Chapter Twenty Two -The Sky is Falling
I really wanted to spit in his face.
Yes, I know that's unsanitary. But Ouranos was pissing me off. He pushed my face aside with his hand and stood upright, examining his host. "Scrawny, weak, but it will have to do. My boy was an idiot though; thinking that he could inhabit me."
The sky continued to crumble away, as if it were a scene from Chicken Little. "The sky is my father's domain," Jason snarled, bending over so that he could protect Piper's unconscious body, "What have you done?"
"Me?" Ouranos widened his eyes, actually Mr. Windlass' but blah blah blah possession stuff and same thing, pretending to act innocent, "Absolutely nothing! Although your girlfriend might do something instead." The Titan snapped his fingers, and Piper's eyes flew open. They weren't their radiant kaleidoscopic irises; her eyes were bright pink, to the point of glowing. With a swift movement of her arms, the bonds snapped and fell to the ground.
"Piper? What-?" Jason began to say before she lunged at his neck. Her two hands wrapped around his throat and the two fell with Piper leaning her weight against Jason's neck. His bright blue eyes widened in shock. He began to cough and gag; Piper, doing all of this with a maniac's smile painted on her face.
"Piper!" Annabeth yelled as loudly as she could, a crack ripping at her throat, "STOP!"
Jason's eyes began to roll and stopped responding. "NO!" I screamed, trying to inch over, "DON'T HURT HIM!" A ripple of darkness shifted under Piper's feet, and someone jumped out of the shadows. The figure grappled Piper's arms and ripped them away from Jason's unconscious form. As the wrestled, the shadowy figure's hair shifted out of his eyes and I recognized him instantly. "Nico!" I exclaimed with a breath of relief.
Ouranos simply stood there, amused at the scene as if it were a television drama. Nico flipped the punching Piper and karate chopped the back her neck. She fell over, also unconscious face first onto the ground. Aphrodite wouldn't approve. He swiftly pulled out his Stygian Iron sword and cut away at Jason's and Annabeth's bonds. "How interesting," Ouranos stroked his chin, "A son of Hades."
Nico simply glared at the Titan. He rushed over to my side, pulled me away from Ouranos and sliced away the ropes on my wrists. "What?" Nico threatened, holding up sword as I scrambled onto my feet, "Too afraid to attack?"
"You should not try to intimidate a god, little one," Ouranos simply chuckled at Nico's words, "I am merely going to wait. Go ahead; start the chase. I'll give you a head start of, perhaps five minutes? This will be a fun game." He flicked his hand as if he were shooing us away.
"Help me carry Jason," Annabeth's said, lifting the son of Jupiter by his arms. Nico picked up his legs, and I hefted his torso.
"What about Piper?" I asked as we picked him up, "We can't just leave her again."
"Yes, but we can't also risk her having another attack," Nico spoke calmly, "I think I understand what's going on now; it's best if we leave her here. Ouranos won't do anything to her; she's too valuable to him."
I bit my lip, hating to agree. We hefted Jason's body and ran down the mountain as if our lives were at stake (and they probably were). Ouranos was simply waving us goodbye, and as I turned around to see him, he simply gave me a smiley that only reminded me of the smile Mr. Windlass gave us when we first met.
I finally get time to bond with my father to only learn that he got possessed by a crazy sky Titan. This week's been great.
* * *
"I don't think we can hold him for much longer!" I shouted, "My arms are shaking!" We were running down the mountain, out of breath.
"We can do it!" Nico yelled back, "We're almost there."
The three of us were awkwardly carrying down an unconscious Jason down a trail on the side of Mt. Tamalpais. Who knew how fast Ouranos in a human body could run.
"There? Where's there?!" Annabeth screeched in frustration, shifting her grip on Jason. Not a second after she said that came the blinding lights of a car. We paused in our tracks as it swiveled over to us and parked with the doors right at our faces. The windows rolled down to reveal a man with sandy-colored hair streaked with white. He seemed liked a middle-aged guy, but the bags under his eyes revealed a different story. His clothes were wrinkled, as if he literally changed in less than thirty seconds.
"Get in!" He bobbed his head to gesture at the back seats of the car.
"Dad?!" Annabeth's grey eyes widened, "What are you doing-."
"Just go!" Nico pulled Jason, which in turn pulled the two of us towards the car and opened the door. We shoved Jason into a somewhat upright position and buckled his seatbelt. There is no reason to be safe while you're being chased by a crazy Titan. As soon as Annabeth sat down in the shotgun, Mr. Chase pressed his foot against the gas pedal and the car took off. Her door was still open, but she managed to quickly close it before it could smash into an inconvenient tree.
"Got a new car?" Annabeth nodded around, examining the vehicle.
"Yep, after the few of your friends decided to destroy it the last time we met," Mr. Chase let out a lighthearted laugh, "Boy, you would be surprised to see this guy jump out of nowhere in the middle of dinner. Nearly choked on a good piece of broccoli. That reminds me, have you been eating your greens-."
"Yes, dad," She rolled her eyes, "Nico asked you to help us, didn't he?"
"Well what was I supposed to do?" Nico complained right next to me, "We don't know anyone who lives around this area, and I can't possibly shadow travel all of you back to Camp Half-Blood." He blew his black locks out of his eyes, but they fell right back down which didn't entirely help him.
There was a grunting sound coming from Jason, but as the three of us turned to him, he simply rolled over to his side. I simply assumed it was a snore.
Annabeth, who was already turned around in her seat, looked at me with teary eyes. It was rare to see the girl come even close to tearing up, but here we were. "Astra, tell me everything. Where's Percy?"
I took a shaky breath, still shaken up about the whole Ouranos/Mr. Windlass thing. "It's going to take a while."
She nodded, but didn't say a word.
"Shortened, we got to Camp Iniquitous. Tried to sneak ourselves in. I got pulled aside and taught a very young group of semi-titans how to do archery. Bad move, I know, but I felt guilty. Anyways, I'm not entirely sure what happened, but soon after the three, Lance, Reyna and Serena got the necklace, something got set off and we had to escape. Bumped into Mr. Windlass in the woods. Figured out that he's my..." I swallowed nervously, "My father."
Nico placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Got caught by the semi-titans before leaving his place. Brought back to camp; learned that Austin is a traitor." Annabeth gasped. "Thalia helped us escape. I spoke to Artemis about my dad, and she talked about stars inside of me? Five main stars equals to source of power. If I get put in a certain situation, a star will explode and boost me, but if I lose all the stars, I'll... I'll die."
"Astra, how many stars do you have left?" Annabeth lowered her voice, almost comforting.
I looked up at her, and then looked back down at my lap. "Two. Only two left."
"That's right..." Annabeth counted with her fingers, "The Chthonian, the Manticore, and the fire."
"And I learned from Eris that whoever the Arrow of Light brings back would be capable of holding Ouranos. Luckily for me, I just had to bring back my dad." She covered her mouth with her hands, absolutely surprised. "I also figured out what was causing the campers to go crazy, so I flew back to camp leaving Reyna and Lance up against Ouranos. Which reminds me..."
"They weren't there when we were held there," She finished my thought, "And we heard nothing about them from Ouranos."
"Mr. Chase is driving us there," Nico said, "We need to heal up Jason as quickly as we can."
"That's right!" Annabeth's father chirped in the front seat, pulling a quick right turn and I was instantly pressed against the window, "It'll be a quick ride; no worries-."
Of course we were jinxed instantly. Lady Tuna must be in a bad mood, because a large tree fell right onto the path. Uprooted, as if it were yanked out of the ground. Took quick for the eye, a flash of grey pounded into the ground, and a crater made for a meteorite blocked our path. Mr. Chase immediately slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded to a stop.
"I don't think I'm going to like what's out there," I said, yanking off my hair clips and they transformed into my trusty weapon in my hand. Pushing the door open, I quickly stomped on my heel and the blades of my shoes popped out there. "Please tell me you're just a really desperate hitchhiker!" I yelled, notching the arrow of the bowstring. Pointing it around, I tried to find any target. But there was none.
Suddenly, I hear Nico's voice, "Astra, watch out!"
I reacted one second too late.
The streak of grey paused in front of my face; dark slicked-back hair, grey eyes like stone and light-brown skin. He looked like a living statue. I released the arrow, but he grabbed the bow and arrow from my hand and tossed aside. It slid across the road; too far away for me to get. I tried to perform a kick, but he swiftly grabbed my leg with both hands. Without hesitation, he began to bend and squeeze and I felt an all too familiar crack. "AGH!" I screamed, and Nico's sword flew past the man's head. He dropped my leg, but I fell onto the ground landing on that leg which only made the pain worse. Nico flew out of the car, under the man's legs and retrieved his sword.
I shouldn't have attacked him; gods weren't allowed to attack first.
Annabeth also came out of car, although unequipped with any weapon. "Atlas!" She hissed, "How were you able to escape your burden?"
Atlas gave a creepy grin that no one needed to see. He looked like a living statue back at Caesar's hotel; he was super tall and extremely, and I mean extremely buff. He rippled with muscles, and his shoulders were huge. His hands looked like they could snap a flagpole in half, which is to say he definitely did that to my leg. "Ah," He murmured as he cracked his neck, "I'm in desperate need of a massage."
"How about we start with Astra's acupuncture?" I managed to say through grinding teeth, "I've got a whole quiver full of arrows that I need to use."
"The daughter of Artemis," Atlas slurred, leaning on his leg in a relaxed position. "I can't wait to get revenge on your mother. And I'll do more than break a leg." He cackled as he pointed at my throbbing limb. "Since the sky is crumbling, I don't have to hold anything up. Simple as that." He popped his knuckles, preparing himself for a good fight. I tried to get myself up, but the ache in my leg held me down. Rummaging through my pockets, I found a small cube of ambrosia and tossed it in my mouth. Immediately, the pain began to lessen, but it still couldn't help me stand up.
Nico ran to grab my weapons, but that was the chance that Atlas was looking for. He thundered over to the car, may I add the driver's side, and ripped the door open. Mr. Chase sat there, with a wild look in his eyes. Annabeth ran over to try and stop the Titan, but with a swift punch, she flew across the road and against the trunk of the fallen tree.
The monstrous being reached in and ripped Mr. Chase out of his seatbelt. He easily lifted the skinny man up in his arms. Atlas held Annabeth's father horizontally, placing one grip over Mr. Chase's chest and the other on his forehead. "Any last words, mortal?" The Titan sneered, "Before I tear you down with my amazing strength."
"NO!" Annabeth screamed, hurriedly standing up but wobbling. She tried to run over to her father's side.
My hand was shaking, but I made a grab at the knife I had on my waist. I pulled it out of its small sheath, trying to aim at Atlas' head, but my vision was blurring due to the pain. Nico was also running as fast as he could; his footsteps were fast and slick.
Mr. Chase looked at Annabeth, with a sad expression painted on his face. "I'm sorry we couldn't be together any longer," He whispered.
"DON'T! PLEASE!" Annabeth pleaded, "DON'T HURT HIM!"
My eyes focused for a brief moment, and I tried to use it the only moment I could have. With all the might I could muster, I tossed the knife.
Mr. Chase didn't hesitate to smile at his daughter. "I love you, Annabeth."
And then there was a loud cracking sound.
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If you haven't already, please check out the video attached in the media! I took forever on making this book trailer (and honestly THERE ARE NO SHORT HAIRED ASIAN WOMEN WHO FIGHT IN MOVIES). I hope you guys like it as much as I did oh my gods (I shouldn't be fangirling over something I made but oh well. If someone made me one I would die from happiness and love them forever-).
BTDUBs, I have officially decided that humor in this novel is gonna diminish. Whoops.
And thanks to OneWildFangirl for the most precious artwork of Astra ever! She looks perfect; the detail on her eyes is amazing!
XOXO,
Arisa
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