Chapter Five

   Lucas


   I woke up with soft sunlight on my face. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and got up. I looked to my half-sister, Annabeth. I smiled seeing her relaxed face. But then I heard a roar: a roar like metal scraping against metal.
  Immediately, I woke Annabeth up. A dagger fell out of her pocket. It was mine: the one she killed Medusa with. I quickly told her she could keep it, and I took out a flute.
    "A flute?! You're using a flute for a weapon?" Annabeth said when she saw my silver flute.
    "Watch." I said. I blew one note on the flute, and quickly grabbed it at the mouthpiece. Gradually, it changed into a sword. A sword with celestial bronze, and crackling with electricity. I showed her my watch and pressed the button. It turned into a shield, with a lightning engraved in it.
    Rustling came from the bushes. A lion jumped out with glowing, red eyes and jagged, white teeth. I charged at it. My sword bounced off, making the lion have no harm at all.
    Annabeth, terrified of the lion, dodged it's swipes and bites. She ducked underneath, then stabbed the belly. Her force was so strong, it made a crack in it's fur. I suddenly remembered the lion's name.
    "Nemean Lion! Watch out!" I said. Annabeth understood and jumped onto it's back.
    I winced as the Nemean Lion tore her skin. She needed help.
   I charged at the lion, getting it's attention. It opened it's mouth and I charged in. I crawled down it's throat and found his metal heart, thumping so loud, it hurt my ears. I gritted my teeth and stabbed it.

   Annabeth


    My eyesight was dotted with black dots. It was fuzzy, and my shoulder stung. I gasped for breath, clutching my first weapon. I wanted to charge at it, but half of my brain only said, "Rest, rest! you have all the time in the world! Lie down, relax!" The other half was focusing on the pain.
   Fear wrapped my heart as I saw Lucas crawl into the lion's mouth. I grew strength, and charged at the lion, giving my absolute best. Where's my powers?
   I expected Lucas to climb back out of the mouth, but the lion licked it's lips. His eyes bored into me, wondering if I would go suicidal too.
   My fear turned to anger. My anger turned to rage. My rage turned to fury. I began to glow, not caring a bit. Suddenly, a fissure cracked underneath the lion. Thousands of souls pulled the Nemean Lion into the fissure, but some souls were pulling Lucas out. As soon as the Nemean Lion was swallowed up in the fissure, it closed and I went to aid my brother.
   "Lucas?" I poked him with a stick. I heard a cough and his eyes opened.
   "Let's move, before any other monsters come!" Lucas told me.
   We packed up our things and went into the Master Bolt. We began zooming, and the sky was a dark gray. It began to rain.
   "My dad must be coming." Lucas announced when a ball of electricity began to float towards us.
   The ball shattered with a blinding light, then Zeus was standing where the electricity was.
   Zeus cleared his throat. "Annabeth, the Olympian Counsel must speak to you... NOW!" He turned to Lucas. "Have you guys been well?"
   "If you count defeating the Nemean Lion well, then yeah!" I  muttered.
   The god of the sky's eyes widened. "The Nemean Lion? The Nemean Lion!" Zeus said in amazement. I saw a shadow in his eyes, and that meant something was wrong. Zeus paced back and forth, muttering to himself in alarm.
   "You must get to TCFD, quick!" Zeus said, after 30 minutes.
   Suddenly, I heard a laugh. It was more terrible than the Nemean Lion's roar, and trust me, that was horrible enough. Time seemed to slow down. The ground underneath was opening up. A dark mist flowed out of it.
   A man in a black outfit, with black hair, ran out. He held a staff and helmet made of skulls, and he chased the mist angrily.
   "It's your dad," Lucas whispered to me.
   When the ground closed, the dark mist began to form into a humanoid body.
   "OH, BY THE RIVER STYX!" Zeus groaned. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!"
   My dad glared at my uncle. "Hey, not all of my furies have been paying attention!" Hades said.
   The humanoid form began to grow color. There stood a man with pale skin, creepy golden eyes, brown, ruffled hair and a suit on. I'm pretty sure I was as pale as him when I realized who he was.
   It was Kronos, the Titan Lord of Time.