Chapter 30: I duel in a bathroom

[3rd Person's Pov]

Annabeth couldn't believe her luck, both the good and the bad.

It took her next to no time to run into the one guy—curse him—that she was looking for. Luke was standing alone, looking at the toes of the angelic automatons.

Annabeth paused for a second, wondering if it was some sort of trap. But the plaza was completely empty in broad daylight. Nowhere to hide something or prepare an ambush.

Annabeth crept across the now vacant plaza. The knife she held shook violently. It was the knife he gave to her all those times ago, which still felt like yesterday's event.

Each step she took made her heartbeat louder. She was sure that the sound of it would get her busted, but that didn't happen.

The knifepoint hovered over an inch apart from his neck. If she just bring it down, this entire ordeal would be over...

"You are not going to stab me, Annabeth. I know you that much." Luke said, with an urgency of consoling a child at a market. He didn't even bother to spare a backward glance.

Against every logical reasoning not to, Annabeth lowered her arm. Still, she was more than confident that he couldn't tell where she was; until when Luke turned around, reached forward, and took off the cap in one fell swoop.

Luke cracked a grin at Annabeth's shocked expression.

"Come on. If it was that easy to get my back, I would've been dead a long time before today."

He civilly handed the Yankee cap. Annabeth snatched it back. She clutched the knife again. This was not the time for a personal conflict to take place; she told herself over and over that she'd either bring him back or...

"...Please don't make me do this." Annabeth found herself saying. She wished her expression was not as pained as what she underwent at the moment.

Luke nodded. "Alright."

Annabeth's heart skipped a beat. For a fleeting moment, a slimmer of hope took place. Only to get knocked back down a peg by the following words.

"I'm not going to force you to do anything. You'll choose what you'll do."

Annabeth pulled a face.

"If you think I'm going to join the Titans—"

"I'm not asking you to join them." Luke, aided with a scowl. "Were you honestly thinking that I just bowed my head down to the Titans because I hate the gods?"

Annabeth bit back a retort. That was what she had been thinking. In her defense, Luke's action in the previous 2 years was more than enough to make anyone think so.

Luke seemed to have registered her silence as a yes. He snorted and glanced up at the sky as if waiting for a lightning strike to fall.

"Wow. And here I was thinking, that you'd be one of the very few people that would see right through my plan."

"Your plan?" Annabeth spat back. "You tried to start a World War III between the gods; you tried to have me dead at least twice, you even poisoned Thalia and trapped her under the sky!"

Luke groaned out loud.

"And by going through all that, Thalia is back. You are standing right in front of me, and the gods and Titans have two days apart from their deadline."

"I—what?"

Annabeth faltered in her spot. Luke put on a mischievous grin that she favored since she was 7.

"Annabeth, you're a smart girl. Try and use that without the prejudiced view that the gods drilled into our head over centuries of service."

Carefully, Annabeth started piecing what she knew about Luke, from what he had been doing, to what he claimed to have happened as a result.

And soon enough, a chilling theory settled down in her head. Something much more sinister than just tearing down Olympus.

"You're trying to both of them down. Both the gods and the Titans."

She hoped that she was wrong. That her brain had the best of her, but that wasn't the case.

"There we go." Luke's grin widened. The scar across his face rippled slightly. "I knew I could count on you."

"But that's insane!" Annabeth said, "How would you even manage something like that without...without..."

Her voice trailed away, another disturbing idea worming into her thoughts.

Why did Luke even appear at this moment? It wasn't like he was particularly eager to tell her his plans until now. Why the sudden reveal, unless...

...unless I have something he needs.

"The Ophiotaurus. Power to overthrow Olympus."

"Exactly."

"But—" Annabeth struggled to find words. She was usually good with them, but the wave of revelation threw her off her feet.

"I didn't expect it get set loose by that skanking witch, but even then I supposed it'll run to you; the daughter of the one goddess who, ah, 'saved' it."

"But, that means Thalia..."

"Has joined my cause. Yes. I told you she'd join me."

Annabeth stood there, dumbfounded by the sheer insanity of Luke's plan and that somehow, it managed to pull off this much.

Luke had a proud and excited glint in his eyes. The same expression he used to have right before presenting a very daring, yet effective plan to get them; her, him, and Thalia to safety. The very same expression that pushed her feelings beyond just admiring him as a charming brother.

Annabeth internally groaned at herself for recognizing it, even after all these years. If only she could take his hand. Annabeth wanted to convince herself that it would be all fine. Just like the good old days...

"Just tell us where the Ophiotaurus is." Luke coaxed.

"Thalia would come here any minute; and after two days, when she reaches her 16th birthday, we'll get rid of any deities in our life for good.

It'll be just like the good ol' days, Annabeth. Except we don't have monsters tailing our backs. Just me and you, with Thalia. Like a family—just as I promised."

A small whimper escaped her throat. What Luke said was what she had wanted for ages ever since she had been 7.

It was such a tempting offer—and he was convincing too. Annabeth was certain that, if it was this summer, she would have said yes.

But this summer, Annabeth had seen her dreams first-hand. When she sailed across the sirens, they had sung her most desired future.

"Don't you ever feel that way? Like you can do a better job at running the world?" She asked.

Percy paused, thinking over the question for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Um...no. Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare."

So, Annabeth shook her head. Just like he did.

"I figured not to let hubris get a hold of me, Luke. Maybe you can try it too."

Luke's smile slowly melted away, leaving a genuine scowl of distress.

"Have it your way, Annabeth. But you're still on the wrong side. And I'll get that beast one way or another. Kelli!"

With a sudden burst of flame, an empousa with curly black hair appeared out of thin air. She bared her long fangs at Annabeth with an intoxicating smile.

"Oh, I told you it would be a waste of time, Luke." She hissed, her red eyes flashing with deliberate hunger as they looked over Annabeth. She held up her knife in response.

Kelli giggled to herself. Small explosions of fire popped around her.

"Aww, that's cute," she cooed. "Maybe I can convince her to follow us?"

Luke only grimaced as an answer.

"Thalia won't approve of that; and neither do I. We're leaving."

Kelli pouted with a huff. "Well, if you want to be boring; I don't even have a sister to torment now."

And with a final wink, Kelli incanted a syllable of magic. A burst of flame engulfed both her and Luke.

When the fire scattered away, no one was left behind. A small patch of the burn was the only indicator that someone was here in the first place.

Annabeth slumped onto the pavement. There was not a single weapon thrust at each other, and yet she was more exhausted than ever.

Even though she turned down his offer, Annabeth couldn't help being intrigued by Luke's proposal. Still, she urged herself back up and ran back into the building.

[Line Break]

[3rd Person's Pov]

Rachel Elizabeth Dare hated being special.

Yes, that was the most cliché line an ungrateful rich bastard could say, and her family was indeed rich. But if she could have, she would gladly give away any fortunes she may have had if it meant she could walk around New York Highway without seeing...one of those things.

One-eyed Cyclopes, old ladies with wings for arms, a flock of pigeons with steel feathers that tore apart her pet hamster that one time; she had to go to a therapist for the last one, and it didn't help at all.

What pained her most was not these weird monsters that came out of nowhere. They became the momentum for her to pursue art—which she was pleasantly good at—and one a bad day, they'd give her inspiration

The problem was, that no one else in the world seemed to acknowledge their existence.

In King Midas's story, a barber stumbled across a secret that he should never speak of for the rest of his life. The barber couldn't keep it in; he had to say it to someone, so he dug a hole and shouted the secret inside: "The king has donkey ears!"

Rachel was the barber. King Midas was the entire world. And sadly, she had no hole to shout out the truth. So she had set up a rule for herself; never interfere with whatever these crazy monsters did.

The monsters didn't mind her too much, and as much as she knew, they didn't do much apart from creepily stalking someone, so there was no real reason for her to mind them in the first place.

Or so she thought until, on one faithful day, she made a trip to the Hoover dam.

When that ear-splitting sound of horror reached her eardrums, Rachel made her way through the panicking crowd and looked over the edge.

A zombie was wearing a khaki Indiana Jones outfit, with a black dog that was roughly big as a tank. At this point, that didn't surprise her.

But there was someone else.

A boy and a girl were each locked in combat with the Khaki zombie and the black dog.

But that's impossible, Rachel thought to herself. No one is supposed to see them.

She was utterly shocked, but there was no time to dwell on the matter. As fierce as it was, the fight was being resolved quickly with the boy getting cornered.

Rachel acted out of sheer impulse.

Her hand plunged into her pocket, and without bothering to check what was grabbed, she threw it at the zombie.

And then she ran for her life.

"…."

Rachel slumped against the elevator.

Her legs felt like a pair of dumbbells were tied to them, the air had a strangely ferrous taste as she panted heavily.

The zombie hunter was the scariest out-worldly creature she had ever faced. Unlike every previous encounter she had, he had no consideration for pulling punches.

"Oh, gods…" she panted. The calming elevator music was only mildly helping on calming her nerves.

Still, when it came to a halt and the doors slid open she staggered outside. She'd seen enough horror movies to have faith in the elevator to protect her.

As Rachel hobbled along, she noticed a few things.

Unlike the visitor center above, the place was dark apart from some lightbulbs overhead. The air hummed on a single note, signing the turbines that generated electricity were working relentlessly with the roaring sound of water that spun them.

But the most crushing realization came when she reached a U-shaped balcony that was set to overlook a huge warehouse, with the only exit being the way behind. There was another hallway on the other side, but a fifty feet chasm was between it and her, with enormous turbines running like a meat grinder.

She had successfully cornered herself, with no way out.

"…It's fine," Rachel muttered to herself. She tried her best to ignore how much her voice was shaking.

"It's fine. I had a massive head start. He would've missed where I went—"

Clang!

Rachel stifled her mouth with both of her hands to stop herself from screaming.

The horrifying sound of metal being forcefully ripped apart echoed from behind. Rachel looked around, eyes full of panic, in search of anywhere for her to hide. She cursed herself mentally for breaking her own established rules, but it was far beyond the moment to recover.

She spotted a bathroom booth 20 feet to the side and darted inside just as another loud 'Clang!' followed by clattering noises indicated that something ripped open the elevator door. She snuck into an empty booth, not caring that she'd accidentally darted into a boy's stall.

Even from across a hallway, the echoes noted her with each step the chaser took. And then, the bastard started to talk.

"Think you can hide from me, little birdy?"

The whispering raspy voice sent shivers down Rachel's back. She huddled her legs over the toilet and closed the stall door. She was never a religious person, but at the moment she prayed to every single divinity she could think of—even the ancient Greek ones.

Regardless of that, however, the voice came closer and closer.

"I am the greatest hunter in the history of mankind! You can't hide from me; nothing can!"

A shadow of a man crept under the stall room door. Rachel shrank even more as the shadow halted right in front of her hiding place. After a few seconds that felt like days, the shadow passed by.

Rachel made the fatal mistake of letting her guard down.

She let the smallest, most faint sigh of relief escape between her lips.

The stall door flew off the hinges with a bang, the lock system breaking apart from the force it received from the other side. Rachel didn't even have enough breath to scream as the khaki-themed hunter looked down upon his prey with a crooked grin.

"Bingo," Actaeon said. He reached forward with his half skeletal hand.

And then the toilet exploded.

[Line Break]

[Percy's Pov]

Let me say this first: I have nothing against toilets. They are one of the biggest improvements humanity could've asked for, and it also must've prevented at least 3 pandemics with how much of a hygienic revolution it is.

But when you are either:

a) Being forced your head down a toilet, or

b) Chasing down someone very dangerous that happen to be in a bathroom stall

while also being equipped with hydro-kinesis (Annabeth said it only once beforehand, I don't remember the exact wording), you have no choice but to make them explode. It's borderline mandatory.

A burst of toilet water blasted Actaeon off his feet, flinging him backward into a urinal whilst a feminine scream came from inside. I peeked over the broken hinge to see a red-haired girl cowering in the corner.

"Hi," I said.

The girl gasped in reply. "Behind you!"

I swung Riptide just in time to swat away the arrow Actaeon let loose. I stepped forward with a jab to the face.

Actaeon caught the strike in between his bow handle and bowstring and tried to yank the blade out of my hand.

I quickly slid it backward and whacked his right hand, knocking the bow down onto the floor.

But before I could even feel good about it, Actaeon drew his blade; a double-edged blade that was a foot shorter than Riptide, and parried the strike.

"Don't underestimate a hunter!" He growled between his teeth, "We achieve much more than you heroes."

He stepped in with a swift prod to my calf. I tried to intercept it, but at the last moment, he flicked his blade upward, nearly slashing across my face. I grabbed his shoulder and tried to stab through his gullet, but he thrust free from my grip and rolled sideways.

From there, we exchanged several thrusts and parries in the middle of a bathroom. Even though I had the edge on length, Actaeon was surprisingly a good swordsman as he was a good bowman.

Actaeon barked his signature laugh.

"Not half bad! No wonder the general preferred you alive. Even with the daughter of Zeus on our side."

"What?"

Actaeon dove into the opening. There was an agile slash to my side, but I caught his arm by the sword hilt and pushed him back.

"What do you mean 'on your side'? Thalia was captured!"

"And she 'was' indeed. When a captive turn to the other side, they aren't held captive anymore, Jackson."

I decided to ignore whatever he was saying. There was no way Thalia would turn over. I mean, come on. She'd never…do that, right?

Our blades met in mid-air. Actaeon chuckled beneath his breath.

"You have the Ophiotaurus. I know that already."

I pushed forward, hard. Actaeon stumbled backward a few steps. Maybe it was him being a zombie rather than a full human, but he was not strong as you'd guess from the strength of his shoots.

I slashed down at his shoulder, but Actaeon sidestepped easily and grazed my back with a quick thrust. I quickly ducked under the follow-up slash and ended up a few steps away.

"And the young master—" Actaeon sneered and spat on the ground, "—figured out that your little companion lass would've told you the whole story. How does it feel to know; that you were nobody all along, eh?"

The girl was creeping along the edge of the battle. She pleaded with her eyes for me to buy just a little more time.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. The hunter chuckled.

"The great prophecy. A child of the Big Three would choose at the day they turn 16."

My blood turned to ice. If Thalia had turned to the enemy's side...

I forced myself out of the thought. "She wouldn't do that. She'd never—"

"The girl was ready to sacrifice herself to a horde of monsters; do you think she would hesitate to dirty her hands once if it meant that we'd drive the wretched gods straight down to Tartarus where they belong?

And where do you think you're going?!"

Actaeon whirled around and embedded his blade an inch apart from the girl's throat, leaving his back wide open for a second. I grabbed the opportunity and lunged forward, bringing the sword to his spine.

Clang!

"That's the oldest trick in the book, Jackson." Actaeon grinned through the reflection of a mirror. He had blocked my attack with an additional sword without even looking back.

"Getting agitated, are we?"

Actaeon kneed the girl right in the stomach and she crumpled down on the spot. I slashed wildly before he could slit her throat. The hunter parried and laughed in tow.

"Let's see how the heroes of this era match up, eh?"

He advanced with blinding speed.

I backed away, trying to get him away from the girl now lying unconscious on the floor, but that quickly turned out to be a mistake.

Using two swords at once meant that his attacks were slower, sure. But it also gave me an extra blade to be aware of.

I'd sidestep one only to have another slash at my face. Block that, and the previous sword would try to plunge itself into my open shoulder.

"Never faced a dual wielder before, eh? It took me years of practice under Chiron to master!"

"Is that why he teaches that it is inefficient now?"

Actaeon growled in response, lashing out like a crazed animal. I barely kept him at bay, and that was with constant backtracking.

I needed an opening. Something just enough to give me a chance to grab the girl and escape. But I was too busy keeping myself from getting gutted open to think up a distraction, much less cause one.

Our blades clashed again. But this time, Actaeon quickly locked his free arm around mine and twisted the sword out of my hand.

Riptide clattered on the wet tile floor. Two glistening blades were pointing at my throat.

"Not bad, brat." Actaeon huffed, quite winded himself. "But you'll never live up to a legend—"

Suddenly, his body went rigid. His mouth hung open, but no sound came out. Both weapons dropped from his hands as he stumbled forward, and I barely managed to move out of the way.

There was a bronze knife stabbed at his spine.

"What...the..."

Actaeon clawed at the wall, one arm blindly swinging away, but nothing caught in his grasp. Soon after, the legendary hunter stumbled forward, then fell face-first onto the bathroom tile before disintegrating away in gray ashes.

Annabeth took off her cap, looking more solemn than ever.

"What happened? Did you find—"

"Yes." Her tone made sure that she didn't want to discuss it at the moment; possibly not forever.

Annabeth retrieved her knife and scanned the area. Naturally, her eyes landed on the red-haired girl lying unconscious on the floor.

"Who is that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged in response. Annabeth frowned, but I couldn't give her any better answer at the moment.

Right on time, the girl started to stir.

With a small groan, she picked herself up from the floor. Annabeth was semi-glowering down, to which she responded with:

"Hi?" and waved her hand slightly, before looking around. "Where's the zombie hunter?"

"He died," I answered.

The girl frowned, similarly to Annabeth. "Can a zombie die?"

It was a fair question to ask in my book, but Annabeth's scowl shut my mouth before I could even open them.

"Who are you?" Annabeth demanded.

"I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

The redheaded girl huffed indignantly. Now that the immediate threat was gone, she seemed to have regained some of her wits.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "Dare? Your last name is Dare?"

Rachel clearly didn't like the accusing tone of her voice. She looked away, rubbing one hand over her arm nervously.

"In no connection to any names you might know." She mumbled.

"Uh-huh." Annabeth didn't look convinced.

I pulled her around. Annabeth grabbed my arm as if to judo-throw me, but she seemed to have decided not to at the last moment. Instead, she looked up at me like an angry feline ready to pounce on a full barrage.

"Who is she? Do you know her?

"...no."

"Annabeth, I can tell when you're lying."

That was a lie. Annabeth was usually a good liar, but at the moment she was being too obvious.

Annabeth suppressed a scowl.

"Percy, she's just a mortal."

"What do you mean mortal? You guys phrase it like you're not. Like, you're both from a different world."

Rachel looked between us, equally excited and horrified look on her face.

"Who are you, people?" She demanded.

I felt like punching a wall.

"Look...maybe it'll be best if you forget about everything you just saw."

"But I can't forget!" Rachel stomped her foot in frustration.

"I can't just forget every crazy thing I see when I'm the only one who can acknowledge them! And then you two just come waltzing in acting like those crazy things are normal!

Who are you, people? What is it am I seeing? Why can I see it?"

"You're not the only one." I blurted out. "I mean, aside from us; but we're kind of different."

"Also lack time for this," Annabeth muttered, but I ignored her for the moment.

"Rachel, do you have something to write on? Maybe a paper, or..."

She rummaged around her pocket and handed a small notebook accompanied by a pen.

"Why?"

I scribbled down 8 digits numbers and returned them.

"That's my mother's number. She can...' see stuff' too. Maybe that'll help?"

"How can I tell this isn't a scam?"

"Why would I scam a random person I met in a toilet stall?"

Rachel sniffed her nose indifferently. Her lips twitched weirdly as if suppressing a smile. She looked over the numbers before pocketing the note.

"Thanks. Uh...name, please?"

Annabeth stepped in before I could answer.

"No."

Rachel shrugged and jogged out, albeit with a queer glance towards Annabeth. She spun around to face me again.

"You just gave her your mother's phone number."

"...You know, in hindsight, that might've been not so good of an idea."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and mumbled something in Latin—she sometimes did that when she didn't like to be eavesdropped on.

Still, I caught "Dumbfounded", so it wasn't a mystery of a century.

" We need to go back to Camp," Annabeth said "The Ophiotaurus—"

"Bessie."

"Fine; Bessie can take us there."

"Why are we even going back to camp?"

Annabeth halted in midst of her stride.

"Because we need supplies. The Oph—Bessie needs a safe place to stay.

And...I need to talk to Chiron."

Man, this took much longer than it had any right to be. Sorry about that. I had a lot of trouble writing this one being tormented by both the story within and my IRL problems. This poor college student can't get a break.

But disregarding my personal life problems, let's point out the elephant in the room: Thalia's betrayal(?)

And yes, she is not Team Greek Gods at the moment.

I think this part would be the biggest twist I applied to the OG story aside from anything associated with David—which also means it would be the most controversial one.

I toyed with the idea ever since you know, she got captured instead of Annabeth, however, I was very much reluctant to actually execute the idea because that's such a drastic change.

Until I tried and looked over her life up to that point.

You know: an unstable mother, brother went missing, surviving off the streets, becoming a tree by daddy dearest, only to return and find out that one of the most important people in her life is officially evil.

Oh, and here she was also tricked to be under the sky by the very same guy, only to be used as bait to trap a goddess.

I think that'll be enough reasons for her to be 'against the gods', and I think Luke can be convincing enough to make her join instead of running him through.

But you can be the judge of that.

I hope you enjoyed reading, I'll see you next chapter.

Ta ta~