artemis ; pjo

12:00

   A light ding rang through the air as the elevator doors opened. We rushed out and saw the steps to Olympus. Everyone filed in front of me as we sprinted up the stairs. I took the rear.

   As I bounced up the stairs, a wave of nostalgia hit me. Last time I was going up these stairs, I didn't have my identity. Now, my identity controls this situation. Shaking my head, I leaped up the final step. Olympus was deathly silent, not even the chirp of a cricket to break it. It seemed as if  it knew what was to come. The silence was deafening, and gave me a migraine.

"This way,"  I whispered, pointing to a way around a building. We all shuffled behind it and quietly creeped along the back of the buildings. Our footsteps were the only things breaking the deep silence.

   We stopped at a large intersection. Since we were being expected, there was a large chance we would be spotted.

"Any ideas?" I breathed.

   Ben pointed up and I saw that there was a bridge for crossing the road. I nodded and we slid to the side of the building facing inside. There was a stair case I the middle of the sidewalk leading to the bridge. We all had an unspoken agreement that we couldn't climb those without being spotted.

   Gabby took a large breath and jumped. She landed on the wall with her hands and feet in a crevasse. Dan let out a small gasp as Gabby began to scale the wall. Halfway up the tall building, her right foot slipped. Gabby let out a small yelp as her left hand slipped. We heard rustling out in the streets, as if someone was there. She sealed her mouth and silently began to slowly slide down the wall, gripping onto the stone for dear life.

   When she was a few feet of the ground, Gabby jumped off the wall and into the ground. She shook her head. I furrowed my brow. Dan glanced down at his watch and mouthed 'eleven fifty four.'

   Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes. Ben reached out a hand of condolence, and gingerly touched my shoulder. I shrugged his hand away. Glancing at the floor, I caught sight of my cuff. I shot my head up.

'Rope' I mouthed.
   Everyone went through their pockets, and turned up empty handed. Dan tried his bag, and he had a small coil of bungee cord. It wasn't enough, but it was a start. I had already had practice enough with this, so I ripped off fabric from my shirt. Everyone followed my lead and soon enough we had a decent rope.

   I changed my cuff into a bow and tied the string to my dagger. Ben nodded, remembering what I had done in Argatha. I notched my dagger, and shot the the top of the building. With a thump, The dagger landed in a lip leading to the roof. Gabby tugged on the rope with all her might. The dagger slipped a bit, but we didn't have time to fix it.

   No one wanted to be the first to try the rope. As I was about to step up, Ben reached for the rope. He began to scale the building, digging his feet into holes in the stone. Ben was up the wall in less than a minute. As he threw himself over the top, he took the dagger from its place in the wall. Ben untied the rope from the dagger and tied it around a metal pole that was in the roof.

   Gabby jumped up and grabbed the now sturdy rope. We followed her and sooner we were on the roof, only a foot below the bridge. Gabby gripped the side of the bridge and swung her leg over the side. Dan did the same. Ben handed me my dagger and untied the rope from the pole before following them and I brought up the rear.

   We crawled on our stomachs across the bridge and got off on the other roof. I crouched down and looked over the side to the marble building that was the throne room. As if on cue, Dan's watched beeped. Light flashed out of the windows followed by an inhuman roar.

I swallowed hard as Dan's watch blinked 12:00.