The Demigod Games

Chapter Twenty-nine

A/N: The canons that are featured within this chapter are all the same canon that Annabeth and Percy had heard in the previous chapter. That only signals one death on day six. You'll find out who it's for in this chapter.

Leo couldn't see where either Jason or Piper were. All he knew is that they were probably drowning by then.

His heart ached as he waited to hear the canons for their death. Guilt threaded through his thoughts,  This time I can't save them...

"Leo?" A voice burst out. "Is that you?"

Suddenly, a damaged looking girl with disheveled brunette hair came into his view. She hovered over Leo's aching body, sympathy evident in her hazel eyes. Leo gave her a small smirk, thankful for her presence. "Aelia," Leo greeted the daughter of Apollo.

"You're hurt," Aelia stated, examining Leo's cuts and burns. Her hand carefully glided across one particularly large wound on his thigh. "What hurts the most?"

Leo winced in pain. "I'd have to say that one out of the variety I've gotten," he said through gritted teeth.

Aelia smiled briefly. "It's from a Goddess, after all," she explained.

A single canon sounded.

Leo shot Aelia a grave look. "That must be my friends."

--

To Piper's surprise, the man-eating mermaids scattered after the boom of a canon filled their ears. It seemed to jolt even the sea, making everything shake around them.

--

Piper would've yelped if she could have, but only small bubbles of air escaped her mouth. Her boyfriend, Jason, fell unconscious just before the mermaids colds attack. Just Piper's luck.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and kicked her legs as quickly as she could, but Jason was simply too heavy. And no matter how fast she could go, the mermaids could go ten times faster.

Before they could pounce, Piper narrowed her vision in on Jason. She could barely see him, but it was good enough. She was determined to have the man she loved as the last thing she saw; bared mermaid teeth wasn't exactly something she wanted to relive seeing in asphodel.

All of a sudden, there was a booming sound so loud that its vibrations could be felt through the water. The vibration shook just about everything up within it.

The mermaids all fled in different directions, leaving Jason and Piper alive.

--

There was only one thing Annabeth could do. Her hand shook as it traveled to her pack and retreived the only way she could save Percy.

A celestial bronze dagger.

With a painful feeling arising in her stomach, Annabeth threw the knife at the boy she loved with all of her might. She prayed to the gods that it woudn't hit an essential organ or anything that keeps him alive.

The dagger seemed to travel in slow motion as it spiraled towards the unsuspecting son of Poseidon. Annabeth felt tears gathering in her eyes, fearful that she may have lost Percy forever.

Suddenly, the dagger hit home, piercing into Percy's shoulder. Annabeth watched as he screamed in pain. The illusion of the sirens disappeared instantly, their sweet sound replaced by the crash of waves upon waves. Annabeth couldn't help but smiling, thankful that the Gods had sent the sirens away.

As Percy slowly pulled the dagger from his shoulder, the water already set in motion and began to heal the wound at a rapid rate. It returned to normal in a matter of seconds. He turned around to see Annabeth as she practically shot out of the water to wrap her arms around him. "You're such a seaweed brain," Annabeth mumbled into his ear while giving him sloppy kisses around his neck.

Percy chuckled, grateful that his girlfriend had managed to save him yet again. After so many years, there was a pattern of the two saving each other. "As always, you're such a wise girl."

Their lips briefly met before Annabeth remembered the canon from earlier. "The canon," she said between kisses, "who do you think it was?"

"I don't care," Percy said softly. "As long as it's not for you."

--

Maverick wished he learned how to swim. He never saw it as a possible way of him dying. It just didn't seem logical considering that he had no intentions of being in water at any given point in his life.

The Gods clearly were not in his favor when they decided to flood the entire arena with the sea.

He cursed in Ancient Greek as he heard the waves roll in and fill around him. Maverick knew he had to find some way to save himself, but it was no use. The trees had burnt down the previous night. The sand provided nothing for Maverick to hold on to with his life. It was all hopeless.

The ground seemed to vanish underneath his feet as the first wave hit him. He was completely knocked off his feet, sent whirling and spinning in the depths of the sea. Once the arena was completely full, Maverick knew he was doomed.

After thrashing for a few seconds, Maverick fell under the surface and found it impossible to get back up.

A few minutes later, the only canon of the sixth day in the arena sounded. It was the brute and power-hungry Maverick O'Donnel, son of Athena, who had died. He hadn't died a hero or a prodigy. Maverick died as a twelve-year-old boy who had simply never learned how to swim.

Minerva was furious.

--

Neptune resisted the urge to smirk as he watched Minerva's wisest son die in the simplest way possible. And what better way for his rival's son to die than in his own realm.

Jupiter came into the preparement room with a flourish of wind. "Neptune, brother."

It was odd for Neptune to be addressed as Jupiter's brother. Often times, the king of the Gods would accuse his brothers of petty crimes while pouting and creating senseless storms. "Jupiter," Neptune said stiffly. "It seems that my tributes are both alive, while the other Gods' tributes are half dead."

Jupiter straightened his back, resisting the urge to react with anger that one his daughter was dead and his son was on the brink of death. "Alas, Minerva's plan appears to be working as well. You may lose a tribute very soon."

"Minerva's plan?"

The king of the Gods clicked his tongue. "Minerva intends for her daughter, Annabeth, to kill the Jackson boy."

"Who's to say that Percy will not kill Annabeth?" Neptune asked rhetorically, half-heartedly watching his son being pulled in by the Sirens.

The two brothers saw the knife thrown into Percy's back. "Well, I suppose it could go that way as well. It's only a matter of time before they give into the pressure of getting out alive."

"I'd prefer it that way. Neither Minerva or I have approved of their relationship," Neptune said distastefully. With a snap of his fingers, he assisted Percy's back in becoming healed faster. "Their sponserships are among the highest of the remaining tributes. Perhaps it's time to send them something."

"I've allowed you to send a gift to your other daughter," Jupiter reminded the sea God.

"That was a foreshadow of oncoming events, not a weapon of survival."

Jupiter's eyes scanned over the arena, his attention falling over Neptune's daughter. Edward, son of Mars, lifted his axe as he prepared to strike her. "We can't have that," Jupiter murmured. "They must be separated."

"Yes, Jupiter." Neptune obliged, throwing the sea into a state of a chaos. Once they were on separate sides of the arena, the God of the sea continued to drain the arena of the water and leave it as a desert once again.

Jupiter stood. "I'll be notifying Ceres of her duty here at this time. It's been a pleasure."

Neptune kept his back to his brother. His focus was only on the newly disoriented state of the arena. "Likewise, Jupiter. Likewise."