𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐀'𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐗! heroes of olympus²

ix. ghost ship

chapter nine!
009. ghost ship

claire

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    "CAIN?"

    Claire had no idea what was happening. Her eyes widened to see her friend doubled over, clutching at his head. She wanted to rush towards him, but behind her, both Jason and Percy were pulling their steeds to a stand still, turning to charge. Her heart raced, trying to think of a way to stop this. "Stop it!" she tried to yell out, but neither of them listened to her. 

    "Cain!" Piper did rush towards the son of Phobos, and if she felt any aversion to whatever fears clouded her mind, she pushed through them, grabbing his shoulders. And then, she gasped. She stumbled back and her eyes went wide. Claire pulled her to her side, on alert as she watched Cain slowly grow steady and rise to stand up. Her breath hitched when she saw, that just like Percy and Jason, Cain's eyes had turned into a ghoulish, golden ichor glow. 

    "Choose, Claire Moore," the voice that came out of his lips was not his own. 

    He drew his sword.

    Percy and Jason charged each other. 

    And if it werent for the horses, both Claire and Piper would have died. Blackjack and Tempest both balked▬knowing in their hearts that something was not right. Claire quickly wrapped her arms around Piper and dived to the side. The both of them rolled across the dirt, painfully as the ground scraped their arms and legs, and through their clothes. Claire managed to pull herself up onto her knees, glancing over with wide eyes as Jason and Percy crossed words▬a mighty crash of bronze against gold. The sound echoed almost like gunfire across the empty road and sunflower fields; sparks flying as two of the most powerful demigods alive met in battle. 

     Her gaze darted towards Cain, and her eyes widened. She recognised what he was about to do, and it sent her stomach lurching. While Percy and Jason were distracted, the son of the god of fear seemed to draw away the summer heat and brought a sudden chill to the air▬the chill of fear that crawled up the back of Claire's neck. "Cain, no▬!"

     Not thinking, she pushed herself up onto her feet and skidded infront of Cain, throwing up her hands and blocking the swirl of shadows filled with the screams of fear with a burst of sunlight. She gritted her teeth and pushed back on it, watching as even fear shrieked▬hissing like vampires as soon as the sunlight touched their skin; spiders shrivelled and shakes peeled apart, screaming faces turned into smoke in the air. 

     "Claire!" Piper shouted, shocked at the sight. She looked forzen with horror▬both at the sight of Percy and Jason fighting, but mostly at the vision of Cain's power. Seeing fear in its true form under Cain's control was always a sickening experience. Fear was always something intangible▬something that can be ignored and overcome, until one was faced with it in the form of something very, very real. It was terrifying, and Claire hated how Gaea's▬or whatever was inside her friend▬control was forcing Cain to do the very thing he hated to do. 

     "I got this!" Claire replied, breathing heavily as she continued to push back. And she did. If there was one thing Claire more understood, was that fear was a very real place▬it was a place between life and death, and she has lived through it and come out the other side. She could face Cain's powers straight on and fight them. "You need to stop Percy and Jason before they kill each other!"

    Piper hesitated. Whatever she had seen in her vision of her fear made her wary to leave Claire alone to handle Cain, but she knew she had to trust her. The daughter of Aphrodite scrambled to her feet. "Stop it!" she shouted, and a burst of the power of persuasion echoed across the road.