GUYS I WENT AND SAW MOCKINGJAY AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE AND NOW I CAN’T STOP SINGING ‘THE HANGING TREE’

Okay, rant over.  Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Quote:
"A I'm not to be played with
Because it could get dangerous
See these people I ride with
This moment, we own it."
~ We Own It by 2Chainz and Wiz Khalifa
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Chapter 12: I Smell Like A Dog

Four months later…

Luke 

The first thought that crossed Luke’s mind was that the room he was currently in was not his college dorm.  This place was some sort of fancy living room that he’d seen before.  Luke couldn’t quite place why until Hannah strutted into the room.  Ryan followed her.

“Ryan, did she respond to your message?” Hannah asked.

“If by respond, you mean telling me to go to Tartarus, then yes, she did,” he responded.

“Too bad you didn’t listen.” Bryn strode into view.  Brady, Bradley, and Hallie were all there.

“What are they doing here?” Hannah demanded.

“They are my generals.  They sit and listen, nothing else.  Besides, while I may work for you does not mean I trust your workers not to attack me.  Many here believe I’ll turn on you at any moment.  I’d prefer to have some protection.”

“Do they have reason to?” Ryan prodded, plopping down into a chair.

“The only treason I’ll be committing anytime soon is making your body a sheath for my sword if you keep questioning me.  Now let us begin with the meeting.  I have many preparations to finish.”

Ryan glared at her but said nothing.  Hannah filled in the silence. “Are you going to introduce us to your generals?”

“These are my brothers, Bradley and Brady, sons of Zeus, grandsons of Aphrodite, great-grandsons of Hecate, and great-great grandsons of Apollo,” Bryn pointed to her brother’s respectively.  She turned to the brunette. “This is Hallie, daughter of Hades.”

“See, this is why we’ll win this war.  Because unlike Kronos and Gaea, we have demigods of the Big Three on our side.  Be seated.  Let’s begin this meeting.  It’ll be short because I have some more important things to do but I want updates.  Ryan, you begin.”

“Fifty new demigod recruits just in the past week, a few of them from Camp Half-Blood and a few from Camp Jupiter.  They’re already in training.”

“Very good.  How long until they’re ready to attack?”

“About three weeks.  They’ll be ready.  Have you decided which route you would like us to take?  It will make planning our attack strategy better.”

“Not yet, but be patient.  This must be precise and it will be calculated.  And it will only need a few of your best soldiers.  Understood?”

“Not a force?” Ryan whined.

“No,” Hannah said firmly. “Your chosen soldiers will need to be ready whenever I say they must fight.  It could be in three weeks, it could be in three months.  I have yet to decide but I have people watching them.  Now, onto other things.  Bryn, what news from camp?”

“Honestly there’s not much.  Obviously they’re training for the upcoming war.  Luke and Derek have gone off to college and Silena is in her senior year of high school,” Bryn informed.

“What college?”

“University of Texas.”

“When are they coming home?”

“In a week.  They have their final football game before the bowl games.”

Hannah smiled. “When is the bowl game they are attending?  And where is it?”

“I don’t know when, but I know it’s in San Francisco,” Bryn replied.  Luke could tell she didn’t entirely trust Hannah’s reason for wanting to know where his bowl game was.

“They’ll be next to the Romans.  Do you think he and Derek will make a side trip to try and convince the Romans to join their side?”

“No.  The first time I was with Derek in Camp Jupiter, we sort of destroyed the place and made a fool of the praetor Antony.  According to a source in the camp, the last time Luke, Silena, and Derek were there, Luke punched Antony.  Cora is in favor of joining the Greeks, but Antony’s pride is wounded which is preventing him from wanting to join.  There are still those in the Roman camp that distrust the Greeks.  You could use that to your advantage.”

“I could… how are you coming along Bryn?”

“Very well.  Our mission is almost complete.  We’ll be ready for the time the war comes.” Luke couldn’t help but wonder what this plan was.  If Bryn had created it, the gods know how bad it was going to end for the side opposing her, a.k.a. Luke’s side. “In fact, speaking of the mission, we should be getting back.  There’s still a vast amount of work that still needs to be prepared and done and if you want us to be ready for the warl we need all the time we can have.”

“Yes, be on your way.  I want to discuss some private matters with Ryan anyways.  We’ll talk soon.” Hannah waved her hand and Bryn, Brady, Bradley, and Hallie disappeared.  Luke was transported to a room much less decorated than Hannah’s but still nicely furnished.  The walls were purple with white and gold accents.  To Luke, it seemed very Greek but if Bryn was fighting against them, why have it look like that?

“How’d it go?” A boy asked.  He’d been lounging on the couch underneath the window.  He was tanned and had short dark-hair.

“Pretty sure that answer goes without saying.  She looks pissed,” another boy said.  He was much bigger, and much taller than the other.  He was sitting in a chair opposite the first.

“Ryan always pisses me off.  She just wanted an update on us and what not.  Nothing major, nothing prying.  However, Scott, I want you to get in contact with our little spy and find out when the bowl game is that Luke and Derek are playing in.  No questions for now, just do it.  Ty, contact the spy at the Roman camp.  Find out what’s going on there and see if we need to do anything to help the situation there.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Scott and Ty said simultaneously.

Bryn smiled. “Boys, how many times do I have to tell you that you do not have to call me ‘ma’am’?  It feels weird when I’m only a couple years older than you.”

“Sorry,” they said.

“Nothing to be sorry for.  Go, I’ll talk to you soon.”  When Ty and Scott had left, Bryn turned to her brothers and Hallie. “What do you think?”

“About?” one of the twins queried.

“About what Hannah is planning against the Three Musketeers?”

“I think Hannah believes that they’re all broken, or at least Luke is and let’s face it, he’s the one she needs to worry about of that group.  He’s unpredictable and that’s scary to a person planning for world domination.  I think she thinks that because of your death Bryn, he’s too depressed to fight,” Hallie said.

“If she truly thinks that, she’s a fool,” Bryn replied.

“Why do you say that?” A twin inquired.

“Derek, Silena, and Luke, they’re all upset, there’s no doubt about that.  Derek has his new powers, something he’s keeping a secret from everyone else.  The only people who know that I know of are the four of us, Luke, Silena, and our informant.  He’ll be so preoccupied with learning those that it’s giving him something else to think about other than me.  Silena is strong.  She’s upset but she’ll just keep calm and carry on.  Luke may be broken, but whether he is or not, I know my death is only adding more fuel to his fire.  He’s angry and he’s going to be more dangerous than ever before.”

“What are we going to do?” the other twin questioned.

“Stay out of his way as often as possible.”

“With what you have planned, that’s going to be pretty impossible.”

“That’s why I said ‘as often as possible.’  Let me change out of these clothes and then let’s go train, okay?”

The three demigods nodded and left.  Bryn sank down in her chair once they were gone.  She fiddled with her infinity necklace, the one Luke had given her.  Why had dream-Bryn warned him about real-life-Bryn?  She seemed like the same one he knew before she ‘died’.

Luke snapped out of his thoughts when Bryn jerked her hand away from her necklace.  Her hand was sparking.  She shook it roughly, a panicked confusion etched on her face.  Her chest rose rapidly.

“What the…” she breathed.  Shaking her head, she murmured, “Calm down Bryn… calm down… getting upset will change nothing.”

Her hand stopped sparking as she braced herself against the desk, hanging her head.  Taking a deep breath, she left the office, leaving Luke alone and confused.
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Luke opened his eyes.  He wasn’t alone now.  He was still in the bus heading to the bowl game in San Francisco.  Derek was sitting next to him attempting to do homework, emphasis on ‘attempting.’

“So,” Derek began quietly. “What’s going on with Bryn now?”

Luke groaned and pushed himself up from his slumped position. “How’d you know?”

“You talk in your sleep.  Don’t worry, no one else heard you.  So what happened this time?”

“Bryn went to talk to Hannah with the twins and Hallie.  It must’ve been a few weeks ago though because Hannah’s interested in us and the bowl game and they talked about how it was a few weeks away.  We need to be on watch.  And then Bryn, it was almost like she was having issues controlling her power.  I don’t know what would cause that though.  Stress?”

“Possibly, but what would stress Bryn out so much that she would start losing control over her powers?  The most I’ve ever seen Bryn stressed was the day you went missing.  She went berserk.  But even then she didn’t lose control.”

“Weird.  We’ll figure it out though.  In the meantime, I suggest you put your homework away.  We’re at the hotel.”  Derek looked out the window to the thirty-nine story hotel.

The football team disembarked off the bus.  They entered the hotel lobby which was strangely empty.  Luke would’ve thought that a hotel in such a busy part of San Francisco would be more… packed with people.  But he wasn’t complaining because there was more room to stand.  He’d been sitting for far too long.  Not an easy thing to do for a demigod.  The coaches went and checked everyone in.  The rooms could only fit two people so Derek and Luke had managed to get a room together.  They got their key and went to their room.  It was small but for the two boys and having experienced the quests they’d been on, this place was luxurious.  The two of them plopped on their bed.

“When are Silena and our parents getting here?” Derek queried, stretching.

“Around dinner time.  They apparently had a long wait for something.  I don’t know what.  We’re going out to dinner with them though.  We’re driving to Sausalito.  Apparently there’s some restaurant there that mom really wants to eat at.  Who knows?  All I know is that I’m hungry and we still have an hour to wait before they’re here so, I’m going to sleep it off.”

“Sounds like a plan.  I’m going to try and finish that homework.  That class is killing me…” Derek muttered.  Luke made an agreeing noise but was asleep a few seconds later.  When he awoke, it was to someone knocking on his door.  Luke rolled off his bed.  Derek had face-planted into his homework, fast asleep.  Opening the door, the Jacksons and the Michaels stood there, but there was also another family, a familiar one.

“Mrs. Winchester!  Mr. Drew!” Luke exclaimed in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“We thought we might come see you three again,” Mrs. Winchester said, smiling at him.  He gave her a hug and shook Mr. Drew’s hand.  Silena gave her brother a hug before walking over to wake Derek.  He jumped when she touched him.  She laughed and remarked, “I didn’t know you drooled in your sleep.”

He glared at her but got up, giving her a kiss.  When he saw the surprise guests, he greeted them enthusiastically.  After a few minutes of conversing, the group left to go to dinner.  It was surprisingly uneventful and went smoothly.  They talked school, football, camp, war, gave each other some trivia, exchanged stories, and caught up with each other.

“I guess we should start heading back,” Mrs. Jackson said. “You boys have an early practice tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Don’t remind us,” Derek laughed, standing up.  The group went outside into the chilly night air, causing Derek to comment, “Temperature dropped.”

“Drastically.  Let’s get back to the hotel.  Luke, Silena, Derek, if it’s too crowded in your parents’ car, you’re welcome to ride in ours.  We’re all going to the same place,” Mrs. Winchester offered.

“I’ll go,” Luke said.  Silena and Derek joined in.  The Jacksons and Michaels got in Percy’s car.  The three teenagers got in with Mrs. Winchester and Mr. Drew.

“So, what did you want to talk to us about?” Silena asked once she shut the door.

“It’s about Brady and Bradley,” Mrs. Winchester said.

“What about them?” Derek questioned.

“They came and visited us.  For a couple days, but they wouldn’t stay at our house.  They said they were staying in a hotel.  They wouldn’t say with whom either.  Then it dawned on me that they might not be fighting for you guys, but I know they wouldn’t fight with the wrong side unless someone had extreme persuasive abilities, and I don’t necessarily mean Charmspeaking.  The only reason it makes sense that they would join that twit, Hannah, is because someone they love is working for her.  The only person I can think of is Bryn.  Do you know anything about this?”

Luke, Silena, and Derek all remained silent.  They felt bad, knowing they should’ve said something sooner.  It was Silena who spoke up. “We know they’re working with her.  We didn’t want to say anything to you at first, especially because we just dropped the massive bomb on you that Bryn had really been alive this entire time and we didn’t want you worrying about whatever Brady and Bradley have gotten themselves in until we figured out what exactly they were doing.  We’re so sorry.  We should’ve told you…”

“No, I understand.  I’m going to work on finding out myself while you three figure out how to win this war.  And when I do-” Mrs. Winchester never finished her sentence.  Something rammed the back of the car, sending it spinning out of control, flipping over multiple times.  Luke protected his head from the flying shards of glass but he felt some cutting his face.  When the car came to a stop, upside down, Luke groaned, “Everyone okay?”

“I-I’m okay,” Silena stammered. “Derek?”

“I’m alive.  Somehow.  Mrs. Winchester?  Mr. Drew?”

No answer.

“We need to get out of here,” Luke said, unbuckling his seatbelt.  He braced himself from falling down with his hands on the roof of the car, his hands being stabbed by glass shards.  He grunted but forced himself to move.  As he was shifting himself out of the broken window, arms grabbed hold of him.  Luke started to freak out until he heard his mother’s voice, telling him to stay calm while they got them out of there.  Percy was getting an unconscious Mrs. Winchester out while the Michaels helped Derek and Silena.  Once Luke was out, he tried helping his mom get Mr. Drew out from the mangled passenger’s side of the car.  He had blood trickling down the side of his forehead.  They carefully pulled him out.  Annabeth pulled out some nectar and forced some into his and Mrs. Winchester’s mouths.  Within moments, the two regained consciousness.

“What happened?” Mrs. Winchester murmured.

“We got rammed by something.  Speaking of-” Silena stopped speaking, looking around. “Uh, guys?”

Luke glanced around, quickly standing up.  Four hummers encircled them, two people in each accompanied by four monsters of an assorted variety, mainly dracanae, Telekhines, and Laistrygonians.  Twenty-four enemies in total.  And standing on one of the Hummers was Ryan.  He wore a smug expression on his face which made Luke want to punch it right off.

“It’s sad how easy it was to capture you three,” Ryan said, jumping down onto the ground.  He started walking over to the injured group of demigods.  Luke stood up to block him.

“What do you want us for?”

“I don’t want you.  Hannah does.  I’m just getting you for her.  Now, if you come quietly and without a fight, I’ll let your parents live and Bryn’s.  Don’t want to make her brothers orphans, do you?  They hate you enough as it is.” Luke bit his tongue.  He wasn’t going to ask why. “The boy that led to their sister’s death.  The contempt they have for you.”

“That wasn’t Luke’s fault,” Silena sneered. “Bryn knew what she was doing.  She knew she wasn’t coming back.  But as I recall, you had to do with her death, so I’m going to assume her brothers hate you too.” Ryan glared at her.  Luke wanted to hug his sister at that moment. “Why does Hannah want us?”

“I don’t know.  I do as she bids, and, if you don’t do as I bid, then we’re going to kill Mr. Drew over there,” Ryan warned. “Janine, show them how serious we are.”

A girl rose with a bow and arrow.  Before anyone could react, she sent an arrow into Mr. Drew’s shoulder.  It wasn’t fatal, but it would cause a lot of pain.

“Fine, we’ll go with you,” Luke said.

“Just leave them out of this,” Derek added.  He, Luke, and Silena started walking over to Ryan, much to the protests of their parents.  Just as the three of them reached him, he was gone, replaced by a motorcycle.  The motorcyclist had literally slammed into Ryan, sending him sprawling onto the ground a good ten feet away.  He rolled over, amazingly conscious but completely dazed.

Five more motorcyclists appeared, skidding to a stop.  They were all dressed the same.  Black boots, black jeans, black shirts, black leather jackets, and black helmets with visors blocking their eyes.  The remaining bikers got off their rides, pulling out swords, shields, and arrows.  The leader pulled out their sword and charged the closest monster.

The battle was on.

“Voi̱thí̱ste ton!” The leader ordered in a high-pitched voice.  Help him.

Two of the fighters went sliding to a stop next to Mr. Drew who was starting to regain consciousness.  They ripped off their gloves and hovered them over his injured head.  Light emanated from them.  So those two were healers.  They must’ve been sons of Apollo, or they at least had Apollo blood in them.

A short yelp erupted from Luke’s right.  He whipped his head around to see Silena tackled to the ground by a dracanae.  He took out Cyclone and charged.  A Laistrygonian leapt in his way but Luke catapulted himself over it and stabbed it in the back without looking.  The monster gave a roar of rage before disappearing in cloud of sulfur.  Silena managed to kick herself away and pull out Seismos and slashed at the snake lady, effectively getting rid of it.  She scampered next to her brother.  They went back to back.  Derek joined them, bow armed.

“So, what’s our plan of attack?” Derek asked, firing an arrow into the heart of a Telekhine.

“You two hold them off here.  I’m going to break through and help out the leader.  She’s all by herself and while she’s handling herself quite well, backup won’t hurt,” Luke said, already charging through the monster blockade.  Silena shouted at him to be careful.  He slid under the club of a Laistrygonian, chopping of its leg with his sword.  Standing backup, he saw his parents and Derek’s defending Mrs. Winchester and Mr. Drew who were pretty much out of commission in this fight.  Two of the mystery fighters were with them, effectively kicking butt.  Three of the other fighters were luring some of the monsters away from their targets.  Then the leader was backed up against a hummer by three demigods, one of them being Ryan.  Luke didn’t want to kill anyone, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, but he wasn’t going to let them hurt this leader, especially since she was helping him out and probably saving not only his life, but Silena and Derek’s as well.  Using the flat of his blade, he struck the closest demigod in the helmet, knocking them down and out to the ground.  Ryan turned on him and swung his sword at Luke’s head.

“Whoa!” Luke exclaimed, leaning so far back he fell over.  Ryan’s sword sliced through the air, heading straight towards Luke’s face.  He rolled to the side, hearing the metal clang against the asphalt next to his ear.

“Hey!” Someone shouted.  Ryan turned around.  Luke watched as the leader leapt off the hood of the Hummer, slammed into Ryan’s neck with her thighs, bent back, twisting so that she could bring him down; pretty much she turned into Natasha Romanoff for a brief moment, but it was awesome nonetheless.  Ryan went down while the leader landed gracefully on her hands and feet, like a cat.  She kicked the downed enemy in the head, knocking him out.

“Párte tous éxo̱ apó edó̱!” The leader barked.  It was then that it really hit Luke that it was a girl.  Immediately he thought it must be Penn or Bryn, more likely the former because Bryn seemed only to show herself as Penn to their group.

“No, no, no, we’re not getting out of here unless you’re coming with us,” Luke remarked, standing up. “You need to explain why you keep helping us… Penn.”

Her head turned towards him, telling him he’d guessed right. “You do not tell me what to do after I have just saved your life,” she said, putting emphasis on the pronouns.  When she tried to walk away, he grabbed her arm.  Penn yanked it out of his grasp, kicking his feet from underneath him.  He landed on his back but before he could get up, he felt his arms being pinned to the ground, a knee digging into his chest.

“Listen to me.  When I or my comrades come to stop you from being kidnapped or from being killed, you let us do our thing and then let us go on our way.  You do not follow us, you do not try to find us after.”

“Why?  What’s so bad about me seeing you?”

“You are not ready to know.”

“In your eyes, will I ever be?”

Penn stayed silent for a couple seconds before, “No, not while I am alive.  After that, maybe you will find out.”

“What if I die before you?”

“You are not going to do that,” she said firmly.  Luke bit his tongue.  Except for Hannah and Bryn, no one else knew about his curse.  He wasn’t about to let someone else know, someone who could easily tell Silena and Derek and his parents, the very people he didn’t want to find out about his curse.

“You know, if you didn’t keep saving my life, we wouldn’t be having this issue,” Luke pointed out.

“I need you alive.  Now, I am going to get up and I am going to have three of my people take you and your people back to your hotel.  Meanwhile, I am going to make sure these buffoons do not follow you.  When I get up, you will stay where you are until one of my people come and get you,” she said, adding, “Stay.”

“I’m not a dog,” he snapped.

“Not physically, although after all this fighting you might smell like one.” Penn got up.  Luke stayed in his spot, glaring at her.  One of the other mystery people pulled him up and over to the motorcycle.

“Your parents, the Michaels, and Mr. Drew and Mrs. Winchester are in the car going to the hospital.  You, Silena, and Derek are coming with three of us to get you back to the hotel,” the person said in a voice that was obviously feminine.  She pulled him onto her motorcycle.  Derek and Silena were forced to do the same.  The motorcycles revved to life.  They were off like a shot.  Luke held on tightly, especially considering he had no helmet on and if he fell, he couldn’t spare the brain cells he would lose if he fell off and hit his head.

Within twenty minutes the motorcycles pulled up in front of the hotel.  Luke hopped off.  Silena and Derek came to stand by him.

“Thank you for saving us back there.  Tell your leader that too,” Silena said.

“We will.  Try to avoid any more trouble.  We won’t be able to save you every time,” the girl warned.

“Why won’t Penn let us talk to her?” Luke asked.

The person to the girl’s right replied in a deep, gruff voice. “We don’t know the whole story.  She won’t say anything to us.  We just know it could get her and others killed.  We want to avoid that.  And you do too because she’s the only reason why Hannah hasn’t killed you yet.”

“What’s that?”

“She needs you alive.” The motorcyclists then pulled away from the curb and disappeared in the traffic.
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Why do y’all think Penn needs Luke, Silena, and Derek alive?  Who were the rest of the mysterious fighters.