Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, no copyright infringement intended.
Percy and I were sitting alone on the bleachers in his school gym, we had come here a few hours earlier to see his school team's basketball game though by now it had long since finished.
I knew Percy would have loved to be on Goode's basketball team, however since we were demigods we have a bit of an edge when it comes to sports. We're just slightly stronger and faster than regular mortals, not much but enough that it's noticeable if people are looking for it, and if you want to avoid being eaten by monsters then you don't want to be noticed.
Unfortunately, me and Percy needed to be as unnoticeable as possible since we seemed to attract an inordinate amount of monsters. Today though I was optimistic, since we had been together for a few hours and hadn't been disturbed yet, that the monsters had found other prey for the day.
Luckily, Goode's team had won by a large margin, and we had both had a good time. Eventually the crowd had trickled out once the game had ended. We had stayed, enjoying the quiet and being alone with each other, instead of having crowds of people around us.
"I hate that we don't get to see each other that much," I said, pouting slightly. Ever since we had started dating a few months before I couldn't seem to spend enough time with him, something always got in the way.
My pout made him smile, his hand came up to stroke my cheek and I leaned into his touch, "I know, I do too, but we both seem to be busy all the time. It'll be winter break soon and we can spend everyday together at camp, you'll see me so much you'll get sick of me," he joked, his grin enough to make my heart melt.
I laughed, he always knew how to make me feel better, however his words about camp jogged a recent memory, "I just remembered! Chiron Iris messaged me a few days ago, he said he needs some help next weekend with training the campers and he was wondering if we would help out."
"Why does he need help?" he asked, curious.
"The usual camper who teaches the sword training is going to see his mortal family for the weekend," I explained, "He said that there's no one with enough experience to teach staying at camp at the moment, and since we're living close by…"
"Sounds great, and we do have a lot of experience, more experience than I ever wanted. Do you want to drive up together? If Paul will let me borrow his car again," he mumbled the last part under his breath.
"Of course, but why wouldn't Paul let you borrow his car?"
"Oh, it's a long story," he said. I heard him mutter something about 'stupid pegasi' and I couldn't stop myself from laughing at him.
I couldn't resist quickly kissing him and, when we parted, we both had soft smiles, our noses still touching.
Everything was so calm and quiet in the gym that it took me a few seconds to fully register what happened next.
The brick wall over the opposite bleachers exploded inwards, and from the flying chunks of wall leaped a… oh no… it can't be… yep…
It was a Chimera.
Head of a lion, body of a mega-goat, ten-foot-long snake for a tail, fire breathing and extremely venomous.
Great, this is what I get for being optimistic for once.
We both jumped up immediately, Percy's sword, Riptide, was ready in his hand, and I swiftly took my bronze knife from where I kept it in my jacket.
The Chimera landed on the top bleachers, they cracked and broke under it's massive weight and the monster ended up sliding down them to the floor, destroying all of them as it went, it's goat's hooves scrambling on the wood.
Not the most graceful entrance.
It was immediately obvious that it was after me and Percy, since it's glowing eyes were trained on our shocked figures. Once the monster gained it's feet again, it spread it's mouth wide, displaying razor sharp teeth and spat a fountain of flames towards us. We jumped in opposite directions to avoid the jet of fire and it hit the bleachers we had been sitting on seconds before. The fire crackled, devouring the wood beneath it and began to spread.
We needed to stop the Chimera quickly before it burned down the whole school, my mind scrambled for a suitable plan. To buy myself some time I slipped my magic Yankees cap on and crept round behind the monster.
Percy was doing a good job of holding it's attention, he stabbed towards its side but the blade was knocked aside as the snake tail whipped up, lightening fast, from behind and began wrapping itself around the bronze blade.
I lunged forward with my knife, managing to give the monster a decent cut in it's side. Another purpose of my strike was to distract it, thankfully it worked since Percy was able to yank his sword away from the hissing snake.
The fire was starting to fill the gym with smoke, making it hard to breath. Thank the Gods the Chimera had knocked a hole through the wall with it's entrance so most of the smoke was able to escape outside, however smoke spiralling out of the building was also likely to draw attention to the school and the last thing we needed was mortals arriving on the scene.
Percy swung his sword again while he deflected another jet of flame using his power over water and dousing the fire directed at him, his swing was successful and wounded the Chimera's shoulder. This made it harder for it to move, however the injury still wasn't enough to kill it.
The monster prepared to pounce at Percy so I attacked again, desperate to end the fight, I jumped up onto the beast's back, pulling myself up by it's bloody mane. My cap flew off as I jumped so I was visible again, my hair was blown across my face, making it hard to see.
Not to self: when next fighting a monster - tie hair back - tightly.
The Chimera let out a ferocious roar, spewing more flames, shocked by it's unexpected passenger.
I clutched my knife tighter and aimed to jab it into the top of it's head, hopefully a fatal blow, but the snake tail snapped at me from behind, nearly sinking its dripping fangs into my shoulder. I instinctively swung my knife and the snake struck right in its path and the triangular head was chopped clean off, the rest of the snake dropped, falling limp.
The Chimera howled in pain and reared on its hind legs, throwing me off, I landed painfully on the hard floor.
Percy took the chance, while the monster was still on its hind legs, and stabbed Riptide deep into it's chest.
The Chimera rapidly disintegrated, finally defeated, its body turning to monster dust, like sand in a fan, until nothing was left.
I sighed in relief and sagged against the floor as Percy came over to give me a hand up, I wasn't badly hurt, though I was sure I would have a lot of bruises the next day. Thanks to the curse of Achilles, Percy didn't even have one scratch on him, though the sleeve of his t-shirt had been torn by the snake's fangs.
All of a sudden I heard Percy laughing, "Excuse me, what is funny about this?" I asked, incredulous.
"I honestly don't know," he said, still chuckling, "Probably the adrenalin. That was just unexpected, usually I can feel it if something bad's going to happen."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said, my gaze fell on the still blazing bleachers, "You should probably put out the fire," I suggested.
He looked around as though he was only just noticing the flames and with a flick of his hand a wave of water appeared to quench the flames.
I couldn't help but laugh too as I heard sirens approaching through the massive hole in the wall. Sunlight streamed through illuminating the ruins of the gym, destroyed wall, charred bleachers and split floor boards.
Why does this always happen to us? I wondered.
"You know, I'm pretty sure it's against the rules to kill mythical monsters on school property," I teased.
Percy pulled me close, his hands around my waist, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He replied, grinning, "You know me, Wise Girl, I never play by the rules."
And then we kissed, surrounded by monster dust and the remains of the school gym. Just two average, everyday, teen demigods in love.
Thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it and I'd really appreciate reviews!
~ TheOracle18