haunting ＊ percy jackson

v. never a dull moment at camp half-blood

To say that the chariot race had been a shit show would be a massive understatement. It had started off pretty great, and for a little while Amos had even been enjoying himself. He was sitting with Ethan, listening to his friend's snarky commentary when it happened; it was barely noticeable at first, the birds that had surrounded the stands and the racetrack, but they just kept coming, and it had become pretty hard to miss when they began swarming.

They swooped down, taking sharp dives as they attacked the campers, their sharp beaks and claws stabbing and scratching anything they could get their hands on. Not even those in the chariots were safe; the Hephaestus chariot had been swarmed almost immediately, making the campers swerve and crash off into the strawberry fields.

Amos was just lucky he never went anywhere without his spear — a side effect of having to worry about the sticky hands of the Hermes campers for years. He at least had some defense against the birds, though truthfully he wasn't able to do much damage; it was hard to hit moving targets as small and fast as the birds were.

"This is why you should always bring your dagger with you!" Amos managed to yell at Ethan as he landed a hit on one of the birds. He really did have to thank Clarisse for all their sparring sessions, without those he was sure he wouldn't stand a chance against the creatures. Another bird swooped in for an attack, this time dodging Amos as it clawed at his hand, trying to get him to drop the spear.

Ethan shot him a dirty look, too busy panting from all the dodging and running he'd been forced to do to respond. Without a weapon, running was the only thing he could do, but he refused to run away completely. He stayed by Amos' side with a stubborn determination, not wanting to leave his friend alone.

A moment later, another bird went diving for Amos, aiming once again for his hands, which were already scratched and bloody from the last attack. This time though, a sword slashed at the bird, making it disappear into a cloud of golden dust.

"Come on, pick up the slack!" Clarisse shouted at him as she joined the fray. "And tell your idiot friend to get his hands on a weapon!"

"I can hear you!"

Amos had never been more glad to see the daughter of Ares. If they weren't in such a deadly situation — and if he didn't know she would murder him for doing it — he would have hugged her. Despite how much of a mess things were, his lips twitched up into a light smile. "Thank the gods you're here! Do you know what's happening?" He tried his best to shout over all the noise, though it was a bit difficult considering all the screeching birds and screaming campers.

He stabbed another bird, one that had swooped down to attack Clarisse's undefended back, and was reminded, just as he had been when the bulls had attacked, how easy it was to fight beside her. Maybe it's an Ares thing. Or maybe Clarisse is just that good...

"Hell if I know!" She shouted as she slashed at the birds once more. "All I know is that your two little friends, Prissy and Princess ran away! I should call them Coward 1 and Coward 2 from now on!"

They must have a plan, Amos tried to rationalize their actions. Percy and Annabeth wouldn't just leave... right? Logically, Amos knew his friends must have had something up their sleeves — Annabeth was there after all, and if anyone could come up with a plan, it'd be her — but that didn't make waiting for them to return any easier.

As Ethan yelped, one of the birds catching up to him and slicing open his cheek with its razor-sharp claws, the sound of some pretty awful music echoed throughout the clearing. The weird singing and over-dramatic violins that were being played, despite how frankly awful they sounded, seemed to somehow do the trick. The birds immediately stopped all attacks, becoming disoriented as they abandoned the campers and instead began flying in circles.