So excited by this update!
Warnings:
A. Dangerous creature - description of a wraith
B. Gun violence (onscreen)
C. Character death (yes, it's Harry)
Vibe: Rush by The Score
The Romans were already readying their battle axes. Clarisse rallied a few Greeks to get ahead of the situation. Jason, and funnily enough, Thalia were doing their best to crowd-control.
Annabeth was still trying to figure out what Percy had written on the page. Hestia (or rather, Vesta) had said she'd sent the Spirit of Delphi to an old home. A place Percy had recognised, so it couldn't be the old temple at Delphi…
Percy's old home.
Which was also Harry's.
Annabeth straightened up the mirror and called out, "Ron Weasley!"
Her reflection warped and instantly changed to reveal the tall, pale, and freckle-faced Ron. He raised his mirror, watching her wide-eyed. His background was a busy office, with paper airplanes flying around.
"Annabeth?" he asked, surprised.
"Ron! Where did Percy and Harry live? Like, before Harry went to Hogwarts?!"
"Where did… uh, London. No, they were on the outskirts… Surrey? Yeah, Surrey!"
"Where's that?" Annabeth asked, a lump in her throat.
"50 kilometers, south-west from London," Ginny rattled, popping in from the side. She shoved Ron's face away and frowned at Annabeth and the chaos brewing in the background.
"Did they live in a private place?" Annabeth asked, angling the mirror away from the Greeks and Romans. "Like an HOA community?"
Ginny blinked, confused. Ron pushed her aside. "What's HOA?"
"You guys don't have that?" Annabeth asked, jealous. "Lucky."
"Privet Drive's no community," Ron promised.
Annabeth clamped her mouth shut.
That's what Percy had written!
Harry apparated to Privet Drive with a surprised Nico.
"Urgh!" Nico complained, yanking his arm away. "I thought we're going to camp! Why are we here? Where is here?"
Harry hardly heard him. Too busy gawking at the loss of magical wards around houses 3 and 4. The hairs on his arms stood on their ends and he knew the wraith was free to escape.
"Rachel?" Nico asked, stunned at the sight of the Oracle behind them. "You… wait, it's not you."
Harry turned to glare at her. "What did you do?!"
The Spirit of Delphi sat on the pavement and stretched out her legs, ready for a show. She grinned up at Harry and Nico. "I'm trying this new thing called 'taking direct action'. It's refreshing."
Harry growled, "Where's Percy?!"
She nodded at No. 3. Harry gritted his teeth and marched inside.
The dead yard greeted him. White mist emerged out his mouth. Harry brought out his wand and spelled the door open. It swung and banged against the wall. The entire house shuddered from the momentum.
Nico snatched his wrist.
"There's something… something here. It's not a ghost!" he whispered, deadly pale.
Harry swallowed down a bitter taste. "It's a wraith. My wraith."
Nico stared in disbelief.
"I died here for the first time," Harry murmured, "—and left behind a not-so-friendly imprint. I'll handle it. You get Percy."
They descended into the cellar.
Percy was crouched down, his head in his hands. His fingers dug into his scalp, clumps of hair gripped tightly. His face was screwed up in pain. The veins in the back of his neck glowed illuminating the colourless face of the demonic thing holding him.
Harry and Nico had their weapons pointed at the wraith. It was an opaque, white-limbed creature that disturbingly resembled a young child-like Harry. Nico raised his sword.
"Get away from him," Harry said carefully.
The wraith snarled. Its face twisted into a mangled shape, all humanoid traces falling. The mouth split apart at the corners as its jaw unhinged. It opened its gaping mouth to show pointed teeth and a forked tongue.
Harry lowered his wand but the wraith's body shifted. Its legs elongated and its arms grew long enough for its knuckles to brush the cemented floor. It crouched down and glared at Harry with bulbous black eyes, gleaming in the darkness.
It leaped into the air, lunging for Harry. But he was faster. Harry grabbed its collar, swung the wraith's grotesque body above him, and slammed him into the floor.
Nico rushed past him and skidded to his knees in front of Percy who was panicking and gasping for shallow breaths.
"HAYDN!" Harry shouted, but the wraith roared back, incensed and enraged. Its claws nearly raked Harry's face. He jumped back, his grip leaving it and Haydn leaped again.
The problem with this plan was that between a glowing, hyperventilating Percy and a snarling, monstrous Haydn, the most dangerous thing in the cellar was not the wraith.
Nico tried to hold onto Percy's wrist but released it immediately. He leaped back with a startled yelp and clutched his burning, blistering hand. His sword clattered to the floor.
Percy cried in pain, his hands clawing at his own head.
"He burned me!" Nico shouted in terror.
Harry blasted the wraith to the other side of the cellar, spinning around at Nico's yell. He gasped at the sight of Nico's forearm.
It had gone a terrible dark flaky consistency. Percy's hand had left his skin withered and devoid of moisture entirely.
"The light thing!" Nico moaned in pain. "It's like fire and electricity! It just torched my hand!"
"Plasma?" Harry whispered, yanking Nico away. He tried to draw the pain away from Nico's arm, but it burned his palms. The quickest he could do was contain the festering agony till Nico could stand without support.
"Torpere!" Harry cast the short but strong charm over the flaking skin. Nico sighed in relief, slumping against him.
Percy lost control of the light.
An arc of energy blasted from Percy's hands. The cellar lit up in a devilish scene and Harry barely managed to shove himself and Nico backwards to avoid the explosion. Blue light slammed into the wall and ate up the cement and bricks. It burrowed a hole underground and dissipated only after eating away the earth.
Harry and Nico were frozen against the corner for a moment too long.
Percy managed to catch his breath just as the wraith shoved debris aside and roared again.
"No!" Harry yelled but the wraith grabbed a rusted, broken tub from the corner and flipped it over. It flew at Harry who blew it to bits in midair.
Haydn used the distraction to claw its way towards Percy.
Percy gasped, bright light building from his chest again. Instead of standing his ground, he turned and scrambled into the hole in the wall.
The wraith chased after him like a demented white spider and Harry leaped to catch its ankle.
It screeched and turned back to dig its long curved claws into Harry shoulder.
"Incarcerous!" Harry shouted. Ropes flew out of his wand and wrapped themselves tightly around the wailing wraith. They lifted it off of Harry's body, dragging the creature to a corner as it struggled and shrieked.
"Nico!" Harry yelled hoarsely. "Call Mrs. O'Leary! Get to camp and tell them what's happening! Someone needs to find that pithos!"
Nico groaned, stumbling to his feet.
Harry threw himself into the impromptu underground tunnel and military-crawled at least ten feet.
He reached the other side, right into the cellar of the neighbouring house.
Percy had collapsed by the stairs, twitching and curling up. His eyes were shut and he was breathing with the occasional hitch in his chest.
"Percy!" Harry gasped in relief. "Did it get you? Did it hurt you?"
Both boys were covered in dirt from the tunnel. Cold perspiration gathered around them and Harry scooted closer to sit on the last step of the staircase to check Percy's pulse.
"I think it's a panic attack," Harry said. "I'm right here, Percy. We're going to get through this one moment at a time. I'm going to hold your hand."
But Percy shook his head, shuddering. He curled up tighter, pulling away from Harry.
"You won't hurt me," Harry said carefully. "I think all you had to do was get it out of your system. You already disintegrated a tunnel here. It should get better now."
But it didn't seem like it. Percy's temples were beaded in sweat. He was struggling to hold back the energy. Harry was harshly reminded of Ginny, back in the hospital, nearly a full year ago. He recalled how she burned the place down because she could no longer control the fire from her core.
Harry steeled himself. "All Nico needs is a bit of ambrosia and he'll be right as rain. Stay with me, Pepe. Keep breathing."
It was hard. Percy's lips moved but he couldn't say a word. Every gasp turned his lungs over from the shock. Harry told him he didn't have to speak, that others would handle the pithos and the Spirit and all Percy had to do was catch his breath.
It might even have worked had the door to the cellar not flown open. Bright light and open air spilled over both boys.
Harry turned around and found himself staring up the barrel of a gun.
"You…" Petunia Dursley hissed, her sharp eyes burning holes into Harry's head, "—have some nerve breaking into my house!"
The wraith fell quiet when Nico held his sword close to its face.
"On your feet," Nico hissed. "Now!"
Haydn snarled under his breath. Nico breathed, unable to believe this. A real wraith. They were one a million. And Harry had managed to create one years ago?
The wraith's body shifted and shrunk. The bone-thin long limbs shortened and he fell back into the form of a very young child. He could pass for a real human boy.
A dead human boy. His skin was way too grey.
Harry's ropes held well. The wraith grumbled under its/his breath, arms still pinned to his side by the ever-tightening ropes.
Nico held his damaged arm close to his chest. Harry had cast a numbing charm, but his whole arm tingled from the initial shock of pain. They trudged out of the decrepit house only to find Lee Lee appearing out of the shadows…
Along with a dozen demigods.
What a sight. The most boring, M&M place on earth was now getting a full dose of supernatural presence for the first time since Harry Potter moved away. No wonder all the Muggles were inconspicuously staying behind their doors.
"Oomph!" Nico slipped down the webby porch steps and landed on his butt.
"Nico!" Bianca called, leaping right over the picket fence. "What happened?!"
"Gods, your arm!" Annabeth gasped.
"It's fine," Nico groaned.
"It's not fine!" Bianca scolded. She reached him and dropped to her knees to examine his arm closely. Lee Lee also stopped in front of Nico, sniffing madly around him.
Jason, Reyna, and the Romans scanned the sunny but cold roads of Privet Drive. The Greeks stared up at the rundown house, unable to figure out what was wrong with it.
"Where's Jackson?" Reyna asked. "And Pandora's jar?"
She and the others approached the house, but it was Hazel who sucked in a breath and pointed in a completely different direction.
"There! She has it!"
The gang looked up in anticipation, only to find Rachel's body waving from across the street. The Spirit of Delphi let her amusement known, making her eyes glow green and her smile grow wicked. She got to her feet and slung an arm through the clay handle of the jar, letting it dangle from her elbow like a posh handbag.
"Great!" Thalia said through her teeth. "We gotta deal with this piece of work!"
Jason grew worried. "Isn't that… isn't she your Oracle?"
Annabeth turned back to Nico. "Where's Percy?"
Nico winced as the wraith snarled from inside the house. All the demigods raised their weapons, startled. Lee Lee growled back, raising her terrifying hackles.
"Maybe don't mention his name around it," Nico said.
Bianca stared up in horror. "Is that a wraith?"
The air behind Nico went cold as the wraith shuffled to the door, still bound in unforgiving ropes. It scowled at them, daring them to approach the house.
Annabeth swallowed. "I've seen him before. The first time I was here, he was in this house, just staring out the window."
Nico found this odd. He had no idea Annabeth had been to this painfully mortal neighbourhood before. He was about to say something but that's when he spotted the Spirit of Delphi checking Rachel's watch.
… when did she even put on a watch?
The back of his neck pricked.
"Where's Potter?" Jason asked, eyes darting from the spirit to the house.
The wraith bared its human teeth, clearly loathing his creator's name.
"Do not attack us!" Bianca barked at it.
Nico leaned forwards and answered Jason, "Pe… er, Jackson needed a breather. Harry's with him. They should be out soon. He's not doing too well."
"Who? Harry?"
"No."
Reyna frowned. "Then we split up. Half of us will escort the Oracle and the jar back to camp. The others can wait for Jackson and Potter. And also handle that."
She nodded at the wraith who growled low in its chest.
Nico was still staring at the Spirit of Delphi. She was still eyeing her watch.
He didn't like this—
Multiple pops snapped around the demigods. The air flickered right before long-robed wizards apparated into Privet Drive, armed with wands and scowls.
Instantly, everyone was shouting.
"Unauthorised apparition! You are in violation of code S268—"
"What the Hades?!"
"Is that a class XXX creature?!"
"Lee Lee, don't eat them!"
"Stand down! I said, stand down! Weapons down!"
"You put your breakable sticks away!"
"WE WON'T ASK AGAIN!"
"You were ordering not asking!"
"Get back up!"
More than twenty wizards surrounded the demigods. Lee Lee howled into the air only to get hit by a horde of fiery stunning spells.
Bianca shrieked, bringing out her bow and shooting arrows at their wand arms.
She got several in one go. At least six wizards dropped their wands. Arrows with silver fletching stuck out of their arms as they staggered in shock.
Thunder rumbled as both Thalia and Jason growled like real wolves, bringing out swords. The others followed their lead, standing back to back to face several witches and wizards who'd now formed a wall around them.
Nico, Bianca, and Annabeth were accosted by five other wizards who yelled several warnings. Bianca raised her bow again and Annabeth tried to shout over the chaos.
Nico tried to summon the shadows, but the exertion made his burned arm flare up sickeningly. His head spun and he collapsed on the ground.
From his low and dizzying vantage point, he saw Bianca get struck down by the red beam. Annabeth disappeared from view and almost instantly, two of the witches attacking them were knocked out by her invisible fists.
Nico was panting now, panic bubbling up his throat. He rolled his head over to watch Rachel's body across the street, past the screaming, flashing lights, and swinging blades.
Delphi's Spirit caught his eyes. She smiled.
"Au…" Harry hesitated. "Petunia, please put the gun down."
"Do you even know what's happening outside?" Petunia snapped. The rifle was scarily steady in her arms. Her eyes stayed trained on his and Harry had to de-escalate the situation, which sucked because he liked to stay back and watch the Dursleys make things worse.
"Percy's in trouble," Harry said, struggling to keep his voice low. "I just need to get him calm and I'll leave."
Petunia narrowed her eyes and oh, how Harry hated it when she did that. Like everything in the world was his fault and he deserved all the punishments and time outs even when he never understood—
"Your people are all outside, making flashes and bangs!" Petunia said in a warning tone. "They cut my hedges clean off!"
"I'll fix it!" Harry hissed.
"Why is he glowing?!" Petunia suddenly said, staring at Percy, disgusted.
Harry groaned. "You're scaring him!"
Percy was trying to say something. His lips kept moving and he struggled to suck in deeper pulls of air.
"I knew it!" Petunia said grimly. "Every time something freakish happens, it's always you!"
"I don't know who's outside!" Harry said, glaring back at her. "But I need to get Percy away—"
"He's afraid of you."
"He's afraid of the gun!"
"You did something to him, didn't you?"
"Are you even listening to me?!"
"Boy!" Petunia yelled. "Did he hurt you?"
"You could at least say his name!" Harry snarled.
Percy groaned out loud. "Can't… breathe…"
He faltered. "Please tell me you have your inhaler?! Please, please—"
Harry pulled out his moleskin pouch from around the neck and rifled through it desperately. "Accio inhaler!"
The little device jumped into his hand. Harry pulled Percy up by the collar, propping his back to Harry's front. He lifted Percy's heavy head to guide the inhaler into his mouth and pumped it once.
Eyes still squeezed shut, Percy hacked the gas, moaning in pain.
"Again!" Harry said, praying it would work. "You have to breathe it in, Percy! Again!"
CLICK.
Harry glanced up and found Petunia's rifle aimed at his temple.
No way, no bloody way—
The world exploded and Harry was gone.
Nyx.
Gunshot.
Primogenitor.
Blood sprayed over his face.
Goddess of the night sky.
Harry collapsed, half his head blown apart.
Her faceless void offered three gleaming bracelets to revive the dead bodies of Sally Jackson, Harry Potter, and Percy Jackson.
Percy tasted Harry's blood in his mouth.
The shade of Lily Potter watched from the shadows.
Percy's heart should have stopped along with Harry's.
"Do you know what it felt like seeing you dead? I was ready to give up. It was the worst feeling I've ever had! If Voldemort had tried to kill me next, I would have let him!"
Percy admitted this after the lethal aftermath of the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort had tried to cast the killing curse on Percy who was pushed aside at the last moment by Harry.
"Why did you do it?"
"What would you have done in my place?"
Had Percy ever sacrificed his life for Harry? He couldn't recall any moment like that. It was always Harry who threw everything aside to rush to Percy's aid. The only time he literally couldn't was during the Battle of Manhattan when he had a concussion and couldn't apparate.
So he spent the day supporting Sally while she gave birth.
"I had the sense of wanting to leave the both of you."
"But you didn't."
Harry revealed his feelings about the moment Percy and Annabeth had water-travelled from Long Island to Surrey, where Harry had stumbled upon them. Percy abandoned him.
Sally staying with Gabe to keep Percy under the radar.
DJ pushing Percy away from the killing curse.
Annabeth taking the knife for Percy.
Tyson shielding Percy's body with his own against the Drakon's venom.
Nico burning his hand trying to help Percy.
Harry always staying, protecting, never abandoning.
Why did Percy allowing everyone do this for him? He only made things worse. If these were the downsides to immortality, Percy didn't want it.
If people had to keep hurting and dying while Percy stayed alive, it wasn't worth it.
No.
Percy would never let them do that again. He'd left Harry behind once. It had taken him years to find his way back. Despite being frustrated, Harry didn't hate him for it. Percy'd fought with DJ so much only for him to turn around and sacrifice himself for Percy.
Never again.
It didn't matter if he burned. The world would not pay for Percy's shortcomings.
You're gonna have to wait, Nyx. Right now, Harry needed help. Percy would find him.
"Fifteen arrests?"
"Yes, Madam."
"Crimes?"
"Illicit group apparation into a Muggle community. They possessed several magical items including weapons of enchanted metal. They also attacked us. We had to call in two separate reserve groups to apprehend them."
"I see. A group apparation, you say?"
"Yes, Madam. They had no portkeys. But… well, Vance thinks it's not apparation."
"Emmeline always did have a flight for the fancy."
"She thinks it has something to do with the shadow boy, di Angelo."
"... he was with this group?"
"He seems to know them, Madam. But he claims Harry Potter brought him via side-along apparation."
"Of course, Potter's involved. What's his cockamamy excuse?"
"He's dead, Madam."
"Again?"
"Yes, we checked. Here's his wand."
"Best lock it up. COD?"
"A Muggle weapon. It launched a small metal cylinder at an incredible speed at his head."
"Sounds dastardly. Perpetrator?"
"His aunt."
"A… Muggle?"
"Yes, she 'shot' him. Vance calls it a G-S-W."
"And this weapon has genuinely killed Potter?"
"Yes. The blood spray was conclusive. Plus the grey matter. And the skull fragments."
"Utterly tragic. He will be missed for the next few weeks, I suppose."
"I… I don't think so."
"!"
*Gulp*
"Excuse me?"
"He… he's already healing. 'Regenerating' was what Vance said."
"Emmeline seems to know quite a bit about this. Detain her with the paperwork. "
"We're short on officers. Many of them are in the Med Wing suffering from lightning burns."
"Lightning… what else did you find?"
"Two creatures on the threat list. One is triple-X and the other quadruple-X. A Cerberus and a wraith."
"Oh my."
"We sedated the Cerberus hound. di Angelo insists she is friendly."
"And the wraith?"
"Not friendly, we're very sure. However, it's bound in ropes that we've been unable to remove. Also, it listens to limited people."
"Who?"
"di Angelo and Rachel Dare. But she's not exactly herself right now."
"Ah. Thank you for speaking to me, John."
"Yes. One other thing. We also found this."
THUD!
"... I see."
"We can use it as bait. The di Angelo boy was furious when we took it away. He tried to get us to call Ms. Jackson."
"Do not involve her! Did he hide something inside it?"
"Possibly. We were unable to open it. But… see for yourself."
Tap, tap, tap.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
*GASP*
"There's something inside it, Madam."
"I shall test it. Reducio."
"Er… none of our spells work on it."
"Is it heavy?"
"Quite. It's almost as though…"
"Almost what?!"
"Almost as though someone is sitting inside the urn."
"... I see. And where did you put Potter?"
"In the morgue, Madam."
Annabeth woke up on the floor.
She jerked awake, searching for her Yankees cap, knife, hidden blades, mirror… all gone!
Bianca was lying beside her, similarly knocked out and divested of her weapons. Her silver circlet glowed angrily.
Everyone was sprawled over the floor of large jail cells. Annabeth scanned the hall. It resembled a police station, except there were no other prisoners. No windows or doors either. The walls were made of grey and black blocks while the floor was dirty white panelling.
The campers were divided into two groups. Annabeth counted the familiar faces. Only Harry and Lee Lee were missing.
The Spirit of Delphi was standing in one corner of the cell. Harry's wraith, still bound in ropes, stuck close by to her. The both of them watched Annabeth quietly.
She decided not to address that. Thankfully, someone else was awake.
"Nico?" Annabeth said, sitting up with a wince.
He was in the adjacent cell. He lay on the floor with his back propped up on Jason's legs. He was holding his right arm close, staring with wide eyes at Percy.
Annabeth's boyfriend was hunched over in the corner. His face was twisted like he was putting all his effort into some invisible task. He kept his muttering to himself. Shimmering beads of sweat dripped from his temple.
Nico whispered, "His face was covered in blood."
Annabeth stifled a gasp. She checked him out as closely as she could but couldn't see any wound.
"It was Harry's," Nico answered. "It evaporated in minutes."
"It… what evaporated?"
"The blood!"
Annabeth eyed Percy, horrified. Why had Harry's blood been on his face in the first place?
"He keeps glowing and breaking things," Nico said, worriedly. "I think he's trying to control it."
'Trying' was the keyword. Even as Annabeth watched, Percy's veins gleamed blue light through his skin before fading.
"Breaking things?" Annabeth whispered.
"The seat. He disintegrated it."
Annabeth's head spun. Every jail cell had a long metal seat attached to the wall. Thalia was unconscious on the seat in Annabeth's cell. The others were empty in their respective cells.
But the wall in Percy and Nico's cell was empty. A long, thin rectangular shape was etched in the wall, where the seat probably protruded from. Dust lay on the floor below it.
Annabeth had witnessed Percy fight the Minotaur during the Battle of Manhattan. He won without his sword. He turned the monster into dust using the vicious light.
Plasma, Harry and Rachel had once suggested. Like Percy was a nuclear reactor going super-critical and ionising the very air. As though Percy was radioactive enough to put the Hulk and Godzilla to shame.
No, Percy wasn't radioactive. Like Triton said, he was simply drawing moisture from objects. From jail seats and Minotaurs. Practically everything in the world had water content. Percy could reduce anyone and anything to dust.
And if he didn't get this power under control, Annabeth, Nico, and all the unconscious demigods were in danger.
Fantastic. They were arrested without weapons and Percy was liable to kill everyone in the building. Annabeth wondered what other people did on their Saturdays.
Delphi's Spirit checked her watch. Nico glared at her and hissed, "Did you get us arrested on purpose?!"
Her glowing eyes found his. Nico and Annabeth shivered.
"Yes," the spirit said. "Running out of time."
"Time for what?"
The spirit glanced over at Percy, still struggling in the wall corner. Then she patted the wraith's head and said, "Stick to me."
It/he nodded. Annabeth couldn't get over it. Why was this undead non-being so meek? Was it truly terrified of the Oracle?
A large space of innocuous wall outside the cells transformed. The bricks birthed a door in the middle solidifying an exit. It opened and three adults walked in. The door morphed back into an impenetrable wall behind them.
Two men and a woman approached the cells. They wore office clothes, unlike the Aurors who had stupified all the demigods from a distance, those cowards.
The woman ran a check over the prisoners in cells, gaze landing on Rachel, the wraith, and Percy. Then she glanced at Annabeth and Nico.
She threw her hands in the air. "Wonderful! You've detained children! And why is there a wraith in the cell with them?!"
Both men were startled. "We tried to separate them, Madam Bones! But the Potter girl said it'll behave with her!"
The woman was perhaps in her fifties. Annabeth tried to get a read on her. She actually seemed annoyed that they were locked in cells.
"You!" she barked, now recognising Nico. "You're the boy… the one from the train!"
Nico gawked. "Uh, what?"
"You had the black sword," the woman said, surprised. "You killed the Acromantulae and apparated several students to the clinic!"
"That! Yeah, I did."
"You're Sally Jackson's nephew?" she clarified.
"Yeah," Nico confirmed. "Who are you?"
"Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE," she said brusquely. "Are these your companions?"
"Yes! We all got attacked for doing literally nothing—"
The tiles cracked with a resounding noise. Annabeth flinched and some of the demigods even woke up. Thalia groaned, clutching her head. Bianca and Jason were next. The others began to stir.
But Nico shushed them. "Careful! Ethan, get away from him!"
Ethan Nakamura raised his head, confused and scowling. But he immediately found the danger and scrambled away.
Percy's jacket was disintegrating. It pulled apart like taffy and turned to dark wisps that settled on the floor. The tiles and bricks around him split under his palms.
Percy fell forwards and grabbed a cell bar with his dangerous hand. The iron bars splintered, flecks of metal flying away.
The wizards drew out their wands.
"Whoa!" one of them shouted. "Hold on, you're not allowed to break out!"
Percy groaned. One hand had ripped out some of his hair. The other hand clutched the iron bar and tore it away from the cell entirely.
Annabeth gaped at the radiance from his skin, eating at the bar. It turned the iron into dust in seconds. He stumbled to his feet. Eyes screwed shut, Percy squeezed out of the gap he'd made in the bars.
"Stupefy!" the Auror yelled.
"Wait!" Bones shouted.
"No!" Annabeth shrieked.
The hex slammed into Percy, lifting him and throwing him several feet away and against the wall.
It didn't knock him out.
Percy fell to the ground on his hands and feet. He growled, raising his head to literally glower at the suddenly petrified wizard with shining blue eyes.
"Run," Thalia advised.
The demigods watched the wizards dive out of the way to avoid an actual laser beam from Percy's hands. It was hot as fire, sizzling the air and driving up the temperature.
The beam blew a hole through the large wall, eating the bricks and magic infused in the holding area. Annabeth pulled a dazed Bianca away as everyone scrambled back to goggle at the devastation. The light barely grazed their cells but the iron bars were already melting and deteriorating from the power.
"Percy!" Nico yelled. "You need to get it together!"
The beam cut off abruptly and Percy swayed on his feet. He didn't even seem exhausted. He was panting, likely ready for another blast. But he leaned against Annabeth's cell and the bars splintered into bits at his touch.
That was the problem. He did not have it under control.
Most of the bars of their cells crumbled into dust right before Annabeth's eyes. She sat up, running through all the things that could possibly calm Percy down. Sally, Kimmy, cookies, pancakes, surfing?
But the Spirit of Delphi spoke first.
"The morgue," she said, her quiet voice echoing in the suddenly silent hall. "Take an elevator from the Atrium."
Annabeth stared. Nico swore under his breath.
The wraith stepped out from behind the Oracle and peered up at Percy, unafraid. Percy blinked hard. A silent connection went through them.
Percy reached out and poked at the thick ropes binding the wraith's body. His index finger lit up and blazed the coils like it was steel wool. The ropes withered into smoke and the wraith grinned happily like a child discovering their favourite person.
Then Percy slowly walked away.
He moved carefully, slamming his feet down on the floor and sending hairline fractures with each step. His sneakers peeled, melting and disintegrating till he burning entirely. Every movement took an unbelievable effort like he was holding all that power inside him for a reason.
All wixens and demigods watched him leave, gobsmacked.
The Spirit of Delphi breathed out a sigh of relief. She smiled at Amelia Bones and said, "Better evacuate quickly."
And she walked out of the holding area as well, with Haydn-the-wraith traipsing after her.
Is Percy gonna explode? What does the Spirit of Delphi plan to do? Why is the wraith following her? Will Harry wake up soon? All good questions, so stay tuned!
Cabba K.