My Mom Knows Bullfighting

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, Rick Riordan does. I don't own anything.

My mom, Grover, and I drove along the dark, long roads for what seemed like hours. The wind pounded against the Camaro and rain smashed against the wind-shield. I had no idea how my mom could see anything, but her foot didn't even come off the gas pedal the slightest.

Every time lightning flashed, I glanced at Grover sitting next to me, wondering if I had gone psycho or maybe he was wearing some kind of shag carpet pants. But no, the car smelled like wet barnyard, no I don't smell barnyards, but I remembered it from the petting zoo field trips from when I was in kindergarten.

In the awkward silence, all I could think to say was, "So, Grover, you and my mom know each other?"

Grover's gaze went to the rear-view mirror, even though there were no cars behind us, "Not really. Well, you see, we never met in person, but she knew I was looking after you, keeping tabs on you."

"Keeping tabs?"

"Watching you, making sure you were alright. I wasn't faking being your friend, though, I am your friend."

"Okay…uh…what are you? No offense."

"Doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is donkey!"

Grover let out a throaty, sharp "Blaa-ha-ha."

I have heard him make the noise before, but I always had assumed it was some kind of nervous laugh. Now, though, I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.

"GOAT!" Grover cried.

"What?"

"From the waist down I'm a goat, not a donkey!"

"Wait, you just said it didn't matter."

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you for such an insult."

"Whoa, time out. You said satyrs, like…like Mr. Brunner's myths?"

"Were the ladies at the fruit stand a myth? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"Ah-ha!" I pointed a finger at Grover, "So, you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Of course."

"Then why—"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you would attract," Grover said like the answer perfectly obvious. "We put the Mist over the mortal's eyes and hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was useless; you started to realize who you are."

"Who I—what? Can you explain?"

The weird, angry, shouting noise sounded again, somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was hot on our tail.

"Pelagia," my mom said, "I'm sorry but there is too much to explain and not enough time. Our first priority is to get you to safety."

"Safety! From what? Who is after me?"

"Oh, you know, nobody much," Grover replied, obviously still annoyed about the donkey comment. "Only the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Ms. Jackson, Can you drive faster, please?"

This was insane! Some kind of dream or something along the same lines as that! The only problem was that I could never dream up something as crazy as this, I had no imagination!

My mom swerved left hard, slamming me into Grover, who slammed into the side of the car. We raced on a narrow road, turning the darkened farmhouses and wooden hills into blurs. I could barely make out the PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on the white fences.

"Where we going, mom?" I asked my mother.

"To the summer camp," my mom answered, voice tight, like she was trying not to cry. "The place your dad wanted you to go."

"The place you didn't want me to go."

"Pelagia, please, this is hard enough, please try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut a piece of yarn?"

"Those weren't just old ladies," Grover replied. "They were Fates. Do you know what this means? That they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're…when someone's about to die."

"Wait…you said 'you.'"

"No, I said 'someone,' not 'you.'"

"Well, you meant 'you.' Like the 'you' as in me."

"No, I meant 'you' as in someone, not 'you' as in you. That's ridiculous."

"Kids!" my mom yelled.

She jerked a hard left; for the first time, I caught a glimpse of the thing that she was trying to avoid—a dark shape that was now lost behind us in the storm.

"What the heck was that?" I asked, looking at my mother.

"Come on," my mom muttered, ignoring me. "Please, please, please, we're almost there."

I had no idea where there was, but I found myself anticipating for the car to stop.

When I looked out the window, I saw nothing but darkness. Rain pounded on the roof of the car. I thought about Mrs. Dodds, and her claws, fangs, and leathery wings. I froze up; she really hadn't been human, she had meant to kill me!

And Mr. Brunner, with the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, I got goose bumps, there was a blinding flash of light, a jaw-rattling BOOM!, and our car exploded.

I pushed the driver's seat, trying to sit up, "Ow!"

"Pelagia! Are you alright?" my mom asked worried.

"Yeah, fine."

I shook my head, trying to shake the wooziness. I wasn't dead, that was good. The car also didn't really explode; we were blasted of the road into a ditch. My sides of the car's doors were wedged in mud, unable to move. There was hole in roof and rain was pouring inside the car.

Lightning!

Next to me was some kind of furry lump, "Grover!"

His body was slumped over; he had blood trickling from his mouth. I shook his shoulder, "NO! Even though you're half goat, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!"

"Food!" he moaned in reply. He'll be alright, I hope.

"Pelagia," my mom said, "we have to…" her voice died out.

I turned my head, looking through the rear windshield. With another flash of lightning, I made out a silhouette of this huge man. He had like a blanket over his head, his hands were raised up like he had horns, and his torso up were all fuzzy and bulky. He was running towards us, and I got goose bumps again.

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, "Who is that?"

"Pelagia," my mom said, her voice was deadly serious. "Get out of the car!"

She rammed her shoulder against the car door.

"Mom, stop," I said. "It's stuck in the mud."

"Climb out the passenger's side then," she replied, she then pointed to something in the darkness. "Pelagia, you see that big tree?"

"What tree?"

Another flash of lightning struck, and I saw what she was pointing at, a huge pine tree, one that could have been the Christmas tree at Central Park. It was at the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," my mom said. "When you get over that hill, you'll see a farmhouse. Run to it, and don't stop until you reach the door. Yell for help."

"Mom, you're coming too!"

My mom's face was pale, her eyes were sad when she looked at the ocean.

"NO!" I yelled. "NO! You're coming with me! Help me carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned louder.

The man with the blanket on his head ran towards us, making grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized there was no way his hands were raised to be horns because his big, meaty hands were swinging by his side. That was not blanket on his head, which meant the huge fuzzy thing on his neck was his head. Which meant his head was huge! And the things that looked like horns were actually horns!

"He doesn't want Grover and I," my mom said, "he wants you. And besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But…."

"We don't have time, Pelagia. Go, please!"

I got angry then—angry at my mom, at Grover the goat, and at the weird man…thing…whatever that was running towards us.

I climbed across to the passenger side and opened the car door, "We're going together, mom. Come on."

"No, I told you—"

"I'm not leaving you, mom! Help me with Grover."

I didn't even wait for her answer, I hulled Grover outside. He was lighter than expected, but I still wouldn't have gotten far without my mom's help.

We draped Grover's arms across our shoulders and ran up the hill's waist-high grass.

I looked back and got my first clear look at the beast; he was easily seven feet tall, his arms and legs looked like something from that weird Muscle Man magazine, (bulging biceps and triceps and whatever other 'ceps there are) he had on no clothes, except for underwear. No, I'm not joking. Seriously, bright white Fruit of the Looms underwear, which would've looked hilarious if not for the fact that the top half of his body was so frightening. He had brown hair that started from his belly button and got thicker up near his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur, leading up to his ginormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm. He had a huge, brass nose ring. I don't even know where he got that from. He had cruel, coal black eyes. His horns were huge and black and white, with perfect tips, the kind you just couldn't get from an electric sharper.

To put it in short, he was hideous.

I recognized him, though. Easy to do so. He was from one of the first myths Mr. Brunner ever told my class about.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes, "That's—"

My mom cut me off, "Pasiphae's son. I wish I had known how badly they wanted to kill you."

"But he's the Mino—"

"Don't say his name," my mom warned. "Names have power."

The pine tree was still too far away; about a hundred yards at least.

I glance behind me again; the bull-man was hunched over the Camaro, kind of looking in the windows. No, he wasn't doing that, he was nuzzling or sniffing them. Which was stupid, we were only like fifty feet away.

"Food!" Grover moaned again.

"Shush," I said. "Mom, why is the dude nuzzling windows? Is he stupid? Can't he see us?"

"His sight and hearing are horrendous," my mom answered. "His sense of smell is good, though. That's what he goes by. He'll find out where we are soon enough."

And as if on cue, the bull-man picked up the Camaro up by the sizzling hole in the roof, roared in rage, raised the Camaro over his head, and threw the car. It landed on the road, skidded for about a half a mile with sparks, and then the gas tank exploded.

Not one scratch. Gabe had said.

Oops.

"Pelagia," my mom said. "Once he sees us, he'll charge. Jump out of the way, but not until the last second. Jump directly sideways. He can't change direction once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all of this?"

"I was expecting an attack for quite some time now. I was being selfish, keeping you near me."

"Keeping me near—"

The bull-man bellowed, and started up the hill.

He had smelled us.

The pine was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting slicker and steeper. Grover wasn't getting any lighter either.

The bull-man closed in, another few seconds and he'd be right on top of us.

My mom must have been fatigued, but she held up Grover, "Pelagia, go! Separate! Keep in mind what I said!"

Though I didn't want to split up, I knew it might be our only chance. I sprinted to the right, turned, and saw the monster following me; his black eyes shone with hate and he reeked liked rotten meat.

The bull-man lowered his head and charged like a bull, his horns pointed straight at my chest.

My fear made me want to take off running, but that was stupid. No way was I going to outrun this thing. I held my ground and then at the last moment, dove sideways.

The bull-man stormed past me, and then roared in aggravation. I scrambled to my feet, but this time he turned towards my mom, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

We reached the crest of the hill, and down the other side I could see a valley, like my mom had said. The lights of the farmhouse glowed yellow in the rain. It was half a mile away, though. We'd never make it.

The bull-man grunted, pawed at the ground and studied my mother, who was retreating slowly downhill, toward the road, leading the thing away from Grover.

"Pelagia, run!" she shouted. "Run! I can't go any farther! Go! Run!"

I stood there though, frozen as the monster charged at her. She tried to sidestep, like she told me, but the monster had learned its lesson. His hand shot out, grabbing her by the neck. She struggled, kicking and failing.

"Mom!"

She caught my gaze and managed to choke out one last word: "RUN!"

Then, with an angry shout, the monster closed his fist around my mom's neck. She dissolved before me, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash and then she was…gone.

"Mom!" I yelled. I don't know who to, though, my mom was gone. "Mom! MOM!"

I felt a rush of anger in me, and some kind of energy, the same energy when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.

The bull-man approached Grover, who was lying vulnerably in the waist-high grass. He snuffed Grover like he was going to pick him up and make him dissolve to.

Now, I couldn't allow that.

I pulled off my rain jacket, waving it in the air, running towards one side of the monster, "Hey, stupid, down here!"

"RARRRRR!" he roared, turning towards me, shaking his meaty fists.

I had an idea; it was a stupid idea, but a stupid idea is better than no idea at all, right? I leaned my back against the pine tree and waved my jacket in front of the beast, I'll probably jump away at the last minute.

I was wrong.

The monster charge at me fast, too fast and he had his arms out to grab at me each way.

Time slowed down.

My legs tensed. I couldn't leap sideways, so I jumped up, using the monster's head as a springboard. I turned in mid-air and landed on it's neck.

Whoa! What the—? How'd I do that?

A millisecond later, though, the monster's forehead slammed into the tree, the impact nearly bashed my teeth out.

The beast staggered, trying to shake me, but it was no use, I locked my arms around his horns. The storm was still going strong, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and I was soaked from the rain. The smell of the monster burned my nose. Wow, he smells!

The monster shook himself, failing and bucking like a rodeo bull. The thing should have just backed up and smashed me against the tree. Wait…this thing only had one gear: forward.

Meanwhile, Grover was starting to make more noise in the grass, "FOOD!"

I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but if I opened my mouth, I'd bite my own tongue off.

The bull-man turned toward him and touched at the ground, getting ready to charge again. No way! No way was he going to kill Grover like he killed my mom. I put both of my hands around one of the bull-man's horns and pulled back with all my strength. The monsters gave a surprised grunt and then SNAP! I flew backward, smacking my head against a rock. My vision turned fuzzy, but I had a huge horn in my hands, the size of a knife.

The beast charged.

I sat up and waiting for the right moment. When the monster was about a foot in front of me, I stabbed the horn under his right ribcage.

The bull-man halted and then roared in misery, he clawed at his chest. Then he was blown apart; not in a golden flash, like my mom, but like sand being blown by wind, like Mrs. Dodds.

The monster was gone.

The rain stopped. The thunder still boomed, but in the distance now. I'm sure I smelt like a cattle, my legs trembled. I was feeble, scared, and shaking, my mom had just died. I wanted to lie down and cry, but Grover needed my help. I heaved Grover up; putting his arm around my shoulder. I almost collapsed under his weight, but I managed to stay up. I staggered down the valley, trying not to fall as I walked, to the farmhouse, like my mom said. I was crying, calling for my mom. I kept a firm grip on Grover, though.

The last thing I can remember is stumbling up the steps of the porch; I set Grover on a wooden chair and collapsed onto the ground. I stared at the ceiling fan above me, watched moths fly around a light, and saw faces. One was stern face of a familiar-looking man with a beard. The other was a cute boy with curly blond hair. They stared down at me.

"She's the one," the boy said. "She has to be."

"Quiet, Anthony," the man replied. "Bring her inside, she's still conscious."

Hoped you liked it! Thanks for reading and remember, I own nothing.

Bye!

-Fae51