Author's Note: I just saw the commercial on Youtube for the movie, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and I typed this in case if you are also a fan of that book series. It was for your happiness. :D
Disclaimer: If you think I am Rick Riordan, twirl 1,000 times and pet yourself. If you don't think I am him, congratulations, you weren't in the car-sickness stimulation I assigned the others above. :P
Chapter 4:
Outside the door was a pack of the hybrids that my savior called the lycanthropes and I could see that they were itching for a feast. We were goners.
"W-we took too long didn't we?" I stuttered to my savior as I quietly shut the door closed; hoping that the lycanthropes were blunt enough not to notice or sense us on the other side.
"Well, we kind of did. Yet, by the time we got to the doors, I figured out that your friends here," my savior said as he pointed to both Matt and Mags, "Are both not of complete mortal blood."
"What?!" I exclaimed in a harsh whisper.
"The friend you call 'Mags' is a satyr, and the one you are holding called 'Matt' I recognize as my half-cousin and best friend from camp. Matt's real name is—"
"Zhineng, because he is of Asian lineage. I know that already, but how do you know Mags is a so-called half goat and half man? Why don't you just call him a satyr-slash-faun to balance things?"
Annoyingly, my savior chose in that moment to chuckle.
"What?!" I whispered back harshly.
"Oh, it's just that the way you ask too many questions. I won't be surprised if you get claimed at camp as a descendant or relative of a descendant of the god/goddess of questions." he said.
"Hmmph! As I may say, I don't normally act this way. It just infuriates me if I don't know something, ok? Also, you still haven't explained camp to me and a descendant of the goddess of questio—?!" I started to say before my savior rudely covered my mouth with his hand.
I glared at him, but he only responded by putting a finger up against his lips and gesturing toward the door.
I followed his orders and looked at door as I heard a creak echo from it. I saw the door tilt open a little as small claws were revealed clasping on it from the other side.
Me and my savior turned our heads to look at each other and mouthed the same word at each other.
Run.
We started to run down the hall with my friends still in our arms and tried to search for an alternate exit along the way.
"Yummy, half-bloods. Come and join us or die!" said the lycanthrope as soon as it opened the door.
By this time, I was guessing we were desperate for an exit out. The only exit we could find probably was a glass window at the end of the hallway; stretching out along the top half of the wall. It was risky, but it was either exiting that way or getting eaten by lycanthropes/getting involved in the predicament of even becoming one of them.
We braced ourselves before the collision by shielding our friends' bodies by folding our backs over them and wrapping our arms around them firmly. Then, our feet shattered the glass, and bits and pieces of it flew everywhere; cutting our skin, clothes and some even cut parts of my hair.
We barely had enough time to register the pain or even try to remove some bits of glass from our hair, skin, or clothes when we heard the howling of a wolf.
"The lycanthrope is calling the rest of its pack onto us. Now, we have to run to camp," my savior said while gasping for breath.
"And please stop calling me 'your savior'. It's getting really annoying. Just call me Purge." he said once he got his breath back.
"How—" I started to say, but "Purge" had grabbed my wrist and dragged me into running along with him.
Then, Matt had finally decided to snap out of his "stuck-in-time" daze and looked at me while just saying, "Where am I?"
I bit back a stinging retort at his annoying question; remembering that his body was under the influence of being stuck in time and just answered, "After I drop you, run and never look back. We are heading to some kind of camp you; and Purge over there, know about."
Matt's expression turned from dazed to shock as he leapt away from my arms and started running in beside us.
At the edge of my running view, I saw that Mags had chosen to wake up from his stuck-in-time enchantment, too. Imagine his surprise as he woke up in Purge's arms, looked back to what we were running from, and instantly leapt out of them to run beside us.
I stifled a laugh knowing that laughing would just waste more air I could use for running.
Suddenly, Purge stopped. He lowered his back until his hands were grasping his knees and started to pant heavily while saying, "We… aren't… fast…enough… We… still… have…a long… way to go…"
"How many miles?" I asked as I stopped beside him.
"Well, what state are we in?" he asked bluntly.
"Hmm… let's see. It's… CALIFORNIA!" I shouted at him; mad that he didn't even know what state we were in and already had suggested running.
He groaned and face-palmed himself before saying, "California?! A son of Nike and descendant of Hypnos wrapped altogether can only run 400 miles an hour! It would take about 7 hours for me to normally get there. Yet, if I carry you guys, I would be burdened with weight so it would take like 10 hours instead of 7. By then, the lycanthrope will have alerted others around the U.S. that we are on our way to camp. Urgh! I really hate calculations."
"Then, what do we do 'Mr. You-Were-Our-Guide-For-Saving-Us'." I asked bitterly while making finger quotes along with his nickname.
"I don't know. Get killed and eaten by lycanthropes or become one. Each of us chooses one."
"Well, in that hopeless case, I choose getting killed. If I become a lycanthrope, my life's goals will be wasted on petty violence for the rest of my life. Plus, I would rather die and be missed, than be alive and be shunned. So… on that happy note, what do you guys choose?" I replied and put my sarcastic-ness in my last statement.
"Lycanthrope. I might be able to control that power to help my friends." Purge answered.
I sighed, "Yet, you might get sucked into the bad side by the pack that bites you and tries to recruit you. Although I've only spent one school year with you guys and I've only met you, Purge; I'll miss you guys when I die. I just hope that when I see you again on the other side, I see you make the right decisions."
"I don't want to and can't possibly become a lycanthrope because I'm a satyr, so I'll most likely become goat stew for them!" replied my friend/protector satyr, Mags as he sighed deeply in regret.
"Good luck with that wolf thing, half-'cuz. I want to be remembered happily when I die and get in the after-life; not like a monster or an enemy. Oh, and tell Nyssa she was a great girlfriend at camp." Matt said.
I whacked Matt upside his head and yelled, "Girlfriend?! I thought you had a crush on Cynthia! And nobody has told me about camp, yet! Someone please explain why it's so special!"
I was about to send a kick to Matt's shin, but was interrupted by Purge's voice, "Uh… Since you believed in like, whatever religion before—"
"Don't just say 'whatever' about other religions. It's what people hold onto to know that at least they're being cared for!"
"Yeah, uh-huh… Anyway, now you belong to the world of the legends and myths of the Greek gods and their children. Those stories and stuff you read about in 7th grade?"
"Well, we finished that unit just two months before, but yes." I said bitterly; still fuming about how he noted other religions disrespectfully and ignorantly.
"Well, the Greek gods and their legends exist. Sometimes the Greek gods come down to our mortal world and—erm… 'Meet up with' opposite gendered mortals and have children with them. The children born from them are mortal, but are kinda like a different species placed in the mortal category, because the blood of the gods runs through them," Purge said and looked me to see if I was listening or interested in what he was saying.
He looked pretty irritated when he found that I was covering my ears and shaking my head while tears were streaming out of my eyes. More annoyingly, he walked over to me and put his hands on my shoulders in a weak attempt to console me.
"Is this… a cruel…joke? Is this… just a … prank to be… posted online…? Will this… be showed… to my parents?!" I said in between sobs.
He started to wrap his arms around me to hug me and I tried to get out of his grasp in my anger. Unfortunately, his grip was stronger than mine and held me firmly.
So, instead, I tried a different approach, "Can you please let go of me? I can handle my own feelings myself."
"No, not until you can handle the fact that you may be a demigod. I can hear and sense what you're feeling, and I can also look into your mind if you like it or not. Sons or descendants of Hypnos are granted this special power on a rare occasion. If you want, I can prove it to you." Purge said as he hugged me tighter.
"Fine." I said before groaning into his shirt out of frustration. Why must it be him to console me in a time like this?!
He let go of me, and I was almost inclined to think I was a little disappointed at his sudden resignation from the hug, but didn't because of his previous statement of his ability to look into minds.
Purge clasped his hands in a quick way that almost looked like a clap, and then said, "Ok, I'm 'guessin we have 8 minutes before the other lycanthropes arrive, so quickly think of a memory I or any of your friends here haven't witnessed and I can repeat it out to you."
I shut my eyes tight and scrolled around for any memories stuck in my mind without Purge and/or my friends in it. I searched around in search of a strong and important memory that could help Purge understand why I wanted to die instead of becoming a lycanthrope, in hopes of him choosing the same fate as the others as to not hurt or harm anyone because of his decision. Suddenly, my mind found the right memory. A protest march. Bingo.
It was on the news of America, in Asian magazines, and journalist reports. In Burma, innocent monks were assaulted and shot; protestors were jailed for speaking out for the freedom of their people; and people in Washington D.C. were currently protesting throughout the streets to get the U.S. government to help them.
I was only a little girl and followed my parents when they traveled to the area. I didn't know all the meaning of this and why we couldn't just ask the government for help in my parent's home country. We protested on days and nights we and other people had scheduled. Even we protested one time when it started raining.
I was dragged along with this, following what other people did and shouting the main slogan yelled everywhere by the people of Burma and others who wanted to help, "Free, free, free Burma!"
And a person in the front with a megaphone responded, "Burma, Burma must be freed!"
Altogether, the crowd of people shouted back something that I thought sounded like, "Free from justice and democracy!"
In later years, I saw that this stubborn compassion for people even could stretch across the world. And that one day I hoped I could rouse such a blissful thing in people's hearts and minds.
Since my memory was done, I opened my eyes to find Mags bleating nervously because of the anticipation of the arrival of lycanthropes and Matt was cowering near him while staring at me fearfully. I mentally smiled in satisfaction at the fact I could scare Matt into keeping a distance from me. Finally, I stared at Purge to see if he saw the memory I thought of.
Like the typical nuisance, I found him leaning against a tree; which was part of a small forest outside of the school grounds, like nothing had happened.
"So… Did you get my memory?" I said to him awkwardly as he pushed himself off the tree seeing that I had opened my eyes.
He raised an eyebrow and said, "How about, if you're not convinced I can show you how Mags is a satyr? Besides we have about like 5 minutes now since your memory kinda took 3 minutes."
In irritation I growled a little. Creepily, it almost sounded exactly like a wolf's.
"What memory did you experience, Purge?!" I shouted in irritation.
"Fine, I'll tell you if it will make you stop hating me before you die. I experienced something like a… protest march? And the last image I saw before I came back to reality was an image of The White House. Happy, now?" he said as if everything was a matter-of-a-fact and annoying at the same time.
I gasped. What he experienced in my memories was right. So, he was really telling the truth! The Greek gods and the myths about them did exist!
The next thing that happened was truly shocking. As we saw the lycanthropes arrive at the edge of the shattered window, some random vines came out of the woods from nowhere and grabbed me, Purge's, Matt's, and Mags's legs and dragged us into the woods horizontally. As we went deeper and deeper, more trees showed up and the vines shockingly angled us away from them as if they had a mind of their own. I thought we were finally home-free from the lycanthropes and was afraid of where the vines where taking us at the same time; when suddenly I heard howling behind us a few feet away. As if the vines could sense the sudden danger on us, they pulled us back faster, with much more force.
Then, as we saw the lycanthrope/hybrids at the edge of the forest, the vines grasping our legs started to pull us back at a speed that seemed to be like 90 miles an hour. When the lycanthropes started advancing on us, its pulling force seemed to go up to 200 miles.
Surprisingly afraid of falling out of the vines' grasp; although I did not know if it was on our side or not, I grasped the nearest person's hand to gain balance. Unfortunately, that person had curly hair that was now visibly a golden-brown color, sparking blue eyes, and an annoying smirk on his face. Three guesses who.
"So, taking your time warming up to me?" Purge teased.
I smacked him hard on the arm and let go of his hand. Gosh, he was annoying. I'd rather face a python than be in a relationship with him. I mentally shivered at the thought.
I soon heard more howling from the sides. Ugh! Will these lycanthropes ever stop hunting us? It seemed with every 10 miles the vines dragged us through, the lycanthropes got closer and closer to us; gaining an extra 5 miles of endurance every time. And all I could see Purge ("our savior") doing was sleeping?! His head was even nodding off to the side us he laid in his sleeping position! Then, his eyes blinked open in shock and his head turned to me as if he had knew that I was staring at him in anger while he was sleeping.
While I was expecting an annoying retort, he just said, "Tell the others next to you to close their eyes and put their head near their stomachs. Also, they have to cover their faces with their arms, ok?"
"Why?" I asked him as we were pulled through the streets while the people were surprisingly oblivious to us and acting as if there were no vines pulling a tween, a satyr, a teen , and his friend with him while the lycanthropes were a mere 4 feet behind.
"I can hear what the vines are trying to tell me, ok?! And you must do what I said, too. Apparently, the vines think you are very special to them." he said in agitation.
I chuckled and said, "So apparently this time you aren't the 'special' one, eh?"
He inhaled sharply and said, "Just follow my orders ok? I have to do the same thing so we're now all on an equal level."
I rolled my eyes and told the others next to me what he said. Matt and Mags both nodded, and followed Purge's/vines' orders. After a few moments of Purge glaring at me to get me to follow suit, I followed along with them. I half-shut my right eye to see if Purge really was going to do the same thing as us. As soon as he kept his part of the deal by doing the same thing as us, I closed my eyes. Then, I heard something like a sharp whistle of wind and felt the vines' grasp on us tighten as we were pulled back what felt like to be 1,000 miles an hour. The howling of the lycanthropes soon faded into the distance and I blacked out.
-TIMELAPSEOFAWESOMENESS-
Mags shook me awake. It turns out, I fell asleep right after I closed my eyes. No wonder I had thought I saw a pair of silver eyes staring at us nearby even though the lycanthropes weren't even close enough to harm us yet. It was just a dream. I let out a sigh of relief.
Though, the vines were still pulling us. I impatiently thought about when our destination would arrive. Out of boredom, I surveyed what was around us. Up ahead I saw a huge pine tree and in the back I saw a sign that said "Pick Your Own Strawberries".
Purge turned to me, infuriatingly grinned like we didn't hate each other, and said, "Ready to see camp?"
We were near the camp I've anxiously wanted to see for many hours? These vines were on our side after all!
"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied wearily as the vines started to pull us near the pine tree.
After Mags, Matt, and Purge had gone through the borders I was told about by them [Author's note: they told her when she was half-asleep and was still capable of hearing, but I didn't want to add on to the sentence; making it a run-on. Go back to my first ever fanfic and enjoy? :]) ]; the vine that held me proceeded to try going past the pine tree. Pay attention to the word 'try'.
It turns out that as soon as the bottom of my foot even touched the border, the vine couldn't get me through to the other side. My friends and an—erm… "acquaintance" looked shocked on the other side of the border. Try as they might, the vines couldn't pull me through the border. They even got to a point where they managed to yank off my sneakers and get them through the border instead of me.
"What is happening?! Why can't I get through?!" I shouted to them on the other side of the border.
Unfortunately, my friends and acquaintance were of no help to me as they had started arguing on their side. I quickly hoped that whoever was watching over us would cut off their chit-chat and get someone to save me from becoming lycanthrope bait. As far as I knew, they wouldn't even stop their chase on us. I acquired this important fact when we had heard them howling in the distance even when Mags was inches away from crossing the border.
Fortunately, a girl that looked to be older than Purge on their side of the border showed up, saw me being held by the vines on the other side, realized I was unable to cross, and cut off their argument by shouting so loud I could hear it through the border. Once she had their attention she shouted at them while pointing at me and then gesturing to a sky-blue house down the hill.
I couldn't hear most of the conversation, but I saw her mouth two names, "Chiron and Mr. D."
The boys each seemed to acknowledge a silent agreement to end their argument, and nodded at each other before Mags and Matt left in the direction of the blue house; the girl went down the hill to a direction on my left; and Purge crossed the border (to my disdain) and explained that he was going to help me ward off the lycanthropes until we could get the problem with my border-crossing fixed. He also explained that Hazel; the girl that thankfully cut off their foolish argument, had went to the armory to get some weapons for us if some people called "Mr. D" and "Chiron" hadn't come to save us by then.
I merely nodded and felt my heart rate go up faster as I heard a howl from a pack of lycanthropes.
"What is our weapon?!" I anxiously asked Purge.
He took something out of his shoe that could easily be looked over. My hope was lost as I saw our only weapon left to us against a pack of lycanthropes.
"A 'blinkin ball-point pen?! This is hopeless." I shouted before groaning my lost hope to the sky.
"For once, remember the perks of being a demigod." he said as he took the cap off the pen and I saw it transform itself into a bronze sword.
I was about to gasp when I remembered that he was merely a person I hated; not worthy of awe, so I stifled it.
He looked at me and said, "Shocked? Hephaestus Cabin has been experimenting with these types of retractable weapons after examining Percy's sword."
I mentally slapped myself; remembering her could see, read, and sense feelings or memories.
Shoving the question of who this "Percy" was to the back of my mind; I just asked, "Ok… So what happens if we're in the situation of being attacked at the same time and both have the need for it?"
Purge stared hard at the ground as if he was thinking a lot about my question and answered, "Mr. D and Chiron will come before it gets to that decision."
I yanked strands of hair in agitation and asked, "But what if it comes to that?!"
Purge looked at me straight in the eye and said, "Let's just make sure it'll never come to that, ok? I can never live with myself knowing I let a camper die before they could even experience Camp Half-Blood."
"Well, someone's suddenly being all 'sweet and caring'." I teased.
"Nope. Just being careful." he said with an irritating tone in his voice as a warning to tread off.
I didn't need another warning as I heard howling closer to camp. As I could calculate, the pack of lycanthropes sounded to consist of twenty hybrids. It was enough to murder two demigods or make a lycanthrope out of one before forcing them into their treacherous pack. With that thought, I remembered Purge's earlier statement about becoming a lycanthrope and turned to face him.
"Promise that whatever happens; if you become a lycanthrope or not, you will not harm or be forced into harming an innocent soul that has not held an awareness of or tried killing significant others." I spoke to him in a serious tone.
"And what does that mean, exactly?" he said as he readied the weapon we were going to share.
"That whether or not you become a lycanthrope, you will not wound anyone or kill anyone that is innocent of murder ,or has committed murder like squashing a bug or something but is innocent because a bug's life is kind of short and unimportant; not counting the strong base they have in our ecosystem." I translated to him.
"Ok… so what you mean is if I become a lycanthrope today/ever or die or stay alive without becoming a lycanthrope, that you want me to swear to never ever harm a creature innocent of significant crimes?" he stated simply in a questioning tone.
I nodded and replied, "Count it as a dying wish if I die with or without you today."
"Fine, I swear to never ever harm an innocent being that has not acted upon doing any significant crimes, but only because it's a dying wish." he said.
"See? Now I'm content." I said as I pointed to a mocking smile on my face.
"Err…herr…"
Then, we heard a chorus of howls only a few feet away.
Then, what seemed to be three feet away, the lycanthropes/hybrids showed up.
Oh, whoever cares about us please save us or at least help.
Radicallest author with the word "guest" in its name: And that is chapter 4! Next chapter I may do it in Purge's POV. I would like to see how his irritating mind works… [Evil smile*] :]
