Chapter 18: I get reverse flushed
I was speechless while staring at her. I had finally found her, Sydney Ali. "I- . Sydney, it's me Adin! I'm here to rescue you!" I noticed the cage door with a lock on it. Sydney's shackles had huge metallic balls on the end to stop her from moving to much. I pulled out Fate and started to swing at the lock trying to break it.
"I know who you are Adin! But answer my question. What are you doing here!?"
I heard her question but kept on swinging at the lock. I didn't know what she was talking about? I ignored her for now while a battle raged behind me.
I briefly turned my head around to see the fight. Frank, who was still a dragon, was tussling with the automaton hydra. Percy was running alongside the walls of the bunker trying to get back with the other group. The dragons were in between me and my friends.
I tried to look under the dragon's legs. Everyone else was occupied fighting monsters that showed up. There were cyclops, huge snakes, and even some sort of short flying demons which reminded me of the traveling spirits except these had wings . I got worried for them but I know they can all hold their own. I went back to chopping the cage. I put my full force into a swing and was finally able to break it.
As I stepped back to let Sydney try and walk out, I was stopped by something coming up against my throat. It felt cold and metallic like it was about to slice me. I looked down at Sydney and she stared behind me with eyes wide open with horror. " Not so fast there Adin," a familiar old and grumpy voice said behind me.
It took me a moment to recognize who it was. Sydney was in the cages doorway. She looked like she was ready to pounce despite having metal chains on her wrist and ankles. I wanted to gulp but it was hard with a sword against my throat. "Eric? Is that you?" I was able to spit out.
"Yup. Sorry about this kids but I gotta get rid of ya," Erichthonius said in a monotone voice.
Sydney's eyes were focused on Eric like an apex predator and he was prey. I raised my hands up slowly in defeat. I pressed the button on Fate and turned it back into a hair comb. "Where did you come from?" I asked the ancient king.
"Do you wanna know what I'm doing here or my birth?" he asked as Sydney and I remained silent. "Well I'll entertain you with both since I have to kill ya. Hephaestus is my father and my mother, well I don't know much about her. She also gave me up. Then when I was about 3 or 4 Athena found me and raised me to be the first human king of Athens! Real nice goddess isn't she,"
I remembered our brief conversation we had back at G-mart. "So Athena is your patron goddess?" I asked.
Eric chuckled. "Well no. See Adin, A couple of years ago the doors of death were opened up. Gaia wanted to recruit ancient figures from the ancient times. She also made the mistake of letting heroes and champions come through to try and recruit them. We didn't join her and the giants. Minor gods found us and gave us refuge from the war and the Olympians," Eric's voice was starting to sound rough like sandpaper.
"So what do you and your patron want with me then!" Sydney shouted. "I've been here for weeks for no reason other than sitting in this damn cage!" She was starting to get furious.
Eric's sword felt tighter around my throat. " You two are out of the loop so i'll tell you this. The other gods are upset with the Olympians. Twice they've been promised to be respected more, twice the Olympians have forgotten them," he told us.
I started to think of all the stories i've heard of camp. Percy earned a wish from the gods and with that the minor gods had to be respected and have a place at camp. Then there was Jason Grace. I haven't heard too many stories about him. He vowed to make sure the minor gods got the admiration and respect they deserved. Then he tragically passed.
Sydney and I were in checkmate with no help coming along. I heard a loud BOOM which made Eric shake. An idea came into my head, I just had to keep Eric talking. "That's unfortunate but that still doesn't explain why you captured Sydney. Also why were you working at G-mart?"
"Hey, I gotta earn money somehow. G-mart was a great place for me to gather parts for my inventions," Eric said.
I thought about the inventions I've seen on my quest but only the hydra came to mind. "So, you built the knock off mecha-Godzilla?" I asked him. I guess it would be more like mecha-king Ghidorah than Godzilla.
"Their commissions from the gods. You helped me figure out that the soul was the key to make the hydra work. I've made others too but those are less complicated than the hydra".
Another large BOOM shook the bunker. I felt Eric stumble as I stumbled with him. With a flick of my wrist I threw Fate in its hair comb form to Sydney. The hair comb slid on the ground and Sydney crouched to her knees to hide it. He still had his sword against my throat. Fortunately he didn't seem to notice the comb.
"Your craftsman work seems familiar… wait? You made those pelicans that knocked down the flying chariot I rode into camp?" I asked him.
"Mhhh oh yep those were actual mechanic cranes commissioned for my dad. That was all his doing. Can't discriminate even against lousy parents. I think he heard about Aphrodite's love story for you and didn't like it,".
Eros also mentioned the love story. So more gods have heard about me. I should feel flattered but it just made me uncomfortable. "So what did you need me for?" Sydney asked.
"Oh my gods! Kids these days are so impatient!" Then another BOOM shook the bunker again. Sydney took this opportunity to leap at Eric. With great strength and speed she forced his sword away from my throat. I turned my back around to see the battlefield. I noticed Sydney was still fighting with chains around her wrist and ankle anchors weighing her down. She was fighting with all her might.
I ran over to assist Sydney. Despite Eric walking with a limp he was a good swordsman. I ran and slid kicked him from the side. Eric fell to the ground. Sydney pointed my sword at him. I stood back up and faced the fallen former king. "Answer me!" Sydney shouted to him.
"Okay, hurg gah the minor gods wanted to take any essence of your mother you had and make a new war goddess. It's been done before! Just last year Caligula tried it with the remnants of Helios and Apollo!" Ericthonius sounded hurt and taken off guard despite his monotone attitude earlier.
"So what if they're mad at the Olympian's? That doesn't give you a right to kidnap me in my sleep!" Sydney shouted.
Eric shrugged "Hey, orders are orders. My patron and some other gods are the reason I'm back alive. And it's not my fault you didn't wake up. I thought Roman's were trained to sleep lightly?" Eric grinned, which was Sydney's last straw.
She slashed down going for his neck. I grabbed her arm to stop her. She was using all her strength and let me tell you she's stronger than she looks. Unfortunately that was a mistake. Eric got back up using his sword as a walking stick. He started fleeing towards his hydra.
"Let go of me!" Sydney shouted right in my face and I complied. "Why did you let him go!"
I understood she was mad. Being in a cage for weeks would make me a little angry and violent too I guess. I tried to remain calm "He's working for a god. Shouldn't we at least find out which one?" She rolled her eyes at me.
We both turned to face the rest of the battlefield from the entrance of the bunker: Sabrina, Glen, Annabeth, Grover, and Hazel. Their group was facing another group of about 20 monsters. Hazel was doing some hand movement which seemed to keep the monsters at bay. The area around them seemed to be shifting slightly.
Golden dust scattered the floor. On the other side of the monster barricade was Frank and Percy who were fighting the horde from behind. Frank was shape shifting from animal to animal. He attacked the monsters trying to keep Percy's pace of sword slashes. He switched from a bear to an elephant and then to a eagle to dodge a snake bite.
Behind Percy and Frank were the remains of the mecha hydra. Erichthonius was climbing onto the broken robot. Sparks were flying off of the machine but they didn't seem to bother Erichthonius. He was working away mixing wires and shifting gears trying to fix his creation.
"What should we do? Who do we help?" I turned to ask Sydney. She was still fixated on the battlefield. Sydney shook her head and looked up to the ceiling. Her expression said Oh why me gods.
The hydra started to twitch. Despite not being decapitated, and a robot. The hydra started to grow two more heads. The neck started to grow in segmented pieces like when you swing a plastic lightsaber toy. Finally the two heads popped out looking around for a snack. At the top of her lungs Sydney screamed and announced "EVERYONE WE NEED TO LEAVE!" all demigods and monsters looked at her.
Percy finished fighting one of those winged demons and sent it back to Tartarus. He disengaged from the horde and left Frank by himself. He shook golden dust off of his sword and ran toward Sydney and I. The two new heads were the only parts of the hydra that were working.
The first head snapped at Percy. Without stopping, Percy leaped over the head like it was a hurdle. The second one came at Percy directly from above. He raised his sword and braced himself. He stopped the hydra head with his sword. It was like arm wrestling with the hydra head going down then raising back up. Back and forth they went for a moment before Percy was finally able to push the hydra head back.
He ran up to Sydney and I, out of breath. "Hey, huff do you guys trust me? Huff I have a plan". I nodded, Percy hasn't given me a reason not to trust him.
Sydney shrugged."I guess, not like I have much of a choice," She still had Fate in her hand. Using the sword she slashed at her ankle weights. The chains and brace snapped in half effortlessly. She still had chains acting like handcuffs which didn't seem to bother her as much.
Percy cuffed his hands around his mouth and yelled "ANNABETH GET YOUR GROUP OUT OF HERE I GOT THE REST!" She looked at our group as she and everyone else around here were near the door. There were still a dozen monsters surrounding their team. Hazel and Annabeth started to shuffle out the double doors. Glen was still fighting off the monsters and didn't seem tired at all. It was only due to Sabrina dragging him out by his shirt collar that they were able to escape. The remainder of the monsters tried to open and knock down the door but were unsuccessful. They turned their attention to Frank who seemed to be slowing down a bit.
The hydra started to creak and groan. All of the heads started to crack their heads which made an awful metal scraping sound. It started to get back up with all heads focused on us. The remaining monsters came to the hydra sides. I tried to look around for Frank but couldn't spot him.
I stared at the monsters. From behind, little specks started to fly toward us. When they got closer I saw it was a swarm of bees. They didn't stop like the monsters but when they got close to us they started to merge together. Frank formed from the swarm of bees and faced down the army of monsters and mecha hydra.
"What's your plan Percy?" Frank asked.
Percy was silent. He raised his hands in the air like he had given up. Are you serious? Are we really sacrificing ourselves here? My jaw dropped. I looked at Sydney and while her jaw wasnt to the floor like mine, she didn't seem amused.
I looked toward the hydra, the biggest monster in front of us. Ericthonius just climbed to the top. Sweat dripped down his face from fixing the Hydra. "Giving up kids? Eh I figured it would be too much for this generation. The gods I work for might still spare ya. Except for Bellona's daughter." I could have been mistaken but I think I heard Sydney growl or grunt.
"Nope," Percy responded. He sounded like he was struggling or focusing on something. "Just trying to put pressure on you"!
The bunker started to shake. Rumbling echoed throughout the building. Ruble fell from the ceiling. Then throughout the walls, holes appeared and started to fill the room with water. Within seconds the bunker was up to my waist with water. The monsters started to look concerned with the rising tide.
The hydra started to charge at us with Eric on its back. Percy motioned for a final 'push'. A giant wave came from the wall and knocked the hydra and the remnants of the monsters over. The room was now flooded with water. Everyone of us started to float and swim as the ceiling got personally closer.
Golden dust surrounded us as it mixed with the water. "Hold on everyone!" Percy shouted. Frank started to shapeshift. He grew fins and a long snout. He had transformed into a dolphin and swam through the opening in the wall.
Percy motioned the water around the three of us. The water started to carry us away through an open wall. For a moment I felt like I was in a whirlpool before it stopped. I looked around and I thought I was in an aquarium. After the whirlpool, Percy created an air bubble for us and we started to rise up from the bottom of the ocean. I looked at Sydney and she seemed stunned by the beauty of the sea as well.
We continued to rise and finally broke free from the water. I felt like I was standing on a geyser instead of swimming in one like my training with Percy yesterday. Percy raised us into the air by the geyser, I started to feel unbalanced like I was going to fall. Finally, Percy landed us on the cliff next to the edge of the bridge. When the geyser stopped I fell over onto the grass.
I laid down on the grass for a second to process everything. I looked up and saw a soft hand. Sabrina offered her help and I took her hand. I didn't feel any calluses, almost like her hand got rejuvenated. Everyone else was talking about the battle like they were a team going over a football game. Cool, everyone was safe.
The black van we arrived in pulled up to us on the nearest road. Sydney started a conversation with Frank and Hazel. Hazel while listening and talking was also working on getting Sydney's hand chains. When Hazel got the chains off Sydney rubbed her wrist finally free.
Glen was talking to Percy, Annabeth and Grover explaining parts and pieces of our quest that I "left out". Annabeth had her eyes fixated on the bridge. I looked over and saw it as the sun was beginning to shine over it. I'm surprised that it was still standing but don't want to jinx it.
I looked back and Sydney started to walk toward the van. I wanted to stop her and finally talk to her without any fights going on. I started to brainstorm something to say. Whenever I started to figure out a topic or sentence I didn't feel like it was good enough. I felt my hand being squeezed and looked to my left.
"What are you doing?" Sabrina asked me.
"What?" I didn't realize she was holding my hand or that I was zoned out staring at Sydney.
"Go talk to her!" Sabrina said letting go of my hand.
"What do I say?" I went back to staring at Sydney who was getting closer to the van.
"Remember what I told you? That you were selfish and wrong? Go tell her that." She told me. I turned my head back to her and felt my eyes getting wet like the rest of my body was. We were in the shade of a hill but the sun had finally come over to hit us. The sunlight shined on Sabrina and she gave me a faint small smile.
I ran over to the van. "Hey Sydney, wait up!" I called out to her
She turned around and looked tired."Mhh? Oh yea here." She pulled out Fate in its comb form and handed it to me.
"What? Oh no I don't- that's not what I was going to say but thank you," I took Fate back from her.
"What is it then?" Despite being soaking wet, looking weak and tired. She still had almost a villainous beauty to her olive color skin and black long hair.
"Well- you- I-it- we haven't-" I tried to spit the words out but looking at her again I couldn't say anything.
She rolled her eyes. "Look, Adin. It's good to see you again too, but I want to get going," She opened the van door.
"No, I- I wanted to apologize for how things ended with us. I was selfish and jealous when I found out you were leaving. I was mad that I was going to lose my bestfriend and I didn't know what I was going to do. I want to apologize for the way I behaved and what I said. I didn't understand why you had to leave all of a sudden but now I do. You're a demi-god like me".
She threw her head back and stared up at the sky. She then closed her eyes and rubbed her nose. It was like a oh gods why me type of expression."Look Adin, I'm- I'm sorry too. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was a half-blood but I swore on the Styx I wouldn't tell you anything".
"Swore on the Styx? Who did you swear on the Styx too? Was it because of this stupid love story I'm supposed to have"?
She raised an eyebrow. "They didn't tell you? Go figure, she also told me I wouldn't see you again after I left." She went to having a RBF. Look up the meaning in slang if you have to. "A goddess tasked me to take care of you. And so I had to put off going to Camp Jupiter." She started to climb into the van.
"Oh," was all I was able to say. My mind felt like it was malfunctioning. I thought she was in the dark about who her godly mother is like me. She knew who she was. She knew what I was before I even knew.
"Look Adin, it was good to see you and thanks for the rescue. But now I have duties to fulfill with the Legion," she didn't look at me when she spoke. Instead she closed the van door.
I was standing there looking at the van. Everyone else was saying there goodbyes. Frank and Hazel go into the van as well. Then they left us there. Sydney left me yet again.
"Seriously?That's the girl we were on a quest to rescue?" I heard Glen come up behind me. "She has a little bit of a beak nose," he continued
I turned around and saw Sabrina next to him. She punched him in the arm, to which he just took the punch with no response. "Shut up Glen, that's so rude!" She scolded him.
She turned to me with a soft, nervous expression."How'd it go?" Sabrina asked me.
My mouth was still open. I was still trying to process that Sydney knew I was a half-blood this entire time. During the entire time I was holding her back from going to Camp Jupiter. "She knew I was a half-blood when we were in highschool. This entire time she knew! She told me she was tasked to protect me".
I felt like I had dropped a bombshell. Or at the very least I set off a very awkward small firework. Both Glen and Sabrina looked away with eyes wide open. Sabrina started to rub her neck. If Glen had a better sense of humor I think he would have started to whistle like in a cartoon too. Both of them didn't know what to say to me now.
"So now what? They left us here" I asked out loud.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Percy walk up to us. "I talked to the others before they left. Todays only the 29th. Tomorrow's your deadline. The rest of the campers don't know what's going on.."
Annabeth chimed in. "What Percy's trying to say is that the whole revolution rumor thing was a secret. So we think it's best for you three to show up at camp before the summer campers arrive. Our Iris messages are working again, I tested it before we left to rescue Sydney. I talked to Chiron and he will be expecting you three."
"We'll take you to the airport," Percy winked at us as he wrapped his arm around his friends.
"What about you guys?" I asked the trio.
"Unfortunately for us someone's on a 'no fly list'," Grover said, eyeing Percy.
"We'll take the train back to New York and meet you guys in a couple of days," Percy said.
"Cool. Just please promise me we're not flying chariot airlines".
