The Demigod King; Book 2

"Move Aside"

Their plan had gone as wrong as it possibly could have. This was supposed to be a test—in no way were they ready to battle. Percy had only been alive for a couple days yet. At least he'd been revitalized very recently by Will, although that meant that now the healer was weak and vulnerable.

Percy sensed the others tensing up beside him, their hands moving to their weapons as quietly as possible. He and Jason moved together to the middle of their line, with Annabeth and Leo flanking their sides. Piper, Frank, and Hazel shifted to move Will to the back.

Ouranos clearly thought their quietness trivial. Annoyance lined his face at the demigods' continued attempt to stay hidden. "Enough of this," he hissed. He held out his left hand and clenched his fist, and the shadows bended in the junkyard.

Leo's invisibility filter flickered and then died as Nico's shadows subdued it. This was a power that Percy didn't understand or even know about, but apparently Nico's control over darkness allowed Ouranos to control the visible spectrum of light.

The demigods were revealed, but by then they were all ready to fight. Weapons drawn, eyes darting analytically, communicating nonverbally.

Percy drew Riptide as he pushed Will behind him. The movement caused something to flicker in Nico's eyes. Did he recognize it? Was Nico in there to remember when Percy had protected him like that as a boy?

Any recognition was quickly subdued by ferocity as Ouranos's eyes darkened to an impossible black. Waves of death and despair billowed towards them as the primordial gave them a taste of Nico's power, unleashed and unrestrained. Just like Percy, Nico's power had augmented and grown in Tartarus. And they were all about to experience that, without the demigod's will to reign it in.

And while Percy was perhaps more powerful, Nico's power was quite literally death.

When the darkness hit them, Percy's knees almost buckled. The shadows screamed of agony and suffering and a slow, painful death. It pressed against his bones like a squeezing hand.

He thought Ouranos would kill them all right then. Percy realized he was using Nico's power to push death upon them. He pushed back frantically. He had no large pool of water nearby—they were in a damned desert—but he had to do something. In response, a tidal wave of power burst forward, pushing back at the wave of death.

Ouranos actually stumbled back a step and the darkness suffocating the demigods receded.

"You're no match for me here, Perseus," Nico spat. "This is a desert. You cannot defeat me."

"I don't need a desert to kill you," Percy snarled before springing into action. The demigods burst forward behind him, the seven moving together seamlessly.

Jason took to the sky, raising his imperial gold sword over his head. Lightning flickered across the huge expanse of the sky, and static filled the air accompanied by an ozone smell. The bolt of lightning streaked down right for Nico.

The son of Hades clapped, and a bolt of shadow shot forth and intercepted the lightning. Where they met, an explosion of power burst so forcefully that Jason was tumbled backwards in the sky.

While he struggled to right himself, Percy struck with Riptide.

Ouranos raised his sword to block him easily, and Percy's blade slid down. He slashed again and their swords crossed.

"Come on, Nico," Percy said as he looked at the other demigod while their swords held. "I know you're in there."

"You're wrong, boy," Ouranos snarled, and shoved Percy back. He lashed out again, and they began a dance of flurried blades.

Percy noticed that Ouranos was not using Nico's power against him, and was mostly using defense. The primordial was toying with him—he would not actually harm Percy. He needed his body.

Perhaps he could use that to his advantage.

Piper and Frank joined Percy, so Ouranos adjusted his stance to battle three demigods at once. Another blade—this one made of condensed shadows—formed in his left hand.

Piper caught Ouranos's sword on her dagger, a pro move that Percy had only ever seen Annabeth execute.

Nico snarled and kicked her in the chest. The daughter of Aphrodite cried out as she was thrown backward, tumbling backward over the ground. Jason yelled in shock and shot down to help her.

Frank and Percy pressed harder and Hazel moved in to take Piper's place. The son of Mars used a broadsword instead of his arrows for the short range, and the force of three swords seemed to challenge Ouranos. He fought quickly, using his advantage of Nico's smaller, lean body for agility and speed, and regained control.

"Your efforts are fruitless," He chided. Frank's body started to ripple as he changed form. Hackles growing, hair emerging on his skin, shoulders enlarging.

Ouranos shot forward, grabbing Frank's head with Nico's ringed fingers. Darkness radiated out, pumping into the demigod. Frank cried out and his shift halted immediately, morphing back into his human body.

"Stop!" Hazel screamed, hacking at Nico with her sword, but the primordial formed a shield of shadows that pushed her back.

Frank's skin took on a horrible pale sheen as death invaded his body, Percy and Hazel's frantic offence useless against Ouranos's shields.

Suddenly, Nico's body jerked and he let Frank go. The shields fell.

Ouranos's hand went to his side and came away bloody. He struck out with his fist so fast that it was a blur. Annabeth screamed as she was struck, the invisibility cap going off as she fell. Her dagger was stained with red from where she had delivered the nonfatal injury.

Nico advanced on her, snarling, while Hazel helped Frank, who had fallen and wasn't moving.

Percy jumped in quickly, placing himself between Annabeth's crumpled figure and the primordial without a thought. She was clutching her shoulder in pain, the muscled appendage clearly have been entirely dislocated. He stood over her, fear pulsing through him at the thought of Ouranos hurting her.

"Move aside, Perseus," Ouranos snarled.

Percy stood his ground. "Make me," he spat.

An evil smile formed on that face, making his gut clench.

"As you wish," Ouranos sneered, raising his arms. Darkness spread forth, consuming everything. He could not see as the shadows enveloped him, could not even see his own hand. He reached blindly for Annabeth and her a yelp as he hauled her up, jostling his shoulder, and wrapped an arm around her.

The darkness spread over the entire junkyard, and then Percy felt a rushing sensation. The universe ripped at him as he was thrown forward, his arm holding Annabeth to him for dear life. It felt like he was tumbling, and strange noises screamed out at him.

They were shadowtraveling.

And then the shadows receded and the noises faded but the tumbling didn't stop.

Percy's vision cleared to reveal his friends around him flailing and screaming as the shadows deposited them four hundred feet up in the air.

They plummeted through an all-too-familiar chasm with an all—too—familiar murky bottom below.