

Zodiac tried to stab me through the back with her needle-thin daggers. At the same time Mark came from the front, moving full speed this time as he drew a switchblade from one of his pockets. He had clearly learned his lesson- no more relying on my attacks passing through him.

I rolled to the side and popped up with both of them in front of me. Two I could handle. Even Alphabet was focusing her throwing knives on Andi, trying to keep the raging Androktasiai from poking their leader full of holes. I wouldn't have to watch my back at all.

I'm not sure when exactly I started smiling. Maybe it was when I parried Zodiac's follow-up. Or it could've been when I brought Anthea's shaft against Mark's knuckles and his switchblade soared away. All I know is that by the time I had Mark on the ground and Zodiac breathing heavily, blood dripping from cuts up and down her arms and sides, I was grinning. It wasn't half as wide as Andi's, but it was the same type. It probably should have scared me. I didn't want to get a rush from fighting for my life, like it was some A-plus rollercoaster. But in that moment I would be lying if I said it didn't feel good.

"You're too tough," Mark complained. "This is no fun at all. Shame on you."

Zodiac said nothing. She pounced again, and I made it the final time. One flick and her Stilettos were knocked off course, then a thrust finished her off. Like Charlie before her, she dropped silently. Her face looked oddly satisfied as she hit the ground.

I angled my spear down at Mark. "Your turn."

"I know, I know," he said. "But like, do you have to? I don't really want to die. Living is more fun."

"If you're trying to convince me to let you off, no chance. And you're doing a really bad job too."

He shrugged. "I'm just being honest. You can't kill anything in the Underworld, so I don't feel like going. You wouldn't do something mean like that to me would you?"

"Are you kidding?" I stepped closer and Anthea brushed against his throat. "You tried to kill me. You did kill people, I don't even know how many. You deserve this."

"But will you do it?" He leaned forward, breaking his skin and letting a trail of blood trickle between his collar bones. "Sure I kill people. I do it all the time because it's fun. But you don't, and I'm still human too. Can you do it?"

I took a deep breath. My arm shook. But when the answer came, it was a clear one.

"Yes."

He cocked his head. "Neat."

But before I could follow through something happened. There was a cry so loud that I could've sworn the ground shook a little. When I looked up Andi was staggering backwards, a throwing knife lodged in her side and a deep gash from Jack's sword across her chest.

Doodler was already out of action, probably dead, but Alphabet and Jack were still active, and the latter was closing in. Andi was doing her best to look big and scary, but I could tell she was done for. I started to run but I would never make it in time.

Jack darted inside Andi's guard. His jagged sword came up. I needed to stop him somehow, but I was powerless.

Except I wasn't, was I?

I felt the beginnings of a tug in my gut, just like when Andi slammed me into the water. As soon as it came the image of the alleyway came with it, my constant reminder that my best was too slow. Then I blinked, and instead of my mom in front of me it was Andi again. It wasn't too late. Not this time.

It happened faster than the speed of thought. The sensation coursed through me, my stomach coiling and my limbs buzzing with energy. The stream arrived- a very angry, very carefully aimed flood.

It hit Jack like a train, snapping him up and rushing him away. It kept going, and enveloped Alphabet too. Then it hit the woods and blasted apart. Alphabet landed at an awkward angle with a noise so loud that I didn't even need to check to know she was done for. Jack was coughing and sputtering, his sword lodged up to the hilt in an elm tree. I doubted even a Laistrygonian could have pried it loose.

But when I stepped over him he didn't show a hint of fear. It was the same pleasure I had seen on Zodiac right at the end, but magnified. He stared up reverently.

"This is it," he rasped.

I stared down at him, silently.

"Oh, yes. Finally." His eyes drifted closed, his arms falling loosely on the ground. "Rapture."

I stabbed. And that was it.

I turned to survey the scene. All the Phonoi were down. Mark was gone, only a soggy sneaker remaining where he had been lying. The wave must have washed him away too. It was over. We had done it.

A cough drew my attention. Andi was kneeling, looking down at her spear. From the new angle I could see it. The cut on her chest wasn't too bad, but the older one on her side was much worse than I had realized. I bolted over.

"Andi, hold on. We can do something about this, and then-"

She shook her head. "We can't."

"Don't give up," I growled. "Come on, we haven't even tried yet. We'll figure something out. I'll… I'll grab the cups! With those-"

"And when did you get so knowledgeable?" she laughed. "I've seen a lot of wounds. Dealt a lot, too. This one is fatal, not even magic can change that. That's all there is to it."

I opened my mouth to argue but words didn't come. She was right. I may not have been nearly as experienced as her, but deep down I knew instinctively. She was dying.

"Oh quit looking sad! You should've been the one doing this in the first place!"

I sniffed. "Way to make me feel better."

"Yeah, well, what can I say. I have a way with words." She glanced around and sighed appreciatively. "We did a number on them, huh?"

"We did," I agreed.

"That's good. Really good."

Her voice was getting softer. The longer she looked at the scattered Phonoi the more she squinted, like her vision was drifting away in real-time.

"I do have one thing to ask, kid."

"Tell me," I said instantly.

"Look at that eagerness. You know you can refuse if you want, right? I tried real hard to push you earlier, getting under your skin and all, and even then that wasn't enough. I'm rambling. Point is, I want you to be the one that kills me."

"I thought we went through this already." I tried to keep my voice light, but it didn't sound that way, even to me.

"Dying to Phonoi would be acceptable," Andi carried on. "It was a battle to the death. A decent one, too. Good enough. But it could be better. A send-off from my student. The first and only full-fledged one."

She was wobbling now, like she might collapse fully at any moment. If I didn't decide quickly I wouldn't get the chance to choose at all. Except I didn't know what to do. Killing her wasn't what I wanted at all, I wanted to save her but-

But that wasn't an option.

"I'll do it." I would love to say I said it decisively, with confidence. Instead my voice cracked, and the pitch was unnaturally high.

She smiled placidly. "Thanks Percy."

I took a deep shuttering breath. Then I took Anthea and fulfilled a promise.

Andi grunted at first, her shoulders tensing. Then she relaxed. Her hands brushed loosely against the ground. She swayed on her knees, moments away from falling backwards. Her lips slowly pulled open, and she said, "Take that!"

I flinched, startled that she still had that level of volume in her. As I watched she cackled, her unfocused eyes searching in the direction of Jack's body.

"You gods damned Phonoi really thought you could get me, Andi the Androktasiai, didn't you? Well guess what, I'm in your stupid book, and you weren't even the one to kill me. I hope you're enraged, morons!"

She panted, looking as happy as I had seen her. She had the same expression a moment later when she collapsed. I stepped over her checked tentatively. Her chest was still. Her eyes were closed contentedly.

I took a really deep breath. With glacial, meticulous motions I compressed Anthea and slipped Aelia into my pocket. Then I turned and walked away, heading for camp. There was a lighter there, and heaps of firewood. Andi always said in her stories that a hero's funeral meant burning the body.

There would be time to think about other things later. Hopefully, by then, it would hurt just a little bit less.

(-)

The longest chapter yet, nearly twice the word count of the last one. That's the good news.

The bad news, is that there will be a significant delay before the next one comes out. At least a month, I think. The reason is that we've caught up with my detailed plan. I know the major events for the rest of the story and how they'll turn out, but the more detailed scene-by-scene plan has to be extended to match. Since so much of the story is original that's a long process, both doing research and simply coordinating subplots. An upside, I want to keep chapter lengths consistently higher for the rest of the story, so after the break most should be at least 5-6k words, like this chapter here.

TLDR: There's a lot of work to do before I can actually work on the writing itself, so even if there will be a gap it 100% isn't because this story has been dropped.