Chapter 36: I Get Poisoned by a Butterfly

Percy struggled to ignore the butterflies that suddenly erupted in his stomach as the warmth from Annabeth's kiss on his cheek began to fade. Sure he had kissed a few other girls since he had come out of the ice, but they weren't her, and despite everything that had happened he couldn't deny that she still had some sort of hold on him. At some point, he was going to have to address the hurricane of emotions churning in his stomach, ranging from his dislike of Teddy to the promise he had made to Castle. But for now, he had skeleton bandits to fight, and for once he was grateful to be in danger.

"Stay up here," he told Annabeth, "If you're in danger, yell."

"A fool-proof strategy," she teased.

In response Percy merely rolled his eyes, hopping into a steady jog behind the streams of legionnaires that were heading towards the Field of Mars. As Percy arrived at the top of a hill on the outskirts of the Principia he was able to look down and see a black swarm of cavalry, descending down the Berkeley Hills in the direction of New Rome. The legion, rapidly assembling in the Field of Mars, was marching to intercept them.

At the rate they were going though, they would be too slow, and the invasion force would break New Romes's borders before the legion would arrive in time. A small defence force was being hastily assembled, but even from this distance Percy could make out that they were seniors and children, people either retired from the legion or too young to join.

Percy's fingers lingered on his thighs. He recalled the jungle on the island, where he had run until his thighs had felt like fire. He had seen tangible evidence of growth in his strength and reactions, but in terms of his speed, he couldn't be sure of how fast he actually was. While it would be nice to test it, he would be running headlong into a charging army. The indecision lasted until he found his eyes lingering on a young boy helping an older man strap his armour into place.

He reached out an arm, willing the nearest stream of water to shoot upwards and towards him, curling around him until a now familiar shiver down his spine froze the liquid in place, solidifying his armour in place. A heavy weight on his head signified that his helmet was complete, and with a deep breath, he set off into a sprint.

Percy pushed his body to the limit, every muscle building up to that familiar burn as he surged forward. The wind whipped against his eyes and lips, the rest of his face protected by the helmet. His legs became a blur beneath him just as soon as the environment around him began to distort. There was pain, no doubt about that, and his lungs fought for air as he hurtled across the landscape, but just as the pain came it seemed to abate. A constant fire immediately doused by the icy armour around him, lending him strength. As he ran his body seemed to adapt, his aching muscles stretching to accommodate the extra speed and tear. But as he looked out towards his destination, he realised that even with his increased speed he wouldn't make it in time. There was simply too much ground to cover and the attackers had the advantage of being on horseback.

That being said, his fight against Ishtar had given him an idea. He poured on more and more speed until, with a roar of both exhilaration and rage, he broke his sprint in order to jump off the ground and towards the oncoming cavalry. The speed, coupled with the force of his kick-off from the ground, sent him flying into the air. The earth below him cracked under the force of the jump, sending shards of rock and dirt in an explosion around the point of impact. He wasn't focused on what was behind him though, he only had eyes for what was in front of him.

The cavalry force marched ever closer, and as Percy rose through the air he noted how the temperature continued to drop the closer they came. Not that he minded, he had learnt to enjoy the cold. The winds around him picked up speed, and the air became thick with the promise of battle. In the heart of New Rome battle horns blared, echoing through the city as a small number of garrisoned soldiers scrambled to man the walls and secure the gates. The ragtag defence force marshalled their forces and stood near the statue of Terminus. A desperate last stand against the horde. The skies above them darkened, and the warmth of the midday California sun gave way to something far colder. As they came into range Percy got his first look at the attackers.

What initially from a distance could have been mistaken for a rolling cloud of dust soon revealed itself to be something far worse. The figures at the front were twisted and skeletal, their bodies shimmering with unnatural light. They moved with an eerie, fluid grace, faster and more coordinated than any human army could have hoped to be with that much cavalry moving in unison. Their bones were dark and sharp, and they were adorned with armour that seemed to absorb the light around them, creating an unnatural shadow as they bore down on the city.

Their leader, indistinguishable from a distance, came into clear focus as Percy began his descent. A large figure with vast black wings that seemed to span the length of the cavalry charge. Their wings were edged with what looked like blades, and they cut through the air with a sound that sent shivers down the spine. They rode just behind the first row of the charge, and their face was partially obscured by a helm that glowed faintly.

Percy couldn't help the smile that broke out across his face. With all the uncertainty and frustration that had come with essentially coming back from the dead twenty years later, he could still rely on battle to give him a thrill.

He landed just ahead of the makeshift defence, directly in the path of the oncoming attack. The earth around him shattered as he landed, a spider web of cracks splintering out across the ground in all directions. As he emerged, decked in icy armour with eyes that glowed a faint blue, he began to understand what Annabeth had meant about people mistaking him for a god. If he had been in their place he would have believed one of the Olympians had descended from the heavens to protect them.

He fished Riptide out of his pocket as he began steadily walking towards the horde of skeletons. He uncapped the tip, appreciating the familiar weight of the blade as it expanded to its three-foot length.

The legion was closing in from the Field of Mars, and by the time they intercepted, they would trap the horde between themselves and New Rome. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they would be trapped between the legion and Percy. Percy tensed, ready to leap into action. He wasn't too worried about himself, but more so the hundreds of families that were standing behind him. The image of the young boy helping the old man in what would have been a desperate and doomed defence sprung to mind. There would be no unnecessary sacrifices today, Percy was done with allowing sacrifices he had the power to prevent.

It was as the horses bore down on him, as far on each side as Percy could see in his vision, that an idea took root in his head. Horses…just regular horses. Nothing special or skeletal about them. Percy grinned. He took a deliberate step forward, Riptide falling to his side, and stared down the charge. He took a deep breath and bellowed out…

"YIELD!"

The response was instantaneous. The horses, moments ago ready to run through him, pulled up with astonishing speed, halting the charge. The effect was not just on the first row either, the entire horde, numbering several hundred horses, pulled up short with startling speed. The riders, mid-war cry, now found themselves sitting idly as their horses began to kneel in front of Percy. They looked around in confusion, some of them slamming their heels into the horses' flanks in vain efforts to get them to stir. The horses, though, obeyed their prince.

A high pitch screech cut through the air, and Percy's eyes glanced behind the first row to where the leader hovered, their massive wings keeping them aloft with only the most marginal of efforts. They touched against the ground, and leapt over the first row of bowing horses, now standing face to face with Percy. Well…helmet to helmet was probably a closer approximation.

For the first time, Percy got a really good look at them. At first glance, they…no she had appeared to be almost human, but that illusion quickly faded as the details of her form became apparent. Her body was tall and regal, towering over Percy by a couple of feet, with an unnatural thinness that gave her the almost skeletal appearance of her raiders. Her skin was a deep obsidian black, smooth but with an almost metallic sheen, as if carved from glass. Her limbs were long and lithe, giving her an almost delicate look despite the terrifying appearance. As she moved, her joints seemed to crackle with energy, as though electricity inside of her was fighting to get out.

The parts of her face that Percy could see behind the helmet were the most striking parts of her appearance. Her eyes, if they could even be called that, were twin pools of glowing, shifting starlight, filled with a cold, emotionless light. They seem to look not just at you but through you, as if seeing into your deepest fears. Her mouth was small, with thin, cracked lips that had curled into a predatory snarl. Above her helmet a crown of jagged obsidian shards floated, each shard vibrating faintly as if charged with energy. Her armour was unlike anything he had seen before, formed from dark metals and covered in intricate designs that resembled a skeleton.

The most defining feature of her though was her wings. They were enormous, stretching out far behind her like shadows. Made of obsidian blades, they shimmer in the dim light of the darkened sun, each feather-like blade razor-sharp. When her wings moved, they created a haunting sound, like glass scraping against stone. The wings seemed to flicker in and out of sight, as if they existed partially in another world, their edges blurring with each movement.

They hissed something in a language that sounded an awful lot like gibberish to Percy, but nonetheless, it caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand at attention. She paused for a moment, waiting for Percy to respond, but as Percy simply stared blankly back at them, they tried again in a different language, a broken effort at Latin. Percy's Latin wasn't great to begin with, and with the thick accent and broken wording of the leader's speech Percy couldn't even piece together a few words to figure out what they were saying. He shrugged in response, and so the leader changed their language once more. This time broken Greek that Percy could actually recognise filtered out behind their mask.

"You…Greek…speak." she managed. Although heavily butchered, it was at least a way for Percy to communicate.

"I prefer English," Percy replied, "But Greek is fine."

"Why…Greek…here?"

In response, Percy willed the armour around his forearm to melt, and presented the leader with his SPQR tattoo, the mark for his year of service, and the trident symbol of his father.

She growled at the presentation of his connection to the Roman camp, and her dark eyes refocused on his face.

"Greek…Roman…enemy."

Percy smirked, "Your information is outdated."

She shook her head, "Trident…Poseidon…you."

Percy wasn't entirely sure what she was getting at, but every second he bought keeping her attention was precious time the legion needed to close the distance between them and the raiders. "I am Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and you are attacking people under my protection."

She snarled at that, taking several steps back and her eyes gaining a glow that pulsed red with rage, "Jackson…Ishtar…enemy!"

At the mention of Ishtar Percy felt his blood run hot. A shiver ran down his back and the water froze once more around his forearm. "You serve Ishtar?" he growled.

Her snarling lips turned into a smile, "We…serve…Enlil."

Riptide shook as he fought to keep his emotions in check, but based on the tremors in the ground he was feeling, he wasn't doing the best job. "What's your name?" he spat out.

Her smile twisted into a predatory grin at his reaction, "Why…care?"

Now it was Percy's turn to smile, but it held no mirth, "So I can know what to write on your obituary when I send your head to Ishtar on a platter."

Her smile faded, replaced once more by a snarl, "I…Itzpapalotl…you…die here!"

"Any last words, Its-papa-lot?" Percy offered, not having to try too hard to purposefully butcher the name.

Itzpapalotl snarled, her shadowy wings seeming to shrink closer to her as she turned and stepped towards the first line of her raiders. One of them raised its blade and drove it into the horse's neck. The horse fought halfheartedly, but the blow was a fatal one, and with a shuddering crash it collapsed to the ground. They knelt next to the slain horse and reached out a hand, a tendril of shadow circled her wrist before covering her hands. She laid it on the horse's head, between the eyes, and concentrated for a moment. The horse withered in front of them, seeming to decay as the flesh from its body simply fell away, leaving only a skeleton steed behind. As it did so the now dead horse rose from its position on the ground and once more followed the instruction of its rider.

She rose and turned back to him as all the raiders raised their weapons in unison, "Release…horse…all…dead."

Percy's chest tightened. The demonstration of power was chilling, but the threat was far worse. The horses were obeying him because he was their prince, and if he refused to release them from his command it would be a death sentence. Not only that, but it appeared that if he didn't release them, she would be able to reanimate them anyway.

"At ease," he growled under his breath, and the horses swiftly rose in a fluid motion starting from the front.

"Not…all-powerful," the woman, if she could be called that, cackled, "Not…god."

Percy raised Riptide, the trembling in his hand fading as cold fury flowed through him. She had just murdered a horse, reanimated it to attack the citizens of New Rome, served Enlil and Ishtar, and had the nerve to mock him while doing so. The legion needed to hurry because if they weren't quick there wouldn't be anyone left for them to fight.

He didn't give them any warning, any indication that battle was about to commence, he just leapt towards the leader, Riptide's bronze blade flashing through the air in a furious arc. He was fast, and any human would have been unable to react to him, but his opposition wasn't human. Itzy, as Percy had decided to name the skeletal butterfly bitch, darted out from under his swing, rolling away as the blade embedded itself in the ground. A storm of noise assaulted his ears as the cavalry resumed his charge, and so as he wrenched Riptide from the ground he turned his attention away from Itzy momentarily, turning the full weight of his focus to the horde bearing down on him.

The first skeletal warrior charged, its hollow eyes locked on him. With a delicate piece of footwork and flick of his wrist, Percy sidestepped the rider's obsidian sword and brought Riptide up in a swift arc. The blade sliced through the skeleton's armour and shattered the ribs underneath, but the rider seemed completely unfazed, spinning his horse once more and renewing his attack as the other riders began to close in on him. They came at him from all sides, the horses galloping, throwing up a spray of earth and dirt that made it difficult to see where the next attack was coming from. He let his instincts take over, years of combat honing his movements as he practically danced through the crowd of undead trying to kill him.

He ducked under a spear, twisted his body to avoid a sword strike, and then lashed out with Riptide. The celestial bronze blade cleaved through the nearest rider's spine, cutting the armour and the rider in two and Percy felt a smile grace his lips as they exploded into dust. They had a weakness, and he had just found it. Maybe they died, maybe they didn't, but whatever it was it got them the Hades away from him and New Rome. A sharp smack sounded as Percy whipped the flat of his blade against the now-free horse's rear, sending it skittering out and away from the horde.

A battlefield was almost always a storm of chaos, and this one was no different. Percy simply made himself the eye of that storm. He wished he could find his way to the outside, to check on the seniors and children that had only been standing a few yards behind him, but he needed to keep his focus on the swirling mass of the skeletal riders.

He leapt onto the back of another horse, beheading the rider before plunging Riptide into its spine. With an unceremonious kick, the headless and rapidly dissolving form disappeared into the spray of earth below. The horse bucked wildly, but Percy gripped its neck, and swiftly calmed it, the equine responding to the commands of its prince. With a swift kick into the sides of the horse, he returned to the fray. Riptide flashed in wide arcs, some strikes cleaving the rider in two while others were simply knocked away as more replaced them almost immediately. He cut through spears, blocked swords, and deflected arrows with precise ease. One of the rider's spears embedded itself into his horse's head, and with a growl he leapt towards the responsible rider, cutting them to pieces as he stole their horse from them.

A scream sounded out from somewhere behind him, a human scream, but he couldn't afford to look back. He just needed to hope that he could buy enough time for the legion to reinforce him. Another rider bore down on him, swinging a dark mace. Percy blocked the strike with Riptide, feeling the jarring impact travel up his arm, but he held firm. Honestly, the force impressed him. So far he had assumed they had had quantity but not much in quality. The force behind the next two mace strikes reinforced the notion that perhaps some of these riders weren't complete fodder. With a quick twist of the wrist, he knocked the mace aside and drove his sword into the rider's chest, dragging the blade up until it ripped the spine in two, exploding the skeleton in a burst of dark powder.

A blow he hadn't seen caused the horse beneath him to buckle and crumble, and Percy leapt off, rolling to his feet just in time to notice a spear shatter on impact with his ice armour. He spun, driving Riptide into his attacker's skull, splitting it in two. He was ripping through them, but for every rider he struck down three more were surging to replace them. On top of that, he had lost sight of Itzy.

He carved a path through a couple more, only to perceive a warhammer being brought down on his head. He calmly sidestepped and went to return with a swing of his own, but the rider exploded into dust before he could. Through the dust a figure in Roman-style armour emerged, wielding a lengthy gladius in short but clean swings. They were fast, their movements cutting through the riders almost as smoothly as Percy's, but he was slower, and on top of that he was having to constantly go on the defensive, dodging and parrying the attacks that seemed to be raining down on all sides.

Percy waltzed through the sea of horses towards him, and with an almost lazy swing deflected a sword strike that was going straight for the legionnaires neck. The legionnaire turned with speed and returned the rider the favour, his gladius shearing the skeleton in half through a chink in the armour. He followed through with that swing and snapped an incoming spear in half. Percy stepped beside him, grabbing the half of the spear the rider was still holding and hauled them off the horse and onto the ground. The legionnaire wasted no time removing the rider's head from their body.

The two moved in sync as if they'd fought together for years. Percy ducked under a spear thrust, driving Riptide upward and cleaving through the skeletal rider's sternum. He turned in time to see the Roman move just as smoothly, his gladius flashing as he parried a strike from another skeletal warrior, then quickly riposted, taking down the rider with a precise stab through the back of the armour into the spine.

But as good as the legionnaire was, Percy quickly realised the Roman was slightly outmatched, the sheer speed and chaos of the battle beginning to overwhelm him. Percy, having unfortunately had years of experience with battles as chaotic and outnumbered as this one, found himself instinctively covering the legionnaire's blind spots. As another wave of riders came at them, Percy's instincts kicked in. Two cavalry warriors swung simultaneously at the Romans from both sides. Percy stepped in quickly, deflecting one blow with Riptide and slashing the second rider's sword arm clean off before spinning to parry another strike aimed at Roman's neck.

"Thanks," the legionnaire grunted, not missing a beat as he took down the rider Percy had just disarmed, shattering its ribcage with a brutal slash.

"Don't mention it," Percy replied, "I appreciate the help!" Despite having to cover the Romans's blindspots here and there, he was impressed by their skill overall. The Roman fought with a calm, disciplined precision. Every strike measured, every movement calculated. But while they were a formidable opponent who could handle one-on-one engagements, Percy noticed the Roman was less adept at dealing with multiple attackers at once. That, of course, was where Percy excelled.

A group of three riders charged at them, and Percy surged forward, intercepting two of the riders before they could reach the Roman. Riptide cut through their defences like they were made of paper, skeletal bones exploding into dust as Percy weaved between their attacks with ease. The third rider made a beeline for the legionnaire, but Percy wasn't worried. The Roman sidestepped, catching the rider's lance on his gladius before swiftly disarming him and driving his blade into the rider's chest with lethal precision.

With the sun darkened by whatever strange magic Itzy had used, the battlefield became a dim blur of mud, steel, and corpses of dead horses. Percy wasn't much of a fan of the dead horses, but unfortunately, they were collateral damage as Percy tried to stop them from reaching the city. Whichever riderless horses he saw he gave a spank to the rear, trying to direct them away from the chaos of battle. Percy fought through a few more riders and found himself back-to-back with the Roman. Percy would handle the brunt of the attack, his strikes powerful and fluid, while the legionnaire covered the gaps, finishing off any stragglers that slipped past Percy's relentless assault.

Another rider charged at the Roman, this one slightly larger than the rest, wielding a massive axe that seemed too heavy for any normal fighter to lift. Percy saw the danger, but the legionnaire didn't flinch. The Roman rolled under the axe's wild swing and struck upward with his gladius, the Imperial Gold blade slicing through the skeletal warrior's armour and tearing into its spine. The rider crumbled into a heap of broken bones, and the Roman swiftly turned from the dissolving dust to cover a strike that was coming from another rider.

Another scream pierced the air, and Percy somehow, through all the noises of the stampeding horses and clashes of metal, was able to discern it was a child's scream. With a grunt he leapt into the air, jumping high enough to be clear of the stampeding horde below him. Ahead of him, he could see the Roman Legion had smashed into the back of the cavalry, and slowly the horde was beginning to rout. As he reached his apex and began to descend he looked behind him, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

Itzy and a small cohort of riders had breached the city gates, but instead of pressing further they had simply battered back the seniors and snatched the children. They had already begun their retreat, their captives screaming as they were dragged away from the safety of the city. As Itzy retreated the routing of the horde began to make sense. They weren't being beaten, so much as covering their escape. They were about to get away and take those poor children gods know where.

Percy fell back to the ground, and the roar of the battle around him filled his ears once more, but he remained focused on the more pressing issue. He grabbed the legionnaire by the shoulder and screamed in his ear.

"FOLLOW ME!"

The legionnaire seemed confused but nodded his helmet and followed Percy as they began to push their way out of the swarm of horses. Percy's pace, borderline pedestrian as he fought in the midst of the cavalry, now picked up to frantic speed as he tore through the opposition, carving himself and his Roman accomplice a path to where he had seen Itzy trying to flee. With one last shove and firm swing of Riptide towards a retreating rider, they finally burst out into the open. By this point, the full focus of the cavalry was on the legion, and trying to exercise a steady retreat towards where Itzy and her fellow riders were making their escape. They were already hundreds of yards ahead of them, and coupled with the horses it would be all but impossible for them to catch up. Percy's eyes flickered over the landscape, desperately looking for anything he could use to his advantage. When his gaze landed on the large aqueduct carrying water for the city, he got an idea.

"Stand back," he warned the Roman, before bracing his feet. He had summoned earthquakes before, sure, but they were usually explosive in nature and he had very little say over what happened when he summoned them. In fact, the earthquake he had summoned at Mt. St. Helens had quite literally unleashed the Father of Monsters, so it wasn't exactly his most practised power. But it needed to be practised now, and it needed to be small, narrow, and quick.

He took a deep breath, centering himself and taking in the feeling of the ground beneath him. If he wasn't careful, he was going to do a lot more harm than good, but if he could focus on it…if he could control it.

He felt a familiar tug in his gut, and he felt the earth respond to his will, building up momentum beneath his feet like strain on a muscle. In fact, the entire earth felt like a muscle, a massive one that spanned out beneath him in every direction. Flexing the whole muscle would be catastrophic, he needed it to be centred and controlled. It tensed and tensed, and his control wavered for a moment. The earth beneath him began to shake, a moment away from slipping out of his control completely. It felt like a rope he had wound tight, and now it was unravelling at a speed that was rapidly getting away from him. He dug his feet into the ground and groaned as he pulled it back from the brink, a physical strain weighing on his body as he fought against the sheer power of the element beneath his feet, bringing it back under his control once more. He had caught the rope before it had spun away. With deep, focused breaths, he cautiously loosened his hold over the energy, and allowed a small amount to push out in front of him, towards the aqueduct.

The response, while small, was immediate. One of the pillars of the aqueduct cracked and collapsed under the force of his quake, and the result was that part of the bottom of the aqueduct fell away, allowing a stream of water to fall to the ground. It was a steady pour, and Percy reached out to the water and bent it to his will, his control of that aspect of his fathers domain far more refined than the earth shaking one.

He pulled a small amount of the water out and felt a shiver run down his spine as it froze solid, in the familiar shape of a surfboard. A pang rang through his chest as he thought about Tyson falling into the volcano, but he shook the thought away. He had to be stronger now, smarter. He would do everything he could to make sure there were no more unnecessary casualties due to the machinations of the Annunaki.

He threw the surfboard on the ground and jumped on it, beckoning the Roman to follow. They seemed uncertain, and Percy didn't have time to waste, so he just grabbed him by one of the straps under his armpit and pulled him onto the board. He turned his attention back to the water, and willed it forward after Itzy and her riders. Then he launched the board forward, with the legionnaire letting out a shriek and grabbing onto him.

Percy rode the wave, willing the water behind them to shoot out in front of them, creating a constant surge that allowed them to cut the distance between them and Itzy at a staggering pace. The legionnaire gripped him desperately, determined not to slip off the board into the current beneath.

They shot out in front of the escaping cavalry, the speed and focus required second nature to Percy as he wheeled around on the board and came to a stop. He gave Riptide an experimental swing as he stood in front of Itzy and her horde. When she laid eyes on him she let out a shrill screech that cut through the air and made Percy grateful his helmet extended over his ears.

"Get the kids," Percy ordered the legionnaire, "Leave the butterfly to me!"

The Roman nodded scrambling to get out of the way as Itzy dropped the child she had been carrying to the ground and careened upwards with a heavy beat of her wings. Percy tensed his legs and met her in the air with a jump of his own. Her wings arched backwards before shooting towards him like swords. He used Riptide to deflect one, but the second one caught him square in the chest, sending him crashing back towards the earth. He landed with less grace than he would have hoped but was able to scramble to his feet in time to back just out of reach of her swinging claw. She snarled as he drove back towards her, batting away one of her wings with a swing of his arm and driving the point of Riptide towards her chest. Sparks flew as they connected but the armour held true.

Despite his failure to pierce her armour, she retreated, taking a few steps back to put some distance between herself and the demigod. Percy took the time to glance over her shoulder at the Roman fighting amidst a couple of cavalry members. In order to fight him though they had been forced to drop the children they were carrying, and in a bid for freedom the children were sprinting back towards the safety of New Rome.

Itzy barked some orders at her soldiers, and the cavalry began to pull away from the Roman, joining the rest of the cavalry in a steady retreat from the New Rome back towards the Berkeley Hills. One of the children running tripped and crashed to the ground, letting out a cry of pain as they landed. The noise alerted both Percy and the nearest skeleton, who whipped his horse around and bore down on the child. As the child looked around in fear Percy recognised him as the same young boy who had been helping the older man strap his armour on.

Rage poured through him like a wave, supercharging his senses and the elements around him reacted. He thrust his hand forward and the water behind him, still a moment ago, responded to the tug in his gut by shooting through the air like a bullet. As it did so, a shiver ran down his spine and he felt, more so than saw, the spear freeze mid-air, transforming from a splash of water into a razor-sharp javelin that cut through the air towards the cavalryman. His aim was true, and the niggling doubt he had felt in the back of his head about his archery skills was quickly assuaged. The skeleton burst into dust as the javelin ripped through his armour and tore his spine in half from the power of the throw.

Percy let out a breath of relief, but that was where he let his defences slip and Itzy was on him in a moment. She seized his outstretch wrist with a boney hand and squeezed. Percy swung at her with his free hand which, conveniently, was the one holding Riptide, and he slashed a cut into the side of her helmet, causing her to stagger back and release her grip. She glanced down at his wrist with a grin before barking out one last order in the language he didn't recognise and shot up into the sky. The cavalry, in steady retreat before, now broke out into a full gallop as they followed her in the sky towards the hills.

Percy turned back around to check on the Roman and the children when a pain in his hand almost knocked him to the ground. His left hand was darkening, the skin turning ashen and seeming to wither away. The pain was a burning, corrosive sensation that crept up his arm with a vengeance. He tried to flex his fingers, but they barely responded, stiffening as the flesh began to crack and blister. It's as if his flesh is being gnawed at from the inside, a sensation of tiny, razor-sharp teeth biting deeper with each passing second. The burn was relentless like his arm had been plunged into molten iron. His bones felt like they were cracking, and he could only watch in horror as the darkness spread up from his wrist towards his elbow.

He fell to the ground and let out a howl of pain, the sensation of thousands of needles prodding his nerves suddenly overwhelming. He heard the Roman approach and say something to him, but he couldn't comprehend what was being said, the pain downed everything else out.

"WATER!" he heard himself scream, "WATER!"

He barely perceived the Roman leaving his side as the pain continued to surge through him Every breath sent waves of agony down his arm from his wrist, and his flesh had begun to bubble and swell unnaturally. The skin continued to split open, a black ooze pouring out from the open wounds. As it crawled up from his elbow he considered using Riptide to cut the arm off, to prevent the infection from spreading, but as the thought crossed his mind he felt himself get dragged forward and then a cooling sensation shot up his arm.

He couldn't hold back the groan that burst out of him as he collapsed against what he now realised was a large bucket. He didn't know where it had come from, but it had water in it and that was all that mattered.

"It's his wrist!" he heard someone above him say, "She grabbed his wrist."

He fought to control his breathing as he began to process the pain. It was still there, duller perhaps than it had been moments before, but still enough to preoccupy most of his thoughts.

"Make way!" another voice yelled out, "Make way for the medic!"

A pair of hands suddenly flipped him onto his back, and he felt someone stick a straw in his mouth. He sucked cautiously and was relieved to feel the familiar taste of warm chocolate chip cookies fill his mouth. Someone, he couldn't see anything through eyes blurred with tears of pain, stabbed him with something in the neck but he heard a sharp crack.

"It won't break his skin!"

"Try somewhere else!"

"You need magic!" a familiar voice cut through everything, and Percy breathed out her name before he could stop himself.

"Annabeth…" he groaned, "Annabeth please help me!"

Warm hands touched his face and wiped the tears away. He blinked a few times as Annabeth's familiar blonde frame came into view.

"It's okay Seaweed Brain," she whispered, doing her best to mask her concern with a smile, "You're gonna be okay just keep breathing. Someone get me a magical weapon!"

"Hurts!" he groaned, "It hurts so much!"

"I know, I know," she answered hurriedly, "Just hang in there for a second, we have something for the pain. Magic weapons will hurt you, right? You said my knife wasn't magic, that's why you could just grab it right?"

Percy couldn't stop the chuckle despite the pain, "You remembered that?"

"I remember everything, Seaweed Brain."

Percy opened his mouth to say something else but suddenly a burst of pain in his neck stunned his mind into blankness. He let out a grunt of pain and felt someone stick something into his skin. A wave of wooziness rolled over him, and before he could reply to the daughter of Athena darkness overtook him.

Authors Note: Hello all and sorry for the wait but I did warn you it might be a while. First of all, I want to thank you all for the incredible response to the last chapter. I asked for more engagement and I got it! You guys are amazing and I have been working on this literally in between classes. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Hopefully, it won't be as long for the next chapter.

To answer a really good question from Almostimportant: How many chapters do I think are left in the story?

Answering that is really difficult, because the deeper I get into the story the more I want to write about the world and the story. Side stories need to be expanded on, characters need more development, and new ideas crop up all the time. When I started writing I thought it would be about 50 chapters, now I think it could be closer to 100. There is still so much that needs to be covered, I mean a couple of people mentioned the lack of Artemis in the past couple of chapters. I still have a plan to build their whole relationship and I haven't even really begun that yet. I know where I plan for the story to end, but the road to get there continues to grow longer and longer. It's a good thing in that there is so much of the story left to come, but it sucks in that there is so much time before you guys finally see the full extent of my vision.

As I said earlier I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please please REVIEW! It is my fuel to write and the more reviews I get the sooner the next chapter will be out. Each time you review it reminds me of where you guys are at and gets me excited to show you what comes next, which encourages me to write. So please, as always, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!