Annabeth, Thalia, and Bianca got out of the car, nodding in thanks to the undead chauffeur who'd driven them to the boarding school.
Westover Hall.
Annabeth and Thalia both looked apprehensively at the tall towered building built out of black stone.
"Well, this looks utterly delightful," Thalia commented.
She wasn't wrong. Even with her love for architecture, she had to admit that this looked like a prison.
While they were gauging the gothness degree of Westover Hall, Bianca was chatting with the skeleton, seemingly reassuring him that yes, she would be fine, and no, she did not need an extra jacket, they would be going inside soon and yes, she would be fine.
"I still don't get it," Thalia complained. "How come you get the undead driver, get to summon the dead, can cause cracks to appear from the earth, and I just get to summon a bit of lightning."
Bianca gave her a flippant glance. "Oh, I'm sure you could do more if you wanted to. Ever tried flying?"
Thalia immediately turned pale at that, something it seemed only Annabeth saw, as Bianca then turned toward the boarding school, starting to walk towards it.
"Woah. So why did Grover want us to come here again?" Bianca asked. Thalia and Annabeth slightly jogged to catch up with her.
"No idea," Annabeth responded. "He just sent a distress call. I wonder what he found."
Once they stepped into the building, the heavy oak doors immediately slammed back shut.
Annabeth took a second to marvel over the antique weaponry and battle flags that adorned the walls before focusing back on their objective. She could hear dancing music echoing from the other end of the hall, so she followed it, having Thalia and Bianca stash their overnight things behind a pillar before continuing. They didn't get very far.
A man and a woman, both strictly dressed in black military-style uniforms with red trim, stopped them. In the corner of her mind, Annabeth noted that the man was clean-shaven while the woman had a wispy mustache. They both walked stiffly.
"Well?" the woman demanded. "What are you doing here?"
"Ma'am we just-"
"Ha! Visitors are not allowed at the dance!" the man sharply barked. "You shall be ejected!" he said in what seemed to be an overly pronounced French accent. His eyes were in two different colors, one brown and one blue.
Bianca tensed as if readying for them to be thrown out. Annabeth glanced at Thalia.
She directed the Mist after that, managing for them to get past the two teacher's inquiry, although Annabeth could tell that Thorn knew something was up with them. But how could he see through the Mist?
Annabeth pushed that thought to the side, as Grover stumbled onto the scene, bringing them to the rest of the hall after some questioning from Thorn.
Upon reaching the gym doors, Grover laughed nervously. "I'm so glad you guys are here. That was close!"
Annabeth and Thalia hugged Grover while Bianca awkwardly watched to the side, nodding stiffly at the satyr. They didn't really know each other that well.
"So why did you call us here?" Bianca asked, once all the hugging was done with.
"I found one," Grover answered.
"A half-blood?" Thalia asked. "So why did you call us here?"
"He's ten," Grover said. "And…"
Grover hesitated, looking straight at Bianca.
"I think…"
A ten-year-old half-blood. That was the age of Bianca's little brother. And if Grover was looking at Bianca like that then…
"You found Nico, didn't you? He's out of the Lotus Casino somehow," Annabeth said, watching as Bianca tensed, and her gaze immediately shot toward the doors, as if she could somehow see her brother in the crowd.
Grover nodded. "His name is Nico di Angelo, and he looks and smells the exact same as Bianca did when she first came to camp. But we're running out of time," Grover bleated nervously. "There's a monster. A strong one. And I think he suspects. It's the last day of term and he won't let them leave campus without finding out. Every time I try to get close to them he's always there, always there to block me. I don't know what to do!"
Thalia nodded seriously. "Alright. So Nico's at the dance right?"
Grover nodded.
"Then let's dance," Thalia said. "So who's the monster?"
"Dr. Thorn," Grover said. "You just met him."
Ah. So that was why he had been so nervous back there.
They entered the Gym, all trying to act natural. Annabeth could tell without even looking that Bianca was failing at this miserably. Her gaze immediately snapped onto a boy who looked doubtlessly like her little brother. This was the boy in her picture. It looked as if he hadn't aged a day.
Bianca stepped as if to make a break for him only for Thalia to pull her back.
"What are you doing? He's my little brother I have to-" Bianca hissed, only for Thalia to interrupt her.
"Look at who's watching," Thalia whispered back, indicating Dr. Thorn, who was standing near the bleachers, close to Nico. He cooly nodded at them. His blue eye glowed ominously. "Do you want to get him killed?"
Bianca paused mutinously. Annabeth could tell that she was unwilling to have her brother come to harm.
"He's my brother. You wouldn't know the feel-"
Thalia glared at her. Annabeth could feel static filling the air around them. "I do. And at least you-"
Annabeth held out her hands to stop the two of them, remembering this topic was a sore point for Thalia. She remembered mentions of a little brother, once. Jason. "Enough. This is not the correct space for this conversation."
The two of them paused. Thalia took a deep breath to calm herself and turned to the crowd. "Don't look at Nico," she instructed. "We have to wait to get a better chance to reach him. We need to pretend we're not interested in him. Thorn knows we're here for a reason. Throw him off his scent."
"How?" Bianca asked, eyes still flicking to her brother, and the monster in between them.
"We're three powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Mingle. Act natural. Maybe dance a little. But keep an eye on Nico."
"Dancing?" Annabeth asked, with a bit of scorn in her tone. She still didn't get why these kids were so excited for a dance.
Thalia nodded. She then took Grover, and they went off together, leaving Annabeth with Bianca.
She could still see that the daughter of Hades was looking at her brother.
"Come on," Annabeth said. "Let's try to work our way around to him."
"But didn't Thalia-" Bianca started. She stopped, seeing the look of amusement Annabeth sent her.
"She said to not act stupid, or brash. And to be subtle. As long as I'm here, and you listen to me, we'll be fine."
Bianca rolled her eyes, but followed her lead, to her satisfaction.
The two of them inched around the gym, avoiding attention, attempting to close the distance between them and Nico.
Bianca suddenly cursed under her breath and began to make a break for where Nico was… supposed to be. He was gone, and Thorn was too.
Annabeth wildly looked around for Thalia and Grover, only for them to be nowhere. So she followed Bianca, who'd gone out the open door near the bleachers.
She found Bianca, staring widely at Nico, who looked at her in fear. Watching from the door, she saw Bianca cautiously walking closer, her sword in hand.
"Nico? Do you remember me?"
"I-" the boy only stuttered, staring at something… behind her.
"Nico, it's me, Bianca. I'm yo-"
Annabeth opened her mouth to shout a warning, only for Bianca to realize the moment before, that Nico was trying to warn her about something.
A small projectile whistled through the air, hitting Bianca in the arm. Red bloomed in her clothes, as she made a small cry of pain. Behind the monster, Annabeth could just barely make out the figure.
A manticore.
Annabeth pulled on her invisibility hat and continued watching, looking for an opening.
"So the elder sister steps in to save the little one. How… heroic," Thorn drawled. "I know who you are, Bianca di Angelo."
In the corner of her eye, Annabeth could see Nico tensing at that name. Bianca readied her sword, swinging it blindly in front of herself.
Thorn made a mockingly disapproving sound. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Another whistling sound filled the air, as a sharp spiked ball landed inches from Nico's neck. "Now come on, out we go. I'd hate for you to see how accurately I can throw. You do care for your brother's life, don't you?"
Thorn led them out of the school after that, Bianca becoming frighteningly obedient, with her brother's life on the line.
He took them out to the snow. Annabeth was careful to only step in the footprints left behind, to avoid Thorn's attention.
"Where are you taking us?" Bianca demanded, putting herself in front of Nico.
Thorn took something out of his pocket. It was a phone. "The package. It is ready to deliver," he said into it.
"Package?" Bianca said incredulously. "I'm sorry, are we a shipment?"
"Be silent, daughter of Hades," Thorn snapped. "Are you even aware of who you are talking to?"
Nico seemed to whisper something, only for Bianca to shush him.
"Be glad that you are wanted alive, demigods. Otherwise, you would already be dead."
"Demigods? Are you saying I'm half god?" Nico stammered. "B-Bi, what's going on? Why do you look so much older?"
Annabeth could see Bianca flinch at his words. She crept closer to the manticore, desperately looking for an opening. Bianca would not be able to stall for long, and who knew when Thalia and Grover would find them.
Thorn barked out a laugh. "Don't you worry," he crooned. "The General just wishes to meet you. You'll have a new family then."
"Luke," Bianca accused. "You work for Luke. Is he the General?"
Thorn laughed some more. "You really do have no idea what's going on. But I'll leave the General to enlighten you, Bianca di Angelo."
"Who's the General?" Bianca demanded again.
The chopping noise of a helicopter could soon be heard over the sound the the waves. Annabeth could see bright headlights break through the darkness too. They were running out of time. Annabeth glanced back, to see Thalia and Grover approaching them. Good. They would know what to do. Waiting a bit for them to get closer, she whispered the plan to them.
She took the opportunity of Thorn turning to the helicopter in his monologue to strike, knocking Bianca and Nico to the floor. As planned, the projectiles harmlessly sailed over them, and Thalia and Grover were able to advance.
"He's a manticore," Annabeth hissed to the siblings.
Nico looked in confusion at Bianca. "Bi, what's going on?"
Bianca shushed him again. "I'll explain later," she said.
Watching the fight, Annabeth saw that Thorn was breaking out of the vines Grover had grown to trap him. "Get down!" she shouted, shoving the siblings down again.
The helicopter approached, and she watched as Thalia was blinded by the headlights, and struck down, with her shield and spear going in two separate directions.
Bianca darted up from her position, summoning some skeletons to block the spikes and fight against Thorn. She just barely managed to save Thalia, but the effort noticeably weakened her.
Even with the greatest plan, Annabeth had to admit that they had no chance against both the helicopter and Thorn.
She then heard a familiar hunting horn. One she had heard years prior, before even making it to camp.
Thorn froze at that sound. "No," he screamed. "It cannot be-"
A silver arrow sprouted from his shoulder, cutting him off. A flurry of more silver filled the air from the woods, combating the black spikes he threw back.
Dozens of silver huntresses streamed from the woods in silver ski parkas and jeans, wielding bows, ages ranging from ten to fourteen.
"The Hunters!" Annabeth exclaimed, delighted. Behind her, she could hear Thalia mutter, "Oh wonderful." So she still hadn't gotten over it.
Zoë Nightshade, the lieutenant of the Hunters, stepped forward. "Permission to kill, my lady?"
Thorn wailed at that. "This isn't fair! Direct interference is against the Ancient Laws!"
"Not so," An auburn-haired girl of around twelve, who could only be Lady Artemis with her eyes, said. "The hunting of all wild beasts is in my domain. And you, are a wild beast." She turned to Zoë. "Permission granted."
The manticore growled and lunged at Nico. "If I cannot have them alive, then I will have them dead!"
Annabeth tensed, making to stop him, only for Thalia to be faster.
"Get away from him!" she yelled, swinging her spear at him, managing to strike him deeply. The manticore wildly moved, as if to throw her off, in pain from the electricity, but she hung on.
"Get back half-blood!" Zoë shouted at Thalia. "Get out of the line of fire!"
But the daughter of Zeus could only desperately hang on, as the manticore thrashed in pain, getting closer and closer to the cliff edge.
"Fire!" Zoë ordered.
"No!" both Annabeth and Bianca screamed.
Silver arrows struck Thorn and barely missed Thalia. The manticore stumbled back, closer to the cliff edge.
"This isn't the end Huntress!" the manticore shouted, as he threw himself off the edge, taking Thalia Grace with him.