The Son Of Neptune

The return of a friend

Annabeth

Annabeth gripped Lucy tightly as she, Percy and Piper sprinted towards the scream. Annabeth gasped at what she sees at the hill. There was Luke, covered in blood and cuts, being dragged by Thalia. Thalia, herself was covered with cuts, but not as bad as Luke. Thalia was crying and Luke was out cold. Annabeth felt pain, but she didn't cry, she and Percy ran up to them and asked,

"How did..."

"That's not important, just heal him." Thalia screamed through more tears. Apollo put Luke on the ground and started to heal Luke. Thalia was sobbing on Annabeth's shoulder. Thalia seemed broken. Not the strong, powerful Thalia that Annabeth grew up with.

"He's all healed. Someone help me get him to the big house." Apollo said. Percy nodded and put Luke's arm on his shoulder. With a lift, Apollo and Percy started to drag Luke to the big house. Thalia was still sobbing on Annabeth's shoulder and Annabeth was saying soothing words. 'What is going on?' Annabeth thought.

Apollo and Percy placed Luke on the bed and then there was a meeting. Thalia was still sobbing.

"Thals, please tell us what happened." Annabeth begged. Thalia nodded and wiped her tears away.

"I wanted to go for a walk in the woods. So I walked and when I reached the entrance of the Labyrinth, I saw a body laying face down next to it. I ran to the body and turned it over. And it was Luke." Thalia said.

"So, when Gaea opened the Doors of Death, she also opened the Gates of Elysium." Athena said.

"I was about to get some help when he woke up. Luke looked at me and said my name as if he was dreaming. Then he hugged me and said he was sorry." Thalia said.

"Did you hurt him?" Phoebe asked.

"What? No, I need answers out of him." Thalia yelled at her second in-command.

"So, then we talked. Luke said that, like Athena said, Gaea opened the Gates of Elysium. Luke said that himself, Beckendorf, Silena, Bianca, and Michael, plus a few others that died in the war, talked about who should leave first. Luke said that everyone voted that he should go back first. So Luke did, and I found him."

"We talked some more. You should have seen his face when I told him about Lucy. I swear his jaw was going to drop off his face. He said congrats. Then there was a rumbling in the forest. Then an extremely sharp pin cut Luke's shoulder. Then more pins came and they cut me and Luke. We were surrounded by the pins and it wouldn't end. Luke pulled me out of the forest and we were at the base of the hill on the mortal side. Whoever attacked us didn't follow. Luke tried to shield me when we were attacked, so he was more hurt than me. He lost so much blood that he collapsed. So I dragged him up the hill, knowing that it was my fault that he was hurt because of me." Thalia finished. Tears stroked Thalia's cheeks again. 'Poor Thalia.' Annabeth thought.

"The daughters of Danaus." Athena said.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"Some of the most wicked women to ever live. The myth says that Danaus had 50 daughters while Danaus' twin, Aegyptus, had 50 sons. When the twins' father died, the twins fought over their father's inheritance. Aegyptus came up with a plan. His sons will marry his brother's daughters. The Oracle back then warned Danaus that Aegyptus was planning to kill the 50 daughters. So Danaus and his daughter ran away. Aegyptus found the daughters and the daughters married the sons. But before the weddings, Danaus gave all of his daughter an extremely sharp hairpin to kill the sons. All the daughters, but one, killed the sons. When the daughters died, each of them except for the one that didn't kill her husband, were sent to Tartarus." Athena explained.

"So they escaped?" Annabeth asked. Athena looked to Hades.

"Yes, they were probably the ones who attacked you, Thalia." Hades said.

"Wait, they're still at camp." Percy said. Everyone gasped and pulled out their weapons. When everyone went outside, standing there was 49 women. Each of them had a smug look on their faces and they pointed there pins. Lucy was still in Annabeth's arms. 'She can't be here.' Annabeth thought. Lupa ran up to Annabeth.

"Lupa, make sure Lucy's safe." Annabeth said and handed Lucy to Lupa. Lupa nodded and sprinted back into the big house.

"Well, well, all of the gods are here. What an honour? But we have a job to do today. Girls, fire." The oldest of all the girls said. The girls throwed their knives. Percy stepped in front of Annabeth and the knives didn't hit them.

"Bring me the head of the Son of Poseidon. He'll be the first sacrifice to Gaea." The oldest yelled. The girls charged and so did the campers. 'They have terrible skills. Lucy could do better.' Annabeth thought as she took down her fifth witch. Percy was back to back with her and he was on his tenth. Soon, only the oldest was standing. But she smiled.

"Impressive. Well, I should introduce myself. I'm Dorian." Dorian said.

"From the sea." Poseidon mumbled.

"Exactly Grandfather. I was given that name because I was the only one who could do this." Dorian said. A huge tidal wave formed behind her. It was about to cover camp, but it went back into the ocean. Percy had his hand up and the wave spiralled around his arm.

"You know, that power of your isn't that powerful." Percy said. The water turned into an ice javelin and Percy threw it at Dorian. Dorian tried to turn it back to water but the javelin went through her chest. She was dead and so were her sisters. 'Was this the best Gaea got? Big deal, we can take it.' Annabeth thought, a bit cocky.