Hurricane ~ L. Valdez

2.9 - Swordfights, Scars, and Gameplans

      I looked around, goosebumps raising on my arms.

       "Bacchus is right," Piper said urgently. "We need to leave—"

      'Too late,' said a sleepy voice, seeming to come from all around us. I wonder if this was like that Harry Potter scene where Voldy starts talking in people's heads.

      Out of reflex Percy, Jason, and I drew our swords, adrenaline flowing through our veins as it had done so many times before.

      Piper froze, obviously not prepared for this. You could see it on her face, the uncertainty. I guess that's another trait I shared with Jason and Percy. We had all been traumatized to the point where we simply had become unaffected by surprise and danger. We had become numb soldiers.

      All of a sudden the power of Gaea was simply... everywhere. The sunflowers were looking at us, the wheat was bending towards us threateningly. It was like a twisted fairytale, our own hellish Wonderland.

      'Welcome to my party,' Gaea murmured. Her voice was a crackling, hissing, hot and persistent noise. It was ominous and familiar, like a tune you couldn't quite place.

      'What did Bacchus say?' the goddess mocked. 'A simple, low-key affair with organic snacks? Yes. For my snacks, I need only two: the blood of a female demigod, and the blood of a male. Now, how about we make this fun. Elara, my dear, choose which hero–which brother– will die with you.'

      I froze, subconsciously glancing at the two boys beside me.

      "Gaea!" Jason yelled. "Stop hiding in the wheat. Show yourself!"

      'Such bravado,' Gaea hissed. 'He's your blood brother, isn't he Elara? Would you spare his life? But the other one, Percy Jackson, also has appeal. You've known him longer, of course, and he's been there for you through your hardest times. Choose, Elara Jackson, or I will.'

      I froze, my head spinning. Gaia meant to kill me, that much was clear. But to choose which brother to spare... that was near impossible. "You're fucking psycho!" I shouted. "I'm not choosing anything for you!"

      Suddenly Jason gasped. He sat up straight in his saddle. "Jason!" Piper cried. "What's wrong—?"

        He looked down at Piper, his expression turning deadly calm. His eyes were no longer blue. They glowed solid gold. "Percy, Elara, help!" Piper stumbled back from Tempest. But as I went to get off the horse, Percy pushed me off, galloping away from us.

      He stopped thirty feet down the road and wheeled his pegasus around. He raised his sword and pointed the tip toward Jason. "One will die," Percy said, but it wasn't Percy.

      It wasn't the voice who comforted me at night, the voice I had grown up with, that snapped at me when I annoyed him but apologized and comforted me when I flinched. This voice was deep and hollow, like someone whispering from inside the barrel of a cannon. It had an echo, like talking in a cave.

    "I will choose," Jason answered, in the same hollow voice.

      "No!" I yelled. All around me, the fields crackled and hissed, laughing in Gaea's voice as Percy and Jason charged at each other, their weapons ready.

~~~

If it wasn't for Blackjack and Tempest... Piper and I would have been dead. Jason and Percy charged each other, but Tempest and Blackjack balked long enough for me to grab Piper's hands and leap out of the way. I planted my feet as Piper rolled to the edge of the road, and when we looked back, I was horrified to see my brothers chasing swords and sparks flying.