We arrived at the rendezvous point at approximately 8:00. This gave us time to discuss what exactly we would be facing.

"It sounds like Lamia." Michelle said.

"Wasn't she that queen who killed her children or something?" I remembered reading about it in some book.

"Yes, she was compelled by Hera to kill her and Zeus's children. Then she went mad and started luring other children to her and killed them too. Hera is the goddess of motherhood, so this was her idea of vengeance" Michelle explained. "These actions turned her into a monster. Zeus took pity on her and gave her the ability to remove her eyes so she wouldn't have to see what she'd become. So now she lures children to her and drinks their blood. People used her as a sort of bogeyman to scare their kids into good behavior."

"Sounds like a good strategy to me" I joked. "If my dad ever told me an eyeless snake lady would drink my blood if I didn't act right, I'd have turned out a lot better than I did." Michelle gave me a look that seemed to ask how I could joke at a time like this. Then I heard an all too familiar voice.

"What's gotten into you, stupid mongrel?" Laelaps was straining against his leash. The cyclops was straining just as hard to maintain control of him.

"Good thing we got here early" I whispered as Michelle and I took cover behind a hotdog cart.

"He must still be able to smell Nikki!" Michelle was frantic.

"Not exactly" I said. How could we be so stupid? "He smells her on us. We've been with her long enough, of course her scent would rub off a little."

"Damn! We need to get him off our trail." Thinking quickly I asked Michelle for her spear ring. She handed it over.

"about how far does this thing's tether reach?" I asked.

"About fifteen yards. Why?"

"You ever play fetch with a dog and pretend to throw a ball, but the dog still goes after it?" "Surely you can't be serious." Michelle was looking at me like I was crazy.

"I am serious, and-" "If you say don't call me Shirley, I'll have to hurt you."

"just trying to lighten the mood." I shrugged, activating the spear. "besides, you set me up for that line." I jumped out from my hiding spot, calling to Laelaps. "hear doggie. See the stick? You want the stick boy?" By now, Laelaps' tail was wagging nonstop. "Well go get it!" I hurled the spear with all my might, right toward the edge of the pier. People around us jumped out of the way as what they perceived as a large dog dragging it's screaming owner ran past them. Then they both went over the edge, into the ocean. The dumb dog didn't even notice the spear return to my hand.

"Why would you do that?" Michelle screamed at me, tearing the spear ring off my hand. "Now we've lost Artemis's prized hunting dog and our best lead to Sarah's location."

"Relax" I said, arms raised in defense. "I'm sure Laelaps knows the dog paddle. As for finding the cave-" I led her over to the record store. "Take a look at the sign." Michelle glanced up, and her jaw almost hit the pavement. Most of the letters had fallen off. But a few remained. They read Lam I a. We quickly stepped inside. Now it was my turn to gape in disbelief. Instead of being inside a store, we were standing on the shores of a nasty looking beach. There were bones all over, half buried in the sand. Michelle got over her shock first.

"The record store must be some kind of enchanted portal." She mused. "Some versions of the story say that Lamia was a daughter of Poseidon. I guess they were right. So obviously she would want a home with an ocean view. This must be the secluded beach the prophecy mentioned." In the distance we could see the cave that Sarah must have been in. We crept over to the entrance. I put on my mask and pictured the cyclops. Within moments, I became a perfect replica of him.

"Okay," I said in his voice. "Use all that junk you brought with you to create some traps. Put them around the entrance so that once I get out with Sarah, Lamia can't follow us."

"Sure thing" Michelle didn't hide how much she hated this plan.

"Hey" I knelt down, due to my enhanced height, to look at her eye to eyes. "This will be a simple in-and-out rescue. Don't worry."

"it's not that. It's just I don't know if anything I make will be any good."

"Are you still on that?" I rolled my eye. This inferiority complex was really getting old. "Who made that spear ring? Or the smoke bombs? I've seen how brilliant you are with these gizmos. I have complete faith in your abilities." This seemed to help get her head in the game.

"You can count on me. Just be careful." I nodded and lumbered into the cave.