A/N: VERY early update! Anyway this was done a bit too fast and some of it might seem boring and unnecessary, but it'll matter later in the story. Please forgive me if this chapter seems short and a bit boring, but I promise the next one will be better!

Disclaimer: For the third time, I DON'T OWN Percy Jackson or Harry Potter. I tried to beg the writers for them... no avail...

Chapter 3

Battling The Scylla

As the Scylla attacked, the wizards were brought out of their stupor and, immediately, several white and red lights shot out of their wands at the monster. However, the Scylla either dodged them or blocked them with its weapons. One of Harry's spells hit it square in the chest but had no effect whatsoever.

The monster roared again and struck at Luna with its sword, which Percy deflected with Riptide. Seeing that Nico and Percy were the biggest threat here, the Scylla payed more attention to them. They slashed their swords at the Scylla's skin, but although their blows left deep wounds, each of them healed after a few seconds. Nico raised his hand, on which his skull ring resided, and, behind the monster, shadows began moving, until they became solid and seized the beast from behind, dragging it out into the corridor.

The demigods followed it, thankful for the large amount of space in the corridor, as the monster broke free of the shadow chains and prepared to strike at the demigods once again.

Nico and Percy blocked all of the Scylla's attacks, but whenever they managed to hit the monster, it remained unfazed and sometimes, their blades would even ricochet off its skin. The battle was made more difficult by the Scylla's tentacle legs always trying to injure the demigods and the loud barking of the dog heads, which was a big distraction for them.

To Nico's annoyance, the irritating girl, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Neville shot spells at the Scylla again. The only thing the spells did, though, was blind Nico for a split second – just enough time for the monster to charge all of its tentacles at Nico and send him flying half a dozen metres away. He was about to shout 'Don't shoot spells at it!' when he realised that Neville's spell actually worked: the knife from one of the Scylla's hands flew away from its grip.

Angered, the Scylla turned its attention to Neville, deflecting Percy's blows with its tentacles. Neville started backing away, shouting 'Incendio!' over and over again. The spell only worked on his fifth try, though, and the Scylla's empty hand caught on fire. Still, that didn't stop the Scylla from grabbing Neville by his collar and throwing him hard against the compartment wall, making him lose consciousness. The beast now turned to Luna who quickly said, 'Silencio!' and the Scylla went completely silent.

Finally rid of the overwhelming barking, Nico and Percy slashed their swords at the Scylla, making it lose three more of its weapons; only the sword and the scythe were left now.

'KILL!' the Scylla roared, breaking the silencing charm and turning to Percy and Nico again. 'KILL, KILL, KILL ALL DEMI–'

Percy lunged at the monster, striking at its mouth with Riptide as often and as hard as he could, stopping the Scylla from giving away his and Nico's identities. He then relentlessly hit the monster, leaving deep gashes on its body, but still... it would not die!

'Percy, its eyes!' Luna suddenly shouted, surprising everyone, even herself. 'Its eyes are its weakest spot! If you harm them it will die!'

Percy did what he was told, raising his sword high, planning to slash all of the Scylla's eyes with his sword in two blows. He didn't care that his chest was left unprotected – the only spot that could make him die was on the small of his back, anyway – but soon realised that he'd made a mistake. The Scylla drew its remaining weapons back and stabbed Percy with both of them in the right side of his chest. He stumbled backwards and fell on the floor clutching his side in pain. What the Hades?.. Nico thought, staring wide-eyed at Percy. Blood?

There was, indeed, blood leaking from Percy's wounds. They already began healing, though, and soon, all that was left of the injuries were two long pale scars. While Percy was in a mild shock, Nico's thoughts were running wild. How is this possible? Percy isn't supposed to get wounded, he's bathed in Styx for gods' sakes! He's supposed to be invincible... Nico hadn't seen Percy get hurt at all for over a year now. No weapon could ever harm him... so where did this monster – who was stronger than normal monsters, Nico noted – get the weapons to hurt somebody with the Achilles curse?

He was suddenly feeling scared, but pushed the feeling aside as the Scylla aimed its weapons at him. Although he was already worn out he raised his hand again and commanded the shadows to seize the Scylla's weapons and get them out of its grasp. Furious, the monster grabbed Nico's throat before he could do anything else, its fingers feeling like white-hot blades on Nico's skin and started chocking him, so hard, that Nico's arms went numb, and he couldn't even raise his sword.

Slowly, his surroundings dimmed. He heard shouts, saw lights flying in front of him, as he was close to passing out. You are going to die, a little voice in his head said. You are going to die...

'NO!' Nico shouted. He couldn't die now, not because of one monster! He had to concentrate. Where was the monster's weak spot? The eyes! That's what Luna had said! He was about to strike them, but didn't. He first wanted to make sure he would definitely harm the Scylla's eyes. He began chanting an incantation in Greek, which literally made every shadow in the train come alive and fly to his sword, encircling it like a shield, and making it more black, if it were possible. Then, with several swift flicks of his sword, Nico cut the Scylla's eyes open, making not blood, but a misty purple substance come out of them.

'AARRGH!' the monster screamed, as it released Nico's throat and stumbling backwards.

Nico took deep breaths to recover his throat, as the Scylla fell on the floor. He noticed that a crowd of students, and even teachers, stood on either side of the corridor, observing the whole fight. He ignored them and, with the last bit of his strength, he forced himself to stand up and ask the Scylla,

'Where did you come from and what kinds of cursed weapons did you use?'

The Scylla, though dying and gradually turning to dust, laughed menacingly and told the demigod,

'You'll find... out... soon enough, foolish hero.' The monster coughed, but managed a smirk at the same time. 'The situation you're in... is more serious... than you... expected...' At last, the monster completely vanished, along with all its weapons.

Percy was already standing, healed, but Nico was suddenly hit with a strong wave of tiredness and in a moment everything went black.

A/N: Please review if you have the time!