Indigo Eyes

Chapter 118

"No!"

They didn't have time to argue because within seconds, the riders were on them.

Michael and his archers tried to retreat, but Annabeth stayed right beside them, fighting with her knife and mirrored shield as they slowly backed up the bridge.

Kronos's cavalry swirled around them, slashing and yelling insults. The Titan himself advanced leisurely, like he had all the time in the world.

What slowed them down was that they were trying to wound, not kill as they faced other demigods.

Cressida was eventually able to rally what little strength she had left as she broke the line of demigods, sending them off to sleep which was an easy task, as she ran for the Titan Lord.

"Cress!" she heard Percy call from somewhere as they were forced to the middle of the bridge, but she had a shot and she was going for it. She was going for the shot that avenged her brother.

But she only had time to level her spear before she was frozen in time and Kronos smiled at her.

"We meet again, Miss Lynn," he drawled, voice deep and nothing like what she remembered Luke's voice sounding like when he'd hissed in her ear last summer. She strained against his magic, her body frozen from the neck down.

"Let me go! Fight me you coward!" she bellowed as her body began to panic.

"I have a much better idea," he grinned. "I'll give you a choice."

And he let her go.

She hesitated. She couldn't help it as she glanced at where her spear was still frozen in the air, poised for a perfect kill shot straight through his heart.

"What kind of choice?"

He spread his arms out. "You can take your shot. Go ahead. A single shot to try and hit the one spot that could end this war and avenge your poor brother."

She scowled at him, her gaze deathly at the mention of her brother.

It was too good. Too good to be true.

"Or?"

Her breathing was heavy, her heart finding it hard to beat with the anxiety that weighed it down.

"Or you can save the boy you care for."

Her eyes widened as she turned, searching desperately for Percy.

His back was turned. He would never see it coming as a demigod approached from behind him, knife raised. She couldn't make out the demigod, but he seemed familiar. As for the knife he held, Percy had the Curse of Achilles. It couldn't hurt him, right?

Still, there was no choice.

"Damn you, bastard," she spat at the Titan Lord.

Her lungs screamed, her muscles burned as Cressida ran as fast as she could, and she lost all capability for rational thought. The only thing she could think of was that she had to save him. Why ruin a good rhythm whether the knife hurt him or not?

The demigod didn't see her coming as she arrived just in time to cover Percy's back as the knife was brought down and she lifted her arm up to defend her face.

Poison.

That blade was poisoned because Cressida screamed in agony as the knife sliced through her flesh, the sensation much more painful than it should be.

She vaguely heard Percy shouting her name, or maybe it was Annabeth, but either way, she fell to the ground, writhing in anguish as she clutched her arm, uncaring about the shadow of the demigod that stood over her, her blood dripping from their knife.

Her vision became spotty as the edges blackened. She was going to pass out from the pain. Whether she was safe or not didn't matter. Whether she was alive or not didn't matter. All that mattered was that Percy was ok.

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Percy had turned the second that he heard Cressida scream and it was both him and Annabeth that cried out her name as they understood what had happened, that she'd taken the knife so that Percy didn't have to.

And if Percy saw red when Hades made her bleed, he had no idea what colour he saw when he locked eyes with the demigod that dared hurt his Grape Girl.

Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis.

Percy slammed him in the face with the hilt of his sword so hard that he dented his helm as Ethan crumpled to the ground.

"Get back!" he ordered, completely feral as he slashed the air in a wide arc, driving the rest of the demigods away from Cressida. "No one touches her!"

"Interesting," Kronos said. He studied the scene from atop his skeletal horse as if he could sense that Percy had come close to death.

"Bravely fought, Percy Jackson," he said. "But it's time to surrender – or the girl dies. Because unlike her, you won't get a choice."

"Don't," Cressida whispered, her black shirt even darker and sticky with blood and her eyes barely open. He had to get her out of here.

"BLACKJACK!" Percy screamed.

As fast as light, the pegasus swooped down and clamped his teeth on the straps of Cressida's armour. They soared away over the river before the enemy could even react.

Kronos snarled. "Someday soon, I am going to make pegasus soup. But in the meantime ..." He dismounted, his scythe glistening in the dawn light. "I'll settle for another dead demigod."

"Porkpie!" Percy called again and Annabeth's eyes widened.

"No! Percy, you can't! Percy!" and that was her last word before Porkpie picked up Annabeth by her armour straps and carried her to safety. And Percy was left by himself with a few Apollo campers to face Kronos.

Percy couldn't beat him but he could slow him down in a completely desperate move by using his powers to manipulate the water below and break the bridge in two.

Michael Yew didn't survive.

Nothing was left but his bow.

And Percy had yelled out in anger and frustration as the Titan Lord galloped back to Brooklyn, followed by his warriors.

But then his mother's phone in his pocket started to ring. It was Annabeth's number calling him but it wasn't Annabeth on the end of the line.

"Percy?" Silena Beauregard sounded like she'd been crying. "Plaza Hotel. You'd better come quickly and bring a healer from Apollo's cabin. It's ... it's Cressida."

And his heart stopped dead in his chest. And Percy had never moved faster in his life.