Camp Half-Blood New Age Book One Chapter Five

The Friendly Killer

We fought a few minor monsters, while heading south west. “How long has it been?”, Onyx asked. I responded, “Ever since our car flipped over, we have been walking for nine hours. The sign over there says five miles until Cleveland, so we don’t have much longer until our first pitstop.” Asteria looked around, “What time is it?” I looked at the sun, “It is 9:34 in the morning.”

“How did you know that?” Asteria wondered.

“I can tell when I look at the sun.”

“Oh that’s cool.”

“Yeah it’s pretty helpful.”

Onyx looked concerned. “What is it?” I asked. He stared off in the distance, “I can feel someone shadow traveling, they’re getting closer and closer, they're coming really fast. We need to get out from under this tree, they can travel anywhere that has a shadow bigger than them. It will drain their energy to shadow travel, but they might not have far, so they could still have a lot of energy.” “Well we should stay and figh—”, I was launched into the air before I could finish talking. A boy was holding onto me while we were falling from the sky. I punched him off of me then I flew to where he was. I grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the tree.

“Who are you?” I demanded. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, the fire just—” I cut him off, “The fire didn’t hurt me, I’m immune.” He looked at me, panting, “Oh, well sorry for bothering you.” Onyx laughed, “I thought you were some maniac psycho trying to kill us.” “And I thought you purposely came at us”, Asteria added. “Oh, well I did, I like killing off powerful demigods, so that I can get higher on the most powerful list.” The boy said so casually. “There’s a list?” Asteria asked. The boy laughed, “Oh no, there’s no actual list. Also I just like to be as friendly as possible, I don’t wanna come off as rude or mean to people.” I was confused, “Right, because killing people for fun isn’t rude or mean at all.” Onyx chimed in sarcastically, “Yeah, I’ve heard it’s the new trend for trying to be nice, killing people off.” “Well, I’ve been doing this for years, and I’m the son of Hades, he is one of the big three, I’m too powerful.” “Yeah, um, I’m the son of a titan, and he is the personification of his element.” I snickered. “And I’m the son of a primordial god, who is also a personification of his element”, Onyx added. Asteria cleared her throat, “I think what they’re trying to say, is that your dad is nothing compared to their dads.”

“I call upon the army of the dead”, The boy yelled. The earth opened right in front of him, and skeletal warriors with knives came out. “Defeat me now, ha ha”, the boy flew to me and slammed me into the nearest buildings. I could see Onyx and Asteria fight the skeletons. Hopefully they will be alright on their own. I had to focus on killing this son of Hades.

He summoned a thick log of emerald, and ordered it to slam into me. I flew through the building and came out the other side. I hit the ground.

When he came around again he commanded another emerald stem to shoot out at me. I dodged it and threw my sword at the boy. It pierced right through his shoulder, right above his heart, nearly missing it. “I have been hired by Perses, he ordered me to kill you and your friends. I will not let him down.” The boy said as he took out my sword. “Yes you will”, I held my hand up and the sword flew back to me, like thor’s hammer, that was cool.

I blasted him with fire but he blocked it with a wall made of emerald. I ran right into the wall, it broke but it definitely left a mark. He grabbed a knife from his shoulder pocket and swung it. I dodged and grabbed it. Then I held it to his neck, “Stand down, and I won’t kill you.” “I don't surrender," he replied. He swiped at my arm, turned me around and then put me in a headlock. He grabbed the knife back and held it to my forehead. “Your fault then”, I said as I gripped his arm. His arm started smoking, he started screaming, he let go of my neck and dropped the knife. When I saw his hand, it was bubbling up, like a third degree burn, but worse.

I walked over to him, “Do you give up?” “Never”, He replied. I took my sword and kneeled down and stabbed him in the chest, right on the heart. He yelled, then his eyes rolled back, I felt for a pulse. Nothing. I grabbed him by his legs and walked back around to where Onyx and Asteria were. Asteria was gripping her side, and Onyx was limping.

“You guys alright?” The crack in the earth started closing, so I decided to throw the boy into it. Asteria looked up, “I got stabbed in the side, and Onyx broke his ankle, knee, and hip.” “Don’t try to heal us, Cyrus, it will take too much of your energy.”

“Thanks for caring, but the sun is out, it will give me energy.” I said.

“Yeah, but you still won’t have as much energy”.

“It’s fine”.

“Speak for yourself Onyx, I kind of want this knife puncture to go away, It really hurts.”, Asteria moaned in pain. We all laughed. I brought a mini sun to my hands, hand projected it onto myself and the other two. After a few minutes, we were all healed, and it really did drain some of my energy. Since we had been walking for nine hours, we decided to chill for the day, and start heading for Franklin tomorrow.

We ate lunch, went to an arcade, Asteria had loads of cash in her space storage. Since mortals couldn’t see through the mist, we used our cornucopia to feed the homeless. I also found my Greece card when I took my armor off. It’s a card to buy things. It’s connected to my kingdom’s money in Greece. So I have millions of dollars to spend, from my prince money. At the end of the day, we slept by the bank of a lake.

Onyx was asleep, but I was not. I just was busy thinking about my mother, and the kingdom, and everything going on. I didn’t know how I'd already survived everything that came my way. I didn’t know how I would complete this quest. But I did know one thing, I wasn’t going to just let Perses hurt more people, I had to stop him.

I noticed Asteria was sitting at the bank, staring off into the water. I really really like her, she’s sweet, caring and very very beautiful. And she’s a blonde, that really matters. I walked up to her and sat down to the left of her. “Hey”, I said. “Oh hey”, She looked like she was worried. “What’s wrong?” I asked her. “It’s just, well, I guess I’m scared. And, well, the truth is, I’ve known I was a demigod my whole life.”

I just stared at her and she continued, “My dad died, and my mother, Hecate, protected me, as long as I worked for her. She turned evil during the second Titanomachy, and now she’s working to become the queen of the gods. I know all her plans. And Perses, he is working for her. I cracked the code for one of her potions, and I gave her the key to the steps of controlling the gods. It’s all my fault.” I grabbed her hand, “It’s not your fault, you were forced to do it, your mother is evil, you just didn’t wanna get hurt, and you wanted to make your mother love you. She smiled and leaned on my shoulder. I just wanted her to be okay.

“I need to tell you something”, I said. She sat up, “What is it?”

“It’s about my mother.”

“Oh, you already told me she passed.”

“It’s not that”, I didn’t know if I should tell her, but she just told me her secret. I could tell her, right? My mother didn’t want me to tell anyone, it could put me in danger, but I decided to anyway, “It wasn’t some random lady that freed Helios—”

“It was your mom?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell Chiron?”

“Because my mother didn’t want me to tell anyone, it could get me in trouble, and she did it on purpose.”

“Oh, I understand, does Onyx know?”

“No but I’m going to tell him.”

We both laid down. It was weird, but I could have sworn I saw someone who looked just like my brother from Greece. Back when I was fighting that sun of Hades, a kid poked out from the tree. It looked like my older brother’s face, Perseus. He was my older half brother, he’s dead though. If he were alive he would be 13 right now, one year exactly older than me. Our birthdays are both on June 1, so I just turned 12. I decided to leave it alone.

A lady started shimmering, and forming into the air. When I saw her. I stood up and bowed. I recognized her from my mother’s stories. She was wearing a long white dress that was draping behind her on the floor, with a golden helmet, a golden guard on her breast, and golden boots, her legs showing as her dress opened up in a split. She had long brown hair coming out of her helmet. She had a golden spear that was sparking at the blade tip. She had a golden shield with an engraving of medusa on it. An owl was resting on her shoulder. Asteria woke up next to me. I stood back up, “Hello, Athena, how are you?” “I am doing great young Cyrus”, She replied. I decided not to ask how she knew my name, she was a goddess after all. “I am happy to see you, you are my favorite goddess, you’re so smart, brave, and sweet. So why are you here?”

“I am here because I needed to give you something, here”, She handed me a golden key with red ribbons on it. “What is it?” I asked. She stared into my eyes, “It is a key, when you find the antikathistó, say the words xekleidóste tin elefthería. It will create a flow of energy that allows you to use the antikathistó.” “Thank you Athena”, Asteria smiled. I gave Athena a hug, “Thank you.” Athena smiled at me, “You're welcome Asteria, you’re welcome grandson.” I jumped back, “What?” She laughed, “Your mother is a demigod, I am her mother. I had her with your grandfather, Atreus Storm, he was the son of Perses. Cyrus you are powerful, and come from a powerful line. You're a son of a powerful god, and a demigod, and grandson of a powerful demigod. Use this power to help you. I need to go.” And then she left. “So did you remember what you had to say? I know I didn’t”, Asteria asked. “Yes, it’s xekleidóste tin elefthería, it means to unlock liberty. Come on, the sun is coming up soon.” I noted.

We made sure to make it seem no one was there so that someone couldn’t track us down. We told Onyx everything that happened and then headed for Franklin.