This is my longest chapter so far.

For that reason, I had to change my original plan and split this into two chapters.

Percy will definitely be showing up in Chapter 6.

Chapter 4 - Divided We Stand

Dylan

Luna was officially waco.

And I wasn't comparing her to the character from Animaniacs.

….Actually….they both could be pretty violent, so maybe I would consider her the Wakko of the three of us.

But what would that make Dove and me?

The only similarity I held with Yakko was that I could be sarcastic. And Dove didn't have any similarities to Dot, the sister….

Well, maybe the fact that she also could get violent.

What was up with that?

Was being violent a girl thing or something?

This probably wasn't the time to dwell on this.

I was running for my life, after all.

This brings me back to my earlier statement, Luna was officially waco.

Why would she tell us to split up? I mean, yea. Sure, there was one of those creatures that had separated the three of us.

But there were also two others running down the hall after us. There was no guarantee if they would also split up or if those things would pick only one of us to chase.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they chose me.

A snarl from behind me broke me out of my thoughts.

I was currently running straight down the hall, heading for the doors to the pool. From the reflection in the glass, I could see only one of those things -that I will now call demons, was chasing after me.

It would seem that Luna made the right call.

I crashed into the glass door that led to the smaller of two pools and threw it open.

Though I doubted I could, I was actually quite thankful that I didn't break the glass.

I tried to keep running, but the demon jumped off the bleachers and landed in front of me.

I hit the breaks, but with how fast I was running, I still stumbled forward a bit.

Raising my head, I was met by the demon's glowing red eyes.

We were stuck in a brief stare-off, and I was afraid to move or even breathe.

The demon's eyes were pure red. It didn't have a pupil or the white sclera.

It was pure glowing red.

Blood red.

The demon then charged at me with its claws glinting in the moonlight and mouth open, showing sharp teeth that seemed to be filed into points. Its teeth were stained yellow and had red spots coating each one. The red was also all over its mouth and had two trails dripping down its chin.

Its breath smelled terrible. It was like expired meat that was left out in the sun for a month.

I recommend you don't attempt to find out what that smells like. You might have the police sent to investigate your home.

I probably would have gagged if I wasn't worried about my imminent death.

There was no time to double back and run back the way I came, so I lunged to my left towards the open space next to the bleachers.

It only took me a brief second to realize that wasn't my wisest move.

The demon landed on all fours and turned slowly to face me. It was snarling, and I could swear it had a smug look on its face.

I backed up until my back hit the wall.

Frantically I looked around for an exit, but there wasn't one.

What do I do? I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.

Do you know how people say that in life-threatening situations, their life flashes before their eyes?

Well, my life didn't flash before my eyes.

But I did see my mom's face, and I heard her voice vibrate through the room.

"Be brave."

It was what she said to me before I got on the train to head to school.

Then my brother's face flashed before my eyes.

"Fight back."

It was our last day home during winter break. We were talking about Matt and his group of clowns.

I guess I didn't really take his advice. I kind of wished I did, though.

Then I saw the two of them dressed in funeral clothes, and that's when my heart dropped into my stomach.

There was only one funeral me and my brother ever went to, and while I'm sure we'll have to go to more during our lives….

I wasn't going to let his next one be mine.

My right hand hit something, and a glance revealed it to be a mop.

The creature lunged at me again, but this time I grabbed the mop and held it like a bat.

Batter up

I swung the mop.

But I swung a second too early and missed by an inch. Thinking quickly, I kept the motion going and arched the mop so that it was raised above my head.

I swung down and hit the demon over the head. It crashed mid-leap, face planting onto the floor.

Quickly I danced around the demon, and backing away, I walked backward as I resumed my original plan of escape.

It would have been faster if I faced the direction I was heading so I could run, but I didn't trust that this thing wouldn't come at me from the back.

After all, if I learned anything from anime, comics, and movies….

It's that the threats to the heroes never give up easily.

Ok, so maybe I was a slight geek. And maybe, I was getting full of myself by calling myself a 'hero'. After all, I haven't done anything heroic in my life.

But there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

For the geek part, everyone is entitled to their own likes and dislikes. And as for the full of myself part…

I really don't have an excuse.

If anything, my brother Percy would be the hero out of the two of us.

He was mine, after all.

...just don't tell him I said that...

He's always standing up to bullies and protecting the kids that are getting picked on. Even though most of the time, he too was getting picked on.

I think out of the two of us, the only thing I was better than him in was my grades.

He's never gone higher than a high D his entire school career. I'm not much better, but I managed to at least hold onto a C.

….I'm getting off track….

A brief movement from the side of the bleachers told me the demon was back on its feet. Sure enough, maybe a second later, two glowing red orbs popped over the side railing.

Hopefully, I made it sound as creepy as it was, but I honestly doubt it.

The entire room was dark. The only light was coming from the skylights in the domed ceiling. Any other time I would have found the reflected moonlight in the pool to be beautiful, serene, or poetic.

But there I stood in a nearly completely dark room, with two red orbs staring at me. And when the demon raised its head slightly higher, the glow from its eyes illuminated a terrifying grin.

...I'm surprised I didn't soil my pants…

Or scream.

Because I really wanted to scream. I really wanted to scream.

Faster than my eyes could see, the demon launched itself off the bleacher's railing and was flying right at me. Its claws poised to tear my esophagus out of my throat.

I dropped into a roll that had the rewards of allowing me to dodge, make me dizzy, and bring me closer to the benches.

It probably wouldn't have been good if I fell in the pool right now.

Using my left hand, I stopped my roll and slid. I pushed myself onto my left knee with my right toes planted firmly on the floor as leverage.

Honestly, it probably would have looked cool in a movie. Standing in front of the bleachers, face to face with a monster.

It would have been awesome.

My broken mop handle was at the ready, and the demon was set to pounce again at any second.

I probably didn't stand a chance, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Or at least as much of a fight as I could put up.

I'm not sure if this situation could be considered comical or sad. In fact, I would probably be laughed at if anyone saw me, but I didn't care.

The demon lunged at me again, and I brought my mop pole up to attempt a block.

I wasn't fast enough.

However, the failed block turned into a jab at the monster. It hit under the chin, knocking the demon off balance.

I followed up by using the handle as a makeshift bat. The swing ended up sending the monster over the pool behind it.

When the demon hit the surface with a loud splash, I saw my chance and took it.

I turned towards the exit opposite the one I used to enter the room and ran with the broken mop still in my hands.

I heard bubbles from behind me but paid them no mind.

Only one thought entered my mind as I left the pool.

Please don't get up.

Dove

I didn't need to be told twice after hearing Luna yell at us to split.

Running down the hallway closest to me, I heard the bluish-grey creature that separated us follow one of the other two.

What the hell was that thing, anyway? Luna didn't even tell me!

"Je vais lui botter le cul"

Was this the reason she was in the nurse's office? Why wouldn't the teachers do anything if there were horror movie monsters in the school?

I mean, come on, the thing had glowing eyes like the monster under the bed from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas.' It had the teeth too.

And what was with the hunched form? It was like a bad case of scoliosis. Not even the thing running on its hands and feet helped get rid of its hunched back.

Speaking of its feet…

Where those hooves?

"Que diable se passe?"

Oh, right. Excuse the French please, I have a habit of speaking it when I'm angry, scared, or excited.

Or well, I've been speaking it less lately and mostly thinking it.

I guess those bullies in elementary school did more damage to my self-esteem than I thought.

In fact, I don't think I've spoken French around others once while I've been going to school here.

Huh.

This probably isn't the best time to question my behavior these last nine months.

I did have a monster chasing after me.

The hallway I ran down housed the clubrooms for the sports teams. To my understanding, they were recent additions that were made to avoid conflicts in the locker rooms.

They also had the bonus of allowing students interested in a sport or multiple sports to see what being on the team might entail. They could sit in on meetings before practice and get assigned a chore. If there wasn't a game coming up, then students could join one practice session a week.

Luna, Dylan, and I all sat in on different teams before to figure out if we wanted to join next year when we were able.

I hate the fact that all the middle school teams were only made up of seventh and eighth-graders.

But, lucky for me, I was able to sit in on the teams quite regularly, so I knew the hall quite well.

I glanced behind me and noticed a bit more distance between me and the monster than I first thought. So I turned into the next club room and grabbed the closest object.

Holding the object close to myself, I pressed my back to the wall next to the doorway.

The next thirty seconds were the longest of my life.

Slowly, painfully so, the monster crept into the doorway. Its head poking slowly into the room, it didn't seem to notice me even though we were less than a foot away from each other.

It was when its hand appeared next to my foot that I realized something truly horrifying.

The monster was on its hands and feet…and its face was the same level as mine.

Not even at its full height, it was four foot eight.

"Cette chose est un monstre"

There was only one thing I could do with that realization, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

I screamed.

And I screamed bloody murder.

Now, you may be calling me an idiote for revealing my position like that. But I didn't just scream.

My body moved on its own and swung the chair I was holding straight into the creature's face. I didn't think it would work, but my scream must have startled the ugly thing.

So the chair connected with its face.

I didn't waste a second. While screaming, I repeatedly smashed the chair into the creature's head. Thinking back on it, I can't help but laugh, a twelve-year-old girl standing at just 4'8 screaming at the top of her lungs while repeatedly hitting the face of the monster in front of her….

I'm completely serious when I say it went like this:

"Aaah!"

Hit

"Aaah!"

Hit

"Aaah!"

Hit

Amusing, right?

I'm not sure how many times I hit it, but I didn't stop until the chair fell from my numb arms.

The creature fell to the ground. Unsure what to do, I hit it lightly with my foot.

"Pas de Mouvement"

The creature didn't even twitch.

"Je suis hors d'ici"

Stepping on the creature that blocked the exit, I bolted down the hall. Turning left at the end, so I headed towards the girls' locker room.

Luna

I hope the other two listened to me.

There wasn't a chance for me to check since the creature that separated us decided to follow me.

My best bet, to meet up with the other two, was probably the auditorium. There was a door backstage that led to where I needed to go.

Although I suppose I could take a right. It led to the hall that housed the woodshop classrooms.

Auditorium

'Of course, this stupid voice in my head wants to make things complicated.'

Stupid?

I rolled my eyes as I threw open the door to the auditorium.

'Great, now I insulted it.'

My only options were to go straight or to go up the stairs that led to the balcony.

Stairs

'Seriously?'

That didn't seem like the smartest choice. But, and I know this is gonna sound crazy. I felt a bit guilty that I insulted the voice.

So, I decided to make it happy and go up the stairs.

I had just reached the split landing halfway up the stairs when I decided that I was happy I listened to the voice.

The creature had leaped through the door, and I stopped my ascent to listen for where it could be. I felt uneasy as I realized that it landed about a third of the way down the aisle. I may have been fast, but I definitely would have been caught if I chose to go straight.

Keep going

I swear the voice was trying to lead me to my death for insulting it.

'You know the balcony has no exit right?'

Keep. Going.

I rolled my eyes again and resumed my trek to my death.

Luckily, I don't think the creature realized where I went yet. Surprisingly, considering I wasn't quiet in my attempt to run away from it.

When I reached the balcony, I glanced around for an escape that I was pretty confident wasn't there.

Lookup

I did as the voice suggested and moved my frantic search to the ceiling.

I noticed it out of the corner of my eye. There was a small metal walkway used by the broadcasting and movie production clubs.

I could have cried in relief.

'I'm so glad this school is full of rich kids, whose parents waste their money on stupid shit. They'll do anything to make their devil spawn look good.'

The broadcasting club called it the 'Overpass', while the movie production club called it the 'Catwalk'.

At that moment, however, I called it 'Freedom'.

I ran under it, noticing a folded staircase that I needed to let down to access it. I was looking for a string or something to pull, kind of like what was used in some homes for attic access.

There didn't seem to be one, though.

'How do I…?'

No matter how much I looked, I couldn't find a way to let down the staircase.

My head snapped towards the stairs when I heard a snarl from down by the auditorium door.

It's gonna sniff you out~

I growled when I heard the voice sing the obvious.

'Are you going to help me!?'

The voice stayed quiet.

'Of course not.'

I noticed a small box right in front of me. It held two round buttons, one green, and one red.

'Alright, now that is overkill.'

Now, I wouldn't recommend hitting random buttons like some kind of deranged four-year-old. But considering my current predicament, I hit the green one.

Nothing.

So I slammed my hand on the red one and heard some humming come from above me.

It was only halfway down when I heard another snarl, followed by scratching coming from the stairwell.

I also heard something strange.

'Was that the sound of hooves?'

I paid the accompanying clacking no mind and instead focused my mind back towards the descending stairwell.

It was going too slow.

'If I wait for it to come down completely, I'll be monster chow.'

So I did the only rational thing that I could think of….

I walked back a few feet, ran as fast as I could up until a point just before the descending stairs, and jumped…

...proceeding to hit my head in the process, and falling flat on my butt…

Amazing

"Oh shut up," I grumbled, using a hand to push myself up.

More snarling, except this time it was by the split landing halfway up.

'Why the...am I allowed to say hell...?'

I could practically see the voice shrug in response. Which is saying something, considering it was a disembodied voice in my head.

….Go for it.

'Why the hell is that thing taking its sweet...can I say ass…?'

I allowed hell, don't push it.

I sighed dejectedly.

'Why the hell is that thing taking its time? Isn't it trying to kill me..?'

I stood up again and backed up to my previous starting point.

Maybe it's enjoying it?

The stairs were a bit lower now. Maybe this time I could make it?

'Great, I'm getting attacked by a sadistic monster.'

Ignoring the realization that I was having a full-blown conversation with a voice in my head, I ran again towards the partially descended stairs.

When I jumped again, I just barely grabbed hold of the first step. I tried pulling myself up but slipped, crashing onto the floor.

A shiver shot down my spine.

I could have sworn I heard some weirdly distorted chuckle coming from the stairs.

'Please tell me that thing isn't here already…'

Slowly I turned my head towards the staircase, but the thing wasn't at the top yet.

There's still time to try again.

Scrambling to my feet, I ran towards my starting point for the third time.

Absentmindedly my right hand raised and brushed across a small bump just under the collar of my shirt. It was a necklace I got for my third birthday, it was like a lucky charm.

Ok, not really.

It was actually like a security blanket for me. But I'm twelve and saying that makes me sound like a baby.

'Third times a charm'

The voice stayed quiet as I tried my escape for the third time. This time when I jumped, I got a decent hold on the bottom step. I pulled myself up and climbed the stairs like a ladder.

I had just reached the top and smashed my hand on the green button so the stairs would return up when I heard that distorted laugh again.

Turning my head towards the balcony entrance, I saw looking up, directly at me, were two glowing red eyes.

'I'm safe….right….?'

The response I received was the creature bolting across the floor below and ricocheting off some of the seats.

Run

Not questioning it, I ran down the small walkway that ran along half the length of the auditorium.

There was a loud clang behind me, but this time I didn't look back to see what it was.

I glanced at the structure of the 'Catwalk'. The part I was on only went halfway across the auditorium. From where it ended, I would be forced to make a right.

That strip of the 'Catwalk' housed a circular platform that faced the center stage upfront. Underneath, there currently was another smaller platform being constructed a little before the already built one. There was nothing there except for another strip of the walkway, however.

After the platform on this level, the walkway continued to the right side of the auditorium.

Both right and left sides are connected to a small room behind the seats on the balcony.

'This thing wraps around halfway across the auditorium. I'm gonna be going in circles.'

There was no response from the voice. So I guess that now meant that I was on my own.

'Great'

I used the railing as leverage for my turn, nearly popping my arm out of its socket while doing so. I was just passing by the platform when the voice called out to me again.

Duck and dodge left

Doing as I was told, I crashed onto my left shoulder as I fell, seeing the creature jump over where I just stood.

'It must have ricocheted off the wall. But to reach that far….what kind of legs does that thing have…?'

I stood back up, clutching my left shoulder.

The creature landed on all fours and turned slowly to face me, snarling the entire time.

So I backed up till my back hit the railing.

'Any ideas?'

There was no response.

I glanced around for any ideas, but there was no way out of this…

Well, no way out except for the partially completed walkway that was underneath me.

I would have considered the risk a bit more, but the creature started stalking towards me. So I climbed over the railing and jumped below me.

It was pretty stupid since if I slipped, I would have fallen to the row of seats below.

Crashing onto the other walkway, I felt the weightless feeling of falling dissipate. My left shoulder felt worse now. I'm sure if I raised my shirt sleeve, I would see the checkered imprint from the metal.

Some tools rattled when I fell, with three rolling towards me. I picked them up and glanced back up at where I jumped from.

The creature was now at the railing, glaring down at me.

'I need to get down from here and get to safety

The only problem with this plan was that there was no sane way for me to get back on the ground. There was maybe a 20-foot drop from my current point of elevation. No doubt that fall would kill me.

Or, at the very least, it would injure me enough for this thing to kill me.

'Think Luna, think.'

There was no glorious escape plan that was coming to mind. I was a sitting duck.

For some reason, I immediately thought back to a time Dylan was wearing a toy duckbill, he was in my face and going 'quack, quack'.

I let out a sigh.

'This really isn't the time.'

I placed the three tools in my jeans pockets, grateful that these were a pair of my brothers that got mixed into my luggage.

Hey, boys' jeans have multiple deep pockets. Girls' jeans do not.

I looked back up at the creature above me, just in time to see it jump off the railing to try and get me. Thinking quickly, I moved to the left to avoid getting hit.

It landed about 6 feet away from me, so I kept backing up. Sadly, I was reminded that this walkway was incomplete by almost falling off it.

So now I really was in a bind.

I could either pick to fall to my death/prolong capture by a few seconds or just surrender.

Hmm….

"You know," I started to the creature as I looked around for an escape. "We could just talk this out civilly. No need to drag each other to our deaths."

That distorted chuckle rang out again, and a quick look at the creature proved that it was the source.

'Well, that's not creepy.'

I took a slight step to my left.

"Ooh, you silly little half-blood,"

My head snapped back to the creature. Apparently, it could talk. That was the only option of where the male voice could have come from.

"I wouldn't die from this height. You, however, are another story."

I grabbed one of the tools from my back pocket.

"I could push you off and kill you quite fast. But lucky for you, I enjoy killing my prey myself."

'Lucky me, huh'

I sighed. Might as well drag this out if he's willing to talk.

"Right, and if I may be a bit rude...who are you? What are you?"

The creature looked at me skeptically.

"Why should I tell you half-blood?"

Now it was my turn to shoot him a look.

'The hell is a half-blood?'

"Well, if you're going to kill me then there's no harm in me knowing this information. Now is there?"

The creature stared at me a bit longer before it spoke.

"Servius. I suppose you could call me a Neo-Ghoul."

I was suddenly grateful for the horror nights Dove forced me into. Movies, scary stories, stories about mythological monsters, they were all included.

And kept me awake and paranoid for several nights afterward.

'That girl can be so weird sometimes. How is she gonna be a hopeless romantic, have a crazy knowledge of makeup, hair, and clothes? Yet spend her time watching horror movies.'

You would think she would have different interests.

"I thought ghouls were an Arabian or Arabic monster. Your name doesn't sound Arabic."

The monster's eye twitched.

"First off brat, people could be from one ethnicity and have a name from another."

"But you're a monster."

Perhaps not the best thing to say since I was once again leveled with a nasty glare.

"Neo-Ghoul. Don't call me a monster. Call me a Neo-Ghoul. As for the name, Neo-Ghouls aren't tied to Arabian Mythology. We're tied to all, Roman, Greek, Celtic, Norse."

I allowed a look of understanding to cross my face.

Of course, I still had no idea what any of that meant, but I might as well act a little while in the theater.

And what the hell was with listing so many mythologies? Sure, this creature- monster? Ghoul? Whatever was in front of me, but mythology was just myths, right?

A way for people from ancient times to explain natural disasters or celestial occurrences? A way to explain the unexplainable?

'Monsters didn't really have any ties to mythologies, right? Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts, and Zombies didn't have ties to mythology right?'

I would say they didn't exist, but it was hard to ignore the stench of death and the creature in front of me.

"That explains it then, but could I get an explanation on the 'Half-blood' part? Why are you calling me that?"

A nasty grin appeared on Servius' face, and he started to inch closer to me.

"Sadly for you, I'm no longer in a conversational mood."

I sighed.

'Of course, you're not.'

And that's when my head decided to point out an obvious fact that I wasn't paying attention to.

'Holy….is he still on his hands and….are those hooves..? The dude is hunched over and still standing eye level with me?'

I didn't want to see Servius at his full height if he was 5'2 on his hands and….hooves…?

'How the hell, did I not notice that before?'

I glanced down behind my feet. There was only one way to get away from him.

Backing up, I stepped on the metal beam that was used in the structure of the walkway.

I guess there's no better time to practice my balance than when I'm 20 feet above the ground, with my life in danger.

'I would say Percy's craziness has rubbed off on me, but I'm pretty sure even he wouldn't be this insane.'

"Escape is futile, half-blood."

I kept sliding my foot along the square beam, trying to keep myself centered.

'Don't look down. Don't look down.'

Perhaps now was a good time to be thankful for uncle Atticus allowing me to go on that school trip last year.

A weekend in Connecticut, at a summer camp. There was zip-lining, a giant trampoline that we needed to be in a harness to use, and climbing random stuff.

They even had a gymnastics area where we could use a balance beam.

Before I knew it, I had made it to the support cable hanging from the ceiling. Of course, I immediately gripped onto it for dear life.

I kind of didn't want to die, you know.

Although it was hard to ignore the similarities to my current situation and the scene in Star Wars between Luke and Darth Vader.

'Huh, I never thought I would be in a position to reenact the "Luke I am your father" scene."

A sudden feeling of dread washed over me.

'Oh, please tell me that isn't what's about to happen.'

The voice decided to answer in a dry tone.

I don't think you need to worry about that.

'Oh thank the fates' I thought with a sigh of relief.

An interesting thing to say

A defensive feeling washed over me.

'What? Mama used to say it all the time. Is there something wrong with that?'

No, just interesting

My eyes widened slightly. The words were appearing in my head earlier, actually turned into a voice in my head.

The voice was definitely female. However, it certainly was not the voice of my mother that I had heard earlier.

It did sound familiar, though.

'When did you actually get a voice? You were just words popping into my head earlier.'

Unfortunately, I didn't get a response from the voice.

Instead, I was brought back to my current predicament when Servius stepped closer to the beam that I had used to get away from him.

I still had the one tool gripped in my right hand. A glance revealed it to be a wrench. What I could do with a wrench against a monster, I had no idea.

If I got close enough, there's a chance I could shove it down its throat. But I don't know if he would be able to swallow it or not.

Plus, if I attempted that, then there was also a possibility that I could lose my hand. Or get caught and killed, but I didn't want to think about that.

If I could get it to fall, that would have been my best bet. The problem with that was Servius said that he could survive a fall from this height. And unless-

Wait a minute…

'What if he was bluffing?'

It was a risk. It was also extremely dangerous to attempt from my current position. If Servius lunged at me, I had no chance of dodging it.

I moved my right foot closer to the suspension cable.

'It would be impossible to dodge it unless I jumped or fell out...of...the...way…?'

My foot hit something.

I turned my head slightly to the cable that I was gripping. Taking a risk, I allowed myself to look down at the beam.

Sadly, I couldn't avoid seeing past the beam.

'Oooh boy...that's a long way down.'

I gripped the cable tighter in my hands and forced myself to look by my foot.

My eyes widened slightly.

'..Is that..?'

Shooting a glance at Servius, I saw he was still on the walkway. He was staring at me with a clawed hand partially on the beam.

He was now grinning at me maliciously.

I tightened my grip on the suspension cable so much so that my knuckles went white. Taking a risk, I slowly bent down to get a closer look at what I accidentally kicked.

Placing my side on the cable for a bit more support, I removed my left hand from the support cable and picked up the item.

It was a safety rope.

What it was doing so far away from the completed walkway, I had no idea. The only thing I could think of was having one tied to each suspension cable so the workers could go further along with the structure. But I'm sure there were better safety measures or even better policies in place than that.

Nevertheless, if I could secure the rope to myself, then my plan could work.

I glanced back to Servius, who was now staring at the beam as he tried to get another hand on it.

Slowly and carefully, using one hand at a time as much as I could, I tied the rope securely around my waist.

Standing back up as slow as I could, with my right hand gripping the suspension cable and my left gripping the rope and wrench, I turned back to Servius.

Letting go of the suspension cable, I transferred the wrench into my right hand. My left hand held the safety rope with as much strength as I could muster.

I needed to make Servius angry.

"HEY! CIRCUS FREAK WANNABE!" I shouted towards him.

Sure enough, his head snapped towards me. The look on his face was almost as bad as Percy's 'Deluxe-I'll-Kill-You-Later' glare.

"IF YOU WANTED TO LOOK SCARY, THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE LOST THE HOOVES! THEY JUST MAKE YOU LOOK STUPID."

A growl emitted from his throat.

"AND HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF DEODORANT? YOU NEED SOMETHING TO COVER UP THAT SMELL OF DECAY!"

Servius was now baring his teeth at me.

'This might just work.' I thought as I bit the corner of my lip.

You're insane

When the voice piped up again, it was slightly apprehensive, and I wondered what it was thinking.

'Oh, without a doubt.' I chuckled humorlessly.

I knew Servius was angry, but I needed him to be angrier.

"NEO-GHOUL IS A STUPID TITLE, IT WON'T CHANGE THE FACT YOUR NOTHING BUT A STUPID BRAINLESS MONSTER!"

He looked ready to pounce, and that was good. One more insult should work….

Unfortunately, this next insult had been used towards me before. There was no reason I couldn't add my own twist to it, though.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? SERVIUS IS A STUPID NAME TOO! DID YOU JUST WALK OUT OF A ROMAN HISTORY BOOK!?"

For good measure, I threw the wrench in my hand at Servius. It hit him in the middle of his face with a loud 'clack' and caused him to roar in pain.

"YOU ANNOYING HALF-BLOOD! I'LL KILL YOU!"

I wrapped the rope securely around both my hands, I held on tightly. Taking a deep breath, I waited for Servius to pounce.

He yelled something interesting just before he did.

But I didn't pay it any attention as I jumped off the beam with a scream, just narrowly dodging his sharp claws.

'Any and every deity out there….please don't let me die…'

I wasn't very religious.

I suppose if you were to ask me if I believed in a higher power, I would have said yes. But the idea of a monotheistic deity didn't sit right with me.

Either way, my current borderline suicidal escape attempt forced me to send out a prayer to anyone willing to listen.

Hopefully, I shouldn't have to say the obvious, but please don't attempt to jump 20 feet from the air.

It wasn't fun. It was terrifying.

I screamed on my way down. There were also more than a few curse words that Mama would not have been happy to hear.

Maybe my Uncle Atticus would have laughed, but my Grandma would definitely have washed my mouth out with soap.

I couldn't exactly stop myself from saying them, though. I had jumped from 20 feet, my eyes stinging, hands burning, shoulders aching and swinging like Tarzan.

So I think I deserved to say the curses I overheard from Dylan's pig of a Stepfather.

When I was close enough to the ground, I dug my heels onto the floor to stop my swinging movement.

I wasn't able to get away from that rope fast enough. My knees were weak, and my legs were shaking. I collapsed onto the floor, practically hugging myself, and curled into a ball.

Perhaps it would have been wiser to look and see if I could find Servius. If he had survived, then I would be dead any second now. But the sobs wracking my body and my erratic breathing prevented me from focusing on anything else.

I had my necklace gripped in my right hand, trying to calm down. It must have been my imagination, but I could swear there was a warmth being radiated from it.

Calm down, Little moon.

The voice kept repeating that same line over and over.

Eventually, I calmed down enough to attempt to get up. I was still shaky, but I managed to stand on my feet.

'That nickname...how do you know it?'

There was no answer for so long that I was afraid that the voice wasn't going to respond.

You need to meet up with the other two.

'And you are avoiding my question.'

There was no response, and that caused me to growl in annoyance. I glanced around the room to see if I could find Servius, but there was no sight of him.

The scent of decay had also disappeared from my immediate proximity.

'I think it's safe.'

With a sigh, I turned around and headed to the door behind the stage. I could still hear more of these...Neo-ghouls...in the area. And if my gut feeling was right, they were heading this way.

I had to meet back up with the others.

There might be some confusion from this chapter.

To prevent overusing the same monsters, I'm going to be including several monsters from other Mythologies. Hence the Arabian/Arabic ghouls.

My version of 'The Lightning Thief' will still focus on the Greek myths, however.

Also, I had to write Dove's French using Google Translate. Hopefully, It was written correctly.

The next update should be soon, I'm aiming for two updates for April.

:)