So, this chapter was gonna be a fight scene. I failed miserably. And so, I decided to add in some action, but no real demigod vs. demigod battle to the death/serious maiming/unconsciousness/etc. Excuse this pathetic chapter. It was over 10 pages, but then I cut it in half and made the second half the beginning of the next chapter so I could update sooner. Lo siento.

Butttt…. Next week is February break! Which means more time for writing, which means more updates.

YAY!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, yadda yadda yadda, all rights go to Rick Riordan.

After Jill forced everyone to give her two bites of whatever they ordered, we were set to leave and continue the quest.

There was just one itty-bitty problem:

We had absolutely no idea what our next step was.

We didn't even know what the cure was, for crying out loud. We had decided it could be some kind of magical plant; the key word being "could".

"Well, we could visit some famous gardens around the world…" suggested Riley. For some odd reason, I had a feeling he was just saying that to fulfill his not-so-secret lifelong dream of visiting famous gardens around the world. Just a wild guess.

"You would just love that, wouldn't you?" I asked. Blushing, he looked away sheepishly.

Isabella made a suggestion next. "Maybe we should make a sacrifice to the gods." she glanced at us ominously, "A human sacrifice."

Before anybody could say anything, like, I dunno, "That's sick and disgusting you little psycho", the evil little girl shouted out "I nominate Nico!

"What! Hey!" I cried out. As the son of Hades, I had obviously thought about death a lot; and more importantly how I wanted to go. All of them involved some heroic, memorable (yet tragic) actions that would surely get me a statue on Olympus. And I'm more than sure being sacrificed to find a stupid plant wouldn't get me any statue.

Jill, acting as the peacemaker, stepped in. "Alright, that's enough." she called out to her sister, "As much as we all know you would love to, we can't sacrifice Nico."

"Ha!" I cried out in victory.

The little girl stared at me evilly. "You just wait… You have something coming to you, di Angelo." While she only came up to my stomach, the glint in her eye actually had me a little frightened for the sake of my life.

The older blonde looked at her sister sternly. "Isabella! You know what I told you about threatening people!"

"Sorry Jill…" mumbled out Isabella.

Unfortunately, my victory was short lived because seconds later we started to hear the screaming.

Hailey's humorous face suddenly turned serious as she screamed "DUCK!"

For some reason I was pretty sure she wasn't talking about the webbed-footed bird, and if there's one thing I learned from all my years as a demigod, it's that if someone says "duck", you duck.

And so that's what I did.

And it's a good thing, too, since seconds later talons swooped down just inches above my head.

Screaming pedestrians ran for shelter insides their cars or nearby buildings. Though I wished I could do the same – jump inside a taxi and get as far away as possible – I grabbed my sword from my bag and got back on my feet.

Apparently this wasn't the smartest thing to do, since seconds later the talons were back, barely missing my head. An angry screech rang through the air, and while it was my instinct to go after whatever was attacking us, I had a feeling that would leave me cut up into little tiny pieces all over the park. And nobody, not even this attractive body, would look good chopped up and distributed throughout Detroit.

Diving for the ground before the sharp talons came for a third time, I managed to land next to (or relatively close to) Jill.

"What are they!" I called out loudly, and I was still only barely audible over all the chaos going on around us.

"Gorgons!" she screamed. She reached for the sheath around her waist and grabbed the knife that was concealed under her shirt. She gripped it in her hand, looking like she was using it just for the comforting feel.

Because nothing is more comforting than the grip of a knife in a time of danger.

"Again!" I called out. These gorgons had come to Camp Half-Blood only a few days ago, and now they were back; this time in Detroit.

"No, Nico. I'm making this all up. In fact, those terrified pedestrians over there are just actors I hired." Somehow, even while fearing for her life Jill managed to be sarcastic. "Can you see the rest of them?"

I turned my head so I could see what the rest of the group was doing, and if they were safe. Riley had cleverly, and surprisingly quickly, made a set of armor out of vines he had grown. While it could probably guarantee no life threatening wounds, I didn't think those vines were gonna protect him much from the gorgon's razor-sharp talons. Hailey was on the ground, trying to call something out to me and Jill, but her voice was lost in the cries of the Detroit population.

Isabella, on the other hand, was in the process of climbing up a tree while the rest of us were sprawled across the ground.

I knew she was crazy.

"They're all safe," I called out, "but you're psychopathic sister is climbing a tree."

"What!" she screamed, prepared to get up and run over to that annoying little girl and hopefully smack some sense into her (and hopefully smacking some compassion into her as well).

"Don't worry; she'll be fine." I assured her. I didn't really know if she was going to be okay, but the last thing I wanted was to have to drag around an unconscious Jill again. Last time she got hurt it resulted in me falling out of a tree. "What you should be worrying about is how long we have on the ground before those winged demons come down here and slice us up into demigod chop meat."

"What a delightful image."

My sword was reassuring in my hand, and while the stygian iron may temporarily frighten the monsters, it wouldn't do much good for distance. Swords were only good for combat, not shooting down something from the sky. If we had a gun right about now, that would be pretty helpful.

"If I could just get over to Hailey to get my bow and arrow, I would be able to shoot at them as opposed to fighting with my sword. How far away is she?" asked Jill, trying to scream over the noise. Police sirens had started wailing in the distance, and I figured we didn't have much time before they reached us.

I looked to find Hailey again. Somehow in all the panic, we had all managed to separate ourselves. "She's a good 200 feet away."

"Alright, cover me." And before I could do or say anything else, she was up and running towards her backpack; and I had no choice but to get up and run after her.

While it was just a short run to her backpack, the whole time was spent freaking out over the fact we at were out in the open and defenseless while sinister monsters were just plotting our death. Every second that passed felt like ten minutes, and I couldn't stand being an open target like that.

Not pausing to lay down again, Jill swooped up her bag and continued running with me hot on her heels. She pulled out her equipment, swirled around (nearly knocking me over), and began to shoot at the sky. Unfortunately, since she couldn't look directly at them and risk being petrified (again), she might as well have been blind folded. The arrows shot into the air, but aimlessly fell back to the earth.

"I need to look at my target!" she shouted out. "This isn't doing us any good!"

I remembered hearing a story at camp about a daughter of Aphrodite who was dragged on a quest, but ultimately saved the whole thing by using her mirror to see Medusa without actually looking at her. She went back to camp, was considered a hero, fell in love, blah blah blah. And then there was the story of how little twelve year old Percy killed Medusa, looking at her reflection in a shield. Sure, easy for them. But unfortunately for us, we had no reflective items. Water would've worked wonderfully as well, but alas, there was no water in this park, and so we were stuck blindly shooting arrows into the sky.

"Demigods! Demigods!" one croaked. Trying to follow the voice, Jill shot another arrow. Yet again, it fell back to the ground.

Riley and Hailey were up off of the ground now, standing back to back and listening out for any nearby monsters. Swords out in the ready, nothing could touch them. Except from above, which was unfortunately exactly where the gorgons would be coming from.

As one of them swooped down, we all ducked. This time it was so close that the talons nearly scraped the top of my head; managing to skim over my hair.

"What do we do!" called out Riley.

We all ducked again as the other gorgon dived down, and then Jill called out "Run!"

And so we did.

Taking off in a sprint, we managed to dodge their attacks for a few yards.

"Demigods! Demigods!" they cried.

The park had been completely deserted. Then again, who in their right mind would stick around when ancient Greek monsters were terrorizing the area?

But as we approached the street, we realized we couldn't bring the gorgons towards the bystanders. The last thing we wanted was to have to deal with the death of a few humans. And so with nowhere to go, we were all forced to stop running and face the terrible beasts.

We stood in the same pairs, back to back, as the creatures circled us overheads like birds of prey.

And then they attacked.

One dove down, sharp talons first, and the other followed shortly after. If I hadn't deflected the first one with my sword, my face would've looked like a tic-tac-toe board. A vine summoned up from the ground quickly wrapped itself around the other gorgon, but with an angry screech she ripped right out of it.

"Demigods! Demigods!" they called tauntingly. "Daughters of Athena! Such pretty, vulnerable daughters of Athena! Demigods!"

One of them perched itself in a nearby tree and crowed again.

"The cure is with the woman who shall not be named,

Defeat the temptation, and the cure shall be claimed!"

Down they came again.

This time, Jill managed to slash at one with her blade, but it seemed to only anger the creature.

"Hey! Ugly! Over here!" called out a bold voice from a tree, and suddenly the whole plan made sense to me. That's the thing with children of Athena: They always have a plan. Always.

"Yeah! You!" she taunted. Angrily, the gorgon screeched and flew towards the tree. And there was Jill, bow at the ready, looking like Artemis herself as she pulled back the arrow and launched it towards the miserable creature. The arrow lodged itself in the gorgon's side, and with a final scream the creature limply fell back down to the earth.

But unfortunately, there were two sides to this plan; and the other side wasn't so beneficial for us.

Like an arrow itself, the second gorgon dove down, talons glinting in the sun like knives, right towards Jill.

And before I even knew what I was doing, I was sprinting right into the gorgon's path, pushing the blonde to the side and instead taking her place. Not a second had passed before I felt the talons slash my arm, and my vulnerable skin sliced right open as the claws dug deeply into my flesh.

I let out an involuntary groan of pain, stumbling clumsily to my knees.

"Nico!" someone called out. My mind struggled to decipher whether it was coming from a boy or a girl. Warm blood dripped down my arm, staining my skin and shirt, and I couldn't do anything but hold my wound and pray to Apollo to heal it.

Though I must've sounded like a total wimp, I let out another cry of pain.

I heard a sickening slash, a final screech, and the small breeze of air that always seems to appear when a monster explodes into a pile of dust.

"We have to get out of here!" called out another voice. Screams were heard in the distance and police sirens that just moments ago were nearly inaudible now wailed loudly. Somebody grabbed me and pulled me back onto my feet. Though I couldn't see where I was going, I hobbled away with whoever was supporting me, hoping that it was Riley and not some paramedic or police officer. The last thing I needed was to be interrogated about who I was and what just happened.

I was pushed into a car, and was surprisingly relieved to see a blonde head in the driver's seat. Somehow in all the chaos, they had managed to slip away, dragging me along with them.

"Nico?" somebody called. "You with us?" I managed to mumble in response, and heard more than one sigh of relief.

A pounding had begun in my head. My vision had become distorted, and my hearing as well. Everybody says after a few minutes the pain gets mildly better, but this was only getting worse. It felt like the cut was continuously being reopened as someone poured lemon juice into it.

Finally, somebody shoved ambrosia into my mouth, and I gladly chewed on the familiar caramel taste of it; sighing at the relief that came along shortly after I swallowed it. A straw was put up to my mouth, and I greedily drank the nectar. The pain, while still excruciating, was slightly more bearable now.

But why was it only slightly more bearable? Shouldn't I have been able to dance a jig after eating that dangerous amount of godly foods? Why did I still feel like somebody was repeatedly stabbing my arm?

"Don't worry; we're almost out of here." said a reassuring voice.

Suddenly somebody, whom I'm assuming was Hailey, took charge and began to bark out commands. "Somebody has to keep pressure on his arm at all times!" at this, a hand was firmly grasped onto my arm. It took all I had not to cry out in pain, but apparently I wasn't a good enough actor, since the same voice cried out "Not too hard! You're hurting him!" The pressure was slightly relieved, but that didn't mean it was any less painful.

"Don't let him doze off! Keep him awake; the blood loss will make him sleepy.

That's exactly what I was: sleepy.

Falling into the sweet numbness of slumber had never been more appealing than it had then. And with many shouts of protests, hands shaking me, and people calling out my name, that's exactly what I did.