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Before today, Emilee couldn’t say she ever expected to be fighting an army of her peers. But here stood Percy Jackson, rallying their troop of young demigods to fight against the incoming army of Kronos. Not all of the titan’s forces, thank the gods, but enough to be a threat to the camp and everyone in it. It wouldn’t be so worrying if half of the attacking force weren’t demigods who could cross the border with ease and allow monsters in.
Last summer, Emilee had been considering leaving camp. She felt like she could handle herself and explore the world, following in her sister Alison’s footsteps. But when Luke attacked Percy and fled from camp, she decided to stay. Being one of the older campers, she knew how important it was to stick around and help train others to defend the camp, just in case. Some of the other older campers who were considering graduating felt the same way and committed themselves to protecting their siblings, friends, and home.
Then Thalia’s tree was poisoned, and the barrier weakened. Immediately, things felt more dire. Even with Clarisse on a quest to get the golden fleece (and Annabeth, Percy, and Percy’s cyclops brother, Tyson, theoretically headed in the same direction), unease spread throughout the camp. Monster attacks were more frequent and more concerning. Even if they had a handle on things for now, there was no guarantee that they would have the fleece in time, or at all. Which meant they had to prepare for the worst, despite Tantalus’ best efforts to keep them from training productively.
And now here they are, as prepared as they can be with the knowledge they have. Emilee’s grateful that the fight coming their way isn’t a successful ambush, thanks to the exiles, but she can still sense the uncertainty in the air as Percy speaks. No one knows if they actually have a shot at fending off the attacking forces, but they know they have to count on each other. They have to fight for each other with everything they have, and they have to win. There is no other option.
Emilee helps their friends and siblings gear up for battle, ensuring that everyone has as much armor on as possible and weapons as sturdy as they can get. Their team of medics is prepared to provide aid as needed while keeping their distance from direct combat. Most importantly, everyone is about as determined as they can get. If they fight scared, they’re going to lose, so everyone does what they can to fortify their nerves and maintain their courage.
When the time comes to march up half-blood hill, Emilee’s heart is beating out of their chest, but they’re able to hold it together enough to hold the line and survey the enemy combatants. More demigods than they expect oppose them, with Luke leading the charge, but that isn’t what shocks them most.
What keeps her rooted to the ground, even as her peers race towards each other, screaming out battle cries, is the sight of shoulder-length ginger hair framing an expression of determined rage on a girl carrying a bow. Alison looks almost the same as she did when she left camp a couple of years ago, but her expression tells Emilee that much has changed. It doesn’t make sense for her to be here, to be fighting for the destruction of the camp that was also her home for years. Yet here she is, charging into the fight, her knife and bow in hand, just like the rest of Kronos’ demigod forces. The lack of hesitation from Alison and the rest of her peers makes Emilee nauseous, but she’s forced to set that feeling aside when a brunette girl with a sword rushes her.
They’re quick to learn that fighting a demigod who wants to kill you is far different from fighting a monster who wants to kill you. Monsters are reckless and blinded by rage, while demigods are practiced and calculated. She struggles to find a moment to attack between the other girl’s skillful slashes and stabs, so she focuses on defending.
She can’t think about anyone else fighting around them; she has to focus on herself and this girl who wants her dead, deflecting what hits she can and dodging others. If she takes even a moment to worry about the safety of her friends, she’ll be dead. So she stays locked in this moment until she finally manages to slam the butt of her sword into the other girl’s upper back, taking her to the ground. In sheer panic, she kicks the back of the girl’s head, knocking her out.
As she surveys the field from her spot towards the back of the fight, she hears the stomping of horses and the rumbling wheels of a chariot. Turing her head, she’s relieved to see Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover racing into battle with the fleece in Clarisse’s firm grip. The relief doesn’t last long as she watches Annabeth take an arrow to the shoulder, causing her to lose her grip on the reins and fall out of the chariot, taking the other two with her. Whipping her head around to find the shooter, she once again feels nauseous.
There, right at the top of the hill beside Thalia’s tree, stands Alison, grinning as if she’d won capture the flag. But she’d shot Annabeth Chase, who was nothing but kind to her when they’d been at camp together two years ago. And immediately after reveling in taking down a 13-year-old, Emilee swears she can hear Alison yell something about bringing the tree down.
At that moment, Emilee realizes how far up the chain of command Alison is. She was standing beside Luke just before the battle started, and now she’s barking out orders that would lead to the destruction of the camp and the death of her former friends and siblings. Alison wasn’t just okay with this happening; she was helping to lead the charge. She wanted this.
Emilee’s feet are carrying them through the battlefield before they know what they’re doing. They still don’t know what they’re doing as they grab Alison’s arm and get hit in the face hard with the backside of an axe. They cry out in pain as they fall to the ground, dropping their sword to brace themself.
“Watch it!” Alison yells, glaring back at her. Her expression falters as she recognizes her sibling, but she’s quick to turn her head and get back to swinging at the tree before Emilee can take note of any definite shift.
Rushing to stand back up as the aching pain spreads across the right side of her face, Emilee yells, “Alison stop!”
She doesn’t. She doesn’t even look back at her.
“Ali, please!” she begs just as a spear whizzes over her and lands right in the middle of the tree, the fleece dangling from the point. Immediately, everyone surrounding the tree, Emilee included, rushes away as the tree starts to heal, shimmering with golden light as the vibrant green returns. As the tree returns to its former glory, a part of it starts to disintegrate. The flecks of light that float away leave in their place a girl, who Emilee doesn’t recognize, but knows to be Thalia.
The daughter of Zeus, with her spear outstretched, exclaims, “Never!” and a bolt of lightning strikes her, then flies out across the field in different directions. The power of it rumbles the ground beneath them, but only one other person seems to take the hit: Percy Jackson. He and Thalia both fall to the ground, unconscious.
After campers and their opposing combatants take stock of the situation, most of their enemies choose to return to fighting, while a handful of campers rush to defend and tend to the two children of the big three.
Looking to Alison, who stands just before them on the battlefield, Emilee watches as her sister calculates whether or not attempting to go after the unconscious demigods is worth it and decides it isn’t.
They take their chance to reach out to her again, touching her arm, but standing back as Alison wrenches her arm away and draws her knife on them, “Don’t touch me.”
“I- I won’t, I’m sorry. I just… What are you doing?”
Scoffing, Alison responds, “Nothing that you’d approve of, but something that needs to be done.”
“Killing us?!”
Alison’s grip on her knife tightens as she says, “You’re either with us or against us, Emilee. And if you’re against us, we can’t have you getting in our way.”
“Have you even considered that there might be a grey area?!”
“Sure, but anyone who believes in our cause will join.”
“Not if that means killing their friends and family, Alison,” they bite back. Alison settles into a fighting stance, but Emille just says, “I don’t want to fight you! Any of you!”
Alison hesitates, looks around, and lowers her weapon, stepping closer to her sibling, “Then join us. We can make the gods finally realize what a mistake it was to ignore us- To leave us to die at the hands of beings who were only hurting us to try and get to them. I promise I’ll keep you out of any fights you can’t handle.”
“Alison, you know I can’t do that. Certainly not now. Not after you’ve shot Annabeth and smiled like a maniac about it.”
“Oh, please, I didn’t shoot to kill.”
“Right, you just shot her in the shoulder to make her fall out of a moving chariot in the middle of a battlefield.”
“She’s making Luke weak. I can’t have that. Kronos needs him, for whatever reason.”
“So you think hurting her will, what, get him to agree with you more?”
“If she’s out of the picture, then there’s nothing to hold him back.”
“What about Thalia?”
“She’s destined to join us, don’t fool yourself into thinking she’s on your side. Look,” she steps closer once again, sheathing her knife and offering her hand to Emilee, “I promise, no one will hurt you if you come with me.”
They step back, “It’s not me I’m worried about at this point, it’s everyone you don’t care about.”
“So you’re really not even going to consider it?”
“Oh, like you ever considered anyone else’s perspective.”
“Fine… Just don’t expect any mercy next time,” Alison says, turning to look around the battlefield again. “Shit,” she mutters as Emilee also takes the scene in.
Kronos’ army is hanging on by a thread. Though they’re stronger and older, they had fewer combatants, and most of their monster allies are still on the other side of the border.
Another realization strikes Alison, and she calls out to her allies, “Where’s Luke?!” only to get no response. Cursing under her breath, Alison hesitates, then calls out once more, “Fall back! Retreat!”
Without anyone to oppose her, the combatants of titan’s army follow her orders and begin to flee the battlefield as campers hoot and holler, celebrating their pseudo-victory. Alison gives Emilee one more look, one that Emilee struggles to decode, before running back down the hill with her companions.
It should feel like a victory, but all Emilee can do is watch their sister run and feel like they’ve lost something they’ll never be able to replace.