Chapitre 75: Chapter 72: Talos's little brother shows up
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Only one more chapter and then we end this book! Oh, sorry for the cliffie but I know you people love them. Anyway, enjoy reading.
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[ 23 days later ]
...
(Percy POV)
...
"Come on Percy," Zoë complained, "You gotta get out and do something."
I sat on my bed in the Poseidon Cabin and was staring at the shield of winter, "It's too early."
Zoë sighed and entered my cabin, "You said the same thing yesterday."
"So?"
"You only spend time inside your cabin mourning and sleeping," Zoë said.
"I'm still resting from Christmas." I protested, which was not a total lie.
Nyx had invited me for Christmas at her place, which was of course in Tartarus surrounded by all kind of demons. Of course, it went wrong and resulted in a murder mystery party. With the suspects being, Misery, Madness and Strife and Doom.
"It's not only the curse," I said, "Something worries me."
Zoë raised her eyebrow. "And that keeps you from playing outside?"
I shook my head and took the sheet of paper out of my pocket, "Look."
Zoë got closer and read what I've written on it.
...
Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,
One will get lost in the land without rain,
One string of fate forever defined,
Choose Campers and Hunters combined,
One shall be slain by a parent's hand,
One shall defy fate but die in the end,
With final breath one shall betray,
And a final dead to keep the prisoner in stay.
...
"That's the prophecy." Zoë said surprised.
I nodded, "But it's wrong, something is wrong with it."
Zoë frowned, "What's wrong with it?"
I pointed at the first line, "Five shall go west to the goddess in chains." I murmured.
"Yeah?" Zoë asked, "What's wrong with that."
I shook my head, "Nothing, that line seems completed but the second line. One will get lost in the land without rain."
"Yeah," Zoë said, "That didn't happen."
I nodded, "Keep that in mind."
I pointed at the third line, "One string of Fate forever defined. That's Thalia becoming an immortal."
Zoë gave me a skeptical look, "so it wasn't someone dying?"
I smiled, "Indeed, and the next line is also completed."
Zoë read the next line, "One shall be slain by parent's hand."
She gave me a wary look, "That was me right?"
I nodded, "Yeah, but we brought you to life, nonetheless that line is completed."
"One shall defy fate but die in the end." I murmured, "That's the trickiest line of them all."
"Why?" Zoë asked.
I sighed, "Look, we defied fate a lot this quest, Despina was supposed to die by my hands instead of Atlas's. You were supposed to die, and someone was supposed to die in the land without rain."
"So it was Despina," Zoë said, "She defied fate by not getting killed by you, but died in the end."
I shook my head, "That can't be it."
I pointed at the next line, "With final breath one shall betray. That was Despina. She was the only one who betrayed someone and died."
Zoë frowned, "But who fits that line?"
I shrugged, "That's my biggest problem, it likes this prophecy tries to correct itself but fails."
"So what does it mean?" Zoë asked.
"I have no idea." I admitted, "But looked at the next line; And a final dead to keep the prisoner in stay."
"Despina," Zoë said, "With her death she kept Atlas imprisoned."
I shook my head, "Her death was not the final one," I reminded her, "Yours death was the final one but did not contribute to Atlas's imprisonment."
Zoë gritted her teeth, "Now you're giving me a headache."
I chuckled, "That's what I tried to explain from the start."
"So what does this mean?" Zoë wondered.
My expression turned dark, "Or we successfully defied fate…"
"Or?" Zoë asked.
"The prophecy isn't over."
...
I kept on studying the prophecy. The blessing of Athena helped me with understanding it a bit better, yet it was not enough.
I had to understand it, before someone would get hurt.
Suddenly I heard yelling and screams coming from outside my cabin.
'Percy, we're having a big problem.' Nyx mentally said.
She was playing outside in the Arena with Rebel, or at least that what she told me.
I ran outside the Poseidon cabin to see the entire camp in chaos, campers were running around, screaming for weapons.
Then I saw what the threat was, or threats.
Storm spirits were charging through the camp, throwing campers around like rag dolls.
The Storm spirits looked like normal kids but with smoky bodies and sparkling electric eyes.
They moved as fast as the...well wind.
I uncapped Riptide and summoned Frostsilver and charged at the closest Venti.
He was surrounded by a couple of Ares kids who were trying to kill it but every time they came close they were thrown away.
I ran straight at it and yelled, "Move!"
They immediately jumped to the side, I pointed my swords at the Venti and a beam of fire shot towards the Venti, engulfing it and using its oxygen as fuel.
Within a second the Venti was gone.
I turned towards the Ares kids, "How did they get in?"
"I don't know." Sherman growled, "But there are more!"
My gaze rolled over camp and I saw that the hunters were doing a pretty good job with cornering one, until one of them grabbed a hunter and flew straight up with her.
I saw Chiron and Michael leading the Apollo kids to attack a couple storm spirits who were trying to reach the big house.
Nico and Nyx were fighting back-to-back, Nyx used the shadows to prevent them from getting blown away while Rebel was chasing a Storm spirit like it was a mouse.
Another camper was grabbed by a storm spirit and flew straight up the sky, out of sight.
I saw the hunters aiming their bows at the spirits who held campers and a hunter captive, "Don't!" I yelled, "If you hit them, they fall to their dead!"
I considered calling Blackjack to chase them but before I could I fell to my butt.
A lot of campers fell to the ground, confused what caused it.
The ground shook like something massive fell down on earth, then it happened again.
I tried to get up and steadied myself, anticipating the next earthquake.
"What's causing this?" I asked Clarisse who stared at me.
"What is that?" She asked and pointed at the beach. I followed her gaze.
The sun was still low on the horizon, and the sunlight shone on the North shore, making the water sparkle like thousands of diamonds were thrown into the water, oh and a naked statue.
Wading out of Long Island marching towards the shore was a 100 feet tall bronze statue, he was handsome, really handsome. Not that it matters.
Oh, and did I told you he was completely naked?
In his hand was a ship's rudder—a blade the size of a stealth bomber, fixed to a fifty-foot long pole.
He walked towards the camp, over the dunes.
I flinched, I faced this thing in my first life, and couldn't kill it.
It was the Colossus Neronis.
I vaguely remembered the details; it was a statue Triumvirate holdings had built and filled with magic and spirits. The only way Apollo could get rid of it was shooting a plague arrow.
I don't have any plague arrows.
I whistled a New York taxi tune and then turned towards the Ares kids, "Try to find a plague arrow."
"What's that and what's a plague arrow?" They asked.
"No time for explaining, just ask the Apollo campers." I told them.
In front of me landed a black Pegasus, Hey boss! Need a ride?
"You're a true hero Blackjack!" I cried out before I hopped onto his back.
The Colossus Neronis was stopped at the borders of camp, the magical barrier wavered as he brought down his weapon on the barrier.
He was pushed back a little but not enough.
Underneath me I saw Lava geysers erupting around the statue's feet but it was useless, I wondered if Thera would make a giant geyser like she did in the Sea of monsters, but that would probably kill all the campers too.
Chiron ran around the feet, shooting arrows at his joints but it did nothing.
Thera was punching the celestial bronze with her burning fists, leaving scorch marks and making the statue waver a little.
Not enough.
Blackjack and I flew another round at the statue, trying to distract it from camp.
"HEY UGLY, GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled.
It worked, he waved his hands at us like we were a horsefly, Blackjack dodged the statue's attacks and flew under the arms towards the ears.
I knew from Apollo that this was his one weak spot.
We flew past his metal beard, which was copyrighted by Triumvirate holdings and made a barrel roll, which almost made me fell, and the ear.
Underneath me the hunters were, with delight, shooting at the statue's crotch which did nothing except giving the hunters a good work out.
Burning vines were trying to wrap themselves around the legs but snapped the moment he moved.
I threw my shield at the ear canal. The shield flew in a straight line inside the ear.
I heard a clicking sound coming from the inside of his head, the shield was probably bouncing around like a rubber ball on steroids.
I opened my right hand, on the lower shoulder blade of the statue a large gap appeared. The shield of winter flew straight through the hole and flew back to my hand.
The Colossus halted and looked at me with such pain in his eyes I would almost feel bad for this 100 feet tall, camp destroying, naked statue.
Then it suddenly fell to his knees. He would've crushed the camp with his body, but he bounced of the camps barriers and fell down in the dunes.
I saw a Nemean lion and Centaur running away from the falling statue and it was just in time.
He fell on his back. Half of his body was on land, the other side was underwater.
I wanted to cheer, cry out victory but Statue got up like nothing happened.
He straightened up and looked down at the camp with disgust.
He shook his head, like he was disappointed and then turned around.
He marched down into the North shore of Long island sound and disappeared underwater.
"What the hell?" I wondered,"It ran away."
Maybe it was scared of us Blackjack whinnied.
I scowled, "No, that can't be it."
We flew down to the dining pavilion where everyone had gathered, shouting and yelling.
Chiron tried to calm down the campers, "We don't know what happened." Chiron said, "It's probably an attack from Kronos but why he retreated." Chiron shook his head.
I landed with my Pegasus and got of his back, "PERCY!" Nico cried out and made his way through the crow, his eyes were red from tears, and he looked panicked.
"They took Bianca!"
I frowned, then I remembered what our original problem was, the Venti.
"A distraction." I murmured, "The statue was a distraction."
Nico looked around in panic, like Bianca was somewhere hidden, "They took her!"
Nyx pulled Nico closer and embraced him, "Don't worry we'll get her back." she promised Nico.
"Okay!" Chiron called out, "We need to check if everyone's here."
Before we could do that an Iris message appeared in the middle of the crowd, the campers staggered backwards, away from the message.
The mist shimmered and turned into the image of the Liberty statue, or better yet the head.
On spikes that formed the crown, a man was standing on the edge. If he would take one step to the left he would fall to his death.
The man was almost naked, except for a lion pelt and boxer shorts. The lion pelt was slung over his back, so his golden abs were good in the spotlight.
Commodus, I silently cursed.
Next to him, were three kids kneeling on the pilar, tied up with rope and gagged.
I recognized all of them, Connor, Katie and Bianca.
Commodus was grinning at me from the Iris message, "Perseus Jackson!"
I did not answer, instead I looked in shock and horror at my friends.
One move and they would drop down to their deaths.
He noticed me glancing at my friends and said with a smug smile, "Look Percy, it's my job to kill you. So let's make it really simple. If you don't swear on the Styx to let me kill you,"
From somewhere behind his back, he pulled a silver magnum revolver and aimed it at Bianca.
"I'm going to kill one of your friends."
"Please don't!" I yelped.
Commodus grinned, "Wrong answer Percy."
He pulled the trigger and I heard a bang.
A red hole appeared in Bianca's forehead, she was frozen for a moment.
Smoke came from the barrel and mixed in with the cold air of New York.
Bianca's eyes stared at nothing, her mouth open for a scream, a scream that would never come.
Commodus pushed Bianca of the crown with his foot and looked at me again.
My friends gasped in shock and horror.
"BIANCA!" Nico cried out, and he tried to run at the Iris message but Nyx restrained him.
"You can't help her anymore." she said while Nico sobbed.
Commodus aimed the revolver at Katie, "You have two seconds to swear on the Styx or I kill this one."
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
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