(Bianca seems to have found her knight in shining armor. What's going on?)
"So...your partner," Bianca questioned Harry as they walked down the hall, "Is she your girlfriend?"
Harry snorted at the thought, "Not at all. She's already got someone."
"Perfect." She smiled at him.
Nico walked behind the two silently, his hands in his pockets. It didn't take a genius to realize that Nico wasn't exactly a fan of the attention Bianca was giving Harry. Harry felt the dark aura he was letting off and decided that he wasn't going to risk becoming the enemy of a demigod who's power was unknown.
"So Nico," Harry started a conversation, "What do you like to do for fun?"
Nico caught up to Harry and was on his left side in a second, his face shining, "I'm a master at Mythomagic."
"What's that?" Harry asked him.
"It's a trading card game that comes with figurines. The whole thing is centered around Greek Mythology." Nico explained.
"Interesting." Harry looked to him.
"For example," Nico went on, "Did you know that Hades has 5000 attack points? Well, only if you let the enemy go first."
"Why would you let the enemy go first?" Harry questioned, "If the opponent is stronger, they could wipe you out with one blow."
"True but the game's no fun if you don't take risks." Nico shrugged his shoulders.
"Nico is obsessed with that game." Bianca butted in, "He tried teaching it to me once but I couldn't see the point so I dropped it."
"Actually, you caught on pretty quickly. But when we played our first game I destroyed you and you quit." Nico corrected her.
Bianca shot him a look and he put his hands in the air. Harry, however, didn't notice. He was too busy looking ahead.
"Annabeth!" He called, "I'm here!"
"Harry!" She ran up to him, "Thank Hera you're okay."
"Look who I found." He jerked his head at both Bianca and Nico.
"Hello." Nico raised his hand in a friendly manner, "I'm Nico."
Annabeth smiled at him, "Nice to meet you Nico."
He turned away bashfully. Meanwhile, Harry managed to separate Bianca from his side long enough for her to give Annabeth the time of day.
"Hel~lo!" Bianca greeted her in a friendly way, "Annabeth right?"
Annabeth cocked her head to one side, "How do you know my name?"
"I heard from Harry. Isn't he just the nicest person?" Bianca looked back at Harry loving.
Annabeth glanced at Harry and he mouthed the words, "Don't ask."
"Well, first things first, we should explain why you're coming with us." Annabeth figured.
"You two are demigods." Harry blurted out.
Bianca was clearly in another world so Nico responded.
"You mean our Dad is a god?" His eyes twinkled.
"Not necessarily." Annabeth shook her head, "Your Mom could be your godly parent and your Dad could be human."
"Cool!" Nico exclaimed, "Do I have any powers? Maybe my Father's Zeus and I get to fly around."
Harry chuckled, "I highly doubt it. The Big Three swore not to have anymore children."
"Big Three?" Nico questioned him, confused at the term.
Before Harry could answer him, Annabeth put a hand up. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, all new kids do. However, this is not the appropriate time or place to answer these questions."
"Where are we gonna go?" Nico looked to Harry.
"Camp Half-Blood." Harry smiled, "Trust me, that place is amazing."
"Annabeth! Yoohoo!" Percy sang, "What are you doing?"
A tall man with curly brown hair, brown eyes and a noticeably wispy beard was walking alongside him. He covered his mouth at Percy's gesture, indicating he was resisting the urge.
Annabeth face palmed and shook her head.
"Is that your boyfriend?" Bianca asked, elbowing Annabeth in a playful manner.
"Yes." Annabeth answered with a sigh, "Although I'm beginning to reconsider."
Thalia was right behind him. Crossing her arms as they walked up to the group of 4, she glazed over the twins and turned to Harry.
"You found them?" There was a hint of jealousy in that voice.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and decided to overlook it, "What can I say? I heard laughter and it was just my luck that it was coming from them."
'Or was it?' Harry asked himself.
He had been delaying from telling Thalia, Annabeth and Percy that a goddess had spoken to him. After listening to Percy's story and going over the words the female voice had said, the goddess was not a friendly one.
'Was this a trap?' Harry speculated, 'Has she brought me here to have me killed by a mythological monster? Before I find a way back to Ron and Hermione?'
'No.' Harry argued with himself, 'She wouldn't do that. If she wanted to get rid of me, she would have done it a long time ago. Then again, I don't even know what her true intentions are...'
"Harry!" Percy snapped his fingers in his face, "Come back to Earth Harry."
"I'm listening, I'm listening." Harry assured them.
Percy perked an eyebrow but nonetheless continued talking. Harry picked up from there.
"You guys said Dr. Thorn has been acting shady around you?" Percy questioned.
"Yeah." Bianca nodded her head, "Ever since we were put in this school he's been...circling around us."
Harry realized she had detached herself from him. He swung his right arm around in attempt to loosen it up a bit.
"It's like he was everywhere." Nico recounted, "I'd go out to use the bathroom and he'd be in the hallway."
"And when I went out for lunch," Bianca added on, "He would always stare at me."
"That is, until Grover showed up." Nico nodded in his direction, "He kind of usurped Dr. Thorn by hanging around us. He even got the other kids talking about it."
"I never would have guessed you were a satyr." Bianca smiled, "You blend in really well."
"Thank you." Grover bowed.
"As friendly as you guys are, we should all leave before a league of monsters appear. 6 demigods and a satyr. That's like ringing a dinner bell over a loud speaker for them to come get us." Thalia butted in.
"She's right you know." Someone called out.
Nico jumped back and Bianca pulled him behind her. "Mr. Thorn?"
Percy uncapped a ball point pen and it turned into a sword. It looked to be about 3 feet, though it could have been more.
The Celestial Bronze shined under the light. Just looking at the double-edged blade made Harry feel threatened.
Percy's tightened his hold around the sword and Annabeth drew a dagger. Thalia lifted her wrist up and a bracelet shook. She was also holding a can of mace, which caught Harry's eye. After seeing a pen turn into a sword, he knew those two objects would be something much more lethal.
"Now, now, now." He raised his hands. "What are you kids doing with such weapons? Didn't your Mothers tell you not to play with sharp objects?"
"He smells like a monster." Grover told everyone.
"We can kill him and then leave." Percy suggested.
"That, I agree with." Annabeth nodded, "He's going to prove himself troublesome if we don't defeat him."
"Grover, shield the kids." Thalia ordered him.
He pushed Bianca and Nico behind him and spread his arms out. A determined look flashed in his eye and Harry felt that if it was necessary, Grover would be willing to die for them.
'I guess I should try to look threatening as well.' Harry took his wand out of his pocket.
At the sigh of it, Dr. Thorn's smirk slid off his face, "You're here?"
Harry looked around before answering, "Are you talking to me?"
Dr. Throne shook his head, "I thought it was weird that backup had arrived so quickly. Now I know why."
He stepped back and began to grow in size. His face remained the same except for his eyes. They were no longer dark brown. One was hazel, the other was blue. His body morphed into that of a Lion's and his clothes, unable to contain his size, were torn to shreds.
A scorpion-like tail swung around behind him and Harry gulped. "He's a manticore."
"Yeah, we can see that." Thalia rolled her eyes.
Harry backed up, allowing Percy and Annabeth to share the front row, "Sorry guys. I can't help you with this one. Of course this would happen. The one monster I actually come face to face with is resistant to all magic."
"We'll talk about that later Wizard." Percy glanced back at him.
In the second that Percy looked back, Dr. Thorn shot a spike at him. His ADHD managed to sense the danger for him and he stepped to the right quickly, but not quick enough. It cut his shoulder and Percy felt his strength dissolves as he knelt on one knee.
"Damn." He muttered under his breath.
Thalia tapped her bracelet and it turned into a shield. On the front of it was a gut-wrenching image of Medusa, snakes and all. Dr. Thorn stepped back, clearly horrified.
"That's right you beast!" Thalia kept coming, "Back up!"
She sprayed the can of mace and it turned into a spear. Harry couldn't do anything but look on in awe. The Manticore was clearly done for.
Dr. Thorn must have realized this too because he turned on his heel and ran.
"Get back here you coward!" Thalia chased after him.
"Thalia, wait!" Annabeth ran after her.
"Aw Zeus!" Grover would have run off too but he turned back around to Nico and Bianca.
"D-Don't worry about us." Bianca was trying hard to keep her voice level, "We'll be fine."
Grover pursed his lips and turned to me, "Harry, watch over them?"
Harry flashed him a thumbs up, "I didn't plan on leaving."
"Thanks. Guys! Wait!" Grover went down the hall, taking out a wooden flute from his pocket as he ran.
Harry went over to Percy, "Let me see the wound."
Percy waved him off, "It's nothing. Trust me, I've been hit by far worse."
"I'm sure you have. But a Manticore's spike is poisoned." Harry pressed on, "That's why you felt all your strength sap."
"Let's say for a second..." Percy glanced at Bianca who was trembling and lowered his voice, "I'm poisoned. Do you have the antidote?"
"No, but I can delay the poison's full effects until we find one." Harry countered, "Delay Poison!" He pointed his wand at the cut.
"How do you feel?" Harry questioned him.
Percy jumped up, "Like I've been dead for some time but then I was revived." He slapped Harry on the back, "Man I wish I was a wizard!"
Harry grinned, "I don't know. It can be pretty stressful for someone outside of the magical world."
"Outside?" Percy scoffed, "Man, I've killed the Minotaur, gone to the underworld and back, battled a god, fought his daughter, sailed through the sea of monsters and came back alive. If I'm not magical, I don't know what is."
"Get going Percy." Harry got him going with a shove.
"Thanks again Harry!" Percy waved over his shoulder.
"You're welcome!" Harry called after him.
After Percy was out of sight, Harry turned around to face Bianca and Nico. Bianca's teeth were chattering while Nico seemed to be silent screaming with excitement.
"We should get you guys out of here." Harry put his arms around the twins, "Come on, let's go."
As Harry walked down the stairs, he felt someone's hands on him and without thinking, looked at Bianca.
His heroism in her eyes was short-lived. She now only saw his as a new friend. Or at least that's what she told him.
"What is it?" She asked him.
Harry shook his head, "It's nothing. Let's not rush ourselves. If they're still fighting the Manticore, we don't want to get caught in the crossfire."
"Yeah..." Nico seemed to be lost in thought.
Harry couldn't blame him. At first, when he found out about the Greek gods and goddesses, he had been slightly excited. But now that he had seen a human turn into a Manticore and a pen become a sword, he wasn't sure if it was a safe world. How had these demigods managed to live on their own?
'It happens to the best of them.' A familiar female voice whispered.
'It's you again.' Harry scowled inwardly, 'What do you want with me?'
'I'm interested in the boy my son wants to destroy.' She laughed sleepily.
'Your son? Who is he?' Harry demanded to know, 'What have I done to him?'
'It isn't what you've done.' She said, 'It's what you're going to do that worries him.'
Harry's mind flashed back to Cedric pulling Hermione back, 'He wouldn't...' Harry shook his head, 'No. Cedric isn't a bad guy. He was probably pulling her back from the edge so she wouldn't fall. Damn it, why am I here? What's going on over there?'
'Cedric isn't my son. A child of mine a Hufflepuff? Kronos forbid.'
"Harry?" Nico touched his arm. They had reached the first floor.
Instinctively, Harry pulled back and immediately looked sorry. Even Bianca was surprised.
"Sorry Nico," Harry apologized, "I've got a lot of things on my mind."
"That's not what I was talking about." Nico pointed to a back doorway.
Just before the door closed, Harry caught a glimpse of Percy's leg as he was dragged out.
"Oh no." Harry broke out into a sprint.
Bianca and Nico were right behind him. Harry knew he couldn't leave them unprotected so he thought long and hard, remembering the two celestial bronze hammers he had seen when he was first being carried through the camp.
And then, raising his wand in the air he yelled, "Accio!"
Nothing happened for a moment and then Harry heard a crack, as if a firework had gone off. The hammers came speeding at him like bullets and for a split second he wondered if he would have to duck. Luckily, they stopped right in front of his waist.
Grabbing them out of the air, he handed one to Nico and then one to Bianca, "Use these to protect yourselves."
"Where are you going?" Nico questioned him.
"I have to help Thalia and the others." Harry stated.
"Don't leave us alone!" Bianca begged him.
He patted her head, "Nico is here with you. I've gotten you two celestial hammers in case anything else shows up."
Her face went pale at the possibility of another monster.
"Don't worry," Harry assured her, "The chances of that happening are unlikely. Especially in such a guarded place like this."
"Why don't we just come with you?" Bianca suggested.
Harry shook his head, "It's too dangerous. I can't have you guys risking your lives. You're inexperienced."
Bianca opened her mouth to say something but Nico clamped his hand over her lips, "We've got this Harry. Go on."
"Thanks you guys. I'll be back in a flash, I swear it." Harry bolted out the door.
(Hey guys! I realized how short 1,000 words are and I am now raising my minimum to 2,500. Is that better? I don't know. It still seems pretty small. If I get more reviews telling me it's short, I'll raise it to 3,000. Ciao!)