NOTE: Hiiiii.
Disclaimer: There are some parts in this chapter which I got from the Goblet of Fire. I'd just like to remind you that I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson characters. All credits go to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan.
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*Little Hangleton*
~Nico’s POV~
“Guys, I think it’s best if we split up.”
Percy shot me an angry look. “No, we don’t split up. I can’t afford to leave you guys alone. We are attacking a manor house full of monsters and Death Eaters. Plus, Voldemort and Gaea are in there.”
“I think Nico’s right, Percy,” Annabeth says. “To finish this mission as fast as possible, we’ll have to split up. There should be a look-out, a decoy, and two people should find Shadow.”
It was already 6:30 in the evening and the village was now quiet, rid of happiness and people. At 6, all lights turned off, all doors shut closed, and all the people trapped themselves inside their houses.
“But guys – “
“C’mon, Percy,” Leo said, although there were no traces of laughter in his voice. “We can do this. Don’t you trust us?”
Percy let out an exasperated sigh. “I do, man. I trust all of you guys. It’s just… I don’t want to lose anyone of you.” Annabeth put a hand on her boyfriend’s shoulder and kissed his cheek.
“You won’t lose any of us, Seaweed Brain,” she said in a soothing voice. “We’re coming back here alive, okay? We’ll bring back Shadow and return to Hogwarts. By then, Harry will be done with the final task and everything will be okay.”
Percy nodded, ran his fingers through his hair, and gripped Riptide. “Okay, we’ll split up,” he said after taking a shaky breath.
“I’ll rescue Shadow,” I said almost immediately, causing Leo to laugh.
“We know, man, you don’t have to tell us,” he says, grinning. “I’ll accompany Death Boy over here. You know I could mess with the locks and break her out.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Percy said. “Annabeth…?”
“I’ll be on look-out,” Annabeth decided. “And you guys take these.” She handed Leo and I two black cloaks. “Those are invisibility cloaks from Hermione. She sneaked them out from Professor McGonagall’s office.”
“Who know Hermione Granger could actually steal?” Leo joked; spreading the cloak around himself and watching his body disappear. “Sweet.”
“You, Percy, will get one of these.” Annabeth handed Percy a small gun with a belt. Attached to the belt are the ammo, but with three colours: green, yellow, and red; three each. “This is a signal flare. Since you’ll be the decoy, you’ll need this.
“You’ll be staying outside the manor house. First, you will go east, next, behind the house, and third, to the west. Percy, you’ll have to terminate all the monsters on the three sides. I’ll handle the front.
“Now, the ammo you’ll be using depends on your situation at hand. Use the green if you’ve started on one side, the yellow if you’ve finished a side and are moving on to the next and red if you need my help. Fire it at the sky.
“Got it, Seaweed Brain?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, so, Percy and I will go in first, alright? We’ll distract the monsters standing guard in the front door. You two,” she points at me and Leo, “will put on those damned cloaks and run inside. Then, you can do your own thing. Leo, do you have the tracker?”
“In my pocket.”
“Use that tracker to find Shadow. Once Percy and I are done with the monster on the front of the manor house, he’ll proceed to the east and I’ll stay in the front and make sure no one comes in the manor.
“Once you find Shadow, give her some ambrosia and apparate out of the place, ‘kay?” Leo and I nodded, taking in everything she said, which was pretty many.
“Alright, I think we can go,” Annabeth said, standing up. We followed her movement, but none of us made a step out of the circle.
She sighed. “Seriously, guys? Okay, pussies. Huddle up.” We did as we were told. “Stop being so nervous, will you? This’ll work out, I promise.”
I nodded, while Leo gave a light chuckle. Percy didn’t say anything. He looked like he was concentrating so much. “Come on, Percy,” I say, flicking him in the forehead. “It’s not like you’ve never done something like this before.”
“Ow,” Percy muttered, rubbing his forehead. “You left a mark, Nico.”
Annabeth clicked her tongue and said, “Okay, so, to rack the nervousness out of all of you, we’ll be taking an oath that soldiers who go to war say in the old days. Just… Put your hands in the middle.”
Annabeth takes a deep breath and shouts out, “We at this moment, head into a decisive battle. Have faith that our blades will not shatter. Have faith that our hearts will not waver. And even if our paths should diverge, we’ll all share a heart of iron. Swear that even if the ground beneath us should rent asunder, we will return here alive!”
And with that, we split up. Leo and I put on the invisibility cloaks and head to the bushes to hide, while Annabeth and Percy charge into the front door, slashing the monsters that stand in their way.
It’s exactly 7:00 in the evening.
This operation has begun.
--
*Prison Cell in the Riddle House Basement*
~Shadow’s POV~
Strong presences awoke me from my sleep. Four strong presences approaching the manor house. I open my eyes, not moving the rest of my body, and look if anyone was down here in the basement. Finding out the basement was empty, I slowly sit up. The sounds of the chains fill my ears for a good ten seconds.
My sleep has enabled me to recover at least enough power for me to see whose presences I felt, to get a little glimpse of what was happening outside.
Once I was comfortable, I Indian sat and closed my eyes, building up the strength Dumbledore said I’d need whenever I do this. I breathe in and breathe out.
Finally, any other thought in my mind was pushed away and all I concentrated on was the outside world. I pictured what it looked like outside the manor house and my minimal powers showed me everything.
I gasp when I see Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and Nico outside the Riddle Manor House. All of them were huddled up and I saw that Annabeth was chanting something. They’re probably planning for their attack.
Annabeth finishes her chant and they disperse. Nico and Leo run to some bushes and put on their invisibility cloaks, while Annabeth and Percy charge at the front door.
Please let them be safe, I pray.
I heard footsteps running down the stairs to the basement. Immediately, I disconnect myself from my vision, lie down, and close my eyes, pretending to sleep.
“Bummer, she’s asleep,” the hoarse voice of a male gorgon hissed. “I thought it would be fun if we tell her about her friends coming here to die.”
“No, you idiot,” the voice of an empousae said smartly. “It would kill her more if we don’t mention a thing about her dumb friends. When we take her out of that prison cell for the gathering later this evening, we’ll just let her see us throwing her friends’ skulls into the fire.” The empousae howled with laughter and the gorgon joined her.
“Yeah, yeah. I think you’re right. Those demigods are dumb. Talk about walking to your own grave.” Their voices are starting to sound more distant after each step I hear. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding once their voices are nowhere to be heard.
Nico and the others have to get out of here, or they’ll get themselves killed, I thought, getting panicky. I have to think of how I could get out of here and stop them.
--
*Outside the Manor House*
~Percy’s POV~
“Have they gotten in?” I ask Annabeth as I run to my next station while she runs to her look-out place. We both nailed that front door monster mob. I hope this luck stays with us until Leo and Nico get to where Shadow is.
“Yeah,” Annabeth breathed, coming into a halt. “This is my stop, Seaweed Brain. Go get them.” I lean in and give her one last passionate kiss before I go and crash the monster party. Oh, sorry. A bit PG for you?
“I love you, Percy,” she calls as I turn and run. “Stay alive!”
“I will, sweetheart! I love you, too,” I call back, though I don’t turn back. I don’t think I could. Adrenaline was pumping me up and I don’t know, I just feel excited to slay some bad monsters again. I put the green ammo in the Signal Flare and fire it up at the sky, like Annabeth had instructed.
I spot a group of monsters on this side of the manor house and slash them all to pieces. All I thought was, Die, you scum! Die! Die! Die! Filthy bastards! Oh, yeah. The legendary Percy Jackson has learned a lot of profanity this summer.
How am I making jokes when there’s a mission supposed to be done?
Dang it, Jackson. Concentrate, will ya?
I finally finish this side of the house and grab the Signal Flare Annabeth gave me, putting in the yellow ammo and fire it. Then, I run to the back part of the manor. Damn, this manor is big.
Spotting another group of monsters, I fire the green flare and charge. Only until half way through his bunch I had realized that this group is bigger than the first one I attacked. And these guys are way stronger than the previous ones I’d killed.
“Agh, shit!” I scream, seeing blood trail down my leg. Aw, damn. My pants got ripped. “Those were expensive jeans, you know!” I shout at the echidna that ripped the expensive clothing with its claw. I slice one of its arms and cut its head off.
I stab Riptide on the ground and lean on my sword, exhausted. There were drops of blood on my face, on my hands, and on my t-shirt. My ‘Levi’s’ jeans were torn in a lot of angles. Such a shame. That was my favourite one. And I spent my allowance on that.
Man, I feel like a serial killer.
My hands shake as I take hold of the yellow coloured ammo and place it in the Signal Flare, firing it at the sky. I cough up blood before I head out slowly to the direction of the last side of the manor I have to take care of.
Just one more side, I think, trying to encourage myself. I limp to the corner of the manor house and lean on the wall, gasping for breath.
After a few minutes of rest, I stand up straight, ignoring the pain on my left leg. Peeking on the last side, I see hundreds of blood-thirsty, ugly monsters. Damn, I have to go through that? I decide to go for it once I found a small puddle of not-so clean water. I dip my finger in it, and after waiting for a few minutes, my wounds have healed.
“Yeah, I’m ready for this,” I mutter to no one in particular, and charge at the mob of monsters waiting for me. I slash and dodge and stab and kick and punch and all that thingamajigs, but I know I can’t handle this many monsters.
“…and red if you need my help. Fire it at the sky.”
It’s good that I put the red ammo before I charged in, though. I wouldn’t have time to in this situation.
As I dodged the gorgon’s axe, I grab the Signal Flare from my back pocket and shoot it at the sky, causing red powdered ammo to fill the air.
The monsters looked confused and took a minute to look at the red powdered air. That’s where they made a mistake. I attack while they were dazed and kill more than a dozen monsters. Of course, I knew Annabeth wouldn’t be here immediately. She’d need some time to run to where I am due to the size of this enormous house.
Suddenly, a massive feeling of pain shot through my whole body, causing me to fall and drop Riptide. Shit! There were only a few monsters left! I need to get up, I think desperately.
“Got you, Mr. Big Shot,” a voice howled from behind me. I wanted to move and hit this guy straight in the face – if it is a face – but my body won’t comply. It stays down on the ground, limp and numb.
“Bet you can’t move, huh?” the voice teased, his feet – big feet, might I say – made its way to my direction. What they hell is this guy?
I forcefully move my head up to the point where the creature was visible in my peripheral vision. It was big, muscular, had two horns, furry, had a nose ring, and damn, that thing is huge: a Minotaur.
The Minotaur arrives with loads of back-up monsters and howls as it passes by me. “Pick him up,” it ordered a lower ranked Minotaur. The smaller Minotaur obeyed its orders and picked me up by my shirt. That’s when I saw what hit me at the back.
An arrow pierced my back, in the opposite side of my heart. I feel two of my ribs cracking and I cringe at the pain. My eyelids start to drop. I’ve done enough. I’m tired. I’m sleepy. I want to go home.
Before my mind falls asleep, my subconscious mind wakes me up. Hey! What about Nico, Leo, and Shadow? That oath you took before you split up? Was that all just a joke to you? And Annabeth? She’s coming to your direction, doofus! She’s gonna get killed if you don’t get your lazy ass up!
My eyes shot open and I realize that after it did, I can never go back to sleep. I cannot rest until all this is done. I’ve got to let her know she can’t come here, I think.
My numb hand reaches for the Signal Flare, trembling at the movement. I was able to reach the gun, but as I was putting in the yellow ammo, the Minotaur stepped on my hand, causing the Signal Flare to fly far away from my hand.
“What are you gonna do? Send her a signal? Huh?” the Minotaur mocked, laughing loudly. Her? Wait… Did he mean…?
“Annabeth,” I croaked out, seeing a gorgon taking Annabeth hostage and pulling her hair up to hold her. “L-Let go of her, you scum!” I shouted in rage, trying to reach my pocket for Riptide as fast as I can because I knew that it was already back there in pen form, but the Minotaur crushed my arm harder under his foot.
“Don’t try anything, Son of Poseidon,” it warns, “or you’re girly friend here is going to die.” I freeze, my eyes widening. I turn to the direction of Annabeth and see that the gorgon was holding a knife at her throat.
Annabeth was unconscious, blood trickling down her face and lips, and a dirty stab on her knee. Blood spilled her arms and t-shirt like mine.
“Annabeth,” I croaked out again, but before I could say anything else, someone punched me in the stomach and karate-chopped the back of my neck, making me unable to speak and making my eyelids drop.
I don’t drop unconscious immediately after they stunned me. I felt the monsters hoist me up and carry me on their shoulders. I open my eyes the slightest bit and see that the gorgon carrying Annabeth wasn’t harming her. A flood of relief washed over me.
All I was worried about is why they were taking us to a graveyard.
--
*Inside the Riddle House*
~Nico’s POV~
“Let’s go!” Leo and I run to the front door as Percy and Annabeth run to their stations. So far, everything has worked out perfectly. I hope this success is sustained until the end of this operation.
“No one’s in here,” I mutter as we get inside the house. “All the monsters are probably inside.” I turn to Leo whose face was all scrunched up. “Are you tracking Shadow?”
“Yeah, I pretty much am,” he replies, “although there are only a few people in the house. The detector sees two monsters on this floor, two people and two presences on the top floor, and Shadow’s in the basement.” I nod and we head out quietly to where the basement is.
The first floor was creepy. There were a lot of old paintings and broken furniture that it seemed like a haunted house. I mean, yeah, it was built roughly a century ago, but this place should be maintained, right?
Leo and I walk quietly with me on the lead. “Turn left,” he whispered and we turned left. Everything’s too fine that it seems almost suspicious. Hadn’t they noticed that Percy and Annabeth wiped out their front gate guards?
“Stop,” I whisper, blocking Leo from advancing. “There’s something in there.” I peek into the hallway we were supposed to head out to.
Just as I suspected, I see two monsters, a gorgon and an empousae, cackling with laughter. I observe their surroundings to see where they come from and spot a flight of stairs going into a basement. Shit, we’re so close, I think. Just get out of the way already. Stupid monsters. Go back to Tartarus.
The gorgon suddenly stopped laughing and sniffed the air. “Hey, uh, do you smell anything… weird?” it asks the empousae who smells the air, too.
“Yeah,” the empousae says slowly. “I… I smell demigod.” Their eyes both turn to Leo’s and my direction as they started making their way to us. Oh crap, I think, starting to panic.
I look at Leo and he nods, then relaxes and holds his breath. I do the same and face the monsters head on. They can’t see us. They can only smell a mixture of scents from Leo and me. They’ll get confused.
They were only two steps away when another monster from outside the window called, “Hey! You two! Quit slacking around, will ‘ya?”
The two monsters turned around, startled. The gorgon stood straight and said, “We weren’t slacking around, sir! We were just – “
“Bah! Save it!” It turns out that the monsters were under the ranks of the Minotaurs. “Get out of there through the window! The general needs back-up right away!” the Minotaur commanded. “At the back yard!”
The gorgon grunted and the empousae mocked the Minotaur, but both of them followed their orders and got out of the room through the window. They were hesitant, looking back at our direction and all, but orders are orders.
Once they were completely out of sight, Leo and I let out the breaths we held. “Percy must be making a real ruckus over there, huh?” Leo said, chuckling a bit.
“I hope he and Annabeth are okay, though,” I say nervously, biting my lip. “Okay, let’s go.”
He and I walk slowly to the flight of stairs, careful not to make the floor creak. We go down the stairs and find a prison cell containing Shadow in it. My eyes widen, seeing her scars and bruises. The chains on her hands prevent her from moving too much.
Shadow’s body was limp on the floor, facing the wall in the prison cell. She was awake. I could tell. “Here to torture me for the information again?” she asked, annoyed, and obviously hearing footsteps go down the stairs. “Forget it. I won’t give you anything.”
Leo and I kept silent, but put our invisibility cloaks off. Shadow turned around because of the silent treatment we were giving her and her eyes went wide. She sat up and tears formed in her eyes.
“Idiots,” she breathed, wiping the tears off with her sleeve. Leo and I neared her and I put my head in between the bars. She leaned forward, too, but the chains won’t let her reach me.
“I missed you,” I said, trying to reach her with my hand, but I couldn’t. Shadow reached out her hand, too, but our fingers merely brushed against eachother.
“I missed you, too, Death Boy,” she said, smiling, the tears in her eyes finally fell and rolled down her cheeks. “I missed you, too, Leo.”
“I missed my little half-sister, too, you know,” Leo said, grinning ear to ear, but his eyes start to water. “We were so worried.” Shadow looked down, her face full of guilt.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to drag you guys into this,” she admitted, biting her lip. “That was a wrong move, I guess. The more I don’t drag you in my situations, the more you drag yourselves in them.” Shadow smiles and I let out a light laugh.
“We’ll get you out of there, princess,” Leo said, bringing out the tools he needed. He grabbed a device he made that undoes locks. “We’ll try this one,” Leo said, but as soon as he tried to unlock the lock, his device exploded. The screws flew all over the place and the broken device parts scatter on the floor. He and I look at the lock and see that magic was applied on the lock, making it impossible for anything other than the key to open it.
“They used magic on my prison cell to keep me in,” Shadow informed. “The magic also disabled my powers and magic while I’m in here.”
“Alright then,” Leo said with an eyebrow raised. “We’ll just have to do it manually. Death Boy, you go and be our look out, yeah? This’ll take a while.”
I nod and keep watch on the stairs. My hand is placed on the grip of my sword, ready to kill if necessary. Leo takes about thirty minutes of manually opening the lock when I hear someone run down the stairs in the floor above us.
The two people Leo said that was upstairs, I thought. They’re coming down.
“How much time will that take, Leo?” I whisper. “There are people coming!” My statement seemed to make Leo panic.
“J-Just a few more minutes!” he whisper-yells. “Ten minutes tops!”
“Hurry!”
I stand guard, putting out my sword in case Leo can’t make it in time. The footsteps come closer and closer after every minute Leo spends. Come on, Leo, I think, getting ready to attack.
Two more minutes. That’s all that Leo needed now. He can do this.
The footsteps stop after it ran halfway through the stairs to the basement. My heart races once it becomes quiet. Even Leo’s hands started shaking while unlocking Shadow’s prison cell. Then –
“Expelliarmus!”
My sword flew near the boxes of garbage at the back. Everything happened too fast. “Incarcerous!” the man who came from upstairs shouted and immediately, my body was tied with ropes. I lose my balance and fall off, hitting my head on the floor.
“I’m done!” Leo finally shouts, pulling the lock off and opening Shadow’s prison cell. “Now, we’ll just – “
“You stop right there, young man,” the man from upstairs says, going down the few steps left to the basement. He stopped at where I am and pulled my hair up. “Stay where you are or I’ll cut his head off.” The man grabbed a dagger from his belt and held it against my throat.
“Let go of him, Antonin Dolohov!” Shadow shouts, tears brimming her eyes. “Please, don’t hurt her,” she pleaded. Leo stopped dead from his tracks. His eyes were wide.
“No! Get out of here! Leo, take her and go!” I shout, causing Leo to move a step forward. “Leo Valdez!” The man – Antonin Dolohov – presses the blade of the dagger deeper into my throat, slitting it a bit.
“Are you asking for your death, brat?” he spat at me, gripping my hair tighter.
“Nico!” Leo shouted. “You let go of him right now, or I’ll – “
“You’ll what?” Antonin Dolohov asked smartly. “I can kill him before you’re able to do anything. I can slit his throat right here, right now.”
Leo stopped and froze right on the spot. After a minute, he put his hands up in surrender, dropping whatever tools and weapons he was holding.
“Leo don’t!” I shout, desperate. Leo shook his head and smiled.
“We took an oath, Death Boy,” he said. “I’m not leaving you here. We’re not leaving you here.” Shadow nodded in agreement and I knew that I couldn’t argue with the two.
“We’ll do anything, Dolohov,” Shadow said bitterly. “Let him go.” Antonin Dolohov howled in laughter and shook his head mockingly.
“Not a chance.” With a flick of his wand, Leo’s body, too, was tied by ropes and he fell on the floor. “Hey, you two! Get down here and carry these two brats to the gathering area!” he shouts at two gorgons upstairs.
“C’mon, my dear,” Antonin Dolohov said, directing his gaze to Shadow. “You’re needed by the Dark Lord in the gathering, too.”
“Let me go!” I yell as a gorgon carries me on his shoulder. “Bastard!”
“Stop complaining, kid,” it said lazily, punching my stomach, although not too hard for me to fall unconscious. The gorgon went and picked up my sword before leaving the basement. Leo annoyed the gorgon carrying him too much that it had to karate-chop the nape of Leo’s neck, causing the kid to fall unconscious. Antonin Dolohov carried Shadow who didn’t complain and was obedient.
They took us to some kind of graveyard behind the manor house where Percy and Annabeth were, too, held hostage by gorgons. Both of them were unconscious. This is the end, I thought. They’re gonna kill us and bury our bodies here.
“Has everyone gathered?” a small, rat-looking man asked Antonin Dolohov who was ahead of us. “Are these all the invaders?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dolohov responded arrogantly, dropping Shadow on the ground. A huge pot was in the middle of the circle of monsters gathered around and some kind of crib beside the pot.
“Our party is about to begin,” the rat-looking man announces, silencing the other monsters. “Everyone, let us welcome…”
Some kind of dimension portal opened up beside the grim reaper statue and popped out were two people: Cedric Diggory... and…
“Mr. Harry Potter!”