Thanks to the people that reviewed! CiaoKawaiirina, GraceQuinn11, SarahWolfe16, shalalalalalala, favfan, TheMarkOfMaximumTwilight, Guest, and to Dark Magian Girl0, Cal saved Morgan's life in the end, and the reason he was bad was because of Selene and his upbringing. All rights go to Rick Riordan and Stephenie Meyer!
Chapter 9
Previously on Another Day Another Story... Paul's problem of jealousy solved, we all decided to go home, and read the next chapter tomorrow. Though of course some stayed to ask Juniper questions, about her life as a tree. Something that seemed to flatter her to no end. I didn't stay though I just wanted to spend some time alone with Paul, without interruptions. Of course, my wish wasn't granted.
You see we saw Sam and Emily snogging...yeah...it wasn't the most prettiest picture. There was tongue and all, they didn't even break apart when we came upon them. The only indication we got that we got seen was that Sam waved his hand, like he was shooing away a fly. Before he finished the gesture we were already out of there. So, with that image in our heads, Paul drove me where I was staying. We said our good byes and even kiss a little...well..more than a little. Knowing that we had school the next day, he left. I know, some guys would stay and watch you sleep when you are sleeping even before they talk to you...but, yeah that isn't me. That sounds more like Edward...yeah I don't know where that thought came from.
The next day after school, a good day, well as good as it gets for, a dyslexic, ADHD, new kid, I went to meet Paul over at the beach, so that he would take me over to Emily's place. Apparently, that was like the wolves den. Where they fed, and had their "super secret wolf meetings," I couldn't see it since it sounded like the house that had the door and windows opened to let in the sunlight. But, whatever, I met him over there. I got out of the car, when I felt his arms surround me, and I felt like I was home. Not even when I was with-
I was broken out of my thoughts, when I saw Embry, Quil, and Jacob come running from the trees. I thought oh crap, before I was engulfed by them. Quil, lifted me off the ground, swung me a few times, all the time I had been kicking him, but it was all in vain. It was until he turned me blue, from the lack of oxygen, that he let me go. To the amusement of the others, something that I wasn't please with. So with "anger" I stormed away, this only added to their laughter, until they saw that I wasn't laughing with them. That's when they started running after me, since I had walked a pretty good distance, apologizing. Something that they hadn't thought about was that they had come closer to the water.
So they didn't see the water come at them from behind, until they were left spluttering. I was laughing my head off, until I saw their expression, that was when I took off running. Paul's expression worried me the most, it was the expression when he did something that left me pleased or ticked off. I hoped it wasn't the latter, that was my last thought before I was knocked to the ground. With a very sexy wolf on top of me, showering me with kisses, it was decided, it hadn't been the latter, and three annoyed wolves complaining, that they couldn't hang out with Paul anymore. Since he had turned into a big gushy brownie.
Yeah, they weren't the best with name calling. After a few minutes, the annoyed wolves left, something about Jake seeing Jared's mate in the La Push store. Jared had reminded me of Grover when it was enchilada day, so yeah there was desperation, poor guy. We stayed there until sunset, I was glad to say that we finished what we had started the first night we had met...our Rubik's cube, I was so proud. After that wee started heading into the clearing.
Finding ourselves there, we saw that the book had had revealed it's secrets to Rosalie Hale. We grabbed our food, almost equal amounts of enchiladas, just that Paul had ten more than me. He had grabbed almost the same amount as Grover, who was surpassing him with five, but Grover was halfway eating one, so I wondered how many he had really gotten. I didn't need to tell you that Grover, was having a field day. I was halfway done with my enchiladas when the blond vampire started to read.
My mother Teaches me bullfighting Of course it was typical of Seth to comment even before the chapter was started. "Oh, my gods do you know what this reminds me of, Leah?"
Leah looking long enough from her enchiladas answered, "What?"
"Our uncle," Leah started laughing, seeing our confused expressions, she gestured to us, then continued eating, but the gesture was enough for Seth to take the hint and enlighten us.
"You see our Uncle, was a matador, and in one of his rodeos..." he couldn't keep going, he was laughing so hard. "he.." laugh, "lost his," laugh, "pants." Everybody laughed at the picture.(A/N: you can see this on YouTube just type in matador loses pants.)
We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.
"She probably couldn't," Grover commented. I shrugged, not really caring anymore, I was rather thinking of what was going to happen next, and what people's reactions were going to be.
Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.
Quil busted out laughing, "Dude, that was what I thought!" I joined in the laughter, while Grover just huffed in annoyance.
But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.
Grover gave one of his bleats, before screaming out in indignation, "I ain't no barnyard animal!" Making the majority of us laugh, and a few others snicker.
All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom… know each other?"
Paul threw his arms over my shoulders chuckling, "Of course, you would say that."
Grover's eyes flitted to the rear view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."
"Dude, that sounds so stalker," Edward commented, and I couldn't help but think of my comment from last night.
"Watching me?"
"To me, it sounds like Santa," Seth said, and most of the pack nodded in agreement. While the Cullens seemed to agree more with Edward, though Alice did nod at Seth's theory.
"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."
"Um … what are you, exactly?"
"Didn't you hear, Andromeda, he is your friend," Jake told me. I rolled my eyes at him and said, "You know I could comment to that, but...I am not."
"That doesn't matter right now."
"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"
"He is not a donkey! He is a goat!" Juniper screeched out, I guess she was really sensitive about what species they called her goat man, I held up my hands in surrender. Not wanting to find pine cones in my bed tonight.
Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"
I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.
"Really a nervous laugh?" Grover asked me incredulously, I only gave him a cheeky grin in response.
"Goat!" he cried.
"What?"
"I'm a goat from the waist down."
"You just said it didn't matter."
"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"
"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like … Mr. Brunner's myths?"
"No, like in Alice in Wonderland." Grover said rolling his eyes.
"Wait, you watched Alice in Wonderland?" Embry asked him.
"Of course, just because I am half-goat, doesn't mean that I been living under a rock." Grover answered him. Embry seemed to think about it, before giving a careless shrug.
"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Andromeda? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"
"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"
"Of course."
"Then why-"
"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious.
"Yeah, because stuff like that to a girl that was raised almost normally would have been obvious, specially Andromeda."Emmett said.
"Yeah," I said agreeing with Emmett, until I realized what he had implied, to which I cried out in indignation. Making the others laugh, and me pout and hide myself in Paul's arms.
"We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."
"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?"
The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.
"Andromeda," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."
"Safety from what? Who's after me?"
"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment.
"As any respectable satyr should be." Juniper said. I decided not to say anything, not wanting to infuriate her more. But unfortunately, Jared didn't know to keep his mouth shut and said, "Then why is Grover upset?" Okay, I admit it I laughed as did Paul. Grover,Juniper,and Esme didn't look humored though.
"Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."
"Well, that's a way to comfort a girl," Sam said sarcastically.
"Grover!"
"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"
I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it.
"Maybe, because you need one to begin with?" Emmett teased me. I wanted to retort but I began laughing, so the point was lost.
I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.
"Oh, please if that was true then Paul wouldn't be the man of your dreams," Leah said making all of the others laugh,and making me and Paul look at her stunned.
My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Candy Mountain," Seth sang, we all gave him questioning looks, to which he responded, "What? I used to watch Dora, okay?" We laughed at that, until Rose gave us a smoldering glare.
"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared.
By this point the atmosphere was tense, they were finally grasping how serious the situation was becoming, well Esme and Carlisle had already known.
"The place your father wanted to send you."
"The place you didn't want me to go."
"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."
"Because some old ladies cut yarn."
"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to … when someone's about to die."
"Whoa, you said you, does something happen to Andie?" Paul asked worriedly. Instead of answering, Grover just pointed to the book. Paul in turn just watched me worriedly, so I gave his hand, that was still laying across my shoulders,a squeeze in assurance. He looked more at peace, but the tension was still there in his shoulders.
"Whoa. You said 'you.'"
"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"
"You meant 'you.' As in me."
"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."
"Because that makes so much sense," Jasper said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Andie, Grover!" my mom said.
She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.
"What was that?" I asked.
"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."
By now everyone was at the edge of their logs, even Seth who had been fighting with Jake over a hot dog stopped and payed attention, the hot dog forgotten, a rarity.
I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.
Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.
"No one is going to kill you on my watch," Paul half-growled in my ear, so that only I could hear him. Rolling my eyes, I turned toward him, and kissed his cheek, "Oh, Paul, and if I have anything to do with it I will never ever leave your side."
Then I thought about Mr. Brunner … and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.
These words made everyone panic most of all Paul, "Oh my gods, Andie, tell me did you survive?!" I didn't want to laugh, but it was so hard not to, I mostly contained it all in but I couldn't stop a snicker. Grabbing his head between my hands, I made him look at me and I reassured him saying, "Paul, if I hadn't survived I wouldn't be here right now, silly."
I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.
I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."
Everyone at this point busted out laughing, I guess at what my word was. I didn't get to find out since Rosalie kept going. Oh, wait do you remember how I told you earlier about Jake's and Seth's fight over the hot dog, well it apparently had escalated to ketchup which Jake was dripping in.
"Andromeda!" my mom shouted.
"I'm okay… ."
I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.
"Dang, Andie you are making me hungry again," Sam groaned out loud.
Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"
He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!
"Half-barnyard animal? Really, Dro?" Grover complained, I gave him a cheeky grin in response.
Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.
"Grover, I have a feeling that you are going to fit right into the pack," Emily said, probably thinking that she now had another mouth to feed, and by the how many enchiladas he ate, it was probably like five mouths.
"Andromeda," my mother said, "we have to …" Her voice faltered.
I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player.
"So kind of like, Emmett?" Alice asked. I looked over at Emmett, pretending to compare him with the minotaur, "Eh, yeah kind of," I supplied.
He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.
"Gosh, Dro, sometimes I forget how oblivious you can be," Grover huffed out.
"I am not that oblivious," I responded indignantly.
"Really," he said giving me an incredulous look, "how many years did it take, for you to finally realize that S-" I shushed him by covering his mouth with mine, not wanting to see Paul jealous again.
I swallowed hard. "Who is-"
"Andromeda," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."
My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.
"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Andromeda-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"
"You know, Thalia, is not going to like that she is only mentioned as the big tree," said Juniper.
"Well, it wasn't our fault she was at the time," Grover and I said, to defend ourselves, Juniper just shook her head at us, while everyone else looked confused at our exchange.
"What?"
Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine
"Again, she is not going to like being called huge," Juniper reinstated.
"Yeah, well she isn't here," Grover retorted. Or is she? I thought glancing behind me...nope no Thalia.
at the crest of the nearest hill.
"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."
"Mom, you're coming too."
Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.
Almost everyone had anguished faces, at what my mom was thinking of doing, Esme too anguished, asked, "She does leave with you, right?" instead of answering, I just pointed a finger at the book.
"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."
"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.
"You know, at the time, I didn't find it funny, but it is right now," I told Grover, laughing. Making him turn red and laugh a little himself.
The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us,
"Andromeda, really? You didn't realize that it wasn't really a blanket?" Carlisle asked me incredulously. I felt my self turning red, but before I could respond, Emmett screamed out, "Carlisle, spoilers!" breaking the tense atmosphere. making his grunting, snorting noises.
As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head,
"See, Carlisle, I do realize it," I told him satisfied, with what I had realized.
because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head … was his head.
"I don't think that the minotaur will appreciate that, Andie," Paul whispered in my ear. I shrugged, not really caring.
And the points that looked like horns …
"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you.
One of the guys wolf whistled, and then Seth said, "Paul, looks like you got some competition," while he was laughing, Paul threw him one of the many empty soda cans, laying, around us.
Besides, I can't cross the property line."
"But…"
"We don't have time, Andromeda. Go. Please."
I got mad, then-mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,
"Well, at least you stopped calling me a donkey," Grover declared.
at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.
"Maybe, because it is," Jake said.
"In my defense, you are only half-right, since the other part is human."
I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."
"I told you-"
"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."
"In most cases, I would say that you should always do what your mom says, but well this is not most cases," Esme told me, I smiled at her, and nodded.
I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.
"Mom, to the rescue!" Sam screamed, making others laugh and strike pose, like superman, fist in the air.
Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin.
"Like me?" asked Emmett said, flexing and striking poises, "not at all," I responded. When I said that he looked like a deflated balloon.
He wore no clothes
When Rosalie said this, it was like a storm of ewws, and disgusted noises,they all stopped when Rosalie read the next part,
except underwear-I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms-
which was the cue to start laughing, Sam was even choking on his enchilada, and Emily had to pat his back to help him breathe again.
which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.
His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.
"Yes, because they make those, for horns," Quil said, rolling his eyes. I raised my finger up, in the international way of saying hold please, I made it look like I was searching in my purse. All the while I saw from the corner of my vision, Quil, Seth, and Embry share looks over the fire. I also saw Grover, and Juniper trying to hold back laughter. After a full minute, I looked up and said, "I must have taken it out the other night," shrugging my shoulder, I turned to look at Rosalie, signaling that she could continue.
I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.
I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-"
"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."
At this point, Paul was squeezing my hand a little too tightly.
"But he's the Min-"
"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."
The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least.
This time, I had to tell him that my hand was going to fall off, if he kept the pressure, to which he apologized and loosened his hold but didn't let go.
I glanced behind me again.
The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows-or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.
"Food?" Grover moaned.
"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"
"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."
As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.
"Not a scratch," Alice said wryly, and Jasper chuckled.
Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.
Oops.
This time, it wasn't only Jasper that chuckled.
"Andromeda," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"
"How do you know all this?"
"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."
"Keeping me near you? But-" Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us.
Sam's hand looked like it was about to break, because of the grip Emily had on it, but he didn't say anything. Not wanting, to worry Emily any further.
The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.
Lucas, chuckled and said, "too many enchiladas, I think," making the others laugh, and for Grover to flush in embarrassment.
The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Andromeda! Separate! Remember what I said." I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right
"Of course, she is right she is your mom," Leah said with an eye roll.
-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.
"So kind of like Sam," asked Seth with a most serious expression on his face, which was erased when he had -half of an enchilada on his hair.
He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.
"Ow!" screamed Jared, seems like Kim had squeezed his hand too hard, and was now quickly apologizing. If you call, calling someone a baby, apologizing.
The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.
The bull-man stormed past like a freight train,
You could hear many sighs of relief, when they heard I was okay, and I couldn't help but feel loved, when I heard the many sighs.
then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother,
Many gasped, at hearing this and they couldn't help but wonder if she would survive. Andromeda didn't let any emotion show on her face, not wanting to spoil the book for them.
who was setting Grover down in the grass.
We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.
Paul was having trouble keeping his emotions in check, and you couldn't blame hearing about how your love could potentially die. Right now, all he wanted to do was to carry her away from all harm, but he knew that this was the kind of life she led, and all he could do was to try his best to protect her. He glanced at her from the corner of his visions, and couldn't help but think that maybe she was more than capable of taking care of herself.
The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.
"Run, Andromeda!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"
But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson.
If the atmosphere was tense before, it was super tense right now, you could see the worry on everyone's faces now.
His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.
There was more than one anguished cry, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for what was about to happen, since I could see some hope in their eyes that my mom was going to be okay.
"Mom!"
She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"
Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply … gone.
If Esme could still cry, she would have been bawling right now, she felt a knot in her chest very faint, but still there. On the other side of the circle, even if she knew that her mother was going to be fine, Andromeda couldn't help but remember the pain it had caused her at the time.
"No!"
Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.
The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.
I couldn't allow that.
Even after all this years, Grover still didn't know how much Andie cared for him, up until this moment. He couldn't help but feel a swell of gratitude, he even thanked the Fates for bringing a person like her in his life.
I stripped off my red rain jacket.
"Hmm, coincidence or fate?" Hunter asked out loud, I shared a look with Grover, "Fate," we both said at the same time.
"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"
"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.
I had an idea-a stupid idea,
"Wouldn't be Paul's mate if it wasn't," Cal said, making me and Paul pout.
but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.
But it didn't happen like that.
Paul's grip on my hand tightened, again.
The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.
Time slowed down.
My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.
"Dude, how did you do that?" Seth asked, his eyes bugging out.
How did I do that?
I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.
The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.
No one dared to comment at this point, all just wanted to hear the outcome of this struggle.
The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.
Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.
I glanced at Grover, to judge his reaction at this point, all he was doing was to smile sheepishly at the ground.
"Food!" Grover moaned.
I saw Emmett whisper something to Jasper, making him grin, I didn't hear him, but Rose who had been reading the book, stopped with wide eyes, and hit Emmett upside the head, making him pout, and making Rose roll her eyes.
The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.
The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!
There were a couple of surprised gasp, all around the circle, and Paul was thinking, that he had been right, and she could more than take care of herself.
The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.
The monster charged.
Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.
When Paul heard this, he got up pulling me up with him, hugged me, and spun me a few times in a circle, by the time he let me down I was kind of dizzy, it didn't help that he gave me an earth-shattering kiss, afterwords.
The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.
The monster was gone.
The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.
Esme couldn't help but feel pity and pride for Andromeda, even after loosing her mother, she still helped her friend out. Looking at her now, you could still see grief etched upon her face, but she had more than one laugh line, too.
The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a cute guy,
"Um, Andie, better watch out," Leah said. Paul was surprisingly silent, I hope this won't be what you call the calm before the storm.
with blonde hair.
They both looked down at me, and the guy said, "She's the one. She must be."
"Um, she wasn't since she is clearly with Paul right now," Sam stated, Paul nodding along. I shared a look with Grover, I hope that he didn't react badly when he hear about Sean.
"Silence, Sean," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside."
"All right that's the end of the chapter, guess I should pass this around, to see who will be reading next," Rosalie announced passing it to Emmett. At that moment, I heard a voice behind me saying, "Why don't I read?" I turned around, startled, when I did I exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"
The End! Haha, review if you want to find out who it is. I had asked if y'all had wanted Annabeth to be a girl or a guy, after much consideration,(drawing out of a hat) I decided to turn her into a guy. I was going to say something else but I forgot, oh well I am sure it wasn't all that important, anyway Review, Review, Review!