Chapter Text
===Annabeth POV===
“We have to fall back,” Michael Yew said desperately. “I’ve got Kayla and Austin setting traps farther down the bridge.”
I looked in the direction of Manhattan, where I saw the rest of the Apollo campers setting up a defensive line behind some burned-out cars. Sure enough, I recognized some traps that had been rigged. Cars with hidden explosives, snares that were sneakily set among debris, and others. I also saw immediately that it wouldn’t be nearly enough. Even if every trap worked perfectly, it would still barely put a dent in the enemy forces. I wasn’t convinced they would do much more than annoy the Minotaur. My mind raced, quickly running through any tactics I could think of to even the odds. Most were quickly ruled out as impractical from either a lack of time or manpower. With Percy here, we might be able to wash away some of the monsters with his powers, but I wasn’t sure it would work.
“No,” said Percy, snapping me out of my planning. “Bring your campers forward to this position, and wait for my signal. We’re going to drive the enemy back to Brooklyn.”
I looked at him, surprised. He sounded so confident, I half-expected him to belt out a strategy when an incredulous Michael asked him how he planned to do that. Instead, he uncapped his sword, allowing it to extend to its full length as he stared down the enemy, as if ready to charge.
Of course, I thought. I’d always known that Percy was brave to the point of recklessness. He’d proven that more times than I cared to count. But now, with Olympus, his home, and his friends in danger, he looked determined enough to stop the enemy through sheer force of will.
“Percy!” I said, reaching out to stop him from sprinting off. “Let me come with you!” I didn’t know if he even had a plan, but I knew I was going to watch his back.
He looked back at me, and the hard, angry look in his eyes melted to something so soft that I felt my heart do a little tap-dance. Not helpful! I mentally scolded myself.
“Too dangerous,” he replied. “Besides, I need you to help Michael coordinate the defensive line. I’ll distract the monsters, you group up here. Move the sleeping mortals out of the way. Then you can start picking off monsters while I’ll keep them focused on me.” It was our usual tactic, where he draws the enemy’s attention while I get us the upper hand, but surely he could tell that this army was too much for him to distract on his own. He’d claimed he was as invincible as Achilles, but Achilles himself proved that there was no such thing as invincibility. He had to know he’d get overrun, he had to– “If anybody can do all that,” he finished, “you can.”
His sea-green eyes were locked on mine, and I could see in them just how much faith he was putting in me. He really believed, with every bone in his body, that I could do what he needed me to do. His conviction helped me steel myself. I was the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy. I had my allies, I had my strength and wits, and I had a battle to win.
“Alright. Get moving!” I ordered. We would need that distraction as soon as possible so I could focus on setting up a defensive—
“Don’t I get a kiss for good luck? It’s kind of a tradition, right?”
—line. My mind came to a screeching halt. It took me a moment to fully comprehend what this kelp-headed demigod just said out loud. In front of the ENTIRE Apollo cabin. I could feel his gaze on me, and I knew he had that crooked, troublemaker smile on his face. I knew that if I looked at him, I’d either punch his lights out for mentioning that kiss after not talking about it for an entire year, or, even worse, I might take him up on it. Everything about this situation was just so insane, but I stamped all my exploding thoughts down. We had to make it through this first, and then, by the gods, I was going to wring this infuriating, gorgeous, impertinent boy out.
“Come back alive, Seaweed Brain, then we’ll see.”
He nodded, then stepped out from behind the school bus we were using as cover and began walking straight towards the enemy line.
“A tradition, eh?” said Michael with a toothy grin splitting his face.
“Shut it, Yew,” I snapped. He chuckled, but wisely dropped it. I turned to his siblings, who all looked terrified but determined. “Okay everyone, here’s the plan.
We need to use the cars to funnel them into a narrow line. We can mitigate the advantage their numbers give them by forcing them to come at us fewer at a time. Funnel them into our traps, and shoot them down as they come through. Michael, have your two best shots catching any who try to sneak around or over the cars. They know they outnumber us, and they aren’t smart enough to not be overconfident, but a few of them might try and go around the barrier. When Percy falls back to this point, he and I will hold the line, and as soon as any of you run out of arrows, join us. If it looks like we’re about to be overwhelmed, I’m going to give Percy a signal to flood the bridge and wash away as many monsters as he can, and the rest of you will need to retreat and regroup before they recover.. Understood?”
The entire cabin nodded grimly. Michael started dividing up the campers to get everything set up the way we needed, but I turned back to watch as Percy approached the army.
“Annabeth,” called Michael, “What about the Minotaur?” The monster in question huffed out a bellow that I could hear just fine even at this distance. I could hear Percy calling out a taunt that I couldn’t make out in return.
I turned to Michael. “Get ready. If Percy looks like he needs any help, you’re the only one who can help him from this far away.” He nodded, and drew an arrow from his quiver with a strange-looking arrowhead. I assumed it was one of his trick arrows, hopefully one that could cause a distraction or give Percy an opening.
My heart was in my throat. I knew Percy had defeated the Minotaur before, but that had been through luck as much as any skill. Plus, the monster had clearly come prepared for battle this time; he was wearing armor and wielding a massive axe that looked like it could split the bridge itself. But if Percy was afraid, he didn’t show it. He continued to walk straight towards the army. A few javelins flew towards him, but he knocked them aside almost effortlessly. A hellhound leaped forward out of the line, trying to maul him, but Percy easily sidestepped it, catching it with a lightning-quick upward swing when it tried again. I hoped it might have been intimidating to watch from the enemy’s perspective, but the Minotaur just roared and stepped forward to challenge Percy itself.
The two charged towards each other. The Minotaur was way above Percy’s weight class, and his attacks were brutal and direct, but Percy was clearly faster than the Minotaur had anticipated. He managed to dodge the first strike while simultaneously severing the axe blade from the majority of its haft, effectively rendering it useless. Then, when the bull-man tried to gore him with its horns, Percy cut them off with lethal precision. He then lured the Minotaur towards the edge of the bridge before planting the stunted axe blade against the railing and allowing the monster to run itself through on its own weapon. As Percy tossed one of his oldest enemies over the edge– how could he do that so easily? –Michael gave a low whistle. “Not bad, Jackson. Glad you’re on our side,” he said, as he eased the tension in his bowstring.
I exhaled in relief. Percy was still okay. He could fall back now, as the Apollo campers had done their job and our defensive line was ready to go. Without their leader, the enemy looked uneasy, but I knew they’d remember that they still have the advantage of numbers shortly, and we would still be hard-pressed to win.
Of course, Percy had a different idea. He charged them. I was once again stunned by the sheer recklessness of the move. I lost precious seconds contemplating how he could fit so much seaweed in that skull of his before I called out, “Forward! Cover Percy! Be ready to fall back to this position on my command!” and I readied myself to chase him down. But before we had made it more than a few steps, I faltered.
Percy had closed the distance with the enemy. He crashed into their line like a hurricane. He spun and slashed and lunged through the monsters so quickly that all I could discern in the chaos was the flash of his sword as it tore through everything in his path. I knew Percy better than just about anyone, especially when it came to his abilities in battle. I was fully aware of how good he was with a sword, and I knew he was even faster and stronger than most demigods when he was riled up. But this was something more. Every movement seemed sharpened beyond what a mortal could ever manage, and the speed and strength he displayed far surpassed anything I’d seen from beings other than gods. Enemy armor was a non-issue for him; spears and claws were deflected like leaves in the wind. At one point, I saw a dracena lunge towards him with a dagger while he dispatched a hellhound, and I felt a moment of panic before I saw the blade shatter as soon as it made contact. The snake-woman only had a split second to look confused before a quick strike of Riptide turned her into dust as Percy moved further into the horde of enemies.
He really did take on the powers of Achilles, I thought. There could be no mistaking it. Percy really had survived the River Styx, and he was now effectively invulnerable. More than that, it looked like his strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes were all enhanced beyond any mortal limit. My trepidation on what the consequences of this power would be – after all, it was called a curse – was pushed aside for now. Even if he was mostly invulnerable, I knew he had to have a weakness somewhere, and I was pretty sure he would still have a limit to his endurance. I had to help.
“New plan! Percy’s winning us some ground, so let’s take it! Cover him as best you can, and move up!” I called. Together, we rushed forward to try and help, but there honestly wasn’t much for us to do. Percy was still rampaging through their ranks, not slowing down all as he slashed and whirled to devastating effect. A chill went up my spine. I couldn’t help but be reminded of how Ares fought when he dueled Percy all those years ago. There was just something… otherworldly about him that made me wonder what exactly this ‘Curse of Achilles’ was. I also started to wonder how his body could sustain this level of fighting. Surely there were consequences to pushing yourself like this?
Unfortunately, I had to set those questions aside and focus on the fight. As Michael’s siblings got into range, they started loosing arrows into the army, picking off a few here and there. As we got even closer, I heard something that made my stomach turn. Percy was laughing. It was unnerving enough hearing it while he was slaughtering a horde of monsters, but it was unlike any laugh I’d ever heard come from him. It was high and giddy, and it had a cruel edge that seemed so wrong coming from the boy I’d grown to depend on all this time. As Percy tore his way through the final group of monsters, the last 20 or so just turned and fled back to the far side of the bridge. The Apollo cabin started to cheer, and I almost joined them, but I noticed that Percy hadn’t stopped. He continued to charge forward towards the fleeing enemies, picking off any he could reach, and he didn’t look like he was going to stop until he cut them all down.
“Percy! You’ve already routed them! Pull back, we’re overextended!” I cried out. It was definitely true at this point. Our defensive line was a couple hundred feet behind us. Percy might have routed them, but overconfidently charging after a retreating enemy was bound to get us into trouble. More importantly, I was desperately hoping to snap Percy out of whatever battle-craze he had gotten himself into. I needed to know that he was still Percy.
After a terrifying moment, Percy slowed to a stop. His sword was still at the ready, but he appeared to be surveying the far side of the bridge. I followed his gaze, and my heart sank. The surviving monsters weren’t just running away, they were retreating to their reinforcements. A small group of demigods mounted on skeletal horses awaited them, the purple banner of Kronos standing out starkly against their bronze armor. In the lead was a rider I could recognize from here.
Luke.
I knew that Percy now considered him to be Kronos through and through, but my thoughts and emotions still swirled up in conflicting directions seeing the boy who’d been my first friend and protector staring at us with the contempt and cruelty of the Titan Lord. I hadn’t seen him since the Labyrinth last summer, but I couldn’t forget how his blue eyes now shone gold and his voice scraped over my spine like a rusty file. Even from this distance, I could see the cruel smirk on his face as he raised his scythe to signal his riders to charge.
“Now,” Percy said, “We pull back.” He turned to us, and I was almost relieved to see the concern and determination that were much more familiar to me on his face. “Retreat! I’ll hold them!” he called out. The Apollo campers were all too glad to fall back, but I refused to leave Percy to fight these reinforcements and Kronos alone. I ran to Percy’s side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He glanced over, eyes dark with concern, but he didn’t say anything. He leveled Riptide towards the charging calvary, and I hefted my mirrored shield and dagger, determined to cover him as best I could. Before I could think about anything else, the enemy was upon us.
For the next few minutes, we were surrounded by a whirlwind of stampeding skeletal horses, bronze swords, and battle cries. Percy fended off their attacks almost effortlessly, and the few strikes that managed to break through simply skipped off his skin with a discordant CLANG. He was still managing to return some attacks of his own, but I could tell he was intentionally aiming to wound or disable but not kill. The skeletal horses were the first to go, but once their riders recovered, Percy dealt with them using non-lethal strikes. I could practically feel his battle reflexes fighting to cut down these demigods with the same brutal precision he had used on the monsters earlier, but he was managing to reign himself in. I would have been relieved, but I was too busy fighting. Even with my shield for defense, I was hard-pressed fending off all the attacks coming my way. My dagger, which was always my preferred weapon for most fights, was only hampering me here since its reach was too limited to counter attack without potentially leaving Percy exposed. Fortunately, we weren’t completely alone. Blackjack and Porkpie, the pegasi we’d ridden here on, were swooping in to kick at the enemy before flying away before they could get caught. Every once in a while, I would hear a loud bonk and turn to see a warrior fall down in a daze with a large dent on their helmet. I had a moment to think You two are getting so many sugar cubes when this is over.
As we slowly backed up the bridge towards our defensive line, a demigod with an eyepatch visible through the eye slots of his helmet charged at me. I recognized him as Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis that Percy had spared in the Labyrinth last summer. I knew he was the demigod who finally resurrected Kronos in Luke’s body by swearing fealty to the Titans, but I hadn’t seen him since. He slashed at me angrily, and I parried. We exchanged a few blows, but I still had to watch out for attacks from all around, and he was too experienced for me to take advantage of his missing eye. At some point, I got distracted by an attack from the side that I barely managed to deflect with my shield, but I realized too late that Percy’s back was exposed to Ethan. The traitor seized the opportunity to lunge at Percy with a knife, coming in low and aiming straight for his back. Despite knowing that Percy should have been invulnerable, I felt this deep-seated certainty that he was in mortal danger. I had to protect him.
Time slowed down. I knew instinctively that it was too late to defend against the attack with my shield. I leaped towards them, trying to intercept the stab with my dagger, but my arms were too tired to stop the attack completely. Instead, the dagger glanced up and buried itself in my shoulder. The pain struck me like lightning, and I couldn’t help the scream that came out. My entire arm felt like it was on fire, but there was also a chill deeper inside the wound that I realized was poison. My knees buckled, and I went down hard. I could see Percy standing above me, calling my name in a panic, but my vision was quickly getting foggy. My breathing became even more labored, and I couldn’t make out what Percy was yelling. I heard Kronos’ harsh voice, and I had the feeling that he was demanding Percy’s surrender.
“Percy… don’t,” I croaked, but I’m not sure he heard me. I heard him call out “Blackjack!” Then, as I started to lose consciousness, I saw a dark mass swoop down and snatch me up into the sky. My last thought was that I’d failed and left Percy to fight Kronos on his own after all.