Thanks to all who reviewed. And none of you have guesses what I have planned for when Atremis finds out, though a few are close...
My sister wants me to do a Avengers/Incredibles one shot where the Avengers + Loki + Fury meet Edna Mode. What do you think?
Answers to reviews at de bottom!
Chapter Eight: Spirit From Hades.
Thalia POV
As I had said before, the house was suspiciously un-suspicious. It was too small, too innocent, too... perfect. It was the kind of house were the perfect little family lived. Where mum and dad told each other everyday that they loved each other. Where the children happily played together. Where no matter how busy everyone was, they took time out of their day to each other how much they were all loved.
I hated it immediately.
I was jerked out of my thoughts by a blur of white, streaking across the ground to the back porch. Oh no. Spirit.
She was sniffing around the back of the house, looking utterly delighted about something. I edged forward, as close to the end of the foliage as I dared. "Come on, girl, come back here, come on." I begged her.
She sat down at the bottom of the steps, tail thumping as if she took special delight in annoying me.
Then the little metal knob turned. The door opened. Out came a beautiful native woman, dressed simply, and holding a pair of scissors, as if she was about to cut some of the herbs. She stopped, and took in Spirit, in all her gleeful, ghost-like appearance.
Where she should have raced back inside, screaming, she simply sighed, and opened the door. "Well, come on then." She said gently.
Spirit picked herself up, and toddled on in as if she owned the place.
Make that a poltergeist.
I can't believe I was so worried about Nixie, when I should have been looking over the Gods-damned dog!
The woman turned to follow Spirit in, and I caught a glimpse of the other side of her face. The skin was scarred, pulling half of her face into a horrible grimace, giving it a lop-sided look. I knew people who'd fought wars without getting such horrible physical mementos. She must have the heart of a lion to be able to live with that. She was more than worthy of the hunt.
"Sam could have warned me." She murmured as she closed the door with a thump behind her.
I can't believe this. First they kidnap Phoebe, and then they take her wolf! And who is this Sam everyone keeps talking about? He seems to be the one in charge.
I could hear the woman banging around in the kitchen, and the steady stream of her voice as she chatted away. To who? Who else is in there?
The little curtains on the window opened, and the woman smiled as she took a deep breath. "Of course, the first time is always the most difficult. But you'll learn how to phase back soon. The rest of the guys will be here in a minute, and you can meet them. I know they can be a bit scary, but their really very good people once you get to know them." She chatted as she walked out of my view.
I had to get Spirit out of there before whoever 'they' were got here.
But one other, tiny little detail bugged me. Who was she talking to? Unless she was insane, and unfortunately, as a half-blood Hunter, I come across mad people with depressing regularity, so insanity was a likely possibility. So I suppose it wasn't all that unlikely.
But by the sounds of it, we were about to have more company, so I had to get Spirit out ASAP.
The woman walked past the window again, monologuing on to some invisible being. Then I made my move. I dashed towards the house, keeping low to the ground, out of view of the window.
I crouched against the wall, and peered up through the window, to see the woman walking up a set of stairs. I ran up the porch to the door. Thanking the Gods that it was unlocked, I creaked open the door.
Spirit was lying on the floor by the kitchen table, eyes closed and to all the world asleep.
"Spirit!" I hissed, watching out for the woman. "Come on girl."
She opened an eye, and glared at me, reminding me of a grumpy Aphrodite girl having just been woken up from her beauty sleep.
I opened the door wider, and crept inside, wincing at every creak in the wooden floor as I snuck towards her, tugging on the scruff of her neck.
With a low grumble, she stood up, and yawned, showing her pearly whites for all to see.
She marched past me with her head held high, but instead of trotting down the porch steps, she turned towards another door, and sat down in front of it, looking at me as if to say, 'Open it you idiot?
I sighed and and turned the door handle. I applied pressure to open it. The door stuck.
"There. Happy? Now can we please go before she comes back down?".
She growled at me softly, and when I turned to walk away, she stubbornly sat, and I could feel her disapproving eyes on my retreating back.
"It doesn't open!" I whisper-screamed at her.
She nudged her nose against the door.
I marched up and pushed against the door, "See, completely st-" The once very stuck door, suddenly became very unstuck, and I fell though into the next room. It appeared to be some kind of laundry room, with a door that led to the outside of the house. There was a sink, with some worn shirts hanging up by the large windows, riddled with tears and holes. A pile of runners, or what remained of then, were plonked by the door, the seams splitting, soles falling off.
Spirit padded to one of the biggest, disgusting, muddied, ripped to pieces shoes, that would not have looked out of place on a gorgon's foot, and gave it a small nudge. Th sole fell off pathetically. I gently placed the door back in the frame before I lost control.
Spirit sat by her prize, looking rather smug.
"That's his shoe?" I asked. She gave me a duh look, that rivaled any of Mr D's.
I forced myself to gently place the door back in the frame before I lost control. "We came here to find a person, not Medusa's favourite footwear!" I snapped.
"Hello? Sam, are you back already?" A soft voice called.
A door creaked open. Footsteps wandered to the little room where Spirit and I were frozen. They paused, and there was a shadow under the door, as someone stopped just outside the room. The handle turned, metal catching the light shining from the windows.
The door stuck.
"Sam, could you open the door? It's stuck."
Another, deeper voice at the other end of the house answered back. "What door, Emily?" His voice jolted me back into action.
I bolted to the back door, the hinges screeching alarms as I threw it open. I was down the steps, across the yard and into the shadows of the forest in the blink of an eye. I was swift, my feet barely touching the ground, the rising wind seeming to urge me along into the safety of the trees. But some thing made me turn back.
May the gorgons turn your nose to stone, so you never smell the monsters coming, I thought viciously.
"Come on Spirit, you can argue with me later!" I snapped, as the wolf trotted down the stairs, casting a longing glance back out the house, as if she was leaving some place that smelled like home.
There was a creak and a small shriek, and the woman appeared in the door way.
Not good.
"Come on Spirit!" I yelled loudly, turning and crashing through the forest, Spirit panting after me. I dodged through the trees, jumping over broken logs, not caring about making any noise. I just had to get away.
Spirit gave a yelp behind me. A glance behind me revealed that a gigantic brown wolf held her down with a paw.
A flash drew my eyes to a large set of teeth, that was rapidly gaining on me.
I reached down to draw my boot knife. The wolf pinned me to the ground, face first in the forest floor, my knife tumbling out of my hand to disappear into the leaf litter.
"What is it with monsters and breaking other people's faces? I don't particularly want top resemble a pancake." I grumbled. No one responded.
The wolf's hot breath stank of something nasty, and I could feel it's claw resting on my back, just waiting for any signal to let them dig in. There were snarls and foot steps as more wolves surrounded us. I could hear Spirit snapping at her capturer, little good that it did her.
For a minute or so, I lay there, trying not to breath in any worms or bugs on the forest floor. The wolves seemed to be discussing something, how I do not know, though they snarled at each other often. What's a family without fights? I would know.
Then, something glinted within inches of my right hand. Stretching, my hand closed around it.
Trying not to swallow a rather persistent beetle, I managed to ask, "If you're not going to let me go, could you at least let me up?"
After a few more snarls, the wolf that held me lifted his paw up, and I rolled away, springing up, quickly slipping the object into my sleeve.
About fourteen wolves were hidden amongst the trees and scrub, all unnaturally large, all different shades of colours. All watching me. I couldn't see the silver wolf among them, though, and my heart seemed to almost cry out. But I pushed down the feeling. It was a distraction I didn't need, and could ponder over when I was sure my life wasn't in danger.
I faced the wolf who had been digging his sharp nails into my back. It was the red wolf from before, and it seemed rather annoyed by the whole affair, frowning at me as if I'd interrupted his sleep.
A large black wolf who seemed to be in charge, jerked his head, and a smaller grey/white wolf -puppy, really- picked Spirit up by the scruff of her neck, and trotted off through the trees.
"Hey, you can't just take her! You've already got my friend, why in Hades do you need her damn dog?" I yelled. Something yanked at my shirt, and started tugging me backwards. It was that Zeus-cursed red wolf. It pulled me backwards, and I dug my feet in to the ground, but the red wolf simply snarled, and my jacket tore slightly.
It was a one of a kind jacket, personally given to me by Artemis when I first became a lieutenant, a symbol of her care, love and trust. Of the family I never had. And that wolf had just ripped it.
"First of all," I ripped myself away from the wolf, not caring I was outnumbered, outgunned, and had pretty much no chance, "Nobody kidnaps my friends and thinks they can get away with it." I made sure I had my back to a tree, so none of them could sneak up on me. "And second, if you think you could ever kidnap me, you are quite mistaken."
The red wolf glared at me, snarling viciously. Without warning it leapt, and I had a frightening glimpse of what it was like to be prey to a ferocious beast. Then I flicked the knife in my sleeve right through the monster's mouth, till it came out the other side. The wolf seemed to lose it's momentum, and skidded to a halt right in front of me. It turned it's bewildered head to look at my knife lying among the bugs and leaf litter.
There wasn't a drop of blood on it, and all the wolves appeared rather confused. Red didn't look in pain, or as if he was about to combust. Just a little addlebrained.
"For the love of Olympus! Couldn't you stupid monsters just stay dead already?" I screeched in it's face. I thought we'd gotten rid of that problem when we closed the doors of death, and sent Gaia back to sleep.
But the bewildered look was fast disappearing from every wolves' face.
Not advice I usually listen to, but when in doubt, retreat. So I did. Pretty damn quick, too, if I do say so myself.
First Guest 2 Review: Woooooooooooooooo!
Second Guest 2 Review: Thanks!
Bowties are Cool: I'm very glad your nose is okay. And your not quite there...
Guest1: Sorry. And I'm glad Thalia's now your second fav. Though I think you think Artemis is very nice. She may be one of the nicer gods, but she is still a God.
Sara: Some would say lucky, but it'll probably be too hot to actually do anything. And the flies are utterly attrocious. You're one of the closest in guessing what'll happen, but you're still a bit off.
trivia101: Thanks!
PleAsE rEvIeW. yOu GuYs AlL mAkE mE sMiLe.
And I just had an opperation on my teeth, so I'm really sore. They cut my gum open and everything! But now I talk really weird. Come on, please review. With a cherry on top?
