Chapter Text
Celenia was playing with Bianca’s hair - well as much as she could with the cap the other girl insisted on wearing - while she argued with Nico when she noticed Dr. Thorn slipping out of the gym. She frowned, puzzling over what could have attracted him away from his last chance at taking the three of them until a ripple in the air sent shivers up her spine.
She froze, drawing Bianca’s questioning gaze. Shaking her head and whispering “be right back” Celenia made her way out the same exit Dr Thorn took wondering who just manipulated the Mist. While she expected there would be a satyr in the school sorcery is not exactly the type of magic they learn, nor something any male would know, and she’s kept an eye out within the female students for any other possible demigods.
Celenia sighs, rueing just how she got herself into this. Not that she regrets meeting Bianca and Nico but she shouldn’t have just offered a carte blanche favor to Lord Hades, or at the very least she shouldn’t have accepted his offer so quickly, but then again if she didn’t accept then she might not even be able to stand in the mortal realm at this moment so…decisions.
Either way she’s charged with making sure that the two unknowing demigods make it out of this school (and preferably adolescence) alive, which means for the time being lurking in the dark while keeping an eye on all possibly hostile parties, including the monster and the unknown group of demigods entering the gym now.
Two boys and two girls. While she has no recognition of one, the other boy Celenia vaguely recognizes as another student from Westover and someone she had pegged as a possible satyr. Of the girls…the blonde has eerily familiar grey eyes, a pair that Celenia will not be forgetting anytime soon. And the black-haired older girl…the mere glimpse of her electric blue pupil has Celenia stepping out of the shadows.
“Hey.” She greets politely to the group as a whole, assessing the immediate wariness and how the unfamiliar boy’s eyes flick from where she knows Bianca and Nico are to her before turning to the dark-haired girl. “How old are you?” Celenia asks bluntly, that’s the one thing she’s most curious about right now, the only thing that doesn’t match up.
“I don’t-“
Celenia doesn’t get to hear more of the answer as the other girl cuts her off, the blonde stepping forward with an even more direct question. “Dance with me?”
What?! Sure that her surprise is displayed on her face - and very thankful she’s faced away from the siblings right now - Celenia takes a second to send a brief prayer for forgiveness before accepting.
After all she needs answers and a dance is the best opportunity she’ll get if she doesn’t want to be ganged up on.
*****
“I feel like I should know your name.” Celenia begins as they “dance” together, not quite comfortable with the closeness of the stranger.
“Annabeth.” The girl informs her. “Tell me your relation to Luke.”
Celenia scans her memories, she doesn’t recall anyone with that name. “No relation? Why’d you think I know him?”
“I saw you with Thalia’s Pine last summer so spill! What do you have to do with Kron-“
Shushing Annabeth with a finger Celenia glances warily at the vice-principal. Satisfied the monster didn’t hear the other girl nevertheless she whispers her next words. “Didn’t anyone tell you names have power? Never mind you probably wouldn’t learn that at camp.” When the other girl begins to protest Celenia effectively silences her with a raise of her eyebrows continuing “You are from camp right?”
Realizing the ineffectiveness of denial the blonde nods.
“And you’re here to take Bianca and Nico?”
Nodding again.
“Fine. We’ll get back to you.” With that, Celenia leaves heading straight for the bleachers where Dr Thorn was getting way too close for her liking.
*****
“Who was that? Why were you dancing with her?” Nico pounces on her the second she’s close enough, his prior argument with Bianca forgotten for the time being.
“Someone, Annabeth. And she asked, it would have been rude to decline.” Celenia wrestles away from the young boy, dodging behind his sister.
“Sometimes Lena you really don’t talk like a teenager.” Bianca tells her, thankfully shifting the topic.
“I don’t?” Celenia spent a good month working on her vocabulary. “How so?”
“Ahem.” Nico clears his throat then pitches his voice higher, a bad imitation of Celenia in her own opinion “‘How so?’”
“Oh be quiet.” Celenia shoves Nico away…and into the path of the approaching Dr Thorn. Oops.
“Yes do be quiet children.” The monster purrs, tightening his hold on the boy. “I would hate to have to discipline you.”
Bianca takes a step forward towards Nico but Celenia holds her back, staring into Dr Thorn’s cold gaze. “You don’t want to do this beast.”
“I already have. Now let’s go.” He pushes Nico to the door, still not breaking eye contact with Celenia as he states “We don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”
Celenia huffs, her free hand idly rubbing at the day-old puncture wound on her thigh as she formulates a plan.
“Lena?” Bianca asks worriedly, her gaze trusting.
“Trust me.” Celenia looks at the older girl who she’s begun to think of as her younger sister. “We’ll get to Nico and then I’ll get all of us out of here. I swear.”
“Okay.” Bianca sighs, the burden she carries too heavy for a single teenager. “Okay.”
*****
Catching up is easy enough with the monster having waited just outside the gym, getting a hold of Nico is also easier than usual as the scared but trying to hide it boy reaches to grasp his sister’s hand. All in all Celenia’s plan to shadow travel all of them out of there is progressing better than expected which of course means that at the crucial moment, when Celenia had just located a shadow pronounced enough to shadow travel the three of them in the dark hallway, everything went wrong.
Namely her concentration was broken at the sound of a body - the boy from before - being slammed into the wall by one of the monster’s poison spikes, leaving Celenia’s mind foggy and disorientated.
“Yes.” Dr Thorn hisses emerging from wherever he was hiding before “Perseus Jackson. I know who you are.”
Nico gripped onto Celenia’s shirt, his hand twisting the fabric as Thorn edged closer, his unnatural voice continuing “Thank you for coming out of the gym. I hate middle school dances.”
From behind him launched a second projectile triggering Bianca’s instinctive yelp. Acting without thought Celenia’s silver bow appeared in her hand, the sturdy wood knocking the spike from its original path.
In the brief moment before the monster reacted beyond his growling Celenia grabbed Nico, made sure Bianca was still holding onto her and reached for the injured boy then pulled all four of them through the shadows.
*****
Arriving in the clearing Celenia nearly collapses from exhaustion focusing on breathing through the wave of tiredness until it passed, then looking up to meet three pairs of curious eyes.
“You have wings!” Nico exclaims. Celenia glances behind her to note that yes her black angel wings have emerged, she possibly lost control over keeping them concealed while fighting the urge to take a nap.
“Yeah.” Then she turns to Bianca, whose face is a shade paler than normal. “You alright B?”
“F-Fine.” Bianca stammers followed by a quick shaking of her head. “What exactly is going on?”
“Long answer, give me a moment.” Celenia then addresses the boy, Perseus.
“Can you contact your friends? Like with a-“ She makes some vague gestures drawing a rectangle with her hands, eliciting only an expression of confusion from him.
“A phone?” Nico guesses.
“Yeah that?” Turning back to the boy, Celenia repeats. “Can you?”
“I don’t have a phone but yeah, I can contact them. Or try to.” He closes his eyes.
Celenia nods and turns to the siblings. “The short answer is that both of you are demigods - your mom was a mortal and your dad is one of the gods - and Dr Thorn is a monster that’s trying to kill us.”
Bianca’s reply of “And the long answer?” Was drowned out by Nico’s “Cool! Like in Mythomagic!”
“No, no, no.” Celenia shakes her head at the young boy. “Not like the game. Much, much more dangerous than the game.”
“Indeed. But don’t worry, little brats.” Celenia raises her bow, an arrow knocked and ready, as Thorn comes bounding into the clearing, forgoing his disguise as human his tail swaying behind him. “You’re wanted alive. The General is eager to meet you.”
“The General.” Celenia repeats, mimicking his French pronunciation, as she stalls for time. “Who’s that?”
Thorn looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."
Celenia heard the chopping of helicopter blades approaching but didn’t dare turn to look as Bianca whispered “Can you - ” Without hearing the end of the question Celenia shook her head, she doesn’t have the energy to shadow travel all of them out of here again.
Meeting the boy’s now open eyes she asks a silent question, receiving a mouthed ‘soon’ in turn. She nods, good her own reinforcements should arrive soon too.
Meanwhile Nico asks. “Where are you taking us?”
"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."
"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and - “
"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."
“The Great Stirring?” Celenia repeats, disliking the emphasis placed on those words.
"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn smiled evilly. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"
Well, that’s not good.
Then the boy inexplicably fell to the ground, quickly followed by Celenia pulling Bianca and Nico down with her at the shout of “Down!”
Two others advanced forward, the satyr holding reed pipes and the other girl wielding a shield with the head of a gorgon molded into the bronze, a sight so terrible that Celenia turned away from it.
“For Zeus!” She shouted as she charged, her spear jabbing at the monster’s head beginning their fight.
The satyr played his pipes, the nature magic emerging causing thick weeds to grow through the snow and entangle Dr Thorn’s legs.
Having faith in their ability to hold the monster off for the moment Celenia turned to the two siblings and the blonde girl who manifested out of nowhere. “A manticore!”
"Who are you people?" Bianca demanded. "And what is that?"
"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws.”
Celenia pulled him and Bianca out of the range of another volley of spikes. “Game talk later Nico. Focus now.” She surveyed the battlefield. The boy had just blocked the spikes with his shield though it doesn’t seem like it can hold up much longer, the blonde - Annabeth - doesn’t have a visible weapon to hand and the satyr just crash-landed.
Celenia herself can’t stray further from the two siblings and has the knowledge to confess that she doesn’t have the best aim after shadow traveling. So their only fighter right now is the black-haired girl currently tangled with Thorn, and she’s visibly wearing out.
"Yield!" the monster roared.
"Never!" The girl yelled from across the field. She charged the monster aiming to run him through but the arrival of the helicopters with their blinding lights and thunderous blades prevented that. Celenia frowns, mortals getting involved in this? Just how low will monsters stoop?
Blinded, the girl had no defense as the monster swatted her away, her spear flying in one direction and her shield in the other.
“No!” The boy cried as he ran to defend his friend, deflecting a spike then raising his shield in a futile attempt.
Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."
Celenia frowned, opening her mouth despite the tug from Nico to attempt to stall the beast when she heard it. The piercing call of a hunting horn. She sighed instead. Finally.
The manticore froze. “No. It cannot be-“ He was cut shot by a silver arrow sprouting from his shoulder. Staggering back, he yelled. “Curse you!”
What followed was the ending of a typical hunt, though with far less showing off than Celenia anticipated. All the hunters were behaving, acting efficiently to end the beast which told her one thing.
“We’re fine now.” She whispered to Bianca and Nico as the Hunters emerged from the woods.
“You called them?” Annabeth asked. Celenia merely shrugged in response.