A/N: First off, I hope you all had a good Easter, even though it's been a couple weeks. Second, thanks so much to the three people who reviewed the last chapter; it means a lot to me! Lastly, I would like to explain a bit about my updating schedule. I will hopefully update about every week or so. Maybe less if the mood to write strikes me. But lately I've been pretty busy, so expect an update within a few weeks or so (if everything goes well, it should be less). I know that's a long time but please bear with me. I can assure you I will update when I can. Now, without further ado, here is the third chapter of Murder and Mythology! Enjoy, and please remember to review!

Murder and Mythology

By WordsxOfxWisdom

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO

Chapter 3:

The thing that had been Mr. Cortina, my Science teacher, lunged towards us. I noticed that he didn't have the tail of a regular lion. His was full metal, and at the end, there was a ball covered in spikes. I briefly remembered when we studied mythology in Reading, how there was a monster from the Greek myths that was called a manticore. It was a lion with a man's face and a ball of spikes at the end of its tail. Cortina…Manticore…

"I've contained my hunger so long!" he roared.

We all stood there, too shocked and scared to run. May reached into her pocket and slowly pulled something out, carefully so that Mr. C wouldn't see it. I glanced at her and she winked.

"W-Why are you hungry?" Kaleigh stammered, her voice barely a whisper.

Mr. C sneered, "Stupid little demigoddess. You're terribly sweet, though. Perhaps I'll save you for desert."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure none of us taste too good, last time I checked…" Neil said sarcastically, shrugging.

"Oh," Mr. C scowled, "A funny one, eh? Well, the last time I checked, half-blood was my favorite meal." He emphasized the 'I', probably in response to Neil's comment.

"Really?" Neil said, smirking and raising an eyebrow in mock-curiosity, "My favorite meal is-"

"SILENCE!" Mr. C snapped, "I will have NO MORE of this ridiculous stalling!"

"RUN!" May screamed. Suddenly she held the thing she'd gotten out earlier up; a flask that appeared to be filled with a swirling green liquid. May flicked the cork on the top off with her thumb and then threw it. I wasn't quite sure what happened after that, but judging from the warmth of the flames and the bright orange glow that then illuminated the hallways of our school, I figured our cafeteria was on fire. Somehow, we were all running through the same hallways I'd walked that day at school with my two best friends, Mia and Natalie. I couldn't help but think of how this would change everything. It was worse than when our other friend, Alyssa, started leaving Memorial Day weekend every year to go to some summer camp. I wondered what would happen now, if I would ever see any of them again.

"HEAD FOR THE FRONT DOOR!" May shouted.

We all rushed over the front door of our school and burst out onto the bustling Manhattan sidewalk. A crowd of people had crowded around, and someone was yelling '9-1-1! 9-1-1!' However, other than that, nobody was saying anything. They all just seemed to be staring, bewildered by the sight of five teens bursting out a burning building. Someone had their cellphone out and was actually calling 9-1-1. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my own phone-miraculously, it seemed to be working finely.

"May," I said, walking over to her, "Would it be okay if I called my dad? He could, like, pick me up or whatever."

May shook her head, "No. Definitely not. Now that the monsters have found you guys its too dangerous for any of you to use your phones or any other electronic devices."

She waved her hands in an odd gesture, and then the suspicious whispers among the crowds gathered suddenly stopped. The people glanced around at each other, confused. I don't even know how she did, but somehow they all just started walking away, as if they forgot they had even stopped in the first place. We were standing around talking, though, all of us confused by what had happened.

"Someone in the crowd already called the fire department. They're on their way. And I've contacted reinforcements, so they should be here soon," May added after the last bystander had left.

I stared at May for a second. This whole thing was getting making me so mad. Why couldn't she just give us answers, not just more questions?

I found myself shouting, "Can you please just explain what happened? And why can't I use my phone?" Autumn, Neil, Seth and Kaleigh began listening with new interest, having apparently heard me raising my voice at May.

"Is everything okay…" Autumn questioned hesitantly. She had a worried look on her face that had been there since detention; I had to wonder if it was permanent.

"Yes," May said coolly, "Look, Olivia, I would love to explain everything, but frankly some of it confuses even ME. When the reinforcements get here from Camp, THEY'LL tell you everything."

"Really?" Seth grunted, "Well, that doesn't change the fact that we basically just committed arson, not to mention killed a teacher. The fire department is going to have to find someone to blame for this, and chances are they won't believe us if we tell them we didn't do it. I mean, for God's sake, we all had detentions. According to them, one of us could've just decided to blow the top off the cafeteria because of that!"

May just stared at him for a minute. Seth had been mostly silent up to that point, so I guess his explosive temper surprised her a bit. It definitely surprised me.

Kaleigh rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly, "We didn't commit arson, Seth; May did. She threw the explosive-thing or whatever."

For a second, the other four of us just stared at Kaleigh. It was a no-duh moment, straight out of a movie or something.

I winced a little, "Um…yeah, Captain Obvious strikes again. Look, Kaleigh, there's nothing to prove that May threw the flask. It was probably destroyed in the blast. Anyways, she basically saved your life; why would you want her to end-up in jail?"

Kaleigh shrugged and muttered something about her newest romance novel being incinerated.

I glanced at May again, "Well, when are these 'reinforcements' getting here? And where exactly ARE we going?"

"You're going to Camp, of course," May said, as if it were perfectly obvious, "All of your parents already know. I've had contact with them for some time now."

Autumn pursed her lips, "So…wait, our parents already know you?"

May nodded, "Yeah. Like I said, everything will be explained to you eventually."

"Well, 'eventually' better come soon," Neil grumbled, sitting on the sidewalk.

May gave him a small smile, "I feel your pain. It can be hard, finding this all out. But you just have to be patient. Answers will come in time. Now, we should probably move to an alley to wait for the reinforcements."

Suddenly, we heard the wail of police sirens in the distance.

"Quickly!" Autumn said, gesturing to a nearby alley.

xXxXx

The five of us sat there in the alley, waiting, for about ten minutes. For Neil, Autumn, Kaleigh, Seth and I, it was a very uneasy ten minutes. None of us knew what would happen, or what was going on. Everything was so mysterious…Personally, I wasn't sure any of what May said could be trusted.

"Do you think she's trying to kidnap us or something?" I whispered to Autumn. The Asian girl immediately panicked.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered back, "What if she is? Maybe we should leave…"

"We're not leaving," Seth hissed, "Even if she committed arson to do it, May saved our lives. I trust her. Besides, she's our age. What would a seventh grade girl want with us?"

"Saving a life," Kaleigh sighed wistfully, "So romantic…"

Neil snickered, "Oh, I can think of a lot of things a girl would want with me…"

"Shut up," Autumn snapped at Neil, softly so she wouldn't be heard, "Nobody wants to know your perverted middle school guy thoughts."

Neil just laughed some more, and I couldn't help but laugh myself. I had to admit, though, that the whole thing was ridiculous. But it felt nice, laughing. Kind-of defused the tension a little.

"The reinforcements are here!" May exclaimed suddenly, springing up and gesturing to something in the sky that glinted gold in the sunlight.

The rest of us just exchanged glances. What was that…thing, in the sky? Who exactly was coming to get us?

"It looks unsafe," Seth noted gravely, "Whatever it is."

"It's a chariot," May said, "A flying chariot, I might add."

Autumn winced, "A flying chariot? Oh my gosh…what if we fall off? What if it-"

"Who cares!" Neil said, rolling his eyes, "We're gonna get the ride of a lifetime!"

May smiled weakly, "Yeah, I wish I could join you guys. Riding in those things has always been fun. But I've got to go take care of a few…things." She indicated the firefighters at the school, and the small crowd they'd attracted. It had never occurred to me before that someone would have to talk with them, explain what happened. Well, as much as May would reveal, anyways. Obviously none of us wanted the whole world (or at least Manhattan) knowing we'd intentionally set a school cafeteria on fire.

A few minutes later, the chariot touched down in the alley. The five of us rushed up and gathered around us. May seemed excited, rushing up and greeting the two 'drivers' in the chariot-a boy and a girl, both dark-haired.

"Jacob…Alyssa…Oh my gods, I'm so relived you're finally here! I managed to destroy the manticore but not after-" May was talking a million miles an hour, her voice growing higher the faster she talked.

I groaned internally. Great, just when I was starting to have a good idea of what was going on, May had to go mention something that threw me through another loop.

The boy-Jacob, I assumed-stepped off the chariot and took off his helmet, which was ancient Greek style. He was a good-looking Hispanic guy about our age, with spiky black hair, cinnamon-colored skin and chocolate brown eyes. In one hand he held a bow and a quiver with arrows with slung over his shoulder.

"Hey," Jacob said with a laugh, interrupting May in mid-sentence, "May, calm down! I know this is your first assignment, but dude, just cool down! Look, Alyssa and I will take the new half-bloods back to Camp and you just explain 'what happened' to the mortals."

May nodded briskly, "I-I was going too…"

Jacob flashed her a smile, "Well then what are you waiting for! Go! They want answers!"

"Hold it right there," the girl said, getting off the chariot and taking her helmet off, "Shouldn't we leave first, Jake?"

A/N: So, what did you think? Tell me! Review! Also, you can start guessing at godly parents too. I'll tell you that May is not a demigod, while Neil, Kaleigh, Olivia, Seth and Autumn all are. I'm sorry if the chapter seemed a bit short. I just wanted to get this one posted, since I might not be able to update for a while. Excuse any errors too, please, and tell me if there are any, since my beta hasn't looked this over yet. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Chapter 4!