The Festus Chronicles

The Team is Together Again. Plus a few.

Dakota POV

Who would have thought laestrygonians would cause so much trouble?

But that's exactly what happened. About a dozen of the things ran onto camp and roared for lunch. Honestly, monsters have no manners these days.

Dakota took a swig of kool aid from hua flask and ran at them along with several other legionares in the field.
He manged to unsheath his sword without tripping over or stabbing himself, which was good.
A flaming cannonball came sailing towards him. He leaped of of the way, the heat from it searing his back.

He managed to haul himself to his feet. Sneaking behind one of the monsters, he stabbed them in the chest from behind. The cannibal dissolved into dust.

Checking behind him, he saw two other giants had been taken down. That still left a lot of them. He saw Frank in beat form- At least he assumed it was Frank- run at one and slash his claws against it chest. He then bit it's neck and if dissolved.
Dakota turned his attention to another giant. He ran out in front of it and yelled:
"You bad breathed runty vulture!"
Maybe not the most effective taunt but his did have ADHD and it seemed to work anyway. The giant turned it's attention away from the legionares he'd been attacking and charged at him. Dakota did the sensible thing and ran.

He dashed behind a pillar, hid behind it and ran out again behind the creature after it had gone past. He hurled his pilum straight into the things head. It didn't stand a chance.
He sprinted back to the main battle site. There were now only two left.
Even as he looked, one was taken down. The nearest demigods charged as one and the monster was taken down in a matter of seconds.

There were many more in the infirmary after that fight. A few didn't survive their injuries. But the medics were surprised they hadn't lost more.
The field of Mars was dotted with craters everywhere. Those cannonballs were really destructive.

He sat in his bunk drinking kool aid. The medics had told him to rest and left no room to debate. Eventually he climbed into bed and fell asleep.

Unfortunately, that meant dreams.

He stood in a dark and expansive cavern. He looked around with awe. He had never seem such a big cave.
He was about to wander off when he noticed figures slumped on the floor at the back of the cave. As he got closer to them, he realized the figures were people. He recognised two of them as Reyna and Hazel. He vaguely remembered the third girl with red curly hair. Rachel, he thought. The fourth girl didn't seem familiar at all, with long black hair and a moon symbol on her jacket.

He heard voices and quickly crouched behind a rock, unsure whether they'd be able to see him. Peeking round, he noted one was a ghost, with some sort of robes and a crown on his head.
Next to the ghost was an empousa. She was semi - tall and sported a cheerleader outfit. Another ghost walked on the other side of her. Even as a ghost, she radiated magic energy.

He listened in to hear what they were saying.
"They will come for them soon," said the female ghost "Our plan is working perfectly."
"Don't get hasty," growled the dude ghost "We must not risk them coming here before we have baited the last groups."
"I don't get why we need all the groups" the empousa whined "It would be easier just to lead them here now."
"Perhaps," said the male ghost "But it wouldn't have as nearly as much effect."
"Please Minos," said the girl ghost "Stop acting so wise, it's not working. When is the last time anyone ever got anywhere following a man?"
"I don't know Circe, but when is the last time anyone got anywhere following you?"
The girl ghost lunged at him. A fight might have broken out, but the empousa yelled
"Stop it! You are acting like toddlers! "
"Shut up Tammi!" They both yelled in usion.
Dakota decided he'd seen enough. He didn't know who 'the other groups' were but he obviously wasn't going to get any more info out of them.

He crept down the corridor they'd emerged from, still keeping his distance. Staying still for so long gad been really difficult for him.
There were two tunnels to choose from. One looked like it went on forever and the other one led to sunlight.
He hesitated. It was possible he could get more info down the long one, but right now all he needed to know was where this place was.
He stepped outside. It was night time, but the moon was bright enough that he could see the area.
He didn't know much about geography, but even he could tell this place was in Kentucky.
He only knew because he'd lived there for a brief while before he'd gone to camp. He'd moved so many times he had lost count.

He made a mental note of the place in his head. That was important.

Then he woke up in his bunk at the breakfast bell.

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Percy POV

Reyna, then Hazel and now Rachel. This was getting better and better.

Not.

He wandered down to the lake. Dakota had contacted them and told them they were being held somewhere in Kentucky. That meant they had to go there.

Another meeting had been called. They'd eventually decided to get everyone up there to face whatever was making trouble. It was really bad, they new that much.
Chiron had sent a message to the Romans saying to meet them outside the empire state building, since it was a good central location. Annabeth had contacted her cousin, Magnus, to give him an update.
Unofficially it was Percy 's job to contact the Kanes. It was unofficial because he and Annabeth still hadn't said anything about their existence.

He could've iris messaged, but that would probably freak them out and he needed to speak to Carter or Sadie by themselves, not with their trainees to.

He held Annabeth 's phone in his hand and dialed Sadie 's phone number that she'd given Annabeth.

"Hello?" Sadie said on the other side of the line.
"Hey Sadie," Percy said "It's Percy."
"Hi. I'm guessing you didn't call because you missed us."
"Good guess. Just wondering, has anyone gone missing that you know?"
"Yeah, actually. Cleo, one of the trainees. Why?"
"Because people are going missing over here to. Bad stuff is happening."
"No kidding. We can barely leave the house without getting attacked by a bajillion monsters. You need help don't you?"
"I swear you read my mind."
"Don't give away my secrets. Where shall we meet you?"
Is the empire state building okay with you? We're meeting some other friends there to, we're gonna have to introduce you."
"Even more people to try and remember the names of."
"Bla bla bla."
"I gotta go anyway, see you there tomorrow noon?"
"Yeah. See you."
The line cut off.

Percy gazed at the lakes surface for a minute more, then turned and headed to his cabin.