Book 3 - The Titans Curse
Ayden woke up from yet another nightmare. Chaos and Aion were just down the hall getting ready to ask if she was alright. Ayden had many nightmares over her time with them, but this was one different. She got up and dressed herself quickly. Her friends needed her help and she couldn't explain it.
"What are you doing?" Chaos flipped the light switch in her room.
"My friends are in danger," She jumped up and down tugging on her shoe.
"And you know where they are?" Aion asked.
"Theoretically?" She grabbed the daggers that Aion had gifted her for Christmas.
"Wonderful," Chaos nodded. "So if this a goodbye then?"
"Yeah," Ayden grabbed a hair tie throwing her hair into a low ponytail. She moved forward without thinking and hugged them. "Tell Thalassa bye for me."
"Will you be back?"
"I'm not sure," Ayden admitted. "I will try."
"Don't rush it, we will always be there when you need us," Chaos smiled. "You haven't had good adults in your life in the past, but we will do our best."
"I know," Ayden smiled. "I do have to go though, so goodbye for now." She stepped back and teleported. She put her foot down on the snow-covered grass. She looked around and saw a giant manticore above two dark-haired kids.
"You don't look nice," Ayden moved her hand as the two teenagers teleported behind her.
"What was that?" The little boy asked. She recognized them for a moment, but she didn't know from where. She'd definitely seen their faces before.
"Who are you?" The girl asked.
"Ayden!" Percy yelled. She took her eyes off the pair seeing her friends run toward her. Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover were coming to help.
"Hey, guys," She smirked and teleported closer to the manticore. She pulled her daggers from her sides.
"You," The monster muttered as its attention moved to Ayden.
"Me." Ayden teleported around him quickly swiping at his limps. He let loose several spikes, but they hit the ground from where she was. A loud roar ripped through the air as the manticore fell to his knees. One of the final spikes hit her in the arm. "Ah!" She pulled it out and teleported back near the others. Annabeth grabbed her arm wrapping something around it to keep pressure on the injury.
"I knew I would like you," Thalia added.
"I've always wanted to fight with you," Ayden admitted as the girl swirled her spear getting ready to launch another attack at the manticore.
"Ayden," Grover smiled. "How long have you been on a quest?"
"Oh, I finished that a while ago," Ayden's breathing turned heavy. She looked at Percy confused as to why he didn't explain. She'd seen him over Christmas.
"Grover's been on assignment as well. I couldn't tell him you were fine before, well, now." Percy explained. Ayden gave the satyr a tight smile.
"Sorry, I was training."
"With Thalassa?" Annabeth asked.
"With all of them," Ayden explained as she looked back at the manticore. "Sorry, I didn't reappear sooner. I lost track of time."
"Wait you were training with all the primordials?" Grover asked. Ayden nodded and moved her shoulder around testing the pain.
"It will hurt for a while, but it shouldn't kill you, I don't think," Percy touched her shoulder gently.
"Alright, lover boy, on the problem at hand," Thalia turned as her shield formed.
"One at a time, I can heal later," Ayden explained as they moved forward. The manticore was facing the two teenagers once more. Ayden didn't know why they were there or where she was, but she knew they weren't normal kids. There was a reason something like this was going after them. They were demigods and not weak ones.
"Hunters!" A voice echoed from the woods beside them. "Fire!" Arrows flew from the woods hitting the monster as it stumbled back toward the cliff's edge.
"Ah!" The monster screeched as it tumbled backwards. "I'm going to kill you all!" It went to swipe for Thalia knocking her back. Its tail came forward hitting Percy's shield once making him stumble back. Its next option was to go for Grover.
"No!" Annabeth ran toward him. Ayden teleported near the monster with her as the figures emerged from the woods.
"You!"
Ayden looked over her shoulder for a brief moment seeing an arrow fired from a redhead. Ayden thought it was Cameron for a moment. The pain was immediate. She felt a pain in her chest as she touched the point of an arrow barely poking through her lower chest. It'd barely missed her heart. She'd been shot through the back.
"No! No! Ayden!" Percy screamed. The woman had shot her.
"What are you doing?!" Annabeth yelled as she stabbed the back of the monster. Ayden stumbled forward as the monster chuckled. He grabbed her leg as he fell off the edge. The pain ripped through Ayden's body as she was dragged off the edge plummeting toward the sea.
"Ayden!" Percy ran to the edge of the cliff seeing no one. "No, no."
"Where did they go?" Thalia asked. They were all breathing heavily from the attack. Percy felt like the adrenaline still racing through his veins.
"Why did you shoot her?!" Percy turned around drawing his sword.
"I suggest you calm down," The redhead told him. The hunters had their bows drawn and ready to fire at him.
"Why did you shoot her, Lady Artemis," Grover asked. He kept his voice calm and his head low.
"She was helping us. Now Annabeth and she are gone," Thalia shook her head. She didn't even know Ayden and she was angered by the stab in the back.
"Orders from Zeus, your father," Artemis added. "She was a problem that needed to be stopped. If Kronos got her on his side, it would be dangerous. The war would be over before it started."
"So you shot her!" Percy gripped his sword tightly. Rage flooded him. It reminded him of when he stood too close to Ares. He wanted to kill the goddess for what she'd done. The image of Ayden's limp body getting dragged off the edge kept replaying in his mind. His throat and eyes burned as he blinked hard.
"She'll be alright Percy, she's a fighter," Grover tried to assure his friend.
"She saved us," Bianca muttered. "She—she."
"She was shot in the back," Percy shook his head. His hand went to the letter necklace he still wore. His thumb rubbed over the 'A' but not even the necklace could bring him any feeling of comfort. He didn't think anything would until he saw her with his own eyes.
"She's dead," Thalia added.
"Don't say that!" Percy yelled. Grover stared at his best friend. He'd never seen Percy like this. "She's not. Don't say that." Thalia had asked Annabeth who the A was for, she asked if it stood for Annabeth, but the girl laughed. She'd told Thalia it stood for Ayden. Thalia understood now, why it was important to him, why the girl was so important to him.
***
"Ayden, you have to stay awake," Annabeth tapped the girl's cheek. "You can't close your eyes until I figure out how to stop the bleeding," Ayden grumbled as she blinked hard. She was lying on her side. Annabeth was afraid to put her on her front or back for fear of making the wound worse.
"It hurts."
"Worse than when Clarisse burned you?" Annabeth was breathing heavily as she struggled to figure out what to do. Her hands were covered in her friend's blood.
"Pull it out," Ayden muttered as her eyes grew heavy.
"No, you will bleed to death. Ayden, I don't know what do to—."
"Pull it out," Ayden told her once more. "Just do it."
"Ayden I can't—."
"Annabeth Chase, pull the arrow out of my back I have a plan," She rolled up her sleeve exposing the symbols of the primordial. They'd each given her a marking representing their permission for her to draw on their power.
"What is that?" She asked. "What are you doing?"
"Pull the arrow free," She grumbled. "Do you have a knife?" Annabeth handed her the knife and she cut a single line through a symbol. It was Achlys's symbol.
"I'm gonna pull it in three," Annabeth grabbed onto the arrow's shaft trying to get a strong grip. The silver metal was cold to her hands. "Two. One."
"Argh," Ayden grimaced as she hit the ground a few times. "I'm gonna kill that ginger bitch."
"She's a goddess. You can't kill her."
"I don't care," Ayden hissed. She traced the symbol on her arm and muttered Achlys's name under her breath a few times. Her blood coated the marking, making it turn red as it called on the primordial powers."
"Oh gods," Annabeth pressed her hands onto Ayden's back trying to slow the gushing blood. "Ayden, this is—." She lifted her hands seeing the hole in her back slowly start to close. "It's closing. What are you doing? How are you doing that?"
"It's not me," Ayden pushed herself up from the ground. "It's Achlys."
"The goddess of Misery, she—she is healing you?"
"Yeah," Ayden stood up and took a deep breath. "Artemis better fear my rage after this because that red-headed bitch is going to get her head bashed in."
"Ayden," Annabeth stared at her.
"She literally shot me in the back," Ayden threw her hands in the air. The two of them finally looked around at their surrounding. "Where the heck are we?"
"I don't know, why were we brought here?" Annabeth stood up and looked at the arrow on the ground. "I can't believe she would shoot you."
"I've pissed them off," Ayden breathed as she touched the centre of her chest. A pool of blood had soaked into her clothes. "In the back too—."
"Where are we?" Annabeth asked. The two of them looked around. They were on some kind of mountain.
"Does it look familiar to you?" Ayden asked. The two of them started walking around the rock. They didn't know where they had ended up. Annabeth looked at Ayden's back once more and then looked around.
"I think—it could be Tam," She paused. "I'm not sure. Why did he bring us here?"
"It's a trap," Ayden breathed. "Where did it go?"
"Can you teleport us out?" Ayden shook her head. "Then you have to go."
"Where?" Ayden asked. "Everyone is trying to kill me and besides I'm not leaving you in a trap."
"Ayden—."
"No. Now stop," Ayden looked at her. "We just have to find out where we are."
"How much training have you been doing?" Annabeth tried to take her mind off the terror in front of them for a moment. She knew where they were, she just didn't understand how they would have made it here.
"Now is not the best time to ask me that," Ayden whispered. They climbed up over many rock ledges. When they reached a seemingly flat area they saw someone kneeling under what seemed to be a rock falling from the sky. "What is that?"
"Luke!" Annabeth yelled as she ran forward.
"Don't! Annabeth, wait!" Ayden yelled as she teleported ahead of Annabeth. She looked up at the rock realizing this wasn't just a boulder, it was the sky. "We're on Mount Tam."
"Help me!" Luke's voice was strained. Ayden knew this was a trap.
"Ayden, move." Annabeth tried to shove past her, but Ayden kept a tight grip on her arm.
"No! Why is he here? Where are the others? Don't you understand this is why we were brought here?"
"They tricked me, please, please," His voice broke and he looked pale. "I can't hold this much longer. It will crush me!" Ayden looked around for Cameron, Ki, and even Kronos himself.
"Ayden! Ayden! Help me!"
"Cameron?" She turned her back completely to Annabeth. The voice was echoing around. Ayden didn't know where it was coming from.
"Ayden please!" It was Ki. He was out. He needed their help.
"Ki?!" Annabeth yelled out. She had turned her back to Luke.
"Annie please!"
"Annabeth, please," Luke pleaded. Ayden teleported around, but she couldn't figure out where she was hearing Cameron from. When she looked back at Annabeth she saw she'd taken Luke's position under the sky. Luke slid out and dusted off his hands on his pants.
"Luke, what are you doing?" She grimaced. "Help me?!" The sky seemed to gain more and more weight making Annabeth shrink under its size.
"Sorry," Luke breathed. Annabeth's arms shook as she used any strength she had left to keep the sky from crushing her.
"No," Ayden muttered as she teleported beside Annabeth bearing some of the weight.
"What are you doing?" Annabeth heaved.
"Helping you, shut up," She snapped. "Shift. Share the weight."
"Let go, you have to get out of here," The boulder came down another half inch making both the girls grimace.
"I'm not leaving you." Ayden turned her head a little staring at Annabeth.
"Go."
"No."
"You were right," Luke crossed his arms as he watched the two of them struggle.
"Always am." Ki came out from the shadows. He had a small smile on his lips. Cameron was just behind him. Her expression was blank as she watched the two struggle.
"What is this? Ki, I thought you—."
"Guess again," Ki tilted his head. Ayden's body shook as she struggled to look up at him. It wasn't Ki, she knew that. She's known since she stopped dreaming about him. Since they stopped dream sharing. Kronos had taken over his body or he'd stopped the two of them from dream-sharing. He'd worked his way into every inch of Ki's mind.
"No," Annabeth moved shifting the weight onto Ayden's shoulders. "Give him back. Give him back." She struggled to move farther and farther from underneath the rock.
"Annabeth." Ayden wanted to reach for her, but her entire body was now working to keep the sky from crushing her.
"Give him back," She slid out from under the rock. Her legs were too weak for her to stand. She crawled forward a foot. Ayden's vision blurred as she took the full weight. "Please, take me instead. Please let him go." Ayden had never heard Annabeth beg like this, she'd never seen the daughter of Athena act so irrationally before.
"Annabeth, don't," Ayden breathed as the pain went through her whole body. She closed her eyes for a moment taking in a deep breath. Her back and chest still hurt from the arrow and now her bones felt like they were melting in her flesh.
"You weren't supposed to bring this one." A deep voice came from the darkness behind the three demigods. "She's useless."
"We had to change the plans a little, but it worked out," Ki let out a long sigh as she stepped forward. He knelt in front of Annabeth as she tried to control her sobs. "Oh, Annie." He stuck out his bottom lip at her.
"Leave her to hold the sky," The man instructed. Ki tucked a piece of her hair back and stood up leaving her on the ground. Ki stepped back dissapearing into the darkness.
"No, no," Annabeth reached for him. "Ki, no, wait!"
"Ki has no cares for you anymore. It's probably best to just let him go," Cameron added. Ayden was barely able to move her head up to look at the redhead. "Hello, again."
"What is this?" Ayden grimaced as the rock seemed to crush her slowly. She felt like every time she opened her eyes it weighed more and more like a punishment for her losing focus.
"This is the sky," Luke explained as he stood in front of her. Annabeth tried to move forward to help Ayden, but Luke grabbed her arm. She winced as his grip tightened. "Don't interfere." He tossed her body back as she let out a faint sob.
"We shall see if she survives this," Cameron tilted her head. The physical pain in Ayden's body seemed to drown out the ache in her chest. Cameron seemed so different in this short amount of time. Ayden knew better. She didn't want to believe this act. She wouldn't let herself.
"Where is he? Where is Atlas?" Annabeth asked.
"You didn't hear him?" Cameron gestured over her shoulder as she laughed.
"You were supposed to protect him," Ayden winced. Her arms shook as she struggled to take a deep breath. Her lungs were being crushed between her legs and her shoulders. She got one of her feet under it and then the other. She was drawing on all of her rage as she struggled to use her legs to stand.
"Careful, Ayden," Cameron warned her. She tried to keep the emotion from the surface as she buried it deep inside her mind. Lots had changed over the past few months. Too much had changed. Ayden could feel the blood run from her nose as she stood.
"Ayden, don't," Annabeth told her. Ayden's vision started to blur, but she fought through.
"Get him back here," Ayden grimaced. Blood was coming from her nose and eyes as her entire body shook. Luke grabbed Annabeth pulling her with him as he too walked away from her. Cameron was the last to stand in front of her. "Cameron, please." Ayden's voice couldn't have been higher than a whisper. In the distance, Annabeth's shouts echoed down the mountain. Cameron muttered something. Ayden couldn't hear anything anymore. She could barely see her turn away. The redhead left her alone to hold up the sky.