Percy POV
Time seemed to slow down. My breath hitched as I watched the axe inch closer to Thalia's exposed neck. The blade of the axe glinted in the afternoon sun, the light shining into my eyes.
I could hear Artemis scream and the Hunters trying to get out of their spots on the ground but I knew they would never make it in time.
Thalia had tears in her eyes. She was bonded like the rest of her sisters but the monsters had singled her out to be executed, making her kneel on the floor like a peasant begging for food. Thalia had her hands tied behind her back and she had a bruise on her face, most likely where the monsters had hit her. That made me mad.
I made a split-second decision. The Hunters would fear me more but I didn't have a choice.
I willed myself to teleport myself in front of the axe and my hand shot up to catch the handle inches away from Thalia's neck. I felt my power struggling to burst out but I kept it in for a while longer.
I held the axe in place as the Laistrygonian giant tried to pull the axe free from my grip. I heard Artemis and the Hunters gasp at my sudden appearance while the monsters growled. They inched closer but I could tell they were hesitant.
All of a sudden, I ripped the axe out of the Laistrygonian's grip, catching him off guard and making him lose his balance.
As the giant was trying to right himself, I spun around and violently smashed the edge of the axe into his collarbone. The Laistrygonian didn't even make a sound as he burst into golden dust, covering both Thalia and I.
I looked around to see the monsters holding swords and knives to the Hunters' necks. They were looking at me challengingly, daring me to try anything. I could see that the younger Hunters had their eyes closed, preparing for the sharp pain where the blades would pierce their skin and effectively ending their lives.
The older Hunters were staring at their captors in defiance but I could see the fear in their eyes, the fear of finally leaving the world they have grown to love. The Hunters would gladly die when their time came but not like this.
I glared at the assembled monsters. There were about 200 of them, almost all of them being hellhounds except the thirty or so dracaena and Laistrygonian giants keeping the Hunters hostage.
I could have used the water in their blood to instantly kill them but I didn't want to use it in front of the Hunters. They were scared enough already.
I expanded my sense looking for a water source until I felt the water in the lake I was sitting by before. It was a way away, almost fifty feet but my power had grown a lot over the years. Summoning water from fifty feet away was nothing.
I felt the pull in my gut instantly. Controlling the water from the lake was harder than usual since it actually had ice in it. I commanded the water to come to me but slowly.
'I'll give you one last chance to walk away,' I said in a tone that scared even myself 'Leave, and I won't have to kill you all.'
The monsters all stared at me with wide eyes before laughing, or what could count as laughter for a hellhound.
'You think we are ssssstupid?' hissed a dracaena 'You can do nothing, sea spawn. We are coming for you, Perssseus Jackssson.'
I stayed silent as I willed the large mass of water to split up into about 300 separate tendrils before using most of my energy into freezing them. Frozen water makes a lot less sound than normal water.
'Hand over the girl and watch her die, or we will have to kill all of these weak Huntersss.' the same dracaena said.
'You will not touch my Hunters!' I heard Artemis said, still struggling on the Celestial Bronze net. I knew she would have trouble getting out of that. The net was restricting her movement so she couldn't reach her knife. Not that it would have mattered anyway. The Celestial Bronze net was almost unbreakable, even for an Olympian.
A Laistrygonian giant backhanded Artemis, sending her into the ground roughly. That made me even madder. Artemis had been nice to me for the past two months and I liked to think that we started becoming friends. Nobody hurt my friends.
I looked behind me and saw Thalia looking at me surprised. The monsters wanted Thalia, but why only her? They wanted me to watch her die, which was weird. Normally monsters would only try to kill me.
It doesn't matter anyway. I would never give up Thalia for her to be killed. Never in a million years.
'Never.' I spat at the dracaena. I felt my knees shaking slightly. I had already positioned the ice spikes behind each and every monster. Keeping them in place was straining and the tug in my gut was starting to get painful.
'Sssuit yourssself.' the dracaena said smirking.
Just before she could give the signal to kill, I yelled and willed the spikes into the monsters' backs at insane speeds, making the spikes pierce the monsters completely. The monsters all froze and looked down at the gaping holes in the middle of their chests already leaking gold dust. I fell to my knees breathing heavily as I watched all the monsters dissolve into golden dust almost simultaneously with looks of shock on their faces.
With my remaining energy, I crawled over to a wide-eyed Thalia and undid her bonds. I fell onto the ground just as Thalia ripped the gag out of her mouth to call my name.
The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was Thalia looking down at me worriedly and a bit of regret in her tearful eyes.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
When I came to, my whole body was sore. Like, really sore.
I groaned and refused to open my eyes. I laid there unmoving on the infirmary bed (again) for a while before finally opening my eyes to see the roof of the silver tent.
I sat up on the bed and gasped. I held my stomach as I slowly rose on the bed to a more comfortable sitting position. Controlling that much ice for that long truly felt like torture for my gut. After getting myself to the desired position, I looked around the tent to find that I wasn't alone.
Sitting on a chair to my right was a sleeping spiky black-haired girl dressed in a silver parka and blue jeans.
I smiled when I realized Thalia had been keeping me company for a while now. Judging by the darkness outside, I had been unconscious for at least five hours, assuming I hadn't been unconscious for more than a day. I felt touched that Thalia seemed to care for me again but that could all change in a matter of seconds.
'Thalia?' I managed to croak out. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I tried to speak. My throat was so dry I felt like Apollo's sun chariot flew too close to my mouth.
Thalia instantly shot up and her eyes fell upon me. It wasn't even a second before I was crushed in a hug by my cousin. Let's just say my body wasn't ready for that.
'Thalia,' I winced in pain 'Let go.'
She instantly removed herself from me and started looking over me for possible injuries she caused, 'Oh my gods, Percy. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?'
'Yeah,' I nodded weakly 'What happened?'
Thalia smiled at me before handing me a cup of nectar, 'You happened. I don't know what I would ever do without you, Percy.'
Before I could respond, Thalia's expression turned pained.
'Percy, I'm so, so sorry,' Thalia said nervously 'I-I haven't been a...good friend. I've been avoiding you and I just-'
'Thalia, don't,' I interrupted her after setting down my empty cup 'You have nothing to apologise for.'
Thalia looked at me incredulously, 'Of course, I do! I should have been there for you! Instead, I avoided you because I was...I was-'
'Sacred of me,' I finished. One look at Thalia's face confirmed my thoughts 'Thalia I don't blame you. For a long time, I was...scared of myself as well. Scared of what I could do. I had expected everyone's reaction when I told you all about this power. You don't have to be sorry.'
Thalia smiled at me. I could tell she was relieved.
'Still, I shouldn't have done what I did,' Thalia said looking down 'I should have known better that you of all people would never use it on the people you care about.'
'I hope I never will.' I said seriously.
Thalia shook her head smiling, 'I know you never will.'
I beamed at her before swinging my legs over the bed. I was about to stand up when Thalia placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
'Woah, wait a minute,' she said looking at me accusingly 'You have to tell me about the other powers you "forgot" to mention.'
'Why don't we gather the Hunt?' I suggested 'Then I'll explain.'
Thalia helped me up, 'You better, Kelp Head.'
We walked out of the tent to be hit by a cool breeze. The air was chilly but it wasn't too cold that I couldn't handle it. I looked around to see that there were still remains of the attack, some trampled bushes and semi-destroyed tree littered the landscape. It led me to assume that it was still the same day. I breathed I sigh of relief. Turns out I hadn't been asleep for over a day, after all.
Thalia led me to the campfire where the Hunters most likely were. As we approached the campfire, the sound of crackling fire and quiet chatter grew louder. I braced myself for the possible reception the Hunters were going to give me. I didn't know how they would react to me showing two more of my powers.
All talking ceased when I neared the fire. Everyone was looking at me now, even Artemis who had a relieved look on her face. I couldn't tell what the Hunters were thinking. The younger ones that I had been spending my time with for the past two months were beaming at me. But the rest...
I was brought out of my thoughts when a Hunter stepped in front of me shuffling nervously. I had trouble recognizing her at first due to the low light but I realized it was Jen, the Hunter that tried to castrate me all those years ago.
'Jen, right?' I spoke up before she could say anything.
Jen looked surprised but nodded, 'Yes.'
Before she could continue, I raised my hand to stop her, 'Don't apologise. I know my powers are a bit...scary at first but please know that I would never use it on you, or anyone else I care about.'
Jen looked like the world was just lifted off her shoulders. I looked around and saw that all of the Hunters had the same expression.
'So, Kelp Head,' Thalia interrupted the pleasant silence 'Mind telling us how you failed to inform us that you are able to turn water into ice? Or how you could to that teleporting thing you did?'
I nodded, 'So which one do you want to hear about first?'
'The ice one!' Ava screamed out, causing a lot of the Hunters to chuckle.
'Yes, let's start with the ice one,' Artemis mused 'As far as I know, only Poseidon and his immortal family can change the state of water. How can you?'
I stood there awestruck. I didn't know that this power was unusual. I had thought that all of my demigod half-brothers could do it. I wonder if my power to teleport or...control someone was unusual as well.
'Uh, I don't know,' I shrugged 'I've been practising?'
It came out more as a question, which made Artemis raise an eyebrow.
'You must have been practising a lot then.' she said impressed.
I nodded, 'I guess I have. I had nothing to do while I was in Alaska anyway.'
Thalia was looking at me with her mouth open, 'So you can turn water into ice? Can you make it into steam as well?'
'Yes,' I said simply. I decided to demonstrate so I held out my hand with my palm facing the sky and focused. This was one of the powers I hadn't had much practice on. It made me realise that maybe I should have practised the easier ones first.
I felt the familiar tug in my gut as water seemed to appear on the palm of my hand in the form of a floating ball.
'I can also gather the water vapour in the air to do this.' I smirked at Thalia's expression. I willed the water to turn into steam before looking at the Hunters for more questions.
'And the teleportation?' Artemis spoke up after she got over her shock 'That is another thing I have never seen a demigod son of Poseidon do before. The most powerful son of Poseidon before you was Theseus and he could only make a hurricane.'
I blinked. Artemis had to be wrong right? There was no way I was the most powerful demigod son of Poseidon. I mean, there had to be some people who could teleport as well.
'Uh, it's not exactly the teleporting you gods use,' I said scratching my head 'It's kind of like...a different form of shadow travelling.'
Thalia cocked her head to the side, 'So you can teleport using the water powers you get from Lord Poseidon?'
When I nodded, Thalia threw her arms in the air. 'Oh, come on! Nico can shadow travel and you can...whatever travel. Why can't I do something like that?'
Everyone turned to look at Artemis, hopefully getting an answer. We were shocked when she shrugged.
'I don't think you can do what your cousins can do, Thalia,' Artemis said to a pouting Thalia 'The closest I can think of to a power-related form of travel is the lightning bolt disappearing thing our father does.'
Seeing the look on Thalia's face, Artemis quickly elaborated. 'Though I don't recommend it. It is unheard of and you would be basically striking yourself with lightning.'
I stifled a laugh when I saw Thalia pout even more. Thanks to the Big Three rivalry, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.
'So, Thalia is basically the weakest of all the Big Three kids?' I said amusingly.
Thalia gasped, 'You take that back, Perseus.'
I held my hands up in surrender but I wasn't done yet, 'No, no. I'm just saying. I mean, both Nico and I can teleport to an extent. You can't.'
Thalia glared at me and I was struggling to keep my laughter at bay. Before it could turn into a miniature version of the Poseidon-Zeus fights, I spoke up.
'I'm just teasing you, Thals,' I said chuckling 'You could probably beat me if you wanted to.'
Thalia looked at me shocked then threw her head back laughing.
'Me? Beat you? Come on, Percy. Didn't know you're that unconfident with your skills.' Thalia said between laughter.
'You probably could, Thalia.' I repeated.
'There is no way,' Thalia crossed her arms 'You're like the most powerful demigod to ever live. I was just mad you said Nico was more powerful than me.'
I gasped, ignoring the fact that she called me the most powerful demigod ever. 'I'm telling Nico you said that.'
Thalia shrugged, 'Go ahead. That little emo kid doesn't scare me.'
I smirked, 'That's not exactly how I remembered it.'
There was this one time where we had a day out consisting of the children of the Big Three a few days before I left. We had planned to prank Thalia so we had Nico 'running late'. When we were at a restaurant, Nico popped out of a shadow next to Thalia's seat and that completely freaked her out. It was the first and last time I will ever hear Thalia scream like a little girl.
Thalia's face went red as she quickly changed the topic, 'So how does it feel like to...what do you call it?'
I thought for a moment before I realised that I had never thought of a name for this form of teleportation.
'I actually don't know,' I admitted 'I've been calling it teleportation ever since I knew how to do it.'
Thalia looked thoughtful before she gave her suggestion, 'How about water travelling?'
I thought about it. Water travelling seemed like an okay name. I couldn't think of another one so I guess water travelling had to do.
'Water travelling, it is.' I announced.
Thalia nodded, 'So how does it feel?'
I held out my hand to her, 'How about I show you instead?'
Thalia looked at my hand sceptically. I understood why. The last time Nico brought Thalia somewhere via shadow travel...well, it wasn't pretty.
After a moment's hesitation, Thalia grudgingly took my hand.
'Brace yourself,' I warned 'It feels a bit weird the first time.'
Thalia closed her eyes and nodded.
I took a deep breath and visualised where I wanted to water travel. I didn't want to go too far so I decided to teleport right next to Artemis. It was only a few feet away so it shouldn't be that hard.
I focused on the water in our bodies. I wanted to do this correctly since it was Thalia's first time. I didn't want to accidentally liquify her or something.
I took another breath before willing us to water travel.
See, there is this one state the water in our bodies has to be in order for water travel to be successful. The water has to be just the right state between liquid and gas. Not too far down the gas side, and not too far up the liquid side. It has to be just in the middle. It was hard at first but after a lot of practice and a whole lot of close calls, I had started to get the hang of getting water to that state. If I mess it up, it could seriously hurt.
When the water gets to that state, your body reacts very weirdly. Like, turn-into-liquid weirdly.
This process is the key step in order to be able to water travel. Everything else from there is plain sailing. When the body is turned into liquid, I would focus on that mass of liquid before turning it into water vapour too fine for anyone to see with a naked eye.
This part is important too because if I lose any of the water vapour molecules, I would be missing an important body part when I turn back solid. It isn't really hard to lose the important water vapour. The water vapour made from the liquified body feels different to me, like how I can tell saltwater from freshwater just by sensing it. Losing the molecules happens really, really rarely.
Water travelling feels significantly different from shadow travelling. Shadow travelling just feels like you're going really fast in the dark. Water travelling feels like you're being melted without heat, then vaporised, then put back together. Thankfully, all without pain. Just the feeling. Like how you can still feel the cut when you're on anaesthetic. Like I said, weird.
After a second, Thalia and I reappeared to Artemis' left, freaking her out. I looked over to Thalia to see her patting her body and sighing in relief.
'That was...' Thalia said looking at me 'Why does it fell like that?'
I shrugged, 'You have to get used to it.'
'I do have to say I prefer water travel over shadow travel.' Thalia said.
I nodded. I understood why Thalia would prefer water travelling. Shadow travelling feels somewhat like you are falling and Thalia's fear of heights would never allow her to do that.
I turned to see almost all of the Hunters, especially the younger ones, looking at me excitedly. It took me a while to realise that they wanted to try water travelling as well.
I sighed, 'One at a time.'
I smiled as I watched all the Hunters get up and actually stood in a line. The first Hunter, Atalanta, stepped forward as a thought raced through my mind. Maybe, just maybe, I am no longer feared by them and was finally accepted.
A/N: Hello there.
So thanks for making it this far into the story. Still can't believe I have over 500 reads already. That's insane.
I'll be doing some editing in previous chapters later today. Nothing much just spelling mistakes and whatnot.
Enjoy yourselves.
~Sacai2005