Indigo Eyes

Chapter 46

"Percy!" Thalia exclaimed as she touched his arm and he flinched away as she shocked him. "Sorry," she said, though she didn't sound particularly sorry. "Now is everybody clear?"

Everyone nodded before splitting off into their smaller groups, Cressida busting out a handshake with her two brothers before fist-bumping Nico and then scampering up a tree, using a grapevine to propel her upwards.

She made her way through the treetops, jumping from branch to branch as she made her way through the woods, annoyed with the entirety of the situation, Annabeth being gone, having to work with the Hunters, Percy being stupid, all of it.

She was only a little while away from their base camp when she saw a group of Hunters. And she let her vines loose. Even if they were decoys, it was still fun to mess with them as her vines lifted them into the air by their ankles and knocked them all off their feet like bowling balls.

"Children of Dionysus! Phoebe, find them!" shouted one of the Hunters as the vines taunted them, their bows and arrows essentially useless against them.

She supposed it was the sunlight shining off her armour because she had no idea how Phoebe spotted her from where she was hidden in the trees.

"Treetops! 3 o'clock. It's Lynn!" the Hunter, Phoebe, screamed after she was knocked off her feet. And even though her vines were still attacking them, she began to dart back the way she came as arrows were fired at her position.

The first arrow that came close to hitting her obliterated the branch she was about to step on, sending her plummeting to the ground, at least until she was able to catch herself. The skin of her palm was torn by the wood as she barely managed to catch herself. And then came the second arrow.

The second arrow released cords that wrapped around her body and sent her plummeting the rest of the ten metres to the ground.

But that was their mistake. Because while Cressida was sure that her shoulder was dislocated, the panic that seeped into her body from being tied up only sent her grapevines into a frenzy.

"Cas," she murmured as she began to wriggle like a worm. "Castor! Pollux!" she cried as she couldn't move. "Castor! POLLUX! CASTOR!"

Thankfully, she was close enough to the home base that they could both hear her and feel the ground going crazy because of her vines.

"We got you! We got you, Cress," Castor promised as he slid to her side on his knees, resting her head on his lap as Pollux slid on her other side.

"Just breathe, little sister," Pollux said as he pulled her switchblade from her boot and began cutting through the cables, having left Nico back with Beckendorf when they'd heard their sister's cries.

"You're ok. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you," Castor promised as Pollux pulled the last of the cables free.

"We got you. You're alright," Pollux promised as they sat her up, letting her move her arms and just breathe as she calmed down and so did her vines before they sank back into the earth.

"They didn't know. You're ok. We've got you," Castor soothed as Pollux began to wipe the tears from her face.

Eventually, they were able to get her back on her feet after her initial fear faded and they headed back to Zeus' fist, Cressida sticking close to Castor as Pollux held their weapons because as they got there, Chiron announced, "The Hunters win! For the fifty-sixth time in a row." That last part was muttered a bit bitterly. But then came Thalia's rageful voice.

"Perseus Jackson!" she bellowed, so mad that blue sparks were flickering on her armour. "What in the name of the gods were you THINKING?!"

Percy balled his fists, finally reaching his limit with all of this. "I got the flag, Thalia!" he boasted as he shook it in her face, not that it mattered seeing as the Hunters made it back to their base with the blue flag first. "I saw a chance and I took it!"