I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated! School just decided to completely preoccupy every part of my time and I’m up to one in the morning doing homework for just one class.  Please forgive me!  For future warning, updates will be slow but just know I HAVE NOT given up writing this story.  Then you guys wouldn’t get to enjoy what I have planned :D Anyways, once again, I sincerely apologize and enjoy the story!

Chapter Quote

“What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.”

~Percy Jackson in The Lightning Thief

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Chapter 17: We’re Ziva and DiNozzo

Hannah

On the way up to the bridge, Hannah asked Luke, “Hey, weren’t we supposed to stop in Sicily instead of Crete?”

“Didn’t Silena tell you?” Luke turned around but continued walking.  Hannah saw Bryn glance over at Luke, obviously making sure he didn’t run into anything; she was pretty sure everyone but Luke was waiting for him to crash into something or trip on the floor.  He was a great fighter but in casual situations, he could be a klutz. 

“Uh, obviously not because I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she remarked.

“Oh… she must’ve forgotten.  Silena had made a good point to me, that if the enemy was around, they’d most likely expect us to go to a big city because it’d be easier to blend in.  She said it would be smarter to go to a smaller place.”

“Makes sense,” Hannah mused.

But that obviously didn’t work out, she thought privately to herself.  Silena was gone, kidnapped by the enemy.  Luke was upset, Hannah could tell, but he seemed better after he spent some alone time with Bryn.  She had obviously said something that had calmed him down.  Truthfully, Hannah wanted to know what she’d said.  She tried to bite back the jealousy rising up in her throat.  Luke, in all honesty, was hot, and she wanted to date him.  But it was obvious he was intrigued by Bryn.  Maybe that was what had tempted her, made her blurt out that she believed Bryn was up to something.  It had been a lie… technically.  Hannah really did believe Bryn was up to something; why else would the temperamental Brit be so secretive?  It didn’t help Hannah think of any other possibility after her dream the night before; Bryn had been talking to a person in armor that was of no known demigod make.  The voices had been silent so Hannah had been unable to determine what was being said but she was quite wary of the Bryn now, more than she had been before because let’s face it, that girl could rule the world if the urge took her.

“Hannah?  What did you do with the two puppies we found?” Bryn suddenly inquired.

“I put them in my room.  I found some puppy food and put it in a bowl and I also put a water bowl down.  What should we name them?”

“Cannibal and Shredder,” Luke said nonchalantly.

Hannah grinned. “You obviously watch ‘Reba.’”

“Love that sassy red head.”

The four of them reached the bridge and sure enough, Milos was just off in the distance, the volcano rising ominously towards the sky.  Luke had taken a seat in the captain’s seat, Bryn stood behind them.  They both had the expression that they could take on anything in their path to get what they wanted.  Hannah had never seen the two of them fight on the same side.  She knew how deadly each of them was.  Luke, even as a novice, showed a higher ability in sword fighting than some of the more experienced campers, he and Silena both.  Hannah wondered what it would be like with Bryn and Luke on the same team.  She figured they would pretty much be undefeatable. 

“We’ll be there in about ten minutes.  Let’s go pack up our stuff, get ready to leave the moment the boat docks.  I have the ship where it’ll dock on a beach that’s on the other side of the volcano, closer to it, not really inhabited.  It’s going to be impossible to explain a cruise ship where only four people disembark so we want as few people to see us as we can,” Luke informed.

“I knew you had some Athenian wisdom somewhere in your brain,” Derek joked.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Luke replied.  He got up and left the room, everyone followed him.  Hannah had been, admittedly, worried about how Luke would lead, if he would be a good leader.  In the beginning, he hadn’t seemed like much; he sort of let Bryn make the decisions.  Now?  He was making every decision practically on his own, which was good.

The four demigods went to their respective rooms to pack their backpacks.  Bryn was taking the majority of the ambrosia and nectar, particularly because she was injured pretty severely.  Before heading back up to the bridge where they were all supposed to meet before getting off the ship, she checked on the two husky puppies.  They had fallen asleep on the floor, curled up next to each other.  It was a shame she couldn’t have dogs or else she would’ve adopted them.

After making sure they had plenty of food available along with water and that there was a place they could use the bathroom that wouldn’t soil the carpet, Hannah left for the bridge.  Everyone was there, watching Milos come closer and closer.  When five minutes had passed, Luke got up and headed down to the level of the ship where the lifeboats were located; he ushered them all onto one.  He got on himself and lowered the lifeboat into the water.  The waters were rough and it was obvious Bryn wasn’t enjoying it.  She looked violently pale from the sea sickness.  Luke glanced over at her, noticed her severe discomfort, and put a hand on her shoulder.  Bryn noticeably regained color back.

The ride to the beach was only five minutes but that’s because Luke manipulated the current to push the lifeboat to make it go faster than the motor was already making it go.  There was a couple sun-tanning on the beach when they arrived.  They stared at the foursome with bewildered looks.

“Get out of here, you saw nothing!” Bryn shouted.  The couple wasted no time and were gone within seconds.  Hannah could hear the Charmspeak in Bryn’s voice.

“We have one Hades of a hike,” Derek commented, looking at the volcano.  At first glance, it didn’t look like much trouble, just a lot of trees, but the longer it was looked at, the more a person realized how steep it was.

“Damn… Hey Bryn, are you sure you can’t just fly us to the top?” Luke inquired.

“Luke, honestly, if I could fly, I think I would’ve figured it out by now,” she retorted.

“Gods Cat Woman, no need to be so feisty,” he replied drolly.  He was completely pushing his luck teasing her like he was but he seemed to not care.

“I will turn you into a pile of ash with one lightning strike, Sharkboy.”

Luke winked at her with an accompanying chuckle.

With that, they headed off to the top of the mountain.  Hannah was the most agile when it came to climbing but being a child of Demeter (well granddaughter actually), she was in her element: nature.  Derek was close though.  He was a fleet-footed child of Apollo so it made sense.  Bryn was naturally good at everything she did (which irked Hannah because she would do anything to be like that); Luke was having issues however and Bryn lagged behind to make sure that he didn’t trip and fall ungracefully to his death. 

They came to a small ledge and they all stood on it, catching their breath, leaning against the façade of the mountain.  Derek and Hannah were merely out of breath.  Luke and Bryn were heaving.  Luke because he wasn’t used to this type of exercise like the rest of them were (at least not climbing walls; Hannah heard he was a football superstar at his school); Bryn was heaving because she was in pain from her stomach.  She ate some ambrosia that she had taken out from her backpack.  It helped ease the pain for her but she still looked ill.

“Let’s go,” Bryn urged.

“Why don’t you rest a little more?” Derek said gently.

“Derek, we have limited time. I’ll be fine once we stop climbing.  Let’s follow this ledge, see where it goes,” she suggested.  Derek looked like he wanted to argue with her but he wisely decided against it.  No one won arguments with Bryn… unless you were Luke.  He had this strange ability to do so.  Hannah wanted to figure out how he did it.

The group started sidling along the edge of the rock.  Once in a while, they would all have a mini heart attack because someone’s foot would slip and everyone thought that was the end of that person; it happened at least once to everyone (six times in Luke’s case) but much to the group’s relief, no one fell.

At the end of the ledge, with Hannah leading the way, she announced in a hushed voice, “Guys, there’s a cave here.  It looks like it enters into the volcano.”

“Let’s go in it.  Silena said she was trapped way down under here,” Luke said.

“What in Apollo’s name do you mean Silena said she was trapped down there?” Derek demanded.

“Crap, I really need to get my thoughts together.  I have so much damn stuff going on in there at the moment.  We, uh, talked earlier, through our minds or something like that,” Luke explained rather sheepishly.

“Sibling telepathy,” Bryn observed. “Some demigods, if they share a strong bond with another one of their siblings, full or half, they can have a telepathy link and they are able to talk through their minds.”

“Do you know everything?” Hannah queried, trying to hide the annoyance out of her voice.  Unfortunately for her, Bryn picked up on it and quite bluntly replied, “Pretty much.  That’s what happens when you read.  Try it some time.”

“I do read!” Hannah wrangled.

“I have never seen you pick up a book.  It’s this rectangular shape with these things called pa-”

“All right, stop bickering you two,” Luke interjected.  Hannah and Bryn glared at each other but stopped. “My family is in there and you two aren’t helping matters.  Let’s go.”

They entered the cave and were enveloped in darkness.  Hannah heard Bryn mutter something and suddenly a dim light appeared, hovering about an inch above the Zeus’s daughter’s hand.

“We could just use flashlights,” Hannah pointed out.

“How could we find the flashlights if we couldn’t see in the first place?” Bryn countered.  Hannah held back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue.  She didn’t want Bryn blasting her to pieces (which Hannah didn’t put it past her).  Luke, Derek, and Hannah pulled out their flashlights and turned them on, illuminating the passageway.  They walked on, keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that might enjoy killing them.  Hey, there were a lot of things that would.  Hannah wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the cave, at least ten minutes, probably more, when they came up on the first fork in the pathway, three different tunnels.

“It’s always three.  Why can’t there be just one tunnel the entire way down?  I mean honestly?” Luke grumbled.

“This way,” Derek said.

“How do you know?” Bryn asked curiously.

“I just… trust me, okay.  We need to go this way.” No one argued and so they took the tunnel to the far left.  After about one hundred paces (Hannah had started to keep track), they came upon another fork in the road, this time only with two tunnels.

“All right, Indiana Jones, where to now?” Luke questioned nonchalantly.

“I don’t know Short Round, why don’t you tell me?” Derek riposted.

“Well you’re the one who led us here.  Where to now?”

The group had formed a circle, Derek and Hannah in front of the left tunnel, Bryn and Luke in front of the right tunnel.

“Right or left?” Hannah asked.

Derek and Luke spoke at the same time:

“Right,” Derek replied.

“Left,” Luke told her.

“We can’t do both.  It’s a bad idea to separate.  We need to stay together.  If this enemy could kidnap two of the greatest demigods of the era, the gods only know what we’re up against.  We’re all strong, but we’re stronger together.”

“I still say we go right,” Derek muttered.

“Who’s the leader of the quest again?  Oh yeah, me and Silena.  And since Silena is currently not with us, I’m leader.  We’re going left.”

Just as Luke started to head towards the left tunnel, a rumble deep within the volcano shook them all.  They stumbled back just as rocks started falling from the ceiling.  Hannah saw Luke yank Bryn from her spot to save her from being crushed by a massive rock chunk.  The last thing Hannah saw of the two demigods was Luke shoving Bryn to the ground and throwing himself on top of her to protect her from the falling debris.

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Luke 

When the shaking had stopped, Luke rolled off of Bryn.

“You okay?” He asked, coughing from the dust that had been stirred up.

“Yeah,” Bryn groaned.  “Are you okay?  Why did you do that?”

“Yeah, fine, and do what?”

“Lay on top of me during the cave-in.”

Luke flushed from embarrassment at the way she stated it.  He knew what she meant, but he still was discomforted by the thought because he didn’t want Zeus getting the wrong idea about what had just happened and blow him to pieces.  Luke didn’t know if the all-mighty leader of Olympus was watching them but knowing Luke’s luck, Zeus had probably come right into the conversation when Bryn had asked him why he’d laid on top of her.

“Oh, that, well I’m not letting you get hurt anymore if I can help it and the case that just happened, I could,” Luke answered, trying not to show what his discursive thoughts had been going on about.

“Bryn?!  Luke?!  Are you two okay?” Derek’s muffled voice asked.

“We’re fine!” Luke hollered back.  He groaned as he got up, helping Bryn up once he had gotten himself steadied on his own two feet.

“Thanks,” she said softly.  Turning to the rock wall, Bryn shouted, “Are you guys okay?”

“Fine, just shaken up, no pun intended!” Derek responded. “Hannah and I going to go down this tunnel, see where it goes.  We’ll try and find a way to meet up with you guys again!”

Bryn shouted an okay and turned to Luke. “So we go down the tunnel?”

“You don’t have any Hecate or Zeus mojo going on where you can blast those rocks out of the way?” Luke inquired hopefully.

“Uh, no.  I try something like that, the amount of power needed for that would kill me.  I prefer not.”

“Then down the tunnel we go.  I say there needs to be yellow-brick road to lead the way,” Luke mused aloud as he headed down the cave.

“What’s with you and movie references?” Bryn questioned in amusement.

“Sorry, I guess I’m starting to become Tony DiNozzo from ‘NCIS.’  He does the same thing although he’ll actually do accents, mainly Bond accents which I would do but since he’s British, and you’re British, I don’t want to butcher it and make you mad at me for butchering it.”

“Actually I’d laugh if you butchered it,” Bryn admitted.

“Rather not give you any more things for you to tease me about,” he acknowledged with a chuckle.

“Sorry, I know I can be harsh,” she replied softly.

“Did you, Bryn Winchester, just apologize?” Luke exclaimed.

“Don’t get used to it Sharkboy,” Bryn said slyly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it Cat Woman,” Luke chirped. “Oh, and rule number six: never apologize.  It’s a sign of weakness.”

“I am not weak!” Bryn growled.

“No, you’re most definitely not.  I should start calling you Ziva.  You’re kickass like her.”

“Only if I get to call you DiNozzo.”

“All right,” Luke agreed with a grin. “So where do you think this never-ending tunnel goes?  We’ve been walking for ages and noth- I stand corrected.”

The tunnel opened up to a small cavern with stalactites that appeared as if they’d been filed to as sharp a point as possible.  Luke tried not to imagine them falling down and impaling him.  He shook those thoughts out of his head.  His sleep deprivation was getting to him.

“Luke!” someone screamed.  He whipped his head to the right and up, where he found Silena chained to a massive rock.  Next to her was a black-haired man and California-blonde woman: his parents, Percy and Annabeth Jackson.

But Silena hadn’t screamed because she saw her brother and Bryn.  No, a pack of a dozen telkhines was charging the two demigods.  Bryn was already leaping into action.  In fact, she demolished half of the pack in one swift swoop of her sword.  Luke finished off the rest.

“That was too easy,” Bryn observed.

“We’ll have to be on the lookout.  But let’s go get my sister and my parents,” Luke encouraged, running up the pathway to his family.  Bryn was hot on his heels.

“Thank gods you’re here!  Be careful with the chains.  I’ve tried breaking out of them but they burned me every time I did,” Silena warned.  Bryn hardly heeded her warning and started murmuring what Luke presumed to be a spell.  Within moments, the chains broke free.

“What spell was that?” Silena queried, rubbing her wrists; they were red and blistered from her attempts to break free.  Luke tried not to look because it made him sick to his stomach thinking someone hurt his family like that.

“It wasn’t a spell, I was Charmspeaking,” Bryn informed, pulling out some ambrosia and nectar from her backpack and handing them to Silena.  The younger Jackson took it gratefully. “The chains are connected to the volcano, specifically the magma.  You triggered something in the chains that caused the magma to heat them up immediately and burn you.  They’re natural-made chains, they’re living organisms, and if one of us touches them, they’d burn us too.  The only way to open them, unless you have the keys, is to Charmspeak them open.”

“I knew it was a good idea to bring you along.  How do you know about it anyways?” Luke inquired.

“The prophecy said I had to come and I read about it.  Come on, let’s get your parents,” Bryn said.  The trio walked over to the elder Jacksons and Bryn started speaking to the chains which in any other situation except for this one, Luke would’ve found odd; he would’ve thought Bryn was completely off her rocker (not saying she isn’t already… possibly).  Annabeth started groaning but Percy stayed silent.

“Mom?  Mom, it’s me, Silena.  Luke’s here too.  Our friend Bryn is getting you out of these chains and then we’re going to head home.  Come on, mom, answer me!” Silena pleaded.  Annabeth’s chains broke and Silena caught her mom from crashing to the floor.

“Silena?” Annabeth murmured.

“Mom!  You’re awake!  Thank the gods!”

“Are y-you okay?  A-a-and is Luke, is h-he ok… okay?”

“I’m right here mom.  We’re getting dad out of his chains right now,” Luke informed her gingerly. “Mom, what happened?”

But Annabeth didn’t have any more energy to speak.  Bryn unlocked Percy’s chains as well and Luke supported his father upright.  Percy still hadn’t woken up.

“We need to find Derek and Hannah before we leave,” Bryn said.

“The monsters that were watching us always left through that entrance over there,” Silena told them, pointing to the other side of the cavern.  It was decided they would head that way.  Annabeth, although weak, declared she could walk.  However, Silena supported her mom by throwing Annabeth’s arms around her shoulders and putting one arm around Annabeth’s waist.  Luke crouched down and lifted his dad up, carrying him fireman style.  Bryn led the way, bow in hand and an arrow notched, ready to be fired at a moment’s notice.

Progress was slow but they still made headway.

“Bryn, can you and Derek do that telepathy thing?” Luke inquired, shifting his dad onto his other shoulder.

“Sometimes.  It takes a lot of concentration but we’ve been able to do it,” she answered.  She was about to say something else when she suddenly stopped, hushing them all. “Listen.”

Luke strained his ears to figure out why Bryn had stopped them and it took him only a few seconds to understand why.  Far in the distance, he heard swords clanging and someone… no, someones, shouting.

“Derek…” Bryn whispered to herself before bolting off down the tunnel.  Luke and Silena chased after her as fast as they could go but their injured parents, one still unconscious, were slowing them down.  However, once they did reach the end of the tunnel, the two Jacksons were shocked.  Below them was an army of cheering monsters, a jumble of telkhines, Cyclops, sphinxes, and other monsters that Luke couldn’t quite figure out what they were. 

Luke found Bryn leaping gracefully from rock to rock, avoiding the monsters below.  She reminded him of a mountain goat, well, maybe more of a mountain lion because it was Bryn and she was just completely BA in his opinion and a mountain goat isn’t really BA.

“Oh my gods!” Silena exclaimed in horror.  Luke followed his sister’s gaze up to a plateau above the cacophonous monsters; two people were fighting, a brunette girl and a black-haired guy.  It was where Bryn was headed.  The brunette was a frighteningly skilled fighter, one that would give Bryn a run for her money.  The black-haired guy, although a skilled fighter himself, was slowly being pushed to the edge of the plateau.  The girl feinted to the right and he fell for it; she kicked him squarely in the chest.  He flew backwards, over the edge.  Bryn leapt into the air, throwing herself into him, stopping the guy from falling into the crowd of monsters.  Now Luke could see the guy’s face.

It was Derek.

Looking back up to the plateau to see the girl who had just kicked Derek, Luke held back an angry yell. 

It was Hannah, and she was grinning smugly down at Derek and Bryn.

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All right, so to the people who thought Hannah was behind it all?  You were right :P  Please review!  I already have part of the next chapter written!  If you want Bryn to win this fight, you better review ;)