Lost in Time (Forgotten Daughter part 3)

Holding the Line

All the campers took a step back, holding their shields above their heads to protect themselves from the cascade of stones showering off the giant.

Two more Lastrygonians followed their brother out of the Labyrinth, raising their clubs and brushing the rocks off their loincloths.

The first giant released a confident roar and stepped forward, triggering a set of traps set up by the Hephaestus kids. He exploded into shimmering particles.

The second fell in a similar fashion, but the third learned from his brothers' mistakes. He stepped over the line of traps almost trampling a group of half-bloods as they scrambled to get out of his way.

A volley of arrows shot from the trees, embedding into the giants arm.

He released a roar, more annoyed than hurt, and bashed the ground with his club. A few half-bloods went flying.

Ali's fists clenched. No one hurt the other campers except her. She raised her bow, knocking an arrow to the string. "Hey Ugly!"

The giant turned, growling when his gaze settled on Ali.

She glared at him along the shaft of her arrow. "Pick on someone your own size." Ghostly silver flames ignited along her arrow and her eyes glowed silver.

The arrow sailed through the air, nailing the giant between the eyes. It sunk deep into his forehead and burst through the back of his skull. The giant crumbled into golden dust.

A couple of half-bloods stared at Ali as her eyes faded back to normal and she lowered her weapon. Her arms ached, but she didn't pass out this time. She faced the teenagers gawking at her. "What are you staring at? This isn't over."

As if on cue, more monsters burst free of the infinite maze - giants, dracanae, hellhounds, pretty much every monster Ali could think of.

The world turned to chaos. The fight was a blur. Ali slashed through monsters with one of her swords, her bow still clutched tightly in her left hand. Whirling, she smacked a dracanae over the head with her solid wooden bow.

Crack!! The sound ripped through the battlefield as the shaft of her bow split in half, cracking down the middle.

The dracanae collapsed to the ground unconscious and Ali stabbed the broken end of her bow into the limp snake-woman, which disintegrated into glitter. Ali drew her second sword and charged deeper into battle.
                                  *   *   *
Ali spun her sword and jabbed it backwards into her captor's stomach. The monster shrieked and fell apart. She twirled her blade back to point forward and locked eyes with her next victim.

Ali turned as the monster crumbled to dust and noticed Annabeth backed up against a tree with a pack of hellhounds closing in. Ali darted through the battle, cutting down any monster who dared get in her way. She lunged over the line of feral canines summersaulting across the dirt until she knelt between Annabeth and the monsters, swords raised protectively. "You want her, you'll have to go through me."

The hellhounds' growls turned to whimpers as they backed off, bathed in a silver light. The entire battle seemed to stop as monster and half-blood alike turned to stare at Ali, astonished.

Panting and confused, Ali looked up. Shining above her head, was the glowing silhouette of a deer, it's rounded antlers curving around the moon.

Annabeth's voice sounded behind her, quiet and awe stricken . "Artemis."

Ali couldn't hold back her smirk as she leveled her opponents with a stern silver glare. "It's about time." She rushed forward and cleaved one of the hellhounds in half.

The golden dust seemed to snap everyone back to reality and the fighting raged back to life.

Ali slid on her knees, cutting off the hind legs of another hellhound, which collapsed helplessly to the ground. Spinning, she severed another's head from its shoulders. Her eyes burned bright silver, striking fear into her enemies. The blades of her swords burned with transparent silver fire.

Soon, she found herself back-to-back with Percy, pushing back the monsters.

"So," he kicked away a dracanae he had skewered on his sword. "Daughter of Artemis, huh?"

Ali stabbed a lunging hellhound through the chest. "Looks that way."

"So much for being a virgin goddess." He slashed through another monster, summoning a cloud of glitter.

"The term is hypocrite." She decapitated an enemy. "but I guess yours is a nicer way of saying it."

A Lastrygonian stomped forward, kicking campers across the battlefield.

Ali faced Percy. "Give me a boost?"

He grinned, although he was struggling to meet her gaze. He closed his eyes to concentrate.

A cyclone of water began to swirl beneath her feet. It sped up and grew, finally launching her into the air towards the giant.

She landed just below its shoulder and stabbed her swords into his meaty back.

It roared, shaking the forest.

Ali hefted herself onto its shoulder. "Hey you! Down here!"

The giant swiveled his head and looked at his shoulder.

As his face came into view, Ali raised her swords and plunged them into one of his huge eyes.

He screamed even louder than before, nearly shaking her off his shoulder. She wrenched her swords free. "Get out of my camp." She forced her blade into his forehead and twisted violently.

The giant released one last roar before exploding in a cloud of glittering particles.

Ali seemed to levitate in midair just long enough to realize how high up she really was before she plummeted to her death.

A/N
This one's a little shorter too. Sorry.
Hope you enjoyed it. We're almost to the last book, should be one more chapter. Yay!
Maybe see you again tomorrow.
-Cheshire