𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐂! percy jackson

xiii. Terminus Does Not Like Rule Breakers

━━ chapter twenty-three
terminus does not like rule breakers!

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━Four hours.

    That's how long it took.

    Four Gods dam hours for Arion to get from Alaska to San Francisco Bay, heading straight over the water down the North-west Coast. It was impressive, but Percy was hella nervous for what they would arrive to. Destruction? Death? Carnage? All of the above?

    That's also how long it took for Percy's memory to return completely. The process had started in Portland when he had drunk the gorgon's blood, but his past life had still been maddeningly fuzzy. Now, as they headed back to the Olympian gods' territory, Percy remembered everything: the war with Kronos; his sixteenth birthday at Camp Half-Blood; his trainer Chiron the centaur; his best friend, Grover (who was obsessed with enchiladas); his brother, Tyson; and his other best friend, Annabeth. Best friend. No girlfriend. No boyfriend. Just friends. Which meant that he was perfectly free to date the girl beside him (who kissed him, by the way! Which was great!). But despite that good news that Fiona might just be his girlfriend, he was still annoyed. Eight months of his life was stolen. Next time Percy saw the Queen of Olympus, he was definitely going to give her a goddess-sized slap upside the head. His friends and family must be going out of their minds. If Camp Jupiter was in such bad trouble, he could only guess what Camp Half-Blood must be facing without him.

    Even worse: saving both camps would only be the beginning. According to Alcyoneus, the real war would happen far away, in the homeland of the gods. The giants intended to attack the original Mount Olympus and destroy the gods forever. Percy knew that the giants couldn't die unless demigods and gods fought them together. Nico had told him that. Fiona had mentioned it once or twice. Annabeth had mentioned it, too, back in August, when she'd speculated that the giants might be apart of the new Great Prophecy━what the Romans called the Prophecy of Eight (That was the downside of being best friends with the smartest girl at camp: you learn stuff). But he understood Hera's (Juno's━whatever, he couldn't give an ass about her) plan unite the Roman and Greek demigods to create an elite team of heroes, then somehow convince the gods to fight alongside them. But first, they had to save Camp Jupiter.

    The coastline began to look familiar. They raced past the Mendocino lighthouse. Shortly afterwards, Mount Tam and the Marin headlands loomed out of the fog. Arion shot straight under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay. They tore through Berkely and into the Oakland Hills. When they reached the hilltop above the Caldecott Tunnel, Arion shuddered like a broken car and came to a stop, his chest heaving.

    Hazel patted his sides lovingly, "You did great, Arion."

    The horse was too tired even to cuss: Of course I did great. What did you expect?

    Percy, Fiona and Frank jumped off the chariot. Percy wished there'd been comfortale seats or an in-flight meal. His legs were wobbly. His joints were so stiff he could barely walk. If he went into battle like this, the enemy would call him Old Man Jackson. But he didn't complain, because Fiona looked like she was about to drop dead from exhaustion right then and there, but she still held her ground, looking stunning in the sunset. She kissed me!

    Frank didn't look much better. He hobbled to the top of the hill and peered down at the camp. "Guys ... you need to see this."

    When Percy, Fiona and Hazel joined him, Percy's heart sank. He heard Fiona breath out a distraught, "No..." from beside him. The battle had begun, and it wasn't going well. The Twelfth Legion was arrayed on the Field of Mars, trying to protect the city. Scorpions fired into the ranks of the Earthborn. Hannibal the elephant ploughed down monsters right and left, but the defenders were badly outnumbered. On her pegasus Scipio, Reyna flew around the giant Polybotes, trying to keep him occupied. The Lares had formed shimmering purple lines against a mob of black, vaporous shades in ancient armour. Veteran demigods from the city had joined the battle, pushing their shield wall against an onslaught of wild centaurs. When Percy felt Fiona grab his hand, he figured she had seen her mother amongst them. Giant eagles circled the battlefield, doing arial combat with two snake-haired ladies in green Bargain Mart vests━Stheno and Euryale.