Love & Chaos 2: A New Pharaoh for Egypt

Chapter 17

Guess who's back, back again
Lizzy's back
Tell a friend

Monsters on Your Side

Zia

"We have seen the monsters," Leo was stressing the next morning. "What if they're insiders?"

"Genocide is genocide, son, and they didn't pick a fight. I say we talk to them rationally," Liz countered. "Hey, anyone seen Holly?"

Zia looked around, but the Amazon was gone. Come to think of it, she seemed to have disappeared sometime the previous evening. She certainly had the stealth of a cat, Zia didn't blame Bast for choosing her.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked.

"We get them together and have a diplomatic lunch. They could be vital assets," Annabeth pointed out. "We've seen for ourselves that not all monsters are bad, and you know what? It's only fair to give them the benefit of the doubt."

It was all about the grey area. Zia knew that for a fact. In one instance, for example, Set was their enemy. An untrustworthy god who liked to stir up trouble, and had to be fought accordingly. In another instance, such as fighting Apophis, Set was a valuable ally. She didn't see why something similar couldn't apply here.

"Why would they listen to us?" Reyna pointed out. "They'll be just as suspicious of us as we are of them."

"Look at the lot of us," Carter argued. "We should all be suspicious of each other, but we were reasonable and this worked out. Let's just be reasonable."

"Well said, Carter," Liz said with a smile. "Come on, let's go find some monsters."

"We can't see what they look like," Cammie pointed out. "It's that Mist thing you talk about?"

"The Mist? Yeah, it's what keeps your mortal minds at peace with not knowing what's going on in the world. Don't worry, though, because seventy five percent of us can see through the Mist, so you just have to show up and believe that they're monsters," Liz assured them.

"Can't you just do the thing you did before?" Cammie asked.

"Uh, no," Liz said. "I'd have to have a hand on all of you at once, it's a seer thing, but I'm not telepathic, dude."

"Thought sharing," Alex said. They all looked at him, vaguely confused. "Sorry, um, that's what my Liz yard to call it. Obviously she was just a mortal who was a little too into ancient Greece, but she never called it telepathy. Always thought sharing."

"Huh," Liz said, her voice breaking.

Zia hated to watch it happen. Alex had no idea that they were the same Liz, but there they were, being the same person. He was driven by the death of a loved one, except that loved one was right there beside him the whole time. Meanwhile, Liz was aged up a bit faster, so instead of being his age, she was three and a half years older than him. It was like a train wreck - tragic and sad, but she couldn't look away.

"Should we get going then?" Frank asked, breaking the awkwardness.

"Yes, let's go."

It took most of the day, but they eventually gathered all the monsters and demons and brought them together. Zia figured that the demons were easiest. Set could get them with him easily. The problem was the Greco-Roman monsters.

"Do you know why Greek monsters come here?" a sphinx asked. "Because the Egyptians adored us. They saw what we were and treated us like gods. I'm sorry that some rotten apples occasionally try to take down New York, but dammit, we just want to live in peace."

"We're not here to kill you, that would be genocide, and that is an always bad thing," Liz assured them. "We want to either protect you, or request your help. Whichever you want."

"No one cares what cyclopes want, they're afraid of us," a cyclops complained.

"Hey, my brother is a cyclops, and I freaking love him," Percy said. "We're here to be diplomatic."

"You guys clearly live very domestic lives," Sadie said. "Peaceful, don't want to harm anyone, and we respect that. What we need is for you to help us. We need you to be on our side. Chaos and the Circle think that you guys are just ammo, expendable and less costly than a human."

"All life is important, and we need allies," Zia added. "Seriously. We think that this war is as good as won sometimes, but it hasn't even begun."

Some of their faces began to soften. "Well, we're not fighters," a centaur explained. "Perhaps our ancestors could have helped - they were great warriors - but we live peaceful lives."

"Would you be willing to learn?" Bex asked.

They looked at one another and shrugged. "If it was necessary," the sphinx said.

"Unfortunately, this is a pretty 'join or die' sort of situation," Liz sighed. "We can do our best to help you, but Chaos' forces will surely kill you if you refuse them as well. At least joining us gives them a sort of respect and understanding for you, you know?"

"Then I guess we'd better join."

"I still can't believe that worked," Leo marveled. "I mean, if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't have trusted us."

"I would have," Liz said. "They saw what we're capable of, and they know we're only here to help. Once they realized we weren't afraid of them, it was set."

"And like they said, they're not fighters," Hazel added. "It's not their nature to want to fight us more than trust us."

"Exactly," Liz said.

Zia figured that made sense. They had come to Egypt to escape violence, and generations in were far from warriors, so when they were being threatened, why wouldn't they choose the good guys over the bad?

"Now we're going to have to train them," Reyna reminded them. "So be ready for that."

"I trained with Artemis for over a year," Liz boasted. "I am extra qualified for this. When do we start?"

A/N - my god it's been a while. Don't expect another update for some time since I have other things I'm working on, but here. Take this chapter that I mostly just forgot to update. I promise one day I'll finish this series, but I'm going to rewrite the first book before that before Zeus on a Popsicle stick it's such garbage - not even trash in an ironic way; it's garbage.