The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 72--We Destroy a Temple

Liam dove towards Aridne, picked her up, and reached for me. My body felt like pudding, but I gritted my teeth, grabbed Liam's wrist, then pulled my two quest mates towards the closest piece of cover. My core felt like it was about to split into two, but this was no time to take it easy.

Why do you always disrespect my statue? End exclaimed. Go bother Order's once in a while.

We don't have time! I said. I could die—meaning YOU could die—right now, and all you're worried about is your stupid statue?

It's not stupid, End grumbled. But she didn't fight back.

The ground shook. The soldiers scattered, trying to find their own pieces of cover. But it was too late.

The stone ceiling cracked, and then a few drops of water fell out.

The pain in my gut was so intense that I released Liam and dropped to my knees.

"Percy!" he exclaimed, reaching for me once again.

Just then, with a resounding crash, the ceiling collapsed. Pieces of stone as large as cars plummeted faster than I could blink, slamming into the ground so hard that fragments of the floor shot up in a thick cloud of dust. One huge rock cleaved Order's statue in half. 

In the blink of an eye, the ceiling above us sank. A fragment of stone the size of a firetruck struck the floor in front of us. Liam quickly rolled Aridne out of the way, while I stepped back. But there was no space. The object grazed my shoulder, but it still had enough force to pop the joint straight out of its socket. 

Pain blurred my vision, but I didn't need to see to know that there was no way my enemies had dodged all of that. 

Hah! End crowed. My statue may have lost its legs, but it's still standing! Brother, they must've used cheaper materials to build yours.

What's a statue going to do if the ceiling caves in on it's head? Order grumbled. You just got lucky. 

And then 660,000 gallons of water poured out from above us.

It flooded the place instantly. Any loose items were immediately whisked away—flames were extinguished while their incense burners disappeared; prayer beads were ripped off hooks on the walls; and cabinets were thrown open, giving up small animal figurines, ancient pottery, and even a sundial.

The windows had been left open from Niyomina's ambush. They drained the temple desperately, but the water level kept on rising. In a few seconds, it was already up to my hips. I immediately felt energized, so I helped Liam lift Aridne out of the water. However, I was still injured and Liam was exhausted from fighting, so the task took a lot more stumbling around to complete. 

And that's when the whirlpool took us by surprise.

In my defense, it was pretty hard to notice the water swirling around us in a predatory fashion. After all, there were a million other things I was worried about—things like if Niyomina had been incapacitated, if Aridne was okay, and how the hell we were going to get out of here. Even then, I still managed to notice it.

When my feet were swept out from underneath me, that is.

Liam and I yelled out in alarm as we were dragged towards the eye of the whirlpool. We flipped ourselves onto our back (don't worry, we made sure Aridne's face was always above the water), but we weren't safe yet.

"Percy!" Liam shouted at me. "What do we do? We're going to drown if we get sucked into the center!"

"Speak for yourself!" I yelled back. "I can't drown."

That may be true, but you are susceptible to stab wounds, End said, nodded her head towards the front.

I found myself staring at countless of soldiers in the same position as Liam, Aridne, and I. Most of them sported injuries, but still had enough adrenaline to shout in panic and paddle their arms wildly. Some floated face down, the water around them slowly turning red. Guilt racked my body. I wonder if caving the ceiling really was the best way out of here.

You don't have to feel bad for them, End said. They were trying to kill you.

I knew she was right, but I still couldn't help but wonder if, given Niyomina's nasty personality, the soldiers were following orders out of fear, rather than blackmail. They might be in the same boat as me. 

Fortunately, I didn't have time to think about this any further. The solders were still armed. Which meant, if we reached the center, I'd definitely die.

I heard the scratching of shoes. I craned my neck to see one of the soldiers glaring at me. Unlike the others, he'd found refuge on top of a wooden closet door, which now floated lightly beside us. Blood ran down his forehead—he must've been hit by the falling rubble. I didn't know how he was still standing—or how he got the energy to leap onto me.

"Percy!" Liam yelled in alarm.

My gut tensed, and a wave of water appeared out of nowhere and slammed my assailant back onto his platform. He scrambled back onto his feet, but there was a new emotion in his eyes: fear.

"Wanna try that out again?" I taunted.

The guy didn't dare move.

I turned back to Liam, who sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're having fun, but do you mind moving us to a safer place?"

By now, I'd regained enough of my stamina to do just that. Tendrils of water each grabbed us by the waist, then deposited us on the one safe spot on the room—on End's statue's throne. 

Be careful not to move too much, End said. I'm in rough shape right now. If it starts to tilt to one side, throw the girl off.

Sometimes, I really wondered if End was on my side.

"Wow," Liam said as he looked at the state of the room. "Your powers are really . . ."

"Scary? I've heard that before." I gritted my teeth, then, with one fluid movement, popped my shoulder back into place.

"I was going to say . . . powerful."

He's not wrong, Order said. What you did was impressive. Though . . . would it have killed you to maybe not destroy the whole temple?

I wanted to protest that he was exaggerating, but he was kind of right. By now, the bath house had been drained of all of its water, but the damage had been done. The various items floating around made it seem like a tornado had passed through here. Hidden under the depths were probably hundreds of pieces of the ceiling. I couldn't even imagine how much time—and money—it would take for the priestesses to fix all of this.

My breath caught in my throat.The priestesses! The basement must've already flooded—

There's an emergency exit built for situations like these downstairs. Then End hesitated. Well, maybe not for THIS situation, but it doesn't matter. They're smart girls. They got out. Probably. Worry about yourself.

And you couldn't have told me about that exit sooner—

Something moved in the corner of my eye. I turned, and my eyes widened in surprise. "Liam, I'll be back."

"Hmm?" Liam's face turned to one of panic as he saw me jump back into the water. "No!" he screamed. "You're going to drown!"

He paused for a second, then rolled his eyes. "I keep forgetting he's a son of Poseidon."