The Awakening: Chapter 8

Josh's P.O.V

After we cut Annabeth loose from her bonds, she had to be carried again, because she is now too weak to move (again), but this time it's not my friends' fault. It's Niobe and Arachne who wants Annabeth to die.

Annabeth is carried by Thompson, who tells her that everything is going to be okay, and she believes it. I figure that Thompson is one of the Aphrodite children who can charmspeak. I figure that she would be alright as long as there's no one attacking us again.

Just then, we arrived at the city of Vegas, and there's the Lotus Hotel and Casino. I fought my urge to go there, and as I looked back, Thompson is rushing forward, wanting to go there.

All of us pulled Thompson back. "Thompson! Don't go in there?"

"Why? It's a good place to stay, isn't it?" Thompson objected.

"Trust me!" Annabeth told him. "You go in there, you stay forever!"

Thompson seemed to be quite aware of this. "Oh, okay then."

Then we kept walking.

Just then, there's a flying cage right above us. We don't know who is flying them because is directly above us.

Then, as I watched, the cage dropped on us. This is the cage where there are no windows or something to look out from. We tried to move aside, but the cage is far too wide. The cage dropped on us and surrounded us in complete darkness.

I caught my hand in a ball of light and they can see again.

"What happened?" Jessica asked.

"You know what had happened, WE'RE TRAPPED!!!!!" Thompson started screaming.

"Thompson, calm down!" I put my non-lit hand on his shoulder.

"Now, does anyone had any idea of what we could do?"

"Why don't we just ask Annabeth? She's the strategist here..." Cora suggested.

I had forgotten about Annabeth, she's lying down and moaning. She's breathing heavily and cannot even talk. I touched her giving her enough strength to just talk quietly.

"Annabeth? Can you tell me how to get out of here?"

Annabeth is thinking already. "We can use lasers?"

Lasers... they are concentrated infrared wave that can cut through sheets of steel.

I decided to try something. I willed my hand to produce a brighter ball of light and concentrate it onto one point of the cage. It started to burn, but it is not enough.

Then, I decided to try something that I haven't tried before.

"Hey cora, can you lift me, please?"

"What?" Cora squealed with joy."

"I said, can you lift me, please."

"With pleasure," She said, and began to lift me. I told her to position me in her arms circling me in her hips, and as I willed all of my strength to come out, a very massive laser emanated from my body, through my head and began projecting forwards to the cage's front. It took an incredible amount of effort just to do that, even greater than summoning a wall of force. I collapsed on the spot.

Cora's P.O.V

While I'm carrying him, he suddenly glow with intense brightness as I aimed his head to the front of the box.

He shoots intense laser beam that melts the cage.

I felt so relieved when we broke out of that box. I just saw Josh glowing in every part of his body in an intense brightness while he does his whole body laser thingy. Although we broke out of the cage, Josh collapsed on the spot.

"Josh?" I asked in worry. I lifted him again and he slumped forward.