A Pirate's Life For Me

Light and Dark Return

Annabeth raced down one of the hallways of the castle, hearing footsteps behind her. She'd managed to ditch Ladan for a minute or so, but he'd found her again and she was now running against the clock to reach the crew before he reached her.

She was glad for Mitchell's foresight. The robe set he had given her only had a single outer layer that went all the way around, the layer beneath was separated into a pair of loose trousers. "In case someone sees you, it looks like you're still formally dressed!" He'd explained.

Annabeth made sure the tie hadn't come undone. She'd hiked the outer layer up and secured it around her waist, so it didn't restrict her movement.

"You can't run forever, little princess!" Ladan's voice sounded closer than she expected, and Annabeth flinched. She ducked sideways into a secret passage and raced to the stairwell going up. She was on the wrong floor.

Ladan's footsteps echoed menacingly in the enclosed space. Annabeth gritted her teeth and pushed herself farther.

Her legs were aching, and the soles of her feet as well. Each step was agony, becoming worse by the second.

She burst into another hallway, nearly knocking over a servant. Sidestepping quickly, she apologized for what she knew was about to happen and took off again.

Annabeth was just turning the corner when she heard the crash and profuse swearing. She prayed to her mother to protect the poor girl from Ladan's wrath, but she had no idea if Athena would step in.

Ahead, Annabeth could suddenly hear voices. She pushed herself to run faster, and burst into the West Wing at full speed.

"He's coming!"

Reyna whirled around,  drawing her sword. "Ladan?"

Annabeth nodded, skidding to a stop and drawing her knife as she whirled around.

The demigods all readied themselves. Annabeth backed slowly into the group, trying to catch her breath. "What happened to your hair?" Gwen asked quietly.

She shook her head. Now was not the time.

Ladan Graeme stalked around the corner, his sword already drawn.

"How cute that children like you think you can stop me."

"You're barely more than a child yourself." Leo retorted, adjusting his grip on the heavy hammer he favored for fighting. "You can't be more than twenty years of age. I thought you said he was an adult, Annabeth?"

"He is much older than he looks. Ladan has ways of getting exactly what he wants." Annabeth said. She spoke quietly, but her voice carried over the group easily. 

"And you would know, wouldn't you Princess?" Ladan smirked, shifting his grip on his sword. "I've always gotten you what you wanted, shouldn't you be thanking me?"

"You're scum and I never asked for anything from you." Annabeth slipped into the space between Reyna and Piper. "This has been going on for too long and it's time you faced the Fates."

"Please, I've outsmarted them for this long. A bunch of unseasoned demigods will not be my demise." Ladan dropped into a readier stance, eyeing them.

Someone in the back of the group of demigods began to laugh. 

"Unseasoned? That's cute, you think we're unseasoned?" Thalia pushed her way to the front. Her fingertips were sparking and Jason was walking next to her.

Ladan gave her a once over, then dropped out of his stance, smirking. "You have sixteen years under your belt at the most, child. Don't test me."

Thalia's face slowly broke into a grin. "You don't know who I am. What do you know, Jason, he doesn't know us?"

"I'd wager he doesn't know me either." Nico stepped out of a shadow with several of his crew on his heels. He'd docked in the harbor away from the others, in case they needed help, but no one had gotten ahold of him. "I saw Piper running through the docks."

Ladan narrowed his eyes. Those were clearly powers of a child of Hades. He looked between the boy and the other two and it began to be clear.

Thalia's hand lit up, fully charged. A gust of wind shot down the hallway, nearly knocking Ladan off his feet. Jason grinned as the wind turned into a gentle breeze by the time it reached him. Nico just unsheathed his sword without a word.

"You- you two are-"

"Dark and Light." Nico smirked.

"I'm not scared of you." Ladan sneered at him. "I've dealt with your type of powers before... Dark. I would assume Mr. Light is more of a threat."

Thalia cackled, lighting up completely. Lightning jumped along her skin, skittering up to spark at the head of her spear.