Chapter 5.

Two old ladies try to kill me

I spent nearly a month with the rudis before I felt comfortable with the wooden hilt and the extra slowness and weight the sword brought. I wondered how fast I would be with an actual sword, but Lupa never gave me one, and neither did Neptune.

In the beginning it really sucked that I couldn't use riptide. My hands would always itch to uncap the pen whenever I was training, or fighting monsters. But I used riptide once against a wandering dracenae, and Lupa made me run five extra laps around the forest for using a Greek weapon she had told me not to use.

So the next time, I figured I'd have to rely on my powers. Or just whack them hard enough with a rudis.

I quickly finished the new set of fighting stances Lupa was making me practise, before resting the rudis against my side. Lupa walked up to me, and I quickly straightened up, though I was sweating like a pig and my muscles ached.

"Well done, Perseus. You keep improving. You are gifted with the sword."

"I-I am?" I sputtered. I had not been gifted at anything so far, except maybe running into trouble, so that fact that I was actually good at something amazed me. It made me feel good inside.

Lupa nodded. "Of course, you do not have the natural talent or telumkinesis a child of Bellona or Minerva would have, but you do have talent with a sword. Practise well, and you could be the best fighter in your legion."

I nodded, before grabbing my rudis again, but Lupa shook her head.

"Lady Lupa-"

"Your training is done for today."

"But I would like to train more-"

Lupa smiled. "Not today, my child. Today you will rest. Remember- control is your greatest discipline. Master it."

I bowed my head. "Yes Lady Lupa."

As Lupa turned around and began to slink back into the forest I sat down to catch my breath.

All of a sudden, the sky flickered and a freak thunderstorm showed up out of nowhere.

It began to rain cats, dogs and even hellhounds- it was that bad. I could barely see five feet in front of me because of the heavy rain. The sky was dark and ominous clouds loomed overhead.

"Perseus, be wary!"

I whipped my head up, giving out a squeaky, "What?"

Lupa was no where to be seen.

I looked around me, too see the wind begin to pick up.

"LUPA?"

I yelled, but got no response. I didn't know what was going on, but I was worried.

Thunder crackled in the distance, as miniature tornadoes began to form in the knoll around me, picking up paper, plastic bags and other left overs and circling them around as if a form of divine intervention telling me to clean up. The lake next to me began to churn, turning white with froth, as two creatures emerged from it. It was too dark to make out exactly what they were, but I could tell they were powerful monsters.

Zeus.

It had to be.

I had become a Roman, but even then, when he remembered me, he would try to kill me- indirectly. And that meant he would send monster after monster after me, till I eventually tired out and gave up.

Maybe I would give up some day. Maybe I would be pressed beyond my limits some day.

But that day would not be today.

I yelled in defiance, my pain and tiredness forgotten. As if answering my call, the rain began to pelt harder and harder, till it became physically painful.

The creatures in front of me stopped, and I snarled at them like a wolf. I'm pretty sure Lupa would be proud of me for that.

I dropped my rudis and reached into my pocket for riptide-but drew my hand back out.

Zeus had sent these creatures to me. But I would beat them like a Roman. I would either use a Roman weapon or my powers, or I would die trying.

I could finally see the creatures through the mist now, since the rain had died down. I almost with I couldn't see them.

The two creatures looked like Medusa's uglier sisters. Don't ask me how I knew that, but I did.

They had a woman's face, with snakes for hair. A boar tusk protruded from the corners of the mouth so that when they smiled it looked like they were grinding all their teeth together. Their skin was green and reptilian, with deadly sharp claws that seemed to be dipped in poison.

They had no feet. The bottom half of their torso was the body of a large snake, and they slithered out of the water and towards me.

Gorgons.

Ancient monsters with dangerous powers. But I thought they had been killed in the past-

Either way, I didn't matter. I had to end them today, or else I was sure to be their next meal.

"Zeus has sent us a tasty morsel this time, Euryale," cackled one, while the other nodded, licking her lips. "He's even unarmed! Perfect!"

I stepped back, worried.

The gorgon on the right had red vipers in the hair, while the one on the left had yellow puff-adders for hair. Both were snakes that could kill me with a single bite.

One of the gorgons closed her eyes and sniffed hard, before smiling widely like she had just won the lottery. "A son of Poseidon? Now that is a rarity…I will enjoy devouring you," she rasped, looking at me tantalizingly.

I felt like the ghosts of my Greek past had come to haunt me.

But I wasn't going to give up.

The two gorgons launched themselves towards me at the same time, screeching, "Death and good statues sell at $10.99 each!"

I wasn't sure about the second part, but I yelped, tucked and rolled, running towards the lake, the gorgons hot on my trail, my rudis trailing behind me, scraping the grass.

The two of them flung a couple snakes towards me, and it was hard to see them in the grass. I could hear the continual hiss of the creatures hiding in the long grass, and I stepped back to just outside the lake, with the gorgons slowly slithering towards me, behind the army of snakes.

I closed my eyes for a second, before grabbing the rudis and playing the most dangerous game of whack-a-mole I had ever played.

Every time one of the snakes lunged towards me, I knocked it as hard as I could with the rudis.

I managed to make most of them crumble to dust, but the continous barrage and the weight of the rudis was tiring me out.

The gorgons knew that as well. They were simply waiting for me to tire out.

"Come, now, demigod. Be a darling and give up. We promise to eat you nice and slow," one of them purred, and I shook my head to clear the effect of whatever she had said. It seemed like her voice had power.

Great, another secret power they had.

The rain that fell around was helping, since the water allowed me to regain my energy- a little. I couldn't last for much longer on borrowed energy, though.

Slowly, but surely, the two gorgons had me cornered against the lake.

The sky was thundering as lightning flashed across it, turning the whole forest a bright white for an instant. I could barely see, and the wind whirled around like it had a mind of its own, throwing chairs, tables, wooden swords and news pamphlets on the gorgons' faces.

"Come now, demigod. Give up, you have no fight left within you."

"You are just like every other child of those Olympians. You give up when you're tired enough," chuckled the other, "Isn't that right, son of Poseidon?"

I knelt down in the grass and the gorgons laughed in triumph, praying to whatever god was listening for power to do what I had to do next.

"You're wrong," I muttered under my breath, and the gorgons stopped laughing, looking at me in annoyance for interrupting their victory call. "I'm not the child of Poseidon you were sent to kill."

They looked at each other, before laughing even harder.

"Do not try to trick us, my dear. You simply are not smart enough," said the one of the right, laughing, while the one on the left joined in. "You certainly aren't a son of Athena."

I nodded.

"I know that. I'm a son of Neptune. Get your facts right, bitches."

I saw a green flash light across the sky,tearing it in half, and in the distance, high up in the sky, I could see something fall, as if some god had decided to use the thunderstorm to take out the trash. It was piercing the clouds like a missile, and I quickly dodged to the right as it landed into the dirt where I had just been standing.

It was a sea-green trident.

My mouth dropped open in surprise, before realizing the only person who could have done something like that was Neptune himself. No one else would be able to do this- not even Jupiter.

The lake was tumultuous now, swirling, a continuous storm of white froth. The rain picked up, and the earth began to shake, cracks forming in the dust. I knelt down on the earth, the tremendous flow of power overcoming me. I screamed, gripping the Earth like I wanted to pull it up, and the earth responded by cracking, creating two fault lines that swallowed their gorgons up to their necks.

While the two of them struggled to slither out, I turned around looking for the trident, but it seemed to have disappeared.

In its place, marking the spot where its three prongs had cut into the soil, was a small coin. It looked like it was made out of gold, with a trident etched on one side, and the word creui emblazoned on the other.

Creiu. That was the first Latin word I had seen so far, but somehow something within me had changed. I don't know how, but I knew what it meant.

Creiu.

Maelstrom.

I picked up the coin, flipping it in the air on instinct. In my hands fell a gladius. The sword gleamed gold- unlike riptide. Riptide looked like it was made of some type of bronze, but this baby was gold. The gladius was three feet long, double-edged, with a straight, sharp blade. A trident was embossed along its hilt, and the a small cyclone cut along the blade.

As I swung the sword, the water seemed to literally weave itself to align with the sword, just like with riptide.

Finally, a Roman weapon.

I looked up to see the gorgons, who had successfully climbed out of their holes, gaze at me with fear.

I laughed, and lightning flashed behind me.

I felt powerful. More powerful than I had ever felt before. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and the water around me formed into a powerful hurricane. I looked at my hands to see a green aura surrounding me, empowering me.

I felt like a god.

I locked eyes with the gorgons, before smiling like a wolf, just as Lupa had taught me.

"Playtime's over."

They didn't stand a chance.

Using maelstrom to channel my powers, I raised my left hand upwards, and several spikes of ice rose up from the lake. I motioned towards the gorgon on the left, and the spikes flew towards her, skewering her.

She screamed in agony, before disappearing in a pile of golden dust that settled on the grass.

"NOOOO!" the remaining one screamed, as she threw her hands in the air and began to curse Zeus.

I panted, resting my hands on my kness.

I was too tired to pull that move off again. I would have to beat the other one in armed combat.

"Curse you, son of Neptune!" screeched the remaining gorgon. "We will avenge you when we return!"

I nearly stopped running towards the gorgon, in surprise. When they returned? What did that mean?

I kicked aside the thought. I had more pressing issues to deal with.

The gorgon screeched again, before charging towards me, her teeth and claws out.

We met at the middle of the knoll, just as another flash of lightning lit up the sky, making it bright enough for me to see her serrated teeth, deadly jade claws and unhygienic boar tusks.

I used the mud to my advantage, sliding down just as the gorgon swiped for where my jugular would have been if I was still standing.

I slashed maelstrom in a wide arc, and the sword cut through the monster like a knife through butter.

"I will return, you fool! And you will wish I had killed you the first time!"

The gorgon screamed, and I covered my ears as she disappeared into golden dust. I had several come backs I wanted to shout at her as she died, but the fact that most of them involved dental hygiene and her scream being too harsh for me to bear, I shut up.

As soon as the gorgon dissolved, the storm stopped.

The winds died down and the skies cleared. The lake became tranquil again, and the green aura around me disappeared. My eyes widened.

I gasped. It felt weird. I had been myself- but at the same time, I wasn't. And something else had happened to me. Somehow, I had changed.

I collapsed in the soil, too tired to even stand. Maelstrom rolled out from my grip and went back into coin form.

I lay on the grass, my chest heaving as I tried to recover from what had just happened. I had to tear out chunks of the grass to stay conscious as my eyes threatened to black out.

I could just see Lupa running up towards me, as my vision blurred.

"Wh-what was that?" I asked, between gasps.

Lupa smiled. "You were claimed."

"By Poseidon?"

"By Neptune."

I nodded, relieved, allowing the blackness to overcome me.

I don't know how long I was sleeping on the grass, but when I woke up it was definitely past midnight.

I looked up to see the night sky glowing with an unreal beauty. Millions and millions of stars twinkled up, far beyond my reach.

I slowly got up, all my muscles aching, and half-limped, half-crawled towards the Wolf House, slowly regaining my energy.

I made it to the porch, to see a stash of ambrosia and nectar hidden behind one of the porch pillars.

I quickly had a little bit of both- not having too much at one time, because Lupa had told me that would kill me.

I immediately felt better, like what ever energy pool I had depleted was now filling back. And strangely enough, the pool felt bigger, like it had grown. Doubled in size, even.

I had to ask Lupa about that later, but for now, I just waned a nap.

I walked back through the doorway into the Wolf House.

I had made a few changes to the place. Lupa had given me a couple dollars, so I had renovated the place. I had put in a bunk bed in the centre, around which were several shards of glass- which I couldn't help. The window next to it had broken yesterday when I was thrown against the house while training. At least the glass wasn't on the bed.

There were a couple gaming controls next to the weapon pile, and I'd covered all the rusty nails on the floor with bright green glue tac so I didn't step on them accidentally. I hung my spare pair of shoes over the chandelier and my headphones over a weird skull I'd found on the grounds.

It wasn't much, but it was home. For now.

"Hello?"

I whirled around, startled.

Peering through the doorway was a girl. She looked a little older than me, with black hair, dark brown eyes and pale skin. She looked like she had run away from a depressing children's book, because she wore a princess dress, though I had no idea why. Her eyes were puffy, like she had been crying, but even from afar I could sense an aura around her. It was a depressing one, I nearly felt like crying just around her. She was definitely a demigod. But what was her heritage?

"Yeah?"

The girl frowned. "Are you Lupa?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm Perseus Jackson, but you can call me Percy. I can take you to Lupa though, if you like."

She nodded.

"What's your name?" I asked, as we headed out. The nectar and ambrosia had done wonders. I could now walk without much pain.

"June."
"Parents?"

"Don't have any. I had a dream yesterday telling me to come here, so I ran here as soon as my orphanage was done with this stupid play."

I looked at her, her knuckles were clenched. "You…were a princess in this play?"

She nodded. "And I hated it. I'm so mad now, I just want to destroy whoever made this whole dumb idea! I'll kill them!"

"Oh. Uh, you like killing things?"

June smiled. "Depends. If they deserve it, yeah. If they don't, then yeah, but not as much."

I was glad to see Lupa just then, because I had no idea how to reply to that.

The wolf goddess nodded at me, apparently pleased that I could walk, before staring at June.

"You, child, who are you?"

"I-" June seemed taken aback by Lupa, and I couldn't blame her. I was not as scared of her as I used to be, but the roman deity still scared me, especially when she was angry.

"I asked you a question," Lupa replied, with a hint of a growl.

"I-I'm June."

Lupa looked at me. "Come here, Perseus."

I walked towards her, and looked back at June, confused.

It wasn't too long before I realized what happened. I heard a snarl, and a wolf jumped over the air where June had been standing.

I reached out for maelstrom, but Lupa stopped me, growling.

"Do NOT interrupt. No matter what."

I swallowed hard, forced to watch.

The wolf circled June, sizing her up. She had no weapons on her, I was lucky I had riptide on me when I had to fight the wolf.

She looked like she was in trouble.

The wolf lunged for June, and I closed my eyes.

There was a yelp, and I opened my them.

The wolf had been chained to the earth. Shackles made of bones had erupted from the ground, chaining it in place. The air around us began to darken, and an aura of death and misery hung around June. Skulls popped up out of the ground, before disappearing again. The earth released bones, which speared through the wolf. A femur cut through its belly, and a small vertebral bone whizzed around, hitting against it and causing pain.

Several ribs grew up from the earth, before encircling the wolf and trapping it in a cage that grew smaller each second, eventually crushing the wolf and turning it into golden dust.

That was…brutal.

June was gasping, looking at her hands in surprise.

Lupa smirked. "Well done, June Park. Daughter of Letus and child of Rome."

A/N: Chapter updates should be, at the very least, once a week, unless I give a heads-up