Awakened Memories

We Have A Non-Surprising Traitor

We Have A Non-Surprising Traitor

Percy

"Be careful. I see only Morpheus and Phobetor. The third brother, Phantasus, is missing. Be on the lookout." Annabeth signed to me after she said it aloud to everyone.

We looked across the large field and surveyed our enemy. The two present brothers of the Oneiroi stood on a large rock in front of their equally as large army. I recognized Phobetor as the one who had shown up at Camp and triggered my dream. He held a staff with an eagle atop it, like the ones the Romans had. Their army was a mix of monsters and demigods. Traitor demigods. Bob was nowhere to be seen.

They had dozens of different monsters. There were telekhines, Laistrygonians, hydras, empousa, dracaenae, hellhounds, cyclopes, evil centaurs, earthborn and more monsters I didn't know the names of. I saw Kampê snarling and prowling around the ranks. Medusa was back along with her two gorgon sisters. I sighed at having to kill her again and made it my job to kill her first so that she wouldn't have the chance to turn anyone to stone.

Standing slightly behind and between Morpheus and Phobetor was yet another familiar monster. He reformed quickly. The Minotaur stood behind them, snot pooling beneath his nostrils. He was dressed in his tighty-whities like he had when I had first killed him but carried a large axe, like he had when I killed him the second time.

Behind the entire army was a forty-foot tall statue. It was of a goddess, Athena, I thought. It was too far away for me to make out its features but I could tell it was important. It radiated power. The Romans on our side stared at it with disgust and the children of Athena stared at it with awe and adoration.

Morpheus--he seemed to be the leader--stepped forward to address us. Annabeth and I walked forward to meet them. Morpheus started to speak and Annabeth signed to me what he was saying so I could understand.

"If you surrender now we will spare you. You will not be harmed and left to live your lives. You--" Annabeth was able to sign to me as Morpheus spoke so I cut him off right there.

"Why is you guys always talk as if we'll surrender? Why do you assume we will? Listen, if we're meeting you wearing armor and carrying weapons, do you think we got all dressed up to surrender? No! Every villain needs to get that through their thick heads." Morpheus glared at me after I spoke.

Then he opened his mouth again and Annabeth translated. "If you would not like to surrender, you may join us. We will allow you to assist us in destroying Olympus once we defeat the remaining demigods."

I started to reply with some snarky comment again but Annabeth turned. Something or someone was causing a commotion. I followed her gaze and narrowed my eyes at what I saw. Octavian had snuck along with the Fifth Cohort. I realized instantly that he was the presence I had felt enter the portal directly after me when we left Camp Jupiter. He was walking towards us and I saw his mouth moving. I tapped Annabeth's shoulder, "What is he saying?"

She quickly signed, "He's joining the Oneiroi. He basically believes everything Luke believed."

I bit back a curse. "Okay, we'll have to deal with him later. If you fight him, don't kill him. Just knock him out. Tell the rest of our army not to kill any demigods on the enemy's side, just knock them out."

Annabeth nodded and signed to my team, and I saw their mouths moving and assumed they were telling everyone not to kill the demigods. I turned back to Morpheus and Phobetor. Octavian joined them on the rock. I looked back at the Romans and saw Jason glaring at Octavian, but his facial expression also showed that he had expected it.

I tapped Annabeth again, "Tell the Romans to be careful, Octavian will know their tactics." She did as I said.

Morpheus spoke again and Annabeth signed to me what he was saying. "If that is all, I believe we have a battle to begin. Remember, it did not have to be like this. You could have stopped the death and destruction. You chose this." Morpheus raised his hand and then clenched it in a fist.

A second passed and nothing happened. Suddenly, arrows flew through the air and rained down on us. Our army raised their shields and hid underneath them. I grabbed Annabeth and raised my arm above us. Just before the arrows touched us, my shield materialized on my arm and protected us.

Arrows fired from our side into the enemy's crowd. Annabeth and I joined our army. I left her leading them into the battle and gathered up all of our archers. I teleported each of them high on top of a tree so that they would have a better view of the field.

I felt the earth tremble more than it had before and turned. The Minotaur was barreling towards me, recognition evident in his eyes. I drew Oblivion and stayed in the same spot until he was almost on top of me. I spun away at the last second, simultaneously swinging my sword. I watched as the Minotaur moved in a circle to face me again, but then started to crumbled from the wound I had given him. He tried to charge and reached for me as he got closer but collapsed in a pile of dust before he could touch me.

I felt the wind move and saw Medusa's sisters flapping bat like wings above me. I could feel Medusa glare at me through her veil as she made her way toward me. She reached up and I looked away, lifting my shield to use as a reflection to stare into. She was as hideous as ever.

"Perseus. You should have let me turn you into a statue eleven years ago. It would have stopped all of this. This is on you." Medusa must have realized I couldn't hear and knew sign language because she signed to me what she was saying, trying to guilt me.

"No, it's not." I retorted and swung Oblivion quicker than she could react. Her head fell from her body and rolled on the ground. I shot a fireball at it and it disintegrated to dust like her body did. The two gorgons dove at me and I easily cut off their wings. They landed near a few Romans who worked quickly and they disintegrated.

I looked around as the battle started and saw some of the demigods falling unconscious. I glanced up at Morpheus and Phobetor. They had joined hands and were concentrating on our side. I knew I had to do something about it or soon everyone would be unable to fight.

I whipped my head from side to side as I searched for someone. When I found him I took off running and grabbed his arm. Nico stumbled as I flashed us into a tree. "What is it?" He signed to me.

"I'll be focusing hard," I said instead of signed. "I have to stop them from falling unconscious." I pointed to the campers. I created a rope and tied one end to the tree and one to my waist, to keep myself from falling to the ground if I lost my balance. Nico understood what I was doing and helped me. "I need you to protect me," I told him.

Nico held his sword in his hand and a determined look crossed his face. He made burning words appear in the air since he couldn't sign with only one hand. "What do you need me to do?"