annais min had everything to prove and no time to do it. as one of the five children of the underworld destined to lead the seven on their journey of death and destruction, annais had the fate of the universe resting on her shoulders, holding her do...
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CHAPTER TWENTY: PLAY GOD
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THE WORLD BECAME A fiery inferno the moment Annais Min stepped out of the helicopter. She stumbled as the ground shook, almost dropping the square of ambrosia she was attempting to scoff down before throwing herself into battle, again. When she turned around to observe the carnage, she found Jason and Piper helping a dazed Leo to his feet and a flattened hunk of metal where the helicopter had only just been.
“Well, there goes our ride,” Ezra pointed out.
Leo winced. “Guess we owe that ranger lady a new helicopter.”
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Annais dismissed as her sharp eyes scanned their surroundings. With the ambrosia coursing through her veins, it was so much easier to focus. There was chaos everywhere, no matter where she looked. Annais had to wonder how Ezra was keeping her cool. Sounds of combat echoed on the wind, the snow and fog combined in a deadly mixture. In the middle of everything was the Wolf House, constructed from dark grey stone and burnt timber beams. Its halls shrieked with the wails of ghosts, of new souls passing on. “We need to find Thalia.”
“Jason!”
Almost like she’d been summoned, Thalia Grace cut through the fog with her bow in hand and the quiver on her back nearly empty. There was a cut on her cheek, wrapping around her eye, and Thalia’s free hand continued to drift towards it, a sign of weakness. She hadn’t even made it a few steps before one of the Earthborn burst out of the ground, sending rocks and dirt splintering everywhere as it raised a club above her head.
“Look out,” Leo cried, leading the charge towards her, but Annais knew that Thalia would have it under control soon enough. And she was right. With a yelp of rage, Thalia launched herself into a flip, shooting an arrow between the Earthborn’s eyes and smirking as it crumbled into dust.
“That was my last one,” she sighed as she stared down at her empty quiver. “Stupid ogre!”
“Nice shot, though,” Leo pointed out, with the classic signs of a smile that Annais liked to call the ‘Leo is crushing on girls out of his league again’ look. She snickered as Thalia turned to Jason instead, oblivious to the way that Leo frowned and Melanie rolled her eyes at him.
“Just in time,” the girl informed her brother. “My hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we’ll be overrun any minute.”
“Leo and I can take care of the Earthborn,” Mel insisted, her hand finding Leo’s as they sized up the monsters in question.
