Percy PoV

"Percy!"

Harry calls me behind my back. I don't stop.

I hear them start to run behind me.

I have to get to the trophy.
I'm sure something is wrong. My instincts tell me to watch out.

Even though we've gotten rid of the hazards, my danger-of-death-imminent alert screams with all its power.

"Percy!"

They stop running.
Stunned, I stop too.

"Why are you stopping?"

"We don't intend to take the trophy. You deserve it. In any case, Hogwarts wins, right?" Said Cedric.

"Don't you want to win? The glory? The money?"

They shake their heads.
"I don't think that's what you want either."

I turn my head to Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"I think that trophy is hiding something, but you don't want to tell us, so you want to get it yourself, so you don't put us in danger."

Cedric opens his eyes wide.
"Wait, you mean there are worse things than what we just faced?"

I raise my eyebrows.
"You can't imagine."

Cedric opens his mouth in dismay.
And he close his mouth.
"So what? We've trained hard, we can fight. Don't worry about protecting us, just focus on why you're here."

"Percy... let us help you. Please."

"Harry, it's dangerous."

"I know, but there's also a problem with our world. Besides, we'd be safer with you than waiting here alone with the monsters in the maze, right?"

He has a point.

"Very well. But whatever happens, you obey me, understand?"

They nod their heads.

We advance at three towards the trophy, around which we place ourselves in triangle.

"All right, we'll grab it at the same time and see what happens. Ready? 4...3...2...1...now!"

In one motion, we each grab a part of the trophy.

And nothing happens.

"It seems that we worried for nothing, everything is well!" Says Cedric.

I sigh.
"You should never say that."

At this moment, I feel a jolt at the level of my navel, my feet leave the ground and I am dragged in a whirlwind of colors, the two others always beside me.

I land heavily on the ground, and I hear Harry and Cedric doing the same.

I get up slowly.
We were no longer in the maze.

"Is this a cemetery?" Cedric asks.

"It looks like one," says Harry.

A smile appears on Cedric's face.
"It's a portkey ! The trophy is a portkey! Do you think it's part of the task?"

"No, I don't think so."
I draw my pen-sword, with a serious face.
Something is wrong.

The others pull out their wands too.

"Someone's coming!" Harry says.

A figure approached, walking among the graves.
This person had his face hidden under a hood and seemed to be holding a bag of sheets in his arms. Or was it a baby?

This person stopped next to a cauldron and raised what he was carrying in his hands high.

Immediately, I see my cousin fall to his knees and drop his wand, bringing his hands to his forehead, screaming as if he were being tortured.

"HARRY!"
I rush to his side.

"Harry! What is happening to you?"

But suddenly my body can't move.
I fall next to my cousin, with no way to move.

"Kill the other one." Says a sharp and icy voice.

"NOOOOOO!"
I try to move but I am unable to. As if a hand was holding me down. And I am unable to use my powers.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green light, then a thud of falling.
Without even looking, I knew it was Cedric's now lifeless body that had just fallen.

I looked anyway, hoping to be wrong.
But I wasn't.
The latter had his arms crossed, his eyes empty, lifeless.
His face expressed fright and surprise.

Poor insect.

I feel a heavy pressure on me.
Could it be that...

Bingo. You made a mess of things, Perseus Jackson. But it's over.

Everything spins around, and I find myself in a dark place.
A figure stands out in the background.
"Erebus."

Ooooh I see you know who you're dealing with. I've heard a lot about you, but I must admit that I expected you to be a little more difficult to handle. Is your reputation unfounded?

I try to move towards him, but I am unable to move. Big chains are holding me back, on my arms and legs.

"Let me go and see what you get. I was just careless."

Not yet, demigod. If you want to deal with me, you have to work your way up. Start by surviving whoever stands in front of you, and then we'll see.

"Do you always let your pawns do your work when you're scared?"

Erebus bursts out laughing.
Nice try. But provocation doesn't work. Prove to me your worth and we'll see if you're worthy of me confronting you.

Everything turns again and I find myself in the cemetery.
I feel the presence withdraw.
I finally find myself free to move.

Harry is sitting, looking towards the cauldron with a frightened look.
And next to him...
I get up immediately and run to Cedric, feeling his heart. Nothing.

I close his eyelids.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you. I ask you to forgive me, you shouldn't have died here, you had your whole life ahead of you. May your soul enter the Champs Elysees."

"Percy..."

I get up slowly.
I turn my head.
My cousin had stopped staring at the cauldron.
He approaches me, his arm bloody.

"What happened to you?!"

"That's not the point. Percy, we have to leave before he gets here."
His voice was filled with panic.

"Before who gets here? Harry, what happened to you?"

Damn... I hope nothing bad happened while I was talking to Erebus...

"To put it simply, he threw the baby into the cauldron, cut his hand and took blood from me. All this to follow a ritual that aims at I don't know what. That's why we have to leave. Before he gets here!"

"Who is there ?" I ask.

"Dress me."

Harry and I turn in one motion toward the cauldron.

A thin, skeletal man emerges from the cauldron.
He stares at Harry.

And my cousin whispers only one thing, his voice trembling.
"Lord Voldemort has been reborn."

The latter, having to be Voldemort, stops looking at Harry and contemplates his body.

"Master... you promised..."

"Hold out your arm," says the Dark Lord.

The servant complies, and extends an arm with a stump at the end instead of a hand.

Voldemort laughs.
"The other arm!"

"Master, please... I beg you..."

However, he complies and holds out an arm with a tattoo on it.
The Mark of Darkness.
Voldemort presses on it with his fingertip, and Harry instantly twists in pain.

"Harry!"

Voldemort removed his finger from the tattoo and turned his attention back to Harry, who had stopped screaming.
A ferocious smile lit up his face.

"Harry Potter... you are standing on my father's grave... he was a Muggle and a fool."

I step in front of Harry.
"Stop. We don't care about your life. Don't start telling us your family problems, if I do the same we're not out of the woods."

Voldemort stares at me hard.
"Who are you, who dares to speak to me like that?"

I give him my wolf look.
"Someone you shouldn't underestimate."

"You think because I'm alone you have a chance? My followers are coming, but you'll be dead before they get here!"

I roll my eyes.
"Blah, blah, blah. Always the same old story. How about instead of talking, we act?"

"Uh, Percy... are you sure you know what you're doing?" Harry asks me.

"Don't worry, I can handle it!"

Voldemort brandishes a long wand, pointing in my direction.

But...
I raise my hand, just like in class.
"OH! Can I ask you a question?"

Voldemort smiles.
"Do you want to beg my forgiveness?"

"Not at all. I just saw that you don't have a nose. And I was wondering."

He doesn't answer, but I can feel the anger rising in him.

I turn my pen into a wand.
"If they hang up on you when you call, can we say they hang up on your nose ?"

🔱 🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱
Hello demi-god!
The confrontation is about to begin!
We're slowly approaching the end of the story, I hope you're still enjoying it!

Do you have the answer to Percy's question?

See you soon for the next chapter, in the meantime,

Stay cool, demigod 🔱😁

Word count:
1428