Annais was the God among mortals, the death that came along with life. Now more than ever, she knew the cost of her existence, of what Hades had done when he chose to pursue her mother. Everything came down to her and the other Min girls; three who...
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: DAMAGE GETS DONE
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ANNAIS DIDN'T STOP TO think. In one fluid motion, she had torn the hem of her dress so it fell in tatters around her knees, granting herself the freedom to grab her sword and volley over the nearest table to slash the suitors seated there into shreds. They had no time to defend themselves, their wide-eyed expressions withering into piles of dust all around her.
She caught glimpses of the others fighting when the crowd of the dead momentarily thinned and their furious shouts faded from her head. It was obvious they were beginning to gain the upper hand, or so Annais hoped. Jason had just taken out Antinous (hot.) Across the courtyard, Annabeth wove her way through the crowd like a spider coiling ghouls in her web. Wisely, most of the suitors tried (and failed) to steer clear of her. Instead, the few who thought they could escape ended up skewered on the blade of Piper's sword. She was now stabbing and parrying with one hand (or trying to, with as much swordsmanship as she could remember in the heat of the moment) while her other hand gripped her cornucopia.
"Save yourselves," she shouted as she chased after a trio of suitors, who also started screaming. They either doubled back to Annabeth, who took them out without sparing them a thought, or meeting their end at Annais' eager hands instead. "I'm too dangerous!"
The Greek tyrant, Hippias, didn't seem to think so. Testing his luck, he lunged at Piper with his dagger raised only for Piper to blast him point-blank in the chest with a lovely pot roast from her cornucopia. Annais snorted as he tripped backwards from the impact into the deadly fountain, wailing like a child as he disintegrated.
"Go Pipes! We've got this," she exclaimed just as a dozen or so suitors regrouped by the fountain, their sights set on her as they prepared to charge. "Actually, hold that thought."
Dropping her sword by her feet, she raised her hands in front of her in anticipation. The first cut of shadow sliced three of them in two, then the next three, then the next, until only three more remained. She was panting, face red, as they bore down on her. Her hands shook as she tried to summon her fourth shadow in quick succession, a small flicker of panic stirring in her chest when the shadows began to form too slowly, but she needn't have worried. The sky sparked with electricity and a bolt of lightning blasted the trio to ions, leaving a smoking crater just a few feet away from her.
Through the smoke and monster dust, she caught Jason's hard-eyed stare and smiled. He nodded back, carefully checking her over for any injuries before throwing himself back into the fight. Annais watched him with a soft thrum of warmth flowing through her veins. He always fought with a strong presence, but now more than ever he seemed to know his purpose. He summoned the winds and flung three ghouls over the edge of the hillside like rag dolls. He skewered a fourth on the javelin he'd used to direct the lightning, then willed his weapon to shrink back to a sword and hacked through another group of spirits while barely breaking a sweat. Annais joined him, her sword in hand once more, and the two finished off the remaining ghosts who were too slow at disappearing on their own.
