Clockwork

21

Percy stared blankly at Amanda. He had come to the hunters to drop off two demigoddesses to the hunters. He was actually pleased with getting back to the normal, less extreme demigod rescue missions, and he was silently celebrating not pulling kids out of a mirror when the daughter of destruction confessed something he had known for quite a while to him.

"I-I know who you are, and I know your son." She spouted out. He had known that the two were close, and she probably didn't even know that he had already known that she was still in contact with him. "And I'm still in touch with him." She said when she noticed that she was getting no reaction out of him. At least, not the one she was expecting.

But she was talking to the same person who threatened to feed her to machines on the first day they met. Did she expect him to show vehement interest at her 'confession'? "You're telling me this now because...?" Percy started trailed off, playing a wonderful game of 'fill in the blank.'

The children had spotted him, and Sabre was too far away to escape them from such a short distance. They were discussing it between themselves, probably working on a scheme to capture the giant tin man.

"I can lead you to him," Amanda said. Percy scoffed. "What, so you can ambush me and escape with your boyfriend?"

"Um... b-boyfriend?" Amanda sputtered. Percy rolled his eyes. "I'll take you. But I want all of the information that you've been withholding from the hunters." He said.

Amanda's eyes widened slightly. "I-I can't! They'll kill--" "No one is going to kill you." "They're not going to kill me!" Percy tilted his head to the side.

Now she has to explain.

"Care to elaborate?" Percy asked. Amanda pierced her lips and looked down. "You know what, hold that thought," Percy said, glancing around at all of the hunters. If they knew what the two were talking about, Artemis would get involved and try something like ambushing Kenneth and anyone with him, and Percy doubted that would end well for anyone. Not if 'They're not going to kill me' meant what Percy thought it meant.

The children had began advancing towards the two by this time, but upon seeing the fearful look on Amanda's face wisely thought better of it, and finally settled on playing tag instead of capturing Clockwork.

"Walk with me," Percy said to Amanda as he began walking.

Hephaestus?

Clockwork? What is it?

Is it too much for me to ask for a quick visit to your workshop? With a guest?

I'm working right now, would the forest under it be any good?

Yes, sir. Thanks, Hefty.

At least you started off the conversation saying my name correctly.

Percy and Amanda vanished before appearing in the forest right underneath the tower which held Hephaestus' workshop. He could hear the clanging of a hammer on metal.

"H-how--?" She began to ask but was cut off when Percy held up a finger, silencing her. "I didn't bring you here so you can ask questions. Talk." He said. Amanda clenched her jaw. "We're still being watched." She said, looking around. "He has allies everywhere."

Percy's eyes briefly skimmed over the various nature spirits that surrounded them and rolled his eyes. He couldn't exactly dismiss the possibilities of them being Adrien Du Vel's spies. Then again, all it took was one heavy swing at the tree, or a boot to a flower to get rid of them.

Percy shook those thoughts away. He couldn't go thinking about killing nature spirits. At least, he shouldn't.

"They can't leave their trees, and I'll ask Hephaestus to let some of the machinery out to make sure someone isn't out prowling," Percy said before asking Hephaestus. The god of blacksmiths said yes, possibly so the semi-alive demigod would let him work in peace.

"Now stop making excuses and start talking," Percy said. Amanda swallowed, and Percy nearly scoffed. She was frantic, looking around and fidgeting. She usually looked nervous, and Percy just narrowed it down to her ADHD. But not this time.

This girl was stalling.

Percy rolled his shoulder and his arm turned to Riptide, and he pressed the tip of the blade on her temple. There was dead silence. It was almost as if Kronos froze time completely. The only sound that was audible happened to be Percy's mechanical heart tapping against his ribcage. He was probably the only one who heard his own heart, but even he heard Amanda's heart as it sped up from being at the wrong end of the sword.

"Start talking before I get bored and resort to violence," Percy said, his casual tone seemingly ripping through the silence and jumpstarting time, and he put more pressure on his sword. She was bleeding from her temple now, almost too scared to move.

"There is someone here sent to retrieve me! They w-won't let you kill me!" Amanda stuttered. "Well I'm not asking permission to start talking," Percy said. He couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not, as they were just transported to this location, but she seemed very sure of herself. There was machinery stalking silently around in the forest, but would they be enough? Adrien had kidnapped so many demigods, did he have a demigod who specialized in destroying machines? Percy shook his head. The machines were aged. It would be easy for someone to sneak past them without popping up on their radar.

"Adrien's going to kill every one of the Twenty to finish off his plan," Amanda said after Percy began to move his sword around.

Percy couldn't bring himself to be shocked. Adrien seemed to be pretty messed up. "How are they meant to die? The sickness... What else?" Percy asked.

"C-can you please stop p-pushing the sword?" Amanda stuttered. Percy stopped, but only because he hadn't realized he had been doing it for so long. There was a cut, of which Percy couldn't make out the shape of, that oozed blood. "I don't know." Percy raised his sword again. "I swear I have no idea!" She whimpered. "Swear on the Styx," Percy said. And so she did. The second the words fell out of her mouth, thunder sounded and lightning sparkled in the sky.

Hephaestus stopped working for a second, as if he wanted to go out and see what was going on, but he continued working almost as quickly as he had stopped. "Why am I bringing you to them? No. A better question to ask is if you know he's planning to kill your boyfriend, why are you still aiding Du Vel? Wait, on that thought, answer both of those questions."

"They need me. They have my sister. With my own power and hers, we are a vital part of his plan." Amanda said. "And I love Kenneth, I do, and this way Adrien promised to spare him. They're going to die with or without my help." She said, referring to the rest of Twenty.

"How do you know all of this? Last time I checked, you had no idea where your sister was." Percy said. "They told me just recently--" Percy cut Amanda.

"You've been with the hunters for well over 7 months. How did they..." Percy trailed off mid-sentence. "You've already guessed it," Amanda said.

"There's a traitor in the hunters."

And that's the end of this chapter! What'd you think? How do you think this will end? I hope you enjoyed this part!
                        ~DemonsFromAbove