The Darkness Is Coming

The Smell of Smoke

Piper POV

It was a little harder to find where I had been while retracing my steps.

"Can't you just use some hocus pocus to find where I went?" I asked Hecate.

"I could, but it would easily go awry if Alabaster has laid any protective spells in the area." There was a tone in her voice that told me she did not enjoy her son being so powerful.

"Can't you sense all of that?"

"Not well at the moment. I am strongest at dawn and dusk, Miss McLean, when the world crosses times." She seemed angry that I had suggested she use her powers.

"Right, goddess of crossroads." I muttered, rolling my eyes. What I wouldn't give for Hazel or Thalia to be here. They'd at least be more helpful than this.

"I don't know where we are anymore." I finally admitted. "The trees all look the same and I was more focused on getting away from Alabaster and Percie to actually pay attention to where I was."

Hecate sighed exasperatedly. "Then I suppose we must go back and tell Percy we were unsuccessful in finding whoever it was that was injured. Come on, I'll f-"

"Wait!" I took a deep breath, smelling a semi-familiar scent. "We're close."

"To what, exactly?" Hecate asked irritatedly.

"I smell smoke. That could be one of two things."

"And those things are?"

"Either it's the fire from Alabaster's camp or it's the pyre I built for my sister."

"Well we need to find out which." Hecate said.

I nodded and followed my nose, ending up in a familiar campsite.

"They must have left recently. There's nothing here anymore."

We quickly searched the perimeter of the area. 

"I've found a trail. It's a few hours old." Hecate was kneeling on the ground behind Piper when she turned.

As irritating as she was with her superior attitude and the 'I will smite you if you don't obey me' look she tended to give people, Hecate wasn't afraid to actually do something when she thought it was needed, and I respected that.

"Hold on for a moment." Hecate began to murmur under her breath, her palms glowing with a swirling vortex of green and purple.

"This way." She stood abruptly and marched off into the forest, following some trail that only she could see. 

I walked behind her so I wouldn't disrupt anything.

"They were looking for you it would seem." Hecate said after a few minutes of quiet walking.

"How can you tell?"

"There's places where they've paused and looked at things around them, and the trail has crossed over once or twice."

"I did pass through here." I muttered, starting to recognize some of the spots I'd passed.

"They were definitely on your trail." Hecate said, stepping into another familiar clearing.

"Lacy's burial pyre." I felt tears try to spring forth just thinking about her, but I quickly pushed them back down. Someone was injured out here and if we wanted to help them, I couldn't just dissolve into tears.

"Very noble of you, to give her a proper send off."

"She was my sister. She deserved it." Something in my chest twitched, and I felt the need to defend her, as if Hecate was criticizing her right to have a proper, Greek style burial.

"I'm sure she did." Hecate turned sharply and began to walk out of the clearing. "We must continue. Every minute we waste is a minute lost in that demigod's life."

"Why are you even helping a lowly demigod?" I asked curiously. Hecate hadn't shown much of a love for our kind, other than healing Percy, but Poseidon had basically forced her into that.

"My son is wreaking havoc. He is upsetting the magical balance of the world and it must be rectified or it may kill many people, demigod and mortal alike."

I nodded and we continued in silence.

"Do you hear that?"

Hecate froze when I spoke again. "What?"

"Listen." I pointed off to our left. "Don't you hear it?"

"I don't. What are you listening to?"

Instead of answering, I ran into the bushes, trying to find the person making the small sounds I could easily associate with pain and blood.

As I got close, I heard weak shuffling, like the injured person was trying to escape.

Hecate caught up with me when I found what I was looking for.

Percie glared at us from where she was leaning unsteadily on a tree trunk. She was on her feet, but barely.

"Here to finish the job?" She snarled. "You'll find that to be harder than you think."

She made to take a step forward, like she was going to try and fight us off, but as soon as her hold on the tree was terminated, she dropped to the ground in a heap, letting out a quiet whimper of pain.

Hecate stepped forward, a large magical torch appearing in her hand as she prepared to smite the girl.

"Wait!" I shouted.

They both looked up at me, Hecate in irritation and Percie in utter surprise.

"Maybe she can help us. We should help her either way."

"She killed my champion."

"Your son created her, technically."

Hecate shook her head. "No, I cannot-"

"I'll be responsible for her. Just let her live." I insisted.

There was a minute of tense silence, even Percie was silent, then Hecate's torch disappeared from her hand.

"Fine."

[A/N Guys it's World Ukulele Day! I'm planning on doing a thing on facebook a little later today (when I get my phone back after study hall) for it...]