xXx

THREE

xXx

My Mentality Becomes Abnormal

xXx

Hmm… do you know what's very tempting right now? A normal life.

A life without a satyr who's here to whisk you away to some mysterious camp that's supposed to keep you safe, a life without these half-wannabes claiming that they're here to destroy a monster that could turn you into demigod chicken barbeque, a life without a vice principal who happens to be the monster that's going to roast you and turn you into lunch, a life without these Greek crap existing.

And all of this entered my life, all because of my stupid lineage and my stupid godly parent and human parent!

If I was just born normal, then I wouldn't be in this situation, tied up and my mouth sealed shut because the freaking monster thought I was too loud, with two scared to death schoolmates in a dark hallway, fearing for our lives.

I tried to wiggle out of the ropes but Dr. Thorn happens to be a champion with knots. Amazing—not.

I tried to yell big time, swear words but there are two things that hindered me from doing so: I have a dirty cloth on top of my mouth—freaking demonic vice principal gagged me—so I pretty much can't speak and there are children here (ehem, Nico).

As I tried to wiggle out of the ropes, a silhouette holding something sharp suddenly appeared. The person was holding something that had a bronze glow, a powerful one, and it's long and sharp.

Huh, Dr. Thorn must've returned with an object of torture for us. Joy.

I panicked, wiggling with much greater movement and obviousness. The shadow stepped forward, making me whimper in fear. The di Angelo siblings are too shocked and traumatized that they practically froze in fear.

I looked at the silhouette again, only to realize that the shadow looked familiar.

Mystery dude—I'll be calling him… or her, that. Take it or leave it, sister!—lowered his sharp thing and said, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know that voice.

"Mrrmy!" I cried, the cloth muffling what I was supposed to say.

Percy advanced slowly, assuring that he's no danger—well, I know he's not danger—and lowered his… sword? Yup, that's a sword.

Cool, I want one.

Wait.

Focus, Callista! You're in danger! Don't think of unnecessary stuff!

But… it's so cool.

Shut up, mental me. I'm in a life-or-death situation!

Okay, fine! Be that way!

Oh crap, that's it. I'm insane.

You sure are! Why'd you just figure it out now?

Shut. Up.

Okay, shutting up. Can do, calm down now buster.

Now, shoo mental Calla!

Okay! You're on your own!

… I should go to the nearest mental institute.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

Focus, Calla!

A shadow loomed behind Percy, making my eyes widen in horror.

Dr. Thorn looked at us—especially me—intensely, warning us silently 'if you try to destroy my cover, I'm going to kill you and turn you into half-blood steak!'

Oh crap, Percy!

I nudged Bianca inconspicuously. Her eyes rolled to my direction, fear evident in them. I nudged her hand a bit with my foot, signaling her to warn Percy. She must've gotten the message because she curled her hand into a fist.

"My name's Percy," he stated, leveling his voice. "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe."

I rolled my eyes to Bianca's direction, whose eyes widened more and her fist clenched tighter.

Percy narrowed his eyes and whirled around. Dr. Thorn yanked him backwards, sending him to the wall near me. He continued to slash his bronze sword, aiming at nothing.

A cold laugh suddenly erupted from Dr. Thorn, making my bones shiver in fear.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson," he said. Oh man, if only I could find something sharp!

I slowly looked around the hallway, making sure I wasn't obvious to Dr. Thorn. I spotted a sharp, broken tile, but it was a bit farther away.

Without hesitation, I slowly dragged my butt across the floor, stopping when I fell that the vice principal's about to turn to our direction.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," I heard Dr. Thorn say as I slowly grabbed the small, broken tile and gripped it tight, sliding back to Bianca and Nico. "I hate middle school dances."

Percy swung his sword again, but Dr. Thorn wasn't close enough to be hit.

I heard a sudden WHIIISH!

I squeaked as a thorn passed half an inch from Bianca's face. She yelped at the sudden swift movement.

I began cutting through the rope with the tile, watching the vice principal's movements intensely.

"All four of you will come with me," he said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

Oh crap.

xXx

I don't know what Dr.—freaking—Thorn is, but he is a fast monster.

I was able to cut through the killer ropes my monstrous vice principal knotted around my wrists and kept the broken tile in my pocket just in case I needed it for defensive mechanism… not that I was a good fighter. I'm a wimp!

"What are you doing, Jackson?" Dr. Thorn hissed. "Keep moving!"

Demanding much?

"It's my shoulder," Percy said miserably. "It burns."

My eyebrows scrunched up worry. I hope he's alright… what the, how stupid can I get! The boy sounds miserable! Oh man, WE ARE GOING TO DIE!

"Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Walk!"

Like I said, demanding much?

Dr. Thorn herded the four of us outside. I imitated still being tied up, the ropes still around my wrists but loose enough for me to wiggle out from. The cloth though, still needs to stay in place so I won't get caught. Ick, it smells weird.

He then made us march into the woods, a snowy path lit by dim old-fashioned lamplights. The cold wind were harshly whooshing through my coat and successfully fulfilling their purpose of freezing my hands. They probably turned into ice cubes right now.

"There is a clearing ahead," Thorn-o the monster said. "We will summon your ride."

"What ride?" Bianca demanded, speaking for the first time while all of these fantasy things were happening around us. "Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!" Thorn hissed. I glared at him mentally, picturing an image of him pleading for mercy while I enjoy myself torturing him in my dungeon chambers of fury. Hohoho, that would be a wonderful sight!

"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Nico said. Though his voice shook, I was proud that he was brave enough to defend his sister. It shows how much he loved her.

Thorn growled inhumanly, making me feel goose bumps all over my body. Man, this dude is scary.

I looked at Percy, who seemed too goody-goody while he is held captive by the vice principal. I wonder if he's forming a plan in his head.

"Halt," Dr. Thorn said.

We reached a cliff, a misty and dark cliff. But I could smell saltwater, the sea. I could hear soft, gushing waves of the waters below. It was faint, but I can feel it. I don't know how that's possible, but I can.

Oh, I loved the bodies of water so much. I can always think better with water around. When I'm confused, all I need is a swim—somewhere clean of course. I don't like swimming in dirty waters, yuck!—and I have a peace of mind and a clear thinking machine in my brain.

Pretty much, Grover knows this so whenever I'm upset or confused, he'd drag me to the school swimming pool and watch me swim about quietly. He knows I value my silence despite my noisiness sometimes.

Speaking of the devil, where are Grover, Annabeth and Thalia? Aw, crap!

Dr. Thorn pushed us toward the edge, making Percy stumble. Instinctually, I grabbed him and pulled him back, untying the cloth on my mouth in the process. Well, my act has now been busted so might as well take it off!

"Thanks," he murmured.

"No problem."

"What is he?" Bianca whispered. "How do we fight him?"

"I… I'm working on it," Percy said.

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled, fiddling with his little metal toy soldier. I bit my lip, pulling him towards me.

I've always hated seeing Nico upset. The ten year old little boy earned a spot in my heart that seeing him scared makes me want to throw him into a little sack, place him inside a treasure chest, lock him up and protect him!

"Shh, we'll get out of here, okay?" I whispered into his ear, combing his hair a bit. He nodded, gripping Bianca's and my hand tightly, which we both gripped his just as tight.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me."

We all turned, watching his heterochromatic eyes glimmer hungrily like a madman. He seemed unbothered by my freedom from the ropes and cloth, so I'm happy that I'm spared.

He pulled a phone out of his coat and said, "The package—it is ready to deliver."

My eyes widened in panic. Oh gosh, are we the packages?!

"Percy," I whispered with a panicky voice. He breathed heavily, looking behind him as if he sensed the vast body of water as well.

"You hear the sea?" I whispered. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"You can?" I nodded, looking down the cliff.

Dr. Thorn suddenly laughed, making me jump. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

I raised an eyebrow. So Percy's godly parent is a sea god? Awesome! I wonder who mine is…

"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered.

"I'll explain later," Percy replied.

"You—You have a plan, right? Please tell me you have a plan," I said, desperation evident in my voice. I want to get out of here, now.

Percy looked like he was waiting, or rather expecting, someone to arrive any minute… Grover, possibly? Then he looked at us, then the water, then around the place.

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Thorn said, the word 'kill' making my bones go cold. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

And being the idiot I am, I chose this time to use my sarcasm abilities.

"No duh, stupid. You're no Megan Fox or Johnny Depp, right?" I stated, sarcasm coating my voice.

The monstrous being in front of me just growled. "I would suggest shutting up if you want your pretty, little tongue still rolling out of your mouth."

Okay, that shut me up.

I noticed a slight flicker of movement behind Dr. Thorn. Something sprung behind him, but I have absolutely no idea what it is.

"Unfortunately," Dr. Thorn said, as if my little sarcastic moment didn't even happen. "You are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. Nico and I…" her voice cracked a bit. "We've only got no one but each other."

Sigh, if only Bianca knew it was much dangerous that what she was implying. This is demicrap business, girl!

"Aww," Dr. Thorn mocked. "Do not worry, little brats and Miss talks-a-lot. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," Percy said. I raised an eyebrow. "You work for Luke."

Who in the name of Davey Jones is Luke? There are many Luke's in the world!

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted in distaste. "You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" he questioned with a laugh worthy French accent. Ha-ha!

"I mean… who's the General?" he said, clearing his throat.

"Ah, here we are. Your transportation," Dr. Thorn said, looking up the sky. I turned and saw some sort of light, followed by a sound of a helicopter chopping, the noise getting louder and louder.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico asked.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls." Thorn stated.

"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Nico," I called out warningly. "Don't aggravate him. It will make the situation worse."

Dr. Thorn simply chuckled darkly. "You can actually say intelligent things with your mouth."

I glared at him. "Only when it's needed in the situation, considering you might kill him if he says smart comebacks."

"Now, now," he said. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not… there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"Distract him for a while," Percy whispered. I sighed and nodded.

"The Great crap of what?" I asked, distracting him while the Son of Poseidon beside me thinks of a plan.

Dr. Thorn rolled his eyes and smiled evilly. "The stirring of monsters," he said.

"And what exactly is that?" I questioned again.

"The worst monsters, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

A moment of silence…

"Oo-kay," Bianca whispered. "He's completely nuts."

"You can say that again," I muttered.

"We have to jump off the cliff," Percy told us. "Into the sea."

I faced Bianca. "Scratch that, they're both the men of insanity," I said, pointing at Percy and Dr. Thorn, who was busy blabbing about 'the final destruction of half-bloods' and 'the victory of the Titans' and crappy crackers like that.

Percy, the di Angelo siblings, and I suddenly fell to the ground from an invisible force.

"What the heck?!" I shrieked.

Grover and Thalia appeared from behind, the latter wielding a terrifying shield.

"Umm… Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Is… Is that Medusa?" I whimpered, looking at Thalia's shield with horrification.

On Thalia's bronze shield, was a molded head of the gorgon, Medusa, completely fearful, horrifying and unpleasant to the eyes of every being. Even Dr. Thorn flinched at her shield!

"Yup, Thalia's shield is Aegis. Creepy, right?"

"Creepy isn't even enough to freaking describe how terrifying it is," I said, cowering at the sight of Thalia's shield.

"For Zeus!" she cried out, holding a spear and Aegis… cue the shuddering.

As Thalia fought, Dr. Thorn launched another wave of missiles at her, using a… scorpion tail? Huh, how odd.

It was a leathery, scorpion-ish tail that had spikes at the end. Aegis was able to protect Thalia, but the force of the shots knocks her down to the ground.

Grover suddenly brought out reed pipes and began to play.

"Grover, this is not the time to play music time!" I hissed. Percy shook his head.

"Watch," and with that, grass suddenly broke through the snow. In seconds, thick weeds were wrapping themselves around Thorn's legs.

"Hmm… forget what I just said. Go Grover!" I cheered on.

The vice principal suddenly roared and began to shift forms. He grew larger, his face still human and ugly, but his body was that of a lion and his scorpion tail with tons of deadly thorns pointed in all directions.

"A manticore!" Annabeth said, suddenly appearing in front of us.

"Wow… invisibility. How'd you do that?" I asked. She shrugged and held out a Yankees baseball cap.

"A magical baseball cap?"

"Yup," she said.

"Who are you people?" Bianca demanded. "And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico said. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

Percy shot me a confused look.

"Mythomagic," I simply said. He shrugged it off and suddenly turned panicky.

"Get down!" Annabeth yelled, pushing us flat into the snow, some of it getting shoved into my mouth. Gross.

Percy hits his wristwatch and a shield spirals out. And in seconds, the shield was seriously damaged, filled with dents from the manticore's thorns.

I heard Grover yelp and landed next to Percy with a thud.

"Yield!" Thorn—or rather, Dr. Manticore—roared.

"Never!" Thalia yelled across us.

The whole thing was making me dizzy and useless. I mean, yeah I'm a newbie and all but… feeling useless and just standing there, watching them fight to protect us and their lives… it makes me feel weak, and unworthy.

I suddenly felt a tug on my gut, a roar in my ears. My body suddenly moved by itself as I raised my arm and closed my eyes, focusing on the tug. A sudden WHOOSH! passed by my ears.

By the time I opened my eyes, the manticore was inside a bubble filled with water.

My mouth was agape.

Oh.

My.

Freaking.

Gosh.

"Oh my gods," Grover and Thalia gasped.

"So she really is…" Annabeth murmured.

"No way," Percy breathed as he looked at me, shock evident in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry," I said and brought my arm down, sending the manticore and the water sphere down as well.

xXx

To say I was shocked with what I did is an understatement.

I did not know where that came from!

"G-Grover… what just happened?" I breathed out, stuttering a bit. I felt myself shake, sweat dripping from my forehead, my heart beating at a very fast rate.

"Hey, calm down. You don't want to have another panic attack, Calls. Calm down, don't worry, okay?" he said, gripping my shoulders and trying to calm me down. I nodded, breathing slowly.

A clear, piercing sound of a hunter's horn was suddenly heard from the woods.

The manticore froze, and so did everyone.

"No," he said. "It cannot be—"

He was cut off by a silver arrow, perforated through his shoulder and staggered backwards, crying in pain and agony.

"Curse you!" he cried out and unleashed spikes, but in a flash, silver arrows were shot as well.

A dozen of girls came out of the woods. The youngest looked about ten, like Nico and the eldest was fourteen, like me. They wore silver ski parkas and jeans, armed with silver arrows and bows. Each and every one of them had determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" Annabeth cried. Huh? What Hunters?

A girl, one of the oldest, stepped forward. She was pretty, with copper colored skin and a silver circlet on her head, like some sort of princess. It seems as well that she's the only one with it amongst the girls.

"Permission to kill, my lady?" the girl said.

Dr. Thorn wailed about. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. She was younger than the first girl, with auburn hair and pretty, silvery yellow eyes, like the moon. She was extremely beautiful that my jaw dropped to the ground, at awe with her beauty.

"The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast," she announced and looked at the older girl with the silver circlet. "Zoë, permission granted."

The vice principal—turned manticore—growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at Thalia and Percy, both seemingly dazed.

"No!" Annabeth and I yelled with the former charging at the monster.

I, on the other hand, grabbed the bow and arrow one of the hunting gals were holding, earning a 'hey!' from that person. In instinct, I aimed for the monster's chest, letting go of the string and watching the arrow pierce through the monster's chest, getting a wail of pain from him.

I turned to the girl I rudely grabbed the materials from. "Uhh… sorry. Pure instinct," I said. She sighed and nodded, getting another arrow and aiming at the monster.

I suddenly realized that Annabeth was holding on to the monster. My eyes widened as Zoë ordered, "Fire!"

"No!" Percy yelled.

Each arrow flew to the manticore, the monster announcing, "this is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

And before anyone could even react, the monster leaped over the cliff and into the darkness. With Annabeth.

"No!" Percy yelled.

I shrieked as I heard gunshots from the helicopter. I was suddenly deaf, watching everything run in slow motion: the helicopter exploding with one snap from the Auburn haired girl, Percy yelling in distraught, so much panic. Everywhere.

I was confused.

I was shocked.

I was drained of energy.

The last thing I actually heard was, "I am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt," before darkness consumed me.