──── chapter seven

{ 🔮 }  · too much is happening . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪

THE NEXT HOUR WAS A BLUR. Endora fought like she'd never fought before ─ wading into legions of dracaenae with Percy, burning out dozens of telkhines with Lou Ellen and Basil, destroying empousai with hexes and curses. No matter how many they defeated, more took their place.

One time she was helping Madeline fight off some empousai, turning them against each other with a simple confusion spell. She helped Fredrick with growing vines around monsters and trapping them inside and destroying them with one hand movement. The girl even fought with the Hephaestus cabin, helping them grew the greek fire they threw at their enemies. It was chaotic, but nothing could prepare her for what happened next.

Endora raced from block to block, trying to shore up their defenses. Too many of her friends lay wounded in the streets. Too many were missing. 

The brunette shot flames of purple fire at telkhines that dared to approach her, sending them back to Tartarus with only their armor being left behind. More monsters came towards her. She cursed in Greek, lifting her hands up. She twisted them quickly, cracking and breaking bones of monsters closest to her. 

But there were still too many and she was alone.

Right?

Maybe it was out of instinct, maybe she felt it like a hidden force, but Endora quickly teleported from her spot to one further away, away from danger. Her eyes snapped to the place she was standing before. A dagger flew right where she had been standing ─ would have pierced right though her heart if she stayed second later

"Fast reflexes," a voice said from the shadows.

Endora trusted her hand up, creating a magic shield in front of her just as green light came in contact with it. She backed away slightly and her eyes trailing on a figure that emerged from the darkness. 

Gods were laughing at her.

"Alabaster." she hissed, her hand sparking up, ready to fire the first spell that came to her mind.

"Endora," Alabaster said in such a calm tone, smiling widely at his sister. "How are you, my dear sister? You seem too exhausted."

"You're eyes are always deceiving you." she shot back, "Here to try and kill me again?"

"If I wanted to, I would have killed you last time." her brother pointed out.

"Now we both know that's likely story," Endora rolled her eyes, not removing her hand, "They wouldn't let me die."

"Having gods on your side is not always good, my dear sister. They will just use you." the boy's eyes showed nothing but hatred towards the upper beings, "Want something in return for their generosity. It's not late to join us. We can in with you on our side."

"Yeah, well, I kind of killed Titan of the light," Endora shrugged her shoulders as if what she had done was nothing, "Kronos wouldn't really like that."

Her brother looked stunned, his eyes widening slightly, mouth agape before he spoke again, "You-You did what?"

"Gods, keep up," she snapped her fingers in dramatic way, "So, you wanna fight or what?"

Alabaster sighed, "Not what I was here for but," his fingers sparked blue, that sinister smile returning to his face, "Let's do it."

Somehow, their fight reached only a block from the Empire State Building in any direction.

Percy and Thalia were by each other's side, Thalia driving the monsters back with the power of her magic shield. Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere, picked up a Laistrygonian giant in her mouth, and flung him into the air like a Frisbee. Annabeth used her invisibility cap to sneak behind the enemy lines. Whenever a monster disintegrated for no apparent reason with a surprised look on his face, Endora knew Annabeth had been there.

Alabaster shot a knock-out spell at Endora, the blinding light coming towards her, but she deflected it, firing her own pain infliction spell at the boy.

"Getting tired, are we Aly?" Endora asked, seeing her brother's heavy breathing.

"Not a chance." he said, sending another stunning spell at her.

"This is getting boring," Endora said, letting her hand absorb the magic from the hex Alabaster shot at her, "We both know you will not win," she said, "Let's end this battle, shall we?" she trusted her hand up, "Sa vas est cure est vos facultas!"

The ground cracked and, even if she was not trying to, monsters around her fall though it. Fighters watched, stunned, as dozen of soldiers in Greek armor appeared from the ground; one of them shooting an arrow to the empousai trying to attack Endora from the ground. The girl grinned, watching as the soldiers slashed the monsters around her, turning her gaze to her brother, "Protect me and my friends." she commanded to the dead soldiers.

They nodded, "With our lives!" and just like commanded to, they slashed though monsters left and right that tried to get close towards them. Some went and helped Annabeth, some helped Madeline and Fredrick, while some ran towards Alabaster.

The boy's face showed struggling, shooting spells everywhere around him, but he couldn't defeat the soldiers by himself, too many trying to end his life. He looked at Endora with impressed expression hidden within layers of anger in his eyes, "Well played, sister." he said though gritted teeth, "But the fight is not over."

A blade sliced though one of the dead soldiers. Endora watched as the bones hit the ground, clinging sound echoing around her and brunette girl stood in front of it, her breathing uneven, the ponytail now loose falling against her back and her sword held tightly in her hand, shaking from the adrenaline running in her veins.

Ethan's sister slashed at the dead soldiers.

"Ah, my back up is here," Alabaster said with a sly grin, disappearing and reappearing beside the girl, his hand grabbing onto the girl's shoulder, "Come on, Jo, let's finish this."

The girl had determination sat in her eyes. It reminded Endora of Ethan so much. It must have been Nemesis thing. She looked ready to kill the soldiers who dared to approach her, but she did something that no one expected. Jo swung her sword with a war cry but not that the soldiers. At Alabaster himself. With quick reflexes, the boy disappeared, reappearing a few feet away with hatred and betrayal in his eyes.

"What are you doing!" he demanded, anger flashing in his eyes, "Kill her!"

"Fuck you!" Jo said, a sob almost escaping from the lips, "I ain't doing your dirty work just because you couldn't," she turned towards Endora and now the girl could see the pain in her eyes, so much happening around her, "Please, I don't want to hurt you. I-I ─ "

Endora shook her head toward the younger girl, her bloodshot eyes turning to her brother. Her face was covered in ash and grime, maybe even some blood here and there, but she couldn't do it, no matter how betrayed she felt ─ it was her brother after all, "I don't want to hurt you, so go before this battle truly becomes a bloodshed you so wanted."

Alabaster Torrington looked at his sister for the last time before shadows enveloped him.

"Hold your lines!" Katie Gardner shouted, somewhere off to Percy's left.

The problem was there were too few of them to hold anything. The entrance to Olympus was twenty feet behind the boy. A ring of brave demigods, Hunters, and nature spirits guarded the doors. Percy slashed and hacked, destroying everything in his path, but even he was getting tired, and he couldn't be everywhere at once.

Behind the enemy troops, a few blocks to the east, a bright light began to shine. Percy thought it was the sunrise. Then he realized Kronos was riding toward us on a golden chariot. A dozen Laistrygonian giants bore torches before him. Two Hyperboreans carried his black-and-purple banners. The Titan lord looked fresh and rested, his powers at full strength. He was taking his time advancing, letting Percy wear himself down.

Annabeth appeared next to him. "We have to fall back to the doorway. Hold it at all costs!"

She was right. Percy was about to order a retreat when he heard the hunting horn. It cut through the noise of the battle like a fire alarm. A chorus of horns answered from all around them, echoing off the buildings of Manhattan. Percy glanced at Thalia, but she just frowned.

"Not the Hunters," she assured me. "We're all here."

"Then who?"

The horns got louder. Percy couldn't tell where they were coming from because of the echo, but it sounded like an entire army was approaching. He was afraid it might be more enemies, but Kronos's forces looked as confused as they were. Giants lowered their clubs. Dracaenae hissed. Even Kronos's honor guard looked uneasy.

Then, to their left, a hundred monsters cried out at once. Kronos's entire northern flank surged forward. Percy thought they were doomed, but they didn't attack. They ran straight past them and crashed into their southern allies. A new blast of horns shattered the night. The air shimmered. In a blur of movement, an entire cavalry appeared as if dropping out of light speed. 

"Yeah, baby!" a voice wailed. "PARTY!"

A shower of arrows arced over their heads and slammed into the enemy, vaporizing hundreds of demons. But these weren't regular arrows. They made whizzy sounds as they flew, like WHEEEEEE! Some had pinwheels attached to them. Others had boxing gloves rather than points.

"Centaurs!" Annabeth yelled.

The Party Pony army exploded into our midst in a riot of colors: tie-dyed shirts, rainbow Afro wigs, oversize sunglasses, and war-painted faces. Some had slogans scrawled across their flanks like HORSEZPWN or KRONOS SUX.

Hundreds of them filled the entire block. Percy's brain couldn't process everything he saw, but he knew if he were the enemy, the boy'd be running.

"Percy!" Chiron shouted across the sea of wild centaurs. He was dressed in armor from the waist up, his bow in his hand, and he was grinning in satisfaction. "Sorry we're late!"

"DUDE!" another centaur yelled. "Talk later. WASTE MONSTERS NOW!" he locked and loaded a double-barrel paint gun and blasted an enemy hellhound bright pink. The paint must've been mixed with Celestial bronze dust or something, because as soon as it splattered the hellhound, the monster yelped and dissolved into a pink-and-black puddle.

"PARTY PONIES." a centaur yelled. "SOUTH FLORIDA!"

Somewhere across the battlefield, a twangy voice yelled back, "HEART OF TEXAS CHAPTER!" 

"HAWAII OWNS YOUR FACES!" a third one shouted.

It was the most beautiful thing Percy'd ever seen. The entire Titan army turned and fled, pushed back by a flood of paintballs, arrows, swords, and NERF baseball bats. The centaurs trampled everything in their path.

"Stop running, you fools!" Kronos yelled. "Stand and ACKK!"

That last part was because a panicked Hyperborean giant stumbled backward and sat on top of him. The lord of time disappeared under a giant blue butt. The demigods pushed them for several blocks until Chiron yelled, "HOLD! On your promise, HOLD!"

It wasn't easy, but eventually the order got relayed up and down the ranks of centaurs, and they started to pull back, letting the enemy flee.

"Chiron's smart," Annabeth said, wiping the sweat off her face. "If we pursue, we'll get too spread out. We need to regroup."

"But the enemy ─ "

"They're not defeated," she agreed. "But the dawn is coming. At least we've bought some time."

Percy didn't like pulling back, but he knew she was right. He watched as the last of the telkhines scuttled toward the East River. Then reluctantly he turned and headed back toward the Empire State Building. 

They set up a two-block perimeter, with a command tent at the Empire State Building. Chiron informed them that the Party Ponies had sent chapters from almost every state in the Union: forty from California, two from Rhode Island, thirty from Illinois. . . Roughly five hundred total had answered his call, but even with that many, we couldn't defend more than a few blocks. 

"Dude," said a centaur named Larry. His T-shirt identified him as BIG CHIEF UBER GUY, NEW MEXICO CHAPTER. "That was more fun than our last convention in Vegas!"

"Yeah," said Owen from South Dakota. He wore a black leather jacket and an old WWII army helmet. "We totally wasted them!"

Chiron patted Owen on the back. "You did well, my friends, but don't get careless. Kronos should never be underestimated. Now why don't you visit the diner on West 33rd and get some breakfast? I heart he Delaware chapter found a stash of root beer."

"Root beer!"

They almost trampled each other as they galloped off.

Chiron smiled. Annabeth gave him a big hug, and Mrs. O'Leary licked his face.

"Ack," he grumbled. "Enough of that, dog. Yes, I'm glad to see you too."

"Chiron, thanks," Percy said. "Talk about saving the day."

He shrugged. "I'm sorry it took so long. Centaurs travel fast, as you know. We can bend distance as we ride. Even so, getting all the centaurs together was no easy task. The Party Ponies are not exactly organized."

"How'd you get through the magic defenses around the city?" Annabeth asked.

"They slowed us down a bit," Chiron admitted, "but I think they're intended mostly to keep mortals out. Kronos doesn't want puny humans getting in the way of his great victory."

"So maybe other reinforcements can get through," Percy said hopefully.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Perhaps, though time is short. As soon as Kronos regroups, he will attack again. Without the element of surprise on our side. . ."

The boy understood what he meant. Kronos wasn't beaten. Not by a long shot. Percy half hoped Kronos had been squashed under that Hyperborean giant's butt, but he knew better. He'd be back, tonight at the latest.

"And Typhon?"

Chiron's face darkened. "The gods are tiring. Dionysus was incapacitated yesterday. Typhon smashed his chariot, and the wine god went down somewhere in the Appalachians. No one has seen him since. Hephaestus is out of action as well. He was thrown from the battle so hard he created a new lake in West Virginia. He will heal, but not soon enough to help. The others still fight. They've managed to slow Typhon's approach. But the monster can not be stopped. He will arrive in New York by this time tomorrow. Once he and Kronos combine forces ─ "

"Then what chance do we have?" Percy said. "We can't hold out another day."

"We'll have to," Thalia said. "I'll see about setting some new traps around the perimeter."

She looked exhausted. Her jacket was smeared in grime and monster dust, but she managed to get to her feet and stagger off.

"I will help her," Chiron decided. "I should make sure my brethren don't go too overboard with the root beer."

"We'll help too," a voice behind the boy said.

Percy turned and he felt guilty almost ─ during the battle, his mind raced with adrenaline, somewhat almost forgetting to see where his girl was. And now he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding at sight of Endora Prince. She looked was alright as you could be in a battle ─ no bruises on her exposed skin, maybe some minor scratches here and there. She had her hair braided in a more neat braid, leaving it on her left shoulder. Beside her stood another brunette girl, a bit shorter than Endora, only by few inches, awkwardly looking around at the rest of demigods, staying close to the witch, hidden from the rest.

Percy recognized her from last year.

She was Ethan's sister.

Annabeth ran to her best friend first, hugging her as tightly as the other girl. "You're okay," she breathed out.

"I'm okay," Endora said, looking over Annabeth's face.

"Those dead soldiers were your doing?" Percy asked, opening his arms for the girl to fall into them.

She laughed into his chest, "Yeah, had to try something more extreme."

"And she. . ." Percy and Annabeth both looked towards the girl.

Jo shifted uncomfortably, but Endora grabbed her hand, pulling her towards them despite the other girl's shaking head, "She was supposed to help Alabaster kill me," the brunette said calmly, "But she never intended to. She tricked him. She's on our side." a smile sent towards Ethan's sister.

"Our side?" Percy couldn't help being suspicious, "Did you ─ "

"Check for spying devices?" Endora said. She untangled her arms from around the boy and brought something from her pocket ─ a scythe bracelet, "Destroyed it. Jo gave it to me and now it's just fried bracelet."

Percy and Annabeth still looked suspicious.

"Look," Endora sighed, "I know you might not trust her right away, but she truly is on our side. Ivor checked her. Jo's telling the truth."

"Really, I am," for the first time Josie spoke, her voice small and timed, afraid of what the rest would say, "I never wanted to be on Kronos' side, but I didn't know anything different. Ethan found me and everything I know about gods he taught me. I don't know what is wrong what is right. I've never been at the Camp, only heard stories about it from him and some other demigods. I never wanted to fight in this war, but I got dragged into it. . . You might not trust me, but that is the truth."

Percy, still not looking convinced, couldn't help but look at the girl with pity in his eyes. They had too many betrayals from people they thought were their friends, but Josie's situation was different from what they had. She didn't know anything else beside fighting for Kronos. She never experienced Camp Half-Blood and she never heard what really was going on. She was trained to fight for the Titan and nothing else. Just another demigod to die for him. They wouldn't care if she died.

The boy extended his hand towards the girl, a small smile on his face.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

Josie returned the smile.

"Percy! Get back here!"

But the boy didn't listen. His eyes rested on a beat-up blue car. The hood was badly dented, like somebody had tried to hammer out some huge craters. He bolted down the street and towards the damaged Prius.

Endora followed after the boy and peeked inside only to have her eyes going wide. Paul Bolfish was passed out in the driver's seat and Sally Jackson was snoring beside him.

"They. . . they must've seen those blue lights in the sky." Percy rattled the doors but they were locked. "I need to get them out. I can't leave them here!" he pounded on the windshield. "I have to move them. I have to ─ "

"Hey, Percy," Endora said gently. She grabbed onto his shoulder, making him look at her eyes just for a moment. His frantic sea-green eyes found her earthen ones and the brunette made him take a deep breath in and out, calming his nerves as she slowly did the routine with him. "Better?"

Percy nodded, closing his eyes for a moment, "Yeah. But ─ "

"We'll get them out," Endora waved to Chiron, who was talking to some centaurs down the block. "We can push the car to a side street, all right? They're going to be fine."

Endora took a hold of his trembling hands.

Chiron galloped over. "What's. . . Oh dear. I see."

"They were coming to find me," Percy said. "My mom must've sensed something was wrong."

"Most likely," Chiron said. "But, Percy, they will be fine. The best thing we can do for them is stay focused on our job."

Then, Percy noticed something in the backseat of the Prius, and his heart skipped a beat. Seat-belted behind his mother was a black-and-white Greek jar about three feet tall. Its lid was wrapped in a leather harness.

"No way," the bot muttered.

Chiron saw the jar and his eyes widened. "That isn't ─ "

"Pandora's jar." Endora breathed out, "It's yours."

Percy told Chiron about his meeting with Prometheus.

"Then the jar is yours," Chiron said grimly. "It will follow you and tempt you to open it, no matter where you leave it. It will appear when you are weakest."

Like now. Looking at his helpless parents. Percy imagined Prometheus smiling, so anxious to help out the poor mortals. Give up Hope, and I will know that you are surrendering. I promise Kronos will be lenient.

Anger surged through Percy. He drew Riptide and cut through the driver's side window like it was made of plastic wrap.

"We'll put the car in neutral," Percy said. "Push them out of the way. And take that stupid jar to Olympus."

Chiron nodded. "A good plan. But, Percy . . ."

Whatever he was going to say, he faltered. A mechanical drumbeat grew loud in the distance ─ the chop-chop-chop of a helicopter. On a normal Monday morning in New York, this would've been no big deal, but after two days of silence, a mortal helicopter was the oddest thing he'd ever heard.

A few blocks east, the monster army shouted and jeered as the helicopter came into view. It was a civilian model painted dark red, with a bright green "DE" logo on the side. The words under the logo were too small to read, but Percy knew what they said: DARE ENTERPRISES. His throat closed up.

Percy looked at Endora and could tell she recognized the logo too. Her face was blank, but her hands were surrounded by black mist.

"What is she doing here?" Endora asked in a rather calm tone. "How did she get through the fucking barrier?"

"Who?" Chiron looked confused. "What mortal would be insane enough ─ "

Suddenly the helicopter pitched forward.

"The Morpheus enchantment!" Chiron said. "The foolish mortal pilot is asleep."

Percy watched in horror as the helicopter careened sideways, falling toward a row of office buildings. Even if it didn't crash, the gods of the air would probably swat it out of the sky for coming near the Empire State Building. The boy was too paralyzed to move, but Endora was the only one who moved.

"Back in a second." she said and disappeared from their sight.

niki speaks!

love this chapter sm !!
exploring more of the sibling relationship
with endora and alabaster
and more of her power
just, she's my baby

have a nice day/night!
bye!