Thanks for the reviews/favs/follows. I was being serious when I said they make me want to write more.
Also the fact that my last story was over 10k words and got one review in a week compared to six in three days is pretty encouraging.
Also a lot of the updates I do will be minor things like me seeing a spelling mistake or not putting Percy's thoughts into italics, so don't be disappointed if new updates contain literally nothing different, so sorry about that.
And without further ado, chapter two
Part one: A new life
Chapter two: The school escape
The five of us sprinted down the corridor as fast as we could, yet we only made it half way before a mighty roar was heard in front of us, and Dr. Thorne crashed through the ceiling above us, landing in a very feline pose. A scorpions tail erupted from out the back of his trench coat. Ah, so I was right then? Why did I have to be right?
"I think it would be prudent to run in the other direction, Grover." Chiron said calmly.
"Yes Chiron!" Grover shouted, before grabbing Nico and sprinting away.
"I think you two should leave aswell." Chiron addressed me and Bianca.
"But Chiron," Bianca began, "that's a monster! are you sure-" she was cut off by a spine erupting out of Dr. Thorne's tail, that then rushed towards her quicker than my eyes could track. But Chiron whipped out his hand and caught the spine right before it hit her.
"I think I will be fine," he assured her, "I'd be embarrased if I couldn't handle a manticore."
Manticore? Oh god, what are we going to do, I mean like- a spine rushed towards me too, but luckily I was prepared and ducked instinctively. And that was all the encouragement I needed. I started running, before remembering Bianca, who was now stood frozen with fear, and grabbing her arm as I started running back down the hall.
The last thing I saw was Chiron pulling out a bow from thin air, and charging the manticore.
"What am I going to do? Think Grover, think."
I could barely hear my friend over the sound of Bianca's and my panting after the intense run. But he seemed to be distressed, so being the nice person I am, I decided to lend him some help.
"What do we need to do Grover?"
He sighed, "We need to make it to camp half blood. But first we have to escape that manticore. We'll have no chance of making it to camp with him on our tail."
He started walking down the corridor, and the rest of us followed. He reached the stairs that lead down to the front of school, and we quickly descended, with Nico sliding down the banister. I distinctly couldn't here the sounds of Chiron and the manticore fighting, which was either very good, or veeeeery bad.
"I thought Chiron was dealing with the manticore." I said quietly.
"Not for long. The manticore is much more powerful than a centaur, even one like Chiron." Grover said back. That made everyone pause for a few moments.
"He'll be all right, won't he?" Bianca piped up.
"He should be. He's been alive for some three thousand years, I'm not even sure if a manticore could kill him." Grover replied.
"Wait, a manticore? Like from mythomagic?" Nico said for the first time.
"Mythomagic?" I asked
It's this stupid card game my brother plays." Bianca explained.
"It's not stupid!" Nico said back defiantly, "It's actually a very complicated game with lot's of in depth tactics and strategies, and I doubt you even-"
"Guys, we're trying to escape Dr. Thorne, remember?" I reminded them, "Grover, any ideas?"
"Maybe with just you, but Bianca and Nico could be smelt by a monster from miles away, let alone by one as strong as a manticore." Grover replied.
"We're not leaving them." I said stubbornly.
"I know, I know," he assured me, "I'm just laying out the facts. Now all of you stop talking, I'm trying to think."
With that we walked down the entrance hall in uncomfortable silence. While most days I was impressed by the grandeur of the place, but at night, with the lights out it was downright eerie. Doesn't help that we're being chased by a mythological monster, either.
"Aha, I've got it, guys." Grover began, barely ten metres from the exit, "We just have to take a path through the sewers. I know it sounds bad, but the smell will disguise your's. All we have to do is make it to a drain, which will only take a few minutes, and avoid the manticore at all costs. Good?" We all nodded. "Good."
His moment of triumph didn't last long
In what seemed to be his favourite type of entrance, Dr. Thorn smashed through the wall beside us, cutting off our exit. Chiron was nowhere to be seen.
When I say Dr. Thorne, it is a bit of an exaggeration. The beast infront of us looked little like my old English teacher, save for the face of the creature, which roughly resembled Dr. Thorne's face, but had also been stretched and distorted. The predatory gaze, however, had been amplified ten fold, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid at the time. Other than the tattered remains of a trenchcoat arm on one of the beasts front legs, that was when the similarities ended.
With a great brown mane that was at least as wide as its face at all points, the manticore seemed to exert intimidation. Its body had completely changed, becoming that of a lion's, with ripped and torn fur- presumably from the recent fight with Chiron. It's claws seemed to be too big for a beast its size, as if it had sellotaped daggers on the end of its toes. Muscles appeared to ripple underneath its bloodstained coat of fir, and they were drawn taught, as if ready to pounce. Not the best thought.
The most striking thing about it though was obviously the tail, roughly resembling that of a scorpions. Large spines sprouted from various places on the tail, and they were obviously locked and loaded for firing. The sting was the most over the top thing however. I didn't know whether or not it was actually poisonous, nor did I care, as the foot long stinger looked more like a small blade than any stinger I'd ever seen.
"Where's Chiron?" I shouted, calming my nerves.
"Dead. Just like you will be soon, little demigods." The manticore snarled.
Wait, demigods?
"Yeah right!" Grover shouted, ripping off his trousers and revealing, you guessed it, a pair of furry goat legs. He then kicked off his shoes to reveal his hooves, and instantly seemed, to move more smoothly. "And I'm Emporor Nero you overgrown kitty cat!"
This seemed to enrage the monster, which is not the first line of action I would've taken in the situation, but I was much less experienced in this than Grover was, so I decided to go with it. Bad decision, as the manticore immediately lunged at Grover, who sidestepped and placed a hard punch on the beast's face. I totally called it on him being an undercover agent!Unfortunatly for Grover, the manticore seemed unfazed, and smashed him with its tail, though luckily Grover managed to avoid the sting.
He was flung over to the opposite wall, and created a spiderweb of cracks where he landed. Bianca pushed Nico behind her, then stepped up to my side.
"You know, I was planning on running, but now that you've gone and been all heroic, I just might have to join in." I said to her.
"Yeah? Well if you're in, lets go kick this cat's butt." She said back, trying to be intimidating.
"That's the best you've got, little godlings?" The manticore taunted.
"That's strange, he's got more of a sense of humor now than when he was a human." I noted.
"What can I say, I've been living off of monster flesh for months now. And then I get three demigods at once, a feast! And you wonder why I'm in a good mood?
"You want to eat us, wide face! Come get us." Bianca shouted, apparently ending negotiations, as the manticore leaped at us. Though we carried no weapons, that didn't seem to bother Bianca, as she charged right at the beast too. And even though she didn't have the dodging skills of Grover, apparently that whole demigod thing was a pretty sweet deal, as she caught the manticore's paw with one hand.
All of us stood a still for a moment, before Bianca punched the manticore square in the face. And although her technique was terrible, she obviously packed more punch than Grover, because the monster had yelped out in pain. That was my wakeup call to get in the fight, so I sprinted up to the beast and punched it straight in the ribs, hearing a satisfying crack.
A few more blows and the manticore was obviously tired of being beaten up by a couple twelve year olds, as it flicked out its hind legs and sent me sprawling across the floor. Now one on one, Bianca was quickly knocked down, and I could see the manticore get ready to pounce. I need a weapon! I searched frantically in my pockets, but all I could find was a couple pens and a pack of cards. I couldn't do much with pens, but cards, well, they were my speciality. As the manticore pinned Bianca's arms down and prepared to deliver a quick bite to the neck, I took a card and threw it through the air, at incredible speeds, right into the light switch twenty metres away.
Unprepared for the burst of light, the manticore closed its eyes, allowing Bianca to get free of the grip and roll out from underneath it. Just as she was getting up however, the manticore spun around to look at me, and whipped Bianca across the room with its tail, sending her flying. She crashed right on top of Grover, who had just started to get up aswell, and knocked him out again.
Great. Now I get to fight this thing by myself.
I threw another card, aiming for the eyes, but the manticore dodged to the side. Another card thrown, and the exact same result. It's like it's playing with me. Like a cat with a mouse. How fitting. I threw a third card aiming for the left of the manticore, but this time it didn't even dodge. Damnit! I just want to hit this thing!
And as I thought it, the card curved in midair, and seemed to accelerate at the same time, hitting the beast's shoulder. Yet instead off bouncing off its skin as expected, the card imbedded itself in the beast's shoulder, causing it to yelp out in surprise and pain.
Well that was unexpected. Although to be honest, I am fighting a manticore right now, so not exactly the strangest thing.
I pulled out another card, and instead of throwing it, it simply flew at the beast at supersonic speeds, imbedding itself in the manticore's front leg. Ok, time for something more extreme. I emptied the pack onto the floor, then willed all of the cards to float around me. And sure enough, they did.
"Oh it is so on, kitty cat." I taunted.
The manticore roared and charged at me, but I let off a shotgun blast of around twenty cards, right into Dr. Thorne's distorted face, even taking out an eye. It launched a spine at me, and I dodged, yet another spine was already aimed right at my chest. No time to dodge, barely any time to think, I instinctively willed the spine to disappear. It transformed into a pile of sand in midair, bouncing off of me harmlessly. Huh?
"Child of Hectate" It snarled, "A minor goddess. You are pathetic."
"I don't seem so pathetic right now, do I?" I again launched the cards at the manticore, but this time in a machine gun fashion. Yet the beast seemed less fazed by the attack this time, and knocked me over at full force. Pouncing on top of me, it tried to jab me with its dagger like sting, but instead I caught it with both hands. I could tell it was going to try and bite me like it did Bianca, but I had other plans.
I reached out in my mind to a nearby vase, and willed it to fly towards the manticore's head. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing.
You've got to be kidding me! I only have control over playing cards! What sort of power is that?
The Manticore mouth was almost on my head now. I was pretty sure I would've died if it wasn't for the arrow that suddenly whizzed through the air above my head and forced the manticore to pull back. A second arrow flew through the air, but this time the manticore spun around and caught it between its teeth, snapping it.
Chiron was there. Except instead of normal legs, there was a horse. Of course, the Grover talked about him being a centaur. They were all so caught up in the moment nobody thought to ask.
"You want to go for round tow old man?" The beast roared, "I can assure you I can fire spines much quicker than you can fire arrows."
"What makes you think I'll be shooting you." Chiron replied, "Why I doubt I'll have to fire a single arrow to kill you, will I now Percy?"
What me? What can I do, turn things into butterflies and control cards. I didn't even have a weapon!
"You think the boy can help?" The manticore laughed, "He is powerful for a son of Hectate, but he still poses little threat to me."
"I think he'll surprise you."
All I'd found before was some cards and some pens, and I doubt even the cards would be any good now, I mean-
Oh. The pens. I dropped them when I was looking for a weapon the first time, but sure enough, when I reached down to my pocket, one pen was still there. Why am I such an idiot sometimes.
I pulled out anaklusmos, positioned it under the beast's sternum, and flipped off the cap.
The manticore tried to roar at Chiron, but stopped as it realised a three foot long sword had just impaled it straight through the heart.
Percy's Powers :
Demigod strength, healing, resilience and speed.
Some weird type of super speed.
Can control playing cards.
Can transform things into sand.