The Demigod Games

Chapter Forty-three

The Lightning struck when the Sun was beginning to rise. Percy looked in wonder at the continuous streaming of electricity weaving through the sky like a thick rope, entwined threads of plasma pulsing around the silhouette of something landing on the summit of the mountain as the electricity flickered to a halt.

Running his palms along the shaft of his sleek metal trident, he could see the faint green glow from a mile away. With squirrel meat stored away in a makeshift knapsack, he began the steady trek back the the mountain where thin trickles of sunlight filtered around the mountain, giving light to the slope. He could see the cave that he and Annabeth had stayed in, dark and cavernous in the growing light.

As Percy arrived at the foot of the peak, he frowned, pushing a stray lock of dark black hair from his vision. Smoke streamed through the treetops, and Percy realized that the bright illumination hadn't been the Sun; it was Leo.

Percy began to run to the mouth of the cave, where Annabeth was sitting impatiently, sharpening a stick with Riptide.

"I'm assuming you saw the light show?" Annabeth asked.

Percy grabbed her arm and tugged her up, the deadly stick dropping to the ground.

"What the Hades, Percy?" She yelled.

"No time to talk," he said, not loosening his grip on her arm, gazing into her stormy grey eyes, "just run."

--

Leo felt the branches hitting his face, thorns and briars puncturing his skin. A trickle of blood ran down his forearm from a deep gash of burning tree shrapnel still embedded in it.

The Lightning had come and gone in a blink, just a moment that had vanished from their memories.

Wincing in pain at every moment, he forged ahead, hearing the grunts of pain and exhaustion from his pursuers behind them. He glanced at Aelia, muck and grime mixed with blood covering her face. The moonlight surrounded her, making her glow in the night, hair in a tangled and overgrown mess, and Leo knew she had never looked so beautiful.

The assorted curses and roars of anger had stopped, and Leo risked a glance behind them, where their attackers were nowhere to be seen.

Aelia must have noticed as well, because she began to slow, her labored breaths becoming more steady.

"No," Leo gasped, "don't stop running."

They kept running, their pained breaths racking their chest, until they staggered into a clearing near the summit of the mountain. They nearly collapsed in exhaustion, until Leo noticed someone standing in the center of the snowy clearing.

The most beautiful woman he had ever seen stood across from him. Hair silvery and shimmering like the stars, her eyes a deep, icy blue, and so pale she seemed to blend in with the snow. She was perfectly proportionate, her nose sharp enough to mix perfectly with her small ears, her lips devil red.

Entranced, Leo trudged forward toward his cruel fate.

--

Piper came upon the path of charred trees as the Lightning struck. A girl silhouette floated down from the heavens, gracefully landing on the peak as the Lighting evaporated in a shower of sparks.

Her legs, despite feeling like Jell-O after running so far, were desperate to follow the trail of ashes that were sure to lead to Leo, but her common sense screamed at her to take shelter and find somewhere safe.

And in that moment, Piper knew that she had been relying on her instincts for too long. She had expected Superman to be right there, saving her from whatever challenge she was to face. In horror, she realized she had become the damsel in distress. The girl with little to no backstory, no character development, completely helpless, the sole purpose for her existence to aid the Superhero into looking impossibly more super.