stollen things || c. stoll

5.6 ~ Spy Kids But Actually This Time

I had no time to think on anything that had just happened, because an arrow whizzed past my head. I gripped my sword tighter and charged forward. The Party Ponies had panicked about the army and were being rapidly eaten by the drakon.

We were losing ground. There were 30 of us and hundreds of them. The enemy was pushing us back towards the entrance of the Empire State Building. No more help was coming. Just us against the army, pressed against the doors of the Empire State Building.

Chariot wheels were speeding down a nearby street.

"ARES!"

There was no way. A dozen war chariots came around the corner, mowing down the army. Clarisse herself went straight for the drakon. It worked for about a minute, Ares campers chopping up the serpent with incredible courage. But the serpent was hungry. It began swallowing down the campers left and right. Clarisse yelled out a battle cry, and charged the drakon. It turned and promptly spat poison directly onto her face. She fell the ground with a horrible scream. Annabeth and some of the Ares campers rushed to her aid. Percy distracted the drakon as they tried to remove Clarisse's helmet.

Another chariot came riding in, and the driver practically flew out of it to get to Clarisse. "NO! Curse you, WHY?"

Clarisse was laying on the ground. But she was kneeling next to the body as well. I got closer and let out something between a gasp and a shriek. Clarisse was kneeling, yes, but she wasn't injured. It was someone else on the ground. Silena. Dying.

Clarisse was crying now. I'd never seen her cry. "WHY?"

I needed to stay aware of the army, but there was no way I could focus. Not with Silena like that. I ran over to her. I grabbed her hand and tried to keep my tears away. Clarisse grabbed her spear out of Silena's hand and charged the drakon. No armor, no shield. Just rage.

I turned Silena's head towards me and pulled her into my lap. "Oh, you sweet girl, why?" I whispered. She just looked at me, smiling slightly. Her beautiful face was disfigured and burnt from the drakon's poison.

The creature was dead in no time. Clarisse's eyes were red with tears. She dropped her spear as if she hadn't just immediately slain the monster we'd been battling for many minutes.

She ran over and grabbed Silena's body from me, cradling her. Clarisse was yelling at her, demanding to know why Silena would trick the Ares cabin and pretend to be their counselor.

Silena was crying, too. "All my fault. The drakon, Charlie's death, camp endangered—"

"Stop it!" Clarisse said. "That's not true."

Silena just opened her hand to show a scythe charm. The mark of Kronos.

"You were the spy." Percy mumbled.

Silena tried to nod, but she could hardly move anymore. Her neck was badly burnt, and she was slipping too fast. We could all tell. She explained all about how Luke had convinced her to help him and manipulated her into continuing. Annabeth looked as if she was going to be sick.

Clarisse ordered her siblings to go fight, but I couldn't leave Silena. First Lee, then Charlie, then Michael. I couldn't lose her, too.

"Forgive me," Silena whispered.

"You're not dying." Clarisse insisted.

"Charlie..." Silena's eyes began to glaze over. I wanted to scream at her to wake up. "See Charlie..." She let out her last breath and looked up to the sky.

"We have to fight. She gave her life to help us." I said, standing up. I wiped my nose and blinked away the rest of my tears. And off we went.

Clarisse was mowing down the entire army. Like, literally knocking them over and cutting through them. Everyone was quickly inspired and we joined in. I wasn't even paying attention to what I was hitting, as long as it wasn't any campers. Not that there were many of us still in fighting shape. Clarisse had single-handedly driven the army back and forced them to retreat. I didn't stick around, instead dragging the injured and dead campers inside to evaluate them and help them get treated.