cover you now ; pjo

two ; blowin' in the wind

hands clutching at nothingness.

i can't see.

why can't i...?

a match is struck.

"Dad?"

grabbing for the light. dad looks different. but i know it's him.

he moves the match back, out of my reach.

"Is this a dream?"

Then, he spoke. In a slow, monotonous tone.

"Child of the sun, beware the smoke.
And the lonely one underneath the oak.
Five will travel to his prison,
Lest the wrath of Tartarus be risen."

he blew out the match.

•••••

The air was still, even though the rain drenched the weaponed demigods, standing in a tight circle around Chiron and the youngest campers, seven year old Becca Barrett, who remained unclaimed in Cabin 11, and eight year old Michael Todd, Carolyn's little brother. The latter held his tiny bow in hand.

A scream. A boy dragged from the group. A flurry of flying arrows, swords, daggers, and butter knives turned countless monsters into dust, but they just kept coming.

Ben was energized from the water pouring down on his head. As raindrops slicked off his nose, his sword sliced through monster after monster. When two hellhounds cornered him, he leapt into the air, back sliced the one on the right and kicked the other one as he came down, landing face first in the mud. Totally on purpose. Duh. He felt hellhound claws digging into his back, and he accepted death. Then, the pressure released, and he flipped over to see Anela Rei grinning down at him and twirling her dagger in her fingers.

"Um, behi-" the bloodied up boy she saved started, but she was already on the move. She spun around and jagged the weird vampire lady before she could even get near her. She turned back to Ben. "Need help?" She stuck out her hand, and he gratefully took it as she pulled him to his feet.
"Wow," he said. "You're good."
"Not really, I kind of suck," she laughed, flipping her dagger upwards and turning a nameless monster into dust without even turning around. Ben grinned, and the two tapped blades before beginning to fight side by side.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking shit fucking shit-" Stef slashed her celestial bronze butter knife through another hellhound. "can't believe I fucking left it at the cabin-" she kicked an empousa to the ground and made to turn her into dust, but the she vampire kicked her in the jaw and stood back up. "today of all days-" the empousa slashed at her back, and she stumbled away, turned around, and hurled the butter knife at the monsters eye. "I had canoeing this morning-" she ran over to the pile of dust where the she-vampire stood and scooped up the knife. "so fucking inconsiderate-" she pushed her glasses back up her nose for the 500th time, and jumped up on to one of the tables. "Listen up, fucks," she shouted over the wind, holding up her all powerful butterknife. "You shits suck. And i'm gonna kill every single one of you with this stupid thing-" she waved the butterknife, but cut off her sentence upon seeing a small child with a butterknife like hers attempting (and failing) to fight off a terrifying monster.
"Well then," she whispered, and then spoke to the monsters again. "I'm sorry, but we have to cut our meeting a little short."
Taking a running leap from the other side of the table, she landed on the monsters back and hacked through its skull, falling on the ground as it turned into dust. "You ok, little buddy?" she asked, face still in the mud and glasses lying two feet in front of her face.

Spiderwebs of electricity danced along the blade of Gabi's dagger as she cut through monster after monster. She was at the top of her game, but then a dracnae wrapped one of its slimy snake... things around her waist. Zeus's daughter tried to cut herself free, but the tentacle just squeezed tighter. Gabi was thinking about what her final words would be when the pressure on her waist disentegrated. She whipped around to see Oliver grinning at her, his hand on his sword and his hair plastered to his scalp by the rain. He was still adorable.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"No problem, Tomes. I save your life every day." He rolled his eyes.
"Aw, so cute! I can't decide who I want to eat first!"
The two whipped around, so they were standing back to back with weapons out.
Shit, they were surrounded.
Maybe....
She said a quick prayer to her dad, and then saw it. She grinned.
"Shit, I'm sorry Tomes..."
She leapt up into the air.
The whole world seemed to move in slow motion as she saw the lightning bolt snake down from the clouds. Her fingers buzzed as she touched it, and she felt the electricity all throughout her body as she closed her hand around it.
Time moved fast again.
She soared down, lightning in hand, and smashed the bolt into the ground. The monsters all disintegrated before her eyes. Oliver gaped at her.
"No problem, Wood. I save your life every day."
The trance was broken, and they fought side by side.

Carolyn's whole glow in the dark body was a welcome gift in the dark rain. She pulled back her bowstring for the thousandth time and hit a monster in the leg. At least it did the job. Pushing her hair back from out of her face, she swung her body around and wacked an empousa in the face with her bow. Though that move was pretty badass, she fumbled to grab an arrow before the monster stood up again. Before she could have her moment of triumph, she heard a slashing sound and saw Stef and no empousa. She grinned.
"Thanks," Carolyn said, knocking another arrow. The duo started to take down more monsters.

Anela had someone teamed up with Peter K. from Hermes, and she furrowed her brow to keep from blushing when he hoisted her up into the air and flipped over three monsters, dragging her dagger through all of them.

Ben used the water in the lake to wash out countless monsters. It was Peter P. from Athena's idea. They worked together silently and quickly and Ben flashed smiles at Peter when he wasn't looking.

Carolyn's light dimmed. They had been fighting for hours now. The campers had all ben forced into one outward facing tight circle on the dining pavilion. She winced as another girl was taken, screaming, into the mob of monsters. They couldn't win.
Legs weak, arms heavy, the daughter of Apollo drew her bow back for the final time, her last arrow knocked. "Father, if you're listening stop this. Your children, we're dying."
She closed her eyes and let the arrow fly.

Nothingness. That was what death felt like.

Wait.

Carolyn opened her eyes and gasped.

In front of her stood Apollo himself, holding his daughters arrow in his hands. The monsters had vanished. An ethereal glow shown around the god of the sun as he walked through the downpour towards his daughter. Chiron clopped forward. "Lord Apollo..."
Everyone dropped onto one knee. Carolyn hurriedly did the same.

Chiron inquired again. "Lord Apollo?"

Carolyn looked up to see her dad staring down at her. Something was off.
"Just answering my daughters prayer," the god said weakly. He kneeled down in front of Carolyn and lifted her chin so she was looking directly into his eyes.

They were completely black.

Carolyn's breathing hurried and she tried to escape his grasp, but his grip only tightened. "Let... go..." She stared into his eyes, shaking harshly as she tried to look away. Chiron and other campers tried to get to her but they couldn't somehow.

Finally, he spoke. In the same low, monotonous voice she heard in her dream.

"The king of the monsters is free from his tomb
The land of the cascades will feel his gloom
Darkness will be found in the big sky
And the truth rejected for a comforting lie."

He let go. She fell back.

Apollo stood up. Silence.

Then the sun god finally spoke, and it sounded like he was choking out the words.

"All hail Typhon, father of monsters."