Death's Daughter

Chapter 13

We were a whirlwind of weapons: swords clashing, hammers thudding against clubs, metal on metal.
Two cyclops went after Nico, two went to Leo, while I faced one. Within minutes, I shot my Celestial Bronze arrow in the Cyclops's one giant eye. Golden dust scattered on my whole body, along with the alley. I turned around to celebrate my first monster kill, when I realized my mistake too late. There were six cyclops to begin with. The boys took on two each and I only fought one....

I turned around to face a big, ugly sneer. I heard Nico and Leo yell behind me, but I didn't understand what they said because a searing pain flared in my stomach. I widened my eyes as the fiend pulled a sword from my gut. I hadn't even realized one had a sword; I thought they had just a bunch of sticks and huge fists. I clutched my stomach as I stumbled back. Everything happened in slow motion. I saw a golden blob fly over my head and land on the cyclops. Jolts if electricity traveled through the wires until the monster was just a pile of golden ash. My vision stared going black as I collapsed. I felt my brother's hands catch me as I toppled.

"Frankie!" He shouted. "No! Don't go. Don't leave." I could see him enough to see the tears in his eyes.

I coughed out a laugh. "You... couldn't get rid of me... if you tried...."

Leo ran over to me as Nico cradled my head in his lap. "Oh no, Frankie. You were afraid of dying weren't you?"

I coughed again. Tasting blood this time. I nodded weakly.

"Leo-"

"No. Don't say anything. It's okay. It's okay." He ran his fingers through my hair.

"Leo... Go find Calypso.... Do it... for me...." I could see tears in Leo's eyes as well. Yet he nodded. Good. He needed to find her again.

I heard Nico mutter something about a Will and that 'if he were here'. But I didn't catch it because I already was straining my ears.

I looked up at my two best friends. "I love you guys," I struggled out as my voice seized.

The last image I saw was my brother and said-to-be-foe, huddled over me with tears in their eyes before everything blurred and went black.

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So many things happened before I was consciously aware of them. All I know was that I was standing at these huge gates a little while later. They swung open, and I saw the most gorgeous veiw I have ever seen. Waiting on the other side was a boy and a girl about my age. The boy had dark skin and was really muscular. He was holding hands with the small, pretty girl with long black hair. They smiled at me and the boy spoke up.

"Welcome to Elysium."