The lost hero rises

14. They are here

Annabeth's point of view:

Me and the team told every head counselor to come to the big house for an emergency meeting.
We needed to have some kind of plan. Anything.

We are all sitting around the ping pong table.
Everyone is talking to one another with stressed voices.

I stand up.
"Guys. We need to tell you something.." I say to everyone. They look at me. "They are comming. We have until sundown."

The room exploded.
Everyone was saying that they need more time. That we aren't ready.

Luke stands up.
"Everone, calm down!" He says loud and clear.
They look at him and the room slowly quiets down.
"Look. I understand. But there has never been a battle or war that came at the right time. We are lucky we had a warning."

"Warning? From who?" Will asks looking at us.

"Percy.." Leo says. "Percy wrote a note saying that we have until sundown."

"Oh.."

"We need to take this opportunity. We need to prepare." Nico says. He is sitting next to Will.
Will looks at his boyfriend and smiles.

"What have we been doing for the past days?" Clarisse says grumpy.

"We need to form ranks. Everyone, we have already made a plan. We know what needs to be done. Get your cabins ready and in position. Wait with attacking until further orders. Goodluck everyone." Luke says.

It took a second but everyone stood and walked away.
I remain with my team and friends.

"So it's happening.." Piper says. Jason puts his arms around her.

"It's going to be fine. We need to stay strong." Zoë says looking like she is still convincing herself.

"Look guys, I know we are all dreading fighting against Percy. But he is comming back. I can feel it. Besides. If we take out their army and Nyx, Tartaurus and Erebos.." I stop talking.

What am I even saying?
We won't survive. There are three powerful deity's looking for destruction. They have the most powerful demigod under their control.
Despair takes me over.

"Annabeth..?" Bianca asks.

I look up. I quickly blink away the tears.
"I'm fine. Let's just go." I say turning around.

I take a step outside as the alarms go off.
My heart sank.

Demigods ran around.
The army was quickly forming ranks.
There was a lot of noice and screaming.

They are here.

The others rush outside and stand next to me.
All the way from here we can hear the roars and noice of the army.

We make our ways to the front lines of the ranks.
Preparing to face out enemies.

Camp calms down.
People hold their breaths. Waiting.

Then surely a shadow falls over us.
A woman surrounded in black smoke and clothes approached us.

She was followed by the man I remember as Tartaurus. He was not in armour and not in his own form. My guess is he took a mortal form.
Still he was terrifying.
Pale skin, black eyes, absolutely no emotion. He just wasn't human looking.

Then there was another man.
He must be Erebos.
He looked muscular and had a lot of scars.
He looked as terrifying as his brother.

Behind them was an army bigger than anything I had ever seen. Monsters from the deepest, most forgotten corners of the underworld were standing here.

Nyx laughed.
"If only you could see your faces right now." She says smugly. She glanced over us.

Nobody says a word.
Yes they all looked pretty scary. But that was not the thing we were anxious about.

"This is the reason you wanted us along? This pathetic little group of puny demigods?" Erebos asks his sister.

"I have to agree with him. This looks like something you could have easily done by yourself." Tartaurus says tiredly.

"Don't underestimate your opponents. They might surprise you." She counters.

"Where is Percy?" Hazel whispers very quietly.

I shake my head.
I don't know. I wish I did. But I don't see him anywhere.

"Where the heck is the boy?" Erebos asks looking around.

Nyx smiled. "Perseus!" She called.

It felt like the entire camp held their breaths.
Waiting for their friend, hero and leader to appear.

Sure enough the monsters stepped aside.
A pale looking Percy stepped forwards.
His eyes blank and face emotionless.
He was wearing black clothes.

Soldiers and demigods looked at him with disbelief.
My sight gets blurred with tears and my breath quickened at the sight of him like that.

"Isn't he lovely?" Nyx asks grabbing his chin.

"Enough of this. We fight." Erebos yells.

"Just a little longer brother. I waited for this moment. I want to show them that even Perseus Jackson can't defeat me. What chance do they have." Ny says.

"Percy.." I whisper.
I want him back. I want my Percy back with me.
"Percy!" I yell. I can feel a lot of eyes on me. "Percy! Listen to me. You can fight it. I know you can."

Nyx looks at me with fury. But only for a second. Then she smiles and laughs.
"Try all you want girl. He won't come back." Nyx says.

"I am done waiting.." Erebos says bored. "Attack!"
I expected the monsters to grab every opportunity to start the attack. But the monsters don't move.

"Fool." Nyx sighs. "Perseus darling. Whenever you're ready." She says sweetly it makes me want to puke.

Percy summons bis sword out of the void.
Without a word he raised his sword and pointed at us.
The monsters started running forwards, roaring and screaming.

"Attack!" Luke yelled.
The demigods and army both yelled and rushed forwards into battle.

Percy stood still next to Nyx and Tartaurus.
Erebos was running towards the army.
Eager for blood.

"Oh shi-" Bianca says. But her sentence was interrupted by Nico who put his hand over her mouth.

Nyx was saying something to Percy.
I couldn't hear what she said. But his blank eyes looked straight at us.
It was scary to see him like that.
He starts walking.

"Guys... Percy is comming towards us." Jason noticed.

"Maybe he just wants to watch Nemo with us." Leo says looking at Percy.