Revised on 7.9.11.
I managed to add eight hundred words to this chappie. ^_^
Beta - Camzy
Everyone's eyes widened. "What was –" Sarah started to ask before Zac put a finger to his lips—silence.
No one said a word—the air was filled with tension, so much you could have heard a pin drop. I didn't hear anything else, except for the heavy breathing of the five of us. No more hysterical screams, though.
"Stay in here. I'm going to go check it out," Zac said, pulling his headband down tighter on his head. He gave me a small smile, then walked out the door, closing it behind him.
"We're not going to listen to him, are we?" Donnie asked with a stereotypically mischievous grin that only he could have.
"I'm not a very good role model for you guys, am I?" I muttered as I slipped the special mirror into my pocket. I slowly opened the door, then motioned for the gang to follow me.
The hallway was deserted and I couldn't see or hear Zac. Where'd he—
"Where'd he go?" Sarah asked.
"Took the words right out my mouth," I whispered, shaking my head. I held my hand out behind me as a gesture for silence. I still couldn't hear anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't a crazy, psycho-maniac killer waiting just around the corner to ambush us.
I hesitantly poked my head around the corner. A relieved sign escaped my lips as I gazed upon the emptiness.
I motioned for everyone to quietly follow me to the front desk. I peered over—
No one.
I turned back to the lobby and swept it for any signs.
Again, nothing.
The front door had been flung off its hinges and part of the wall above the door was gaping open.
"Who would be tall enough to have to break through the top of the door to fit through?" Sarah asked, reaching for my hand. "Or strong enough to rip the door off its hinges?"
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "That's a… good question, Sarah. I don't… know."
Donnie scampered forward and grabbed my other hand, gripping it as tight as his little fist would let him.
"Hey, where'd that chick go?" Chad asked, pointing to the empty desk. It hadn't even occurred to me that the blonde was no longer at her post, where she had said she would be all night, should we need anything. Maybe she was the one that had screamed? What if someone had kidnapped her? The more I thought about that, though, the more suspicious it sounded. No offense to her, but honestly—who would want to kidnap her? She obviously didn't come from money, or else she wouldn't have been working here.
"Do you have to call every girl you meet, a chick?" Sarah replied sarcastically, slapping him upside the head.
Chad and Sarah started arguing; I tuned them out. Now then, think, I told myself. Everything was really quiet, apart from Chad and Sarah arguing. I tried to listen, but their voices kept interrupting me. "Would you two just shut up for a minute? One minute—that's all I'm asking!" I yelled. I listened a little bit longer, but there was nothing but silence. That is, until… "ROAR!"
"Was that a roar?" Chad asked timidly, edging closer to me.
"I don't—" I started to say, and then it hit me. It was coming from the roof!
"ROOF!" I yelled and ran out the no-longer-a-door door until I was far enough away to see the roof. On top of the one story building, I saw the silhouette of a very tall, very menacing, and very buff man. I saw his head tip back and then…"ROAR!"
"Sweet mother Rhea," Sarah mumbled, squeezing my hand.
"Come on," I yelled, running back into the motel. "We've got to get to the roof."
"Are you crazy? We have to get out of here, NOW!" Chad yelled, taking the hand Sarah had momentarily dropped. He tried to pull me towards the non-door door.
I stayed rooted in my spot, surprised at the amount of strength I suddenly had, opposing Chad—buff, football player Chad. Go me! "Zac could be up there. He might be hurt. We have to help him." I weaseled my hand from Chad's, then took off again, Donnie in tow.
"We don't have any weapons," Sarah said, running up beside me.
"Yeah," Chad agreed, pacing himself beside me. "I don't think just talking to him is gonna work. We need some firepower."
"We've got to do something," I muttered. Desperately, I jumped over the front desk and ran into the room behind it. "Look for anything we could use as a weapon," I commanded, jerking open a drawer.
We quickly searched the room as thorough as possible in the very limited amount of time we had, but there just wasn't anything in the room—just a table, some chairs, and a kitchen cabinet thingy. Donnie found a dull butcher's knife.
"Okay, we've got something, now let's go!"
"You think this," Chad said, motioning to the knife, "is going to kill that?"
"It'll have to," I muttered, sprinting towards the stairwell.
"He's right, Jemma—if this is our only weapon, then we don't stand a chance," Sarah whispered as we ran up the stairs to the door with an EXIT sign.
"Just think positively," I muttered. "Maybe it's just the janitor making a roof repair."
"At night?"
"Uh… yeah."
"Why did he roar?"
"He hit his…. thumb with a… hammer," I wheezed, out of breath from running up the stairs. I yanked open the door and gasped in horror.
I heard Sarah mumble, "That's not the janitor…"
In front of us—maybe ten feet away—sniffing inside a trashcan, stood a tall—as in, eight feet tall—man. At least, his bottom half was that of a really muscular man. His top half was covered in thick, coarse hair. On top of his wide meaty shoulders, was the head of a bull—horns and all.
Luckily, he hadn't seen us yet. I couldn't help but let a small laugh escape my lips. That was luck to us now—the fact that a monstrous bull-man hadn't seen us yet.
"Holy Horseradish!" Donnie exclaimed, cowering behind me.
"There's no way this is going to work. It'll have to," Chad said, his voice becoming more shrill at the second half—the boy was making fun of me. Not that it mattered at present time—he was right. There was no way we were going to kill this thing with a dull knife. Heck, we couldn't kill it with a sharp knife! I scanned the rest of the roof for anything we might be able to use but I only saw an old water hose. I probably wouldn't even hold water—there were too many holes.
"Jem, is that… Zac?" Sarah whispered, pointing to an area in front of the man-beast. You could just about make out his bright orange hair and neon headband.
My heart stopped. Suddenly, I couldn't catch my breath. If anything happened to that dummy—
"Yeah, but I don't think he's conscious," Chad said grimly. He looked over at me and his gaze soften. "But he's alive."
"What are we gonna do?" Donnie asked in a small, squeaky voice. His pupils were dilated in fear.
I shook my head. Think Jemma, think! Come on, now, you do just fine in school. THINK!
Hold on.
I felt my back pocket where a small handle was sticking out. Thank Kron—I mean, thank the gods, I mentally said. I pulled the mirror out and looked down into it.
I saw twinkling stars in a black sky. I could hear someone say, "This view never gets old."
Someone else said, "I know. It always comforts me."
"Annabeth," I said as loudly as I dared, which turned out to be a small whisper.
"Yeah, Percy? What? Did you say something?" she asked.
"I don't think so. Unless my body is being possessed and now I have only partial control of it."
"Or Jemma might be calling me," Annabeth muttered. I'm sure if I could have seen her face, she would have been rolling her eyes.
Suddenly, the mirror swirled different colors and Annabeth's face appeared before me. She offered me a big smile—that is, until she saw the expression on my face. "What's going on?"
"Do you know what that is?" I turned the mirror to the man-beast.
"That is the Minotaur," Annabeth said coolly. "Why are you showing me a picture of the Mino—"
"It's not a picture," I snapped.
Her face paled. "Uh oh, they have to fight the Minotaur?" Percy asked, coming into the picture.
"Oh no," Annabeth said. She turned back to me and said, "You guys need to leave before he sees you. You've got to hurry and run. There's no way you can—"
"I can't. He has Zac!" I snapped.
"Oh." A look of understanding crossed her face. "Do you have any weapons?"
"Only this old knife," I said, holding the dull knife up.
"Most likely not Celestial Bronze," Annabeth mumbled. "Is there anything else that you have with you?"
I told her about the water hose.
"Hmm…" she muttered as her face twisted in concentration.
"I know what you guys can do!" Percy suddenly said.
"No offense Hon, but I've thought it through and they don't have a chance," Annabeth said, patting Percy's hand.
"There's got to be something—" I started to say.
"My plan will work, I know it will," he said with a look of determination. He turned to face the mirror and told us his plan. None of us could a thing but nod grimly.
Annabeth looked surprised. "That wasn't half bad Seaweed Brain," she said grudgingly.
"Alright guys, time to initiate Operation Kick Some Minotaur Butt—"
"Hey Meat Face, whatcha doin'? Maybe you should pick on someone your own size!" Donnie yelled, sticking out his tongue at the hairy beast. Oh Donnie, be careful.
The Minotaur roared, turned around, and charged straight for Donnie. I jumped and pushed him out of the way just as the Minotaur tripped over the hose that Chad and Sarah were holding. The Minotaur roared and tried to get up. From the mirror, I heard Percy yell, "Jump on his back and hold on! The rest should fall into place!"
I took a deep breath and ran forward, hopping onto its back. I was just in time, too.
The Minotaur stood up and tried to shake me off. I held on for dear life, my body flailing all over the place. So this is how fruit feels as it's being grinded up in the blender for a smoothie. I have a lot in common with that fruit right now—I'm probably about to be eaten, too.
Somehow I managed to free one of my hands from the furry mass of hair that anchored me down. I grabbed on to one of its horns and pulled back.
SNAP!
The horn was surprisingly easy to tear off. Unfortunately, Mr. Minotaur got even angrier and threw me off his back. I landed with a thud.
I didn't have time to register the pain before the Minotaur turned on me, his black eyes glaring. With a grunt, he charged.
I kneeled on one knee, the horn in one hand, hoping Percy was right.
He was ten feet away…
Five feet away…
As he closed in on me, I shoved the horn into his furry ribcage. He stopped and roared in agony, clawing at his chest as he began to disintegrate. It was almost like he was turning to sand, except nothing fell on the floor. Before long, the only thing left was the horn lying on the ground.
"It's a good think I caught the mirror," Sarah said, handing it back to me. "It could have broken." I guess it must have flown out of my hand when I was taking a joyride on the Minotaur.
I shoved past Sarah, straight to the trash cans were Zac was lying. I glanced over at the blonde haired receptionist lying beside him, though my attention was focused on my best friend. "It's going to be okay, Zac," I whispered. "You're going to be okay."
"Hey! I think he's waking up!" Sarah shouted from beside the bed where Zac was lying. I ran over and looked at him. He had a bruise on his cheek and his arm was broken. Luckily for us, Chiron told us how to heal them, or at least, get close to healing them. None of us proved to be natural healers, as Chiron had said.
Zac's eyes fluttered open. "What—"
"Shh! You need to rest!" Sarah said, placing a tanned hand on his forehead.
"You got attacked by the Minotaur, dude!" Donnie gushed, his eyes wide.
"Minotaur… like in myths and stuff?" Zac mumbled, blinking heavily.
"Yeah," I told him. "Just like in myths…"
Chiron piped up from the mirror in my hand. "Zacia, do you remember what happened?"
I handed the mirror to Zac and helped him sit up a little on the bed. "I remember hearing someone scream. I ran outside our room to the front desk. The hairy guy—"
"Minotaur," I corrected.
"The Minotaur had just flung the doors open and walked through the wall into the lobby. He grabbed that girl," Zac pointed to the receptionist who was lying on the bed beside his own, "and started to walk out." He grimaced. "I yelled at him to stop and he turned around and grabbed me. He jumped really high and then we were on the roof. When we got up there, he just kind of threw us down. That's all I remember…"
"That's fine, Zacia. You have given us valuable information. I think we can conclude that the Minotaur was after this young girl for some reason. We can't know what that reason is though until she wakes," Chiron said. Well duh, Chiron! I mean, come on. Monsters don't just attack anyone, do they?
As if on cue, the blonde girl moaned, "Ouch! My nooooooose hurts!" I turned to look at her.
She had white tape on her nose—it was broken. She also had a big gash on her cheek and a sprained ankle. Considering what she went through, she was very lucky.
"You look rough," Zac mumbled.
"What do I look like?" she asked frantically. "I need a mirror! Let me see that one!" She reached over and snatched the mirror from Zac's hands.
"Uh, that's not a regular mirror—"
"Oh, quit hogging it to yourself, Pretty Boy," she said, looking into the mirror. She dropped it instantly and shrieked. "That better not be what I look like!"
I scowled and picked up the mirror. "Sorry Chiron. I guess you can tell that she's awake now."
"Erm… yes. May I speak to her for a moment?"
"Uh, yeah," I said, handing the mirror back to the girl. This time, she didn't drop it.
"What is this?" she asked, clearly bewildered. Her blue eyes were wide.
"It allows our two worlds to communicate," Chiron explained. He told her everything he knew about the mirror.
"That kind of makes sense," she mumbled, scratching her head. "I mean, in a weird, twisted sort of way."
"What's your name?" Donnie asked.
"I'm Natalie, Natalie White," the girl said, flashing a pearly white smile. Note to self—brush teeth more often.
"It's nice to meet you Natalie. I'm fairly certain, but would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" Chiron asked, his voice somewhat weary.
"Uh… sure?"
Chiron asked her a few questions then concluded, "Your mother is Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty."
"She was one of the "Evil Ones". I thought they were rotting in Tartarus!" Natalie exclaimed.
I muttered, "You and me, Natalie… you and me."
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