A/N: Hey so I changed my name again but hi. My homes are the settings of my three favorite series, so that's what it means. Anyway I suck at updating and it will only get worse with junior year but I'm going to try to get to Bianca's death before school starts (this chapter and another one I guess). Anyway enjoy.
Clara POV
I summoned a sunbeam. I had no idea if I would need to use it as a getaway or a weapon, but it was a comfort to have either way.
"Separate on my mark," Zoё called, and Percy gave my hand a quick squeeze before he dove forward left. I sprinted back right. Thalia was slashing her sword and Bianca and Zoё had climbed on top of the Apollo space capsule and were firing arrows. Nothing worked, and everything bounced off the lion's metallic fur.
I hurled sunbeam after sunbeam, all while riding on one. "Take that! And that! And-oh!" The lion had opened his mouth, and a jet of light burned its tongue. He roared in pain.
Percy noticed too, and then he sprinted towards the gift shop. I was perplexed, but I knew he had a plan. He always did.
"No, you stupid boy," Zoё screamed in frustration. "This is no time for souvenirs!"
"Don't you call my best friend stupid!" I snapped, still flinging sunbeams at the monster. Percy slid back into view with a bunch of silver packets.
"Sunbeam!" He yelled to me. "Now!" I zoomed to him, not trusting his balance or his watery touch enough for him to catch one if I threw it. I could already feel Zoё's glare on my back for wasting one of my precious sunbeams. I had a supply that would hold out as long as the sun burned, but she apparently didn't know that. Percy grabbed the sunbeam when I was still a few feet away and shot up towards the beast, silver packets in hand. He'd dropped a few on the floor, so I followed suit. As I picked them up, I realized what they were: space food. Gag-worthy didn't even begin to describe that stuff. The freeze-dried spaghetti dinner I held in my hand would get the lion to open its mouth for sure.
Percy tossed the lion a pack of freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream, and I followed his lead with the spaghetti.
I looked at the two Hunters, but they didn't need to be told what to do. They had their arrows at the ready. Percy and I scrambled out of their way, doing loops in midair. Zoё said something to Bianca, and then arrows were flying everywhere. Thalia held up Aegis to deflect them from her, and I felt bad for a second that Percy and I had left her on the ground while flinging freeze-dried crap at the animal. Then, however, I remembered that we didn't really have a choice. It's not like we could have said, "Hey, do you want to fling freeze-dried lasagna at our kitty friend over here with us?," especially since she was on the other side of the room.
One of Zoё's arrows hit the lion squarely in the roof of his mouth, and he started to fall. Percy and I dove even farther to our respective sides. The beast crashed to the ground, taking down a few rocket ships on his way.
Chaos ensued. People were running and screaming, and there were security guards everywhere. I zoomed down to Thalia, who despite her shield had been knocked back in the commotion. She was okay, just a little dazed.
Thalia looked at Percy for a moment. "That was an….interesting strategy."
"Hey, it worked," Percy said, shrugging.
Zoё, thankfully, didn't argue.
The lion was melting into the ground the way freshly killed monsters do, and even its pelt was shrinking to the size of a normal lion's.
"Take it," Zoё muttered to Percy.
He looked back at her quizzically. "Isn't that, like, an animal rights violation or something?"
"It is a spoil of war. It is rightly thine."
"So it should be yours. You killed it."
"I believe the space food was of thy mind. Fair is fair, Perseus Jackson. Take the fur."
Percy shrugged and went to collect his prize.
"Confundus," I mumbled, pointing my wand around the room. I could have used a memory charm, but I'd heard those were tricky, and after what happened to Lockhart last year, I didn't want to risk it.
Thalia came up to me. "Good thinking."
"Thanks. We should hurry, though, I doubt it will work for long."
"The security guards are not our biggest worry," Percy pointed out. There was a group of gray men in gray suits across the lawn.
"Who are they?" Bianca asked, confused.
"The General sent them," Percy muttered, and Zoё immediately rounded on him.
"He is here? You saw him? There's no way…." she had gone pale.
"Go," I said to the others. "Percy and I can hold them off."
"No. We're going together."
Percy protested. "But you said-"
"I know what I said. But you're part of this quest now. I don't like it, but there is no changing fate," Zoё said ominously. "You are the fifth quest member. And we are not leaving anyone behind."
A/N: Well, I didn't even make a thousand words without A/N but I really wanted to be done with this chapter and Titan's Curse in general. I don't know why it's so hard to write, probably because I have a lot of plans for the rest of Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire and I don't have Renee. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's my own fault for having her go with Annabeth instead of Clara. But I figured Renee had had Clara taken away from her and she worried about her best friend's life too many times, now it was Clara's turn. So yeah, I'm just trying to get through this.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please review. Thanks.
~Celia
