There weren't more than a few dozen of them, forming from the shadows, trying to surround us. It wasn't much, but I knew, that there were more coming. Not too many to deal with, but enough to set us in trouble. This was their strategy: They kept hunting you like a vicious cat playing with a mouse - they exhausted you, wounded you, but gave you a chance to escape. Then they traced you again and again, until you were too weak to fight back. I guess it was easier to them, if the victim wasn't in full condition when arriving to their base.

But anyway, we were standing back to back in the shrinking circle of monsters, waiting for them to strike. I raised my sword, taking a good position, as the snake woman in front of me attacked. I cut the monster in half before she had time to throw her net on me. As I kicked down another monster, I got a glimpse of Jayda from the corner of my eye. She seemed to really enjoy this. While cutting down more monsters, I heard her muttering once in a while 'Oh, please!' and some other sardonic comments like that to the enemy. That just seemed to be her way to fight.

I dodged another net thrown by a snake woman, then kicked it from the monster's grip. She tried to stab me with her trident, but I rejected and turned her into monster dust. There were big holes among the circle of monsters, and we were forcing them to back off. "Jayda!" I shouted, stabbing the laistrygon that tried to patch up the loose space in front of me. "Lets get out of here!"

She kicked down an empousa, casting me a quick glimpse. "Wait! I'll just finish these losers!" She lashed her dagger - or should I say Hades' dagger - in a wide arc, cutting two monsters at once. Then she somersaulted over a snake woman, stabbed her in the back while landing on her feet and kicking away another monster. I had to admit she had style.

She elbowed one more empousa, turned back at me with that typical complacent face of hers, then sprinted past. I gave one last glance at the street that was now covered in monster dust and at the corner of the pink town house, where now flickered another shadow. Then I sprinted after Jayda.

-LINE BREAK-

"Wasn't that...", Jayda panted out as we stopped running on a street that looked pretty much like the one we got tossed by who else than Hades. There were same kind of pastel colored town houses and the street was fringed with palm trees. The only difference was the tall, white fence that lined the garden. "Wasn't that a bit too easy?" She managed, sweeping aside a tress of wet hair from her face.

I shrugged. "More appeared right after we killed the last monsters. They're tracking us just now." I took a deep breath and slumped against the fence.

"Oh. Should've guessed that."

I sighed. I wanted to get mad at her. It was so frustrating, how she didn't seem to take this any seriously. Maybe it was just her way to act, but still - couldn't she just admit that the situation was bad? "Jayda, can't you just give me the dagger and..."

"Please, don't start it again, Nico! You know it's no use. Besides, didn't Hades say that we might even have a slight chance of beating the Force hunters? So, couldn't you just be optimistic for the first time in your life?"

"Alright", I sighed. It was way too hot, the sun was dazzingly bright and the fact that I hadn't slept for about a week, didn't make thinking any easier. What had dad meant when he talked about our chances and the death and victory stuff? I mean... how was it supposed to help us to find the Force hunters' base?

"Good", Jayda blurted. "One problem solved. Now, lets try to solve the other ones, too. You talked about the Sea of monsters... So, does that mean we have to rent a boat?"

"Well... yeah, I suppose."

Jayda poked my arm. "Gods, when was the last time you slept?"

I gave her a quick glare.

She shrugged, then pointed toward the waterfront. "So, shall we go, then?"

I quickly scanned our surroundings for any lurking monsters, then followed Jayda down the street toward the sea.