"Annabeth, get down!"
Chaos is swirling all around me–monsters are roaring, arrows are flying, and Thalia's lightning is shooting through the sky.
I dodge yet another spike from Dr. Thorn. This started out as a relatively simple mission; why did the Hunters have to get involved?
"Why did we even have to go on this mission?" I yell at Thalia.
"Because Kassandra couldn't do it without us and dragged us along." She screams back.
"Stop whining. You wanted to come along. You love to fight Sparky!" Kassandra laughs as she bobs and weaves through the barrage of flying spikes.
"At least I'm pulling my weight, Kelpie! Is that exhaustion I'm seeing on your face?" Thalia calls back with a grin.
"I'm surrounded by idiots." I think as I evaluate the situation.
"Watch out!" I yell as I drag Kassandra behind a rock, barely avoiding a barrage of spikes.
"This fight is becoming very one-sided." I breathe out.
"Yeah," Kassandra says, eyeing the Hunters. She taps my shoulder as she starts to speak."Why aren't the Hunters shooting at him anymore?" She says with an intense look at the tree line.
"What? That can't be right." I say, looking back.
There they are. hiding behind rocks and trees. Something about this feels wrong.
"The mighty hunters don't hide." I think sarcastically.
"They're just sitting there. Why are they just sitting there?" Kassandra wonders aloud. Her breath rising into the air in tiny puffs of white. It's only then that I realise how unnaturally cold it is.
"Cold?" I say. "It's the middle of July…."
"What are you talking about?" Kassandra says, looking at me like I'm crazy.
"Do you feel that?" I ask as a sudden mist rolls into the valley, cascading over the cliff like a waterfall of pure cold. The wind stops. The sea is no longer smashing against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Even Doctor Thorn has stopped overwhelming us with his attack. It's as if for a moment, the whole world has stopped to feel the heavy chill roll along its spine.
"Ok svá sá veiða fastr"
And just like that, pandemonium erupts. Animals start screeching as an ice-cold wind picks up. The waves from below us, now almost hitting the cliff's upper edges. Tiny droplets of water hit my skin and froze at the moment of contact.
"What's happening?" I scream at Kassandra, all thoughts of the Hunt's weird behaviour gone from my head.
"I don't know. But I think I know where it's coming from." She says, as she frantically points to the cliff. As I look over, I see the snow and wind all converging on one spot. Energy shooting like a beam from the ground.
And there, in the eye of the storm, stands a man.
Everyone holds their breath as we wait to see what will happen. Wait to see what he will do. But it is not he who moves first.
"Who are you? How dare you! How dare you interfere in the duties of Olympus!" A voice sounds out from behind me.
No, it's not him who speaks. There she stands. The Goddess of the hunt. With a regal poise, she stands in front of him. As if no one has ever stood against her.
"She who runs along the wolves." He says, without so much as looking at her. "I am not here for you." As he talks, he starts walking to Doctor Thorn. Snow gathering near his hands as he walks. "I… am here for you." He says, as from the snow, he pulls a giant axe. "Svelta, creature. The Bági ulfs commands it."
"The Bági ulfs? What is the Bági ulfs?" I ask, immediately regretting it when he looks at me. I shrink away under his icy gaze. The intense aura of cold pushing me down. "This is a man who just denied the gaze of a goddess." I try to make myself as tiny as possible until I feel a hand on my shoulder. Looking up I see the deepest blue eyes I have ever seen.
"Never disparage when your questions are just."
As he stands there, I get to take a good look at him. He's tall. Too tall. His arms and neck are covered in tattoos. They look almost like…. runes? And on his back is the axe. A boat with two arrows crossed over it on the axe head. The edges rimmed with…. red? No, not red. Blood….
As I look down I see the head of the Manticore gripped in his hand.
I scream as I fall back on the ground. I try to look back at him.
And on his face, there's a smile.
I sigh when he looks away from me, slowly moving to stand in front of the goddess.
"Leave, little veiði-kona. Go to your father. tell him of He who walks among the Fjalltindr."
Then he was gone. Only one sentence hung in the air, as he disappeared in a swirl of snow.
"You will need me in what's to come."