PJO: The Age of Heroes | Chapter 11 - Now Is the Time
We're nearing the climax! The crazy OMG-how-am-I-going-to-write-this climax! XD; It's going to be EPIC. Or something. D:
There were a couple of options for who Cephissus was, so I kind of just picked the one that made the most sense, plot-wise. They were all pretty similar, anyway. I hope the bit with him isn't too rushed; it felt a little short, maybe, but I really didn't want them to have to fight him. He was just supposed to do the scout-work, since he's probably more intelligent than a telekhine (maybe?).
Rated R-ish again (stupid boys) but nothing too bad, really.
We spent the rest of the day under the Charles River. As the sun set the surface had gone dark, with only intermittent patches of light filtering down as building and street lights reflected off the surface. I could see pretty well - not as well as Percy of course, whose eyes could adapt to see in any sort or water, light or dark. But I managed well enough. Besides, I didn’t need to see to be able to feel him sitting next to me. He was a warm, comforting weight at my side even as the cool water of the river seemed to envelop me from everywhere else and tickle past my skin. We’d eventually gotten around to tugging our clothes back on (conveniently nothing got dirty when you did it underwater, it seemed) and just sat together, hands intertwined as we talked and gathered our strength. Even though we’d recently been drugged and unconscious for at least a day, it seemed like forever since either of us had slept for real. And so we alternately talked and drowsed until a sound broke the drifting silence of the river’s current.
“Guys?”
The word was slightly muffled by the water but suddenly there, floating in front of us, was a patch of illuminated water showing the concerned faces of Annabeth and Chiron. I felt a profound sense of relief that I was sure Percy felt as well - she’d made it back to camp safe.
“Annabeth!” Percy exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter. He made no motion to drop my hand, however, and it wasn’t like I was going to complain.
“Good, you’re all right,” Annabeth breathed, as Chiron squinted into the Iris message. I could tell he was looking at me - after all, why wouldn’t he be? The last time he’d seen me, I’d been twelve. I was starting to get the feeling that I would be stared at a lot in the near future, if we made it out of this one alive (and I was planning to). Because it was looking a whole lot less likely that I was ever going to go back to the way I was. I might as well start getting used to the way things were now.
I cleared my throat a little, still feeling awkward and uncomfortable with the centaur’s gaze fixed on me like that. “It’s me,” I said, glancing at Percy before I looked back at Chiron’s concerned face. “Nico.”
“He is,” Percy confirmed, looking right at Chiron. “And he’s exactly the same on the inside.”
Chiron nodded after a moment, his expression softening a bit. “Annabeth told me what happened... I admit, I had no idea that Kronos had recruited Medea, or that she had found a way... Well, it’s not important now. What has happened cannot be undone.” He glanced between us before settling his gaze on Percy. “Now, what is your plan?”
And so Percy told him. “Kronos doesn’t have an army here - not that we’ve seen, anyway. If we can take him on here, now... we might have a chance to end this,” he finished, gesturing with his free hand earnestly.
“Hm.” Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Your idea does have merit... but as we’ve seen, Kronos is powerful. He has allies in many places. He will still have a number of soldiers attending him, and he may have a proper army on the way, for all we know.”
“But we don’t know - and neither does he!” Percy insisted. “We’ve got to take the chance we have now - we might not get another.” He paused, looking at me before continuing in earnest; “Chiron... if Kronos really has brought about the prophecy earlier than it was meant to be, this might be it. Nico is on our side.” He squeezed my fingers. “If that’s all we need...”
Chiron turned to look at me, his mouth set in a grim line. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know whether or not the prophecy will be fulfilled, now that Nico is sixteen.” He sighed. “But I do know that you’re right, Percy. Kronos is not yet at full power, and the gods are, unfortunately, not yet ready for war themselves. It may very well be up to us, now, as you say. I don’t like it, but I cannot ignore the possibility that you are right.”
Percy grinned, squeezing my hand again, and I couldn’t help but grin back. You’d think we wouldn’t really be all that excited about going into battle, but this was different. This could be the last time, ever...
“So what do we do?” Annabeth asked, bringing our attention back to her. “A lot of campers have gone home for the school year... but I can rally everyone we have and bring them to Boston. We have the pegasi...”
“And Mrs. O’Leary,” I put in, as both Annabeth and Chiron turned back to me. After all, she was a hellhound - a creature of the Underworld. And she was still at camp. “She can shadow travel just like I can. It’ll make her tired, but she can carry at least a few people. You just need to tell her where to go.”
Annabeth nodded. “Okay.” Then she bit her lip. “So where are we going to go?”
Percy frowned, thinking; I racked my brain, trying to think of where we could make our stand. Not back at MIT - there were too many innocent people there. In fact, there were a lot of innocent people in the city, period. There weren’t a lot of obvious places...
“I’ve got it!” Annabeth suddenly said, her grey eyes lighting up. “Bunker Hill! Well,” she made a face, “I guess it’s technically Breed’s Hill, but we’ll be able to spot the monument from the air...”
Percy and I glanced at each other questioningly, but Chiron was nodding. “Yes... yes, I believe Annabeth is right. That will be a good place for a stand. You’ll have the high ground, and the monument is easily recognizable.”
“Can you guys get there by, say, tomorrow morning?” Annabeth asked, ticking the hours off on her fingers. “We’ll meet at the Bunker Hill Monument. I think I can get everyone mobilized within a few hours. We could be there by dawn.”
Percy and I nodded. I didn’t know much about Boston, but I had heard of Bunker Hill in history class at Westover. I vaguely remembered where it was. “It’s near the shipyards and the harbor, right?” That was good, actually - the closer to water we were, the more powerful Percy would be.
Annabeth nodded. “Right. It’s on the Freedom Trail. You guys should be able to find it pretty easily.” It figured - she was so into architecture, she’d know where all the famous monuments were.
“Okay,” Percy said, and his voice was steady with resolve. “We’ll be there by dawn to meet you. In the meantime, we’ll find some way to lure Kronos there when we’re ready for him.”
On the other end, Chiron and Annabeth nodded. “Okay. Be careful, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, grinning at Percy before she glanced at me. “And you too, Dead Boy.”
“Uh,” I said, glancing at Percy, who was snickering. He’d started calling me that - only once or twice, really - but apparently Annabeth had picked it up. “Yeah,” I said, smiling despite myself, “We will.”
“Wise Girl,” Percy added. Annabeth’s smile turned softer, and she nodded.
“May the gods be with you,” Chiron said, and Annabeth reached out and swiped her hand through the message, dispersing the picture. It dissolved into little granules of light, which then fizzled away in the current and Percy and I were left in the dark on the bottom of the river once more.
*
We talked about possible ways to lure Kronos to us for over an hour and finally decided that when the time came, we’d send a messenger on Mrs. O’Leary. I knew she’d be tired from shadow traveling all the way here, but I figured if I lent her my powers she’d be okay for one more round trip. We could bolster each other’s strength enough to make it to Kronos’ lair (or chem lab or wherever he was hiding in the basements of MIT) and get him to follow us to Bunker Hill. I’d seen the room before, so I could find it again. It wouldn’t be like I was going in blind, which would probably be nearly impossible.
Then we’d argued for almost an hour after that about whether I should go alone or not, but in the end I won simply by insisting that carrying Percy along for the ride would only tire me out more and I needed to be in fighting condition if when I came back from my little jaunt. Even with Mrs. O’Leary’s help, I didn’t think taking Percy along would exactly be a piece of cake, if our past exploits had proven anything. It was a risk we just couldn’t afford to take, even if he wanted to come with.
“Yeah, well, what if we... ” Percy finally murmured, sliding his hands over my shoulders and down my back as he leaned in close, shifting against me suggestively. His lips almost touched my ear and his voice dropped as he added, “Maybe I’ll pick up your handy little traveling trick.”
“Percy,” I groaned, definitely wanting what he was offering but not willing to concede the argument, “we don’t know what you’d pick up. For all we know,” I teased, slipping my own hands under his shirt nonetheless, “you’d just be able to start your very own dead lab rat circus.”
In the end, he conceded my point - but not before we’d given his “idea” a try. Just to be sure. Or, really, just because - because we were alone and together and neither of us wanted to admit it, but we were scared. I knew I was. And I could feel that he was, too, in the way he kissed me and grabbed me close and held on like he was desperate, dying. I can’t say I didn’t reach for him the exact same way. It was still awkward, and I still felt strange and stretched and shy, but the need to be close overcame everything until Percy had driven all the thoughts from my mind.
When it was over Percy just lay there for a moment, breathing. I collapsed next to him, rolling up to his side so we could share body heat and slinging an arm across his chest. This probably wasn’t how we were supposed to be spending the night before a battle, but I honestly didn’t care. Part of me thought, If this is the last night I have, I wouldn’t want to spend it any other way.
“Do you feel any different?” I asked, mumbling the words into Percy’s neck.
He shook his head. “Not really. How do you do it? So I can try.”
I frowned a little, thinking of how to put it into words. I mostly did it by feel - well, maybe that was why it hadn’t always worked at first, but it was more instinctual than anything else. It was hard to explain. “You just... think of a place you want to be and let the darkness take you there.” I managed to push myself up onto one arm a little so I could look down at him. “Be careful - don’t try to go far. Maybe just a few feet away.” The river was dark now, with shadows everywhere - it should be easy enough. “Like I said, it’s not exactly easy at first - if you get lost...” I didn’t want to even consider that. But he was older than I’d been when I first tried it, so...
Percy nodded; a moment later his features screwed up in concentration, but nothing happened. After about thirty seconds of trying, he let out a breath and shook his head. “Nope. Nothing.”
I brushed one hand along his side and lowered my head to his shoulder again. “Well, I guess it was worth a try.”
Beneath me, he chuckled. “You probably knew it wouldn’t work. You probably just wanted to screw me.”
“Well,” I murmured, unable to keep from chuckling myself, “you offered.”
Percy snorted, but he admitted, “I guess I did.” One arm came around my back, resting across my shoulderblades. “And I would do it all over again. A lot.”
“Mm,” I hummed, thinking that despite everything that had happened, I might never have been more content.
“And now I probably could raise rats from the dead,” he added cheerfully.
“Not raise them,” I pointed out, “just call on their ghosts. Or you could re-animate them. That’s different. And,” I added, glancing up at him, “it’s not just rats, you know. All sorts of animals... people...”
Percy shuffled himself up onto his elbows beneath me, looking down at me in surprise. “People? You can re-animate people?”
I shrugged. “I don’t like doing it,” I pointed out - after all, even I’d seen zombie movies. And some of them had gotten it right - dead corpses with the flesh rotting and hanging off of them... it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t how people should be remembered, and it wasn’t something they should be forced to do, after they’d been laid to rest. Bringing the ghosts of long-dead rats back was one thing, but actually re-animating human corpses...
Maybe there really was something to burning the dead, after all.
“Hm,” Percy hummed, and we just lay there a while more. We struggled back into our clothes again eventually, but even after that there wasn’t much left to do but wait.
Percy heard it first; neither of us was properly asleep, but we were trying to get some rest nonetheless. Even if we didn’t want to sleep, we knew better than to go into battle exhausted - especially not a battle like this one. Even if it was twenty demigods against Kronos, the Titan was powerful even though he wasn’t yet at full strength. Power over time was a bitch to go up against.
Percy stiffened beside me. “Do you hear that?” I could hear the frown in his voice even though it was hard to see his face.
I blinked, pushing myself off his shoulder and glancing around. I didn’t hear anything except for the soft movements of the river’s current and Percy breathing beside me. “No,” I said, quietly. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t something out there - this was Percy’s domain, and if he said he heard something... well then he was right.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out. The water around us grew cold - colder than it had been, and as Percy and I pushed ourselves to our feet and drew our weapons, he appeared.
He was a ten foot tall, greenish-skinned man with flowing seaweed-colored hair and beard. He was wearing what looked like traditional Ancient Greek clothing - a tunic and sandals - and even though he didn’t have any weapons, I could sense that he was dangerous. I tightened my grip on my sword as he spoke.
“Ah-hah!” he cried triumphantly as he loomed over us, the cold current seeming to swirl off of him and around us. “I’ve found the little demigod runaways!”
Beside me, Percy frowned. Riptide was full-grown and glowing softly in his hands. “Who are you?”
The man snorted. “That’s just like you - you’re the son of that cursed god Poseidon, aren’t you?” He didn’t actually wait for Percy to go on before he said, “I am Cephissus!”
I frowned, racking my brain for the name. Had I ever heard it before? It didn’t sound too familiar...
Apparently Percy hadn’t, either. “Are we supposed to know you?” he asked, his voice cocky, the way it got when he was outmatched but ready to fight. I had to admit, I liked it. Even when faced with an unknown danger, Percy was determined not to show his fear.
“Your fathernearly destroyed me!” the man before us raged, waving one fist menacingly. “He couldn’t deal with the fact that we rivers had judged Hera to be more deserving of Argos! He simply waved his hand and dried us up! Only after a good rain is my river even able to flow!”
“Uh... right,” Percy muttered; he didn’t sound very sympathetic. I didn’t blame him. How, exactly, was that Percy’s fault?
Cephissus, however, obviously thought it was. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?” the man roared. He looked down his nose at us. “Well, we shall see who has the last laugh, when my master finds out I have located you!”
I glanced at Percy to find him looking at me, and even though his face didn’t show it, his eyes were worried. And so was I. There was only one “master” this guy could be talking about.
“Are you sure you really want to be on Kronos’ side?” I asked, not sure if I was really trying to change his mind or just stall for time. After all, Kronos would have to get us out of the river if he wanted to face us - but with a river god on his side, that suddenly seemed like a much better possibility than it had before. But we didn’t want a confrontation with the Titan here, and definitely not now. It was too early. Dawn was still an hour or two away.
But Cephissus didn’t seem like he wanted to consider alternative lifestyle choices. “Yes! I have been wronged by the gods, and I will have my revenge! My master has promised me this!”
Right, so the river god was pissed at Poseidon, and naturally he’d joined Kronos. I was really beginning to wish that the Titan lord wasn’t so good at building on others’ existing grudges to bring them over to his side. His army might be a lot smaller...
Then again, I thought with a sinking feeling in my gut, wasn’t that exactly what he’d tried to do to me? And hadn’t that very plan nearly worked? I suddenly remembered Bianca, telling me not to hold grudges. She’d said that it was the fatal flaw of Hades’ children. My gut went cold as I wondered, what if I hadn’t listened to her? What if I hadn’t fallen in love with Percy? And despite that, what if I’d listened to Kronos when he offered me all that power, and the chance to help him rule his new world?
But now was no time to think about that. There was an angry river god who hated Percy’s dad bearing down on us, and the river was growing colder by the minute. Percy and I exchanged another look - one that said, If he doesn’t get back to Kronos, he can’t tell him where we are. Almost in unison, we began to separate, inching around the river god so we could flank him from either side.
But before either of us could actually get into position to attack, Cephissus clapped his hands. The sound was like thunder underwater, and it felt like a million cymbals were being crashed inside my head. The trick had worked on Percy, too - when I finally cracked my eyes open, I could see that he looked just as disoriented as I felt.
Worse than that, Cephissus was gone. But through the murky water I could see shapes approaching us, torpedo-like and fast...
“Telekhines!” Percy exclaimed, and we inched back together, watching them approach. I tried to count the shapes in the water, but it only made my stomach drop through the river’s bottom.
There were a lot of telekhines.
I didn’t like the idea of retreat, but I knew when the odds were stacked against us. And I realized that right now was not the time for heroics - not yet. “Percy... we’ve got to get out of here,” I muttered to him.
“Yeah? Well, what do you suggest?” he muttered back, his shoulder pressed against mine, Riptide raised before him.
My mind raced frantically. We had to get out of there, but where could we go? And what about the plan?
Then it hit me - we still had a chance to make this plan work. “We lead them,” I said, taking one hand off the hilt of my sword to grasp Percy’s elbow.
Percy glanced at me, his features confused for just a second before his eyes registered recognition. He understood. “Cephissus said he was going to tell Kronos where we were. The telekhines must be here to stall us,” he said, even as we backed up a few paces and tried to put some distance between us and the oncoming force of sea demons.
I nodded. “The plan was to get Kronos to come to Bunker Hill - well, let’s lead him there now.” I honestly didn’t know how far it was, or how long it would take to get there. I didn’t know how many telekhines there were, or if there were more on the way. I didn’t even know if Annabeth and the others would be waiting for us when we got there. But I did know that it was our best chance. If we could get the telekhines to follow us, then ideally they’d find some way to contact Kronos and tell him where we were going. The plan could still work.
Percy was grinning now, even as the shapes began to resolve into individual monsters, all bearing down on us. They couldn’t be more than ten yards away when Percy nodded, and together we turned, ready to kick off from the bottom. “Okay,” Percy said, taking my hand, “Let’s do it.”
There were a couple of options for who Cephissus was, so I kind of just picked the one that made the most sense, plot-wise. They were all pretty similar, anyway. I hope the bit with him isn't too rushed; it felt a little short, maybe, but I really didn't want them to have to fight him. He was just supposed to do the scout-work, since he's probably more intelligent than a telekhine (maybe?).
Rated R-ish again (stupid boys) but nothing too bad, really.
We spent the rest of the day under the Charles River. As the sun set the surface had gone dark, with only intermittent patches of light filtering down as building and street lights reflected off the surface. I could see pretty well - not as well as Percy of course, whose eyes could adapt to see in any sort or water, light or dark. But I managed well enough. Besides, I didn’t need to see to be able to feel him sitting next to me. He was a warm, comforting weight at my side even as the cool water of the river seemed to envelop me from everywhere else and tickle past my skin. We’d eventually gotten around to tugging our clothes back on (conveniently nothing got dirty when you did it underwater, it seemed) and just sat together, hands intertwined as we talked and gathered our strength. Even though we’d recently been drugged and unconscious for at least a day, it seemed like forever since either of us had slept for real. And so we alternately talked and drowsed until a sound broke the drifting silence of the river’s current.
“Guys?”
The word was slightly muffled by the water but suddenly there, floating in front of us, was a patch of illuminated water showing the concerned faces of Annabeth and Chiron. I felt a profound sense of relief that I was sure Percy felt as well - she’d made it back to camp safe.
“Annabeth!” Percy exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter. He made no motion to drop my hand, however, and it wasn’t like I was going to complain.
“Good, you’re all right,” Annabeth breathed, as Chiron squinted into the Iris message. I could tell he was looking at me - after all, why wouldn’t he be? The last time he’d seen me, I’d been twelve. I was starting to get the feeling that I would be stared at a lot in the near future, if we made it out of this one alive (and I was planning to). Because it was looking a whole lot less likely that I was ever going to go back to the way I was. I might as well start getting used to the way things were now.
I cleared my throat a little, still feeling awkward and uncomfortable with the centaur’s gaze fixed on me like that. “It’s me,” I said, glancing at Percy before I looked back at Chiron’s concerned face. “Nico.”
“He is,” Percy confirmed, looking right at Chiron. “And he’s exactly the same on the inside.”
Chiron nodded after a moment, his expression softening a bit. “Annabeth told me what happened... I admit, I had no idea that Kronos had recruited Medea, or that she had found a way... Well, it’s not important now. What has happened cannot be undone.” He glanced between us before settling his gaze on Percy. “Now, what is your plan?”
And so Percy told him. “Kronos doesn’t have an army here - not that we’ve seen, anyway. If we can take him on here, now... we might have a chance to end this,” he finished, gesturing with his free hand earnestly.
“Hm.” Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Your idea does have merit... but as we’ve seen, Kronos is powerful. He has allies in many places. He will still have a number of soldiers attending him, and he may have a proper army on the way, for all we know.”
“But we don’t know - and neither does he!” Percy insisted. “We’ve got to take the chance we have now - we might not get another.” He paused, looking at me before continuing in earnest; “Chiron... if Kronos really has brought about the prophecy earlier than it was meant to be, this might be it. Nico is on our side.” He squeezed my fingers. “If that’s all we need...”
Chiron turned to look at me, his mouth set in a grim line. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know whether or not the prophecy will be fulfilled, now that Nico is sixteen.” He sighed. “But I do know that you’re right, Percy. Kronos is not yet at full power, and the gods are, unfortunately, not yet ready for war themselves. It may very well be up to us, now, as you say. I don’t like it, but I cannot ignore the possibility that you are right.”
Percy grinned, squeezing my hand again, and I couldn’t help but grin back. You’d think we wouldn’t really be all that excited about going into battle, but this was different. This could be the last time, ever...
“So what do we do?” Annabeth asked, bringing our attention back to her. “A lot of campers have gone home for the school year... but I can rally everyone we have and bring them to Boston. We have the pegasi...”
“And Mrs. O’Leary,” I put in, as both Annabeth and Chiron turned back to me. After all, she was a hellhound - a creature of the Underworld. And she was still at camp. “She can shadow travel just like I can. It’ll make her tired, but she can carry at least a few people. You just need to tell her where to go.”
Annabeth nodded. “Okay.” Then she bit her lip. “So where are we going to go?”
Percy frowned, thinking; I racked my brain, trying to think of where we could make our stand. Not back at MIT - there were too many innocent people there. In fact, there were a lot of innocent people in the city, period. There weren’t a lot of obvious places...
“I’ve got it!” Annabeth suddenly said, her grey eyes lighting up. “Bunker Hill! Well,” she made a face, “I guess it’s technically Breed’s Hill, but we’ll be able to spot the monument from the air...”
Percy and I glanced at each other questioningly, but Chiron was nodding. “Yes... yes, I believe Annabeth is right. That will be a good place for a stand. You’ll have the high ground, and the monument is easily recognizable.”
“Can you guys get there by, say, tomorrow morning?” Annabeth asked, ticking the hours off on her fingers. “We’ll meet at the Bunker Hill Monument. I think I can get everyone mobilized within a few hours. We could be there by dawn.”
Percy and I nodded. I didn’t know much about Boston, but I had heard of Bunker Hill in history class at Westover. I vaguely remembered where it was. “It’s near the shipyards and the harbor, right?” That was good, actually - the closer to water we were, the more powerful Percy would be.
Annabeth nodded. “Right. It’s on the Freedom Trail. You guys should be able to find it pretty easily.” It figured - she was so into architecture, she’d know where all the famous monuments were.
“Okay,” Percy said, and his voice was steady with resolve. “We’ll be there by dawn to meet you. In the meantime, we’ll find some way to lure Kronos there when we’re ready for him.”
On the other end, Chiron and Annabeth nodded. “Okay. Be careful, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, grinning at Percy before she glanced at me. “And you too, Dead Boy.”
“Uh,” I said, glancing at Percy, who was snickering. He’d started calling me that - only once or twice, really - but apparently Annabeth had picked it up. “Yeah,” I said, smiling despite myself, “We will.”
“Wise Girl,” Percy added. Annabeth’s smile turned softer, and she nodded.
“May the gods be with you,” Chiron said, and Annabeth reached out and swiped her hand through the message, dispersing the picture. It dissolved into little granules of light, which then fizzled away in the current and Percy and I were left in the dark on the bottom of the river once more.
*
We talked about possible ways to lure Kronos to us for over an hour and finally decided that when the time came, we’d send a messenger on Mrs. O’Leary. I knew she’d be tired from shadow traveling all the way here, but I figured if I lent her my powers she’d be okay for one more round trip. We could bolster each other’s strength enough to make it to Kronos’ lair (or chem lab or wherever he was hiding in the basements of MIT) and get him to follow us to Bunker Hill. I’d seen the room before, so I could find it again. It wouldn’t be like I was going in blind, which would probably be nearly impossible.
Then we’d argued for almost an hour after that about whether I should go alone or not, but in the end I won simply by insisting that carrying Percy along for the ride would only tire me out more and I needed to be in fighting condition if when I came back from my little jaunt. Even with Mrs. O’Leary’s help, I didn’t think taking Percy along would exactly be a piece of cake, if our past exploits had proven anything. It was a risk we just couldn’t afford to take, even if he wanted to come with.
“Yeah, well, what if we... ” Percy finally murmured, sliding his hands over my shoulders and down my back as he leaned in close, shifting against me suggestively. His lips almost touched my ear and his voice dropped as he added, “Maybe I’ll pick up your handy little traveling trick.”
“Percy,” I groaned, definitely wanting what he was offering but not willing to concede the argument, “we don’t know what you’d pick up. For all we know,” I teased, slipping my own hands under his shirt nonetheless, “you’d just be able to start your very own dead lab rat circus.”
In the end, he conceded my point - but not before we’d given his “idea” a try. Just to be sure. Or, really, just because - because we were alone and together and neither of us wanted to admit it, but we were scared. I knew I was. And I could feel that he was, too, in the way he kissed me and grabbed me close and held on like he was desperate, dying. I can’t say I didn’t reach for him the exact same way. It was still awkward, and I still felt strange and stretched and shy, but the need to be close overcame everything until Percy had driven all the thoughts from my mind.
When it was over Percy just lay there for a moment, breathing. I collapsed next to him, rolling up to his side so we could share body heat and slinging an arm across his chest. This probably wasn’t how we were supposed to be spending the night before a battle, but I honestly didn’t care. Part of me thought, If this is the last night I have, I wouldn’t want to spend it any other way.
“Do you feel any different?” I asked, mumbling the words into Percy’s neck.
He shook his head. “Not really. How do you do it? So I can try.”
I frowned a little, thinking of how to put it into words. I mostly did it by feel - well, maybe that was why it hadn’t always worked at first, but it was more instinctual than anything else. It was hard to explain. “You just... think of a place you want to be and let the darkness take you there.” I managed to push myself up onto one arm a little so I could look down at him. “Be careful - don’t try to go far. Maybe just a few feet away.” The river was dark now, with shadows everywhere - it should be easy enough. “Like I said, it’s not exactly easy at first - if you get lost...” I didn’t want to even consider that. But he was older than I’d been when I first tried it, so...
Percy nodded; a moment later his features screwed up in concentration, but nothing happened. After about thirty seconds of trying, he let out a breath and shook his head. “Nope. Nothing.”
I brushed one hand along his side and lowered my head to his shoulder again. “Well, I guess it was worth a try.”
Beneath me, he chuckled. “You probably knew it wouldn’t work. You probably just wanted to screw me.”
“Well,” I murmured, unable to keep from chuckling myself, “you offered.”
Percy snorted, but he admitted, “I guess I did.” One arm came around my back, resting across my shoulderblades. “And I would do it all over again. A lot.”
“Mm,” I hummed, thinking that despite everything that had happened, I might never have been more content.
“And now I probably could raise rats from the dead,” he added cheerfully.
“Not raise them,” I pointed out, “just call on their ghosts. Or you could re-animate them. That’s different. And,” I added, glancing up at him, “it’s not just rats, you know. All sorts of animals... people...”
Percy shuffled himself up onto his elbows beneath me, looking down at me in surprise. “People? You can re-animate people?”
I shrugged. “I don’t like doing it,” I pointed out - after all, even I’d seen zombie movies. And some of them had gotten it right - dead corpses with the flesh rotting and hanging off of them... it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t how people should be remembered, and it wasn’t something they should be forced to do, after they’d been laid to rest. Bringing the ghosts of long-dead rats back was one thing, but actually re-animating human corpses...
Maybe there really was something to burning the dead, after all.
“Hm,” Percy hummed, and we just lay there a while more. We struggled back into our clothes again eventually, but even after that there wasn’t much left to do but wait.
Percy heard it first; neither of us was properly asleep, but we were trying to get some rest nonetheless. Even if we didn’t want to sleep, we knew better than to go into battle exhausted - especially not a battle like this one. Even if it was twenty demigods against Kronos, the Titan was powerful even though he wasn’t yet at full strength. Power over time was a bitch to go up against.
Percy stiffened beside me. “Do you hear that?” I could hear the frown in his voice even though it was hard to see his face.
I blinked, pushing myself off his shoulder and glancing around. I didn’t hear anything except for the soft movements of the river’s current and Percy breathing beside me. “No,” I said, quietly. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t something out there - this was Percy’s domain, and if he said he heard something... well then he was right.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out. The water around us grew cold - colder than it had been, and as Percy and I pushed ourselves to our feet and drew our weapons, he appeared.
He was a ten foot tall, greenish-skinned man with flowing seaweed-colored hair and beard. He was wearing what looked like traditional Ancient Greek clothing - a tunic and sandals - and even though he didn’t have any weapons, I could sense that he was dangerous. I tightened my grip on my sword as he spoke.
“Ah-hah!” he cried triumphantly as he loomed over us, the cold current seeming to swirl off of him and around us. “I’ve found the little demigod runaways!”
Beside me, Percy frowned. Riptide was full-grown and glowing softly in his hands. “Who are you?”
The man snorted. “That’s just like you - you’re the son of that cursed god Poseidon, aren’t you?” He didn’t actually wait for Percy to go on before he said, “I am Cephissus!”
I frowned, racking my brain for the name. Had I ever heard it before? It didn’t sound too familiar...
Apparently Percy hadn’t, either. “Are we supposed to know you?” he asked, his voice cocky, the way it got when he was outmatched but ready to fight. I had to admit, I liked it. Even when faced with an unknown danger, Percy was determined not to show his fear.
“Your fathernearly destroyed me!” the man before us raged, waving one fist menacingly. “He couldn’t deal with the fact that we rivers had judged Hera to be more deserving of Argos! He simply waved his hand and dried us up! Only after a good rain is my river even able to flow!”
“Uh... right,” Percy muttered; he didn’t sound very sympathetic. I didn’t blame him. How, exactly, was that Percy’s fault?
Cephissus, however, obviously thought it was. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?” the man roared. He looked down his nose at us. “Well, we shall see who has the last laugh, when my master finds out I have located you!”
I glanced at Percy to find him looking at me, and even though his face didn’t show it, his eyes were worried. And so was I. There was only one “master” this guy could be talking about.
“Are you sure you really want to be on Kronos’ side?” I asked, not sure if I was really trying to change his mind or just stall for time. After all, Kronos would have to get us out of the river if he wanted to face us - but with a river god on his side, that suddenly seemed like a much better possibility than it had before. But we didn’t want a confrontation with the Titan here, and definitely not now. It was too early. Dawn was still an hour or two away.
But Cephissus didn’t seem like he wanted to consider alternative lifestyle choices. “Yes! I have been wronged by the gods, and I will have my revenge! My master has promised me this!”
Right, so the river god was pissed at Poseidon, and naturally he’d joined Kronos. I was really beginning to wish that the Titan lord wasn’t so good at building on others’ existing grudges to bring them over to his side. His army might be a lot smaller...
Then again, I thought with a sinking feeling in my gut, wasn’t that exactly what he’d tried to do to me? And hadn’t that very plan nearly worked? I suddenly remembered Bianca, telling me not to hold grudges. She’d said that it was the fatal flaw of Hades’ children. My gut went cold as I wondered, what if I hadn’t listened to her? What if I hadn’t fallen in love with Percy? And despite that, what if I’d listened to Kronos when he offered me all that power, and the chance to help him rule his new world?
But now was no time to think about that. There was an angry river god who hated Percy’s dad bearing down on us, and the river was growing colder by the minute. Percy and I exchanged another look - one that said, If he doesn’t get back to Kronos, he can’t tell him where we are. Almost in unison, we began to separate, inching around the river god so we could flank him from either side.
But before either of us could actually get into position to attack, Cephissus clapped his hands. The sound was like thunder underwater, and it felt like a million cymbals were being crashed inside my head. The trick had worked on Percy, too - when I finally cracked my eyes open, I could see that he looked just as disoriented as I felt.
Worse than that, Cephissus was gone. But through the murky water I could see shapes approaching us, torpedo-like and fast...
“Telekhines!” Percy exclaimed, and we inched back together, watching them approach. I tried to count the shapes in the water, but it only made my stomach drop through the river’s bottom.
There were a lot of telekhines.
I didn’t like the idea of retreat, but I knew when the odds were stacked against us. And I realized that right now was not the time for heroics - not yet. “Percy... we’ve got to get out of here,” I muttered to him.
“Yeah? Well, what do you suggest?” he muttered back, his shoulder pressed against mine, Riptide raised before him.
My mind raced frantically. We had to get out of there, but where could we go? And what about the plan?
Then it hit me - we still had a chance to make this plan work. “We lead them,” I said, taking one hand off the hilt of my sword to grasp Percy’s elbow.
Percy glanced at me, his features confused for just a second before his eyes registered recognition. He understood. “Cephissus said he was going to tell Kronos where we were. The telekhines must be here to stall us,” he said, even as we backed up a few paces and tried to put some distance between us and the oncoming force of sea demons.
I nodded. “The plan was to get Kronos to come to Bunker Hill - well, let’s lead him there now.” I honestly didn’t know how far it was, or how long it would take to get there. I didn’t know how many telekhines there were, or if there were more on the way. I didn’t even know if Annabeth and the others would be waiting for us when we got there. But I did know that it was our best chance. If we could get the telekhines to follow us, then ideally they’d find some way to contact Kronos and tell him where we were going. The plan could still work.
Percy was grinning now, even as the shapes began to resolve into individual monsters, all bearing down on us. They couldn’t be more than ten yards away when Percy nodded, and together we turned, ready to kick off from the bottom. “Okay,” Percy said, taking my hand, “Let’s do it.”