Betrayal

14

Frank slammed his fist down on the map in front of him. "GODS! It's been a year now. Where is he? If this keeps up, I won't be be able to hold back from taking action. We need to get out there and start doing something. Everyone's morale is almost at rock bottom." Getting frustrated, he swept all the placement markers and papers stacked stacked on the map table to the floor. They fluttered around the room. A hand placed itself on his and he started to calm down.

Hazel, the one who had stepped forward to do so, sighed. She understood his frustration. This was an absolutely terrible situation. Not only had they lost a lot of demigods trying to get everyone back here, but they also were not able to do much in the way of helping regular mortals. Of their now expanded ten thousand capacity, they didn't even have a full total of two thousand. And the gods were still recovering, not only from the destruction of their thrones, but from battle wounds as well. Not to mention, not all the Olympians that they had planned for had been able to escape. Only Hades, Poseidon, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, and Aphrodite had made it. And Aphrodite had barely escaped because Hephaestus sacrificed his freedom so she could do so.

Hades and Poseidon had been attacked in their own palaces and had only escaped by sheer luck. They were covered in wounds when the demigods first found them. Artemis was in far better shape, with little more than scratches. But Athena came in the worst. She'd been blasted off Olympus after taking a rather large hit from Nyx herself. She wouldn't have even fallen off and probably would have died there had Zeus not hit her with a bolt of his own to send her careening down towards Earth. While her own father had attacked her, it had been in an effort to save her.

The sheer suddenness and ferocity of the attack had stunned everyone and left them all in a disarray. Even though they had trained and planned for this, they had ultimately not expected this level of an attack. Not only that, it had been on multiple fronts all simultaneously. Such a flawless execution could have only come with a large level of planning and effort. No doubt the enemy had been aware on some level of the gods trying to escape their grasp.

Not to mention, the moment the mythological world was taken over, they did indeed drop the veil of Mist and proceeded to start conquering the world. Other than pockets of hidden and localized resistance, almost no other humans were left either alive or uneslaved by the new regime.

Sudden Nico burst into the room. "He's coming back." While Nico's complexion had improved from the pale morbid tone it had in the past, it was rather haunting at the moment and prompted his sister to question him.

"What's wrong? You look worse than death. And who is coming back?" Hazel asked slowly.

Nico paused and gulped in air, having run straight here from his room. While it was approaching midnight, he could care less. "Percy. He's coming back. My sister," he paused glancing at Hazel, "Godly sister as in Melinoe, came to me just now in a dream and told me of his return."

Frank looked at him dubiously. Not the he didn't believe Nico, just the source of his information. "How did she escape their grasp?"

"No idea. But then again she's always been rather elusive and doesn't have a corporeal form if she doesn't want to. A little hard to lock down a godly ghost."

Just as Frank was about to speak again, an etheral melody drifted through the complex. Soft, yet clearly heard by everyone. Nico snatched Hazel and Frank's arms and dragged them into a shadow to appear outside.

What met their eyes left them speechless. From the ground rose five figures and a sixth eriely floating above the ground already. The melody seemed to be coming from a half visible ghostly ensemble from behind the floating figure.

All but one of these people were female and the male gave off a terrifying aura. Nico was instantly seething with fury. "Melinoe! How dare you show her to me?! What right do you have to play with my head?"

The goddess in question just shook her head sadly and gestured towards the man. Nico turned his enraged eyes to him and was about to ask again when the man released the full breadth of his aura and left all the demigods gasping for air. "Huh. This is what you've all become in my absense? Sniveling dogs willing to bite at anyone who approaches?" Everyone could feel the anger rolling off the man in waves.

"Let me make one thing clear here. I am at the top of the food chain. You all want me to lead you and end this war? Then how about not yelling at what's mine?"

The aura receeded a little and everyone attempted to bring their nerves under control. Frank stepped forward, shooting a look full of 'Shut up or you'll get us all killed,' at Nico who was about to speak again. "Uh, not to question you, but, we never asked you to lead us. We are waiting for one of our friends to return from the Pit. Really, this is unusual for us because most...uh monsters don't wish to talk much."

The look Nico gave back to Frank spoke volumes on how he thought the guy had traded one death for another. But a deep chuckle came from the man. "Well yes, most "monsters" don't like to chat with their food. But seeing as I prey on anyone, be it monster, demigod, or god, I don't think those rules really apply to me."

Frank sucked in a breath. "Then are you one of the monsters from before the Titans that our friend spoke of?"

"No. Actually I'm a former demigod, like yourself."

Hazel's eyes lit up and she punched Frank in the gut as he was about to say something dumb, effectively shutting him up. "It's good to see you back then. You might want to come in and check on your father."

"It's good to be back. While I may be comfortable down there, the air is so much fresher up here. By the way Frank, turn into any interesting animals lately?" the man asked.

Clarity dawned on Frank and Nico as they realized this was indeed Percy, but Nico caught himself. "Wait. Who is that with you? If you really are Percy, then you know damn well not to pull a prank like this on me."

Percy didn't say anything as the girl stepped up to him. He bent down a bit and she whispered in his ear. Afterwards he nodded, and she disappeared into a shadow. At the same time, Nico yelped as he fell into his own shadow without his consent.