Okay sorry, I know this is my first Disclaimer so here it is: I, SoulessDivinity, do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians (sadly)
An elephant sized silver lion. When you're at the zoo there are lions, right? Imagine one of those lions and times it by six then paint it silver. That's what was in front of me with no cage, no glass, and no protection. I muffled a scream with my arm and noticed that my armor was visible and that my bow was slung over my shoulder.
I had no training and I could barely use my magic. I didn't even know if it would work on something that breathed. I was frightened. Completely terrified, I should say.
The Nemean Lion lunged at me and I tuck and rolled to the side. I notched my bow and pulled with all my might to draw the bow and I shot it at the monster. Thank the gods that I had excellent aim. It hit it on hide and it just deflected off. How was I supposed to fight a monster that is impenetrable? I remembered the story about how Heracles defeated the Nemean Lion. He had… um… he had choked it to death. How was I supposed to do that? I decided that I'll put off how to kill it for a bit and just try to stay alive.
It jumped at me again and I dived to the side but its massive claws just barely managed to graze my cheekbone. If I wouldn't have moved, well, there would be a half-dead body laying on the ground pouring out blood and it wouldn't be the lion.
I shot another arrow at it but that just agitated it even more. My face burned and I was desperate. I started climbing the first tree that crossed my path. Luckily, it was a Pine tree and had a lot of branches to stand on and I was light enough to not break them.
When I got high enough to the point where the limbs started cracking underneath my feet I found a branch sturdy enough to sit on. I was about fifty feet and I was praying that the lion couldn't jump that high. I saw the monster circling the tree beneath me. Should I try fighting again, should I try and use magic, or should I wait until someone more skilled finds me? I don't know, I don't know! I decided that I'd wait a while and then try and use magic. After waiting for what seemed to be over an hour, I sighed. Guess I have to try magic now… I thought to myself. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer to my mother. Hekate, please allow my magic to be enough to defeat the lion? Please, please, please. With my eyes still closed I imagined the lion sinking down to the size of an ant. Sure enough, I looked down and I couldn't see the Nemea anymore.
I climbed down and searched the ground. I finally found the ant-sized lion trying to flee the premises. I was debating over whether I should shot it or take it back to Chiron because if it doesn't die and there's way to keep it contained then nobody will have to worry about it coming back and attacking someone else. I put the little lion in my pocket hoping it would escape and slumped down against a tree and closed my eyes. Lions are deadly, if you think they aren't.
"Hey, that was pretty brave of you," an unfamiliar voice said. A young girl emerged from a tree and smiled at me. She had long and wavy brown that matched the color of the bark. She was albino pale and she had green eyes.
"Are you a nymph?"
"Tree nymph to be exact, or a dryad if you want," she offered. Her voice was scratchy but bold. She probably didn't talk much so I understood.
"You saw?"
"Yeah, the tree thing was pretty clever. I'm Maple."
"Is your home a Maple tree?"
"No they don't grow much out here. My tree's an Oak."
"That's funny."
"What's so funny about it?"
"Never mind." Somehow I knew trying to explain tree humor to a dryad was hopeless.
"Ok… So are you a child of Hekate?"
"How did you know?"
"I can smell magic from fifty miles away. No, just kidding. Seeing the lion shrink down unexpectedly is how I know."
"Oh, well that explains it."
"Completely! Don't you have any friends or siblings or something that could have helped you? Even though you had it taken care of, friends could have prevented that nasty wound." Maple touched my left cheek and I flinched. "Oh sorry. I can fix that for you. Tree magic can do you wonders…"
"Would you?"
"Oh sure, no problem."
She touched my cheek and hummed an odd tune. It started out melancholy but then ended on a cheery note but at the same time mysterious. I could actually feel my cheek wound closing up. I touched my cheek and it felt just like before.
"There will always be a little mark there but not like if it would have healed on its own."
"Thank you!"
"Don't mention it." She seemed startled. "I have to go! I'll be seeing you later." Maple gave me a hug and then disappeared into her oak tree.
She smelled like nature; nature smelled good on her. I heard voices. I grabbed my bow that was still resting against the tree beside Maple's and notched an arrow. Alex appeared, still holding hands with Drake and stopped in her tracks.
"Whoa there, I'm no monster," Alex rationed. I took the arrow out of my bow and slung it over my shoulder and it disappeared. My armor was gone too but that had already disappeared when I had found no threat in the lion anymore.
"Alex, Drake! Didn't you hear any of what just happened?"
"No, not at all…" Drake said quizzically. "What happened?"
"I was attacked by a Nemean Lion! And you didn't hear any of that?"
"No," Drake repeated.
"Tell us what happened exactly," Alex demanded. I told them about attempting to fight it, climbing the tree, using magic to shrink it down, and then about Maple.
When I mentioned Maple she just so happened to dissolve from her tree. The others didn't notice because they had their backs to her. Alex noticed me falter when I saw her and turned around. Drake did too, acting like he knew what was going on when he really didn't. Maple walked up to us and introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Maple. Tree nymph," she stuck her hand out. Alex shook it right away but Drake just stared at it incredulously. Kind of like he couldn't believe she was insane for trying to touch him.
"How come you didn't help her?" Drake yelled. Maple shrunk backwards with her back to her tree.
"I—I'm sorry. It l-looked like she had it under control," Maple stammered. Alex placed her hand on Drake's arm in the attempt to try and get him to calm down. The Maple's relief, he did.
"As long as you're alright," Drake added. He glared at Maple, signaling that he was still mad at her.
"Why are you so overprotective?" I asked sounding annoyed.
"Overprotective? I am not!"
"Yes you are! You got mad at her for not helping me but it was her tree I climbed up!"
"I didn't know that!"
"You are so hopeless!" I spit the word hopeless out and then walked away. I turned around and asked in a sweeter tone, "Do you want to come with me, Alex?"
"No, I'm going to stay here with Drake."
"Whatever," was my reply and I walked back to camp. I looked over at Half-Blood Hill and saw two people. I ran up there as invisible as I could and hid behind the tree. The people, as I could now see, were a short girl and a tall boy. They were only about ten feet away so I tried to be as quiet as possible. Even with my efforts the little girl still looked me right in the eyes.