Death and Madness|| Nico di Angelo

My Percabeth heart can't handle this

"Now, younglings," the instructor said, "what is the proper name of our kind?"

"Sea demons!" one of them barked.

"No. Anyone else?"

"Telekhines!" another monster growled.

"Very good," the instructor said. "And why are we here?"

"Revenge!" several shouted.

"Yes, yes, but why?"

"Zeus is evil!" one monster said. "He cast us into Tartarus just because we used magic!"

"Indeed," the instructor said. "After we made so many of the gods' finest weapons. The trident of Poseidon, for one. And of course—we made the greatest weapon of the Titans! Nevertheless, Zeus cast us away and relied on those fumbling Cyclopes. That is why we are taking over the forges of the usurper Hephaestus. And soon we will control the undersea furnaces, our ancestral home!"

I clutched my daggers. Luke's voice began to play in my head. 

"And so, younglings," the instructor continued, "who do we serve?"

"Kronos!" they shouted. I froze. What was I doing here anyways? I was way over my head, there was no way I could do this. 

Percy squeezed my hand. 

"And when you grow to be big telekhines, will you make weapons for the army?"

"Yes!"

"Excellent. Now, we've brought in some scraps for you to practice with. Let's see how ingenious you are."

There was a rush of movement and excited voices coming toward the cart. The tarp was thrown back. I jumped up, my black daggers ready to kill some monsters. Beside me Percy had sprung up too, with his bronze sword in his hands and we found ourserlves facing a bunch of...dogs.

Well, their faces were dogs, anyway, with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek and black like sea mammals, with stubby legs that were half flipper, half foot, and humanlike hands with sharp claws. If you blended together a kid, a Doberman pinscher, and a sea lion, you'd get something like what I was looking at.

"Demigods!" one snarled.

"Eat them!" yelled another.

But that's as far as they got before Percy slashed a wide arc with Riptide and vaporized the entire front row of monsters.

"Back off!" I yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor—a six-foot-tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at me. I did my best to stare him down.

"New lesson, class," Percy announced. 

"Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial bronze sword or Stygian Iron blades. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK THE FUCK OFF!"

To my surprise, it worked. The monsters backed up, but there were at least twenty of them. Percy's fear factor wasn't going to last long.

I looked at Percy and somehow both of us knew what to do. Vines sprouted in front of the telkhines, seperating us from them

I jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!" and ran for the exit.

The monsters charged after us, barking and growling. I hoped they couldn't run very fast with those stubby little legs and flippers, but they waddled along pretty well. Thank the gods there was a door in the tunnel leading out to the main cavern. I slammed it shut as soon and Percy and I were clear and turned the wheel handle to lock it, but I doubted it would keep them long.

I didn't know what to do. Annabeth was out here somewhere, invisible. Our chance for a subtle reconnaissance mission had been blown. Percy ran toward the platform at the center of the lava lake.

"Annabeth!" He yelled.

"Percy!" I yelled too, but realising I had said it so loudly I cringed.

"Shhh!" an invisible hand clamped over our mouths and wrestled Percy and I down behind a big bronze cauldron. "You want to get us killed?"

Percy found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She shimmered into existence in front of me, scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. "Percy, Violet, what is your problem?"

"We're going to have company!" We explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.

"So that's what they are," she said. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making...Well, look."

We peeked over the cauldron. In the centre of the platform stood four sea demons, but these were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.

"The blade is almost complete," one said. "It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."

"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper than before."

"What is that?" I whispered.

Annabeth shook her head. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder—"

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," Percy said. "And they...they said they made my father's trident."

"The telekhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practising dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kronos."

She nodded. "We have to get out—"

No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out with Violet!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you."

"I'm not letting you two get hurt. I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on." Percy said.

"But you'll be killed dumbass!" I said. 

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth glared at him like she was going to punch Percy. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed him.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat and vanished, pulling me along through the shadows.