THE GOD OF DECEPTION

Chapter 12: Luring the Prey

Annabeth

…

There always seemed to be another obstacle Annabeth had to cross. It was like she had a contract that said, "everytime Annabeth Chase moves forward, a monster must be thrust in her path." She sincerely wondered where this contract was, and how she could burn it into shreds. Or, even better, make multiple copies of it, and then burn all of them to shreds. Annabeth was no arsonist, but that would be pleasing for her to see.

In the Demigod world, there were no contracts. No defined rules, no special help books, nothing. People were just left to their own advances, devices, expected to work with what they had. And if they didn't have enough, they were expected to find what they needed. Annabeth supposed it worked that way for all people though, not just Demigods. The world was a screwed up place to be in, and coming from experience, it wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Sure, they could work to change it, but before they could solve one problem, another would arise. After getting so close to uncovering one clue, one issue, a ginormous step back would occur. It wasn't always a monster. Sometimes it was an army. Sometimes it was a god. Sometimes it was just a measly ideal or trust issue. Personal or impersonal, it was hard to take steps forward without being pushed back.

As Annabeth stared at the monster in front of her, she wondered what this meant. She could fight it, easily, but the screaming in the background, the cries made it hard to focus. She knew that voice! It came more and more clear to her, and she put her hand to mouth, and pulled Grover closer to her.

"It's Percy," she said in a horrified voice. Annabeth wasn't frightened yet. She didn't scare that easily, but the fact her boyfriend was near, being attacked was not calming at all. None of this was calming. Crap, what are we going to do? Once again, no plan was quickly coming to Annabeth's mind. That never happened. She had to think, focus and think. Which was hard to do when a monster was right in front of you.

Grover shook his head. "It can't be. Where would he be?"

Annabeth shook her head decisively, "no, it has to be him. Please," she took the Satyr's hand, "trust me." That was all they could give each other right now. Trust was the most important part of this all, it couldn't be backed down on.

"Of course I do," Grover noted, though halfheartedly, "I just don't know about that being Percy. I'm sure you two have probably had a lot of experience hearing each other scream bloody murder but it seems implausible." Grover winced, and then twisted his goatee. "Sorry, that didn't come out right."

Annabeth forced a smirk. "Yeah." She turned back to the monster, which was now backing away from them. Was it in preparation, or in fear? Number two was the best answer here, but it was probably number one, just with their luck.

"Do you—" Grover stuttered, "do you think Percy could be inside?"

Annabeth leaned out a little bit, pointing her ear, "It looks like it's coming somewhere in the room, so maybe."

"No," Grover shook his head, "I mean inside it."

"He'd be dead," Annabeth replied bluntly. "There would be a Percy shaped hole in its intestines if that was what was happening. Or limbs"

He nodded, "so probably not."

"Probably not," Annabeth agreed.

At this point, the monster seemed to be finished with its winding up, and pushed itself forward towards the two. Annabeth wielded her sword, and dodged the attack, while Grover fiddled in his bag to get his panpipes out. They tried to stay close to each other, but Annabeth ended up on one side of the monster, while Grover was on the other. She lunged over to the side, and touched the tip of her sword to the monster and winced.

As she fought and dodged and attacked, Annabeth tried her best to place where she'd heard of this thing before. As said, it was on the tip of her tongue, so close, but she couldn't yet taste it. The monster, there was something about copying, mimicking maybe? Could the monster be trying to mimic Percy? Or could he really be in danger. Making either of those conclusions could mean real danger, and as always, Annabeth didn't know how to feel about it all.

If she concluded that Percy was in danger, and was wrong, then she could get killed by the monster, being lured in. But if Percy was actually in danger and she had assumed that the monster was mimicking it, then Percy would die. It was a catch twenty-two. Or maybe even a catch eighty-eight, as one god had called it before.

She had to assume the worst. Percy was in danger either way. And the solution to both of those problems was to one, figure out what the heck this monster was (and Annabeth sensed herself getting close), and two, send it back down to the underworld, where it belonged. It skittered forward, and Annabeth had to jump to avoid it.

Grover was still struggling to get in the panpipes out, and he was running around the area too. Annabeth continued to hear Percy's cries, until she finally realized what the monster was.

A Leurcrotta. She'd read about them before a while back. Maybe a couple years ago. That was why she couldn't remember it until now. Leucrotta were able to imitate the voices of men to lure prey in. Then it would, well, kill them, Annabeth assumed. As far as Annabeth's memories went back, no one had survived an attack. Then again, they weren't as common of a monster as some others. Those who encountered them could easily have just been inexperienced.

Mortals had assumed that the monster was just derived from Ancient Travler's accounts of Hyenas, and Annabeth could see the resemblance. Despite the mismatched Annabeth limbs (which was a trend with monsters), the overall stature and body shape was similar to a Hyena. It's tail was long, and whipped around every couple of seconds.

It was whipping around now. Annabeth jumped out of the way to dodge it, but the end slashed the side of her arm and she groaned. "Grover!" Annabeth shouted, "get those pipes ready!"

Grover was still rustling around with them as he bounced across the room. "I'm working on it!"

"Work harder!"

Grover was finally able to get them out, and then he placed his fingers and began to play. This didn't make the monster stop, but it did help slow it down. Weeds and plants grew beneath all of their feet, but especially the Leurcrotta, which was soon stuck in place, unable to move.

"Good going Grover," she said, but it wasn't done yet. The Leucrotta was still struggling, and the plants wouldn't hold it down for long. They had to figure out a way out of this place, or face even more death and destruction. She searched around for a trapdoor, a gap in the ground, anything. Finally, her eyes set on a hole in the wall down the hallway that's attached to the room. She nudged Grover and pointed.

The light in the room, she noticed was directing itself in different ways. Meaning, at different points in time, it would angle around in different ways. Annabeth assumed that it was solar powered, or something like that, so with different types of sunlight, it would angle itself in different ways. She could go on and on about how efficient that was, and Annabeth was sure Grover could do it, being the environmentalist he was, but they didn't have time for that. The Leucrotta had already managed to rip it's front side from Grover's plants grasps, and it was pulling the rest of itself out now. Monsters really were unrelenting.

Annabeth could do unrelenting. Because she herself was too.

Grover and her began to run forward to the hole, and she beckoned for him to use panpipes again. They could split, or try to unmerge the parts, creating a hole big enough to fit a person (on at a time of course), but Annabeth knew that she'd have to fend off the monster behind them for quite a bit.

Grover arranged his panpipes, and began to play a melody Annabeth didn't recognize. He had gotten really good over the past couple of years, and Annabeth enjoyed hearing it. Almost had her want to lay on the ground and smile at the ceiling. Almost, of course, she had more self control than that. As comforting as the music was, it was in the background, and Annabeth needed to focus on what was in the foreground, a ferocious monster. She wrinkled her nose, wielded her sword, and placed her feet in a fighting stance.

The Leucrotta had just got itself out of Grover's plants, and lunged towards Annabeth. This time, she couldn't try to avoid it, that would put Grover in danger. She had to fight it, hand to hand. Or well, hand to hoof. The Leucrotta looked like so many animals at the same time, it was hard for Annabeth to decide how she should approach the battle, but after half a second of scrutinizing, she decided to distract it first. If the fight elevated, she'd go for the stomach, since it's body was that of a stag.

"Fur face!" Annabeth shouted at it, and the Leucrotta growled, like a lion. Which again, made sense, because that's what it's head was. A lion. "Over here!" Her voice shook a little bit.

Oh. Now it was coming straight at her. Annabeth jumped to the side, and then back around, making sure that the monster didn't get any closer to Grover. She looked back quickly, to see that the wall was coming apart. Good. Just a couple more minutes of this, and everything would be fine.

For a second as Annabeth fought, she worried that the Leucrotta would be able to get through the hole, then again, it was way bigger than her. It wouldn't fit. Her mind was just trying to distract itself, she had to focus on the issue at hand. The issue that a seven hundred pound monster hybrid was running at her. Annabeth braced herself, and then pulled out her sword, and slashed it against one of the heels. The monster cried out, but didn't back down, didn't vanish. It squealed on the ground, other arms flailing about. Annabeth bit her lip. She hated this part.

Her sword, made of Drakon bone, was not as powerful as celestial bronze, but it was sharp and ultimately deadly. Annabeth looked away. As much as she hated monsters, she hated fighting them more. Even if they were evil. The Leucrotta shook it's hoof once, and then swung at her with its tail, because it couldn't get up. Annabeth easily dodged, and looked over to make sure that Grover was okay. The crack was slowly growing bigger and bigger. She would only have to hold it off for a little bit longer.

The Leucrotta continued mimicking screams and shouts for help. It was really messing with Annabeth's head. It was mostly Percy's shouts, and she couldn't distinguish what might be real, and what might be the monsters growling. Percy had to be close, especially since that Leurcrotta wouldn't be able to mimic his voice if not for that. She let that bit of hope lead her, and continued to slash and stab at the monster with her sword.

Even with her expertise, this fight was not easy. Sure, she'd battled plenty of monsters before, but the emotional value attached to this one had her second guessing herself. Which was probably the point of it all.

Just as one final blow was delivered, Grover let out a triumphant shout. There was a hole big enough to fit them in the wall opposite, but it was covered in vines and various plants so Annabeth couldn't yet see what was on the other side. She looked at Grover, who looked back at her with the same intensity.

They went in.

…

disclaimer: our dear Uncle Rick is a bit too old to be me, and that's all I'll say.

a/n: another chapter down! School again is sucking my soul out of me, thank goodness I have weekends to write. I usually can squeeze in five hundred words on a school day, one thousand if I'm lucky, and I've been trying to pace myself so I don't just write one chapter a day and neglect my other stuff. The two chapters a week thing is working for me though, think. I feel like I say that every chapter though lol. Anyway, thank you so much for reading! The support is much appreciated. Leave a review, lmk what you think! Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!

—TheLil'Lion