Cassandra's Curse

{27} Not Really The End

Zianna's stream looked exactly the same as before. The ferns still green and blooming over the edge, the water clear as glass and casting glittering patterns on the stones, the tiny fish all lining up at the naiad's feet, greeting her return with joyous splashes.

I sat again, with my feet in the water once more, trying to avoid thinking as I looked down and ran my toes over soft moss-covered stones. Zianna was lying down on her back in the water, her skin finally returning to the normal colour it had been before this whole mess.

Garth had sat himself down on the grass on the other side of the stream from us, his tools out and tinkering with my shield. Nico, leaning against a tree behind him, looked half dead in the shadows.

"We should probably go find Chiron." I said, a hand testing my sore and bruised ribs, "Tell him what happened to Leo."

"Probably," Garth agreed, not looking up from his work.

It was almost like a daydream really, it was so ridiculously serene it could've walked right out of a fairytale. I let out a huff of air, brain-dead and absolutely exhausted, letting my arms collapse out from under me and falling on my back on the soft grass. Eyes on the surprisingly clear night sky. Artemis probably high in her chariot, the moon beaming down bright and soothing into the clearing. As if the maiden goddess herself was helping us find peace. 

"Hephaestus and his son will be fine. Neither of them can get hurt by fire." Garth tried to reassure us all, but he didn't even look up from my shield so it was more of a throw away line.

"That level of faith is astounding." I said dryly, my fingers tracing worried circles into the grass at my side.

"All I'm saying is that they probably got out." He repeated in the same uncaring tone.

"They haven't died, Cassie." Nico spoke softly from spot behind Garth, "I'd know."

And somehow, that was the most reassuring thing that anyone had said in the past few ours since they'd left Hawaii. 

Zianna lifted her head up out of the water, "I can feel people coming."

I rotated my head to the left -the people turned out to be Annabeth and Percy picking their way to Zianna's stream. They both looked tired, and battle weary, like they'd been fighting an endless game of capture-the-flag. Nico pushed away from the tree, relaxed pose forgotten as he eyed the pair. I sat up too, noticing their torn and dusty clothes, armour buckled and exposed arms covered in small cuts and bruises.

"What happened to you?" Nico asked, taking an unconscious step forward.

Annabeth rubbed her face, grey eyes glancing between us, "You don't know?"

"Were you under a rock on your quest?" Percy drawled, sitting on the ground next to Garth, "Who's this guy?"

"That's my Dad," I said with a scowl in Garth's direction before turning back to them.

Zianna's head dropped back into the water with a splash, "And technically we were under rocks!" She commented with a contented sigh, "And I don't care what happened."

Annabeth's jaw clenched, "You will when you hear what it is-"

Suddenly, directly above Garth's head the air began to shimmer. Rippling in the air and opening huge window in the air.

Zianna was the only one who didn't move; Annabeth pulled Percy up, and I climbed out onto the river bank to help Garth up. Wordlessly he handed me my shield, and I replaced it as a glove back onto my hand as the air continued to ripple.

"What's happening?" I asked, the question directed at all of them. Only slightly convinced that I was seeing things.

Garth was the one who answered, "It's an Iris message, the Greeks use rainbows to communicate sometimes."

"Why not just use a phone like a normal person?"

"No tech allowed at camp."

"That's a stupid rule-"

"SH!" Annabeth silenced me and Percy with a glare, but her eyes were dragged back by a sound coming from the Iris message. 

That's when Leo's face rippled into view. He was just as -if not more- beaten and battered than Annabeth and Percy combined, not only was he covered in minor injuries, but he had soot coating everything, a pair of working goggles sat on his head, and his clothes were smoking as if he'd walked out of a fireplace. His eyes were haggard and down, but he was very much alive.

A surge of pure relief flooded through me, and I felt all the tension I'd been holding onto since we left them in Hawaii leave my body. Leo was fine, he somehow through the grace of the gods,  far worse for wear than we left him, managed to be alive. 

The image flickered but held, "Cassie! You made it to camp!"

"Yeah we did-" I tried to answer but was interrupted as a screech cut through the sound on the other side, almost shaking the shimmering Iris message, sounds of distant explosions flooded through to our side. 

Percy glanced behind him, over his shoulder towards the camp, as if wary that the sounds were coming from our side rather than Leo's side, "I'd better get back, Annabeth-" All she did was meet his gaze, and brush her fingers over one of his hands, almost a thousand words unspoken in that stare before he turned and dashed through the woods. 

"Cassie- you have to listen carefully-" Leo shouted over the screeching and the sounds of explosions and... was that a fire alarm? 

What on earth was happening?

I nodded impatiently, and he urgently went on, "You can't use your Charmspeak again -it's too risky you could- ARGH!" That same familiar silver hand shot into the image and pulled him out. 

"LEO!"  I found myself screaming again, and the only thing stopping me from stepping forward to try and see what was going on outside of the Iris message was Annabeth's strong grip on my arm. First glaring at her hand and then at her, she fixed me with those grey eyes before they went wide, directed far past me. 

When I turned, there was an entirely new face in the message. 

The thing had a very unconscious-looking Leo slung around its shoulders, and its silver face was unmarked or undamaged. Eyes reflecting and calculating.

As we watched in shock, the things mouth curled up at the corner to a cruel excuse for a smile, "Ah..." It said, the voice jarringly smooth compared to how utterly monstrous it appeared, "The Charmspeaker..."

I swallowed, my eyes on Leo looking to see if he was still breathing. 

The creature noticed and shrugged its shoulders, and a muted groan emanated from Leo, "You have awakened us, Charmspeaker... and." It stepped closer, "We're coming for your... camp next." It waved a hand and the Iris message dissipated, and I felt my fists clench as I forced myself not to shout for Leo again. I was done with that.

It was time to fight.

***

SO We've finally gotten to the end! Wow can't believe I got here? Shit, what's it been? Like four years? What the fuck how did I like... leave it so long? I'm so sorry ... damn that's not very good is it.

Well. I sincerely hope that you're satisfied with what little ending and climax and all that I've been able to give you. I know it's not really the perfect story, yeah. But I actually love Cassie so much like it's not even funny. And to think, this all started with a vampire story called Dark Academy? That so weird. I read it back in year eight and couldn't put the series down for a second.

Comment! I hope you've loved Cassandra's Curse as much as I have! I hope all the waits and the hair pulling and the frustrating turns were worth it! Thank you for reading, and staying with me on this I love every single reader to tiny lil Kronos sized bits.

Sequel? I don't think so. Not yet. Not when this took me so long to complete in the first place. 

I guess you'll just have to finish it off in your mind ;)