Ebony Wings: Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Cecelia 

Cecelia watched the shape-shifting monster raked his sword out of Aidan's shoulder and Aidan crumpling to the floor.

She shrieked and charged forward on Arcadia. Previous attempts to break through were fruitless; everytime she got close, the monsters just raised a wall of darkness to stop her. This time though- she needed to break through this time.

Monsters- that was what she had decided to call them. There was no other word to describe them. They weren't human or even demigod. They were monsters.

Cecelia grit her teeth and felt the painful tug at her gut. She knew that she had some degree of charmspeaking, she had used it to make Aidan more comfortable (a nicer way to say she slightly manipulated him) with talking to her about his past.

Of course she didn't exactly regret it; he probably wouldn't have opened up to Theresa if she hadn't. Aidan was probably the most guarded person she had ever met and frankly it was annoying. All she did was nudge him the right direction; don't judge her.

Cecelia gathered all of her power and put it to her throat. "Away!" She said.

She had said it so forcefully that all most of the male monsters froze and stared at her in shock; the weaker minded ones actually stepped aside for her.

Cecelia almost smiled; almost.

There was one among them that was uneffected by her charmspeak. The female monster raised her hand and a tendril of shadow lashed out, wrapping around the child of Aphrodite's waist. The tendril pulled Cecelia off Arcadia and straight onto the ground.

She had enough of a sense to roll to distribute the force but the wind was still knocked out her.

Cecelia didn't have time to lay down however as the female monster struck at her. Cecelia rolled away and looked around for her sabre.

"Looking for this?" The female monster held up the bronze curved sword; her face along with her red eyes emotionless.

Cecelia grit her teeth. If the monster had her weapon then Cecelia had no way to defend herself. Cecelia was at a disadvantage.

So the child of Aphrodite was totally surprised when the monster tossed her sword at her and it landed on her feet.

"What-"

"Weapon or no weapon; you're still just a child of Aphrodite. You're still weak no matter what." The female monster spoke.

Cecelia stopped herself from lunging at the monster; mainly because that would've been suicide. She bent down and picked up her sabre while stealing a glance at the other monsters. The boys were still frozen except the shape-shifting one who was watching Cecelia with a crooked smile.

She couldn't see Aidan but he was probably still on the ground somewhere.

She raised her sabre and pointed it at the female monster. "Name's Cecelia."

The female monster jerked up in surprise as if she hadn't expected Cecelia to introduce herself. "Yeah, whatever."

"What's your name?"

She jerked up again. "What's that have to do with anything?"

"Can't I at least know the name of my potential murderer?"

She stared at Cecelia dumbfounded, as if speaking her name out loud wasn't something she did a lot. "Allison. My name is Allison."

"Well, nice to meet you Allison." Cecelia said without a smile, positioning her sabre in front of her.

Allison paused. "Likewise." The darkness rose and wrapped around her arms, forming a pair of claws.

Cecelia bit her lip, she had never fought against something like that before- well not on human hand in any case. She had fought plenty of clawed monsters before.

Luckily she didn't have to deal with Allison because that's when lightning crackled in the sky and Cecelia felt the hair at the back of her neck stand.

Lightning struck the ground near her and Cecelia jumped.

Silena came bolting out of the night, her arms emanating sparks. She pointed a finger at the circle of monsters and a lightning bolt struck him right in the middle of his chest and he fell like a rock.

That broke the spell that Cecelia had on them. They woke up and rushed forward towards Silena.

That's when Mike fell out of the sky in a whirlwind. He swung his spear in an arc and a blast of wind followed the swing, knocking the monsters back like bowling pins.

Cecelia jumped again when she heard the sound of something clashing against metal. She turned to see Aaron who had intercepted a blow from Allison with his longsword.

"Go!" Aaron ordered, shoving Allison forward and swinging his sword.

Cecelia nodded and ran forward. She had to get Aidan.

The Ares cabin had charged forward too. They clashed against the monsters, their metal weapons against weapons made out of shadow.

And amongst the chaos, one of them caught Cecelia's eye. Zed, brandishing his spear and shield.

He thrusted the spear out and impaled one of them in the heart. He tried to pull out his spear but it had gotten stuck inside the monster so he abandoned it and grabbed the sword of one of his fallen siblings.

He blocked a hit from a shadow axe and then cut at the monster's legs. When the monster feel to his knees, Zed cut his throat.

Cecelia almost stopped to watch the gore-dance that Zed was creating. It was a horrible sight; but you had to admire Zed's strength and tenacity as he cut down all the enemies in his path.

Zed ran his sword into the neck of another and watched the monster fall. He seemed to get what he needed to do; he couldn't kill them but he could at least incapacitate them for a bit by striking important parts.

His eyes eventually met Cecelia's and he nodded, jogging to go join her.

Silena and Mike were still unleashing the wrath of the sky against the monsters; Silena with her lightning and Mike with his storms. Clarisse herself was striking out with her electric spear. But-

The monsters were striking back with superhuman strength and speed and along with their immortality- Even though their numbers were few-

"We're not winning are we?" Cecelia asked when Zed matched pace with her.

"Not if our enemies can't die." Zed admitted. "We'll eventually get tired. Some of us are already falling."

Cecelia knew very knew about some of the campers who were laying down motionless on the ground. She turned away from them. It was horrible to think that way but they were already lost; now she had to focus on the one she had to save.

"Aidan!" She knelt down beside him, sheathing her sabre.

"Holy Ares." Zed gasped. "He's messed up bad." He began looking around for potential threats. "We need to move him or at least get one of the Apollo kids here. And I don't either of us could carry him."

"Move!" Aaron's gruff voice boomed into the night. He pushed past them and bent down to grab Aidan, hefting him up into his arms.

"Aaron- your chest." Cecelia pointed out.

Aaron's chest was bare of his chestplate and his shirt was painted red with blood. It wasn't Aidan's blood because Aaron got there with that blood soaked shirt.

"It's not my blood." Aaron revealed. "Now let's get moving."

Zed nodded and jogged to follow Aaron. "Cecelia, move!"

"Right!" She whistled for Arcadia who had ran off somewhere. Her loyal horse stopped beside her and Cecelia climbed on.

Arcadia galloped forward, easily matching pace with the two boys. Arcadia stayed in front of them as Cecelia swung her sabre and cut anyone standing in her way.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zed tackle another monster and stabbed the thing in the throat.

Cecelia looked away. She honestly couldn't understand how some demigods could perform such violent acts without flinching. She couldn't stand the gore.

What made it worse was that she couldn't decide whether their lack of heistation to be bravery or foolishness.

"Chiron! Chiron!" She shouted.

The teacher was tending to other injuries demigods when he looked up. "What's wrong Cecelia?" Then he seemed to find Aidan with his eyes. "Di immortals. Set him down here!"

Aaron reached the make-shift first-aid station and placed Aidan on one of the stretchers. Cecelia stepped off the horse and rushed to his side.

Another voice screamed and Chiron grit his teeth. "I'll be right back."

Will appeared, his hands full of bandages. "What's the ruck- Oh gods!" He passed on the bandages to another one of his siblings. "Gale, deal with Diana." And then he dropped down to look at Aidan.

"He's really messed up." Will informed. "Get me some Nectar, now!"

Cecelia was shaking. The adrealine had worn off somewhat so now she was shaking with fear. She couldn't lose him- not another little brother.

"CC." Aaron's fingers laced in between hers. "It's going to be okay."

And with his touch, she found her center. Aaron, her rock, was able to keep her grounded.

"He's breathing, that's good. He's not dead yet." Will tried to reassure them as he took the bottle of nectar from one of his siblings.

"Help him up." Will ordered and the two of them helped Aidan into a sitting position. Will opened up the bottle of nectar and poured the golden contents onto Aidan's injured shoulder. Aidan instantly opened his eyes and screamed in pain.

"Hold him down!" Will ordered.

"I can't he's too strong." Aaron replied.

"You don't have to help him."

Cecelia turned to the voice, facing Gideon who had his arm in a sling.

"You-" Cecelia couldn't stand up because she was holding Aidan down. "You want him to die!"

"No- As much as I want him to, he won't be able to die." Gideon replied grimly.

Cecelia ignored him at his point. She gathered up her power into her throat again. "Relax Aidan."

Immediately, Aidan's body went slack and he released a sigh.

"Eat this." Will stuffed an ambrosia square into his mouth and Aidan began to chew while looking off into the distance. He was whispering as he chewed. "z"

"It's okay Aidan." Cecelia ran her fingers through his hair. "You're okay."

"He's moves like one of them you know." Gideon spoke again.

"Just shut up Gideon!" Cecelia shouted.

"Ze-" Aidan said slightly louder, Cecelia felt him tense up.

Gideon frowned. "Why don't you listen to me-"

"Shut up before I do it for you!" Cecelia spat and then turned to Will. She frowned. "Why aren't you doing anything?"

Will was staring dumbfounded at Aidan.

"Will! What the heck are you doing?! I said do something!"

"I don't-"

"What the hell do you mean you don't?"

"I mean I don't have to. Look!" Will pointed at Aidan.

Cecelia turned to Aidan and gasped. The multiple wounds one Aidan's arms, legs and abdomen were closing. They were healing themselves.

Even his bad shoulder- black threads went in and out of wound, sewing the wound back together.

"Zed." Aidan whispered but no one heard him because they were too busy looking at his healing factor.

"What the fu-" Will swore.

"Holy-" Aaron said.

"My god." Cecelia gasped.

"Zed!" Aidan jumped to his feet. Before Cecelia could open her mouth to say anything; Aidan ran.

Running was not the word she would've used though; disappeared would've been a better word because Aidan moved so fast it was as if he had disappeared.

"What the-" Cecelia said and turned to Gideon.

A healing factor so powerful that he healed a wound that should've killed him. Moving at superhuman speeds. Being strong enough to fight against the three of them holding him down.

Cecelia physically shook her head as if denying it would make it any less true. Gideon was the one who knew- because he was the only one here that had faced Aidan in a real fight.

Gideon looked at them grimly. "I told you; he's one of them."

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For the stronger the Light; the thicker the shadows that fall.  18:31, October 2, 2014 (UTC)