Hey guys! Enjoy the chapter.
Replies:
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: You'll see soon enough- but there will most certainly be an escape.
Undeath9087: Them finding out and reunions are gonna be fun to say the least.
Krypton Joy Writes: I mean, killing hunters no. Escape... perhaps :)
pvtbarton: That is actually explained in this chapter.
Guest: The Greek stuff will come out soon enough. And an Earthquake on a mountain in an unstable fortress would be very dangerous to everyone.
Guest: Oh Percy isn't afraid to use her powers to escape if she has to- but she's being careful at the moment
There was a long silence after Alina left before Artemis spoke. "The Parthenon statues? I had heard that they'd been stolen, Athena's been furious."
"Whoops." Percy's lips twitched slightly despite the situation, "I do plan on returning them to Greece eventually. That was the whole point of me stealing them, but the plan went kind of off the tracks so I was waiting for things to cool down before I returned them to Greece."
"I see." Artemis nodded, "Impressive, that you stole them I mean. Do you know what she might have wished to do with them?"
"No." Percy admitted, "Artefacts can contain power, or at least Egyptian ones can. I've never used Greek ones for it. We can use them to help with spells, to fuel them or anchor them."
"Artefacts such as the Parthenon marbles would undoubtedly contain power within them. Though trying to harness it would undoubtedly draw the attention of Athena-"
"A trap." Percy said suddenly, "Maybe it doesn't matter which god she drained the divinity from. She needs that power for some reason but she wasn't picky about which one it came from." and whatever energy was drained from Athena would have been bolstered by the power inside of the statues.
But what the fuck did she need a gods divinity for?
The problem wasn't that there were too few possibilities but too many. Power like that could be used in a whole lot of different spells. Given who it was wanting to do the spell Percy doubted that it was good.
"We have to escape." Artemis' voice was frustrated, "We must find some way out of here and warn the gods of this Alina's alliance with Kronos- and of Kronos' rise-"
"You mean you guys didn't already know?" Percy raised an eyebrow, "I know for a fact that Chiron knows." and Hades did, though she wouldn't mention that for now.
"My father-" Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable, "Is... stubborn. He says that Chiron has no proof for his wild claims about the rise of Kronos."
"Uh, they're not wild." Percy let out a huff. "They're right on the mark-"
"Perhaps, I have been trying to prove to my father that there is a large threat." she shook her head, "I was hunting a dangerous threat- if I'd captured it I would have been able to prove to father just how serious the situation is. But somehow they used it to lure me into a trap, and my brother with me."
"Wonderful so the big guy isn't even taking the threat seriously." Percy growled the words, "Just what I want to hear."
"If I tell him now, with what's happened he's sure to believe me."
"Yeah, sure or he'll come up with more excuses to not believe that there's such a big threat to his might reign." her voice was thick with sarcasm, "I hate to break it to him but he's lucky to even still exist right now. But this time the threats on his side." Percy shook her head, "And he doesn't get to stay oblivious- if I have to fucking march to Olympus myself and drag his ignorant ass into the light I will."
Artemis blinked, "You have nerve Percy, I must admit that. It would do you well to temper that tongue of yours if you ever meet my father th-"
"No, no I don't do that shit." Percy scowled. "I say what I want, when I want-"
"Then you will die-"
"I'd like to see them try." Percy hissed the words, "Unless they want full fledged war on three fronts, and infighting I would caution against it."
Artemis' eyes narrowed, "Infighting?" she asked lowly, "What exactly do you mean by infighting?"
"You think you're the first Greek god I've met in person?" Percy forced herself to breath, forced herself to at least start to calm down. Not that it was easy, she was as on edge as it was possible to be. But Artemis wasn't the one she was angry at, not really, "I- I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have snapped like that. It's not fair."
"Which of us have you met before?" Artemis was watching Percy carefully, a slightly suspicious gleam in her eyes, "And... you're very sure that the House would come for us for you-"
"Yeah well when Alina called me princess she wasn't joking." Percy gave a slightly bitter smile. "I am the younger sister of our current Pharaoh." that made Artemis' eyes widen with shock.
"Truly?" she paled, "A princess of the House of Life is being held by- by all the gods this is bad. We must get you out of here. They could use you to start a war between Greeks and Egyptians."
"My family won't leap straight into attacking the Greeks." Percy paused, "Though- she said something about Greek fire before I passed out, so I would guess she is trying to set you guys up for what happened to me, they might think I died in the fire."
"You're sure they won't attack?" Artemis asked slowly. "What would hold them back- if you are their princess-"
"You guys might not have been in the know about us, but my family are very in the know about the Greek situation. They won't be rushing into anything when they know that there's a large chance the Greek gods are being set up." she let out a huff.
"How are you involved with us Greeks?" Artemis tilted her head. "It makes no sense to me."
"My two best friends are demigods." Percy wasn't lying, just... leaving out some parts. That wasn't so bad was it? If she could trust Artemis she'd tell her more. Eventually- and there probably would be an eventually, the prophecy had said something about one twin fleeing, with the thief and princess. Clearly the princess was her. She did wonder who the thief was. "I met one of them during an audition, we've been inseparable ever since. Then there was the dream and we went on a quest and we met our other friend."
"Hmmm." Artemis hummed lowly before, "Audition?"
"I'm an actress." Percy gave a wry smile, "Pretty well know these days."
"Hmmm... I admit you do look somewhat familiar." Artemis said after a moment. "And you do have striking looks that I imagine serve you well in such a career."
"Gods this is weird." Percy let out a snort of laughter at that. "We're sat here fucking around with small talk. We should be figuring out how to escape right now."
"I fear I won't be much help. I'm not a poor fighter but I have no powers at this stage, or strength. I am mortal. I may be more skilled than most mortal girls of my physical age but it won't be much use without my bow and arrows, not against the dangers that are outside of our cell."
"I'm getting my strength back." Percy pursed her lips, "But I don't have any weapons on me right now." and she couldn't even use her bracelet to escape- she'd left it at home like an idiot because she'd decided to wear a bracelet that her dad had given her when she was nine, her last birthday before he died.
It was her first real school dance and she'd wanted to take a part of him with her.
She'd screwed up big time. And there was a chance she'd never be able to fix her mistakes. Her family probably thought she was dead.
No. No she couldn't let them think that. She'd have to find a way to get back to them, she couldn't do that to them. "What we need is weapons, the question is how to get them-" she froze when there once again came the noise of the lock clicking open, of bolts being pulled back.
Percy moved quickly so that she was next to Artemis- it would be better for them to present a united front after all. Whoever was coming in could be a very big threat.
Percy thought back to Alina's parting words. Someone who's plans she'd ruined, "Oh for fuck sake tell me it isn't-" the door swung open, revealing a familiar face- and gods but Luke looked like shit.
He was paler, a lot paler, which made his scar stand out even more vividly than it had before. There were dark bags under his eyes, he looked a lot worse than he had when she'd last seen him- and he'd looked pretty exhausted back then. "You."
"You." Luke turned his head, saying something to the guard before he pulled the door shut, pulling out the key and locking it from the inside- which... what? Why the fuck would he bring the key into the room with him when he knew she was a fighter."
"You have met?" Artemis' eyes narrowed, "Who are you boy- I've seen you before-"
"My name is Luke." he shot Artemis a dirty look, "Luke Castellan-"
"You are the boy Chiron has claimed is responsible for all this." Artemis almost snarled the words. "How dare you- how have you two met-"
"You know who I am and you don't know who she is." Luke scoffed, "That shows the gratitude of the gods."
"Dude." Percy gave him a look, "That's because they know jack shit about me. On purpose. Up until now it's made my life a whole lot simpler. Now what do you want? You here to torture me like Alina implied?"
Luke's expression soured slightly at the mention of Alina. "I'm not here to do anything for that bitch."
"Oooh, catty, I like it." Percy crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm surprised you two aren't all buddy buddy bitching about how much you hate me." She tilted her head, "I can still see the slight bend in your nose from where I broke it last time we met." the thief. Was it possible?
"I don't like Alina." Luke shook his head, "I- what you said, last time we met... did you do something? Enchant me- I know what you are now-"
"No I didn't enchant you." Percy rolled her eyes, "Why? Has it been bugging you?" she could feel Artemis' eyes flicking between them both, clearly watching, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Which to be fair was probably not an easy thing to do. "I notice that you're not trying to kill me like you promised-"
"It's like you want me to hate you." Luke growled the words, "You- What if I want out? You said...you implied you'd offer me some kind of protection from them." he tilted his head towards Artemis.
"I'm capable of it." Percy shifted, "If you can help us get out of here-"
"I don't want to travel with her-"
"As if I'd want to travel with a traitorous disgusting boy-"
"Both of you stop acting like five year olds." Percy held up her hands, eyes still focused on Luke. "Tell me. What made you change your mind? You seemed pretty set on your path last time we met."
"You just-" Luke groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "It was- you got in my head okay? Some of the things you said... you might not be wrong-"
"Oooh, high praise coming from you."
"You know you're not helping here." Luke snapped, "I am trying okay? I- A lot of the things you said rang true. The dreams, the promises. And- I know he's been using me. I should be glad that Alina's come along- she's- I probably won't have to be his-" he shuddered, "But... the way they talk about their plans- I didn't let myself care before but you got in my head and now.." he shook his head. "Now it's all I can think about. I want the gods to pay, I still hate them and I always will but- the cost is too high. You were right as much as I hate to admit it. I should have backed out after-" his voice caught.
"But- but I convinced myself I'd gone too far. I keep thinking about what Annabeth and Thalia would think of me if they were with me listening to our plans. And I know what they'd think and... and they would both be disgusted by me. I let him get in my head, I let him use me." he shook his head, "I was willing to give up everything for revenge- but I don't want to become-" he shook his head, "So here I am. And if you can offer some kind of protection from the gods, I will get you out of here and help you take out Kronos."`