The Fallen Knight

It was a dark, stormy night, the wind was beating at the trees and Percy Jackson woke up, laying on the cold floor of a big mansion, with no clue of where and what he was doing there. Percy paused for a moment then got up, left the others, and went to go explore. He first tried to open a big door that had the word exit above it and wouldn’t budge. Locked he thought. He went back to where the others were and heard a yawn behind him. He turned around and saw a boy that looked very familiar, got up and looked around as if he was trapped in a cage. The boy turned and faced Percy.

“Leo?” Percy asked, his voice trembling.

“Don’t tell me you forgot your best friend. ” Leo Valdez grinned. Then he saw the look of terror on Percy’s face and stopped smiling, “What’s wrong?”

Percy realized his whole body was shaking.

“N-Nothing,” Percy said. He stopped shaking and stood up, “Let’s go wake up the others.” Percy couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

“Ok then,” Leo said, “ Let’s go wake up the sleeping beauties.”

They woke up everyone. It took a while to calm everyone down.

“So you’re saying we were all in a coma and now we’re all stuck in a mansion?” said a big burly guy named Frank Zhang.

“Yes!” Percy said, “ how many times do I have to repeat it?”

Leo smiled, “Oh! It’s just like that movie Jigsaw-”

“Leo!” Annabeth Chase exclaimed. Annabeth had gray eyes and curly blond hair. “This is not the time for one of your jokes!”

“Sorry. Sheesh, you guys have no sense of humor.”

“We need a plan of how to get out. Nico, check the walls for any buttons.”

Nico Di Angelo had pale skin and dark hair with a slender body; his eyes were dark brown. Nico nodded and walked off to investigate the walls.

“Ethan go check around for any notes.” Ethan Nakamura had one eye, for his mom Nemesis the goddess of revenge had taken it as a price to change the world. Ethan was short and had sandy hair with a brown eye. Ethan walked off to look for clues.

After hours of searching, they all came back with nothing. They were sitting there discussing what to do when a note fluttered down from nowhere, like a feather falling from a bird. Leo picked it up and read it, “There is an imposter among your group, find out who it is and you will be free to go… fail and you will be slaughtered. The other option is to complete your tasks without getting killed and everyone will survive… trust no one. Good luck.”

Percy noticed Leo’s fingers were trembling.

“Guys we gotta remain calm, what if this was a joke?” said a girl named Hazel Levesque.

Hazel had gold eyes and she had brown hair. She looked confident, but Percy saw that one of her legs was shaking.

“If this is a joke, then why can’t we leave?” asked Jason Grace.

Jason had blond hair and sky blue eyes, his expression remained calm but had a frightened look in his eyes. At his belt was a gladius, a Roman sword. Jason reminded Percy once in a movie of an alpha wolf trying not to show fear to its pack as they were being hunted by humans. There was a girl named Piper McLean next to him holding his hand. Piper reminded Percy of her mom Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

There was one more person, but Percy didn’t recognize him. He went by the name Luminex. Luminex looked like a cross-breed between a human and a dog, but he was a werewolf. He had glowing multi-color eyes, blue, yellow, and green. He had a white tail on his back where his torso was and instead of human ears he had white wolf ears on his head. At first, Percy thought of him as a vicious man-eating werewolf, until he reassured Percy that nothing happens when he bites people (though that never happened) and that he has no desire to eat people. No one would call him cute when they saw that he had a pair of katanas on his back, ready to cut down anyone in his way. The last thing he told us was that he was the only werewolf alive and that all the other werewolves were hunted down as a sport.

There was a startling Beep and a door opened. Everyone looked at Leo who was pulling books out of a bookshelf until he found a lever behind one.

“Captain Leo strikes again!” Leo bowed and walked toward the door, everyone followed.

The next room looked just like the first room but everything was in the opposite place. The bookshelf in the first room was in the corner on the left, but here it was on the right.

Annabeth exhaled “Ok just remember that there is an imposter here and that we should be aware and careful, but for now, let’s see if we can find another lever or button-”

The lights shut off followed by a sickening CRUNCH. The lights turned back on and Percy heard a scream behind him. It was Hazel and on the floor next to her was… Oh, gods. Frank was lying on the floor, his body was limp as a ragdoll and on the side of his head, there was blood trickling out.

“No. No. No!” Hazel sobbed. She was shaking Frank and crying, “You can’t leave me! Please.”

Everyone froze. Jason was the first one to come over his shock. He walked over to Hazel and checked Frank.

“I don’t know... It- It seems like he’s dead, but…” Jason didn’t finish his thought, he didn’t need to. Percy could feel that everyone was hoping he was alive.

“Ugh,” Everyone turned around and saw Luminex on the ground, there were pieces of a broken table around him. It looked like someone slammed into him and decided to leave him there.

“Whoever does that again they will-” He paused, just noticing Frank, “ What happened to him? Is he okay?”

Hazel looked up her eyes puffy from crying, “No Luminex, he’s just playing dead. Of course, he’s not alright!”

Luminex came over to check Frank, “Hmm, it looks like he was hit with something hard and flat.”

Ethan stared at the side of Frank’s head, “Like a hammer?”

“Possibly.”

Percy looked over at Leo who had a magic tool belt that can summon most of the tools he wants to build with, especially a hammer.

Nico followed the direction Percy was looking at until his eyes rested on Leo. Leo took no notice of the two staring, a matter of fact he was still looking around and tapping things (Leo’s dad is Hephaestus, the god of fire, crafts, and blacksmiths so he can detect gears, switches, or just basically anything mechanic by just touching it) to see if there is any secret switch or lever.

Nico’s eyes stormed with anger, “ That little slimy-” He stormed over to where Leo was.

Percy was about to block him when Nico stopped and reached down. It was another note. Nico turned, his face was full of horror, he handed Percy the note, read it twice then called the others.

He read the note out loud, “Beware it has begun.”

On the back, there were 10 lines one of them was scribbled out and below the lines it said I’m always watching.

Percy passed the note around And watched his friend’s face turn from shock, disbelief, and then to a horror expression. The only person that didn’t get affected by the note was Luminex, which made Percy a little suspicious.

Annabeth looked close to crying, “Okay. . . we have to move on,” she glanced at Hazel who was still standing over Frank’s body. “We can’t stay here. Let’s try to find something that will help us get to the next room.”

“Wait,” Before Percy could lose his confidence to speak up, he said “Hazel . . . you were the closest to Frank, can you tell us who you think it was?”

Hazel looked down at her boots “ Well . . . I heard a sword moving past me,” she looked up shyly “Um… that’s all I know.”

Ethan looked at her, “It’s okay, we’re going to figure it out.” Then he glared at the three people who had a sword, Luminex, Nico, and Jason, “Spill.”

Jason looked at Ethan, “ Hey when the lights shut off-” He paused, “Do any of you guys hear that?”

Percy listened and heard a humming noise, like an engine, coming from the ceiling. Percy cursed in greek.

Luminex stared at him, “What is it?”

Percy took out the note from his pocket, and took a deep breath, “Remember what the note said ‘I’m always watching’?” He stared at the ceiling, “Well, I think there are multiple cameras in here.”

Just as the last word came out of Percy’s mouth, the lights shut off. Percy heard a grunt to his right and then a THUD. Then the lights came back on. His eyes rested upon Jason’s body who was laying on the ground with blood on his chest. Piper cried out and ran to Jason, she started crying. Nico, who stood next to Jason, backed up and stumbled over Luminex.

Leo who was standing next to Ethan, muttered, “ Holy Hephaestus, we’re getting picked off one by one, we need to do something.” He walked over to Jason’s body and inspected his chest, “Slash marks, I wonder…” Then he walked slowly to Luminex and Nico, “Swords please.”

They handed Leo their swords. Leo inspected Nico’s sword first, he shook his head. Then he looked at Luminex sword, he paused then took another look, “If it wasn’t swords, then what was it?”

He turned to Luminex, “Can you turn into a dog or something?”

Luminex blushed, “ Er… sort of-”

“Show me.”

Luminex disappeared in a pink smoke, everyone took a step back. Luminex came out and all that was there. . . was a small white pup. “See,” Then he hid under the table, “I don’t want to show myself this is too embarrassing.”

Leo snickered, then he muttered under his breath something about Paw Patrol and then burst out laughing. Even though after all the things that happened Percy tried hard not to smile.

Luminex slowly crawled out, “So… why did you want me to do that?”

Annabeth came over and took a look at his paw, “Hmm, I was thinking that you possibly scratched Jason.” She shook her head, “Silly thought, in that form you wouldn’t be able to knock someone out.”

Nico slowly got up, “ Luminex... I was watching your face- er… dog face- whatever- and when Annabeth mentioned scratching Jason, you all of a sudden had a look of terror.” He drew his sword and pointed it at Luminex, “ Tell us do you have another form?” A little more forcefully this time.

Luminex sighed, “Yes… I do.”

Nico snarled, “Show us, NOW!”

Luminex growled and then changed into a wolf slightly smaller than a car. His paws were covered in blood. Piper gasped and her expression was so angry it would have scared the fiercest monster away.

“You-you,” Piper breathed heavily, “I’m going to KILL YOU!”

Forgetting she was smaller than him, Piper lunged at the big wolf before Percy could say stop. Luminex turned back into a human and Piper fell to the floor.

“I-I don’t want to hurt you.”

Piper laughed, “Right, what about Frank and Jason. Huh.”

Luminex winced, “ I did that because the Thing would kill all of us if I didn’t do my job.”

Ethan glanced at Jason and Frank, “The Thing?”

Luminex looked down, “Also I didn’t kill them, I just knocked them out.”

Percy looked at Jason very closely and noticed that his heart was still beating, So was Frank.

Jason stirred and got up holding his head, “Ugh, don’t feel very good.”

Piper turned around, eyes wide with disbelief. Then she tackled Jason with a hug.

“Ribs” He squeaked. He then turned to Luminex and got up, his sword in his hand, “You were the one to kill Frank, any last words you idiot?”

Luminex sighed, “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to kill me.”

Frank groaned then got up. Jason turned and stared for a moment, then he looked back to Luminex.

“I’ll just sit back down.”

Luminex got up, “Since I was the one who helped the Thing build this place,” he gestured around the room, “I can help you get out of here. We just have to be careful . . . It’s always watching.”

Hazel stopped him, “Hold on,” Hazel still looked angry. “When the lights first shut off and it came back on, how come you were on the floor?”

Frank stumbled toward Hazel, “I’ll answer that for you.” he grumbled, “When the idiot hit me I had time to kick him in the chest before I passed out.”

Luminex nodded, “Yes, yes let’s go-”

A silver object flew past Percy and hit Luminex on the arm. A silver arrow Percy thought, werewolves’ weaknesses is silver.

Luminex roared, he pulled the arrow out of his arm. His arm started to steam.

Luminex stumbled towards Percy, “Lead them, I will hold him off.”

Percy was shocked, “What about you? Aren’t you coming?”

Luminex managed a weak laugh, “Why? Why would you want me to come when I betrayed you?”

Percy grabbed Luminex’s shoulder, which startled him, and stared deep into his eyes, “It doesn’t matter, you are our friend and we won’t leave you behind.” He looked at the others.

Leo grinned, “Yes! Of course, we can’t leave you behind!”

Luminex paused and shook his head, “Fine, but we must go he will be here soon.”

Luminex turned into his pup form and limped to a tiny hole. Percy waited and heard a beep, the door in the first room that had the word exit above it opened slowly.

Luminex appeared next to him, “Hurry,” he told everyone “He will be here.”

A bookshelf exploded behind him, and Percy saw the Thing for the first time. Its face was disoriented, and its legs were crooked and its fingernails were very sharp and covered in blood.

In an old raspy voice, it shrieked, “Going somewhere?”

Luminex turned toward the others, “GO!” he bellowed.

Percy’s friends scrambled to the door that was slowly opening.

Luminex drew his katanas, “I don’t serve you anymore.”

The Thing snarled, “Is that so?” It drew a bow with a silver arrow. “How about I start picking off your friends one by one? Starting with your very stupid friend standing next to you?”

He let his arrow fly. It would have pierced Percy right through his chest, but Luminex deflected it with his katana.

Percy’s friends were already trying to open the door faster, with no luck.

Luminex knocked the Thing down, “Percy go,” he said weakly, “I can’t afford to lose you.”

Percy drew his sword Riptide, “No, I’m not going to leave your side until we kill this Thing.”

Both of them charged, slashing and stabbing. It seemed like they were doing good until the monster got its luck to hit. Luminex flew across the room and hit the floor but he didn’t get back up.

Percy wanted to run to him and see if he was okay, but he had to stay focused. He slashed, whirled, and stabbed with no luck. It was like fighting a wall.

He had to find another way to defeat it. He found a little stream of water leaking from the ground. Percy concentrated and felt a tug in his gut. The ground exploded in front of him and water doused the Thing.

Percy ran and picked up Luminex and headed toward the exit.

Luminex seemed light at first but started to get heavier every step he took. It didn’t help when Luminex’s katanas were swinging around wildly, barely missing Percy’s face. Percy was just about twenty feet away from the door, his friends already outside beckoning him to hurry up. He looked back which was a big mistake, he tripped over a book and fell to the ground. His friends rushed to his aid, Luminex got up staggering around, katanas in his hand. His arm was now smoking, but he had a kind gleam in his eyes.

“Go,” He whispered to the others “you can’t stay.”

Luminex glanced at the disfigured monster buried under planks and books struggling to get up.

Piper’s lip trembled “But- but you have to come with us, we won’t leave you here.”

Luminex wiped the tears off her face, “I-” he stopped “I have killed so many people before you guys came, I have never seen a group of people work so hard to stay alive.” He looked at Piper, “You Piper, was one of the many reasons in this group why I changed my mind.”

Luminex turned to Leo, “Keep that good humor, Leo,” he smiled, “one day it’s going to help you.”

For once Leo was speechless, Leo rushed to Luminex and hugged him, “I-I don’t know what to say.” He looked at Luminex and sniffed.

Frank looked at Luminex then looked at the ground, “Well… I forgive you for kicking me in the head.”

Luminex looked at Frank and laughed, “I guess I apologize for kicking you in the head then.” He put his hand on Frank’s shoulder, “Make sure you protect this group, especially Hazel.”

Frank’s face went red and then turned back to normal.

Jason’s chest looked mostly healed up. He held up his hand, “Thanks for helping us escape.”

Luminex took his hand and shook it, “You’re welcome, take care of Piper. She’s a strong girl.”

Ethan looked like he was going to burst into tears, “Well- well I guess this is it.”

Luminex clapped him on the back, “Cheer up Ethan when the time comes you’re going to save this group.”

He turned to Hazel, “You will figure out your past soon.”

Hazel said nothing but her expression made Percy uncomfortable.

He turned to Nico, “You are going to be the one to support this group to the end.”

Nico nodded and turned away, his eyes were red.

He turned to Annabeth and Percy and said, “You two will share many adventures and in the end, you two will live peacefully.

Percy didn’t know what to say. He looked at Annabeth and then blushed.

Percy started to say, “Luminex-” when the pile of books and planks exploded behind him. The Thing roared and started to make its way to them. Luminex lifted his katanas.

Percy grabbed his shoulder, “Please there has to be another way.”

Luminex smiled kindly and slowly took Percy’s hand off his shoulder, “No Percy, there is no other way,” Luminex pulled something round out of his pocket, a grenade, “A sacrifice must be made to defeat it.”

Percy shook his head, “No. I won’t let it be like this.”

Annabeth grabbed Percy’s shoulder, “Come on.” They locked eyes.

Luminex looked at him and said, “Percy, listen to Annabeth.” He turned and the Thing was getting closer.

Annabeth pulled him outside with the others, they were all watching Luminex. Luminex faced the Thing with a katana and a grenade, an arrow flew at Luminex. Luminex deflected it, another one flew at him, but this time he wasn’t fast enough to deflect it. It went through his chest and stuck out the other side, the tip covered with blood. Piper cried out and tried to run to him, it took all of Jason’s strength to hold her back. Another arrow hit his shoulder and the katana flew out of his hand landing in front of Percy. Luminex turned and faced them for the last time, his whole front was bloody but he had a smile on his face. He mouthed goodbye and pulled the pin off the grenade, the whole building was emitted with a bright light and Percy passed out.

“Percy. Percy!” Someone was shaking his arm. He opened his eyes, the sky was becoming brighter, it was Annabeth and behind her were the remains of the mansion on fire. Five people were sitting with him: Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason, and Annabeth. Piper looked like she had been crying and Hazel was staring at the remains of the mansion. Frank and Jason’s expression was grim, though Frank was looking at something glimmering in the grass. Percy grabbed it and pulled it up, Luminex’s katana he thought. He had a vague memory of Luminex dropping his katana and the mansion exploded. full-blown

He looked over at the remains of the mansion, Leo, Nico, and Ethan were moving debris and looking around.

“Luminex is he-” Percy asked.

Frank shook his head, “I’m sorry Percy, he’s-” Frank paused, his voice quivering, “he’s gone.”

Jason looked at the katana in Percy’s hand, “That idiot,” he looked away and said, “he had to sacrifice himself.”

Piper took a deep shaky breath, “We have to move on, we can’t stay here.”

The three boys that were searching for Luminex came back. Leo’s face was covered with ash, Nico and Frank’s hands had splinters on them. Leo shook his head and looked down.

Nico looked at everybody, “He will be remembered as a hero.”

Annabeth and Ethan nodded in agreement.

Nico paused, “But something was off… since I am the son of Hades I know what deaths feel like, but- but this was different… it’s almost like he’s still alive-” Nico paused and stared at the others. “Ah, never mind that we should go now I suspect cops are coming.”

They all got up, Percy hefted Luminex’s katana and sighed, “ Well let’s figure out a way home.”

The sun was rising and the group of demigods walked into the unknown.