Christina:
Click, click, click.
Logan was playing with his new shield, opening and closing it. The clicking got faster and then it opened. He closed and did it again.
"Do it again, and I'm going to tie your hands behind your back," I told him. He did it again and I didn't follow through with the threat I made. He did it three more times. I hufffed.
I swear, if he does that again, I'm going to yank it off his arm and tie his hands behind his back, I thought. Sure enough he did. Click, click, click.
"OK THAT'S IT! " I spun around, yanked it off his arm and closed it up. However I didn't tie his hands behind his back. "Logan I told you I would take it if you didn't stop! That was so…," I cursed in Greek. "…annoying!"
"What? I like how it clicks! And besides, you forgot to tie my hands behind my back."
"Somebody got duck tape so I can shut him up and tie his hands behind his back?" I questioned, rolling my eyes at him.
"Figured you would've brought some," Lillian told me.
"No kidding. If he doesn't shut up and stop being a smart aleck, I'm going to punch him like I did when he tested me the same day he had the gym incident," I replied.
"I want to see that."
"Ha-ha." We walked for hours. Soon we saw a city. When we reached it, we passed a loading dock for food. But something caught my eye that caused me to stop. I went down the road.
"Where you going Christina?" Logan asked.
"I think there's something down there that we should take a look at," I replied. Something told me that we should be cautious. The Three "L's" followed me. We walked by crates of fresh produce. I stopped, noticing a rustle.
There near a huge stack of crates that were near the wall. It was almost noon so the sun was at a slight angle. Behind the crates, there were shadows up against the wall. It looked like as if they were hiding from something. I gave the shield to Logan and Lillian pulled out her crossbow. I pointed at the shadows and they nodded. I pulled out my two silver daggers. We inched towards the crates when Liam grabbed my shoulder. He looked at me dead serious, and then at Lillian. He pointed at the crates and I shook.
I knew he was talking about how this situation was similar to what had happened to Lillian and I only when we were stalked by monsters instead. He was telling me to not scare them but I wasn't trying to. I just needed to make sure that if they were monsters, I was ready. I nodded at him and he gave me a small sad look. I tore my eyes away, not being able to stand it. I looked back behind us to make sure no one was looking. I kicked the crates and they fell. Out jumped a boy and two girls. The boy looked about a year older than the girls. The boy flew at me with a dagger.
"Whoa!" He had short-cropped sandy hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a tattered blue shirt and jeans.
As quick as lighting he tried to take a stab and I used my daggers and disarmed him. He tried to punch and kick me. I kicked his hands away and stopped him. He struggled against me. He was strong but no match for me. Judging from the way he had used his dagger, he could be good with a knife at camp. And the way he used his arms, the strength in them, could get him in as a good sword fighter. Lillian had dropped her crossbow and was wrestling with another as Logan helped. That girl was tuff. She was trying to slam Lillian with the small hammer but Lillian knocked her wrist and Logan caught the flying hammer before it could do damage. Liam was still fighting the other girl. That girl had a real knife. I'm not talking about dagger knife. I'm talking about a cooking knife. She was slashing at him and time froze for me.
A flashback happened and I saw myself. I saw a younger me in her instead. The terror that had seized my body at the time Alethia found us with that faun, Theo? Faun. Roman form for satyr. The automatic movement of my hand to my shirt sleeve to whip out that dagger I had. I saw potential in the girl fighting Liam. It was a younger me. And that girl gained immediate respect from me.
"Dude! Calm down!" I told the boy.
"Monsters! Fighting monsters!" He looked at me. "You're a monster! Only disguised!"
"There isn't any monster nearby and no, I'm not a monster!" I answered.
"How do I know that?" he yelled.
"Because we fight monsters," I told him. Then I muttered, "If you don't stop fighting me, I might turn into a freaking monstrous animal and attack."
Liam's eyes flashed at me.
Oops.
The boy automatically stopped struggling. The other two stopped also and we let them go.
"You do?" he questioned.
"Yeah. We're demigods. I'm Christina."
"I'm Logan."
"Lillian."
"Liam here."
"What's your name?" I asked the boy.
"Alec Brooks. That's Kyra Sevan." He pointed at the one Lillian and Logan had. "And that's Acacia Jade," Alec finished, pointing to the one that Liam had.
"What are demigods?" asked Acacia. I looked at the others nervously, the corner of my lip twitching and my jaw tightening. Acacia noticed and she studied me. I looked at her and she blinked.
"Let's get out of here first. Then we'll explain." We weaved our way through the city and as we walked we explained. I told them everything I had told Logan (expect the parents hating me and all that other stuff that's personal).
"Wow. So you're sister to Logan and Lillian?"
"Yeah. Well…actually half-sister if you think about it," I corrected him. We found out that Alec was 11 and the girls were 10. Alec told us that he'd gotten lost at an airport and had ran into Acacia and Kyra a few days later.
"Where did you leave from?" I asked them.
"We both left our houses because our parents hated us. We found one another wandering around about an hour later," they said. That was definitely something I could understand. Logan looked at me cautiously. Lillian shook her head and Liam looked away in a distance, his cheeks coloring.
"What? We're telling the truth!" they protested.
"I know you are. Its just…never mind. Lillian. Logan. Iris-message Chiron and tell him."
"Gotcha ya," Lillian answered. I fished a golden drachma out of the bag.
"Water?" I asked. We walked past a 'Wash-Your-Car-Place'.
"Yeah. The Car Wash Place," answered Logan. We stopped and stared at the sign for a split second before backtracking and heading into one of the car stalls. We made sure no one was looking. We turned it on and made a rainbow. I said the prayer and threw the coin in. "Chiron at Camp Half-Blood!" An image shimmered into view.
"Christina! Thank the gods! I was kind of worried! Is Lillian and Logan there?"
"Yeah and Liam is still alive, thank the gods. And no Chiron you don't have to be worried about me. Listen…," we explained what happened.
"What do you want us to do with them? Are you going to send a team to pick them up?" I questioned.
"No. I want you to keep them with you until you make it back to Camp Half-Blood," he said.
"Assuming we live that long," murmured Logan.
"Shut up," I told him.
"It's true. The prophecy-," Lillian popped him in the mouth and glared at him. He snarled at her.
"Do that again and I swear I will-," he started.
"Shut the hell up," I snapped at both of them before continuing with Chiron. "That's fine Chiron. I'll keep them safe along with Lillian and Logan." I looked at him and he raised his eyebrows innocently.
"And what about Liam?"
I bit my lip nervously. Chiron watched me intently. He knew well enough considering he basically had raised me and Lillian. He waited for an answer but I didn't reveal anything.
"Well, it would be nice to see all three new demigods alive when you get back. Last time…," he shuddered. I knew what he was talking about. Last time didn't go well.
"I swear Chiron."
"I trust you Christina," he said nodding.
"But I'm swearing on the River Styx."
Chiron froze, giving me a cautious look.
"You can't promise something like that and say that it will happen. If all went wrong, what in the name of Hades would Zeus do to you?" Chiron managed to say.
Thundered rumbled on either side of the connection, despite the clear day.
"I can swear it and it will happen Chiron. And that's a vow that won't be manipulated with or broken. You know me Chiron. So don't try to negotiate with me about it. We need go anyways before monsters attack with the signals we're putting up. Bye."
Chiron gave me a look that I knew was a automatic prayer to the gods to help me and was a warning to me to be careful. I nodded.
"Fine. May the gods be with you Christina," he finally said. Then he shut off the connection. Lillian glared at Logan.
"Sometimes I wonder if you will ever learn to keep things quiet," she growled.
We walked out the stall and continued west.
"Zeus almighty, what the Hades was that?" Christina cursed. Thunder rolled across the sky.
We had been walking for hours on end and everyone was just dripping with sweat. Christina's jaw was tight and she had been constantly muttering curses under her breath ever since we left the Car Wash. Liam tried to talk to her, telling her to lighten up but she would shrug him off. But he would insist. Finally, he had grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, trying to force her to see sense in the fact that he didn't care about dying. That he would be a hero. That Athena and Poseidon cared. And other crap like that. Things that Lillian understood, I barely did and Alec, Acacia and Kyra had no clue about as they worried for my sister.
After a while, Christina began to look worried. She was persistently looking behind us, as if checking for any signs of danger or to see if we were being stalked. Sometimes, she would veer off course and start heading northwest. Eventually though, we would end up heading west once again. It was as if she was trying to throw someone or something off.
That's when we heard a giant roar. Christina turned halfway, freezing. Trees shook, like how you see in movies. Then out came a charging monster. He had goat hooves, a hairy chest and ram horns on his head. He was roared at us, his nostrils flaring and dripping with I-don't-know-what on the surface of his nose. This guy seriously needed Kleenex with Aloe and probably at least three boxes. That nose was so disgusting, that if he sneezed, I wondered if we would get a tsunami or half and ocean of disgusting wet stuff coming towards us. But he looked so familiar. I looked closer and stood there in shock, a frozen statue on a plain. This was not good.
It was the Minotaur.
"Christina," I warned.
She stood frozen. She was snarling, her fists balled up.
"How many mother flipping times do I have to kill this son of a bull?" she cursed. (A/N: Haha, yes I used flipping to replace the F word and bull to replace the B word. And for the word bull, just because the Minotaur is part bull. ;) only if you get the "pun")
The Minotaur gave a defeaning roar.
"I thought you killed it when you were younger?" Liam asked.
Christina shook.
"Twice actually."
"What? How?" Lillian and Liam said, confused.
"Thanks to gods. More or less to Neptune, Minerva and Jupiter. Along with Diana," she muttered. Lillian stared, definitely thinking that something was wrong with her. Liam was staring at her through narrowed eyes, as if he was close to knowing what she was mumbling about. (A/N: Poseidon, Athena, Zeus and Artemis [in order of Roman names above]. Also, big hint with the Roman names. Keep in mind for there is a second book coming out :D)
"I've killed this before and twice when I was younger. One with you guys and the other time...," her voice trailed off, as if remembering a nasty memory.
The Minotaur roared again, advancing now; the ground shaking as he stomped towards us.
"Back away guys. It's time to kill this little sucker again."
We backed away slowly but Liam stayed nearby Christina. He insisted on something and reluctantly, she nodded in agreement.
The Minotaur rumbled, my ears ringing. He seemed to be showing off how loud he could 'scream'. It was also as if he was saying, 'what have you got you little punk?'
Christina's lip curled and she gave a growl that sounded just like a tiger.
Wow, like that had some kind of effect on the Minotaur. Her growl sounded like a sizzling pan next to his boisterous voice. He was quite an annoying, loudmouth show-off.
Then the Minotaur slammed his fist to the ground and she rolled away. Then he swung his giant, hairy arm right at her and she duck, sticking her sword up, the point slicing his arm, snickering as he bellowed with pain, turning on her again.
"Still fall for that trick, don't you?" she leered.
"RAAAAAAAAARRRR!" he yelled.
"Yell all you want! Because it sure as hell won't kill me!" Christina taunted. She ran towards him and he slammed both his fists on the ground. Somehow, she rolled between them and sliced his wrists. He slammed is fists again. She ducked, manuevered annd slid between his hits. It was like he was playing Whack-A-Demigod.
Finally, he got his lucky shot and he swung, hit knuckles hitting Christina. She flew backwards and hit a tree, a good seven feet off the ground before hitting it. There was a startingly snap and she snarled with pain, gripping her side. Liam looked quickly from her then to the Minotaur. And I knew what he was thinking. He was going to sacrifce himself for Christina's sake.
He ran forward as Christina slowly got up, groaning. She looked to the side and noticed Liam. She figured out pretty quickly too.
"NOO LIAM! DON'T!" she screamed.
But he did anyways. He swiped, slashed, rolled and stabbed the monster repeatedly.
Christina tried to stand but she was struggling as she clasped her side.
The Minotaur roared at Liam, trying to hit him. My sister finally stood, grabbing her sword and limping her way quickly to the Minotaur. The monster swung and she was slow. He hit her and she slammed into the ground, rolling and sliding. Something else snapped and I cringed. Her body shook as she tried to pull herself onto hands and knees.
"Christina, don't. Stay down," Liam told her.
"No," she snarled. She grabbed an arrow randomly out of thin air off her back and notched it in her bow that also just appeared. She pulled back, took sharp aim and shot. She notched another and shot again.
The Minotaur screamed with rage, turning on Christina and huffing.
"Hey Wet Nose! Over here!" Liam shouted at the Minotaur, tyring to get his attention back on him.
The monster could care less and didn't pay any attention to Liam. Christina struggled, pulling herself into sitting position now, leaning against a tree trunk. She shot another arrow and the monster shook its head in irritation. While the Minotaur pulled the arrow out of its forehead, Christina winced now, straining to get to her feet. Christina grasped the tree with her hand and pulled herself up weakly, giving a small cry of pain for the first time. I had never seen her like this before. The Minotaur roared, obviously done focusing more on the arrow instead of the enemy. He stared at my sister with those cold, dark, beady eyes. She was pale and beaded with sweat as she tried to support herself against the tree.
Then he charged.
Liam yelled, jumping in front of Christina as her knees finally buckled and she fell to the ground. The Minotaur's horns hooked around Liam's chest on either side, probably scraping his lungs. Liam slammed into the tree, hanging there as the Minotaur screamed. Liam took a small dagger from his side and stabbed the Minotaur in the neck. There was a loud roar and the monster was gone, disintegrating into nothing. Liam landed next to Christina who dragged herself over to him.
She grabbed Liam, tearing open the sides of his shirt where his lungs are. It was already cut but Christina gave a small shriek. I thought the cut was small but when I took a look, there was a gaping gash on either side of his lungs. He was bleeding profusely, blood pooling around him on either side. Lillian and I hurried over with the three demigods who stared wide-eyed at Liam.
"Oh my gods Liam. How could you do that?" Christina whispered.
"Had too...or else...you would've...died," Liam answered.
"Still. None of us would've died anyways. Without you jumping in, the stops you from the dying and the prophecy being partially complete early. And besides, I was going to pull myself out at the last moment. Then he'd get stuck in the tree because of his horns and then I would kill him," Christina explained.
"Doesn't matter...anyways...I was going...to die one...way or another. Probably...worse than this...," Liam gasped. He was grasping the vial Aphrodite gave him. He seemed to be listening to something. As if there was another voice talking to him in his head. But I wasn't so sure. Liam's eyes widened after a while and Christina frowned. Eventually, his eyes dulled again, filled with pain once more. His body began to shake.
"No, you can't die on me right now," Christina said.
"Sorry...but it's...too late. No amount...of nectar or...ambrosia will...help. I gurantee," he said. Liam stared at the vial in hand. He uncorked it somehow and lifted it to his lips, drinking it. He began to cough and his body began to shake violently, more blood pooling around him. His body was shrouded in gold light and there was a flash. Liam began to fade slowly in the gold light until he was completely gone. Christina snarled with anger.
"I'm going to kill Aphrodite. She gave him the vial as a surprise for a quick, painful, poisonous death I bet."
"Or possibly to release him faster. Maybe there was no feeling of pain to him Christina. Maybe it looked like it was painful but possibly wasn't to him," Lillian suggested.
"Maybe. But I doubt it. Aphrodite is always up to no good anyways. I don't know why I even trusted her in the first place when she randomly came to us to help," Christina replied, glaring at the ground which was still smeared with Liam's blood.
"I agree with you for once Christina. I may not know a lot about demigods and gods but when a god comes looking for you, wanting to help with no price, something is up. It means they're up to no good," I told her.
Christina smirked slightly, looking at me.
"I think that's the smartest thing you have ever said or figured out about demigods and gods," she replied.
"Is that, um, a good thing?"
She nodded weakly, staring back down at the red liquid. Finally, she tried to stand but it seemed impossible. I quickly made it to her side as she fell, supporting her on my shoulders. Lillian came to help too, feeding Christina an ambrosia square as we began to walk her; Alec, Acacia and Kyra trailing behind us, glancing back at the scene every now and then.