Heroes of Olympus meet New Yorks Shadowhunters

Chapter 8.2

Magnus

If there was something I had learned in life, then it was not to attack any mothers child or children. They will protect them with their heart.

I had heard of so called "truth-witches", those that channeled their magic through words. What they write or said would be reality. Writing them down would be even more effective and less exhausting for them, but Mrs Johnson didn't have the time to write something down if she wanted to hold us here.

"Well look Miss Johnson, we don't want to sacrifice - ", Clary never came to finish his sentence since I digged my nails into her hand. "Ow!"

She was hysterically angry; red patches on her cheeks and eyes that basically spit fire. I wasn't quite sure what would happen if somebody of us mentioned the words 'sacrifice', 'save the world' and 'Max' in one sentence, but I wasn't very eager to find out.

"Mrs Johnson - or should I call you Susan?" She didn't answer, so I took it as a yes. "Well, Susan, we do not want to harm Max by any means. We're here to help him. However, the monster will do what you fear the most - put Max in the Greek underworld. And I guarantee you, he will not be able to walk out again. So we need to kill the monster before it kills us all.
If you can show us the right way to use Max - maybe we can ask him before, too - we will be able to save him - and if you don't, his life would be in great danger."

She seemed to consider my words for a moment before she nodded and mumbled a spell under her breath. The circle vanished and left behind a mark on her rather pretty carpet. I had to get one of these for my apartment.

+

The plan was simple: Reyna would go to Neleon and ask to hand over Simon. I would give Reyna the permission to use Max by having her swear on Styx and performing a complex truth - witch spell. Reyna would then receive Simon and give Max to Neleon, Max's hand right on his chest and we would all throw our weapons and powers into his heart. Neleon would die, we would be saved, life was good.

But I had been around for a little too long, so I couldn't believe things would work out that way. Something was going to go terribly wrong. Somebody was going to die ... I knew it.

We waited and waited for the time to come when we would be able to go. I did the spell in Latin with Reyna, Susan helping me out at times, and I could feel something being ripped out of my body. Alexander gasped and clenched his chest - the spell seemed to take it's toll on the both of us.

"Do you swear on Styx", I said through clenched teeth, "to kill Neleon with the power I gave you?"

"I swear on Styx."

"Do you swear on Styx to protect Max with the power I gave you?"

"I swear on Styx."

"Do you swear to only use the power after Susan Johnson's, Mother of Max, instructions?"

"I swear on Styx."

"Do you swear not to harm Max in the process?"

"I swear on Styx."

"And do you swear on Styx", I whispered, my voice hoarse, while it felt like my energy was being sucked out of my right hand which held Reynas, "to protect Max with your life, no matter what happens?"
It hadn't been part of the plan and I knew asking her to risk her life was too much to ask, but it was worth a try. If things went wrong, I couldn't help him enough to save him considering my lack of energy at the moment. Alexander would have to fight the monster so Reyna was left.

She took a while before she answered : "I swear on Styx. For your child's and my camps sake I will protect him with my life."

I was relived, but didn't let it show on my face.
"Sic non erit." Like this it shall be. I was glad to be done and over with it.

"Sic non erit", Reyna replied and let go of my hand. I collapsed on the couch, unable to stand any longer.

Making the praetora swear on Styx had been this difficult because magic was involved. If Reyna broke her vow, I would have to kill her, wether I wanted it or not. I'd become a tool for fate. Susan was so kind to mention it after Reyna and I finished bonding. Apparently she forgot to say it before. Amazing, wasn't it?

As time passed little by little with minutes that felt too long - even though minutes were nothing when being immortal - the feeling of something horrible happening intensified. I didn't tell Alexander, he was nervous enough, so I tried to distract myself by stroking his hair.

"Rachel, where did you get that magic dagger?" It seemed to be quite useful.

"It is a gift from my mother, Bellona. I can use it three times."

I nodded. A gift from a goddess would be hard to get, so most likely the dagger was not going to enter my collection anytime soon.

+

Simon

I was tired.

I hadn't eaten something in way too long. When Neleon had taken me in his cave I was sure I was going to die.

The pain was there and sometimes a little bit of numbness came with it. Sometimes I felt like just giving in. I wanted to stop the pain and the numbness of my body. I couldn't feel anything but pain and the desire to stop it. But I couldn't let go, not now. I didn't want to die in some rotten cave with a rotten monster that had a big hatred for the mortal world.

I had always wanted to be a hero - one that could save and protect others . At least you will die as one, in front of your loved ones, I thought bitterly and would have laughed if it didn't hurt.

The monster announced our departure. Before I could say anything we were gone and then he was running and I saw the world in a blur. We arrived and all of them were there, as well as a brown haired Latina. I smiled. They all had come. In all honesty, I had hoped for them to come and save me, but I knew they couldn't. Max and the world were priority and I'd rather see myself die than a small innocent child.

"The baby", Neleon spoke, still holding me with his bronze gloves. I was sure the contact with his slime would normally have killed me, but he seemed to be directing it to his sides of his body.

Reyna smiled. "Of course."

She approached him with Max. "Fist the Shadowhunter, then the child."

"How do I know you won't betray me?"

"You can kill the boy if you want to. He's vurnable and we won't be able to protect both him and the child at once."

Hearing this hurt more than it should.

Neleon seems to think of this as a valuable arugument, so he released me, and I fell to the ground. The pain seems to rush back into me and I now felt every inch of my body.

How absolutely great.

Before I could stand up and make Reyna question her choice of exchanging my life for Max', I saw a bright blue light paralyzing the monsters body - and it came out of Maxes hand.

"Now!", Reyna screamed; daggers flew into the monsters rotten heart and Neleon screamed as the blue light consumed more and more of his body.

Suddenly, the woman standing next to Magnus ran forward, shouting words in Latin over and over again, before taking Max' hand, transferring the light into her body,  projecting it onto the Monster.

And then things were over as fast as they started, the woman fell to the ground and just now everybody dared to move. I heard people shouting my name, shouting the woman's name ... the last thing I saw were Izzy's black eyes, filled with tears.