Hehehehe. Sorry not sorry. I did say things wouldn't go as planned.
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It didn't take long for Percy to explain what had happened in her dream- and Artemis was giving her that look again. The look that practically screamed, 'I know. And I know that you know that I know but neither of us are going to say what we know.' Which honestly was probably for the best because Percy was pretty sure that that could get like, super complicated super quickly. And as funny as the whole 'I know she knows I know' could be when it got more and more convoluted it wasn't something she wanted to deal with in that moment.

As unfortunate as some parts of it were- they weren't exactly unexpected. It wasn't surprising that Kronos had a direct line to Luke. Sadie at least had helped with that some- a simple protective spell which all being well should keep Kronos from being able to influence him in any way, and might at least widen the Luke Signal that Kronos was using to track them. Ideal, no. But it should work.

It was when Percy mentioned the Ophiotaurus that Artemis and Luke tensed- Artemis because, as she informed them, that was the monster she'd been trying to track when she and Apollo had been captured, and Luke out of shame. Annabeth had smacked him repeatedly when he'd sheepishly admitted that the Ophiotaurus had been a large part of their original plan, which had made Thalia look sick when Annabeth had explained the significance. Though truthfully she already looked kind of sick and she had done since they'd taken to the air. Still, it was worrying that the person who killed the poor creature and burned it's entrails would gain the power to defeat the gods.

Luke admitted that they'd been unable to actually capture the creature despite their best efforts, but they had been able to track it enough that he'd been good bait for Artemis and Apollo. And she was pleased to note that he looked ashamed when he said that. As he should of course. Still it was progress and she was going to encourage that. Especially when he offered up a sheepish apology to the currently human goddess.

In any case, the idea of the enemies getting to the Ophiotaurus was not a good one. And honestly if they weren't already having to deal with the whole rescuing Apollo and stopping Alina's ritual Percy would have said they should try to track the monster down. But they had a very tight deadline as it was and they didn't have any time to waste. Percy honestly wished they did, it would definitely make things easier.

As much as Percy wanted to find the monster and protect it, logically she knew that their best option would be to deal with Alina and Kronos and then to track down the monster. Though if they did catch a lucky glimpse of the monster then they could try and deal with it on the journey.

When she voiced this everyone did agree, though Thalia still looked disturbed at the idea of being presented with that choice. Luke was eyeing her worriedly and Bianca- who was holding up surprisingly well considering the height- she looked paler than usual and a little queasy but not so much that Percy was worried she'd puke- bumped her shoulder against Thalia's, earning her a weak smile from the daughter of Zeus.

And Percy had to try and ignore the looks Annabeth, Piper and Artemis were giving her- and she was sure Carter and Sadie would join in if they'd involved themselves in the little briefing- though after Percy had warned them that there could be an ariel attack they'd both moved away to keep a look out.

She could guess what they were thinking. That she was the one who was more likely to pose a serious threat to the gods. Unfortunately they didn't get much more time to discuss their options- as slim as those options were given their time limit.

The Opiotaurus could hopefully wait for a few days at least. And if all worked out properly Artemis and Apollo should be able to track it down. Though what would happen to the poor thing after was a question Percy didn't want to dwell on yet. It could cause a nasty argument and she didn't want to risk damaging morale. Because based on what she knew of Zeus he'd want to kill it and no way would she stand for that. It didn't ask to exist, and it didn't deserve to die because of power hungry assholes and paranoid gods.

Still, Percy might have preferred discussing that and the possible arguments that could follow over Sadie's call that there was something heading towards them, lots of somethings. Approaching fast.

Percy was on her feet in seconds and scrambling to join Carter and Sadie. And Carter was grim faced, staring ahead towards a cloud of black flecks in the sky- lots of them. And they were getting bigger and bigger. They were hard to see in the darkness but Percy could just about make them out.

"I can't fight and steer Freak at the same time."

"I can." Sadie declared, "But I'm the only one who'll be able to attack them when they're at a distance- whatever they are. And I think there are more incoming from our left-" sure enough a glance told Percy that there was another cloud of whatever the Hades they were coming from the left towards them.

"I can summon some lightning." Thalia spoke up from behind Percy. "Whatever they are that might be able to chase them off a little." She still looked pale. But there was a determination shining in those eyes. A stubbornness that Percy could
respect.

"Okay, okay." Sadie nodded, "Thalia you take the ones on the left I'll blast the ones on the right."

"Everyone else get your weapons at the ready."

"We need to find out what type of bird they are." Annabeth's eyes were narrowed. Percy was willing to bet she was mentally going through the list of monsters it could be, "They don't look too big and I think they're birds so they could be Stymphalian birds or Strixes- though they're much rarer and I don't know so much about them. Ares' birds wouldn't be controlled by our enemies so they're out."

"Okay." Percy had Riptide out in an instant, gripping the sword with practised ease. And the others were doing the same. Bianca was gripping her daggers tightly, Stygian Iron glinting darkly while the Celestial Bronze weapons seemed to glow.

Annabeth and Piper both had their weapons out, and Luke was gripping a sword that he must have gotten back in camp. And Artemis- had a bow and arrow which she must have gotten in camp- she was stood behind Sadie slightly to the side.

That made sense, Sadie's cloud of monsters was bigger than Thalia's. And Thalia had Bianca's back up so Percy was pretty sure she was in safe hands.

Luke was next to Annabeth in the centre of the boat with Piper, which also made sense. She knew how guilty Luke had felt over what he'd done. She was pretty sure that right now he'd die himself before he'd willingly let anything happen to her again.

That thought was comforting.

"Annabeth-" Percy turned her gaze to Annabeth again. "You think it's more likely to be Stymphalian birds right? Any weaknesses?"

"I'm thinking." Annabeth's brows were furrowed in thought. "As fast as I can princess- gods I'm trying to remember- was it Hercules who-"

"Yes-" Artemis called quickly- "Their weakness is noise- but I can't think what we can use to generate enough noise to scare them off."

"So what we need are giant speakers- wonderful. Anyone have some on them?" Piper's voice was almost joking despite the seriousness of the situation. And Percy found herself laughing.

"Gosh darn it I knew I was forgetting something-"

"Shame on you for not being prepared Percy Kane, shame on you-"

"I should have brought my sound system." Sadie called back, laughter in her voice. "We'd have scared them off in an instant-"

"Sadie do you have to be so sarcastic-"

"Hah!" Sadie scoffed, "I'm being serious, Percy back me up-"

"There's a reason that Sadie's bedroom is totally sound proofed and it's not what she and Walt get up to in their private time-"

"PERCY!"

"I am gonna kick your ass!"

"Try it." Percy poked her tongue out, ducking out of reach even as Luke laughed and Annabeth and Piper tried to hide their amusement.

"Perhaps we should try to focus?" Artemis looked faintly amused and laughed.

"Right. Monster birds coming for us, very good point."

Percy turned her gaze towards the birds- which were getting closer and closer- and then Sadie was hurling a fireball into their midst and Thalia was summoning crackling lightning, the glows lighting up the darkening sky over and over again as birds rained down from their flocks, several of them hit by Artemis' arrows… which was both good and bad. She'd run out far before the birds were all gone Percy was certain of that.

But it was easy to see that there were far too many for that to work long term- the clouds of birds- and there were hundreds of them, were getting closer and closer, their screeching caws filling the air as they got approached.

"This is not good-" Percy heard Luke's voice but she focused on the approaching monsters- and then they were on them- less than there had been originally bit still far too many- and Percy's sword was whirling in a heartbeat, slicing through the monsters- she could see Annabeth, Piper and Luke fending them off too, while Sadie and Artemis tried to guard Carter and Freak from the birds.

Thalia was still summoning flickering bolts of lightning that arched from the birds but Freak was struggling- lurching side to side trying to shake them off- so much so that Carter gave up on trying to steer him and drew his own Khopesh.
Fuck. Fuck this was getting bad- if they were on the ground it would be one thing but up so high as they were… it made things very dangerous. She needed to force them back… weakness. Weakness. Annabeth had said about noise. They needed noise but she doubted that just shouting would work- and Piper's voice wasn't loud enough to order them all away despite her best efforts- their screeching was far too loud. And Percy could feel beaks and talons tearing into skin.
Wait- wait maybe… one teeny spell shouldn't do too much damage. Just one. Just to save them.

Percy focused- whispering the spell, ignoring the flush of heat that rolled over her at the use of magic so soon after nearly burning herself out- and then she opened her mouth wide and screamed.

And the scream filled the air- piercing through the noise of the birds screeches, amplified by the magic. It was loud enough that Carter, Sadie, Annabeth and Piper both dropped their weapons to cover their ears- which was the smart move because everyone else was slightly slower- and Percy could see Luke's face scrunch up in pain- and okay maybe she was overdoing it on the volume but it was working. The birds had stopped attacking and they were panicking, whirling around, trying to get away.

Which should have been good. It should have been amazing- except Thalia and Bianca were stood right next to the side of the boat, and Thalia didn't have time to brace herself before a dozen of the birds flew at her, knocking her from behind- right over the edge.

Percy watched in shock, horror flooding through her as Bianca lunged after Thalia, grabbing at her- leaning too far and knocked by several of the birds too.

Fuck fuck fuck. Maybe Thalia could fly. She was a daughter of Zeus right… but since they'd taken to the sky she'd looked terrified so maybe not- and Percy was suddenly hyper aware of the fact that they were directly above water. She could feel it beneath them, a lake if she wasn't mistaken.

She turned her head, gaze focusing on Annabeth and Piper. Luke was sinking to his knees- eyes wide, but Annabeth and Piper met her gaze.

"We're over a lake!" she called the words- and Annabeth hesitated for less than a second before giving a small nod.

"I'll meet you in Frisco! At your dads!"

"Love you Sea Star." That came from Piper- and then Percy was turning and sprinting to the spot that Bianca and Thalia had tumbled over- and then she was planting her foot on the edge, pushing herself up and over into a dive.

Now she just needed to reach Thalia and Bianca before they hit the water and went splat.