Artemis Child

Artemis Child Ch35

Kaylyn's fingers worked effortlessly as she picked the empty apartment lock. Soon we were able to rush inside and rest.

   "This isn't really my favorite idea, but it's time we made camp." Andrew said in a low voice, but high enough for us to all hear. There was no furnisher, so I laid Gena onto the ground carefully and let her use my backpack as a pillow. Andrew tossed some old building junk into the chimney, he pulled a flint from his bag. He struck his sword against it and sparks appeared.

   "Kaylyn, you are from camp right?" Andrew said in a low voice still as he tried to make a fire. "Yea why do you ask?" She asked back. "I was just wondering how Percy and Annabeth are doing, and wondered what you thought about it." He said what was on his mind. "Yeah, I hope they are alright. I haven't seen Percy since after the big titan war." She answered and pulled out her bow. She tinkered with the firing part as they talked. "Annabeth left with those new Demi's if I remember. The Hephaestus kid, who would be Gena's brother, and two others." She said.

   Andrew warmed his hands on the new fire, but still talked. "You helped fight the titan war?" He asked her with a sign of confusion. "Not really I had no combat skill at the time, so I did my best gathering materials and helping the wounded. Percy did so much of the fighting." She answered.

   "Who is Percy?" I asked them. Toni and Serena decided to go into a different room, not even interested in the conversation. "Percy Jackson is his full name. He is the son of Poseidon. He has helped our camp in too many ways. He was so great, he was even offered immortality by the gods." Kaylyn said with her voice getting higher.

   "Yet I'm not allowed to fight him." Said a new voice. Andrew unsheathed his weapon, while Kaylyn loaded hers. It was coming from the mail hole on the front door. Suddenly the knob on the door made a disturbing crunch sound.

   The knob turned lightly, and revealed the teen I first fought at camp. Only he was holding a scythe instead of a sword. "What are you doing here?" I asked him as he walked in. Kaylyn raised her weapon to fire. "Go ahead and fire. You shouldn't go into combat after manipulating the parts of your weapon." He warned her. She pulled the trigger anyway.

   The string slipped right over the arrow, from not being fastened properly. Andrew dashed forward, while I summoned my spear. The demigod's small scythe allowed him to counter easily. I jabbed my spear at him, but he moved out the way. My spear jammed into the wall, and allowed the enemy to kick my inner knee. The cat next to Kaylyn hissed and backed up into her. "Kaylyn take the cat and go." Andrew said and tried to get leverage on our attacker. On one knee I pulled out my wyvern blade and swung at his legs. A celestial bronze shin guard appeared and blocked my attack.

  'What the hell? Its just like my gauntlet.' I thought to myself as I did my best. The enemy launched into a handstand, then he pushed off my wall embedded spear. The movement allowed him to get a heavy hit on Andrew's forehead. Then without stopping, he pivoted his body and delivered another kick to the side of Andrew.

  Andrew slumped to the ground in pain, while the demigod's weapon foot armor transformed back into a scythe. I pulled out my spear, and got ready for him. "Would you like to know the name of your killer?" He asked me with a sneer. "No. It's not important. And I won't lose to someone like you." I said and barred my unusually long canines.

   He flung the scythe like a Frisbee at my feet, so I jumped to dodge it. Big mistake. The moment I got off the ground, the enemy sprung forward and got a great open hit on my stomach. His punch was so strong that it knocked the wind out of me. 'What the hell? He hits like a truck.' I thought to myself as I clenched my stomach. Getting up, I noticed a blinding pain in my side. "What's wrong? Can't take a warmup punch?" He asked with a snicker. 'Your rib is fractured.' A familiar voice said in my head. Just as I got into fighting stance, the voice distracted me and I couldn't block my self well enough. He swung a left hook, followed by an uppercut, then a knee to my damaged rib. All his hits connected.

     Gena was still out cold, maybe she passed out or something. I guess I was looking at her for to long because a hand grabbed my throat. "Keep your eyes on me. I will not be taken lightly." He said as if he was insulted. The grip was unreal, there was no room for air. 'That's it the gloves are off pal." I thought to myself. I brought my knee up, and hit him in the groin. The moment he buckled in pain, I uppercut him back. This made him stumble backwards a bit. I rushed forward and tried to tackle him. My arms went around his waist, but his body stopped. His knee came up and hit my chest, before I could catch my breath his elbow hit my spine.

  His arms grabbed my orange, Camp Half-blood shirt. He flung me off to the side and into a near by wall. His leg reached up so fast and caught me in the chin. I laid on the ground motionless, barely breathing from the pain. Spots danced in front of my eyes, and one of my arms went numb. "I hope you know that your end was brought by me. Damocles!" He said his name with authority. "No not yet. He is not to be killed yet." A voice echoed in the room. "He is still your favorite. Isn't he?" He ask the voice.

   He picked up his weapon and walked out the door, while I lost consciousness.

   I awoke to the sound of my name being called, it started low then worked into a shout. "Cory." "Cory." "Cory!" My eyes flushed open to Gena and Toni helping me off the ground. My eyes fell upon Kaylyn and Serena helping Andrew get fixed up. Gena was using her power to heal some of my heavy wounds. "I'm so glad this power works on you." She said as her hands moved across my bare chest. "My shirt." I said as I noticed it off. "Yeah I had to burn through it to remove it. The fracture could cause internal bleeding if you move to much." She said to me. "I'm sorry we didn't show up me and Serena passed out in the back room." He informed me with a ashamed look on his face. "It's okay." I said to him. I flinched as she touched my rib, there was a purple snaking bruise where my fractured rib was. In fact bruises were all over my chest and stomach.

  "Did you catch anything about him?" They asked Andrew as the we finished with his forehead mark. "He was from our camp." He answered them. "He said his name was Damocles." I added to the information. "No, it couldn't be." Kaylyn said with a horrible look on her face. "Damocles was a man turned into a monster warrior by Nemesis. He was killed after his men left him behind in battle. Nemesis brought him back as a monster who hunted for revenge." She explained and looked down in fear.

   "Well he had the strength of forty Red giants on steroids." I said rubbing my chin. "This must be one of Gaia's big weapons." Serena said and only added to the tension in the room.