I stood up on my shaky legs and walked towards the car. The car was wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open, clearly from the lightning before. I could faintly hear the sound of people talking and sighed in relief. I trudged along to the passenger side of the door, I could see a woman in the driver's seat and two boys in the back, " Are you guys okay?" I asked, my voice sounded faint, the fear and urgency evident.

I tried to pull open the door but it was locked from inside. " Yeah we are alright." the lady in the front told me. She sounded more calm than me.

" You need to get out quickly," I muttered as I pushed the passenger's side door free. I helped the lady out of the car, she had brown hair and gentle blue eyes and radiated a gentle warmth as if just looking at her can make you feel relaxed.

The lady eyed me with concern, " Are you okay honey? You are bleeding."

I looked down at myself. My T-shirt was torn in many places, blood oozing out of cuts. I had scraped my knee and had various cuts on my legs as well. But the worst was my shoulder where the garlic-breath lady had clawed me. The wound looked red and agitated and my grey shirt was turning a dark red.

"I'm fine," I muttered as the two boys in the back scrambled out. One of the boys had jet-black hair and sea-green eyes like me. He looked very similar to me just a few years older. He fulled out the other boy, who was unconscious and muttering something. Wait. What the heck? He didn't have legs, he had furry legs with hooves where his feet should have been. I stared at the boy,

"Why is there a goat in his pants?"

The black-haired boy looked at me, his eyes hard, " You can see that."

I frowned, confused, and turned to look at the lady, who was looking in the distance, her eyes looked darker than before, and she looked like she was ready to dive into the battle. I followed her eyes, Then I saw it in a flash of lightning, a figure was lumbering towards us. It was at least 7 feet tall and it looked like it had horns. In my weeks of experience of running away from monsters, seeing horns was not a good sign.

"You both have to run. Do you see that big tree?" I turned around to look at the lady.

"What?" The black-haired boy focused on his mother.

Another flash of lightning, and I looked in the direction the lady was pointing at I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hills

"Percy, That's the property line," the lady said sternly to her son "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."

She then turned to meet my eye, "You'll understand once you get there. For now, just follow his lead."

I shook my head. I couldn't just leave her behind, she seemed like a nice lady, especially not with the giant horn boy marching towards us.

"Mom, you're coming too." the green-eyed guy, Percy said and I agreed, "Yes you can't stay here." pointing at the bull-guy walking towards us.

Her face was pale and with sad eyes, she just stared at her son

"No!" Percy shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover." "Food!" Grover, the half-goat man moaned, a little louder and I was suddenly aware of the emptiness of my stomach, Gods I desperately wished I could have some hamburgers now.

Percy and his mom draped Grover over their shoulders and we started walking over the hill. I stumbled behind them, my head was ringing and my legs shaking. Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs filled with muscles. He wore no clothes except underwear —I mean, bright white —which was hilarious but I was too terrified for my life to laugh.

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 a horn.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "What the heck is that?"

"Pasiphae's son," Percy's mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min—" Percy began just to be cut off by his mom

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

I didn't understand how anyone she knew had a son like that and even if he was couldn't they talk over some tea and not run after us in pouring rain.

The pine tree was still way too far.

I glanced behind me again.

The bull-man hunched over the car, just sniffing around it. Why he was doing that was beyond me if he just looked up he would be able to see us.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

Percy hushed him and asked his mom the exact question that was on my mind. "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 the car up from his horn and threw it over the road, making the car explode.

"Listen," the lady instructed "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways, in opposite directions. Okay. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?" Percy asked her.

Which seemed true at that point. I wondered if she could tell me what I was, where I came from, and why all these monsters were after me. As far as my memory served I barely had a good night's sleep without being woken up by a snarl or having spent a day without a monster attacking me.

I decided to focus my mind on the bull with underpants, as much as I would like an answer we needed to get out of here alive first.

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me." Did she see the future or something?

"Keeping me near you? But—"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.

He'd smelled us.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper, we were getting slower, and Percy and his mom seemed to be getting tired too.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.

Percy's mother commanded. "Go, You two! Separate! Remember what I said."

I didn't want to split up, I felt like I was gonna get lost in the hill forever if I went but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left and Percy went to the right, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

The fear in my stomach made me want to vomit and curl up into a ball and cry, 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 me like a bullet train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward Percy's mother, 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 like the lady had said, and the yellow lights from the farmhouse glowing. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Percy's mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. Percy was standing across me, his eyes frozen in fear as the monster charged his mother.

"Run, Percy!" She shouted at him. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

I rotated my necklace And my twin sword appeared in my hands, glistening in the moonlight. They were long swords, one with split-pointed ends like a fork with a rigged grip and a double-sided sword. I had figured out that these swords cut through the monster and they just disintegrated.

She tried to sidestep, as she'd told us to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. I ran down the hill towards her. 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.

"Mom!" I finally heard Percy's voice.

I charged at the monster with one of my swords but it did almost no damage to him. "Go!" I heard Percy's mom yell.

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around her and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form.

I felt an anger burn inside me. She was a good lady. She cared enough to try and keep me safe and then the buzzing in my head stopped, and my mind became clearer. I was ready to tear off the bull-man's underwear.

"No!" I heard Percy yell, a lot closer to me than before. He sounded as if he was broken.

The bull charged at me and I used my sword to cut through his left leg as I slid away from him. The minotaur fell on the ground and I used my sword to slice through its face. The minotaur growled and lunched at me with its horn, sending me flying back, I hit something hard.

I could faintly hear Percy yelling and the ground shook around me. I rolled on the ground and looked up to see the minotaur charging at Percy

who was waving his red jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

I looked at him shocked he couldn't be thinking to do this—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I think.

The bull raced towards Percy and I tried to stand up but my legs were wobbly and my head was dizzy and I could not find the strength to pull myself up.

The next time I looked at Percy he was sitting on the neck of the minotaur

A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake Percy, who had locked his arms around its horns.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up. I pushed up myself with the last few bits of strength I could find just as the bull charged towards Grover and pawed the ground again.

As the bull charged, I stood in front of Grover with my dual swords crossed in front of me in a defensive position hoping to block him off. Percy was holding its horn and pulling backward, then—snap!

The bull-man screamed and flung Percy through the air. He landed flat on the grass. I used this moment to slice through the monster's eye with one sword. And stabbed another in his legs. The monster screeched and flung his horns at me. I dodged rolling on the ground.

The monster turned back towards Percy as he sat up. He must have been very angry at him, as his nose flared. His one good eye turned blood red and he charged at Percy.

Percy rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.

The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate— like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind.

The monster was gone.

I laid down flat on the ground. The rain had stopped but could still hear the clouds rumbling at a distance. I closed my eyes and for a minute it felt the calmness. I didn't want to get up, I wanted to sleep.

"Hey." I heard Percy's voice as he lightly shook my shoulders and I opened my eyes. He looked broken, the light in his eyes was gone. I felt the guilt wash over me. If only I had reached there before maybe…just maybe the monster wouldn't have caught her. Tears were starting to form in the corners of Percy's eyes. " Im sorry." I whispered, my voice soft. He just silently shook his head and pulled me up.

Percy and I then supported Grover on our shoulders and we staggered down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. Percy was fully crying now.

I understood how he felt - seeing her disappear like that made my heart hurt, I wasn't familiar with this world. I didn't even know where I was from but I could tell how much Percy and his mother cared about each other. They were ready to give up everything for each other's safety and it made me feel sad. I had tears in my eyes too.

As soon as we reached the farmhouse Percy and I dropped Grover on the wooden porch and I passed out next to him.