So I should be getting my laptop back soon-though I will then be going on holiday for a couple of weeks soon so updates may be sporadic during that time as well- but I should be able to update a few times at least my loves- and once I have my laptop back I'll be back to replying to the reviews as normal well so please please keep reviewing! I have been reading them all. Anyway, enjoy this chapter! In which Percy is awesome, and Luke has trauma about leaving people behind.
Percy had sliced up her jumper, turning it almost into a crop top and making strips of fabric from the sliced up pieces.
Luke and Artemis watched as she carefully used her wand to trace familiar glowing heiroglyphs onto the fabric, making sure each and every piece, every strand of fabric was imbued with protectives magics- the strongest protective spells she knew. By the time she was done she was feeling a bit of a strain but she didn't let it show as she wrapped the fabric around her hands carefully, making sure that every inch of skin was protected before she got to her feet again.
Once she was done she took a deep breath before grabbing the staff of the Scythe once more. The hieroglyphs glowered brightly as she did, and she could feel the magics clashing, fighting one another. But the makeshift gloves held and Percy quickly gripped the staff with the other hand too. "Get back!" She called as she started to pull.
She heard Luke and Artemis taking steps backwards as she focused, using all of her strength- and it was hard, the Scythe was very much stuck in the cavern wall but gradually she felt movement, felt it giving bit by bit.
But she could also feel the magic in the fabric around her hands glowing and fighting off the effects of the Scythe as it fought her- and she could see some of the symbols starting to flicker as the magic was overwhelmed and gave out.
The golden marks on the walls were moving too, flowing towards the blade of the scythe, swirling and clumping around it as if trying to cling on, glowing brighter and brighter.
Percy gritted her teeth, letting out a low growl as she pulled harder, even as she saw the last of the symbols flickering away, felt the protective magic vanishing and the strips of fabric around her hands started to age and crumble into dust, the conflicting magics burning- then the scythe came free in a brilliant flash of golden light that was near blinding and Percy practically flew backwards at the sudden loss of resistance, hitting the ground with a thud that jarred her bones, her fingers tightening automatically around the staff of the Scythe even as her bare skin came into contact with it, pain flaring up as it burned in her hands and darkness fell around them in an instant.
And as it did she snarled, red wisps curling around her fingers for a second. "Obey me." the words were low and dangerous- and then the Scythe almost seemed to quieten, the magical resistance fading quickly and the burning sensation disappearing, and Percy let her head drop back onto the cold rock floor of the cavern even as she felt someone dropping to their knees next to her, hands fumbling for her shoulder.
Which made sense, the Scythe had been the source of the crawling marks, which had been the source of their light. Without them the cavern was pitch black, especially since she'd lost her grip on her light spell in the shock of being thrown backwards.
Well at least that problem was easy to deal with- all it took was a murmured spell and a soft glowing light formed above her head once more, casting it's almost eerie glow around the cavern.
A quick turn of her head told her that it was Luke, wide eyed and pale, crouched by her side, a terrified gleam to his eyes as he pulled her shoulders up onto his lap while she groaned.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine." Percy closed her eyes, taking in a slow steadying breath. "Fucking hell that was intense-"
"Your hands." Artemis was on Percy's other side, slightly lower, her gaze on Percy's hands. Which admittedly were hurting a lot. She tilted her head down, grateful for the fact that Luke's lap had her sitting slightly up. She felt like she'd just ran a marathon in record time, her muscles were aching all over.
Her hands were the worst though, and while she couldn't see the skin of her palms or her fingers much because of her grip on the staff she could tell that they were burned- the skin she could see of her palms looked red and sore.
"Well fuck that's gonna hurt." Percy muttered the words, "I- neither of you try to touch the Scythe." not that either of them looked like they were about to try to. "It's not going to fight me but it could fight you two. Luke help me sit up."
"Of course." he helped her sit up, even as she winced and leaned heavily against him.
"I need to make sure no one else can get to the Scythe until we need it." Percy felt sluggish but she knew what the best option was, which was why she closed her eyes, focusing as she forced herself to let go of the Scythe with one hand, blocking out the pain as best as she could before using the other hand to thrust it forward and into the Duat, stifling a pained scream as she let it go, feeling the skin of her hand peeling away with it again, and she drew her hand back quickly.
It would be stored there for now, no threat to anyone.
Then she felt slim fingers curling around her wrists and pulling them to the side slightly. "Percy- Percy you need to let me look at your hands." Artemis' voice was worried and Percy's eyes snapped open quickly but she let Artemis turn her hands over, forcing herself to keep her fingers unfurled and palms exposed.
She heard Luke's sharp little gasp, as he shifted, clearly seeing her hands.
Percy let her own gaze focus on them and she winced. Well that was not a pretty sight.
Her hands were red raw, shiny and starting to blister. Fuck but that was not ideal.
"You need medical help." Luke shook his head, "I don't have Nectar or Ambrosia."
"And I don't have any healing potions left." Percy muttered. "Fuck that's annoying-"
"Let me bind your hands for now." Artemis offered, "You still have some strips of your jumper which you didn't use to wrap your hands before."
"Maybe I should have." Percy let out a weak snort but she allowed Artemis to carefully bind her hands as best as she could- though it wouldn't do much.
At least they were near the sea- she didn't care if Artemis was suspicious. She needed to deal with her hands or she'd be useless- she couldn't even really flex her fingers now it was so painful.
"Let's just get out of here and then we'll figure out how to deal with your injuries."
"How?" Luke asked suddenly, "No offence but there's no way you can climb out of here now Percy."
"I should be able to transform." Percy said after a moment of thought, "I was saving my magic on the way down here. Didn't know how much I'd have to use to get the Scythe but now that we have it I should be able to turn myself into a bird and fly up."
"You can turn into a bird." the expression on Luke's face was actually kind of funny Percy decided, as if he was trying to decide if this was just a weird dream or a drug fuelled hallucination or something. "Of course you can turn into a bird."
"It's a fairly common spell." Artemis spoke up, "At least from what I can recall."
So Percy transformed, and as Artemis and Luke ascended the rope once more- slow but steady.
Percy was already up by then, the flight up hadn't been as easy as usual, the burns on her hand had translated to burns on her wings but she'd managed the flight, and at Luke's urging she perched on his shoulder, resting as Luke and Artemis made their way back through the caverns.
It took what felt like hours but eventually they made it out to the entrance cavern and Percy let herself jump from Luke's shoulder, fluttering to the ground before transforming again and rolling her shoulders as she straightened up.
"Are you two still okay?" she aimed that at Luke and Artemis.
Both of them looked about as tired as she felt. Not that she could blame them it had been a long day without much time to rest.
"We'll be fine." Artemis spoke up, "We need to keep moving. Can you open a portal once we get back to the artefact?"
"Depends on how long it's been." Percy admitted, "Which we won't know until we get out of the cave properly." even as she spoke she was making her way towards the cave's entrance- the sky outside was dark- but she could see the sun just peeking out from the horizon, a beautiful orange tint reflecting off the sea- which was much closer than it had been when they'd come into the caves.
It had felt both like they'd been down there for days and at the same time like they'd only been down in the caves for an hour or two- it really was strange how time worked down there.
Hopefully it hadn't been too badly warped or they'd be in real trouble she knew.
"Based on the height of the sun-" Artemis and Luke were just behind Percy, "I'd say it's perhaps around 6:30 in the morning? Perhaps 7. It was late when we arrived."
"We might have to wait an hour or so." Percy decided, "That's if we're lucky-"
"How would that be lucky?" Luke's voice was frustrated, "We're on a time limit having to wait around isn't good."
"If we're not lucky it'll be because we've been down there for days." Percy pointed out, "Come on. Let's get out of here."
She led them out of the cave, her feet splashing in the pools of water left from high tide- which was going down it seemed.
She did take the chance to crouch down and dip her hands into the water, the pain lessening instantly, the water soothing it away and starting the healing- though she didn't take the time that she'd need to take to get it healed completely before she pushed herself to her feet.
The journey back over the rocks took time- even with the light floating over Percy's head it was still rather dark- though with the sun rising it was slowly getting easier to see the rocks beneath their feet.
And it helped that Percy was able to use her hands to steady herself now, ignoring the worried noises Luke and Artemis made when they saw her using her hands- and Luke's sour expression when she glanced back over her shoulder and smirked at him. "Careful Castellan or I might just think you're worried about me."
"Hah." Artemis snorted. "He only cares about himself and what you offer him-"
"This coming from the goddess who's currently got less power than me." Luke shot back, making Percy roll her eyes again.
"Girls girls- how many times? Do I need to get a spray bottle or something or are you going to behave for me?"
"I hate you." Luke deadpanned. "You are the most annoying person I have ever met-"
"Awe, sweet of you to say." Percy laughed before freezing, a strange prickling on the back of her neck making her tense.
She turned her gaze back forward towards the beach- towards a tall man- it was hard to see him clearly in the distance but Percy knew instinctively who he was. And that was really, really not good.
"Luke, Artemis-"
"We see." Artemis' voice was tense. "We see Percy."
"What the fuck do we do?" Luke's voice was suddenly hoarse, thick with fear. Which yeah, reasonable reaction.
"When we get to the beach you run." Percy swallowed hard, "I'll try and slow him down."
"But we can't escape without you." Artemis shook her head, "I refuse to leave a maiden behind-"
"I am not doing that again." Luke snapped the words, "Don't you dare ask me to do that again Percy-" and okay she was going to need to dig into that later.
"I will follow you." Percy took a deep breath, "I don't plan on fighting Atlas. All I can do is slow him down. But hopefully it will be enough."