The rise of Tartarus

Chapter 17

Reyna didn't know what to expect. With Frank Leo, and Grover gone, she felt in an exposed state. There was only her, Clarisse, Nico, Thalia, and Hazel on the ship. Reyna remembered the good old days back when she was a carefree toddler. The thought made her eyes sting.

Then from the top of the ship, Reyna heard a sharp cry from Thalia, "There's another ship coming toward us!" 

Reyna stumbled to the top of the ship, with her sword drawn. Clarisse was already there with her spear in hand. Hazel was with Thalia near the bow of the ship. Nico was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Nico?" Reyna asked Clarisse, but she just shrugged and put her attention back onto the other ship that was coming straight towards us. 

It definitely did not look friendly. It had a gleaming iron hull, and had a skull as a flag.

"Pirates." Reyna cursed.

Hazel sounded worried, " What do we do?"

Then before any of them could act, a single arrow flew so fast that Reyna would have been dead if she had stepped to the side. It barely missed her arm. 

Reyna decided to take initiative, " Who are you guys, and by the way, we don't want a fight."

A bearded man with 4 gleaming gold teeth grinned toothily and yelled," Perfect, then we'll just steal your stuff without a fight!"

"Umm, no thanks," Hazel commented.

The bearded man frowned, then said, "Alright then we'll take your stuff with force then!"

Arrows flew out of the sky, as Reyna jumped to the side. Clarisse yelled defiantly, and jumped towards the boat. She grabbed onto the hull, but as she was pulling herself up, until two more people walked up and one of them stabbed a sword into the hull. Luckily, Clarisse was fast, and pulled herself up, and by the time the sword hit the hull, the two men went flying into the ocean.

Thalia continued to shoot arrows with her bow, and Reyna saw an arrow sticking out of her arm. Hazel continued grabbing gems from the earth and showering the other ship with it. 

Then from the corner of her eye, Reyna saw a person on the deck.

"Hey!" she yelled. The man turned and ran down the ship. Reyna quickly followed suit, and then after she reached the kitchen, she saw the man holding a huge bomb.

"No, don't do this." Reyna said. She wished Piper was here with her charmspeak, but she was ready to try to take this person down.

The man smiled at her and said, " Oh this bomb is already active. You can't stop it. Ooh! Fifty seconds left."

That was too much for Reyna to take. She used her Imperial gold sword to stab the guy in the gut. The man's eyes went wide, before he fell to the ground, dead. Reyna grabbed the bomb and ran up to the top of the ship. When she reached the top, she saw pirates being thrown throught the sky screaming, Hazel groaning on the side of the hull, Nico being knocked off the opponent's ship, into the water, and Thalia with arrows on each limb still shooting arrows with determination. Clarisse was still beating up pirates and throwing them into the ocean, but there were too many.

Reyna jumped to the other ship and threw Clarisse off the boat.

"Wha- HEY!" Clarisse shrieked, before hitting the water. She knew that it was too late. Her only hope was that the ship would blow up and the pirates would be killed. She dropped the bomb and ran to the edge of the ship. Five, four, three, two, one.

BOOM!

Reyna felt fire scorch her back. She flew into the air at hundreds of miles a hour. She winced in pain, and hoped the crew was safe. She felt herself become weightless, before gravity took hold.

She was falling fast. Flames began scorching her shirt, as she plummeted down to Earth. She didn't know if she was going to fall into the ocean or land. She didn't know which one to hope for. Then all of a sudden she hit solid ground.

She felt a sickening CRACK  as she hit the ground. She knew she had broken at least 5 bones. She felt nauseated, and black spots danced in her eyes.

No, she thought, I can't go into shock.

But before she knew she was going unconscious, the last thing she remembered was the prophecy and her line. 

The Son of the Sky and Daughter of War, shall lead the charge to the Underworld's door.

Reyna knew that somehow she would have to find Jason. But before anything else could happen, she blacked out.