The Demigod Games

Chapter Thirty-nine

Leo woke up completely naked. Which sucked, because he was in the middle of a raging blizzard.

"Gods," he said, teeth chattering, "you're ratings just went up."

His first observation was that he was completely alone.

His second observation was that he was covered from head to toe in ash.

He remembered the Mount-o-Destruction, Mount Vesuvius. He remembered Aelia, running away, screaming, as he was swept away into the liquid fire.

Aelia.

The name made his heart flutter in his chest.

"Holy Hephaestus," Leo gasped, the snow piling up around his scrawny ankles. "Some clothes would be nice. Please, daddy? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

Some sweatpants and a sport jacket appeared, folded neatly, onto the pure white ground.

Leo had never been so happy to see a pair of Fruit of the Looms.

As he pulled on his new clothes, he snapped his fingers and a tiny spark of flame appeared. He held it to a piece of debris he had found on the ground; the forest had been burnt down.

It lighted instantly, and the snow around Leo's feet began to melt.

He looked around, shivering, at the new world that surrounded him.

A new mountain had risen up from the ruins of Vesuvius. Despite his resistance to heat, the mountain still made him uneasy.

A lake was frozen over about a mile ahead, and a huge green forest spread out before the new mountain.

Leo smiled, and darted toward the forest.

--

Aelia had a bad day.

First Valdez, disappearing into the billowing wave of fire, and now the donkey.

He pranced around her, screaming, shooting her dirty looks and murmuring about Apollo. If Aelia made any move to leave or escape, the donkey was there, beating her back with his hands.

His body was human.

His face was human.

His ears were donkey.

"Apollo did this to me, he did..." he continued murmuring.

"Apollo did what, sir?"

The donkey man shot her a dirty glance.

"The ears, girl, the ears! Don't play dumb, girl, you know your father doesn't play nice!" he continued prancing around, rubbing his hands together for warmth.

Aelia thought she had hypothermia. Going to sleep in a volcanic zone, only to wake up in the freaking arctic.

"Sir, might I ask who you are?"

"No one ever knows me, and my ears! My beautiful, beautiful ears... But they remember the gold! Mess up one time, one time!"

Aelia's eyes widened in realization.

"King Midas."

He snickered.

"Of course you remember the gold. Turn your daughter to a precious metal one time..."

"No!" Aelia stopped him. "I remember now! You said you could do better than Apollo, and he got jealous and turned you into a donkey!"

"Oh yes, you are clever, my girl, how could you possibly have deducted that I was turned into a donkey!"

She turned to run again, but Midas was already there. She saw a hint of movement to the right, and the woods to the left. If she could only make it there...

"Lucky for me, I get to have my revenge. A nice little daughter of Apollo, mine for the killing!"

And then his ears burst into flame.

--

Annabeth woke up with an awful headache.

She found herself pinned to the ground by several boulders. She easily rolled them aside, and stood up.

Percy.

All at once, she remembered what had happened the night prior.

Vesuvius.

The pile of rocks was huge, and near the top, she saw a lock of long black hair sticking out of the wall of stones.

She climbed up, ignoring the throbbing in her head. She remembered the rock falling from the roof of the cavern, striking Percy across the head...

His arm hung out of the wall, still clutching Riptide. She gripped it and pulled as hard as she could.

Percy came tumbling out, along with several huge boulders. An avalanche of rocks began to tumble down to the ground, and Annabeth clutched Percy tightly.

But they did not fall. She opened her eyes to see themselves dangling precariously on a ledge. Horror took over her heart as she recalled a scene like this.

They dangled over the Pit to Tartarus, only Percy's grip between them and eternal damnation.

"Get to the other side."

Her muscles straining, she gripped Percy's leg as tight as she possibly could and heaved.

They collapsed onto the stone overhang, and she breathed hard. Dried blood caked Percy's face, and Annabeth put her fingers to his neck for a pulse.

The pulse is steady. She began to cry. Percy is alive. She mustered a thank you to Athena.

And, sobbing, she held onto Percy, and she would never let go.

--

They came upon the dead body just before the emblem shone brightly in the sky.

Edward saw her first, crumpled on the ground. Her silky purple robe lay still around her eerily straight body, her eyes non-seeing, non-feeling.

Blood had dried around a deep gash in her forehead. Her left leg was charred and burnt to a crisp.

The first name to appear in the sky came under the symbol of Bellona.

Reyna Ramirez-Arrelano.

Lara summoned the water that remained in the girl's body and swirled it around in the air.

"You know what, Edward?"

"What, Lara?"

His quizzical expression showed that he truly didn't know. Stupid Mars ape.

"These are the remnants of a Praetor. The praetor. And you know what?"

Lara knelt down and retrieved the cloak from her shoulder's, draping it over her own, and allowing her fluids to crash to the ground and seep into the snow.

"I don't care."

--

Hestia was horrified. The burning coals of the hearth had been reduced to glowing embers. The spirit of Olympus was fading.

Their purpose, to save, to be worshipped, was crumbling away, along with these stupid Games.

The Demigod Games. What a stupid idea.

Her cuts were refusing to heal, and golden ichor spilled out of the wounds constantly.

She had given up Hope.

And, with one last prod of the fire, sparks flying, Hestia left Olympus for good.