It hadn't been an easy feat trying to find the infamous Percy Jackson.
In fact, Nico and Lucas couldn't even find him, Percy had to find them.
After they had finally managed to secure an iris message with Percy, he informed him that he was on the opposite side of the country.
So all Nico and Lucas could do was wait for Percy to hop on his pegasus and fly to their location.
Which couldn't stay the same for more than twelve hours.
By the time three days had passed, the two boys were weary beyond belief.
They had spent every waking hour searching the woods around Kai's cave for any sight of her, unable to locate her whereabouts, or any clue as to where she had been taken.
Monsters popped out almost as common as leaves, seeking to destroy Nico and Lucas's hides.
Night was worse, at all times, at least one of the two boys had to stay awake and keep watch while the other rested.
During this whole thing, Nico discovered that Lucas had, in a state of nausea from overusing his abilities, at least admired Kai.
It wasn't that much of a surprise to Nico once Lucas admitted his crush on her since she first caught his attention.
Though Nico did find himself explaining that the way Lucas had gone about trying to impress Kai, by flirting with everyone except her, was not what he should've done.
From being inside her mind, if even for only a couple hours, Nico learned one thing was that Kai only wanted someone who was honest with her, and someone that actually cared for her wellbeing.
By the time Percy landed his alicorn into their temporary campsite, the two wanted to fall over and go into a coma.
(POV Kai)
She had never liked bridges.
Or heights.
Or falling.
It felt like an eternity as she fell through the air, to the watery depths below.
Her immobilizing fear grasped her.
Not that there was anything she could do to prevent her current predicament.
Embracing death, Kai closed her eyes, clutching her trident necklace around her neck.
Pov: Percy
Just as they got to her, she fell, like a rock, over the edge. Percy hadn't even been able to get out of the car yet.
Nico and Lucas and Percy ran to the rails.
"Percy!" Nico screeched.
"On it!" Percy gathered his strength, and used it to pull the lake's water up over the spiky rocks.
His half sister's body splashed into the water.
"Somethings wrong," Nico said. "She didn't try to save herself, and from here, I can feel her fading."
Nico sounded so distressed that Percy felt an even bigger pang in his chest.
Percy pulled the water up to the rail, carrying Kai in the tip of it. Gently, he placed her on the ground.
Nico ran to her side with Lucas close behind.
Percy just stood shocked at the slight figure below him. This is his sister. He has another sister. A sister like him.
"Is she ok?" Lucas asks, biting his lip in one spot that looked like he had been gnawing on for days.
"I'm not the child of Apollo, the god of healing! You tell me!" Nico exclaimed.
"Okay okay chill." Lucas closed his eyes and held his hands above her head. A second later, yellow light trickles down his veins in his arms, forming two orbs in his palms.
The light warmed her skin, returning some color to it.
Percy knelt down next to Nico.
"It's going to be ok man." Nico nudged his shoulder.
Percy wiped away the tears he didn't see falling down his chin, much like his blood had when- stop that, Annabeth said no more flashbacks.
Kai's eyes fluttered open revealing the most bloodshot and blue eyes he had seen before.
"Give her some space." Lucas whispered, sweat dotting his brow.
The three backed up as she sat up wildly coughing violently.
Once the coughs subsided, she noticed that she had an audience.
Her eyes focused on Nico first.
Squinting, she said, her voice raspy,
"I thought you guys forgot me."
"Never. We would never leave you behind." Lucas answered.
She seems to consider this for a second before replying.
"Who are you?" Gesturing towards Percy.
"Kai, this is your brother, Percy." Nico explains.
"Huh." Is all she had to say about that.
"How'd I get back up here?"
"I helped." Percy tells her.
"The thing with the water?" She guessed. Percy nods.
"Why didn't you do it yourself?" Lucas asks.
In response she holds up her wrists, looking away as if embarrassed.
Percy hadn't noticed, but she had these metal cuffs that looked like they had dug into her wrists painfully. The way the skin underneath was red and blistered.
"What does that have to do with your powers?" Lucas pushes.
"Geeze, I don't know, maybe they enhanced them. No stupid, they take them away, make me normal." Kai slouched against the rail and crossed her arms over her chest protectively.
"Oh." Lucas gasps.
"Who did that t-" Percy began, but Nico cut him off, shaking his head.
"Her mother. Speaking of which, how did you escape her?"
"Someone opened the door for me, like a ghost or something."
Nico and Percy exchanged worried glances.
"Monster"
"Your mother." They say at the same time.
"You think she let me out?"
"If she's as blood thirsty as I've heard, than I think she might have let you out, followed you closely to see if you'd meet up with someone, and then maybe used them to further force you into submission." Percy shrugged.
"You guys have to get out of here now." Kai says frantically, scrambling to her feet.
"Let's get in the car." Percy gets to his feet.
"Good luck." Kai mutters.
"Wait, hold up. We aren't leaving you behind, did we or did we not just say this." Percy says.
"Remove these and take them with you and I'll be fine." She holds up her arm cuffs.
Lucas places his hands on them, melting them.
"I was going to do that anyway. Now come on." Lucas pleads.
As soon as the cuffs fell off, the temperature drops five degrees and the clouds darken above them.
"Crap." Nico looks around.
"It's not her this time. Sorry, it's been awhile." Kai mumbles.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I know when she gets close. Agh!" Kai clutches her head and falls to her knees. "Go!" She gets out of her gritted teeth.
White crystals creep across her face, over her eyes.
"What's wrong?!" Lucas crouches next to her.
"Sh-she's here!"
"Who?"
"Her you idiot!" Nico points at a woman descending from the sky in a flurry of snow and sleet.
Pain roars up Percy's spine like a lick of cold fire. Like an icy hot cream.
Percy collapses, his head in his hands as well.
His vision blurs as it frosts over.
All sound is drowned out as the ice creeps down his ears into his brain. Someone shakes his shoulders, and a yellow light advances on his eyes. Reflexively, Percy grabs Lucas' arm and twists it back.
Stop it! The voice in his head screams. Lurking with his conscious, a wicked laughter cackles.
"You can't fight me boy."
His blood frosts in their veins, giving her complete control.
Percy tosses Lucas aside and faces Kai.
No! Let go!! His conscience fights his every movement.
Kai pulls herself up and stands facing him, her arms twitching at her sides.
Percy calls up water from the lake, reaching in his pocket he pulls his pen and uncapped it. The pen switches immediately to a sword in his hand.
Kai pulls of her necklace charm which shifts to a long trident.
Percy swings first, and Kai blocks his sword with her trident.
She sidesteps out from under him, and pulls her foot past Percy's ankle. He falls, but uses the momentum to roll and regain his footing.
He reaches to the water and swings it in front of him as a shield when Kai leaps at him, her trident aimed at his head. As soon as she comes into contact with the water, it freezes like ice and she crashes through it and lands on top of Percy.
Fortunately for him, she lost her trident when she broke through the ice.
Unfortunately, he still has his sword, and is still under control of the ice witch.
In the distance, he can feel slight tremors of the ground as they split open. Probably Nico.
Percy brings up his sword, at the same time Kai grabs the flat of the blade. Still on top of him, she pushes her weight down, the sword coming closer to his throat.
Her face inches from his, Percy can see her eyes through the frost, wild and murderous, desperate and furious, the struggle breaks through for a split second, and he can tell she's fighting this as much as he is.
Her fingers frost over, crawling down his sword and towards his face.
He bucks, tossing her off his stomach.
Kai rolls towards the rail of the pier.
Thunder roars above them, and heavy sheets of sleet pour out of the sky hammering on their heads.
A slight trickle makes Percy realize, water melts ice, and he realizes that Kai has been able to break through slightly to help them both.
That doesn't stop her from punching him in the gut though. In retaliation, Percy slams his fist into her jaw.
Bright red blood trickles down the corner of her lip, mixing with the water that soaks them both. She kicks up her foot to his head, but Percy catches it on time and twists.
Kai gets up again, not relenting, her knees worn through her black jeans.
She pulls water from the air behind her. It drops two feet then swirls back up where it was.
It was working!
Percy did the same and the two threw the water together.
The two gritted their teeth, pushing their water towards the other. Back and forth the water was pushed.
Percy began to feel nauseous from the effort. His guard slipped, and a tsunami struck him down. Tons and tons of water pushed him against the ground, filling his mouth and eyes and ears. The ice melted away, and as soon as it did, the water fell back to the lake.
Percy shakes his head to clear it of her whispers, when a bright flash almost blinds him. Next to him, Lucas gets tossed. His hands aglow again.
Kai looms over the both of them, her eyes glazed over and trident in hand.
"Peasants." She twists the tridents handle and two more spokes pop out.
-Agent Emily