A Family's Love (Gladiators Sequel)

Chapter Nine

"This is the stupidest idea I've ever been apart of," Hedge growled.

Okay, sure, it wasn't Annabeth's brightest plan, but no one expected it to end this badly.

Not with Romans poking their spears into them for entertainment.

"Okay, so I miscalculated..." Annabeth grumbled, going over in her head every aspect of the plan that could've gone wrong.

"Oh, don't feel bad, you silly, little Greek. You're too stupid to ever out-think me," Octavian said, a smirk on his face.

Okay, if he uttered another word, Annabeth was going to kill him. That is, if Percy, Jason, Nico, and basically everyone else in the group didn't get him first.

Annabeth had planned out that they would sneak into the palace, get into the dungeon that Reyna was being held in- the very same Percy was held in- free Reyna, and get out. Simple, efficient, and effective.

That is, until Hazel and Frank were recognized. And Jason was spotted. And then Percy ran into a whole hallway full of guards.

Annabeth sincerely regretted not making her plan idiot proof.

"You know, this isn't my fault. If you all had been a bit better at sneaking around, we wouldn't be in this mess," Annabeth hissed, resentment clear.

"Well, it isn't my fault he upped security around here!" Percy exclaimed defensively, avoiding the pointy end of a spear that one guard tried to stab into his side.

"I swear if you stick me with that one more time!" Nico hissed, grabbing on of the spears as another tried to stab it into his stomach.

"I am your rightful Emperor! I order you to put your weapons away!" Jason ordered, raising his voice at the soldiers. They shared a glance, uncertain for a moment, but their weapons stayed where they were. Octavian's eyes never left the group, smug and confident they'd follow his orders.

Percy, seeing that Jason was having no effect, decided on a new tactic.

"Let me guess- Octavian's threatened your families, or even your own lives. Am I right? Well, Jason can help you if you turn on Octavian. He can keep them safe as the rightful ruler of Rome. He's the son of Jupiter. No one will touch them if Jason says so. So just turn your weapons on him," Percy said reassuringly, his eyes turning cold as they went to the augur.

All of the guards looked uncertain again, their allegiance wavering. Octavian even looked a bit nervous.

"Move against me, and I'll cut your throats," Octavian hissed, his voice as vicious as a viper.

"I'm the son of Pluto, and he is the son of Neptune. Also, she is my sister, a daughter of Pluto. He's the son of Mars, he's the son of Vulcan, and you know Jason is the son of Jupiter. Oh, and Jason's sister is here, who's obviously a daughter of Jupiter as well. Do you want to unleash the mightiest of gods' wrath upon yourselves for a boy threatening your families?" Nico stated, pointing to himself, then Percy, then Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Thalia. He was thankful Jason had told him once what the Roman equivalent to all of the Greek gods were.

The men's eyes widened as thunder boomed above, lightning flashed, the earth quaked, their weapons heated and bent or became dull. They looked about ready to turn on Octavian out of fear, but instead, the doors to the throne room burst open, bows and arrows pointed at every Roman guard in the room, including the insufferable augur.

It was Zoë Nightshade leading the Hunters of Artemis.

Annabeth hadn't factored that in, but she was thankful for their arrival.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia asked, clearly shocked that they'd followed them here.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the fun," Zoë replied, smirking. Phoebe moved forward, her arrow pointed at Octavian. She forced him away from the guards, her glare deadly.

A familiar face appeared in the crowd, causing Nico to nearly collapse with renewed grief and relief. "Bianca?" The name was a whisper on the wind, voiced by a broken little boy, causing all that recognized it to gasp with shock and wince at horrible memories too soon remembered.

"Hello, baby brother." She stepped away from her Hunter-sisters towards her brother, holding her arms out for him. He rushed forward and threw himself into her arms, desperate to hide himself there. She was shorter than him now, as she was eternally fourteen. He still was hurt by her rejection, turning to the Hunters of Artemis instead of staying with him.

But that wasn't why everyone was so shocked to see her.

It was because she was supposed to dead.

"But... We couldn't find your body. You were gone," Percy murmured, staring at the silvery, dark-haired girl with black eyes as if he was seeing a ghost.

"I was. But Hades bent the rules when he found out about this suicidal quest of yours. Sent me to get the Hunters to follow you so that you all didn't get yourselves killed, which obviously came in handy," Bianca replied, smiling gently at the boy who'd blamed himself for her death countless times. But they'd both been children, and it had been her destiny to die that day. There was nothing he could've done.

"Trust me, it freaked me out, too," Zoë grumbled, putting away her own bow and arrow as the other Hunters kept their arrows trained on the guards.

"Lock 'em up, ladies! Jason, you got any dungeons around here?" Zoë asked, and Jason nodded.

"Right this way, girls," Jason said, leading them to the dungeons. Sure, the guards were his, but apparently they weren't too loyal. Though, now he needed to save their families from whoever Octavian hired. It was their wives' and children's fault that their husbands and fathers were traitors.

Bianca stayed with Nico and the others, trying to comfort her brother as best she could. Soon, Jason and the Hunters, except Phoebe and a few of the other girls who were left to guard the prisoners, came back with a beaten and malnourished-looking Reyna. "All I'm going to say is we have too many sadistic guards," Reyna growled, and the others grimaced. Percy nodded in agreement.

"Now what, since we have Reyna and the palace back?" Hazel asked- after hugging Reyna of course. Frank also gave her a quick hug, happy to see the girl. Jason was standing close beside her, making sure she didn't collapse.

"We find out who has our family," Percy growled, glaring to where they took the blonde, hateful augur. That hateful little creature held the answers Percy wanted, he just knew it.