PJO: The Age of Heroes | Chapter 10 - The Plan
Woo, next chapter! Now with ACTION! PG-13, as usual.
A/N: Smoots, for those interested~ ;D
We came out of the hallway into a huge, marble-floored lobby with pillars and a dome high overhead. But we didn’t have time to stop and admire any of it - we just kept running, beelining for the black iron doors ahead and away from Kronos’ monsters. I could hear them behind us, probably gaining ground as Percy pulled on my hand and I stumbled after him.
Just before we reached the doors I heard a different sound - a sort of scuttling, squeaking sound. I looked to the left and saw a whole herd of ghost-rats approaching us, a black-bladed sword and a ballpoint pen balanced on their backs as they moved as one. “Wait!” I called, and Percy glanced back at me; I pointed and he skidded to a halt, dropping my hand to reach for the pen. Just as I managed to crouch down and get my hand around the handle of my own sword, Percy uncapped the pen and Riptide’s blade sprang forward, growing to its full length. The celestial bronze glowed faintly even in the brightly-lit lobby.
Annabeth, realizing we weren’t behind her anymore, had stopped and turned. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “What - ” She cut herself off as she saw why we’d stopped, but then she motioned frantically to us with one hand. “Come on! Not in here!”
Kronos’ minions were still closing on us. Percy looked like he wanted to stand his ground and fight, but Annabeth was right. This wasn’t the place to make a stand. There were a lot of people in here, all going in different directions carrying books, backpacks, and boxes. Just as they started to notice what was going on, they began to slow like the others had, affected by Kronos’ power as it spread toward us. The lobby, which had echoed with voices and motion just a few seconds before, was quickly falling silent.
I realized that if that power touched us, we’d be affected too. We’d be unable to move, which meant we’d also be unable to fight back. Kronos could pick us off at his leisure, or worse. Annabeth was right. We absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
The Titan’s power hadn’t yet affected my rats. Go! Cause as much trouble as you can, and then move on. You’re free now, I told them, and waved my hand in the direction of the advancing telekhines. The last thing I saw before Percy grabbed my free hand and started pulling me toward the doors again was the group of ghost-rats moving swiftly to intercept the monsters behind us. I knew they couldn’t do any damage, but they might be able to confuse the demons long enough to buy us a little more time. Time to do what, though, I didn’t know.
Percy pulled me out the door and we followed Annabeth between more stone columns and down a flight of wide stone steps. The sounds of traffic and birds and people talking assaulted my ears as we burst outside - time hadn’t stopped out here. Traffic was still in motion on the street right in front of us, and students were walking down the sidewalk with no idea of what was about to happen.
But all that would change as soon as Kronos gained enough ground. And all of these people could get hurt unless we could draw the fight away from them. Annabeth pointed across the street, to a large stone and glass building with the name “Stratton Student Center” carved above the doors. “There!”
But as she approached the edge of the sidewalk and the cross traffic on Massachusetts Avenue, Percy and I looked at each other an instant before we both turned to the left. “Water!” we exclaimed, almost in unison, and suddenly it seemed as if an understanding had passed between us. Before Annabeth could stop us, we took off as fast as we could toward the source. It wasn’t until a few steps later that I realized I could tell where the water was as easily as Percy could - I was pretty sure that was something new, but I didn’t have time to analyze what that meant just at the moment. At least I hadn’t started talking to horses. (The fact that we hadn’t met any horses recently notwithstanding.)
“Guys! What are you doing?” Annabeth called from behind us, but she abandoned crossing the street and ran after us, catching up easily. We raced beneath large, leafy trees with the stone-walled buildings of the school to our left and what looked like dorms on our right. We ran across another, less busy street, and there we were - right on top of the Charles River. On our left, Massachusetts Avenue spanned the river’s breadth in a large, four-lane bridge. Sidewalks and railings edged the street on either side. The concrete at our feet was labeled with words that read, “364.4 SMOOTS + 1 EAR” in faded yellow paint.
We stopped on the corner, looking back to see that the telekhines had momentarily paused a block back at the crosswalk, trying to figure out where we’d gone. A minute later the two dracaenae slithered out the doors and down the steps to meet them. None of the students seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary at all, and as the light changed the crosswalk signals began chirping and the monsters were momentarily lost in the crowd of people crossing the street.
“Where did you say you left Blackjack?” Percy asked, turning his head to direct the question at Annabeth. “Did you send him back to camp?”
“No,” she said, her eyes still trained on the crosswalk, scanning for the monsters. “He said he’d wait nearby.”
“Perfect. You’re going back.” Percy put his fingers to his mouth and whistled shrilly, the sound echoing off the buildings nearby. A moment later a black shadow came wheeling out of the sky and began to descend on our position.
Of course, the sound also gave away our position to the monsters. Just as the chirping ended and the light changed again, I saw Kronos’ monsters push through the crowd and start in our direction. The two snake-women drew their bows.
Annabeth’s eyes grew wide, and then Blackjack came to a landing, prancing on the sidewalk in front of us and narrowly missing a runner who’d made a wide half-circle around us on the sidewalk. The power of the Mist never ceased to amaze me - the guy didn’t even notice that a pegasus had just landed nearly on top of him.
Percy motioned to Annabeth and cupped his hands to give her a boost onto Blackjack’s back. “Wait,” she said, as I watched the dracaenae nock arrows in their bows as they slithered closer. “What about you?”
Percy was obviously the one with the plan here, and he had the best chance of convincing Annabeth to go along with whatever it was. I trusted him. So I took a few steps forward, raising my sword to defend us if it came to that. I was still feeling pretty unsteady from so much shadow travel, but the blade felt good in my hands and I knew I could - would - keep these monsters from reaching us if I had to. Kronos, on the other hand...
I realized there was no sign of the Titan lord, although he’d been only steps behind his monsters before. I tried not to worry about it as Percy said, “Look, just go! Go back to camp and tell them we’re here. Tell them Kronos is here. Send me an Iris Message as soon as you get there.”
The first snake-woman let loose her arrow, and it whistled past my ear, narrowly missing Blackjack behind us, who whinnied and stamped. (Thankfully, I couldn’t understand any of that.) “Guys...” The monsters were less than half a block away and closing. I didn’t like just standing here on guard while Percy and Annabeth argued. And I didn’t think raising a wall of black stone in the middle of a Cambridge street was really a good idea unless we were extremely desperate. Which we might be, very shortly.
“We’ll be fine,” Percy said, and I glanced back to see him practically shoving Annabeth up onto the pegasus, though she didn’t look like she wanted to go. “I can take care of Nico, and he’s got some of my powers.” He tilted his head very deliberately in the direction of the river, and I suddenly got an inkling of what he might be thinking.
And I realized that it just might work.
“We’ll hold them off,” Percy insisted resolutely. “Kronos is bound to stay here and look for us. We can bait him if we have to. If you can just bring back reinforcements in time...”
Maybe we can stop him now, I thought. Maybe we could end this right here. Before any prophesied decisions had to be made.
Annabeth must have realized it too. Her eyes went wide. “But what are you - ” she started to ask, but mid-sentence Percy gave Blackjack’s flank a slap and the pegasus bunched beneath her and leapt into the sky. The rest of her question was cut off as they launched upward with amazing speed.
The second dracaena loosed her arrow at the retreating pair, but it fell short as Blackjack made a sharp turn and headed higher, speeding away from the city along the river’s course.
Now the telekhines had caught up with the dracaenae, and as the snake-women pulled more arrows out of their quivers, Percy grabbed my hand and we turned to run a little further down the sidewalk as it stretched away from the bank and out over the river. We stopped at the square of sidewalk that read “100 SMOOTS” to check the monsters’ progress. The snake-women had fallen back; now it was just the telekhines advancing down the sidewalk toward us. They all had huge grins on their faces, like they’d cornered us with nowhere to go. With the traffic speeding along the bridge right next to us and 264.4 smoots + 1 ear between us and the other bank, I had to admit that it felt a little bit like they were right. And there was still no sign of Kronos.
“Come on,” Percy said calmly. He squeezed my hand and together we climbed over the railing and, much to the sudden surprise and panic of the people passing by on the sidewalk, we jumped together into the Charles River.
*
The Charles is three things: cold, dark, and nasty. I mean, I’d heard that it was less polluted than it used to be (and that you didn’t need a tetanus shot if you fell in anymore), but it was still nasty. And we weren’t even getting wet.
The silt on the bottom was more like black sludge, and there was garbage littered as far as the eye could see (which admittedly wasn’t far). As we sank to the bottom, I landed on something small and plastic that went crunch underneath my foot. It looked like it had once been a pair of sunglasses.
I looked over at Percy. He’d created some kind of bubble around my entire body, which was why I could breathe and it was keeping me dry. His eyes were closed; he looked like he was soaking up (possibly literally) the feeling of being underwater, but he also looked determined. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then he pointed up.
There were five splashes overhead and sleek, dark shapes torpedoed toward us - the telekhines. They were sea demons, and while Percy was strongest underwater, so were they. The monsters swirled around us in a tightening circle, moving like seals as they swam. They were so dark against the water that they became like silent, streaking shadows. Each had a sword in its hand as they looped around us almost lazily, laughing to themselves in what sounded like something halfway between a dog’s growl and a seal’s bark.
Beside me, Percy had fallen into a defensive crouch, Riptide held before him in a two-handed grip. The blade shone against the dark water, illuminating a the area around us. I looked at my own sword, thinking that it looked almost like a dark mirror-copy of Percy’s sword. The stygian iron blade seemed to suck up all of the light and life around it. Everything it took from the living world, it channeled into me and made me stronger.
But that was who I was, and I couldn’t change it. I felt much better now - still not in top fighting form, but definitely majorly improved from the overbearing fatigue of a few minutes ago. I shuffled back along the river bottom towards Percy until we stood back to back against the ring of telekhines. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he was grinning. Finally, his eyes seemed to say, something I can fight.
And fight he did. Percy moved first, slashing one of the passing telekhines as it darted past us. The thing didn’t even stand a chance - it yelped an instant before it exploded into dust, which hung in the water and swirled in the wake of the four remaining demons.
Following his lead, I brought my sword up in a wide arc just as I kicked off from the bottom, shooting up towards another telekhine. This one was ready for me - his blade met mine with an odd, deep ringing sound that traveled through my entire body the way sound does when you’re underwater. But just because he’d met my strike didn’t mean I couldn’t take him - I kicked at his side and wormed out from underneath his blade, twisting back around and slicing him in two with my sword before he could parry. There was a second shower of dust, and I looked around for the next opponent.
Percy had trapped a third telekhine in a miniature underwater whirlpool - I could hear the thing yelping and I saw it clawing to escape. I’d never really seen Percy fight in his element before. When he’d rescued me from the Underworld we’d spent almost a full day underwater, riding on the backs of hippocampi. But that was completely different. He hadn’t been fighting, hadn’t been using his power for anything other than breathing. Now, seeing the way that he moved and the way the water rushed to do his bidding... I had to admit, it was pretty breathtaking. The way his sword flashed in the water, the way his movements were even more fluid and beautiful than the telekhine’s...
It was almost over too soon. A few well-placed sword strikes and Percy had dispatched his opponent. He turned to look at me; I was still staring at him. But then I saw his eyes go wide and his mouth started to open - instinctively I ducked, and not an instant too soon. A blade whooshed through the spot my head had just been, leaving a small trail of bubbles that rose lazily toward the surface of the river. I rolled forward and jabbed with my sword; the point came up in the creature’s belly and he only had time to register the shock on his face before he, too, exploded.
That left only one. When I looked back to Percy I saw that he was grappling with the last of Kronos’ minions. For an instant I thought that maybe I should help, but this was Percy’s fight, and I could tell he had it under control. He disarmed the creature almost effortlessly, but then he stopped with his sword’s point resting at its throat.
“Tell Kronos we’re not going to help him. None of us are. Tell him that if it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he’ll get.” Percy took a step forward, his foot landing squarely on the telekhine’s blade as it lay on the bottom of the river. “Go back and tell him, and I’ll let you live.”
The creature whimpered like a puppy, and Percy lowered his sword. Immediately the telekhine shot towards the surface, disappearing as a dark blot against the ever-moving shadows created by the sun on the water. Then Percy turned, his eyes scanning the water for me as I let myself sink back down to the river bottom. His posture visibly relaxed as he saw me and he replaced the cap on Riptide, allowing his sword to shrink back into its camouflaged pen form. The light around us dimmed, but there was still just enough sunlight filtering down from the surface that I could see him pretty well.
Percy walked over to me, and suddenly I realized the bubble of air was expanding around me until it had grown to encompass Percy as well. We were now standing in a bubble of perfectly dry air that was probably ten feet across. The silt at our feet was still wet and squishy, but otherwise I never would have been able to tell that I was standing at the bottom of a river until I looked past the shimmering layer of air around us.
“Are you okay?” he asked, coming over and checking me for injuries. I did the same, glancing at his arms and legs, but he seemed fine and I was, too.
I nodded. “Yeah. No big deal.” I slid my sword carefully though my beltloop, the blade a familiar weight against my leg that I was glad to have back. “That was amazing.”
Percy blinked, obviously confused. “What?”
“You,” I insisted, spreading my arms a bit. “Watching you fight. I dunno.” I felt my face getting warm. “It was just... amazing.”
Percy smiled a little at me, but shook his head. “Nothing special. You weren’t so bad yourself, you know.” He reached over, his fingers brushing my arm before he slid them down to twine with mine. He glanced up overhead, but there were no more sounds coming from the surface. Then he looked back to me. “And now we wait.”
I nodded. “So that’s the plan?” I’d figured it would be something like that - let Kronos know we were willing to fight, and then wait for reinforcements. We should be safe as long as we were underwater. I didn’t know if he had any more telekhines working for him, but even if he did, we could take care of them. I wasn’t worried about that.
Percy nodded. “Yeah. That’s the plan.”
Stay tuned for a special Bonus Jonas Feature~
A/N: Smoots, for those interested~ ;D
We came out of the hallway into a huge, marble-floored lobby with pillars and a dome high overhead. But we didn’t have time to stop and admire any of it - we just kept running, beelining for the black iron doors ahead and away from Kronos’ monsters. I could hear them behind us, probably gaining ground as Percy pulled on my hand and I stumbled after him.
Just before we reached the doors I heard a different sound - a sort of scuttling, squeaking sound. I looked to the left and saw a whole herd of ghost-rats approaching us, a black-bladed sword and a ballpoint pen balanced on their backs as they moved as one. “Wait!” I called, and Percy glanced back at me; I pointed and he skidded to a halt, dropping my hand to reach for the pen. Just as I managed to crouch down and get my hand around the handle of my own sword, Percy uncapped the pen and Riptide’s blade sprang forward, growing to its full length. The celestial bronze glowed faintly even in the brightly-lit lobby.
Annabeth, realizing we weren’t behind her anymore, had stopped and turned. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “What - ” She cut herself off as she saw why we’d stopped, but then she motioned frantically to us with one hand. “Come on! Not in here!”
Kronos’ minions were still closing on us. Percy looked like he wanted to stand his ground and fight, but Annabeth was right. This wasn’t the place to make a stand. There were a lot of people in here, all going in different directions carrying books, backpacks, and boxes. Just as they started to notice what was going on, they began to slow like the others had, affected by Kronos’ power as it spread toward us. The lobby, which had echoed with voices and motion just a few seconds before, was quickly falling silent.
I realized that if that power touched us, we’d be affected too. We’d be unable to move, which meant we’d also be unable to fight back. Kronos could pick us off at his leisure, or worse. Annabeth was right. We absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
The Titan’s power hadn’t yet affected my rats. Go! Cause as much trouble as you can, and then move on. You’re free now, I told them, and waved my hand in the direction of the advancing telekhines. The last thing I saw before Percy grabbed my free hand and started pulling me toward the doors again was the group of ghost-rats moving swiftly to intercept the monsters behind us. I knew they couldn’t do any damage, but they might be able to confuse the demons long enough to buy us a little more time. Time to do what, though, I didn’t know.
Percy pulled me out the door and we followed Annabeth between more stone columns and down a flight of wide stone steps. The sounds of traffic and birds and people talking assaulted my ears as we burst outside - time hadn’t stopped out here. Traffic was still in motion on the street right in front of us, and students were walking down the sidewalk with no idea of what was about to happen.
But all that would change as soon as Kronos gained enough ground. And all of these people could get hurt unless we could draw the fight away from them. Annabeth pointed across the street, to a large stone and glass building with the name “Stratton Student Center” carved above the doors. “There!”
But as she approached the edge of the sidewalk and the cross traffic on Massachusetts Avenue, Percy and I looked at each other an instant before we both turned to the left. “Water!” we exclaimed, almost in unison, and suddenly it seemed as if an understanding had passed between us. Before Annabeth could stop us, we took off as fast as we could toward the source. It wasn’t until a few steps later that I realized I could tell where the water was as easily as Percy could - I was pretty sure that was something new, but I didn’t have time to analyze what that meant just at the moment. At least I hadn’t started talking to horses. (The fact that we hadn’t met any horses recently notwithstanding.)
“Guys! What are you doing?” Annabeth called from behind us, but she abandoned crossing the street and ran after us, catching up easily. We raced beneath large, leafy trees with the stone-walled buildings of the school to our left and what looked like dorms on our right. We ran across another, less busy street, and there we were - right on top of the Charles River. On our left, Massachusetts Avenue spanned the river’s breadth in a large, four-lane bridge. Sidewalks and railings edged the street on either side. The concrete at our feet was labeled with words that read, “364.4 SMOOTS + 1 EAR” in faded yellow paint.
We stopped on the corner, looking back to see that the telekhines had momentarily paused a block back at the crosswalk, trying to figure out where we’d gone. A minute later the two dracaenae slithered out the doors and down the steps to meet them. None of the students seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary at all, and as the light changed the crosswalk signals began chirping and the monsters were momentarily lost in the crowd of people crossing the street.
“Where did you say you left Blackjack?” Percy asked, turning his head to direct the question at Annabeth. “Did you send him back to camp?”
“No,” she said, her eyes still trained on the crosswalk, scanning for the monsters. “He said he’d wait nearby.”
“Perfect. You’re going back.” Percy put his fingers to his mouth and whistled shrilly, the sound echoing off the buildings nearby. A moment later a black shadow came wheeling out of the sky and began to descend on our position.
Of course, the sound also gave away our position to the monsters. Just as the chirping ended and the light changed again, I saw Kronos’ monsters push through the crowd and start in our direction. The two snake-women drew their bows.
Annabeth’s eyes grew wide, and then Blackjack came to a landing, prancing on the sidewalk in front of us and narrowly missing a runner who’d made a wide half-circle around us on the sidewalk. The power of the Mist never ceased to amaze me - the guy didn’t even notice that a pegasus had just landed nearly on top of him.
Percy motioned to Annabeth and cupped his hands to give her a boost onto Blackjack’s back. “Wait,” she said, as I watched the dracaenae nock arrows in their bows as they slithered closer. “What about you?”
Percy was obviously the one with the plan here, and he had the best chance of convincing Annabeth to go along with whatever it was. I trusted him. So I took a few steps forward, raising my sword to defend us if it came to that. I was still feeling pretty unsteady from so much shadow travel, but the blade felt good in my hands and I knew I could - would - keep these monsters from reaching us if I had to. Kronos, on the other hand...
I realized there was no sign of the Titan lord, although he’d been only steps behind his monsters before. I tried not to worry about it as Percy said, “Look, just go! Go back to camp and tell them we’re here. Tell them Kronos is here. Send me an Iris Message as soon as you get there.”
The first snake-woman let loose her arrow, and it whistled past my ear, narrowly missing Blackjack behind us, who whinnied and stamped. (Thankfully, I couldn’t understand any of that.) “Guys...” The monsters were less than half a block away and closing. I didn’t like just standing here on guard while Percy and Annabeth argued. And I didn’t think raising a wall of black stone in the middle of a Cambridge street was really a good idea unless we were extremely desperate. Which we might be, very shortly.
“We’ll be fine,” Percy said, and I glanced back to see him practically shoving Annabeth up onto the pegasus, though she didn’t look like she wanted to go. “I can take care of Nico, and he’s got some of my powers.” He tilted his head very deliberately in the direction of the river, and I suddenly got an inkling of what he might be thinking.
And I realized that it just might work.
“We’ll hold them off,” Percy insisted resolutely. “Kronos is bound to stay here and look for us. We can bait him if we have to. If you can just bring back reinforcements in time...”
Maybe we can stop him now, I thought. Maybe we could end this right here. Before any prophesied decisions had to be made.
Annabeth must have realized it too. Her eyes went wide. “But what are you - ” she started to ask, but mid-sentence Percy gave Blackjack’s flank a slap and the pegasus bunched beneath her and leapt into the sky. The rest of her question was cut off as they launched upward with amazing speed.
The second dracaena loosed her arrow at the retreating pair, but it fell short as Blackjack made a sharp turn and headed higher, speeding away from the city along the river’s course.
Now the telekhines had caught up with the dracaenae, and as the snake-women pulled more arrows out of their quivers, Percy grabbed my hand and we turned to run a little further down the sidewalk as it stretched away from the bank and out over the river. We stopped at the square of sidewalk that read “100 SMOOTS” to check the monsters’ progress. The snake-women had fallen back; now it was just the telekhines advancing down the sidewalk toward us. They all had huge grins on their faces, like they’d cornered us with nowhere to go. With the traffic speeding along the bridge right next to us and 264.4 smoots + 1 ear between us and the other bank, I had to admit that it felt a little bit like they were right. And there was still no sign of Kronos.
“Come on,” Percy said calmly. He squeezed my hand and together we climbed over the railing and, much to the sudden surprise and panic of the people passing by on the sidewalk, we jumped together into the Charles River.
*
The Charles is three things: cold, dark, and nasty. I mean, I’d heard that it was less polluted than it used to be (and that you didn’t need a tetanus shot if you fell in anymore), but it was still nasty. And we weren’t even getting wet.
The silt on the bottom was more like black sludge, and there was garbage littered as far as the eye could see (which admittedly wasn’t far). As we sank to the bottom, I landed on something small and plastic that went crunch underneath my foot. It looked like it had once been a pair of sunglasses.
I looked over at Percy. He’d created some kind of bubble around my entire body, which was why I could breathe and it was keeping me dry. His eyes were closed; he looked like he was soaking up (possibly literally) the feeling of being underwater, but he also looked determined. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and looked at me. Then he pointed up.
There were five splashes overhead and sleek, dark shapes torpedoed toward us - the telekhines. They were sea demons, and while Percy was strongest underwater, so were they. The monsters swirled around us in a tightening circle, moving like seals as they swam. They were so dark against the water that they became like silent, streaking shadows. Each had a sword in its hand as they looped around us almost lazily, laughing to themselves in what sounded like something halfway between a dog’s growl and a seal’s bark.
Beside me, Percy had fallen into a defensive crouch, Riptide held before him in a two-handed grip. The blade shone against the dark water, illuminating a the area around us. I looked at my own sword, thinking that it looked almost like a dark mirror-copy of Percy’s sword. The stygian iron blade seemed to suck up all of the light and life around it. Everything it took from the living world, it channeled into me and made me stronger.
But that was who I was, and I couldn’t change it. I felt much better now - still not in top fighting form, but definitely majorly improved from the overbearing fatigue of a few minutes ago. I shuffled back along the river bottom towards Percy until we stood back to back against the ring of telekhines. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he was grinning. Finally, his eyes seemed to say, something I can fight.
And fight he did. Percy moved first, slashing one of the passing telekhines as it darted past us. The thing didn’t even stand a chance - it yelped an instant before it exploded into dust, which hung in the water and swirled in the wake of the four remaining demons.
Following his lead, I brought my sword up in a wide arc just as I kicked off from the bottom, shooting up towards another telekhine. This one was ready for me - his blade met mine with an odd, deep ringing sound that traveled through my entire body the way sound does when you’re underwater. But just because he’d met my strike didn’t mean I couldn’t take him - I kicked at his side and wormed out from underneath his blade, twisting back around and slicing him in two with my sword before he could parry. There was a second shower of dust, and I looked around for the next opponent.
Percy had trapped a third telekhine in a miniature underwater whirlpool - I could hear the thing yelping and I saw it clawing to escape. I’d never really seen Percy fight in his element before. When he’d rescued me from the Underworld we’d spent almost a full day underwater, riding on the backs of hippocampi. But that was completely different. He hadn’t been fighting, hadn’t been using his power for anything other than breathing. Now, seeing the way that he moved and the way the water rushed to do his bidding... I had to admit, it was pretty breathtaking. The way his sword flashed in the water, the way his movements were even more fluid and beautiful than the telekhine’s...
It was almost over too soon. A few well-placed sword strikes and Percy had dispatched his opponent. He turned to look at me; I was still staring at him. But then I saw his eyes go wide and his mouth started to open - instinctively I ducked, and not an instant too soon. A blade whooshed through the spot my head had just been, leaving a small trail of bubbles that rose lazily toward the surface of the river. I rolled forward and jabbed with my sword; the point came up in the creature’s belly and he only had time to register the shock on his face before he, too, exploded.
That left only one. When I looked back to Percy I saw that he was grappling with the last of Kronos’ minions. For an instant I thought that maybe I should help, but this was Percy’s fight, and I could tell he had it under control. He disarmed the creature almost effortlessly, but then he stopped with his sword’s point resting at its throat.
“Tell Kronos we’re not going to help him. None of us are. Tell him that if it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he’ll get.” Percy took a step forward, his foot landing squarely on the telekhine’s blade as it lay on the bottom of the river. “Go back and tell him, and I’ll let you live.”
The creature whimpered like a puppy, and Percy lowered his sword. Immediately the telekhine shot towards the surface, disappearing as a dark blot against the ever-moving shadows created by the sun on the water. Then Percy turned, his eyes scanning the water for me as I let myself sink back down to the river bottom. His posture visibly relaxed as he saw me and he replaced the cap on Riptide, allowing his sword to shrink back into its camouflaged pen form. The light around us dimmed, but there was still just enough sunlight filtering down from the surface that I could see him pretty well.
Percy walked over to me, and suddenly I realized the bubble of air was expanding around me until it had grown to encompass Percy as well. We were now standing in a bubble of perfectly dry air that was probably ten feet across. The silt at our feet was still wet and squishy, but otherwise I never would have been able to tell that I was standing at the bottom of a river until I looked past the shimmering layer of air around us.
“Are you okay?” he asked, coming over and checking me for injuries. I did the same, glancing at his arms and legs, but he seemed fine and I was, too.
I nodded. “Yeah. No big deal.” I slid my sword carefully though my beltloop, the blade a familiar weight against my leg that I was glad to have back. “That was amazing.”
Percy blinked, obviously confused. “What?”
“You,” I insisted, spreading my arms a bit. “Watching you fight. I dunno.” I felt my face getting warm. “It was just... amazing.”
Percy smiled a little at me, but shook his head. “Nothing special. You weren’t so bad yourself, you know.” He reached over, his fingers brushing my arm before he slid them down to twine with mine. He glanced up overhead, but there were no more sounds coming from the surface. Then he looked back to me. “And now we wait.”
I nodded. “So that’s the plan?” I’d figured it would be something like that - let Kronos know we were willing to fight, and then wait for reinforcements. We should be safe as long as we were underwater. I didn’t know if he had any more telekhines working for him, but even if he did, we could take care of them. I wasn’t worried about that.
Percy nodded. “Yeah. That’s the plan.”
Stay tuned for a special Bonus Jonas Feature~