Chapter 3: We all Become Cat People: Cinder's POV

I always thought being blonde was overrated, so I always highlight my hair every month with some crazy color. The color for this month was bright orange. Such an underrate color, and it complemented my bright light blue eyes quite well. However, some people say my peaceful looking face is always outshined by my crazy clothing. I guess I'm kind of going for a punk look.

The nickname came from Cinderella, obviously. My real name is Ella Genovian, but I'm obsessed with shoes, so my dad nicknamed me Cinderella when I was little. As I grew up, I began to dislike my real name more and more, and decided to go by the other part of my nickname, Cinder. I also thought my last name sounded too frilly and soft, so now I'm known as Cinder Genv. At least I'm not going by some princess name anymore.

But even a fairytale ending couldn't help me in my current situation. I was being chased by a hellhound with my best friend. That is, until Hooves, I mean Grover, showed up with that weird green girl. Then again, weird was good in my book.

"Okay then, Grover, can you explain what's going on here?" I asked.

He sighed, "Right now, no. We have to save your friends from the other hellhounds first."

The green girl next to him cleared her throat, "I think you're forgetting something Grover…"

"Oh, right." He took a long, goldish sword out of the chariot and stabbed the hellhound which we had thought had been crushed by the rubble. The hellhound turned into dust.

He looked up at us, "Celestial Bronze; the only way to kill monsters. I only have one sword with me, but we'll get you weapons when we get to camp."

Camp. There was that word again. Nemesis had first said it when she mentioned that she got to us before the camp did…

"What kind of camp is this?" Val asked. She must have been thinking the same thing as me. That happened to us a lot. It's kind of like how people say that twins are telepathic, except we're not twins, or related, as a matter of fact.

Grover ignored the question started jogging to another section of the restaurant. The green girl blocked us just as we started to follow.

"It's okay…" she said in a soft voice, "I'm Juniper, Grover's girlfriend."

"Yeah, great time for introductions. Now we got to save the others!" I shouted.

"No," she said, "you have no proper training. You could get seriously hurt or worse…"

"So you're fine with sending out your boyfriend Hooves rather than two chicks you've just met?" I raised the volume. I tended to do that a little often with my ADHD.

"Foolish demigod!" she screamed, "How dare you insult a Cloven Elder and his bride!"

"Wait, whoa, bride?" Val perked up, "You two seem kind of young and furry for marriage..."

Juniper let her guard down for a split second to explain, but Val and I darted past her just as she opened her mouth.

"Hey! Get back here!" she shouted helplessly at us.

We turned a corner and saw Chris and Sam huddled in a corner and Hooves passed out, sword in hand, on the ground.

"That didn't take long…" I murmured.

Then Val did something stupid, but awesome. She ran to Hooves and picked up the sword. The hellhound growled and she charged. I thought she was going to die. Why did this have to be the first irrational decision of her life?

She hit it.

It shriveled into dust upon contact. Val started coughing in the mini sand storm she had just created. Chris and Sam came over to us.

"Dude! That was amazing!" Chris screamed, "You, like, picked up the sword and was like 'YAAAAHHH' and the hellhound thing was like 'RRROOOOAAAARRR' and then it was like 'CLING' and then it was like 'POOF'!"

There was a brief awkward silence.

"Aside from the obvious facts that Chris has stated, that was incredible." I studied her tired expression a little more, "Are you okay, Val?"

She coughed again in the dust of the deceased, "The sword's… kind of… heavy…"

I took it from her. It felt kind of… good in my hands. As if I had been meant to hold a sword my entire life. "I've got this."

I ran forward to the next section of the restaurant. Val followed closely behind, but Chris and Sam stayed behind with Hooves, trying to wake him up.

Ashton and Colin had managed to run around the restaurant for a bit, only to end up back where Nemesis began the fight. The window was shattered now, and the guys were pelting the hellhound with pieces of broken glass.

Colin took his eyes off of hellhound for a second and acknowledged us.

"Ashton, look!" he yelled with glee.

Ashton looked around the hellhound and a smile quickly appeared on his face. No, it wasn't a smile that I was going to save them with a giant sword. It was a smile that Val was here.

Val has been crushing on Ashton for as long as I can remember. But she's too shy to ever make her move. But I'm pretty good at reading people; I can tell that Ashton likes her too. However, every time I tell Val this, she dismisses the idea. She doesn't think she's good enough for Ashton.

But I think she is. She's pushed past her dyslexia and ADHD to become an amazing student. She has a reputation as one of the nicest girls in the school. I'm not only her best friend, but her opposite.

I get horrible grades. I have a 'bad attitude', as the school counselor says. I go to detention at least twice every week.

Luckily, Val looked past that part of me (though most people don't), and saw me for the funny, creative chick I am. That's something awesome about Val, she always sees good in people, no matter what.

That, however, does not apply to hellhounds that are trying to kill us.

The hellhound turned at the same moment Ashton looked at Val. I ran towards it, swiftly swinging the sword. I missed my first jab and the hellhound hit me with its paw. I flew back into Val.

At the same time, Colin shouted "Cinder!" and Ashton shouted "Val!"

'He's SO in love with Val…' I thought to myself as Val groaned. We helped each other up. My stamina had been depleted, so Val helped me pick up the sword. We held it together, pointing it towards the hellhound.

"On three…" Val said.

"One…" I counted.

"Two…" She said.

"Three!" We said in unison.

We charged towards the hellhound and made contact. The cloud of dust appeared.

"Oh God, Val… That was awesome!" Ashton said, going up to Val and hugging her.

'Just shut up and kiss already…' I was sickened by his lovey-dovey ness.

"Ahem, Ashton, I do believe that Cinder also destroyed that oversized German Shepard. Did she not?" Colin said in his British accent. I have always loved accents, so this made me swoon… No, no. It's nothing like that. I barely know Colin. He's just the foreign exchange student from London, England. And I'm just the head costume designer for the drama club…

That's when Chris and Sam came in with Hooves and Juniper.

"Okay, so maybe I was wrong about no training…" Juniper said.

"Well, if Hooves here hadn't been unconscious, I don't think you'd be saying that." I told her.

Grover looked at me skeptically, "Hooves? Seriously?"

"It's either that or Goat Butt. Take your pick."

"Hooves it is."

Juniper cleared her throat again in that 'you-are-so-off-topic' tone.

"We have to get to Camp Half Blood. Fast." She said.

"Wait," Val interrupted, "where is Nemesis?"

"She probably escaped when we crash landed. But that doesn't mean she's gone for good. She'll be back, and she's going to be REALLY angry when she does." Hooves warned.

"Thank you. I feel so much better now. Certain death, welcome to my life." Colin said sarcastically. I let out a small chuckle.

"Well, let's get back to the chariot." Juniper said. "Hmm, I'm not sure if Blackjack can handle all of our weight though…"

And with that, we set off across the destroyed restaurant to find the chariot again.