(Shoutout to
1. DohaMadani for commenting on the last chapter! Remember, I love to read all your comments!
2. @Demigod_in_diguise8 for voting on the last chapter!
3. @AkiridianGodGirl for voting on a few chapters!
4. @FireStorm009 for voting on the last chapter! Thank you all so much, new readers and old readers alike!
Also guys, I didn't open Q&A for no reason! I'm still waiting on questions 😞
Enjoy!)
Riddle looked very young. Twenty-four or twenty-five at most. He was dressed in a suit with a green tie. His hair was slicked back. I bit back a groan of frustration; he had changed shape to keep a secret which god he was possessing. Riddle flicked his fingers and my friends and I flew backward as if hit by an invisible force. He threw his head back and chortled cruelly.
"Yes," he smirked smugly, examining his nails, "this godly form strengthens my powers, allowing me to conduct magic without a wand. Useful, isn't it?" He flicked his wrist again, and the demigods, Calypso, and I flipped upside down and began to levitate in the air.
"A shame, really..." He rotated his wrist and I, singled out, turned slowly in the air. "We could've worked together. We would be unstoppable, you and I." He laughed harshly.
"But now I already am." Riddle waved his hand. I began to do a gymnastics routine hovering in the air; flips, cartwheels, and even a huge somersault, much to his amusement.
Suddenly, Hazel dropped free of the floating spell and charged Riddle, her spatha raised; but Riddle just snapped his finger lazily and propelled Hazel in the air again. Her cavalry sword fell to the ground. I wondered how Hazel had broken the magic, then realized she probably had more control of these types of things, being Hecate's protégé and all that. So that was how she excelled in all our classes.
Then, unexpectedly, we all dropped to the ground. Riddle smiled grotesquely.
"So you want to fight me? Let's see what you can do." He beckoned us. Unsure, the demigods, Calypso, and I glanced at each other and began to approach Riddle tentatively, cautiously. If he saw any threat, he could do anything he wanted to us. The only reason we had lived this long was his enormous ego.
Then a lot of things happened at once. Thalia nocked two arrows and let them fly at Riddle's head. A white-hot laser beam of fire erupted from Leo's outstretched hands, aiming for Riddle's chest. A crowd of skeletons rose out of the ground around Tom Riddle, lumbering towards him and pinning his arms to the side. A whoosh of wind caused Riddle to topple right into a waiting skeleton's arms.
However, things went wrong quickly. The bunch of skeletons blocked the line of flame headed for Riddle. Inside of hitting the intended target, the blaze began to annihilate the skeletons. Leo shut it off quickly.
The wind that Calypso had sent for Riddle had hit Thalia's arrows on the way, causing them to go awry and fly into the forest. Meanwhile, after summoning the horde of skeletons, Nico had lost his footing and stumbled into Will. Both fell to the ground. Riddle wrested himself free of the skeleton's grip and waved his right arm. The skeletons crumbled to the ground, now nothing but inanimate bones. He grinned wickedly.
"Is that all you can do?" He tried to sound confident, but I could tell he was shaken. Whatever he had been expecting, it was not the sudden attack. Frank morphed into a ferocious black puma and charged. Riddle began to raise his hands, but Piper yelled,
"Freeze!" Her powerful charmspeak washed over Riddle and he stiffened. And although the command wasn't directed at Frank, the charmspeak was so potent it caused him to hesitate for a moment before continuing to run at Riddle, claws digging into the ground.
Thalia shot more arrows at Riddle to aid Frank. Now that the skeletons were gone, Leo aimed additional fireballs at the powerful intruder. I felt a sudden surge of power and saw Reyna slump out of the corner of my eye. I flashed her a quick, grateful smile and ran to join the fight. The other demigods were looking similarly invigorated.
But Piper's charmspeak couldn't hold a god for long. He made a sweeping motion with his arms, and the fireballs and the arrows flew away from Riddle, colliding with a tall tree. However, he wasn't fast enough to stop Frank. The large puma raked its claws along Riddle's side, leaving long gashes. A golden liquid streamed from the wounds. Ichor.
Riddle sucked in a breath in pain. He growled and waved his arm. Frank was tossed to the side, crashing into the same smoking tree that Leo's fireballs and Thalia's arrows had hit.
"Frank!" Hazel cried. Trembling with rage, she turned her gaze to Riddle. She raised her arms, and with the motion, cracks riddled (no pun intended) the earth and mounds of gold and diamonds surfaced.
"Look behind you!" Piper stalled. Riddle turned. Hazel fashioned bands out of gold, ruby, emerald, and a ton of other jewels that would probably make her the richest person in the world, and threw them at Riddle. They latched around him, pinning his limbs to the side. A band made of silver secured around his mouth.
Suddenly, Riddle started to glow with a blinding golden light. I recognized it and turned away, as did the other demigods.
BOOM! The massive crash resounded. I deemed it safe to look back. Riddle was levitating above Hazel's now-melted bands of precious metals, quivering with fury. But then-
"Hey!" Harry marched onto the grass and in front of Hazel, staring at Riddle. Riddle stared back, face full of distaste. "You're Voldemort." Harry declared. He raised his wand and pointed it at Riddle. "I thought I killed you. But I can do it again."
"Harry, you have no idea what you're dealing with." Hazel tried to reason.
"Harry, go into the school and stop bothering us!" Piper ordered. We had just about reached the last of our patience and we would not take any more disregard or arrogance from this ignorant idiot. Harry turned and walked inside the school, Riddle's eyes following him. Riddle smiled with amusement.
I used the distraction to shoot a stream of water at his feet, from the nearby lake, knocking him over. Before he could regain his wits, Annabeth threw her dagger. It impaled his foot. His side, his foot, and his pride wounded, he seethed with rage.
"This is not over." He declared, trembling, struggling to get up. We had the sense to look away before he disappeared in a blinding gold flash of light. Annabeth walked over calmly and retrieved her dagger. She examined the ichor.
"That was easier than expected."
"What..." Harry turned around, "what happened?" He asked, perplexed. I sighed with irritation; the charmspeak was becoming less and less effective on the wizard the more it was used. Piper shouted exasperatedly at him, pointing towards the castle,
"Harry, leave! Now!"
"Can't you do, like, a godly blood test?" I asked.
"No. It doesn't work that way." Hecate replied. I threw my hands up in frustration.
"Nothing is ever easy! Why doesn't it work like that? We have so many questions that you haven't bothered to answer! Why can't you check each Olympian to see who is harboring Riddle's soul? Who has the power to make a soul stay in a body instead of traveling to the Underworld? Who was near Zeus when he disappeared? Why don't we have a prophecy?" I stopped to take a breath, winded from the incensed rant. Hecate smiled sadly.
"All questions will be answered in due time." She replied. But before I could make an incandescent retort, she continued, "However, I am able to answer the one about the prophecy.
"Whoever the possessed god is, it is most likely that if there is a prophecy, he will hunt down the source to keep their rise to power unrivaled. Apollo has stifled the Oracle for the sake of Rachel's safety."
"Can't you just put defenses around her or move her somewhere safe?" Frank cringed at his words as soon as he let them out. "I mean, I worry about Rachel, but..." he trailed off, seemingly finding nothing to say.
"It would actually be safer that way," Annabeth interjected, sparing Frank the embarrassment. "If Riddle ever felt threatened by the chance that Rachel might suddenly spout a prophecy, he'd probably..." Annabeth grimaced, "take care of it."
"Our quest won't go anywhere without a prophecy to direct it," I added, irate. Hecate shook her head.
"Wizarding magic in a god, merged, are more powerful than you think. Even I don't know the extent of the possessed god's new power. Even if we did put defenses around Rachel, or move her to a safe place, we're not sure they would hold against something so potent. And the gods are not willing to take that chance; if given the opportunity, the possessed god may destroy the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi forever." Hecate explained.
I got the gist of it of what Hecate was trying to say, though I didn't fully comprehend. However, next to me, Annabeth was nodding in understanding. Then her face scrunched in confusion.
"The god is really that powerful?"
"We're not sure," Hecate said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"Riddle is a very, very distant descendant of you. That means his capabilities in the area of wizarding magic, compared to you, are very watered down. Shouldn't you be able to defeat him easily? After all, you are a goddess." Annabeth asked.
"Riddle has possessed one of the Olympian gods. It has enhanced his magic, though I do not know how so. We have seen him perform powerful magic without a wand already, meaning his magic is now so capable he does not need a wand anymore as a conduit, and have reason to believe his new abilities extend further than that. I am the goddess of magic; however, I am a minor goddess, while he, through the body of an Olympian god, may as well be my male and more powerful counterpart as another- hopefully temporary- god of magic. In addition to that, he also controls the domain of whatever god he has taken control of." Hecate answered. Annabeth nodded, taking in the new information.
"And even all of the Olympian gods' power combined wouldn't be enough to stop him, or prevent him from breaking through any type of defenses you put up?"
"First, if we enlisted help from all the Olympian gods, then the anonymous possessed god may put up a faulty defense or secretly disable the defenses while under the guise of helping. Additionally," Hecate winced, "we're not sure if the soul can flit in and out of bodies as it pleases. So it is not an option to only seek help from the female gods or minor gods, because it is not worth the risk." Hecate grimaced. Annabeth threw her hands up in frustration.
"There's literally nothing we can do! Every trail is a dead end, every chance to stop him can end up in more destruction!" Annabeth's voice rose higher and higher with each word. I reached out and squeezed her hand in an attempt to comfort her, and she took a deep breath, settling her head on my shoulder. I pecked her on the cheek, and felt her smile slightly, causing me to smile too. Unexpectedly, thunder rumbled in the distance, and I jumped at the sudden noise; it never meant anything good. Annabeth laughed softly, amused at my jittery antics. Hecate glowered at Zeus's warning.
"I must go. But take note that, now that Riddle has broken down the barrier protecting this magical school," Hecate spread her hands to indicate the interior of the room, "from the gods, all of the gods, Olympian and minor, will be watching you. You must be cautious." Thunder roared once more, louder this time, and Hecate vanished. At least she spared us the searing, dramatic exit that we had to look away from.
"Well, time for dinner!" Leo chirped optimistically. We stared at him. "What?" He spread his hands. "What are we supposed to do?" He swung the door open.
"Oh, hey!" He greeted Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who happened to be standing outside the door and trying to (key word: trying) to look menacing. He brushed past them cheerfully and headed out the Gryffindor common room. Harry looked a little surprised at Leo's chipper and unfazed attitude, then quickly regained his furious expression and turned his attention back to us. I groaned loudly, and didn't bother to hide it.
"Why are you here?"
(The reason I'm doing this whole Riddle is so powerful we can't protect Rachel thing is because I don't want to write a prophecy. I'm avoiding it. Rick Riordan's prophecies are so good, but many Wattpad ones are *cough* not that great *cough.* People go to great lengths to make it rhyme. For example, I think one line of a prophecy I read in another story was "win or flake?" They wrote 'flake' to make it rhyme with the previous line.
I know it's really hard to make a rhyming prophecy, and that's why I'm evading it. However, if you guys really want a prophecy, I'll make one! If at least 5 people comment to tell me to make one, you are going to see one in the very near future. That's all, and thank you for reading!)