And the winner is…
Option D, all out Chaos!
Final Score:
Option A: Use the tricked-out car to escape: 4
Option B: Use the Monster Karaoke to escape: 10
Option C: Use the magic sports equipment to escape: 2
Option D: All out chaos; use all of them: 95
Chapter 15
Out of the Forest
The door to Bunker 9 grinded open. Outside, the bronze dragon ducked its head, rising from where it had been lying, waiting for them to emerge.
Whatever the dragon expected to see coming out of the doors, this wasn't it.
As the dragon kept its head lowered, its eyes trained on the opening, something fired out extremely fast, smacking it on the snout with a metal ping!
The dragon reared back, its eyes going up to track the small object— a baseball with bronze seams.
While it was distracted, an engine revved.
A convertible sped through the doors. It didn't matter that there wasn't a road, because these wheels were spinning on thin air. The car drove at an angle, flying straight at the dragon's face.
At first, it seemed like it was going to fly away, leaving the wingless dragon stranded underneath. But the dragon pulled its head back. It spewed fire, moving its head to create a wall of scalding flames that forced the car to nosedive.
Inside the car, the seatbelts worked overtime to hold Annabeth in the passenger seat. Clarisse, who refused to wear a seatbelt for a single second, was nearly hurled out, but she managed to hang on. Perseus yanked the steering wheel, leveling them out.
"This is fun!" he said.
Annabeth didn't look like she agreed. She was as white as a ghost. Their new path was taking them straight at the dragon, which reoriented and opened its jaws. Clarisse grabbed something from the backseat, leaning out over the door.
"Eat this!" she bellowed.
They flew close enough to the dragon's bronze hide that they almost lost one of the side mirrors. Clarisse lifted a jet-enhanced golf club, giving it a swing that would clock in at two hundred miles per hour or more.
Not that it worked. Instead of cracking the dragon's bronze skin, the club just snapped in half, the shiny driver head breaking clean off and flying away. The dragon tracked the shiny object, before suddenly seeming to remember that it had other problems.
"Look out!" Annabeth cried, pointing.
Perseus swerved even lower, dipping the car under a swipe of the dragon's tail. They kicked up dust, and he had to crank the wheel to keep from smashing straight into a tree.
The dragon was quick. It turned and charged before they had a chance to accelerate. Instead of running, Perseus turned the car toward it and mashed the horn.
It wasn't a horn anymore, though. An unearthly wail made Clarisse and Annabeth press their hands to their ears. The Karaoke machine, still set to Eagle screeches, had been wired into the rest of the car. The dragon skidded to a stop, hurling its head back and forth. Perseus snatched a bronze discus from the glove compartment, hurling it with all his might and scoring a hit on the dragon's weak point along the neck.
The dragon flinched as if stung by a bee. Despite its discomfort, the automaton's head twisted around, following the discus that had pinged off its skin. It even took a step toward the discus, before reorienting back to the car.
"No way," Perseus said. "It can't really…"
As the dragon advanced, he twisted around, looking into the backseat.
"Clarisse!" he shouted. "Pitching machine!"
"This isn't the time to play catch!" she grunted, sorting through the rest of the golf clubs in search of something heavier than the one she'd broken.
"Not catch!" Perseus said. "Fetch!"
She gave him a look that showed how crazy he sounded. But despite this, she dragged the pitching machine up off the convertible's floor.
They'd needed to separate it from its legs in order to fit in the backseat, but the mechanism was still here. Clarisse set it on her thick thighs and braced her arms. As tired and hungry as she was, her body's strength was something that would never abandon her.
Her meaty arms braced against the metal, holding it still as Perseus turned back, snagging the shiniest metal ball they had and feeding it in. The machine kicked back, its recoil thumping into Clarisse's stomach.
The ball fired out, arcing high over the dragon's head. The dragon craned its neck. It scampered off, chasing the ball, its jaws open wide in preparation to make a catch.
"Go!" Annabeth said.
Perseus gunned their new ride. They fired across the clearing. But apparently, there was a reason the car had just been stashed in a bunker, instead of being paraded as some great invention. It was still a prototype. When they hit eighty miles an hour, motor oil began pouring out of the bottom of the hood, while something backfired loudly.
The controls turned janky. Perseus could still steer, but he had to cut the speed and fight to keep the car on-course. Even worse, the dragon caught their scent.
It turned its head, guzzling the motor oil that fell. Then, its eyes locked on them again, forgetting about the ball that had bounced to a stop. It came after them, and with the car moving slower, Perseus wasn't sure they would be able to stay ahead
"It's going to breathe again!" Clarisse said, pointing at where sparks were starting to fizz from the dragon's neck.
Perseus mashed the gas, but the acceleration was sluggish. The first embers escaped its superheated maw. It started to exhale—
The column of flame shot harmlessly into the sky. At the last second, the dragon's head had turned up to track something. The ball they'd used for fetch had been thrown again, distracting it.
When Perseus looked where the ball came from, he did a double take. He expected Kayla, or maybe even (if they were lucky) Thalia. Instead, he saw someone in a cloak.
It was the same person he tried to chase the day before. The hood slipped back, revealing a somewhat pudgy face that didn't match at all with the very athletic throw he'd just performed. He looked like a younger version of Dionysus.
Perseus turned the car down, until the wheels touched the ground, and braked.
"Get in!" he said.
He wasn't totally sure what was happening, but he knew that the dragon wouldn't be distracted for very long. There would be no escaping it on foot. If the boy in the cloak was helping them, the least they could do was keep him from getting burned alive. Even if he did steal Perseus's herbs.
He sprinted to the car and jumped into the backseat.
"Castor?" Annabeth said. "Why would you be…"
"I'll explain later!" the boy said. "Let's leave!"
Something landed in his lap.
All four of them looked at it, finding a small ball with shiny metal parts sewn into it— the ball the dragon had been chasing.
"What?" Castor said.
The ground shook. Perseus whipped his head around, finding the dragon scampering toward them at its top speed. Yet this wasn't what caught his attention. Behind it, distantly, he saw a woman, her arm extended from an underhand toss. She was too far away for him to make out her features, but she was clearly smiling. She slipped away among the trees. Perseus felt a strange, deep urge to go after her, but there was no time.
He cranked the wheel back and smashed the gas pedal. The car lurched forward sharply, but its acceleration was clumsy and jerky. They jolted into the air, but couldn't climb as high as he wanted. To escape, Perseus was forced to swerve between trees, rather than climbing above their branches.
The demigods' weight was thrown side to side as Perseus desperately turned the wheel. Behind them, the dragon crunched straight through, snapping branches and knocking over trees that got in its way.
A tight turn snapped off one of the side mirrors. Dark smoke had started to spew from the exhaust. Perseus got a facefull of pine needles that nearly made him crash, but he swerved in time, spitting to clear the taste from his mouth.
"Aim for the creek!" Annabeth said.
He spotted it between the trees. Perseus cranked the wheel to push them into an almost ninety-degree turn. Clarisse, who was still too stubborn to use a seatbelt, flew forward, her breasts mashing into Perseus's shoulders.
Above the creek, there were no trees or obstacles they needed to avoid. Perseus was able to push the car as fast as it would go— which wasn't very fast at this point. He could only manage about sixty miles an hour now, compared to the ninety the car had been pushing when it was undamaged.
He could hear the dragon splashing through the water behind him. It was gaining on them. Perseus leaned his head over the door.
"If you help us out, I'll make sure to thank you later!" he shouted.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, spouts of water shot up, getting in the dragon's eyes and temporarily blinding it. Perseus smirked.
He had never been able to control water like his father. But who needed to, when there are so many Naiads in the world itching for his attention?
"I see camp!" Annabeth said.
She pointed between the trees, at where the forest finally started to clear.
Perseus mashed the horn. Each time he did it, a different but equally-awful monster sound echoed out. Bellows and screeches and nasty wails emanated from the car, echoing between the trees. He hoped any campers nearby would understand that meant Big Dragon! Run away!
There was an awful popping noise behind them. Annabeth whipped around. "What was that?"
The dark smoke from the exhaust had picked up a nasty burning smell. The car pitched forward, losing elevation. They broke out of the trees just in time to crash-land on a grassy hill.
Apparently, the shocks were the only thing in the car that was in real working order. They groaned loudly, but held out, keeping all the wheels in place and spinning despite a twenty-foot fall. The engine was sputtering. Using the last of their speed, the car careened forward.
Ahead of them, Perseus spotted a collection of campers. They were armed and carrying weapons like they were ready for a match of Capture the Flag. Chiron was with them, and he wasn't alone. At his side, Perseus spotted not just Kayla, but Thalia too.
Now, he was pretty happy about seeing the daughter of Zeus alive and healthy. Normally, he would've wanted to celebrate. But at the moment, he was a bit busy worrying about how these demigods were directly in the path of their car.
Perseus punched the horn. A falsetto moo poured from the car's sound system, like the Minotaur's best attempt at singing Lady Gaga. Demigod's dove aside.
The car careened through before finally slowing and stopping. At the very end, an airbag puffed out weekly, falling over Annabeth's face like a blanket. Perseus shoved the door open, stumbling out.
"Dragon!" he yelled. "The dragon's coming!"
The demigods who barely avoided becoming roadkill stared at him, not comprehending what he meant. Then the dragon arrived.
It was still crawling like some kind of huge, deadly gecko. The weak point on its neck had grown, puffing out actual fire instead of just sparks, but it was miles from being down for the account. Snapped branches decorated its head like a natural crown. The campers froze as its breath powered up. What good was armor, compared to a flamethrower.
A few of them moved. Chiron fired off a burst of arrows with supernatural speed and accuracy, striking the dragon in the chink on its neck. It clearly hurt, but the dragon didn't stop. Thalia started to charge, but all she had was Aegis, having lost her spear back in the forest. The dragon was looking directly at Perseus, and the car behind him, filled with three more demigods. It was going to bathe them in its breath.
A warm breath passed over them. Perseus felt the grass sway under his feet, smelling a fruity scent. From the ground, great vines burst out.
They looped around the dragon's neck. Perseus had seen the dragon break full-grown trees, yet against these vines, it was powerless. They slammed it to the ground, still growing. The dragon was pinned down, while more and more vines slithered over it, crisscrossing its bronze torso. Finally, the vines wrapped around its jaws, binding them shut. The dragon couldn't even thrash. It had been disabled completely.
"Dionysus…" Perseus said.
"Don't say my name that way." Mr. D was ambling down the hill from the direction of the Big House, his pudgy face featuring a distinct frown. "It sounds wrong when you say it, Perseus. It makes you sound like a woman."
Perseus's heart was beating. If the dragon breathed its fire then, he wasn't sure if he could have dodged. The fear of death that awoke in him after his run-in with Medusa was pounding in his chest. He felt… grateful.
"Thank you—"
"Are you alright?" Dionysus wasn't even looking at Perseus. He'd walked right past, stopping beside the car and looking down, his hands linked behind his back. "Castor."
"Hey, Dad," the demigod in the backseat said weakly.
No wonder Perseus noticed a resemblance. He remembered Thalia telling him, back when he arrived, that Dionysus had two twin sons at camp. This pudgy boy must have been one of them. It explained his speed and strength— Dionysus always had been a deceptive athlete.
"Is there a particular reason you were in the forest alone?" Dionysus asked. "I know this isn't the first time."
Castor flinched. "It's Pollux, dad…"
"Is something wrong with him?"
Perseus noticed that despite Dionysus's completely uninterested tone, his eyes were sharp. The wine god didn't fool him. He might be able to convince others at camp that he cared about nothing, but Perseus could see he was concerned.
Castor looked around. The demigods that had been with Chiron were still regaining their feet, staring at the dragon. None of them seemed interested in approaching Dionysus until they knew he wasn't in a bad mood. Chiron was cantering over, Thalia and Kayla with him, but they weren't within earshot yet. It was just Perseus, Annabeth, Thalia, and Castor's father.
"The last time the Hunters visited, he made a bet with one," Castor said quickly. "She said he couldn't handle alcohol, because he was always drinking grape juice, but that she could. So Pollux brought out a secret stash, and they both drank… and she wouldn't stop. She got really drunk. When Artemis found her, she just took her away. But when the hunters left, Pollux got this rash, and it kept getting bigger…"
"So instead of asking your father, you chose to go searching for herbs?" Dionysus asked. "Brilliant move."
"But you're always telling us to clean up our own messes!" Callux protested.
"It shouldn't have to be said that if your mess comes from defending your values, you can always rely on me!" Dionysus paused. "As long as the value in question is about alcohol. Anything else, you're on your own."
"You'll really…" Callux said.
"Yes, I'll heal him," Dionysus snapped. "Don't look at me like that!"
His last exclamation was directed at Perseus as much as it was directed at his son. Perseus turned away, snorting. Dionysus tried awfully hard to be a prick all the time, but sometimes, his heart was as soft as his gut.
"Perseus! What is all of this?"
Perseus turned to find Chiron looking at him, the car, and everything behind him. The centaur looked relieved, confused, and concerned all at once.
"You found Festus!" he said.
"Festus?" Perseus asked.
Chiron inclined his head back toward the dragon, where it lay trussed up like a misbehaving dog.
"You named the monster that tried to eat us?" Perseus asked.
"Festus is not a simple monster," Chiron said. "At one time, he was one of this camp's greatest protectors. But he was lost, along with many of the Hephaestus Cabin's precious treasures. Could it be…"
"Chiron, we found Bunker 9," Annabeth said.
"And you entered it?"
"We spent the night there," Perseus said. "It was the only way to get away from that thing— from Festus."
Slowly, Chiron started to smile.
"The Hephaestus Cabin will be overjoyed," he said. "I can't wait to tell them…"
Thalia brushed past him, Kayla at her side. The daughter of Zeus looked them over, before offering a nod.
"You're alright," she said. "That's good. I was worried."
"I feel like that should be our line," Perseus said.
"I'm not the one who was missing overnight."
"No, but you are the one who left her spear behind and disappeared."
Thalia grimaced. "I dropped it," she said. "The dragon was too fast. I had to hide from it. I tried to find you guys, but all I found was Kayla here. Who ran away."
"I'm sorry!" Kayla said. "Sorry sorry sorry! I got scared!"
"It's fine," Perseus said.
Kayla started to relax, but Thalia grabbed her by the back of her shirt.
"You will have to make it up to us, though," she said.
"I will!" Kayla moaned, starting to sniffle. "I willll!"
"When Kayla and Thalia emerged last night, I admit, I was concerned," Chiron said. "The search team we prepared was about to enter the forest when, well… This happened."
Dionysus opened the car door, dragging his son out by the arm.
"The two of us have matters to attend to," he said. "Lead on, Castor."
Despite what he said, Dionysus walked off dragging the boy, who followed with a nervous expression.
"We didn't even get your herbs," Kayla said sadly, looking at Perseus.
"It's alright." Perseus flexed his arm, showing that he could move it naturally again, at least for the moment. "I found another way to help myself heal."
"What was it?" Kayla asked. "Those results are fantastic!"
"I just recalled old times," Perseus said.
He ignored how confused Kayla looked. Everyone else seemed to understand, even Chiron. He half expected Annabeth to shout at him or come out with some sort of insult, but she just flipped her hair and looked away.
Soon after, the group dispersed. Chiron turned the Perseus-and-friends retrieval team into a disassembled-the-bronze-dragon team. He summoned the Hephaestus Cabin, who arrived less than five minutes later, sprinting. They descended on the dragon and the broken car like vultures.
Perseus, meanwhile, went with Annabeth and Clarisse to fill their empty stomachs. He kept thinking of the woman they saw, the one that directed Festus toward them again.
Who was she? Someone had to have activated the dragon again. Was it her? And why, even though Perseus had barely caught a glimpse of her, did she feel so familiar?
He didn't talk about any of this with Annabeth and Clarisse. None of them talked, really, too busy scarfing down food. Perseus left, while they were still eating, excusing himself to return to his cabin. The idea of this woman was bothering him, and he couldn't get her out of his head.
Until he stepped into his cabin, at least.
He had guests. There, on his bed, Kayla Knowles sat, her head pointed toward the floor. Thalia stood beside the daughter of Apollo, her arms crossed. She looked like a disappointed teacher— but a sexy one. The daughter of Zeus was hot when mad.
"What's this supposed to be?" Perseus asked.
Thalia looked at him, while Kayla continued staring at the floor.
"Kayla ran," Thalia said. "That means she has to make it up to us. She needs a punishment."
"What kind of punishment?" Perseus asked, walking forward.
"You know what kind."
"Well, I've got a few ideas." Perseus stopped in front of Kayla, the bright-haired girl looking up at him shyly. "The question is… Can you handle it?"
Kayla glanced up, looking shy. "I said I'd make it up to you…"
Perseus smiled. Well, wasn't that exciting? The only question left was, which one of his ideas should he use…
Choice: How should Perseus 'punish' Kayla for running away?
Option A: Bondage.
Option B: Anal.
Option C: Orgasm denial.
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