Son of the Rivers (Wattys 2015 Entry)

Ch. 18 Child Nightmares

"Jack be nimble,"

Hearts pounding in their ears, the demigods froze, the eerie, sharp voice echoing from the bottom of the hill.

"Jack be quick,"

The two creatures at the bottom of the hill slowly trudged up, almost too hideous to describe.

Jack jump over the candlestick,"

"What the Hades' are they saying?" Annabeth cried out, her eyes nervously shifting about, but always coming back to rest on the two figures slowly but steadily making their way to the surviving heroes.

A random spout of magma erupted from the ground, nearly splashing on Katie, who Travis pulled out of the way of danger.

Connor pulled at Jason's tattered shirt, "It means we have to go," he pleaded.

But his eyes were trained on Piper, who was frozen, her usually mesmerizing eyes now a startling black.

She took an uneasy step towards the blackened monsters, which were only several yards away at this point.

The ground shook slightly, magma erupted once again, droplets splashing against her skin, but she didn't even flinch.

Jason took a chance.

He grabbed the love of his life and threw themselves off the hill, away from their mutated deceased friends.

The rest of the heroes soon followed in the same manner, the amount of molten rock increasing steadily. It didn't matter if this was the monster's doing or even if it was Tartarus himself.

They needed to escape.

"Jack and Jill went up the hill,"

Rocks pierced Jason's back as he held Piper tight as they rolled down the steep hill, wincing as rocks tore gashes into his skin.

"Jack fell down and broke his crown,"

Jason had to bite back a cry as his head struck a brick sized rock, jutting from the ground.

"And Jill came tumbling after,"

Piper was ripped from his arms as they finally reached the bottom of the hill. They rolled to a stop and lay panting, open wounds spilling new blood.

As the rest of the group slid down to meet them, Jason finally found the strength to sit up slightly, his head throbbing where the rock had struck him.

He reached up, gingerly touching his wound, wincing when he pulled away and found blood on his fingertips.

Jason glanced up when he could finally see straight, and saw Piper slumped over, her arm in a grotesque position.

He staggered to his feet and with Annabeth's help, they turned Piper face up, her neck twisted to the left.

Jason dropped to his knees, pulling his love into his arms, silent tears racking his body, while Piper's lifeless eyes gazed up, unseeing to all of their pain.

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Waves roared in their ears as they carried Piper's body to the shores of the apparent safe haven in Tartarus.

Jason refused to leave Piper's body, despite of the risks.

He refused to let those monsters contaminate her beauty, for even in death she was beautiful.

The most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Eventually they had reached as far as they could, they had reached the shores of a massive lake, filled by swiftly flowing water that shown with iridescent color that reminded Jason's aching heart of Piper's ever-changing eyes.

They set her body down gently, Clarisse taking a lookout from behind, searching the jagged landscape for any signs of danger, but every crevice could have held an untellable amount of evil.

"Are you alright Jason?" asked Leo, his eyes shining with tears.

The son of Jupiter could only shake his head as he numbly gazed over the roaring waves.

Leo awkwardly patted his back, wiped his own eyes and left his Roman friend to grieve.

"WE GOT INCOMING!" hollered Clarisse as she readied the broken staff of her spear, ready to fight to the death if necessary.

Hordes of monsters, of every variety were pulled into existence by an unseen force, their very being was created out dust.

Tartarus' doing no doubt.

Annabeth cursed and readied her dagger, shouting out orders, her hoarse voice cracking at the end.

With the monsters only 20 feet away, the situation seemed hopeless.

That's when, Jason the only one not facing the new threat, still overcome by loss and facing the lake still, saw them.

Four blurs of motion launched from the lake, propelled over the demigods and directly into the army of monsters.

Within in minutes of slashing and stabbing, the figures slowed down enough for the exhausted heroes to see them clearly.

Four cloaked figures, two men and two women.

Robed in black, with a gleaming assortment of swords, daggers and bows.

They approached the demigods, moving in deadly synchronization, before stopping in front of them.

And dropped into a kneeling position.

"Um, thank you?" Travis tried but received no answer.

Clarisse opened her mouth, no doubt to interrogate them when a soothing voice washed over them.

"I am afraid they are not bowing to you, but rather to me heroes," A figure literally melted from the water, physical features formed underneath a hood which concealed his face.

Power literally flowed off his body as the demigods felt the urge to kneel but forced it back.

"YOU!"

Annabeth recognized the man, he killed Theseus.

Annabeth made to lunge forwards, but the man held up a hand and one of the other cloaked men grabbed and held her in place.

The man in charge studied her before nodding to her captor.

"You may reveal yourself champion, it may reduce their concerns,"

The champion let go of Annabeth and she turned around to face him.

He dropped his hood, his blue eyes staring deep into her own gray eyes.

Her hands flew up to mouth, "L-Luke?"

He smiled crookedly, "Hey there Annie,"

And none of them noticed the two solitary figures watching them from a distance, with cold lifeless eyes.

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So I had to update this according to Mya

So dedication to her @shadowsleek

So a quick side note, does anyone know what the original monsters I have made are reminiscent too?

Here's a hint, I got the idea for them from a very popular Horror Game, so if you watch youtube, you should understand them.

Also there is a Brason reference in there just for fun:D

And the nursery rhymes are relevant.

Beginning of All is the next update,

And apparently, according to the people you kik me, fans that are girls prefer Pixies to Pixelettes:P

Catch ya on the flipside Pixels!!

-PixelUp