gone girl.
━━━ chapter twenty three
❀
Mrs. O'Leary was the only one happy about the sleeping city. They found her pigging out at an overturned hot dog stand while the owner was curled up on thesidewalk, sucking his thumb. Argus was waiting for them with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything, not like he ever does, because he supposedly has an eyeball on his tongue. But his face made it clear he was freaking out. Percy told him what they'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.
"You'd better get back to camp," he told him. "Guard it as best you can." He pointed at Percy and raised his eyebrow quizzically.
"I'm staying," he said.
Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him. He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air withhis finger. "Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."
"For what?" Amaryllis asked.
Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much standard issue - the same kind of round shield they always used in capture-the-flag. But when Annabeth set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty — which wasn't anywhere close to us.
"Whoa," Amaryllis said. "A video shield?"
"One of Daedalus's ideas," Annabeth said. "I had Beckendorf make this before-" She glanced at Silena. "Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."
The demigods crowded around as Annabeth concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so Amaryllis got motion sickness just watching it. They were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.
"Whoa," Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."
"What?" Annabeth said nervously. "You see invaders?"
"No, right there — Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brother. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Noelle Yung, one of the demigods that were on their side despite being children of minor gods, smacked him across the head. "You are not looting a freaking candy store in the middle of a war. That is a new low, even for you two."
"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed.
Annabeth passed her hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park. "This will let us see what's going on across the city," she said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully we'll see you back at camp... someday."
Argus grunted. He gave them a look that clearly meant Good luck; you'll need it, then climbed into his van. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered theroad. Percy called Mrs. O'Leary and sent her to find Grover, as they were definitely going to need all the help they could get and the hellhound raced off north.
Pollux crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"
"This is a huge spell," Silena said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want asleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder."
Percy stared at her. "When did you learn so much about magic?"
Silena blushed. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."
"Percy, Mar," Annabeth called. She was still looking at the shield. "You'd better see this."
The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speedboats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped m the night wind. She'd never seen that design before, but it wasn't hard to figure out: the battle flag of Kronos.
"Deena, you idiot," Noelle said, looking at one specific demigod who was next to Ethan Nakamura.
She had curly brown hair and a golden apple painted on her armor, a symbol of her godly mother, Eris. Amaryllis remembered Deena's story — it was one of the most recent losses of the Camp and by the teary eyes of Noelle Yung, it seemed like the wound hadn't closed yet. Her joining Luke was quite the surprise for everyone.
"Scan the perimeter of the island," Amaryllis said. "Quick."
Annabeth shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming infront of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. Their doglike faces and the swords strapped to their waists made it obvious that they were telkhines — sea demons. The scene shifted again: the Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel. It was a real monster-fest.
"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" Percy said. "Is the whole state asleep?"
Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."
She showed them another scene — a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.
"Kronos," Amaryllis said. "He's slowing time, just like that time in the Labyrinth."
"My mother might be helping," Scarlett Walsh, the daughter of Hecate, said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."
"I don't know." Annabeth sounded really frustrated. She hated not knowing. "But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."
"Like flies in amber," Jake murmured.
Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."
Amaryllis didn't blame the rest of the demigods for looking scared and nervous out of their minds. They were only forty and they somehow needed to protect the entire Manhattan with no outside help, it seemed pointless to even try. Clenching her jaw, she realised there was only one thing she could do to help the morale, even though she dreaded it for so long; telling them the truth about her father. Having two children of the Big Three instead of just one didn't make a huge difference, but still gave them an advantage over the enemy.
She also knew there was a spy amongst them, but looking amongst her friends from the Camp, she couldn't believe any of them was the one. Maybe she was being naive, or unnecessarily loyal, but she didn't care.
Percy must have sensed that she was about to spill the big secret, because he tensed up as she opened her mouth. "I have something to say," she started and everyone looked at her. "As some of you probably noticed already" she said, looking at Connor Stoll, "I've been acting a bit strange this year. That's because I learnt something about myself, something I... I didn't want all of you to know until the time was right." She saw Will, Michael and the rest of her ex siblings looking at her with curiousity and even worry. Amaryllis took a breath and collected herself. "I found out I'm... not a child of Apollo. I'm a daughter of Hades."
Everyone looked shocked and started murmuring to each other. But wasn't she claimed? How could she not tell us? She can't be a daughter of Hades. I thought she was about to say she was the spy. Is the Big Prophecy about her?
"How can we trust you then?" a voice asked.
"You can trust her." Percy took a step forward, wasting no second to defend her, which seemed weird considering... everything. "She has always fought by our side. She's a good warrior and a great advantage to our side."
"Kronos doesn't know about me," Amaryllis said. "We're counting on him getting caught off guard."
"What about the spy?" Katie asked. "If they're amongst us..."
"I'm tired of keeping secrets," she answered. "I took a leap of faith, I suppose, because I trust all of you. I've known most of you since I was a kid and I spent my last two years with you at Camp. What I'm trying to say..." she sighed. "is that the spy did the same. Forget the gods, don't fight for them. We're each other's real family. I'm fighting for you, because I trust you and all I ask is that you do the same."
No one had anything to say to that, but Amaryllis could tell from their eyes that they agreed with her. She naively hoped that the spy, whoever it was, had heard her speech and maybe looked things from a different perspective — the perspective of a girl that hated the gods, but was still determined to fight the war and be on the right side of history.
"All right," Percy finally said after a while. "We're going to hold Manhattan."
Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."
"We are going to hold it," he said. "We have to."
"He's right," Annabeth said. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."
"They have boats," Michael pointed out.
"I'll take care of the boats," Percy said.
Michael frowned. "How?"
"Just leave it to me," he said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Michael, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge. Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to do, but keep them out of there! Connor, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"
"Awwww!" most of Hermes cabin complained.
"What about us, unclaimed ones?" Scarlett asked, arms crossed over her chest. There were at least six kids of minor gods behind her, some of them quite powerful, even more than the kids of major gods — and yet, they were still disregarded and forgotten by most.
"You can go wherever you think you can help the most," Amaryllis added. "Or stick with the Hermes cabin if you want."
Noelle looked at the Stoll brothers with a disgusted look. "Definitely not doing that."
Percy continued. "Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."
"Oh my gods," one of her sisters said. "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."
"No delays," Percy said. "Well... the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."
Six Aphrodite girls kissed him on the cheek in excitement.
"All right, enough!" He closed my eyes, trying to think of what he had forgotten. "The Holland Tunnel. Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."
He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. For Beckendorf!" The whole cabin roared in approval and Amaryllis smiled. Jake was a good leader, even though she knew he never wanted to be one. Charles would definitely be proud of him.
"The 59th Street Bridge," Percy said. "Clarisse-" He faltered. Clarisse wasn't here. The whole Ares cabin was sitting back at camp.
"We'll take that," Annabeth stepped in, saving him from an embarrassing silence. She turned to hersiblings. "Malcolm, take the Athena cabin, activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position."
"You got it."
"I'll go with Percy," she said. "Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed."
"All right," he said. "Keep in touch with cell phones."
"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested.
Amaryllis reached down, picked up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to Silena. "You do now."
"You all know Annabeth's number, right?" Percy said. "If you need us, pick up a random phone and call us. Use it once, drop it, then borrow another one if you have to. That should make it harder for the monsters to zero in on you."
Everyone grinned as though they liked this idea. Travis cleared his throat. "Uh, if we find a really nice phone-"
"No, you can't keep it."
"Aw, man."
"Hold it, Percy," Jake said. "You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel."
He was right. A Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through thattunnel right now, and they had positioned their forces everywhere else. Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"
Amaryllis had heard of the Hunters of Artemis, but she had never actually met them. It was a band of at least thirty adolescent girls crossed FifthAvenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords attheir sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms. Amaryllis wished she could look half as cool as them.
The girl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head.
"Thalia!" Annabeth cried.
The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."
❀
There were hugs and greetings all around but it was mostly Thalia that was being friendly. The other Hunters clearly didn't like being around campers, especially boys, but they hadn't shot anyone, so that was a good sign, Amaryllis thought.
She couldn't believe she was finally meeting Thalia herself. Considering she had become somewhat of a legend at the Camp when Amaryllis first arrived and how much Annabeth talked about her with admiration the last years, she couldn't help but think of her as some kind of celebrity.
"Where have you been the last year?" Percy asked her. "You've got like twice as many Hunters now!"
She laughed. "Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson."
"Complete lie," he said.
"We'll see," she promised. "After this is over, you, Annabeth, Grover and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West 57th."
"Le Parker Meridien," he said. "You're on. And Thalia, thanks."
She shrugged. "Of course." Then she glanced at Amaryllis, who was next to him and pretended to be very interested at observing the hunters' interactions with the campers. "And who's that?"
"Oh, right!" Annabeth said, smiling. Her mood seemed to be considerably better once Thalia was there. "Thalia, that's Amaryllis. She's a..."
She hesitated, not having gotten used to the fact yet. Amaryllis shook Thalia's hand with a small smile. "A daughter of Hades. Nice to meet you."
Thalia seemed shocked as well, but a smirk slowly formed on her black lips. "So... a daughter of Zeus, a daughter of Hades and a son of Poseidon. Wow. Those monsters won't know what hit them. Hunters, move out!"
She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full form. The golden head ofMedusa molded in the center was so horrible, the campers all backed away. The Hunters took off downthe avenue, followed by their wolves and falcons, and Amaryllis had a feeling the Lincoln Tunnel would be safe for now.
"You're coming with us, right?" Percy asked her.
"Not this time," Amaryllis said. "I think- I think I want to fight by my ex siblings, just like last time."
Percy looked as if he wanted to protest. "But-"
She took off a phone that she had stole from a random man on the street and showed it to him. "If anything happens, I'll call."
He didn't look convinced, but Annabeth nodded. "It wouldn't be wise to have our two powerhouses together," she said. "Mar will be able to help more in the battlefield than with us. Just be careful."
"I'm always careful, Owl Face," she teased. "I'll see you both later."
Percy addressed the crowd for one last time. She could tell he was trying not to get too emotional. "You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," he told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." He raised Riptide and shouted, "For Olympus!"
They all shouted in response, and their forty voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.
❀
The Apollo cabin was circled around Michael, who looked like he was giving them a pep-talk, or at least attempting to. Motivational speech was never one of his strengths. Once they noticed her approaching, everyone stopped talking.
"Hi," Amaryllis said. "Uh, you don't mind me coming with you, do you?"
"Why would we?" Michael asked. "Because you lied to us?"
"Michael-" Will started to say, but he was interrupted by Kayla.
"I knew there was something off about you ever since you came back for the summer!" the short redheaded girl said. She looked more proud of herself for noticing the signs rather than upset at her.
"I'm sorry," Amaryllis said, feeling everyone's eyes on her. "I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but for now... I just wanted to fight by my siblings' side."
"Only we're not your real siblings," Nia said. She didn't seem angry or bitter when she was saying that, just sad.
"That's nonsense!" Will said and took a step forward. "Nia, who covered for you all those times you spent alone in the cabin with Drew? And Kayla, who kicked that son of Ares' ass when he made those homophobic comments about your dad? Austin, who stayed by your side all those times you couldn't sleep and kept you company? And Michael—" Will took a big breath, "—who was the one that took care of you after Lee's death? That's right. Amaryllis did. It doesn't matter that she's not a child of Apollo... she's still our sister."
Amaryllis smiled and hugged Will tightly. She was almost scared to let go of him, when she felt another body join their hug - it was Nia. Kayla jumped right in as well as Austin and a few of their siblings. The group hug felt suffocating, but it was the most happy Amaryllis had felt in weeks. Nothing filled her with more courage than seeing that her siblings - not ex siblings, not anymore - still loved her and accepted her just the way she was.
Michael stood outside, staring at them with eyes full of adoration, despite him trying to act annoyed. "Come on, we don't have the time for hugs—"
"Shut up," they all said at the same time and someone pulled him into the hug.
"Fine, fine. We're all in this together and stuff. I get it," Michael laughed. "Now, we should really go. We have no time to waste."
Once the hug was finished, they followed Michael and made their way to Williamsburg Bridge.
❀
Amaryllis was ready to kick some ass.
Her confidence slightly faltered as she saw the entire phalanx of dracaenae marching towards the bridge and them, followed by a bunch of hellhounds that looked nothing like the friendly fluff-ball that was Mrs. O'Leary. The Apollo cabin only consisted of eight campers, including her, while the enemy seemed to not have an issue with the numbers.
She felt Will stiffen next to her. He was a good archer, but his abilities were much more geared towards healing, not combat. Amaryllis could tell that he was feeling nervous, not unlike the rest of them.
"There are too many of them," she heard someone behind her say.
"We got this," Michael said, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "And be careful with the special arrows — especially the flaming ones and the poisoned ones. Amaryllis...?"
Again, all eyes fell on her. Maybe they wouldn't say it out loud, but it was clear that they were all counting on her, a child of the Big Three carrying the curse of Achilles, to save the day.
"Don't worry about me," she said, looking at the enemy army. "I have a plan. Just... be careful not to shoot me."
"Good idea," Michael nodded. He drew a sharp breath. "Take positions!"
"Be careful, Lilly," Will said, looking her in the eyes before rushing off with the rest of them, positioning themselves behind cars.
Amaryllis stood there, looking at the marching monsters that came closer and closer. She closed her eyes and focused, ignoring Michael yelling orders and the sound of arrows attacking the monsters. When she opened her eyes again, she summoned the debris that had fallen off the destroyed buildings and roads of New York and with a twist of her hands, she unleashed it towards the enemy. Some dracaenae got crushed under the rocks, but the hellhounds managed to move the rest of them out of the way.
Most of the Apollo arrows glanced harmlessly off their shield wall. They looked completely unimpressed, even when they saw their fellow monsters occasionally getting killed from a poisoned arrow. Amaryllis drew both of her swords as one hellhound advanced and ran towards them, its red eyes glowing with anger, probably due to the arrows in its back. She waited until it reached her and fell to the ground, just underneath it, pushing both of her swords into its stomach, barely avoiding getting stomped to death before Skia, her shadow sword, turned the hellhound into dust.
A dracaenae threw her spear at a car, smashing the windshield. "Get the mortals out of here!" Michael yelled at the rest of her siblings and then looked at her. "Can you buy us some time?"
She nodded and turned towards the dracaenae that was riding a hellhound. Amaryllis closed her eyes and teleported, using the shadows, behind the monster woman. After she stabbed her and threw her body off the hellhound, the dog seemed to understand something was wrong, but it was too late. She drove the blade into its back and she fell down after it turned into dust.
She looked behind her to see how her siblings were holding up. Half of them were trying to get the mortals out of harm's way, while the rest, including Michael, kept their positions, shooting arrows. Michael shot her a quick thumps up and then avoided a javelin flying towards him, though it scratched his arm that immediately started bleeding.
Four dracaenae surrounded her, their spears drawn with their tips being in the height of her head. "Surrender, daughter of Apollo," one of them said.
"You didn't get the memo, did you?" Amaryllis said sarcastically. She moved quickly, avoiding the one's spear, though the other one found her neck. At the smell of her own blood and the sight of some dracaenae managing to reach her siblings, she got even angrier. She slashed and stabbed, not even realising what she was doing until her armour was full of blood and her swords full of monster dust.
She ran to help defend her siblings. Michael didn't seem to need any help, shooting poisoned arrows right at the monsters' faces, but Will and Kayla seemed to not have any more arrows available and there was only so much damage you could do by smacking monsters with your bow. She quickly killed the two dracaenae with just one whip of her sword.
"Lilly, behind you!" Will yelled and she turned just in time to duck before getting her head sliced off by a sword-wielding dracaenae.
"Get inside the car," Amaryllis told her siblings as she saw a hellhound right behind the monster in front of her.
"But—"
"Now!" she shouted. She didn't look behind her, but the sound of car doors opening and then closing brought her some momentary relief. "Now it's just you and me," she mocked the dracaenae and didn't waste another second before attacking her. Amaryllis was getting pretty tired, but she still managed to disarm the monster in seconds and drive her blade into her head.
Just when she was about to celebrate her minor victory and check on her siblings, she felt something push her harshly and then her head hit the back of a car. Another stupid hellhound was coming her way, growling and showing off its sharp teeth, but it wasn't scaring her. She was still invincible, so unless it planned on biting her heart off, she was good.
She drew her swords and tilted her head, ready to fight, when she heard an engine starting. Soon enough, a car hit the hellhound and pushed it out of the way. Inside the bright red car was Kayla, in the driver's seat and Will next to her, with wide eyes.
"Woo!" Kayla celebrated, but her voice faltered as she saw the hellhound slowly rising up again.
"Again!" Will screamed. "Again, again, again!"
Kayla shrieked and did it two more times, until the hellhound was too beaten up to stand up again. Amaryllis went besides it and put it out of its misery, as her siblings got out of the car.
"Normally I'm against animal cruelty..." Will said.
"Kayla that was..."
"Awesome?"
"Terrifying and hilarious at the same time," Amaryllis replied weakly, then turned serious again. "Go find arrows right now. You can't be disarmed—"
"Guys?" Nia said, using Michael to help her stand up after she was evidently injured. She pointed at the edge of the bridge, where more monsters were coming. It didn't matter that they had beaten up so many already — the monsters never stopped. "Look!"
"Is that a fucking...?"
"A Minotaur," Will said. "Gods... we need help."
"I can take him," Amaryllis said.
"Even if you could, there are still too many coming along with him," Michael insisted. He let Nia rest against a wall and searched his pocket for something. He handed the phone he had probably stolen from a mortal to Amaryllis. "Call Annabeth. You know her number, don't you?"
"Of course," Amaryllis said miserably. She knew they needed help, that she couldn't protect all of them at once, but calling Percy for help was the last thing she wanted to do. Nevertheless, she typed in the number.
She heard a female voice coming from the other line. "Yes?"
"It's Amaryllis."
"Where are you?"
"I'm with the Apollo cabin at Williamsburg Bridge, but we need help. There's another army marching over and the monster leading it is... the Minotaur."
She heard Annabeth draw a sharp breath. "We'll be there as soon as possible."
Once Amaryllis hung up, she threw the phone back to Michael. "Help is on their way. Now if you excuse me... I have an idea."
𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.
▊me knowing that i hate writing battle scenes but also knowing that the entire tlo is essentially one big battle scene: 🤡🤡
(i still enjoy showing mar's badassery though)
▊also noelle appeared <33 if you dont know who that is, it's an oc from "fight or flight", my jason grace fic that ill start to officially write once im done with gone girl! its published, so you can go check it out if you want.
also scarlett is another one of my ocs, from a pollux fic i have in my drafts and i doubt will ever see the light of day because i dont think anyone would read that :p
deena is another one of my ocs! she's a big part of noelle and scarlett's story, because they used to be best friends so in gone girl, she might not be important, but in the gone girl universe, she kinda is.
▊amaryllis' dynamic with the apollo cabin is my favourite thing ever <3 the next chapter will be very painful for this exact reason <3 iykyk
❛ gone girl. ❜
( part 𝒐𝒏𝒆 of gone girl series )
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