The Rise of Gaea

Annabeth 20

     Annabeth watched in frozen horror as the cannonball whistled through the air towards Reyna. All of a sudden, Nico appeared beside her, and grabbed onto her waist. His extra weight pulled her from the sky, and gravity took over. 

     Barely a second later, the cannonball shot through the space previously occupied by a Roman praetor. It landed harmlessly on the ground. Nico landed hard on the grass, Reyna landing on top of him.

     "Nico!" Annabeth raced over, as Reyna rolled off. "Are you okay?"

     Nico groaned, and rubbed his eyes. "'s Reyna okay?"

     Reyna bent over him, panic clear in her trembling form. "I'm fine, Nico. Thanks to you. Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

     Nico sat up, wincing. "Nah, I'm okay. Bruised, but okay. Maybe a couple ribs gone."

     Wordlessly, Thalia handed him some ambrosia, and he scarfed it down.

     Jason was wide-eyed. "I'm so sorry! Oh my gods I'm sorry! I... I was surprised... and I..."

     "S'okay Grace." Nico waved him off, looking a bit better after his healing snack. "We're okay."

     Jason hesitated, then nodded, and turned to the boundary. He concentrated a moment, and then there was a high-pitched scream. Annabeth covered her mouth to disguise her laughter as Octavian came flying over the trees, landing in front of them He looked terrified.

     "You won't succeed, Greeks. You tried to restore the gods, and you failed!" He was obviously trying to inject venom into his tone, but the shivering and quick blinks ruined the illusion.

     "Oh they did, did they?"

     Annabeth spun around. Behind them stood Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia, and even Hades skulking in the back.

     A tiny whimpering sound came from Octavian.

     Frank, Piper and Hazel skidded to a halt beside them.

     "Mom?" Piper said in disbelief.

     "Darling!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

     "Guess who's back!!" Apollo sang. Then he cleared his throat.

          "Octavian sucks

          He just screwed up really bad

          The gods are back!"

     Artemis sighed. "Once again, brother, the last line was only four syllables."

     Poseidon smiled warmly at everyone. "Where's Percy?"

     Annabeth wanted to sink into the ground. "He... he fell into Tartarus." She said weakly.

     Poseidon stared blankly, not comprehending. "What? No..."

     "It's true." Jason affirmed sadly.

     Poseidon looked like someone had slapped him across the face.

     Hephaestus frowned deeply. "Not Leo, too?"

     Annabeth shook her head. "Not Tartarus, no. But he's gone. Khione flung him off the ship near the Mediterranean."

     Hephaestus shot a meaningful look at Zeus, who sternly said, "No. Don't-"

     But ignoring him, Hephaestus vanished.

     "Oh, well." Zeus sighed. "We promised to free her anyway."

     "Who?" Jason asked.

     "You'll see." Was all Zeus would say.

     "So." Athena stared over everyone. "It would be prudent for us to catch you up on everything."

     Annabeth frowned. "What do you mean?"

     "We defeated the giants." Athena announced.

     Annabeth felt joy creep into her head, but it couldn't be true. "You need a god and a demigod working together to kill a giant." She said carefully.

     Artemis smiled. "Thankfully, many of my Hunters are demigods. It was quite simple."

     Hephaestus reappeared, now with two people beside him. One was Leo, looking a little taller and more muscular, and strangely holding a pink china teacup. The other was a beautiful girl with golden-brown hair and chocolate almond-shaped eyes that stood out vividly on her milky skin.

     "Leo!" Piper cried, embracing him. Then Jason launched himself at Leo, and a hair-ruffling, back-slapping, painful-looking man-hug ensued.

     "Woo! My peeps!" Leo grinned broadly. "Let me introduce you to Calypso!"

     Annabeth froze. Calypso? The immortal girl on whose island Percy had landed years ago?

     "Leo, what's with the teacup?" Jason asked.

     Leo flushed, and stuffed the cup into his toolbelt. "Teacup? What teacup?"

     "Okay, we have Leo, but what about Percy?" Poseidon asked desperately.

     "We need to get to the Doors." Annabeth said, fully agreeing with Percy's father.

     All the gods looked at Hades.

     "Oh fine." He grumbled. "Use me as your shadow-travel chauffer."

     He closed his eyes, and shadows engulfed the entire group.