❝𝘴-𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯❞
❝𝙞 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.❞
𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗬 𝗝𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗦𝗢𝗡 had met a lot of people and he had seen a lot of things that had caught his eyes. But she was a different story. The girl with the long hair was just someone he coul...
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XLVI. THE DAY O' CHILDREN REALISE THAT DEATH NEVER DISCRIMINATES
━━━━━━
"We're all weeping now, weeping because
There ain't nothing we can do to protect you"
WAR WAS TERRIFYING.
That was the easiest to put something so obviously horrifying into light: War was terrifying. Dodie had been in fights, but this was a full-scale war — a battle to start that said war anyway. This was entirely different from what she was used to. This was a foreboding of their doom.
The first thing that came was a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly Dodie's — along with Lee's and she was sure the others that belonged from Apollo cabin's — ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.
"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Dodie fired the first blinding arrow that was as bright as the sun, followed by dozens of Apollo's archers in her wake, firing a volley, hundreds of arrows sticking in the thick armour of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in the armour, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.
But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty — no, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armour, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming.
Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. Annabeth drew a sword and engaged one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield — BONG! BONG! BONG!
Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound — not Mrs. O'Leary — leapt out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.
"GO!" Chiron yelled.
Dodie and Percy shared a look as the beating of their heart coincided with one another. Together, they raced across the battlefield with their blade and bow in hand. Right as she was about to join Percy in attacking the hellhound, something had caught her eye.
