Chapter 4

The scorpion barreled towards us much quicker than I thought it would, and within seconds it was on top of us. Before john could fire another shot the scorpion grabbed us with its giant claws, it pulled us upward and slammed us into a tree. We were trapped, pinned against the tree by the scorpion's claws. We kicked and thrashed but it was no use, then the scorpion raised it massive tail and I could see the giant stinger attached to the end of it. The way the stinger moved, freaked me out, it was going back and forth as if it was examining both of us, wondering who to kill first. Then it finally turned towards me, I felt a lump form in my throat. This thing was going to kill me. The stinger lurched forward and I closed my eyes; it was then and there that my life flashed before my eyes. It all happened so fast, I saw the memories just flying by; first it was my fifth birthday, then my primary graduation. The images just flickered in front of me one after the other.

Then I heard someone yell, "Hey" I opened my eyes and the stinger was only centimetres from my face, the scorpion released its grip on me and John and turned towards the sound. Standing there was a pale skinned, 5 foot 2 teenager holding two black short swords at his sides, and then came another guy. He came out from the trees a few metres away from the other kid, and already had his weapon drawn, he held a celestial bronze spear that was about 8 feet long and the guy himself was about 5 foot 6 and they both looked about 16. They both got into fighting stances that I couldn't recognize and raised their weapons, the scorpion leapt into combat, batting at them with its claws and trying to impale them with his tail. They fought like a team who had trained together, side stepping the scorpion's attacks and striking back, leaving minor wounds. I knew that they could not keep this up for long though. Then... I spotted my sword, it was lying only a few feet away...under the scorpions stomach. Then I heard a muffled cuss coming from beside me, I looked over to see John holding his now demolished shotgun. He looked up at the scorpion that was facing the other direction battling the two other demigods, then he raised his now boomerang shaped shotgun like a club and charged. As he was running up behind it he yelled "you broke my shotgun you son of a..." He was interrupted by the scorpion swinging its tail into his stomach, flinging him like a ragdoll as he flew through the air; he hit a tree and fell limp and lifeless onto the ground. "No!" I shouted. Then, I ran in, I barreled toward the scorpion at top speed and rolled beneath it. I grabbed my sword and jabbed upward, stabbing it up through its stomach. I rolled to the side and got out from beneath it, the insect fell flat on its stomach and at the same time was stabbed in the face by two swords and a spear. The monstrosity disintegrated into yellow dust and I just stared in awe at what I just witnessed, what I just did.

Then I ran over to John who was lying on the ground, the other two teens joined me as well, I was shaking him yelling "John...John... come on John." The guy with the spear grabbed my shoulder, I turned to face him and he gave me what looked like a lemon square.

"Give him this" he said

"What is it?" I asked

"It's Ambrosia, God food. It'll fix your friend here right up"

Reluctantly I stuck the Ambrosia in his mouth and nothing happened, "He needs way more!" I ordered.

"Not a good idea" the spear-kid said, "We may be demigods but too much of that Godly crap will screw us up!"

"So, now what, we just wait?"

"Not out here another bug might show up, or worse"

I didn't want to know what could be worse than those things, but I really didn't want to know, so I agreed. The pale Goth looking kid took John and slung him over his shoulder with ease, and then we began walking back. On the way back I asked the guy with the spear, "What's your name?"

"I'm Blake"

"Who's your friend Blake?" I asked pointing at the Goth Kid

"I don't know this kid at all really, sure we've trained together a few times but that's it"

"I'm Isaac. Thanks for asking" he mumbled.

He seemed like an emo kid but I knew he could use a sword, so he was alright. The rest of the walk back was pretty awkward and quiet but they did ask how long I'd been at camp, so I told them I was new. We finally arrived back at camp around curfew and brought John into the big house, Chiron said he would stay with John and told the rest of us to go get some rest. As we walked out to the cabins I asked, "What cabin are you guys staying in?"

Blake turned to me "Hermes, Isaac here is a son of Hades like Nico di Angelo." Then he asked me, "Who is your godly parent?"

"Not sure, I'm still undetermined" I said

"Oh, so it looks like you will be in my cabin."

"Looks that way" I agreed

So that night we went to our designated cabins and got some rest, sleep did not come easy for me that night. I dreamt I was standing in the middle of a dark room, with only a single light above that cast a bright circle around me, the rest of the room however was total darkness. I stood there looking all around the room and then a voice boomed in my head. "Nathan West!" the voice roared, "You will do my bidding, you will be my slave!"

"Who are you?" I demanded

"It's not important who I am!" The voice shouted "What's important is who I WILL be, I will be your master Nathan West, and you cannot stop this from happening! I will control you, I will break you and I will become YOU!"

"Get out of my head", I screamed "get out of my head!"

Chains shot out of the darkness and wrapped around me, restraining my arms and legs. Then the voice roared again, "You impudent whelp! Watch your mouth; I will strip the flesh off your bones if you do not give in to me, GIVE IN!" Then a massive scythe swooped down at me and I awoke, sweating and panting, what just happened?