Chapter 41: Calm Before Storm....
All the preparations were set-up and were completed in a matter of 2 hours. Annabeth was in her tent, she was talking animatedly with another daughter of Athena. Percy was filling his watersack he was carrying on his back made by his half-brother, Tyson. He could store water and use it easily, by drawing it from the large water-skin looking bag.
Max was talking to Dionysus, "... I don't care what you have to do Mr. D we need those chains. We cannot kill him...no, we have to imprison him back on that mountain." "And for that you need THE chains of Hephaestus? Are you kidding me? You do realize they gave the camp many gifts, they won't give you anymore?" Dionysus was losing patience.
"We are fighting THEIR battles!! This is one of Kronos' lieutenants we are talking about! We have all the right to ask! Even Hades has allowed his son to raise an army of dead!!" Max's voice was raising by the minute.
"Be very careful what you say next boy... it might be your last." Dionysus voice become icy. The camp become silent, even the birds stopped chirping. Max was fuming, he just turned and stomped away. Thalia came to him, "You should control that temper Pooh.. you know how the gods are. Honestly, we both know to not expect anything from them."
She hugged him tight and kissed him lightly, [ her hair smell like...hmmm what is this smell?] Max breathed in her scent. A deep wonderful serene feeling spread over him. It was not the smell of shampoo nor was it anything else she had worn, rather it was of herself.
"You smell nice" Mas whispered in her ear. "You too, like freshly cut pine." Thalia whispered back, not before taking a deep breath. "Huh, I always thought I would smell like sage. Since you know, I'm full of wisdom and all those things." Max said putting up an air of an old man stroking a glorious white beard, thinking about the purpose of ones life or some other philosophical question.
Thalia laughed at that, to Max her laugh was the most precious thing in the world and everytime he hears it, he is overjoyed and feels kinda fluffy and mushy. A feeling he couldn't describe in words.
He rook her to a sheltered spot and sat down. He buried his head in her modest cleavage hearing her heartbeat, Thalia hugged his head closer. Even is she was wearing armour it was still comfortable. She was sitting on his lap facing each other. Her legs on either side of his waiste, locked behind his back, mere millimetres apart from each other
It always calmed him down. "I'm the luckiest guy." Max smiled, bringing his lips closer to hers. Thalia pulled back smiling mischievously, "Careful there... we don't want to tempt fate now do we?". Max just smiled wryly [ Ohh, how true you are Zuzu.]
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It had been two days since the emergency had been issued. The campers had started to doubt Max's visions, but were quickly dissuaded when they spotted a lone former camper rode near the edge of the forest and threw a device, just near Max's feet, and rode off again.
He knew what it was. He took it back to camp, there was a small gathering when he opened the device. There was a small hologram of a bald man in a business suit. "Atlas.." Max hissed, all the people who heard it gasped with shock and fear.
"Hahaha. Indeed, I see my name precedes me. Wonderful, no need of introductions then. Now I'll come to the point. Give me the Ophiotaurus or every single one of you dies." Atlas said in a business like manner. "Can't, I killed it...and before you ask for its entrails, I already turned it to stone, shattered it to pieces and spread the dust far and wide. I swear by river Styx." There was a rumble of thunder confirming his claim.
What Max said was true, It was probably one of the first thing he did after getting the power of turning into animals, he located it quite easily by turning into a great white shark, caught it, took it back to port, used Medusa's head, turned it to stone and spread the debris all over the sea.
Meanwhile the Titan's face was impassive, it was clear he was full of rage, even his eyes shined lightly but kept his voice even, " Very well, we don't need the hostages anymore then." he smiled wide, "Goodbye, Son of Pan." The device just burst into a small flame.
Max immediately gave out instructions, "All groups refresh yourselves and get ready for battle, you probably have 20 hours. Minimize the casualties and stick to your group. Do your duty to the Camp!"
"Hold the line as much as possible. Nobody is to fight to the death. Keep falling back, You have 11 lines to fall back, so do not falter or panic. I will bring help." He turned to the others, "Annabeth get me map indicating Mt. Tamalpas and point me the exact direction from here. Clarisse take command of the group. Nico raise the army only when the scouts see the enemies clearly, we don't want to fall for illusions. You will fall back to the defence group after you raise it." Nico made to object. "THAT is an order. Everyone is dismissed."
Nico gulped and nodded, he never saw Max like this. Then the seriousness of the situation hit him. [I could die, Bianca could die, Max could die... Oh God! I've been so stupid. If I have to fall back after I raise the army, I will do as I'm told. I will raise so many that the enemy will regret coming here.] Nico was thinking about the recent order given to him, also realized the huge responsibility Max had given him. He clenched his fist in resolution and the already great respect that had grown he had for Max.
He had remembered his talk with him and his sister a couple of weeks back....
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