I'll admit that I'm not one for pain. I recoil at the thought. I try to avoid causing myself any at all costs, so when the fire came raining down I chickened out, and backed away so fast I tripped over my own feet and stumbled. Oddly enough, the fireballs didn't come directly at us but instead went over our heads, attaching themselves further down the bridge. No matter how many it shot, they never hit us.
"Um, are these things known for strategy or intelligence?" I asked Grover.
"No, they're known for their firepower, so focus on not getting hit," the younger teen said.
"So, you're saying it's probably not using its fireballs to block the end of the bridge? Because It sure seems like it is." I replied.
He turned his neck to look behind us, and then whipped it back to the salamander. He unsheathed a large sword that I hadn't seen until now. It was pitch black and froze my breath in my chest.
"This is gonna make it hard to get out," he said to Grover, "Only one way. Forward."
Grover moved closer to me. Slowly and silently.
"Agreed," He said.
Behind us the end of the bridge was completely engulfed in flames. Ahead of us there was a giant lizard engulfed in flames. Wait no, salamanders aren't lizards, they're amphibians. A giant amphibian engulfed in flames. Was that any better? No, not really. Regardless, it was a tough situation.
"So…Uh…How are we gonna get out of this?" I asked Grover.
He raised his fingers to his mouth, shushing me, before raising his reed pipes to his lips and playing a tune I didn't know. As soon as he began playing I felt pressure on my feet. I looked down and vines had begun wrapping themselves around my legs. I looked to Grover for guidance and saw it was happening to him too. He gave me a look that I took as him saying. "calm down." I looked towards the dark haired teen and saw he was approaching the salamander. When he was about 10 metres ahead of it he stopped and looked at the creature. Vines wrapped around his ankles as he stood like a statue. He glanced back at us for a second before focusing his attention entirely on the salamander. He just stood there. We all just stood there, staring it down. There was nothing. And then a soft rumble from the distance. It began getting louder. The bridge started shuddering, softly at first, and then becoming more violent with each passing moment. The only thing that kept me standing was the vines latched around my ankles. The salamander stumbled around, attempting to acquire solid footing. It fell on its stomach and began sliding around, it's fiery body scorching the bridge. The flames followed from edge to edge, weakening the railings as its thick body crashed into them. One gave way and the monster slipped off of the bridge crashing into the water below. The vines around my feet released and I fell to the floor dizzy. Grover and the teenager were a lot more composed than I was, managing to stay on their feet.
"It's gone!" Grover sighed with relief, "Thank gods. I cannot be bothered dealing with fire today."
"That easily?" I asked. "It's just gone that easily? And It won't come back?"
"No, it will, but it will be a while." said the teen, "It's a fire monster and it just fell hundreds of feet into the bay. It won't be coming after us when it's so weakened."
"Although, we will only have about an hour or two to get out of San Francisco so we're gonna have to cut out the whole hotel plan." Grover inserted.
I stood dumfounded as the two seemed completely unfazed by this. Grover I could understand, but the teen was younger than I was, and none of this made sense to me. Monsters don't exist. It's implausible. No, it's impossible. Logically, it doesn't make sense. Living organisms can't create fire from their bodies. I don't know much about science, but I know that's impossible. A shadow passed over me and I snapped out of my confusion and reached for the hand offering to help me up.
"Nico here can get us to camp," Grover said, pulling me to my feet.
I looked at him. He was younger than me by about a couple of years, so he couldn't drive, and even if he could, there were no cars around that I could see. My confusion must have showed on my face because Grover put his arm on my shoulders and pulled me forward.
"We have a lot to explain," he said, "and we will explain, when we get back to camp."
"What camp?" I asked, "You're gonna take me to some camp in a country that I don't live in? Am I being abducted? Will I ever go home? What is going on?"
"Dude, calm down. We're not abducting you, we're taking you to a safe place for half-bloods. Nico, you ready to go?"
Nico nodded at him and Grover led me closer to the teen and put his arm on Nico's shoulder.
"We can only move around 300 miles each time," Nico explained, "So we won't be getting there any time soon."
I was about to ask what he was talking about when we were suddenly thrown into darkness. It engulfed us and rushed by us, tearing at my hair and clothes but quickly dissipating around me. I felt my energy fading from me every second we stayed in the darkness. My knees became weaker and my head began spinning. Grover clutched my arm tighter and the three of us stumbled out of the darkness onto a beach. I dropped to my knees before looking around, seeing a pavilion and cabins away from the shore in a grassy area. I collapsed and rolled onto my back before passing out from exhaustion.
