"So what's our next move?" Iliana took a large bite out of her omelet as she spoke. The group decided that since they were already in Saint Louis, they could afford to stop and grab a bite to eat. Mariella insisted on IHOP and was currently stuffing down her pancake in bliss.
"I suppose we should start with the obvious and go to the arch." Orion furrowed his brow in disgust at the group. He hated eggs, and had decided on eating a burger instead of breakfast food.
"We should have gone straight there." Zephyr wasn't all that hungry in the first place, and as a result was pushing around his half eaten sausage links.
"Alright guys." Fayt dropped to a whisper, which made everyone lean in close. "I'm thinking of a number between one and five-hundred. If anyone guesses it first try, I'll pay the entire check." Fayt liked to play games such as this to keep everyone entertained.
"Three hundred and seventy-four." Orion seemed almost bored with his answer.
"I hate you…" Fayt pulled out his wallet and sighed. Sometimes, it felt like Orion could read his mind.
"The arch is this way." The group had departed from IHOP and Mariella was currently leading the way by following a map she picked up from a gas station nearby. It was hard to concentrate with Fayt and Zephyr bickering in the background however. Fayt was still mad that he paid Zephyr's meal and he didn't take his leftovers with him.
"Should we go in?" Zephyr's question was met with a shrug from the group. Mariella had placed her map back into her bag and decided to marvel at the Arch's beauty. She imagined that a child of Athena would go absolutely nuts here. It was an architectural masterpiece. The only thing that was tarnishing its image was an area slightly to the right that had a big construction sign in front of it, to block it off from the public.
"Wait…" Orion looked around to make sure no one was watching, and walked towards the construction zone. Something felt…unnatural about it. He concentrated and as he grew closer, his eyes began to replace the construction signs with a set of marble stairs. "It's the mist guys!" Someone…or something set up a powerful barrier of mist. They'd have to be careful getting to the stairs. To every other normal person, they'd see a normal construction zone and a group of teenagers crossing over it. Not exactly a good idea to be caught. One by one though, they managed to sneak into the area and down the marble stairs.
The demigods found themselves in some sort of passageway that looked like a fusion between a sewer and a subway. "You're a terrible leader!" After a few minutes of walking down the passageway, Zephyr suddenly whipped around and grabbed Orion by his shirt collar.
"Let go of him. Now." Fayt caused a few streaks of lightning to pass around his body.
"You're such an animal." Mariella scuffed in disgust toward her boyfriend, which made Iliana snap toward her.
"Are you taking a shot at my boyfriend?!" Iliana was obviously referring to the fact that her boyfriend was a young centaur.
"Enough!" Hearing Orion bellow made everyone freeze in their tracks. It was more frightening than anything the gods could cook up at least. "Look, it's obvious that someone is using Eris' apple of Discord against us. So everyone take a deep breath and calm down." A wave of sudden realization hit their faces all at once. They were being manipulated…but by whom? For the next proceeding few minutes, everyone was silent; obviously trying to calm down and overcome the apple's effects. Orion had suggested that the best way to overcome the agitation and negative feelings was to keep remembering positive memories. It seemed to be working.
"What's that?" Iliana had heard footsteps walking toward them. Children of Hermes generally had the best sense when it came to things such as that. But the footsteps didn't feel human. They felt…"Move!" The team jumped off to the side of the wall just in time to see thorns flying directly to the spot where they were previously standing. From the shadows, stepped a manticore. An agitated one at that. The demigod wasted no time drawing their weapons; Fayt unleashing a stream of lightning that bounced off the creature's skin. Zephyr and Iliana had moved in close, where Iliana had barely avoided being hit by its tail by teleporting away. Zephyr wasn't as lucky, but his armor softened the blows. He still managed to fly into Mariella though; knocking off her aim enough to graze Fayt when he was moving in to attack. Orion pushed passed the momentarily halted Fayt and shot a jet of water at the monster, while it was busy blocking Iliana's axe. Although he pushed the monster back he wasn't able to actually harm it. The battle quickly turned to a losing one, with many of their attacks being unsuccessful. And then, the Manticore roared. It roared and whipped its tail sending thorns directly at Mariella.
"No!" Fayt took off in flight but he knew he wouldn't reach her in time. And then, the thorns slowed for a split second and Mariella was gone. "You…" Fayt had stopped his movements and whipped up a large gust of wind in doing so. Daemon stood a few feet away from where the thorns would have connected with Mariella in his arms. He dropped her to her feet and focused on the Manticore, as if he was the only one in the area. But Fayt didn't get it. Why did he save Mariella?
"You can't beat it alone. Not while it's enraged. Let's join forces." Orion spoke once the group all reconvened around Daemon.
"I'm not taking any orders from you. No thanks." Daemon readied his weapons.
"No orders. Let's just do what comes natural." Orion gave two quick pats on Daemon's shoulder and flashed him a smile. Oddly enough, Daemon didn't feel a desire to cut his hand off. It was something about Orion that was soothing.
"Just don't get in my way." The battle began to flow a lot better with Daemon in the mix. A lot more naturally. Iliana teleported next to the Manticore and locked its tail in place with her axe, while Daemon defended her from the creature's claws. Mariella supported her by shooting arrows that formed a net over the tail that Iliana was keeping still. It couldn't fire any more thorns which was good. Orion and Zephyr used their control over water and wind, respectively, to create a miniature hurricane underneath the beast's legs and shot it up into the air minus the held down tail. Daemon then slowed down the creatures return to the ground with his control over time.
"Sky Rider!" Fayt consumed his lance with lightning and threw it directly at the Manticore's open mouth and it tore threw it in one blow.
"Join us." Orion extended his offer once the group recovered and he noticed that although Daemon wasn't joining in the celebration, he wasn't exactly running away either. Before Daemon could answer however, the ground beneath them began to shake.
"Scatter!" Daemon jumped to the left along with Orion. Iliana grabbed Mariella and teleported forward. Fayt and Zephyr simply flew over to the right. The one pathway somehow shifted to three and walls appeared to separate the paths completely.
"Everyone okay?" Orion called to his friends. They all shouted their responses, which let him breathe a little easier. "Let's go forward and meet up at the end of the paths! I'm sure they all combine into one." He wasn't sure. But it sounded nice at the time. Besides, it wasn't like they had a choice anyway. They just had to survive long enough to see each other again.