Chapter 13

I woke the next morning in good spirits, until I heard the clamoring, and shouting. I gathered my bow, and a dagger, and ran outside. I gasped when I saw the same monster who'd been here twice before had made it back into camp.

I was so sick of this monster. I sighed, and unslung my bow, watching its every movement. For a while, I couldn't pinpoint an exact part of itself that it seemed to protect. Eventually I realized it was the left foot.

I looked for the nearest person who could stab it without getting swatted away. Unfortunately that person was Sam. "Sam! The left foot!" I shouted.

Sam scowled at me, "Why should I do what you say?" She hissed.

I groaned, "Sam now is not the time to be a total-" I was cut off by the monster's roar. I glared at Sam, and unsheathed my dagger, racing forward.

I rolled on the ground, plunging the dagger into the foot. The monster immediately disintegrated. I whirled around to face Sam. "What in Hades Sam?"

"How was I supposed to know that was how you killed it?" She snapped.

"BECAUSE I TOLD YOU SO!" I roared, before staggering backwards, and trying to catch my breath. Calm yourself, you have my blessing, not Ares's a voice in my head said. I growled, Athena was clearly back.

Sam was red in the face, "You know what Jackson? I'm so sick of you being a know-it-all. You think you're so perfect, but you're not. You have a nasty temper, worse than mine, and that's saying something. You date a grimy, runt of a boy. You can't even fight your own fights. You just put me in danger trying to get me killed by that monster Jackson?" She said, spitting every word at me.

I hissed at her, "Shut your mouth Sam, you don't know me. You don't know what I've been through."

"You haven't been through shit Jackson. You base your life on your parents' and you just ride their coattails. You haven't accomplished anything and you know it! You don't even have a quest, you have a death sentence!" Sam roared.

I screamed, and lunged on her. We were a knot of fists, hair pulls, and nail scratches. We weren't really fighting, just taking our frustrations out on each other. Our fights could get way more vicious.

Sam kicked me off, and threw a punch...two...to my face. I howled in anger, and punched her back, throwing her off of me. I stood, panting. "That's it!" I shrieked. "I'm done with your B.S. Sam. Just leave me the Hades alone."

I stormed off towards the armory. I gathered arrows, more daggers, a shield I could turn into a bracelet, much like my father's watch. I grabbed a pack of ambrosia and stuffed it into my pocket.

I was steaming as I marched outside of the border. I heard my name being called, but kept walking. Strong hands grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Alyssa!"

I whirled around, and glared at Mason. "What?" I growled.

"Alyssa, what's going on? You can't be out here." Mason said, his face nothing but concern.

My anger died, and I sighed, staring at the ground. "I don't know. I'm so sick of everything. I came out here to hunt the monster. I figured it must spawn somewhere here."

Mason sighed, and glanced at our surroundings. "Okay. Just let me grab some food, and a few traps and weapons and we'll go hunt it, okay?"

I stared at him in shock. "You- you're going to come with me?"

Mason stared at me as thought I'd grown another head. "Of course! The prophecy says you get sacrificed, and I'll beat it. I might as well go with to try and save you, if there's any hope."

I smiled softly, shaking my head. "I love you so much, I don't deserve you." I said, planting a kiss on his lips, hugging him closely.

Mason smiled against our kiss. "Funny, because I thought it was the other way around."

I laughed, and we pulled apart. We made it back inside the border, and Mason went off to collect other objects to help on our hunt, and impending battle. I glanced at the Big House, where my parents were probably talking with Chiron.

I sighed, I felt guilty not saying goodbye, but they couldn't know what I was doing. They would try to stop me, and I needed to do this.

Mason came back, and glanced down at me. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I nodded slowly, "Yes. I just want to kill this thing once and for all."

Mason smiled softly, and planted a kiss on my forehead, "Then let's do this, together."