Ch 6
We're Attacked By the Worst Snake Ever
Looming in the air was a snake, now you would think that I would be used to giant snakes by now, but this snake had to be at least 200 feet long, and it was lowering down from some really low clouds, so it seemed to be getting longer by the second. To make it even crazier, the snake seemed to be made out of darkness, like shadows had formed a 3D image. The snake snapped at the ground where students once were, but it seemed to be searching for something.
"Archers, at the ready!" yelled Chiron. The Apollo kids held up there boys, but when the fired, the arrows past cleanly through it. Many other campers were trying to slash or spear it with weapons, but they either passed right through it or the snake just dodged it. I uncapped Riptide and ran towards; I looked around for my friends, and I saw Annabeth dodging strikes from the snake, I saw Grover just hiding behind a tree. But what intrigue me was three Egyptians were kneeling on the sand, except Grant who was kneeling on one leg, chanting in Ancient Egyptian.
Suddenly the snake arched towards me, and with all my might I slashed, but as I expected, the blade passed clean through it. The snake then reared up and scanned the area, it then noticed the trio, screeched, and lunged. Suddenly the sand exploded, and out charged Set, with a dragon-like head at the time. He grabbed the snake by the throat, and seemed to be pushing it back; he unsheathed a large dagger, and slashed it. To everyone's surprise, the dagger seemed to cause some damage, as the snake roared and writhed on the ground. Suddenly it lashed out, and hit Set straight in the chest, knocking him to the ground. It then lunged towards, the nearest of Set's children, Shelby, it opened its mouth, and just consumed Shelby, and it began to retreat into the clouds.
"Noooooo!" cried Set.
"Shelby!" Grant and Sara yelled in union. Set stood up and lunged towards the snake, but missed it. The snake then vanished into the clouds, and disappeared. People then began to emerge from there hiding places, I ran over to Annabeth and Grover.
"Are you guys all right?" I asked and they both nodded. Set collapsed to his knees, and let out a frustrated yell that seemed to shake the ground. Suddenly Mr. D emerged, and lazily yawned and stretched.
"What are everybody standing around for and what are you doing here Set?" he asked annoyingly, of course, nothing woke him up during his afternoon nap. Set looked up at him, his red eyes burning, he began to walk towards Mr. D, and sand began to swirl up. Mr. D backed up.
"You failed me," Set rumbled.
"What on earth do you mean?" Mr. D asked quickly.
"I put it upon you to keep me children safe, and you let one of them be taken by him," Set boomed as he raised his hand, sand began to gather up around Mr. D's ankles.
"Wait, that serpent was made of pure shadow, our weapons had no effect," Chiron said rearing up briefly.
"But the drunken god here refused to use his powers to save my daughter, and now she is lost," Set clenched his raised fist, and sand gathered up to Mr. D's head," and now you shall be cursed for eternity." Just before Set could jerk his fist to imprison Mr. D, Annabeth spoke up.
"We have warriors here, we could go on a rescue mission," she said. Set looked at her for a second, and his head became a wild dog.
"I have my doubts about putting my trust in warriors like everyone here," he growled. Grant walked up to his father's side.
"We will go with them father," he said,"Me and Sara care about our sister." Set's head became a hyena, and he thought about this.
"Very well," he agreed, a sigh of relief passed through out camp, but Set's head became a jackal, and he held up a finger," however, I can not wait long, so, I will give you one week." He waved his hand and an hourglass was molded out of sand, but this glass had a vulture and a snake perched on the top, it was made out of pure gold, and the sand was solid black.
"The Sands of Time," Sara whispered to Grant.
"The countdown to the result has begun," Set chilled, his head becoming a black mamba," and time is not on your side." And with a wave of his finger, the sand began to fall, and Set just disappeared in a wave of sand, and the sand surrounding Mr. D dropped to the ground.
Chiron immediately called a meeting with all the cabins, and with Sara and Grant.
"So perhaps you two can shed some light on the situation we're in," he said. Sara and Grant looked at each other for a moment, and then Grant stood up.
"I'll start with the ID enemy," he began," his name is Apep, and he was the snake."
"So that over grown garden hose is the enemy?" Beckendorf asked without much belief.
"Yes, but don't get cocky, Apep is unlike anything any of you had ever faced," Grant hissed," now listen. Apep is the demon of shadows; he is the archenemy of Ra, the Egyptian sun god, he battles Ra every night. But my father did finally manage to defeat him, but it took over two millennia."
"So," Silena Beuagard said," how could that be Apep."
"Apep is immortal," Grant snapped at her," now listen, Apep laid in hiding for a long time, but his sudden reappearance is strange. We're still lucky Apep didn't make a full appearance."
"What do you mean?" asked Chiron.
"He means that Apep is now an undead horror, a being that has the power to send whole armies to their dooms, with just a twitch of his eye," Sara answered.
"Apep needs something to be full again," Grant explained.
"What might that something be?" questioned Mr. D. Grant and Sara looked at each other for a second again, and for the first time, they both took off their shades. Some people actually gasped when the saw that the duo had blood red eyes like their father.
"The Shadow of the Nile," Grant answered slowly.
"The what?" I asked.
"The Shadow of the Nile, is the one of the Five Shadows," Sara said," the Shadow of the Underworld, the Shadow of the Desert, the Shadow of the Sun, the Shadow of the Moon, and the one we just told you about."
"The Shadow of the Desert gives the user the power over the elements, the Shadow of the Underworld give the user the power to revive the dead, and the Shadow of the Nile gives the power over life and death," Grant explained.
"What about the Shadow of the Sun and Moon?" asked Chiron.
"Those two are what keep reality tied together; it would give the user power over reality," Grant answered.
"Why does Apep need the Shadow of the Nile?" asked Annabeth.
"So he can be complete, that's kind of obvious," said Sara," and he will rule the universe out of pure fear."
"Will he go for any of the other powers?" Clarisse asked.
"Probably not," Grant answered.
"What makes you so sure?" the daughter of Ares demanded. Grant's eyes seemed to glow for a second, but then they dulled.
"Apep tried to use the Shadow of the Sun to increase his power and decrease the gods' power," Grant answered," but when he did, reality was at risk of falling apart, to use that power would be putting the fate of all that is at risk."
"Why did he kidnap Shelby?" asked Silena.
"We're not sure," answered Sara after a brief pause.
"These powers are something Kronos would want," Grover brought up. Everyone nodded on that, it seemed likely.
"If you're talking about the Titan Lord, don't put you're money on it," Grant disagreed," they are powers that should not be tampered with." But everyone was ignoring him at the moment.
"He'll probably steal the Shadow of the Sun to make him more powerful," Beckendorf said.
"He might take the Shadow of the Nile if he can beat Apep to it," Clarisse stated.
"Listen to me!" Grant snapped slamming down his fist, but no one paid any attention at all.
"Listen to me you Greek slime!" Grant yelled, everyone turned to look at him.
"What did you call us?" Silena questioned angrily, beginning to stand up.
"You heard him," Sara growled.
"You Egyptian scum!" the Stoll brothers yelled together, Clarisse, began to reach towards her side as if going to get something, and Grant reached back and began to unsheathe something, but Sara grabbed his hand and shook her head.
"Enough, all of you!" Chiron announced with a harsh yell, banging his hoof on the floor," Now I think you two need to consult the oracle."
"Never, to do that will be against our heritage!" Sara snapped.
"Did we mention, she's a mummy?" Grover bribed. The two siblings looked at each other, and then Grant nodded, and without a word, they walked out of the room.
Several minutes later, the duo returned, with a slightly insulted look on their faces.
"What is it now?" asked Mr. D impatiently.
"That is a withered corpse, you Greeks have respect for the undead," Grant said harshly.
"Well, did you get anything?" I asked.
Sara took a deep breath and began. "You will seek the family who was lost, you shall face the ones who are never free, one shall die at the hands of your father, you shall journey to the city where dead can see, and you will unlock the ultimate power," she stated.
"What can that mean?" Grover asked.
"We don't know, but we can make this conclusion, the live lost will not be one of ours, it is physically impossible for either for us to die in the desert," Grant stated.
"Real assuring," Clarisse said.
"Long story short, one way or another, we will find at least one of the Five Shadows during the quest to rescue Shelby," Sara said.
"Now you need to take some people," Chiron declared.
"We will go alone," declared Grant.
"You can't, you have to choose," Annabeth said.
"Fine then, Percy and Grover, you're in," said Grant.
"Annabeth, over here," said Sara, gesturing.
"I must go," said Tyson as he stood up from the side lines.
"No way, we will not take him," said Sara, I glared at her. Grant looked at Sara and the forged a quick conversation in Ancient Egyptian.
"Never mind, you're in," said Sara.
"We will depart immediately," declared Grant.
Note, I am having writers block with this story, so will you please post some ideas for me to use, I will give you credit.