"Help! Help! SOMEBODY HELP!" Some idiot was shouting outside. "Who's that…" I grumbled, sitting up from my bed.
And of course, the door had to fly open, smacking into the head of someone sleeping on the ground.
"OW! WHAT THE FUCK MAN!" Well, great. The entire Hermes Cabin just woke up and was either muttering or glaring at the person who'd yelled out loud.
"Wasn't me." He shrugged unconvincingly.
"Cut it out! We need help, NOW!" Selina Beauregard snapped at him from the cabin door, seemingly anxious at something. "Luke, all cabin counselors are needed. You need to come with me." She urgently said to me, before she turned her attention to the rest of my cabin mates. "Follow us if you need to. We need Help, the more the merrier." She then turned on her heels and walked away. Hastily, I pulled on a camp half-blood T-shirt and a pair of shorts, before grabbing my sword and running out of the cabin. A few of my cabin mates seemed inclined to get up and follow me, but I couldn't care for them now. Not while an emergency meeting with all counselors had been called.
As I ran out of my cabin, I saw some other campers were gathered in the middle of the cabin area, surrounding…someone. A new demigod? Hopefully they were claimed already. But as I neared, I could see it wasn't a new face. Rather, it was someone I already knew,
"Grover? The hell are you doing here? Also, why are you soaked?" I asked the wet and trembling satyr. Other cabin counselors were already leaving and running up the hill that made up the edge of the camp, but I wanted to know more before I went over to join them.
"J-just go over there a-and you'll s-see, q-quickly! S-she needs Help!" She? "Who, Grover, is she?" "J-just go and s-see for yourself! H-hurry!" He replied urgently, before stumbling towards the cabins to probably get more help. That didn't look good. Whatever Grover needed help dealing with must be a serious issue.
As I scaled the hill and looked to the small valley down below, I realised just how severe the problem was. A girl was running towards a woman who was held in a chokehold by-oh gods. The…monster holding her presumably family member in a choke hole was-was none other than the Minotaur.
It's bulky body contrasted with it's small head and sticky legs. For some reason, it ignored the girl running towards him, instead tightening his grip on the woman. But I noticed it glancing, and I realised why it didn't immediately attack the girl- even though her aura was stronger. He was using the woman as a bait to lure the girl in, and away from the borders of camp. When she was around halfway from her original starting point to the woman, I saw it bare its teeth slightly-grinning? And then suddenly the woman burst into golden dust.
Well that was unusual.
The girl let out a guttural scream at the Minotaur, her emotions heartfelt by all of us. While she was standing still though, mourning the loss of her parent p-right in front of her, no less- I studied her figure briefly.
Her skin looked slightly tanned, though still on the paler side. Her raven hair was slightly wavy and matted by the rain, and she looked scrawny, too thin for comfort. She wore a blue T-shirt and old short jeans, and her sneakers were tattered and splattered with mud.
It was then I noticed something behind her. It was raining heavily, but for some reason the rain seemed to condense behind her as she screamed and screamed at the Minotaur, forming a translucent wall. As soon as her scream ended, it rushed forwards-passing through her unharmed- and slammed into the Minotaur, causing it to stumble a step back.
Was it her, or was it godly intervention? I honestly had no idea.
As I watched, she reached a hand into her pocket and pulled out a fountain pen. It looked like chiron's pen…but more elegant, more decorated than his usual dull brown pen. But as I watched, the girl seemingly tried to squeeze it and shake it, seemingly trying to get something out of it. And then the Minotaur charged.
The girl noticed the charge too late, and as she tried to sidestep the charge, it's left horn skewering the right side of the girl and poking through on the other side. The bull-man then stopped and stood up, the girl still lodged on it"s horn-in immense pain, no doubt- and was punched off by the Minotaur, her back brutally slamming against a tree trunk behind it and then slumping down at the base of the trunk.
A groan sounded through the group of spectators-me included. It seemed like the fight was over, and the girl wouldn't make it. But then, I saw her hand move, and apparently some who were prepared to leave also did, as they surged back near the boundary to continue spectating.
She reached into her pocket-and pulled out the same pen she just did. This time though, she seemed to be trying to uncap the pen. Was she gonna try to stab the Minotaur with the tiny point of the fountain pen? That'd be funny to watch. Some spectators already had their weapons drawn and were ready to head down there, to help rescue the girl, hanging onto the edge of life. Us counsellors, however, had to stop them. We simply didn't know if there were more monsters out there-and the concentration of demigods in one particular area outside the camp would surely attract a hell lot of monsters. For now, all we could do was stand and look on, and hopefully the girl would survive.
She tried uncapping the pen once, but her bloody left hand prevented her from getting a grip. Her second attempt failed too, and it felt like she was losing strength. But third time"s the charm, and sure enough she uncapped the pen-revealing a celestial bronze blade with razor sharp edges and beautiful curves.
It looked like Chiron's blade, the one he used to teach younger ones sword work.
The blade seemed to give her strength, and she wobbly stood up, with us cheering her onward. She took a step, and then another, and then another, both hands tightly gripping the sword. A thin trickle of blood ran out of the corner of her mouth and flowed down her chin, but she didn't seem to notice, focused on the Minotaur. Sure enough, when it charged, she again attempted to sidestep it-this time successful, and we all collectively cheered as we saw the slash of the glowing bronze blade-only to groan when we realised she'd only cut off a horn.
It seemed like the temporary strength the blade gave her was fading though, as she collapsed onto one knee, sword weakly pointed towards the Minotaur. As it charged again, she seems to be able to lift her sword higher, and stab it right into the head of the Minotaur as it charged headlong towards her.
It exploded into yellow monster dust.
We all collectively cheered, before we watched her stand up, take a step and then promptly collapse onto her right knee. Her eyes swept the hill before finding mine, and her piercing sea-green eyes locked onto mine for a split second before she crashed onto her side, coughing up blood.
For some reason, I felt like she was the one for me in that fraction of a second of eye contact,
As she rolled onto her back, her body going limp, we realised that whether there were more monsters out there, we had to save her-we didn't want another Thalia.
I lead the charge downhill, others staring at me before following suit. Skidding to a stop at her side, I held her face in one hand and pressed a hand against her wound. I didn't have any ambrosia or nectar, and I could hear from her rattling breath that she would pass if no one helped her heal quickly. Her sea green eyes fluttered, and then slowly closed. "Nonono…stay. Stay with me, girl! STAY!" I yelled at her, before hollering, "AMBROSIA! NECTAR! NOW!" For their credit, some Apollo kids rip usher forwards with a few ambrosia squares, and I forcefully shoved them in her mouth before someone could produce a bottle of nectar. I poured those down her throat too, as I felt Apollo kids surround me and began a healing chant, playing their hands over her wound.
Her body heated up and glowed with a golden aura, as she shuddered and took a deep breath, the wound on her stomach slowly but surely healing through the torn fabric of her shirt. "Stretcher, STRETCHER! WE NEED A STRETCHER!" Several of my cabin mates scrambled off with some Apollo kids, and quickly returned with one. Slowly and gently, without interrupting the healing chant from the apollo campers, me and the Stoll brothers moved her onto the stretcher, before they and some Apollo medics lifted the stretcher up. Someone shoved the broken horn of the Minotaur into my hands-why mine? as I mumbled to her about "staying alive". Shoving the horn to one of my siblings with a stern "don't lose it or take it for yourself", I grasped her hand tightly as we ran towards the big house- sure, the wound was healing, but she'd lost a lot of blood and the wound was very ugly.
And deep down, I felt like I couldn't lose her no matter what.