The Flames of Hope Ch 13

Chapter 13~Megan Makes a Deal
I then motioned for everyone to gather around me and we all regrouped. I ran right in front of Ceto and drew fire from my hammer. I swung my hammer around and a large fireball went sailing her way. I didn’t actually think it would hurt at all and I was right as it was extinguished by her torrent of water. It did however get her attention on me so in a way, it kind of worked.

“You are a fool,” she laughed. “I guess I will end your foolish existence first.”

At that comment, I started walking backward while continuing to launch fire at her. Each time, steam would shoot from the water and before long a layer of steam covered the ground. As I did this, my friends would block incoming attacks of water whip slashes or jet streams of water. We were actually working as a team for once. It didn’t take long before we were forced back against the van with Ceto getting ready for her final assault.

“You will never again see the rising of the tide young ones,” she said and raised her arm to finish us off. She was distracted however when an arrow flew at her from the corner of her eye and was sucked into the torrent of water. “Please tell me that wasn’t your plan?”

“Wait for it,” I said and all at once an explosion erupted from the center of her personal whirlpool and it disconnected her from the lake. The water she controlled began to splash harmlessly on the ground and she fell to the ground, right on top of the golden ball of yarn.

The ball then seem to explode itself as strands of Celestial Bronze shot out in multiple directs before lacing around each other and formed a net that trapped Ceto inside. She began spewing out insults in ancient Greek and I only caught a few. She started clawing at the ground and tried to pull herself back to the water.

“Back up!” Megan shouted at Sarah and she managed to put the car in reverse and backed up until the string still connected to the front bumper pulled tight. Ceto wasn’t going anywhere.

“Good thinking,” Malcolm said as he patted me on the back. I felt that sharp pain return and fell to my knees as it had gotten a lot worse. Malcolm then looked at his hand and had a shocked look on his face.

“Sarah, get over here!” he yelled toward the van. She fiddled with the door handle and ran over. I looked up as I was at this point on my back and I saw Malcolm show her his hand which was covered in red blood. Had he been hurt I wondered, but instead of looking at him they flipped me onto my stomach and took my shirt off. I saw a dark spot on the back that was a dark shade of red and I finally realized that when I went to protect Megan from the initial attack, something had pierced my back and I was heavily bleeding. I heard Sarah begin to sing but it didn’t feel like the pain was going away.

“The wound is too deep for a simply demigod to heal,” Ceto unenthusiastically said. From what I could see in her direction, she had stopped squirming around like a fish out of water and had excepted that she was powerless now that she was trapped and away from water.

“Shut up,” Megan shouted as she watched in vein as Sarah continued to sing.

“I can heal him if you free me,” she said, as if trying to bargain.

“What can you do?” Megan yelled back. “You’re not a goddess of healing.”

“You’re right,” she spat back. “But the human body is mostly water, a domain that I have a certain level of control over. All you have to do is free me.”

“Swear it!” Megan yelled at her. “Swear it on the River Styx!”

“Fine,” she said annoyed. “I swear on the River Styx that I will heal him.”

After that, thunder could be heard in the sky and Megan walked over and ripped a hole in the net, not enough to allow her to escape but enough for her to get an arm out.

“I said free me,” Ceto argued.

“Look, promises on the Styx are binding, but immortals sometimes get off light. I want to make sure you do it before I release you,” Megan said with a consistent angry tone.

“Smart girl,” Ceto acknowledged. She pulled her hand out of the net and some water from the lake flowed to her hand. From there, it flowed from her hand and I could feel the cold water from the lake enter into my wound. I felt it circulate throughout my body and I could feel my flesh reconnect itself together as the wound healed. Then, the water retreated and I got to my feet, but felt a little dizzy.

“I did what I promised, now free me,” Ceto argued and everyone had kind of a questioning look about if they should or not. “What are you waiting for?”

“You could attack us again. I doubt we’d be able to stop you now that you know how our trap works,” Ruff said and Tuff nodded in agreement. I didn’t hesitate however and got to my feet, a bit shaky but still able to walk. I picked up Sammy’s sword which had fallen to the ground when Ceto’s torrent of water exploded and walked over to her.

“Are you going to kill me,” she asked and I lifted up the sword above my head. She closed her eyes and waited for something to happen. It did when I stabbed the sword down into the net and it broke apart. She opened her eyes and looked amazed that she was now free. “Why?”

“You healed me,” I said. “Even if it was your fault to begin with, you gave me my life so I will return yours. It’s only fair after all.”

“Fair enough, but I will give you a warning. Once Leiomenos acquires all the powers of the gods, he will have no need for any of us. If we do not prove ourselves to him, he will come for us next. I am not the only one trying to gain his favor,” Ceto informed us.

“But I thought that he was only trapping the other gods inside himself,” I replied.

“True, he is, but there is more. When he was given power by the other Olympians to defeat the Titans, he gained some of their power. The armor that was made to capture him worked the opposite way and was suppose to drain him of power. After you failed to capture him last time, the armor somehow changed and he can absorb the powers of the gods into himself and draw on them continuously once they are inside of him. I do not know what happens after that, but I don’t plan on finding out. Good luck,” she said and melted into water that snaked its way into the lake. A second later, there was a loud splash as Gear went shooting out of the water from somewhere in the lake and landed on a patch of grass.

Eventually we all regrouped back at the campfire and Sarah went around and treated everyone’s injuries. They weren’t really that bad compared to mine and one by one, everyone started to get to sleep.

“You know if you hadn’t of grabbed me, I would have been the one that was injured,” Megan said to me. “You have a habit of saving me. I mean the time with the hydra, giving me the push to fight Arachne, and today. Maybe one day I’ll return the favor. I owe you my life.”

And with that she walked off into her tent and I saw the lantern light dim as I took the first watch.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive