I watched as Bianca di Angelo seemed to tell her younger brother off under the bleachers at the far end of the gymnasium. Her green cap hung loose on her head, dark hair spilling over her shoulders. She was looking around all over the place as if she knew something was wrong.
Even though I had seen her and Nico in the Lotus Casino, nothing beat the feeling I got when I see her here, alive. Out of that cursed hotel.
Oh my gods, Bianca is here. She's alive.
I was dancing with Annabeth in my arms and that didn't matter, not now. Annabeth was telling me something but I wasn't listening. My attention was on the fact that Bianca was right there in front of me.
'Percy?' a voice snapped me out of my own mind. 'Percy, you there?'
'What?'
Annabeth rolled her eyes, 'You with me?'
'Uh...yes?' my answer came out more like a question.
'Will you please stop staring at them?' Annabeth whispered under her breath. 'Dr Thorn is already suspicious of us.'
I looked over to where she was motioning to as discreetly as I could and Dr Thorn entered my vision. He had appeared out of nowhere and was standing near Bianca and Nico, looking straight at me before nodding coldly. He was waiting for us to try something.
I guess I wasn't that discreet after all.
'So, uh...' I stammered. Talking while dancing wasn't really my thing. 'How's your new school?'
Annabeth let out a laugh, 'I knew you weren't listening.'
Heat rose to my cheeks as I tried to find a response. The fact that Annabeth was trying her best not to laugh at my red face made it that much harder. Eventually, I just gave up and sighed.
'Fine,' I relented. 'I wasn't paying attention.'
'I already knew that,' she replied with a smile that could light up the night sky.
'I mean, how can you blame me?' I tried my best to shrug but with a hand on Annabeth's waist and her own hand in the other, it was pretty awkward. 'Who wants to talk about structural supports and facades?'
'Excuse me,' Annabeth genuinely looked hurt. 'I'm sorry you don't appreciate the beauty of architectural design.'
Annabeth was about to comment more about the importance of architects and how amazing arches were when she suddenly froze. I had to stop dancing if I wanted her to keep her toes.
'What?' I turned serious, already knowing what Annabeth was looking at, or rather, wasn't looking at.
'They're gone,' Annabeth said, panic rising into her eyes.
I turned to where she was looking at and sure enough, the di Angelo siblings were gone from their spot under the bleachers. The door that led to a hallway behind the gymnasium was wide open.
I cursed silently. If only I had paid closer attention to Nico and Bianca...
'We have to get Thalia and Grover!' Annabeth looked around frantically. 'Oh, where'd they dance off to? Come on!'
Before Annabeth could bolt off and start searching for our friends, I grabbed onto her shoulders.
'Wait,' I said as quickly as I could. 'You go look for them. I'll go try and slow Dr Thorn down.'
What?' Annabeth hissed at me. 'That is a terrible, terrible idea.'
'Trust me,' I reassured her. Thankfully, Annabeth relented and ran off to find Thalia, leaving me standing alone in a sea of over-dressed teens.
I started making my way to the open door when a pack of girls started surrounding me. They had a bunch of lipsticks and other weird things in their hands so I wasn't going to risk it.
Maneuvering out of flailing pink ribbons, I managed to get away from them pretty easily and started walking towards the door. As I expected, the door led to a dark and empty hallway. I immediately tensed when I heard some scuffling up ahead, my hand slipping into my pocket where Riptide was.
Riptide sprang into its full length in an instant, lighting up the dark hallway the tiniest bit but just enough to see what was around me. Walking slowly, I made my way down the hallway using only my memory of the place and tried looking for Nico and Bianca.
I checked all of the corners when I entered the main entry hall, where this short but miserable journey first started. I eyed the weapons in their own cases, the dim lighting making everything look all the more sinister.
Bianca and Nico were standing huddled together in front of the big wooden doors that were the school's main entrance. They looked scared out of their minds, and I don't blame them.
I kept eying the dark shadows in the corners, knowing that Dr Thorn was lurking in one of them. The bad news is that I didn't know which one he was using as a hiding spot. Whatever happens, I was ready for him.
'Hey,' I said as calmly as I could, slowly approaching the two scared demigods. My expression was calm and welcoming but my eyes told a different story as I looked around the room preparing for the attack. 'It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. I'm not here to hurt you.'
They didn't respond.
'My name is Percy Jackson,' I walked closer. 'I am here to help, get you guys someplace safe. I promise.'
A soft rustle somewhere behind me alerted me to another presence. I whirled around and raised my sword just in time to deflect the black spike that was sent flying towards me. I stumbled a little due to the force behind the projectile but I managed to hold my ground nonetheless.
'Look out!' I shouted before pushing Bianca off to the side just for another spike to sail past her head, just inches away from her face.
I turned back to face a shadowed corner of the room where the poisoned projectiles seemed to be launching out from nothing but darkness. One after another, I deflected the spikes with the flat of my blade or slashed them out of the air. I stood in front of Nico and Bianca to make sure none of the spikes hit them but there were too many and with every single one, I had to take a small step backwards.
My arms were aching from all the force being applied into them. Bianca and Nico were hiding behind a stone pillar but my back was slowly getting closer and closer to the wooden doors. Soon enough, the sheer number of spikes would overwhelm me.
The barrage of spikes suddenly stopped, and I was given a little breathing room. Unfortunately, it wasn't much because before I knew it, a large shape leapt out of the shadow and tackled me into the wooden doors. I honestly thought it would have held but I underestimated the strength of a manticore.
I felt the wood creak and shatter against my back, showering me in debris and plastering my entire back with splinters. I crashed into the snow outside, Dr Thorn right on my chest. I tried reaching for my sword but a large, clawed paw pinned my arm to the snowy ground.
I pushed my head as far down into the ground as possible when a spiked tail inched its way in front of my face. I could see straight down the trail, reaching over Dr Thorn's shoulder like it had a mind of its own, the razor-sharp point less than an inch away from my face.
'I know who you are, Perseus Jackson,' I cringed at that. Hearing the way he pronounced my last name made me want to stab myself with his own tail.
'I have to say, I am a bit impressed,' Dr Thorn said as he grabbed both my arms in an iron grip. 'Not many can hold off my attacks for so long. Unfortunately for you, your defeat was inevitable.'
I felt Riptide return to my pocket. My arms were still trapped but if I could just get free...
'Don't even think about it, demigod,' Dr Thorn said as if reading my mind. 'Make a move and you die.'
Wow. Simple threat. Now what I was expecting, to be honest.
'You two, come with me,' I heard Thorn say. 'If you don't, you will meet a fate worse than death.'
I heard the sound of scurrying feet and I turned towards the sound only to be met with the sight of a terrified Bianca standing protectively in front of her brother.
'You're not taking us anywhere,' she said with surprising confidence. 'We're not going anywhere with you.'
His tail whipped around with such speeds, it was only a blur in my eyes. Before I could comprehend it, the spiked tail was directed to the two unsuspecting demigods.
'You don't have a choice,' he growled. 'Now move, brats. Don't make me tell you a second time.'
Bianca looked nervous but she stood her ground. I respect her choice to not give in to Dr Thorn's commands but I could see what was going to happen seconds before it actually did.
Bianca suddenly let out a yelp. Her hand went to the side of her face where a few strands of hair were fluttering towards the ground. She slowly turned to look behind her where a single spike had lodged itself into the stone wall.
Dr Thorn did not need to say a single word. His intentions were clear on his face and the simple flick of his tail. No words needed to be said to convey what Dr Thorn wanted us to do.
Bianca and Nico were being directed along a snowy path leading into the woods. Dr Thorn, with me in his iron-clad grip, was following behind them. His tail was swishing all over the place, as if to constantly remind us that he was the one in charge.
Dr Thorn was essentially carrying me, my feet just barely touching the ground as I was being dragged along, my arms pinned to my side by his massive paws.
I closed my eyes and looked into my mind. I looked for the familiar feeling of Grover's empathy link as I called for help. I wasn't sure if Grover could hear me since it was still the early stages of the empathy link. It wasn't as strong as it was during the Battle of Manhattan so I was praying to all the gods that my message went through.
The trees thinned out and we found ourselves in a clearing. About twenty feet ahead of us was the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
'Halt,' Dr Thorn barked out as Bianca and Nico stopped near the edge of the cliff. They turned back to face us and looked downright terrified. Nico was hiding behind Bianca and I could tell she was trying her best to keep it together.
Suddenly, my arms were free and I was shoved forward hard. I would have fallen straight down into the ocean if I wasn't prepared for it. I managed to catch my footing just in time.
I was about to reach for my sword when Dr Thorn's tail whipped around to face us. I immediately froze.
'Try anything and I won't hesitate,' he said menacingly before taking something out from his pocket.
'What is he?' Bianca asked frantically. 'What do we do?'
'I'm working on it,' I replied, trying my best to calm her down. 'It's okay. Everything will be fine.'
'I'm scared,' Nico said meekly, a Mythomagic figurine fiddling in between his fingers.
'I'll get you out of here, both of you,' I said looking at them. 'I promise.'
'Stop talking, brats!' Dr Thorn shouted at us before bringing a phone to his mouth. 'The package - it is ready to deliver.'
There was just something scary about monsters using modern technology. They just weren't supposed to mix. Thank the gods that most monsters were just dumb hunks of flesh.
'This doesn't seem fine,' Bianca whisper-yelled at me, a look of panic rising in her eyes.
I gave her a look.
I turned back to face Thorn and watched as he just stood there, his tail ready to throw some poisonous spikes at us if we decided to do anything remotely suspicious.
I looked over to the trees off to the side, hoping that Annabeth was able to track me down and arrive with backup soon. Dr Thorn had me pinned and I was slowly running out of options. Grover - hopefully - would have gotten my message through the empathy link and was directing both Annabeth and Thalia to my location. I just needed them to come faster.
Hurry up! I told Grover urgently.
The soft sound of helicopter blades broke me out of my thoughts. There, over the ocean, was a searchlight scanning the surface of the sea. I was running out of time. I cursed under my breath.
'Ah, here we are,' Dr Thorn mused as he looked over to the horizon where the helicopter was quickly approaching us. 'Your transportation.'
'When I say so, both of you get down on the ground.' I whispered to Bianca.
'What?' she said back.
My hand snaked its way up to my watch and hovered over the activation button. I took a deep breath.
'Now!'
My shield opened up just as three spikes flew towards us. I didn't look back but I heard a sudden yelp and the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Hopefully, they were safe.
The force behind the spikes was enough to make the metal of the shield dent. I didn't need to look to know that the beautiful images were now ruined.
Anaklusmos was out in less than a second and I swiped at another spike out of the air. I stood in a defensive position, preparing myself for the onslaught of attacks that were about to come my way.
'You pathetic demigod,' Dr Thorn snarled. 'You think you can stand up to me?'
Despite the situation, I shrugged. 'Well, yeah.'
He bared his teeth at me and began transforming in front of my eyes. His previous military garb melted away and his body grew larger, slowly turning into a lion with a long, leathery spiky tail.
'Finally,' I said more to myself. 'It's been a while, Dr Thorn,'
That momentarily confused him, making him hesitate for a split second.
'We have never met, demigod,' he growled.
I just smirked.
Dr Thorn charged at me, his claws extended to their full length. It waited until he was directly on top of me before raising my shield to deflect his swipe into the ground. Using his brief confusion, I swung my sword at him only to hit nothing but air.
The manticore backed up and flicked his tail at me, half a dozen spikes flying at me.
I let out a yelp and darted off towards the side, bringing Thorn's attention to me while leaving Bianca and Nico unharmed and safe. I deflected the poisonous spikes into trees and into the ground while ducking and weaving through the ranged assault. Occasionally, I would cut a thorn out of the air but the sheer number of them made it harder and harder to avoid a direct hit.
I hid behind a large tree, trying to catch my breath. Spike after spike flew past me and into the forest. One clipped the edge of the tree as soon as I tried taking a look at Dr Thorn
I closed my eyes, 'Oh, this is a stupid idea.'
With that, I sprinted out from behind the tree, my shield held out in front of me. Whistling spikes flew past me and my progress was paused for a millisecond every time a thorn hit my shield. The slowly increasing rate of clanging metal told me that my shield wasn't going to hold much longer.
Based on how hard the spikes were hitting my shield, I could tell I was slowly closing on Dr Thorn. Taking a risk, I lowered my shield and jumped, my sword raised over my head.
I underestimated how close I was to Thorn. Turns out, I was quite literally in his face when I took off. What I didn't expect was to get slammed onto the ground by a massive lion's paw.
It hurt. A lot.
I hit the ground hard and I let myself roll for a while. My shield was still on my arm but Riptide flew out of my hand when I landed. I groaned in pain.
'Are you okay?' a panicked voice asked. I opened my eyes to see Bianca looking down at me in worry.
'I'm okay,' I lifted myself to my feet. 'I think.'
'You cannot hope to change Fate, demigod,' Dr Thorn stalked closer towards me, walking on all fours like a lion stalking its prey. 'The Great Stirring is already underway. The Fate of Olympus is already sealed. Soon, Olympus will fall and you along with it!'
'You talk way too much,' I said tiredly as I took out a capped Riptide from my pocket, ready to uncap it at a moment's notice.
At that exact moment, I was pushed down into the snow just as a barrage of spikes flew over my head. Based on the surprised sounds coming from Bianca and Nico, they were also thrown into the ground by the invisible force.
Coming out of the forest, Thalia and Grover burst out of the trees behind Dr Thorn. With Aegis on her arm, Thalia charges the manticore with her spear raised.
Dr Thorn winced at the sight of Medusa's head on metal but he raised his spiked tail in their direction and snarled, baring his teeth.
'For Zeus!' Thalia shouted before she thrusted her spear towards Dr Thorn's head. He read her move perfectly and swatted Thalia's spear off to the side before slashing at her with his claws. Thalia reacted quickly and raised Aegis, giving her time to roll backwards onto her feet again.
'That's a manticore!' Annabeth said, appearing out of thin air now that she wasn't wearing her Yankees cap. I watched as Thalia raised her shield to deflect the wave of spikes sent in her direction. She didn't get hit but the force behind each spike was enough to knock her to the ground.
'Thalia needs help,' I flicked off Riptide's cap and adjusted the strap of my shield. I turned to face Annabeth. 'Stay here. They need you.'
Before she could protest, I was already darting off to join the fight.
During our short exchange, Grover had done some really handy woodland magic and had immoblised Dr Thorn in some rope-like weeds. Just as I took my first swing at him, trying to take advantage of Thorn's lack of movement, he ripped out free from his restraints.
With amazing speed, Dr Thorn sidestepped my swing and Thalia's jab at the same time. Using the brief moment of confusion from the both of us, Thorn swatted his tail at us hard. Both Thalia and I flew backwards and landed in the snow in a heap.
Out of the corner of my eye, Grover brought his reed pipes to his mouth again but a single spike flew towards him. He tried to dodge it but the projectile caught the edge of his jacket and pinned him against a tree.
Thalia recovered from the fall much faster than me. Standing up, she brandished her spear and shield to face Dr Thorn.
'Yield, demigod.' he said eerily calm.
'Never!' Thalia spat at him and lunged forward.
A bright light suddenly lit up the clearing. The helicopter from before rose up from the edge of the cliff, its searchlight blinding everyone but Dr Thorn.
Thalia stopped in her tracks, attempting to block out the light but to no avail. Thorn used this to his advantage and swiped at Thalia with his giant paw. I watched in horror as Thalia was propelled backwards, her spear and shield flying off in opposite directions.
'No!' I yelled as Dr Thorn prepared to throw several spikes into Thalia's chest. Getting up from my spot on the ground, I darted forwards in front of Thalia just as the first spike was launched from his tail.
Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The spike that was meant for Thalia came hurtling towards me. As if I had super speed, my hand shot upwards and caught the spike just inches away from my chest.
Dr Thorn recoiled in surprise, like I had just physically hit him. He wasn't the only person who was surprised. Thalia looked at me in shock and I was too busy trying to figure out how I just did that.
'What? How?' Dr Thorn demanded.
Instead of answering, I shot my hand outwards towards him. The spike I had intercepted with my bare hands shot off towards him as if I had a tail of my own. Dr Thorn must have still been in a state of shock because he didn't even try to dodge it. I watched in satisfaction as he was impaled in the shoulder by his own thorn.
He let out a roar of pain which was quickly drowned out by the sound of the helicopter blades. He faced me with absolute hatred in his eyes that rivaled the look in Ares' eyes when I impaled his ankle.
'You pathetic demigod!' he ripped the spike out with a grunt of pain. 'My poison doesn't affect me. I was supposed to bring you in alive but the General will have to settle for a dead body.'
I couldn't help but send a smirk in his direction, 'You can always try. And plus, that was just a distraction.'
Before Thorn could question my comment, a piercing sound filled the night sky. I had to fight the smile forming on my face as the sound of a familiar hunting horn echoed across the clearing.
The sound made Dr Thorn freeze. He turned to face the direction in which the sound came from.
'No,' he muttered in slight fear. 'It cannot be-'
A silver blur flew out of the trees and an arrow embedded itself into the wound already on his shoulder, causing Thorn to shout out from the sudden pain.
'Curse you!' he cried out before launching a dozen spikes into the trees. The spikes didn't even reach the tree line before more silver arrows flew out from behind the trees. They intercepted the spikes and Dr Thorn had to duck to dodge more arrows.
He ripped the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl and looked towards the forest in hatred. Then, the archers emerged from behind the cover of the trees.
I have never been so happy to see people that hated me.
The Hunters of Artemis stepped forward with their bows drawn, about a dozen bows trained on Dr Thorn with arrows notched.
'The Hunters!' Annabeth exclaimed in relief.
'Oh, wonderful,' Thalia murmured under her breath from beside me.
I watched as an older girl stepped forward, her bow aimed at Thorn. She had a slightly upturned nose and coppery skin, giving her a regel look. Her most prominent feature was the silver circlet braided into her long dark hair. Despite wearing a silver ski parka and a pair of jeans, she looked as imposing as if she was wearing a set of battle armour.
I had said that nothing beat the feeling of seeing Bianca alive and well, but this was a close second. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Zoë Nightshade, in the flesh, alive and well. The former lieutenant of Artemis and a friend for a short while. The euphoric happiness inside of me was too much to describe.
Zoë Nightshade. Oh my gods, Zoë Nightshade.
I was so distracted, I didn't even notice Dr Thorn charging at Thalia and I. I raised my shield but I knew it was hopeless. I closed my eyes and braced for impact but it never came.
I peeked over the edge of my shield and saw Annabeth riding Dr Thorn's back as if he was a bull. Her knife was hilt-deep in his mane and Thorn was thrashing around violently, trying to shake her off.
'Annabeth!' I screamed in horror as Dr Thorn approached the edge of the cliff.
'Get back, half-blood!' Zoë called out. 'Get out of the line of fire!'
I stood up and started running towards them, tossing my deformed shield off to the side.
All of a sudden, Dr Thorn's tail started flicking around, throwing spikes out in all directions. The Hunters ducked and weaved out of the way with the grace of true warriors and dove behind trees to take cover.
I found myself in a bad situation. I was out in the open and I had disposed of my shield, leaving me very vulnerable to the poisonous projectiles flying all over the place.
I looked around frantically before I came upon a realisation. There was snow all over the place and snow was essentially frozen water. I tried looking for another way out but it didn't look like I had much of a choice.
I reached out with my powers and felt the tug in my gut instantly, letting me know that it actually worked. Almost instantly, a wall of snow appeared in between me and Dr Thorn. I held the wall for as long as I could, shielding both me and Thalia from the spikes but I was starting to find it harder to hold by the second. Controlling snow was not like controlling water, it was a lot harder.
I let the wall of snow fall back into the ground just in time to see a silver arrow sink into Dr Thorn's chest. He growled in anger and eyed a twelve-year-old girl with auburn hair, locking eyes with her silver ones.
'This is not the end, Huntress!' he yelled, taking a step back. 'You shall pay!'
I watched in horror as Dr Thorn took another step back, falling off the cliff with Annabeth still on his back. A few silver arrows flew towards them harmlessly as they tumbled down into the sea below.
'Annabeth!' I shouted before running off to the edge of the cliff. I looked down and saw nothing but rocks and water almost 100 feet below. I tried searching for her using my powers but I felt nothing in the water.
She was gone.
A/N: For anyone wondering about the 'update' like an hour ago, that was a mistake by me. I accidently published an unfinished version. My bad, hehe. Anyways, here's chapter 18.
First of all, lovely to see that we reached over 11,000 read on this story. I love each and every one of you that had made it this far. It's been one hell of a journey.
Sorry for the late-ish update though. I don't know why, but Wattpad on my laptop is down, probably server stuff. So I found an alternative. How this chapter satisfies you, my fellow readers.
One thing I want to say is that I really enjoy your comments on this story. The comments matter more to me than reads or votes, because they let me know that this story is enjoyable to people that they spend time to leave such wonderful comments. So please, drop a comment. I read every single one of them.
On a completely unrelated note, have any of you all watched Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous on Netflix? That may be one of the reasons this update is so delayed. Hehe.
Once again, I want to thank you guys for making it this far. I'm glad that you find this story worthy enough to spend your time reading it.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day and as always, see you in the next chapter.
~Sacai2005