Welcome to the chapter where STUFF WAS HAPPENING so once I had finished it, I was planning on posting, but thought it wasn't enough so I kept delaying and up next is some final battle shenanigans - those REALLY stopped me, and so I was like "I've done enough, I can take a break..." and then two years passed. So yeah.
I'll be honest, looking at what I've written for the final battle, I understood why I dropped it for so long. I had a list of things I wanted to happen, and so I started writing, but it felt more like a checklist of things just occuring rather than naturally happening to...well, happen. It still feels that way, even though I've been pushing myself to get through the bulk of it. I'm usually pretty good at writing battle scenes where I need to get things done, but with so much that I WANT to do, I've failed to actually DO much in a way that satisfies me.
Most of the time I can look back on work I don't like with fresh eyes and try to find something that I can fix, rewrite with new enthusiasm, or just completely overhaul entirely for a better plot. But it's been two years and I just can't make it satisfactory because of how monumental a task it feels like. This was supposed to be a fun fanfic where I bash my original characters into a story BECAUSE NOTHING CAN STOP ME and I have so many tiny ideas for what I want to do that it just all built up to too much to properly payoff in the end.
I'm still gonna finish this thing, don't get me wrong, but even I'm willing to admit that I bit off more than I could chew and I'm just tired. I started this in like freshman year of high school and now I'm almost done with an Associates, doing WORK and JOBBING, and trying and failing to ADULT. I actually began this around when I met Amalspach. The truth is, this whole thing is a thinly-vailed excuse to give her a magic horse, so I mean whatever else happens I think this has been a success-
Third Person: Ane
About five miles east of camp, a black SUV was parked on the beach.
They tied up the boat at a private dock. Nico helped Dakota and Leila haul Michael Kahale ashore. The big guy was still only half-conscious, mumbling what Ane assumed were football calls: "Red twelve. Right thirty-one. Hike." Then he giggled uncontrollably.
"I wasn't aware Tyson's knock-out powers included hallucinogens," Ane sighed.
"We'll leave him here," Leila said. "Just don't bind him. Poor guy…"
"What about the car?" Dakota asked. "The keys are in the glove compartment, but, uh, can you drive?"
Leila frowned. "I thought you could drive. Aren't you seventeen?"
"I never learned! I was busy."
"I can drive," Ane volunteered. The Centurions stared at her. "What? I'm, like, older cars themselves. Of course I know how to drive."
"You're uh…a little short."
"I've got it covered," Nico promised. Now the Centurions looked at him.
"You're, like, fourteen," Leila said.
Nico seemed to enjoy how nervous the Romans acted around him, even though they were older and bigger and more experienced fighters. In many ways, Nico was older and more experienced than them, just in his own ways. "I didn't say I would be behind the wheel."
He knelt and placed his hand on the ground. He felt the nearest graves, the bones of forgotten humans buried and scattered. He searched deeper, extending his senses into the Underworld. "Jules-Albert. Let's go."
The ground split. A zombie in a ragged nineteenth-century motoring outfit clawed his way to the surface. Leila stepped back. Dakota screamed like a kindergartner.
"What is that, man?" Dakota protested.
"This is my driver," Nico said. "Jules-Albert finished first in the Paris-Rouen motorcar race back in 1895, but he wasn't awarded the prize because his steam car used a stoker."
"95? I would've been Germany at the time," Ane muttered.
Leila stared at them. "What are you even talking about?"
"He's a restless soul, always looking for another chance to drive," Nico said. "The last few years, he's been my driver whenever I need one."
"You have a zombie chauffeur."
"I call shotgun." Nico got in on the passenger's side. Ane jumped into his lap.
"It's either a booster seat or you," she said, "and our powers work better together."
He didn't waste time protesting. Smart boy. The Romans reluctantly climbed in the back.
One thing about Jules-Albert: he never got emotional. He could sit in crosstown traffic all day without losing his patience. He was immune to road rage. He could even drive straight up to an encampment of wild centaurs and navigate through them without getting nervous.
The centaurs were like nothing Ane had ever seen on the surface world. They had back ends like palominos, tattoos all over their hairy arms and chests, and bullish horns protruding from their foreheads. Ane doubted they could blend in with humans as easily as Chiron did.
At least two hundred were sparring restlessly with swords and spears, or roasting animal carcasses over open fires carnivorous centaurs…Ane had seen worse in Tartarus but still it was gross. Their camp spilled across the farm road that meandered around Camp Half-Blood's southeast perimeter.
The SUV nudged its way through, honking when necessary. Occasionally a centaur glared through the driver's side window, saw the zombie driver, and backed away in shock.
"Pluto's pauldrons," Dakota muttered. "Even more centaurs arrived overnight."
"Don't make eye contact," Leila warned. "They take that as a challenge for a duel to the death."
Nico stared straight ahead as the SUV pushed through. His heart was pounding, but he wasn't scared. He was angry. Octavian had surrounded Camp Half-Blood with monsters. Sure, Nico had mixed emotions about the camp. He'd felt rejected there, out of place, unwanted and unloved…but now that it was on the verge of destruction, he realized how much it meant to him. This was the last place Bianca and he had shared as a home - the only place they'd ever felt safe, even if only temporarily.
"Sandy should hopefully be getting help," Ane muttered. "I bet he could take on all these guys and insta-kill them all!"
"Friend of yours?" Dakota asked.
She nodded. "He and his friends take on armies all the time. I hope they can make it…"
They rounded a bend in the road and Nico's fists clenched. More monsters…hundreds more. Dog-headed men prowled in packs, their poleaxes gleaming in the light of campfires. Beyond that milled a tribe of two-headed men dressed in rags and blankets like homeless guys, armed with a haphazard collection of slings, clubs, and metal pipes.
"Octavian is an idiot," Nico hissed. "He thinks he can control these creatures?"
"I'll take that idiot with me to Tartarus if it meant dragging him down into its eternal suffering," Ane grumbled.
"They just kept showing up," Leila said. "Before we knew it…well, look."
The legion was arrayed at the base of Half-Blood Hill, its five cohorts in perfect order, its standards bright and proud. Giant eagles circled overhead. The siege weapons - six golden onagers the size of houses - were arrayed behind in a loose semicircle, three on each flank. But for all its impressive discipline, the Twelfth Legion looked pitifully small, a splotch of demigod valor in a sea of ravenous monsters.
"Think the power of Diocletian you absorbed can make a dent in this army?" Nico muttered.
"A dent? Maybe. Anything more than a dent?" Ane shrugged.
"I doubt the Argo II could do much against his kind of strength."
"My own Remnants could probably hold their own, if we were at full strength. I took on the armies at the Doors of Death in Tartarus, but that was where I was strongest. Hopefully Sandy manages to convince the others in his team to help. All of them - even just some of them - working together could even the playing field."
"We'll have to hope your reinforcements can handle this army. Right now, we have to disable the onagers. We don't have much time."
"You'll never get close to them," Leila warned. "Even if we get the entire Fourth and Fifth Cohorts to follow us, the other cohorts will try to stop us. And those siege weapons are manned by Octavian's most loyal followers."
"I can kill them," Ane whispered. "Just have to get in close."
"We won't get in close by force," Nico said, "but on our own in a small party, we can do. Dakota, Leila - Jules-Albert will drive you to the legion lines. Get out, talk to your troops, convince them to follow your lead. We'll need a distraction."
"You need to be careful," Ane warned. "You have one chance to betray Octavian before he's on alert, and he's already wary of you. You don't need his figuring out your plans and officially taking your power before you can make any progress."
Dakota frowned. "All right, but I'm not hurting any of my fellow legionnaires."
"No one's asking you to," Nico growled. "But if we don't stop this war, the entire legion will be wiped out. You said the monster tribes take insults easily?"
"Yes. I mean, for instance, you make any comment to those two-headed guys about the way they smell and…oh." He grinned. "If we started a brawl, but accident of course, and it wasn't our fault that the monsters Octavian brought here got into a squabble…"
"We'll be counting on you," Ane said.
Leila frowned. "But how will you-?"
"I'm going dark," Nico said. He and Ane faded into the shadows.
He thought he was prepared. He wasn't.
Even after three days of rest and the wondrous healing properties of Coach Hedge's gooey brown gunk, Nico started to dissolve the moment he shadow-jumped. His limbs turned to vapor. Cold seeped into his chest. Voices of spirits whispered in his ears: 'Help us. Remember us. Join us.'
He hadn't realized how much he had relied on Reyna. Without her strength, he felt as weak as a newborn colt, wobbling dangerously, ready to fall at every step.
"Hey! Nico! We're almost there! Come on! I've got you!"
'No,' he told himself. 'I am Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. I control the shadows. They do not control me.'
He felt Ane's hand in his. She pulled him back up to the surface and into the mortal world. They were at the crest of Half-Blood Hill.
He fell to his knees, hugging Thalia's pine tree for support. The Golden Fleece was no longer in its branches. The guardian dragon was gone. Perhaps they'd been moved to a safer spot with the battle so close. They couldn't be sure. But looking down at the Roman forces arrayed outside the valley, his spirits wavered.
The nearest onager was a hundred yards downhill, encircled in spiked trenches and guarded by a dozen demigods. The machine was primed, ready to fire. Its huge sling cupped a projectile the size of a Honda Civic, glowing with flecks of gold.
With icy certainty, they realized what Octavian was up to. The projectile was a mixture of incendiaries and Imperial gold. Even a small amount of Imperial gold could be incredibly volatile. Exposed to too much head or pressure, the stuff would explode with devastating impact, and of course it was deadly to demigods as well as monsters. If that onager scored a hit on Camp Half-Blood, anything in the blast zone would be annihilated - vaporized by the heat, or disintegrated by the shrapnel. And the Romans had six onagers, all stocked with piles of ammunition.
"Evil," Nico said. "This is evil."
"That man will be sent to Tartarus, I swear it," Ane grumbled.
Dawn was breaking. Even if he were at full strength and could shadow-travel that many times, the pair couldn't possibly take down all six weapons before the attack began. If Nico managed one more jump, it would be a miracle.
They spotted the Roman command tent - behind and to the left of the legion. Octavian would probably be there, enjoying breakfast at a safe distance from the fighting. He wouldn't lead his troops into battle. The little scumbag would hope to destroy the Greek camp from a distance, wait for the flames to die down, then march in unopposed.
Nico's throat constricted with hate. He concentrated on that tent, envisioning his next jump. If they could assassinate Octavian, that might solve the problem. The order to attack might never be given.
"Nico?"
He spun, his sword instantly in his hand, and almost decapitated Will Solace.
"Put that down!" Will hissed. "What are you doing here?"
Nico was dumbstruck. Will and two other campers were crouched in the grass, binoculars around their necks and daggers at their side. They wore black jeans and T-shirts, with black grease paint on their faces like commandos.
"Me?" Nico asked. "What are you doing here? Getting yourselves killed?"
Will scowled. "Hey, we're scouting the enemy. We took precautions."
"You dressed in black, with the sun coming up. You painted your face but didn't cover that mop of blond hair. You might as well be waving a yellow flag."
Will's ears reddened. "Lou Ellen wrapped some Mist around us too."
"Hi." The girl next to him wriggled her fingers. She looked a little flustered. "You're Nico, right? I've heard a lot about you. And this is Cecil from Hermes cabin. Uh, why are you in enemy territory with a five-year-old?"
"Four-year-old," Ane corrected. "And I'm a monster from Tartarus. I can kill you in a thousand different ways."
"Figures this is one of your friends," Will sighed.
"What does that mean?" Nico grumbled. He didn't seem truly exasperated - just annoyed because he could be.
"Yeah, what does that mean?" Ane put her hands on her hips. She huffed. "Wait, stay focused. Hey, did Coach Hedge make it to camp?"
Lou Ellen giggled nervously. "Did he ever."
Will elbowed her. "Yeah. Hedge is fine. He made it just in time for the baby's birth."
"The baby!" Nico grinned, which hurt his face muscles. He wasn't used to making that expression. He knelt next to them. "Mellie and the kid are all right?"
"Fine. A very cute little satyr boy." Will shuddered. "But I delivered it. Have you ever delivered a baby?"
"Um, no."
Yes," Ane said. "Poor boy, you're so young to have gone through that trauma…"
"I had to get some fresh air," Will said. "That's why I volunteered for this mission. Gods of Olympus, my hands are still shaking. See?"
He took Nico's hand, which sent an electric current down Nico's spine. He quickly withdrew. "Whatever," he snapped. "We don't have time for chit chat. The Romans are attacking at dawn and we've got to-"
"We know," Will said. "But if you're planning to shadow-travel to that command tent, forget it."
Nico glared at him. "Excuse me?"
He expected Will to flinch or look away. Most people did. But Will's blue eyes stayed fixed on his - annoyingly determined. "Coach Hedge told me all about your shadow-travel. You can't try that again."
"I just did try it again, Solace. I'm fine."
"No, you're not. I'm a healer. I could feel the darkness in your hand as soon as I touched it. Even if you made it to that tent, you'd be in no shape to fight. But you wouldn't make it. One more slip, and you won't come back. You are not shadow-traveling. Doctor's orders."
"Oh, he's smooth," Ane whispered.
"The camp is about to be destroyed-"
"And we'll stop the Romans," Will said. "But we'll do it our way. Lou Ellen will control the Mist. It's pretty dense in this area, to our advantage. We'll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. But no shadow-travel."
"But-"
"No."
Lou Ellen, Ane, and Cecil's heads swiveled back and forth like they were watching a really intense tennis match.
Nico sighed in exasperation. He hated working with other people. They were always cramping his style, making him uncomfortable. At least Reyna and Ane had been tolerable, and Hedge had been…well he'd been there too. And Will Solace…Nico revised his impression of the son of Apollo. He'd always thought of Will as easygoing and laid back. Apparently he could also be stubborn and aggravating.
Nico gazed down at Camp Half-Blood, where the rest of the Greeks were preparing for war. Past the troops and ballistae, the canoe lake glittered pink in the first light of dawn. Nico remembered the first time he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, crash-landing in Apollo's sun car, which had been converted into a fiery school bus.
He remembered Apollo, smiling and tan and completely cool in his shades.
Thalia had said, "He's hot."
"He's the sun god," Percy replied.
"That's not what I meant."
Why was Nico thinking about that now? The random memory irritated him, made him feel jittery. He had arrived at Camp Half-Blood thanks to Apollo. Now, on what would likely be his last day at camp, he was stuck with a son of Apollo.
"Sandy!" Ane dashed away and intercepted a maybe twelve-year-old boy dressed even more absurd than the commando kids in black. "You made it! Are you okay? What about the others?"
"I-I got some help from Iota. She kinda…zapped Forge? Like, really hard. She's talking some sense into him now. H-He was ordered to join the others in Athens. Iota and Forge are going on ahead. Emily and Famine are trying to stop Mirage. Their Mist will be useful if we can get it on our side. Ventus and Death - uh, Kaze and Azrael - they're heading to the Greek camp to protect them from the attack. Azrael says he might be able to stop the onager projectiles if they do fire, but he doesn't know what he'll do after he stops them - if he even can. But Kaze is okay. He says to just focus on saving everyone."
"Brilliant. We need to find a way to stop those onagers and maybe the monster army too."
"I-I'm the only one here, but…I can put the guys guarding the onagers to sleep. I'm not as good when I'm awake, but…
"That's good enough. Thanks, Sandy."
He smiled down at her. "I'm apparently really strong, so…I'll do my best."
"Great," Nico sighed. "But we have to hurry. And you'll follow my lead."
"Fine," Will said. "Just don't ask me to deliver any more satyr babies and we'll get along great."
They made it to the first onager just as chaos broke loose in the legion. On the far end of the line, cries went up from the Fifth Cohort. Legionnaires scattered and dropped their pila. A dozen centaurs barreled through the ranks, yelling and waving their clubs followed by a horde of two-headed men banging on trash can lids.
"What's going on down there?" Lou Ellen asked.
"That's my distraction," Nico said. "Come on."
All the guards had clustered on the right side of the onager, trying to see what was going on down the ranks, which gave their party a clear shot to the left. They passed within a few feet of the nearest Roman, but the legionnaire didn't notice them. Lou Ellen's Mist magic seemed to be working.
"Daze," Sandy whispered. The legionnaire's stumbled, but then their heads slumped. They would appear distracted by the scuffle from afar, but their eyes were unfocused and foggy. "A daydream spell. It makes people zone out and not even realize time has passed. Good for when you don't want to completely knock someone out and make others realize they've been compromised."
"Nice job," Ane said. "I would've gone for some death, but that works too."
"Neat," Cecil said. "I brought some Greek fire."
"No," Nico said. "If we make the damage too obvious, we'll never get to the other ones in time. Can you recalibrate the aim - like toward the other onagers' firing lines?"
Cecil grinned. "Oh, I like the way you think. They sent me because I excel at messing things up."
"You sound like my brother," Ane sighed.
He went to work while the others stood guard.
Meanwhile the Fifth Cohort was brawling with the two-headed men. The Fourth Cohort moved in to help. The other three cohorts held their positions, but the officers were having trouble keeping order.
"All right," Cecil announced. "Let's move."
They shuffled across the hillside towards the next onager. This time, the Mist didn't work so well. One of the onager guards yelled, "Hey!"
"Got this." Will sprinted off - which was possibly the stupidest diversion Nico could imagine - and six of the guards chased after him.
"Daze!" Sandy cried. Two of the guards instantly collapsed, and the others drew their weapons. "Ah! I think I killed them!"
Lou Ellen appeared out of the Mist and yelled, "Hey, catch!"
She lobbed a white ball the size of an apple. The Roman in the middle caught it instinctively. A twenty-foot sphere of powder exploded outward. When the dust settled, all six Romans were squealing pink piglets, two of them lying on their backs snoring.
"Nice work," Nico said.
Lou Ellen blushed. "Well, it's the only pig ball I have. So don't ask for an encore."
"Why wouldn't you bring more of those?" Ane grumbled.
"And, uh-" Cecil pointed "-somebody better help Will."
Even in their armor, the Romans were starting to gain on Solace. Nico cursed and raced after them.
"Is Will's plan…always to do that?" Ane asked. "He must have a death wish. My Papa was a son of Apollo, and he never did that."
"Will is…a unique flower," Lou Ellen said.
Nico was quick to dispatch the Romans without lethal force. He tripped the Roman in the back and the others turned around. Nico jumped into the crowd, kicking groins, smacking faces with the flat of his blade, bashing helmets with his pommel. In ten seconds, the Romans all lay groaning and dazed on the ground.
Will punched his shoulder. "Thanks for the assist. Six at once isn't bad."
"Not bad?" Nico glared at him. "Next time I'll just let them run you down, Solace."
"Ah, they'd never catch me."
Sandy walked up and pointed at the Romans. "Goodnight."
The pile of Romans stopped squirming and groaning and fell limp.
Cecil waved at them from the onager, signaling that his job was done. They all moved towards the third siege machine.
In the legion ranks, everything was still in chaos, but the officers were starting to reassert control. The Fifth and Fourth Cohorts regrouped while the Second and Third acted as riot police, shoving centaurs and cynocephali and two-headed men back into their respective camps. The First Cohort stood closest to the onager - a little too close for comfort - but they seemed occupied by a couple of officers parading in front of them, shouting orders.
They were hoping to sneak up on the third siege machine. One more onager redirected and they might stand a chance. Unfortunately, the guards spotted them from twenty yards away. One yelled, "Hey!"
Lou Ellen cursed. "They're expecting an attack now. The Mist doesn't work well against alert enemies."
"Mirage's Mist never failed like that," Sandy shrugged.
Ane sighed. "I've got this one. After all the stupid monsters we've been facing, humans are easy prey."
"Don't kill them," Nico warned.
"Don't worry. I'm saving my strength for the real fight."
Ane dashed forward. Her strides were smaller than a grown adult's, but thanks to a few days of rest, she was easily able to concentrate her power into her body. Her Remnants were recovering, but it was a slow process, and in fact she seemed to get the biggest boost when Nico was using his death powers. Their shadow-travel had been near deadly for Nico, but Ane had felt more awake than she had been in a long time. She was at her strongest when she was closest to Tartarus - to the death of a monster.
She moved like the wind. Her father had always been able to move at the speed of light when it was daytime, moving on sunbeams themselves, but Ane had never mastered the trick. Even Rei never used it as her primary method of attack.
She kicked out knees, jumped up and bashed helmets, twisted in the air to avoid weapons and increased her density to wind around on bodies like a gymnast and take the surprised legionnaires down. She landed on the ground and grabbed one by their fingers as she went, pulling him down and swinging him over her small shoulder into another. Then she used him to swing around and bash into the nearby Romans trying to grab her.
Ane was tackled by one of the armored legionnaires who weighed more then she did and desperately wrestled into a hold. Ane threw her head back to try and head-butt them, but they were too big for her to reach. She leaned forward instead and bit down on their arm, causing them to scream and release her. Ane tumbled to the grass.
A zombie clawed its way out of the earth and grabbed her attacker, punching them in the helmet and instantly knocking them out. Another legionnaire sliced at the skeleton, but became engaged in combat with another. Ane grabbed one of their ankles and tossed them into another two where the skeletons kicked them and knocked them out.
Ane sighed, glancing over at Nico, who was caught by Will just as he tried to join the fight.
"You idiot." Will put an arm around him. "I told you no more of that Underworld magic."
"I'm fine."
"Shut up. You're not." From his pocket, Will dug out a pack of gum.
Nico wanted to pull away. He hated physical contact. But Will was a lot stronger than he looked. Nico found himself leaning against him, relying on his support.
"Take this."
"You want me to chew gum?"
"It's medicinal. Should keep you alive and alert for a few more hours."
Nico shoved a stick of gum into his mouth. "Tastes like tar and dirt."
"Stop complaining."
"Hey." Ane returned. Behind her, the Roman guards were tangled in a weird assortment of ropes and bones. "Nico."
She held out her hand, and Nico took it. She fed him her energy. Nico's Underworld magic was going to get distorted at this rate, favoring the strength of Tartarus.
"Thanks for the skeletons," Lou Ellen said, grinning. "Great trick."
"Which he won't be doing again," Will said.
Nico realized he was still leaning against Will. He pushed him away and stood on his own two feet. "I'll do what I need to."
Will rolled his eyes. "Fine, Death Boy. If you want to get yourself killed-"
"Do not call me Death Boy!"
"Um, guys," Sandy whispered.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Nico turned. The fight at the third onager had not gone unnoticed.
The entire First Cohort was advancing on them, spears leveled, shields locked. In front of them marched Octavian, purple robes over his armor. Imperial gold jewelry glittering on his neck and arms, and a crown of laurels on his head as if he'd already won the battle. Next to him was the legion's standard-bearer, Jacob, holding the golden eagle, and six huge cynocephali, their canine teeth bared, their swords glowing red.
"Well," Octavian snarled, "Graecus saboteurs." He turned to his dog-headed warriors. "Tear them apart."
"Oh, great." Ane placed her fingers in her lips and let out a piercing taxicab whistle.
All six dog-men dropped their weapons, grabbed their ears, and fell down in agony.
"Dude." Cecil opened his mouth to pop his ears. "What the actual Hades? A little warning next time?"
"It's even worse for dogs," Ane said. "My Papa taught me to debilitate hounds before I learned to walk! I died to hellhounds, you freaks! You think I'm scared of you?!"
She waded through the dog-men and kicked them, summoning the bow Kaze had given her and bashing in their heads. They dissolved into shadows. Octavian and the other Romans seemed too stunned to react.
"My - my elite guard!" Octavian looked around for sympathy. "Did you see what they did to my elite guard?"
"What a four-year-old did to your 'elite' guard," Cecil snickered.
"Some dogs need to be put down." Nico took a step forward, his Stygian blade striking fear into any who opposed him. "Like you."
For one beautiful moment, the entire First Cohort wavered. Then then remembered themselves and leveled their pila.
"You will be destroyed!" Octavian shrieked. "You Graeci sneak around, sabotaging our weapons, attacking our men-"
"You mean the weapons you were about to fire at us?" Cecil asked.
"And the men who were about to burn our camp to ashes?" Lou Ellen added.
"Just like a Greek!" Octavian yelled. "Trying to twist things around!"
"Yeah!" Ane pointed an accusing finger at him. "Just like a Greek indeed, silver-tongued fiend!"
Octavian grew red in the face with rage. He pointed to the nearest legionnaires. "You, you, you, and you. Check all the onagers. Make sure they're operational. I want them fired simultaneously as soon as possible. Go!"
The four Romans ran.
"Sandy?" Ane said.
"Oh, um, okay."
The four fleeing Romans collapsed in the middle of their sprint.
"Don't worry, they're just asleep," Sandy said gently.
"No one leaves here. No one dies," Ane declared. She pointed her bow at the First Cohort. "I won't let you kill innocent people. If you want to get past and murder innocents, you're going to have to start by slaughtering a child."
None of the legionnaires volunteered. It was easy to fire at an entire faceless camp of strangers that were declared enemies and threats. It was another to slaughter women and children and those who had not even drawn weapons with your bare hands. No matter how bloodthirsty, they were still kids. They were just kids.
Octavian marched up to Nico. Typical. It would sting his pride too much to address a child as his enemy. To his credit, the augur didn't seem afraid, though his only weapon was a dagger. He stopped so close, Nico could see the bloodshot veins in his pale watery eyes. His face was gaunt. His hair was the color of overcooked spaghetti.
Nico knew Octavian was a legacy - a descendant of Apollo many generations removed. Now, he couldn't help thinking that Octavian looked like a watered-down, unhealthy version of Will Solace - like a photo that had been copied too many times. Whatever made a child of Apollo special, Octavian didn't have it.
"Tell me, son of Pluto," the augur hissed, "why are you helping the Greeks? What have they ever done for you?"
Nico was itching to stab Octavian in the chest. He'd been dreaming of that ever since Bryce Lawrence had attacked them in South Carolina. But now that they were face-to-face, Nico hesitated. He had no doubt he could kill Octavian before the First Cohort intervened. Nor did Nico particularly care if he died for his actions. The trade-off would be worth it.
But after what happened with Bryce, the idea of cutting down another demigod in cold blood - even Octavian - didn't sit well. Nor did it seem right to sentence Cecil, Lou Ellen, and Will to die with him - even Ane and Sandy.
It doesn't seem right? Another part of him wondered, 'Since when do I worry about what's right?'
"I'm helping the Greeks and the Romans," Nico said.
Octavian laughed. "Don't try to con me. What have they offered you - a place in their camp? They won't honor their agreement."
"I don't want a place in their camp," Nico snarled. "Or in yours. When this war is over, I'm leaving both camps for good."
Will Solace made a sound like he'd been punched. "Why would you do that?"
"We're going where we belong," Ane said with a light smile. "With no one else."
"It's none of your business," Nico scowled, "but I don't belong. That's obvious. No one wants me. I'm a child of-"
"Oh, please." Will sounded unusually angry. "Nobody at Camp Half-Blood ever pushed you away. You have friends - or at least, people who would like to be your friend. You pushed yourself away. If you'd get your head out of that brooding cloud of yours for once-"
"Enough!" Octavian snapped. "Di Angelo, I can beat any offer the Greeks could make. I always thought you would make a powerful ally. I see the ruthlessness in you, and I appreciate that. I can assure you a place in New Rome. All you have to do is step aside and allow the Romans to win."
"You think you can bribe me into murdering innocents?" While Nico had no intention of stabbing Octavian outright, he couldn't just standby and let the idiot spout nonsense on his soapbox. "There's a newborn baby in that camp. There are children who had never even heard of Romans until they showed up on their doorstep screaming for blood, those who don't even understand why you're going to burn them alive for just being born from the wrong parent. What you're doing isn't winning a war, it's starting a war, then patting yourself on the back when you've slaughtered innocents in cold blood."
"The god Apollo has shown me the future-"
"No!" Will Solace shoved Nico out of the way and got in Octavian's face. "I am a son of Apollo, you anemic loser. My father hasn't shown anyone the future, because the power of prophecy isn't working, but this-" He waved loosely at the assembled legion, the hordes of monstrous armies spread across the hillside. "This is not what Apollo would want!"
Octavian's lip curled. "You lie. The god told me personally that I would be remembered as the savior of Rome."
"You probably just heard the whispers of Gaea encouraging you to be a hero just so that you could set up the end of the world," Ane said.
"Silence! No more lies! I will lead the legion to victory, and I will start by-"
They felt the sound before they heard it - thunk-thunk-thunk - reverberating through the earth, like the massive gears of a drawbridge. All the onagers fired at once, and six golden comets billowed into the sky.
"By destroying the Greeks!" Octavian cried with glee. "The days of Camp Half-Blood are over!"
"Sandy, is Azrael in place?!" Ane screamed.
"Y-Yes!"
"Then tell him to do it!"
Sandy squeezed his eyes shut. After a horrible moment of pause, all of the fireballs of flaming metal froze in the air. "U-Um, Kaze says he got to the other three onagers while we distracted Octavian. He's re-aimed them in the air."
"Then release them."
There was nothing more beautiful than an off-course projectile. At least, not today. The three sabotaged machines from Cecil aimed perfectly for the three sabotaged by Kaze. The payloads all veered sideways, inwards and towards each other as though the children of Hermes had coordinated their chaos. Three and three fireballs arched towards each other. The fireballs didn't collide directly. They didn't need to. As soon as the missiles got close to one another, all six warheads detonated in midair, spraying a dome of gold and fire that sucked the oxygen right out of the sky.
The heat stung Ane's face. The grass hissed. The tops of the trees steamed. But when the fireworks faded, no serious damage had been done.
"Your brother is cool," Sandy said.
Octavian reacted first. He stomped his feet and yelled, "NO! NO, NO! RELOAD!"
No one in the First Cohort moved. They heard the tromping of boots to their right. The Fifth Cohort was marching towards them double-time, Dakota in the lead.
Further downhill, the rest of the legion was trying to form up, but the Second, Third, and Fourth Cohorts were now surrounded by a sea of ill-tempered monstrous allies. The auxilia forces didn't look happy about the explosion overhead. No doubt they'd been waiting for Camp Half-Blood to go up in flames so they'd get charbroiled demigod for breakfast.
"Octavian!" Dakota called. "We have new orders."
Octavian's left eye twitched so violently it looked like it might explode. "Orders? From whom? Not from me!"
"From Reyna," Dakota said, loud enough to make sure everyone in the First Cohort could hear. "She's ordered us to stand down."
"Reyna?" Octavian laughed, though no one seemed to get the joke. "You mean the outlaw I sent you to arrest? The ex-praetor who conspired to betray her own people with his Graecus?" He jabbed his finger in Nico's chest. "You're taking orders from her?"
The Fifth Cohort formed up behind their centurion, uneasily facing their comrade in the First.
Dakota crossed his arms stubbornly. "Reyna is praetor until voted otherwise by the Senate."
"This is war!" Octavian yelled.
"That is no excuse to simply overthrow a praetor for your own selfish greed for power."
"I've brought you to the brink of ultimate victory and you want to give up? First Cohort: arrest Centurion Dakota and any who stand with him. Fifth Cohort: remember your vow to Rome and the legion. You will obey me!"
"You are nothing but a madman who brought monsters to destroy your own army once you'd burned a bunch of innocents," Ane said. "Look at those creatures! Look at the monsters Octavian brought upon you! If they turned against you now, your legion would be obliterated! He invited enemies right into your camp!"
"I am saving Rome! I am saving the gods - I am saving the world! Your vows to the legion mean you obey me!"
Will Solace shook his head. "Don't do this, Octavian. Don't force your people to choose. This is your last chance."
"My last chance?" Octavian grinned, madness glinting in his eyes. "I will SAVE ROME! Now, Romans, follow my orders! Arrest Dakota. Destroy these Graecus scum. And reload those onagers!"
What the Romans would have done left to their own devices, they would never know. But no one present had counted on the Greeks.
At that moment, the entire army of Camp Half-Blood appeared at the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Clarisse La Rue rode in the lead, on a red war chariot pulled by metal horses. A hundred demigods fanned out around her, with twice that many satyrs and nature spirits led by Grover Underwood. Tyson lumbered forward with six other Cyclopes. Chiron stood in full white stallion mode, his bow drawn. Kaze's Reanimation form joined them, dashing into position at the fore.
It was an impressive sight, but all Nico could think was: 'No. Not now.'
Clarisse yelled, "Romans, you have fired on our camp! Withdraw or be destroyed!"
Octavian wheeled on his troops. "You see? It was a trick! They divided us so they could launch a surprise attack. Legion, cuneum formate! CHARGE!"
Ane wanted the power to just scream 'Time out! Hold it! Freeze!' If Sandy tried to put them all to sleep mid-charge, they could end up stumbling on their weapons, smashing into each other, breaking formations into chaos.
But screaming at them to stop alone wouldn't do any good. After weeks of waiting, agonizing, and steaming, the Greeks and Romans wanted blood. Trying to stop the battle now would be like trying to push back a flood after the dam broke.
"Will? How loud is your ultrasonic whistle?" Ane said frantically. "You have one, right? Apollo kid and all?"
"Louder than yours was! One of my few musical talents. It's truly awful-"
"Then three, two, one!"
The two of them threw their fingers into their lips and released a duo of taxicab whistles that somehow horrible harmonized with the worst dissonance the planet had probably ever experienced. In a better situation, Ane might say they could whistle Gaea into submission. Nico and Octavian, who were at the epicenter, both nearly fell off their feet.
Will wasn't lying when he said his whistle was even more horrible than Ane's had been. Several Greeks dropped their swords. A ripple went through the Roman line like the entire First Cohort was shuddering. Any chagrin parties had instantly been brought to a halt.
"DON'T BE STUPID!" Will yelled, his voice amplified by some kind of sound magic that must have been related to his whistle. "LOOK!"
He pointed to the north, and even Nico grinned from ear to ear. He decided there was something more beautiful than an off-course projectile: the Athena Parthenos gleaming in the sunrise, flying in from the coast, suspended from the tethers of six winged horses. Roman eagles circled but did not attack. A few of them even swooped in, grabbed the cables, and helped carry the statue.
They couldn't see Blackjack, but Reyna Ramírez-Arellano rode on Guido's back. Her sword was held high. Her purple cloak glittered strangely, catching the sunlight. The sight wasn't even ruined by the stuffed poodle waving from Reyna's shoulder.
Both armies stared, dumbfounded, as the forty-foot-tall gold and ivory statue came in for a landing.
"GREEK DEMIGODS!" Reyna's voice boomed as if projected from the statue itself, like the Athena Parthenos had become a stack of concert speakers. "Behold your most sacred statue, the Athena Parthenos, wrongly taken by the Romans. I return it to you now as a gesture of peace!"
The statue settled on the crest of the hill, about twenty feet away from Thalia's pine tree. Instantly gold light rippled across the ground, into the valley of Camp Half-Blood and down the opposite side through the Roman ranks. Warmth seeped into Ane's bones - a comforting, peaceful sensation she hadn't known since…ever, really. A voice inside her seemed to whisper: 'You are not alone. You are part of the Olympian family. The gods have not abandoned you.'
"Romans!" Reyna yelled. "I do this for the good of the legion, for the good of Rome. We must stand together with our Greek brethren!"
"Listen to her!" Nico marched forward.
He wasn't even sure why he did it. Why would either side listen to him? He was the worst speaker, the worst ambassador ever.
Yet he strode between the battle lines, his black sword in his hand. "Reyna risked her life for all of you! We brought this statue halfway across the world, Roman and Greek working together, because we must join forces. Gaea is rising. If we don't work together-"
'YOU WILL DIE.'
The voice shook the earth. Ane's feeling of peace and safety instantly vanished. Wind swept across the hillside. The ground itself became fluid and sticky, the grass pulling at Ane's boots. She recognized the feeling of a Primordial, of an ancient being that made up the very land around her. It wasn't as intense as Tartarus - yet - but it was steadily growing stronger. Gaea only ruled the land, not the skies and the air, and yet her presence was almost as disturbing.
'A FUTILE GESTURE.'
Ane felt as if she were standing on the goddess's throat - as if the entire length of Long Island resonated with her vocal chords.
'BUT IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY, YOU MAY DIE TOGETHER.'
"No…" Octavian scrambled backwards. "No, no…" He broke and ran, pushing through his own troops.
"CLOSE RANKS!" Reyna yelled.
The Greeks and the Romans moved together, standing shoulder to shoulder as all around them the earth shook. Kaze was at Ane's side instantly, hand on her shoulder.
"Late?" he asked.
"Right on time," she replied.
Octavian's auxilia troops surged forward, surrounding the demigods. Both camps put together were a minuscule dot in a sea of enemies. They would make their final stand on Half-Blood Hill, with the Athena Parthenos as their rallying point.
But even here, they stood on enemy ground. Because Gaea was the earth, and the earth was awake.