Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!
One side of me said it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The horse was pure white, with glistening feathered wings that spanned about 5 feet to the side. It clamped its hooves
restlessly, as if to say get a move on! The other side of me was terrified, thinking things like this weren't even supposed to exist. They were just myths.
"What is it?" I asked, though I suspected I already knew the answer.
"A Pegasus, or a horse with wings," she said simply, as if it were totally normal. The Pegasus stood up straighter when it heard its name, like it understood. Rachel jogged over to the
horse and hopped on.
"You coming?" she asked. I shook myself out of my daze and followed her example. When I was firmly on, the Pegasus spread its wings, lifting us off the ground. It was
the most exhilarating experience I had ever been through. The pegasus flapped its wings harder, gaining altitude. Sure, I can ride on winged horses. Why not?
"This is incredible!" I shouted. Rachel just smiled. As we ascended, I looked at the city below us. It was teeming with life; people bustling from place to place, cars honking, lights flashing, and
machines being used for construction. I could even see the academy from up here; the green house was smoking, and fire men rushed to it with hoses. Oh dear, that was definitely not a good
sign.
We flew over the clouds, probably to keep from being seen by the people below. I used the time to get some information out of Rachel.
"Where are we headed?" I asked her.
"Long Island, New York," she yelled over the loud wind.
"Long Island, New York?" I scoffed, "That's going to take hours!" I was already starting to feel uncomfortable; my calves were rubbing against one of the packs on the pegasus.
"You'd be surprised how fast these guys can go!"
I let that sink in for a moment, licking my chapped lips. The wind was beginning to burn my face, and the higher we got, the hotter it got. I tried to distract my self by asking more questions; I
decided to bring up the one that was the most nagging in my head.
"What's wrong with me, Rachel?" I knew, after today's events, that I was not normal. There was no denying it anymore. I waited patiently for her to answer. No doubt she was trying
to piece together a way to tell me of my insanity in the nicest way possible.
"Well, I don't know any other way to tell you this...," Oh boy, here it comes..., "you're a demigod." Well, that threw me off.
"A demi- what?" I asked, completely confused. What was she talking about?
"You're a demigod: half human, and half god."
"God?"
She paused for a moment.
"You know about the ancient Greek myths, right?" I nodded slowly, remembering studying about them in 8th grade.
"Yeah, that's the stuff about the Greek gods like Zeus and Persephone, and the heroes..." I trailed off, not exactly sure where she was going with this.
"Right! And you're like one of the heroes, okay? The Greek gods still exist, Lucy. It's all real. The Greek civilization moves from country to country, where ever the flame of western civilization
burns the brightest. For example, the Underworld; It's right under us. Or the gods; they live on the top of the Empire State Building." I let this all digest; for some strange reason, I believed
her. It was like she was answering an unspoken question I'd had for years.
"Now, about you... occasionally, the gods come down from their thrones in human form and... mate with the other humans. They have children called half bloods. The half bloods have
special powers that resemble their godly parent; the most powerful demigods are born from the most powerful gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades." Well that explained a lot. Now I knew why
there were no pictures of my mom around the house, and why my dad never mentioned her when he was alive.
"So whose my godly parent?" I wondered.
"We're not sure yet," she said simply, "I have my suspicions though... I was thinking Dionysus, Demeter, or Persephone. Though it's strange... I've seen the children of those gods before, but
never one with abilities even one tenth as powerful as yours..." She stopped talking, deep in thought.
We flew in silence for the next few minutes, and I recalled the voice in my head. I had no idea who it belonged to, and I had never heard voices before. That was the only thing I was afraid to
tell Rachel about; I was pretty sure even demigods didn't hear voice-
My idle thoughts were interrupted by the sound of beating wings behind us.
I turned to see what it was, expecting some sort of bird. Well, I was half right. The thing had the body of a bird, but the head of a really ugly lady, and razor sharp claws that would no doubt kill
us if they caught us. Well, those claws were coming right at us.
I screamed in terror, causing the Pegasus to swerve to the left in fear, and Rachel to look behind us. Her eyes filled with horror when she saw the creature pursuing us.
"Harpy!" she yelled, making the horse speed up and give a terrified whinny.
"OH GODS! What do we do? Hurry, hurry, hurry! Fly as quick as you can! She's gaining on us!" Rachel commanded the Pegasus. The winged horse dove below the clouds, but the Harpy just
copied our move, getting closer by the second. When I looked back at the monster, I was momentarily distracted by New York City shrinking in the distance.
"Rachel! We must be close! We just past New York!" That news seemed to give the Pegasus courage, but it only made the Harpy more determined. It screeched and flapped its wings
harder. The Harpy was only a few feet away now, and it reached out it's talons. I turned completely around on the Pegasus and kicked the Harpy square in the stomach, right before it grabbed
the Pegasus by its backside. It staggered back a few yards, but I had only made it madder. It gave another loud shriek, causing my stomach to twist painfully.
"The pine tree's just up ahead! Once we pass it, we're safe!" I had no idea how a pine tree was going to save us from such a monster, but I trusted Rachel. I turned my head around to see
what she was talking about; sure enough, there was a huge pine tree with cords wrapped around it at the top of a big hill. I saw people on the hill too; they were shouting and jumping up
and down anxiously. I twisted around again to face the Harpy.
There was no way we would make it. The Harpy knew that; its talons were about a foot away from my chest, and it had a victorious evil grin across it's face. There was nothing I could do...
A glint of metal caught the corner of my eye. Something was sheathed in one of the knapsacks attached to the Pegasus's saddle. I prayed with all my might that it was a sword. The Harpy
didn't notice my hand inching towards the object; it was too focused on its prey.
The Harpy lashed out, but I was quicker. I grabbed the object by its hilt, pulled it out, and swung it at the Harpy. My guess was correct; I now held a 4 foot blade that looked like it belonged to
a pirate; it felt heavy and unbalanced, but it was my only option. The Harpy pulled back in surprise and fury, but it wasn't finished yet. I stood up on the Pegasus's back (yeah, not really a
great idea now that I think about it...) and faced the Harpy. It dove right at me in one last attempt to stop us from crossing the border line, from which we were only about 100 yards away.
This time, I was ready for the monster's attack. I ducked under its claws as they slashed at my face, and I stabbed the Harpy right below its neck. As the creature fell back, it managed to put a
good sized gash on my upper left arm. The Harpy was hit by at least a dozen flying arrows before it hit the ground, and, instead of blood coming out of its wounds, what looked like black sand
came gushing out. I didn't have time to comprehend this; the Pegasus dove, unaware that the battle was over, and I lost my balance.
As I plummeted through the towards the earth, I heard kids crying out and shouting in horror. There was no way I could survive such a fall. I hit the ground with an excruciatingly painful
thud, and all the kids ran to my side. One girl with curly blond hair that looked about my age leaned over me. I groaned in agony. My vision was blurring at the edges, and my hearing was
fading. I was sure that I was dying.
"We need a healer! Quick!" she yelled to the others. Another kid my age pushed through the crowd. The boy was tan, with messy blond hair down to his eye brows, and a bow slung across his
chest.
He had light blue eyes the color of the sky, and was really cute. He ran to me and knelt down.
I could feel myself slipping, and I closed my eyes. Someone picked me up and cradled me in their arms.
I hoped it was the blond boy, but it didn't matter, because that was my last conscious thought before everything went black.
I stayed up super late to write this chap. because I was so into it :). Review please if you want me to continue!