Sorry for the late update, guys, I had been hit by the Fanfiction Writer's Curse lmao

On a serious note, though, most updates will now be on my ao3 page - WritingMadness13. The updated summary has already been posted, go check it out now!

Dr. Thorn led us out of the school - which was suspicious in itself, as we weren't ever allowed to leave campus - before I decided that I needed to stall a bit. Clearly, the kid with the pen wasn't going to be able to catch up soon, and I'd really rather not see what Dr. Thorn was getting so excited about.

I dug my feet into the snowy ground and craned my neck sideways to look at Dr. Thorn.

"Where are we going?"

He grunted with the effort of keeping me going, effectively making us all slow down. Bianca shot me a look, like, what're you doing? And I made a face back. I hoped my expression said something along the lines of, don't worry, I've got a plan, and not, I think I'm gonna puke.

Judging from her slightly concerned expression, she found both options equally alarming.

Dr. Thorn scowled. "I'm taking you to the General. He will be pleased to see you."

"Who the heck's the General ? And why's he going to be excited to see us?"

"Keep walking, you silly half-blood," Dr. Thorn spat, his grip on my shoulder tightening. "I do not have time to answer your ridiculous questions."

"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Nico shouted, flinging his head around and fixing Dr. Thorn with a glare, wriggling in his grasp. I shot him a look, surprised that he had the guts to say anything at all.

(Then again, none of us took well to one of our own being harassed…)

Unfortunately, Dr. Thorn wasn't a fan of his abductees talking back. At Nico's continued defiance, the man snarled and flung out his arm like he was about to strike Nico.

Like he was about to hit my. Little. Brother.

I didn't even know how I did what I did until after it had happened.

Time seemed to slow down around me as I watched the hand travel towards the small boy's terrified face.

I had to do something. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

Just as Dr. Thorn brought it down, I threw my head to the side and bit down, hard , making him howl and slap me in the face instead.

SMACK!

I clenched my jaw tightly as my head suddenly snapped towards the left, and I could swear I saw stars for a second. Pain bloomed in my cheek and I let out a pitiful groan as the coppery tang of blood hit my tongue.

Holy cow, this guy hits hard.

"Callie!" Bianca gasped, somehow managing to wriggle out of Dr. Thorn's grip long enough to cradle my face in her cold hands. "Are you alright?"

I spat out a mouthful of blood out onto the snow, effectively ruining its crisp white colour.

"No," I said, glaring at Thorn.

He glared right back, seizing our arms again.

"You little demons are not worth the trouble," he grit under his breath as he dragged us around the back of the campus, near the hall.

We kicked and struggled, but his grip just tightened even more.

At this point, I was pretty sure I was going to get a giant bruise on my shoulder once this was all over.

"Stay here," Dr. Thorn warned, giving us another painful squeeze. I bit back a whine, my shoulder throbbing. "Any attempts to escape will not be tolerated. I have many skills that I will not hesitate to use on you."

He shot me another glare as he said the words, but I just hissed at him, clutching my injured arm tightly.

"No one messes with my brother," I snapped. "How dare you think I would let you hit him?!"

In a burst of inspiration, I added, "Whoever your boss is, he wants us , doesn't he? You're just some — some stupid tool in his arsenal." I waved my hands around wildly, gesturing. "If he's really that excited about meeting us, then I'll make sure to tell him just how well you treated us tonight."

It was all a bluff, of course.

I didn't plan on getting us even remotely close to this psychopath's boss.

Dr. Thorn snorted. "I am much more valuable to the General than you, girl ," he said, but I detected a note of uncertainty in his voice — I'd hit a nerve.

I stifled a grin of triumph, before raising my eyebrow.

"Are you, though?" I asked, skeptical. "Seems like you're just an escort for us. A pawn. The side character —"

Clearly, I'd annoyed him for long enough.

Dr. Thorn shoved me aside and stalked out into the hallway. Just before he reached the door, he turned around and snarled at us. "One word, and you're all dead," before walking away, muttering nonsense under his breath.

Bianca turned to me, eyes wide and fearful. "You shouldn't have made him angry, Callie," she said anxiously. "He just going to hurt you more now!" She traced her finger along my swollen cheek, making me wince at the touch. She hastily took her hand away. "Sorry. But please, don't do it again." She looked up at me sadly. "I can't bear to see you hurt."

I just nodded silently.

Nico hugged my leg. "You were so brave, Callie! Dr. Thorn was like, grrr! And then you were like, chomp! " He imitated me biting. "And then he was like, OW! " He dramatically fell to the ground, clutching his arm.

Bianca snorted, and I grinned. "Oh, Nico," I said fondly. He giggled, looking up at me. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

The mood instantly sobered.

I frowned. "I…don't know, Neeks. I've never heard of this General guy." I shook my head side to side, my red streak falling in front of my eye. Immediately, I winced, a headache spiking in my temple once more. "Although," I added, a bit weakly, "I'm pretty sure he wants to kidnap us for something."

"Callie, stop — you're gonna scare him."

My sister's voice was soft, admonishing.

"He's ten , Bianca. He deserves to know what's going on, at the very least." I sighed and gave my little brother a tired smile. "You're doing great, by the way, piccolo. "

Nico nodded. "Yeah, I know. And I am old enough!" He said determinedly. "You guys don't need to keep treating me like I'm a toddler!" He looked over at me. "But why does Dr. Thorn want to kidnap us?"

I thought for a moment. "Maybe he wants to control our inheritance? We must have quite a bit if we could've afforded to live in that hotel for the summer."

Bianca nodded. "Probably," she agreed, but didn't look very happy about it. "What do we do?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but just then a kid with a glowing sword of all things burst into the room, eyes wild like he was expecting a full on battalion to come and attack him or something.

We all shrank back, startled.

Nico let out an eep! Of fright, hiding his face behind Bianca. She stretched out her arms protectively in front of him, and I snarled, stepping in front of her, blood dripping down from my face.

It must've been a pretty scary sight, because the kid immediately lowered his sword.

"Uh, it's OK," he said, trying to calm us. "I'm not going to hurt you."

I took a huddled step forward, ignoring Bianca's strangled noise of protest at the action. "Yeah, well, that sword you're holding kinda gives off a different message," I pointed out dryly, my voice hoarse. "You're the kid from the dance, aren't you?" I eyed his weird sword strangely. "How did you get that thing in here? Didn't the teachers pat you down before entering?"

He grimaced. "It's a long story. My name's Percy, by the way. I'm here to take you somewhere safe."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, brilliant. There's two people who want to kidnap us. Who're you working for, then? The Civilian?"

He stared at me blankly, so I elaborated.

"Dr. Thorn. The teacher that took us? He said he was bringing us to this guy called the General — ugh, never mind," I shook my head, exasperated.

"I'm not working for anyone," Percy said slowly. "I'm…kinda part of this rescue team sent to extract you guys from here and take you to Camp."

There were many confusing things about that sentence, but I chose to focus on the most important one. "Where's the rest of your team, then?"

He sighed. "They're at the dance. I didn't have time to tell them where I was goi —"

My eyes widened as I spotted the shadow of someone familiar approaching. "No!"

I threw myself forward, and tackled Percy to the ground.

A WHIIISH came from above us, and we fell to the ground just before it could hit us. A sharp projectile, almost like a bullet shot through my dark hair, parting it effortlessly before hitting the wall and clattering to the ground.

I stared wide-eyed at Dr. Thorn, who snarled and shot another projectile.

This time, I couldn't flinch away in time, and it buried itself deep in my shoulder, making pain explode throughout me, flinging me back like I'd just been thrown away by a huge, heavy hand.

I registered someone screaming, and realized it was probably me. The injury burned like white hot fire, and was made a whole lot worse because the shoulder where I'd been hit was the same place where I had this giant jagged scar, almost like I'd been struck by lightning.

(But that was ridiculous).

(I'd have remembered being struck by lightning ).

(You don't just forget something like that).

I felt my coat grow wet and sticky. That bullet or whatever must've reopened the scar — there was no way it could've caused me to bleed so much on its own.

"Insufferable girl deserved it, I suppose," I heard Dr. Thorn grumble faintly, as if he was underwater. "What've you done to my sister?!" Nico screamed, and I registered a grunt as someone held him back from launching himself at our clearly insane teacher — probably that kid, Percy.

"Callie!" Bianca cried, kneeling down. She took in a shaky breath. "It's — it's OK, I can stop the bleeding, please hang on!"

I let out a pathetic whimper as she carefully removed my beloved coat, then tore my shirt open at the shoulder. There was a sharp intake of breath and I cried out as the cold air attacked my injury. "The thorn's still in there," Bianca muttered to me. "It's deep — I can't take it out with my hands."

Dr. Thorn rolled his eyes. "Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you. Get up, and follow me, or you will see just how accurately I can shoot!"

I yelped as he suddenly grabbed my other hand, yanking me up. I stood, dizzy from the pain, before falling backwards and using Bianca as a support to walk. She gripped my hand tightly, and I could see the shimmery tears glistening in her eyes.

"It'll be alright," she said, but I knew she was just trying to convince herself.

I just nodded. I couldn't speak; my throat was too clogged. My shoulder still burned from the thorn, but the cold air was slowly leeching away at the pain, allowing my awareness to return.

Dr. Thorn turned on his heel and herded the four of us, including that Percy kid, out of the school campus. He marched us straight into the woods, taking the snowy path that was dimly lit with those creepy old lamps.

I shuddered. Out here, the wind was much harsher, and my shoulder was hurting so much it made it hard to focus on where I was going. Bianca had to stop me from collapsing several times.

Even with her help, though, it was a miracle I didn't crash into anything.

(It was almost as if I could sense my surroundings even in complete darkness, navigating around like a bat).

"There is a clearing up ahead," Dr. Thorn announced. "We will summon your ride."

"What ride?" I demanded hoarsely. "Where the hell are you taking us?!"

Dr. Thorn glared at me. "Silence, you dratted girl!"

Nico literally quivered in anger. "Stop talking to her like that!" He had his fists out in a moment, but didn't attack — probably too scared to end up like me, I supposed.

Percy looked mildly surprised that this little kid had the courage to say anything at all. I would've, too, if not for him already doing it before.

We had good reason to be surprised, though: Nico usually wasn't so brave — the kid still got scared of the darkness under his bed, for god's sake.

I noticed Percy out of the corner of my eye, scrunching up his face like he was thinking very, very hard. He caught my gaze and shook his head to the side slightly, and I took the hint, looking away.

"Halt," said Thorn suddenly, and we stumbled to a stop in front of a cliff.

The woods had opened up, and the cold, salty smell of seawater was so tangible I could literally taste it on my tongue. I cast a quick look down, but the cliff plummeted almost vertically. If there was an ocean below, it was probably hundreds of feet down.

Well, there went one method of escape.

Percy tripped, but Bianca used her other arm to catch him. "What is he?" She whispered to him. "How do we fight him?" She cast a look back at me, and I grimaced back. We both knew I was in no shape to be fighting any time soon. "I…" Percy looked at me too, sympathetic. "I'm working on it." He sighed and looked away, scrunching up his face again.

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled. He looked at me sadly. "I don't want you to get hurt."

I sighed. "Trust me, Nico, neither do I." He nodded and started fiddling with his Mythomagic statue, trying not to burst out into tears. I gave him a one-handed hug, even though my shoulder screamed at me for it, and he seemed to relax slightly, leaning into my touch.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn barked suddenly. "Face me!"

We turned.

Our maniac teacher's two-toned eyes glittered hungrily. He pulled something from his coat and I tensed, thinking it was another weapon, but it turned out to be just a phone. He pressed the side button and said, "The package — it is ready to deliver."

There was a garbled reply, and I realized that the phone was in walkie-talkie mode.

For some reason, this made me crack a grin.

A murderous, insane deadly-thorn-throwing man using something as childish as a walkie-talkie?!

Or maybe that was just the poison making me hysteric.

Percy glanced behind to see the cliff again as if wondering how far the drop was. Dr. Thorn noticed and laughed, amused. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

Bianca frowned. "What did he call you?" She muttered to him.

"I'll explain later," Percy said distractedly.

"You do have a plan, right?" I asked cautiously, painfully craning my neck to look at him. He seemed to be slightly more sympathetic to me, for some reason — maybe he appreciated me taking the thorn for him, or maybe it was just because I was the only invalid in the group.

Even Nico, small as he was, could put up at least a little bit of a fight, or slip away into the woods before anyone caught him.

I, on the other hand, probably wouldn't even be able to take one step before collapsing. Even now, my knees quivered from the strain of keeping myself upright.

— Yeah, so, basically, I was screwed.

Percy nodded and resumed his weird, crinkled expression — and it kinda looked funny to me, like he was constipated or something.

I stifled a giggle at the thought, making Bianca and Percy both give me slightly concerned looks.

Percy seemed to think of something brilliant, his face lighting up — honestly, could he be more obvious — but Dr. Thorn said, almost like he was reading his mind, "I would kill you before you even reach the water. You do not realize who I am, do you?"

I flinched violently as another thorn streaked through the air, narrowly avoiding my ear.

"Unfortunately," said Dr. Thorn, looking at me very nastily, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

I shivered and leaned against Bianca, but it didn't really do much: when I spoke, my voice was barely more than a whisper, which seem to alarm Percy very much, judging by the way he jerked and looked at me in worry.

"Who wants us?" I asked. "'Cause if you want a ransom, you're going to be very disappointed. We don't have any family…" I coughed and hacked, making Nico startle and rush to my side, hugging my leg tightly and sharing his warmth, which I appreciated very much.

"Bianca, Nico and I…We only have each other," I managed to finish, before slumping to the side, spent. I didn't have the strength to keep fighting anymore.

"Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

I didn't have time to process that before Percy said, "Luke." Realization dawned on his face. "You work for Luke."

I frowned. Who on earth was Luke? The name seemed familiar, ringing around in my head, and I winced as a headache suddenly assaulted me again.

Oh, come on, I wanted to complain to my body. How much pain are you going to put me through?

But just like before, the sensation of something wrenching itself free made itself known, and I let out a groan as a vision swam before my eyes.

"Luke," I murmured, the image of a golden-eyed teen with a long scar down the side of his face burned into my mind. I furrowed my brow, a weird feeling coming over me. "The son of Hermes. The traitor."

Percy looked at me, alarmed. "How did you know that?!" He demanded. I blinked, and the feeling vanished, but the words were still stuck in my head. "I — I don't know," I stammered, panicked at how intensely he was glaring at me. "I just did! I swear!" I added, seeing his disbelieving look, but he didn't seem to buy it.

Dr. Thorn, however, looked much more interested.

"How strange," he said, studying me with a look that I didn't quite like, making me back away a little, nervous. After seeing how dangerous he could be, I wasn't exactly in the mood to challenge him again. "I've been watching you all year, girl. You are unaware of what you are, and yet still you somehow know information that is exclusive to the hidden world."

"Hidden what ?" I had to ask. "What'd you mean?"

He simply shot me a nasty grin. "You'll find out soon enough."

I was getting kind of irritated by that sentence now.

Turning to Percy, he added, "You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson." It didn't escape my notice that Percy grimaced at the name. "I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" Percy asked. I let out a snort. He'd said it with a French accent like Dr. Thorn. He seemed to realize, a faint redness appearing on the back of his neck. "I mean... who's the General?" He amended.

Dr. Thorn looked toward the horizon instead of answering the question. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation." We all turned, and I saw a light in the distance, a searchlight over the sea. Then I heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico said.

"You should be honoured, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

Okay, that made me a little mad.

Mythomagic may be a fictional game, but it was Nico's fictional game.

He detested anyone disrespecting it, and therefore so did I.

"They're not dolls," I snapped. "They're figurines. And you can take that great army of yours and shove it up —"

"Choose your words wisely, little girl. I still have many thorns left to throw, and I do not make it a habit to miss," Dr. Thorn warned, and I forced my jaw to click shut, my shoulder burning in reminder. He nodded in satisfaction, making me clench my fists in anger.

But I didn't attack. I knew better than to try.

Thorn leered at me. "Good girl. And you will change your mind about joining us. If you do not, well…" He laughed nastily. "There are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed." He shot me a look that told me he would rather like it if I refused to join his stupid army.

"The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" Percy asked, as I managed to stifle the giggle that came with hearing the weird name.

The Great Stirring?

It sounded like some weird cooking show.

I imagined Dr. Thorn in a chef's apron and hat, sweating as he tried to finish his cooking by the end of the hour, the judges watching him, well, judgementally, and couldn't stop my laughter from escaping.

Bianca shot me a panicked look, but Dr. Thorn seemed to think it was rather normal. "Hysteria sets in at ten minutes past," he said nonchalantly, making Percy and Bianca baulk.

Ah. So this was the poison's fault.

Good to know.

"As for your question, Perseus Jackson, the Great Stirring refers to the stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn, turning to the boy and smiling evilly. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

Bessie, I thought for some reason, then frowned. What the hell? Who on earth was Bessie?

My headache spiked, and I groaned, vision swimming.

What the actual hell was going on?! All these migraines, the strange and weird stuff about me was really starting to freak me out.

Especially as I remembered the way Dr. Thorn and Percy had looked at me before, with complete and utter surprise.

I wasn't supposed to know this.

I wasn't supposed to be here.

But I was .

I tuned myself back in time just to hear Percy say quietly, "We have to jump off the cliff."

I blinked.

That had escalated quickly.

"Oh, super idea," Bianca whispered sarcastically. "You're completely nuts, too."

Percy looked like he wanted to argue, but just then we were all thrown to the ground like we'd been tackled by someone invisible.

I hit the ground hard on my bad shoulder, and let out a loud grunt, pain shooting through my nerves like lightning. My vision went white for a split second, and when it faded the first thing I saw was a bronze imprint of the most terrifying woman I'd ever seen.

I let out a small scream, scrambling backwards, nearly falling off the cliff as I did so. My shoulder flared in pain again as my palm slipped on the edge of the rocks, and I looked down — a big mistake. I immediately felt dizzy and shuffled myself backwards, not looking where I was going.

Lo and behold, I managed to smack into Dr. Thorn, in all his French monster glory.

He didn't really seem to notice, as he was rather preoccupied with fighting the spiky-haired girl I'd seen arguing with Percy before. She held this huge spear, and it once again made me wonder how these kids had managed to sneak all these weapons inside our school. I heard the sound of a helicopter and wondered briefly why I wasn't moving away, before I realized I literally couldn't.

I was paralyzed.

Great. This was just absolutely freaking great.

I was screwed.

I am going to die, I thought dazedly, a faint sense of panic ringing in my ears. I am going to die without being able to do anything about it.

With all the pandemonium around, I doubted anyone was even going to notice that I couldn't move until it was too late.

I felt like laughing hysterically, but I couldn't open my mouth to do so, so I just did it in my head.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I was so damn screwed.

Don't blame me for the bad language. It was a stressful situation.

Dr. Thorn's missile throwing machine — no, wait that was a tail — rose up sharply and left a stinging cut on my cheek, because of course that thing had to be poisoned as well.

The spiky-haired girl jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw — because apparently he could do that — with enormous claws that sparked against the girl's terrifying shield as he slashed. If it hadn't been for that thing, she would've been sliced like a loaf of bread.

As it was, she managed to roll backward and land on her feet in a feat of athletics I was sure I would never be able to manage.

The sound of the helicopter was getting louder behind me, but I couldn't move my neck to see.

Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at the girl, and this time I could see how he did it. He had a tail—a leathery, scorpion like tail that bristled with spikes at the tip. I mused that it had probably been one of those that had sliced my cheek.

Said cheek burned in reminder, and I let out another mental scream.

It hurt!

The missiles deflected off the girl's shield, but the force of their impact unfortunately knocked her down.

The guy with the goatee sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play—a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to.

I had no idea what playing music to an insane missile-throwing scorpion-tailed monster was going to do, but maybe the guy was trying to raise morale or something. Nico seemed to like it, anyway, given his old obsession with pirates.

And then, I realized that grass had broken through the snow. Within seconds, rope-thick weeds were wrapping around Dr. Thorn's legs, entangling him.

I watched, which was pretty much all I could do right now, in amazement and shock.

What. The. Actual. Hell?!

Who exactly were these kids?!

Dr. Thorn roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form—his face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

I stared .

Oh, dear god .

We were going to all die here, weren't we?

"A manticore!" The blonde girl said, appearing out of nowhere. A New York Yankees cap lay buried in the snow, and I realized it was probably her who had knocked us all to the ground.

(…But how come we hadn't seen her?)

"Who are you people?" Bianca demanded, echoing my own questions. "And what is that ?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped at the same time, reminding me of the danger I was in.

I tried to tell the others, help me I can't move, but Dr. Thorn's enormous body was shielding me from their view. The only thing I managed to do was flail around enough to turn myself halfway towards the sea, and then get stuck there. Great.

"He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

Not the time, Nico! I wanted to scream. We're about to die!

Dr. Thorn — or rather, the manticore — clawed goatee-boy's magic weeds to shreds then turned toward us with a snarl.

"Get down!" Thankfully, the blonde girl pushed my siblings flat into the snow, saving them from a brutal volley of thorns that would've undoubtedly killed them.

I heard a thwack and a yelp, and deduced somebody had been thrown away.

Deducing what was going on was pretty much all I could do.

Stupid paralysation.

"Yield!" the monster roared. "Never!" The spiky-haired girl yelled from across the field. She charged the monster, and for a second, I thought she would run him through.

But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind us.

The helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets.

The searchlights blinded the girl, and the manticore swatted her away with its tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear flew in the other direction.

"No!" Percy ran out to help her. He parried away a spike just before it would've hit her chest. He raised his shield over the two of them, but I knew it wouldn't be enough. It was tiny compared to the amount of exposed flesh it showed, and Thorn had already proven himself to be an excellent shot.

The manticore laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

All I could think was, we were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter.

We had no chance.

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.

I frowned. What, was there someone else coming?

(And if so, were they friends, or were they there to help Dr. Thorn?)

The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved — including me, seeing as I had no other option. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder.

Ah. So these newcomers were friends.

Good to know.

Dr. Thorn staggered backward, wailing in agony. "Curse you!" He cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in mid-air and sliced them in two, but my eyes must've been playing tricks on me.

No one, absolutely no one, could shoot with that much accuracy.

It was simply unfathomable.

You'd have to have the eyes of an eagle and a ridiculous amount of steadiness in your hands, which was automatically impossible for me considering how ADHD I could be sometimes.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy, and I felt a sense of satisfaction.

Taste of your own medicine, buddy, I thought venomously, my shoulder burning at the reminder.

Percy immediately tried to swipe at him with his sword, but Dr. Thorn wasn't as injured as he looked. He dodged his attack and slammed his tail into the boy's shield, knocking him aside.

Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like me. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.

"The Hunters!" The blonde girl cried, and I winced mentally as another headache struck me in full force at the name.

Ow, I complained in my head. What the hell, brain?

My brain, of course, didn't reply.

Inconsiderate thing.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess.

"Permission to kill, my lady?"

I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore.

The monster wailed. "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl said. This one was around my agee, maybe twelve or thirteen.

She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast."

I did not disagree with that statement.

Dr. Thorn had already proven how right it was.

The pretty auburn girl looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The name sent another jolt of pain through my head, and I had the briefest glimpse of a mountain, and then of a constellation in the shape of a girl with a bow and arrow, running freely through the night sky.

I also knew for a fact that no such constellation existed.

The manticore growled and the vision vanished, making me blink several times to make sure I was actually here or not.

…Unfortunately, I was.

Dr. Thorn snarled, "If I cannot have these children alive, I shall have them dead!"

He lunged at the spiky-haired girl and Percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.

I supposed I should be glad he still hadn't noticed me, but I had a terrible feeling that it wasn't going to last.

"No!" The blonde girl yelled, and she charged at the monster.

"Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet said, and then my headache tripled at the word, 'half-blood'. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But the blonde girl leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife — okay, seriously, what was with these kids and weapons?! How on earth hadn't the teachers noticed ?! I couldn't sneak a donut back from a field trip and these guys manage to smuggle in an entire armoury — into his mane.

The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as the girl hung on for dear life, and I saw the exact moment when she finally saw me, helpless and injured, below them.

Her sharp grey eyes widened so much I thought they would pop out of their sockets. "Move!" She screamed at me, and I could only muster a glare back.

You think I don't want to?! I wanted to yell. Why on earth would I willingly place myself here?

She seemed to realize I was in serious trouble a moment after. "PERCY!" She yelled, turning around for a split second. "One of those kids is here! "

I only had one moment to appreciate the surprise and sheer panic flitting across everyone's faces before Dr. Thorn's tail smacked me in the head, driving my paralysed body into the freezing snow, nearly catatonic with pain by now.

Unfortunately, the Hunters seemingly hadn't heard the blonde girl, since there was a sudden order of, "Fire!" From Zoe, the girl with the circlet.

Thanks a lot, I thought sarcastically.

"No!" Percy screamed, and that was pretty much all I heard before the whiiishing of silver arrows surrounded me. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! I got what I came here for!" There was a nasty look thrown at me as one furry arm entangled itself around my waist, before Dr. Thorn turned to Zoe. "You shall pay!"

And before anyone could react, the idiot jumped, and I fell down the cliff with the image of Bianca's horror-struck expression burned in my mind.