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Chapter 4: I Take a Lesson in Bull-fighting
Grover seemed to have seen something I hadn't, because he made a nervous, bleating noise.
"Mrs. Jackson, can you drive a little faster please?"
"We're almost there. Why? What's wrong?"
He gulped."There's something following us."
Suddenly, the temperature in the Camaro seemed to have dropped several degrees.
"Please, please, please, just a little bit farther." Mom mumbled.
During our ride the skies had darkened, and it started to rain. Thunder boomed in the sky, the bang!
Something large hit the trunk of the car. Sending us tumbling into a ditch.
"Get out!" Mom yelled. "Run!"
Grover took the lead, he seemed to know these woods well.
I looked back wondering what we were running from. Just in time to see a bolt of lightening rip a hole through it. Then, something tossed it through the air. It landed about eighty feet away from where it once was. The gas tank exploded.
I remembered what Gabe had told me, 'not a scratch'. Oops.
The rain was pouring harder and harder.
"We need to go to the tree!" Mom yelled, pointing towards a large pine tree standing a top a hill that was covered in long unkempt grass.
There was a grunt behind us.
I saw the figure from before, only more clearly now. At first I thought it was holding a blanket over his head. But his hands were swinging by his sides. Not to mention there were two large, black and white horns on his head. I don't know about anyone else, but I've never seen a blanket with horns attached to it before.
"Pythia! Come on!" Grover yelled.
We were within a few feet of the tree when it happened. The creature had caught up to us. Snorting and grunting it stomped its foot like it was about to-
My mom barely managed to pull me out of the way in time.
"When it charges, jump to the side. It can't turn fast enough to catch you." She said.
"Mom, is that-"
"Pasiphae's son," Mom interrupted. She looked at me. "Don't say its name. Names have power."
"That's him alright," Grover bleated. "In all of his fruit of the loom glory."
The bull-man charged at us again. I watched horror as Grover slipped on the wet grass. Shouting in pain.
Looking at the charging monster, I knew I had to do something. I had a plan (a stupid one, granted, but a plan none the less).
"H-hey underwear brains!" I yelled waving my arms. My mom looked at me like I was crazy.
The newly dubbed 'underwear brains' ran right past Grover, and straight towards me.
I looked behind myself, there was the tree Mom was pointing to earlier. 'Maybe I could get his horns stuck. Even for a little bit...'
I was going to side jump, when I noticed something. He had his arms reached out to each side.
"Pythia!" Mom yelled.
It was too late to abandon ship. As, he was nearing me, time seemed to slow down. My legs tensed as I jumped up. Using his nose as a springboard. I flipped mid-air and landed on his neck.
How did I do that?
I didn't have much time to think on it. In the next second the bull-man had rammed into the tree. Almost, throwing me off.
He staggered, and then started to shake.
I hooked my arms around his horns. Otherwise, he would have bucked me off. Why didn't he just back up and squash me like a bug. This thing, maybe… could it only go forward?
Meanwhile, Mom was trying to help Grover up. It looked like his leg was broken. He slowly turned towards me. I thought about how silly this must have looked. A young preteen girl hanging on to horns, seated on top of a giant bull-man that might as well have been doing some kind of funky dance in the rain.
Apparently, Grover didn't find it as funny as I did.
"Pythia!" Grover yelled.
Unfortunately, that got underwear brains attention. The bull-man wheeled towards them, stomping the ground, and getting ready to charge. I could see it now: Mom would try to pull Grover away, but it was too late, and he'd squash them like pancakes.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
I got both my hands around one horn, and pulled with all my might. The monster stopped, gave a surprised grunt, then- snap!
The bull-man screamed and flung about 20 feet away. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. I quickly sat up, my vision, slightly blurry, and in my hands was the horn.
The monster charged.
Without thinking, I rolled to the side and came up kneeling. As the monster barrelled past. I drove the horn straight up, under his fury ribcage.
He roared in agony. Flailing, he clawed at his chest. Before crumbling like a poorly built and castle. Eerily similar to what Mrs. Dodds had done.
The rain had stopped. The storm continued to rumble, but only in the distance. I stank of livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like someone was trying to dig a hole through it.
"Pythia!" My mom yelled. "Quickly, before another one comes."
I stumbled over, and helping her support Grover, we walked towards the tree.
"Uh, Mrs. Jackson you won't be able to-"
"Grover." She said.
"Yes, Mrs. Jackson?"
"Shut up."
"Yes, Mrs. Jackson."
I couldn't help but laugh.