Note to self: if a good looking guy asks you if you want to live, don’t go with him.

In all fairness though, you probably should go with him, for sure if they mention someplace called Camp Half-Blood, and especially if his name is Percy Jackson. It could mean life or death concerning who exactly you may turn out to be. Don’t worry about me, though. I’m just a bit bitter about the situation I was in. Honestly, who wouldn’t be? But that’s besides the point I’m trying to make.

I stumbled after Percy, trying to keep up as my head throbbed and a monster boomed somewhere behind us. He yelled something back to me, but it sounded like his voice was travelling through a waterfall hitting sheets of glass. Suffice it to say, my mind was freezing over. I wondered if it was shock. In any case, I really was in no condition to be moving. The taste of baklava still danced on my mouth from the ambrosia I was given, but the effect was fading, and I was beginning to feel some of the injuries I had sustained.

I also had the weirdest feeling that the bruise on my head was healing quickly, but it was probably just the bruise on my head giving me weird hallucinations. The feeling of a hand grabbing me brought me back to reality.

Percy looked at me, more concerned than annoyed at this point. “Hey, you okay? I’m not sure I should give you more ambrosia, you might burn up.”

“Burn up?” I muttered. “That would be fun.”

Percy grinned. “Looks like there’s still hope for you after all. But I can’t have you falling behind. Whatever’s coming, it’s coming fast, and we need to hurry.”

“Why hurry when we can just die?” I said. “Better than my miserable life.”

“Don’t say that,” Percy said, frowning. “I didn’t save the world twice over just to have another demigod die because of me. You’re going to be fine. We just need to get to camp.”

There was that word again. Demigod. Half human, half god. Finally, the memory came to me. I could vaguely remember learning the word when I was taking Drama, but I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he was calling me that. I couldn’t be a demigod. I was nobody special. The most I could do was cut my hair and look badass while no one thought to question me. Ah, when times were much simpler.

“What is this camp?”

Percy shook his head, pulling me along with him. “I already told you. Now come on, we need to move.”

I couldn’t really argue, since I could hear the loud roars from where we stood. It rumbled the ground, and it seemed to me that with every footstep, the earth shook. I had the strangest feeling the tremors I felt were stronger than the ones Percy felt, but it must’ve been just my imagination. Then again, everything happening could’ve been my imagination, and I could actually be dying in a car seat back at the cab.

I decided to go with the reality where I was living.

As I finally felt my mind clear up on it’s own, I shook my head. “Wait, how did you know I was in trouble? That seemed awfully convenient that you’d find me-”

Boom!

The faint sound of something exploding cut me off as we both stopped. I gulped. “Th-that you’d find me when you did.”

He shrugged. “Your cab crashed a few blocks from my apartment, but I could hear the squealing tires and crash just fine. Grabbed my sword, ran out the door, found you in the hand of two empousa. Nothing much to it.”

No, I thought, Just some crazy coincidence.

“‘Sides,” he said, gesturing his sword toward a car a hundred feet away, “That means we don’t have to worry about transportation. I can drive you to camp.” He stared forward for a few seconds before wincing, as if remembering something that was painfully familiar. “On second thought, scratch that. We might just end up crashing and burning.”

The only correct response was a solid “Huh?”

He shook his head. “We’ll have to find another way to get there. I have a bad feeling about all this.”

“No schist,” I murmured. With that, we ran past what must’ve been his apartment complex and his Prius, the latter of which mysteriously had what looked to be horse hooves dented in the roof. Questioning the credibility of his excuse not to drive to wherever this camp was, I grumbled to myself but didn’t outright say anything. It was obvious he knew more about what he was doing than I did.

Didn’t mean I couldn’t complain.

“Look, do you want to die? Like, really?” Percy said. “Because let me tell ya, dying isn’t fun.”

He said that as if he’d died before. I didn’t really think, or want to question him further. “No, I guess not really,” I said, “But this seriously sucks. Are you sure we shouldn’t have just taken your car?”

“You might as well be asking whether I want to be stuck in a metal cage of death. Don’t worry, I’ve called for backup.”

“Backup?” I asked. As far as I knew, I hadn’t seen him whip any sort of cellphone out or anything, and he had been running with me this whole time. “What kind of backup?”

He just grinned this really annoying grin, telling me he knew something I didn’t. What a frustrating character. “You’ll see. You’re sure to like it.”

I raised a speculative eyebrow at him. “Uh-huh. I don’t suppose some sort of flying horse will come and save us, hm? How about some magical seapony that can survive on land? Maybe a storm cloud?”

He laughed nervously. “Could be.”

His answer didn’t comfort me. In fact, it worried me, because it implied that any of those things could be real. Either way, I wasn’t prepared for such a mind-blowing revelation, so I grabbed the idea and threw it off a cliff. It was for the best. “Just don’t tell me there’s some sort of kraken swimming around in the ocean. That would be freaky as he-”

Whatever I was going to end up saying was suddenly cut off as Percy shoved me to the ground and a car flew past us, tumbling past the sidewalk and into the nearby park. After it rolled a few times, I watched it come to a crashing halt against a tree before someone stumbled woozily out of it and, the car burst into flames.

“Friggin A.” Percy seemed to mumble as he picked himself up, “I’m going to murder that monster.”

Friggin A? Must be serious. I dusted myself off a little, but stopped in my tracks as I turned to look at what Percy was seeing. There, standing in the middle of the street and hounding on cars that were ramming into him with screeching tires, was a large mishmash of animals that could’ve been a snake, a lion, a lizard, or a goat. It breathed fire at oncoming traffic and spit acid at cars that crashed into it from behind.

I shrieked, stumbling backward. “What in the world is that?”

“A chimera,” Percy said darkly. “I haven’t seen one of those things since I was twelve.”

“Twelve?” I asked, because twelve. Twelve. Who the heck encounters a chimera at the age of twelve, much less the chimera in the first place? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

“Yeah, and then I fell six-hundred feet into the Mississippi. It’s pretty funny, now that I think about it.”

I gulped, staring at him a little. Six-hundred feet? Who was this guy? Another pressing question was, the Chimera from myths was real? HUH!? My mind started spinning again, before Percy grabbed my shoulder.

“Alright, here’s the game plan. I attack and distract the monster, you stay here and wait for backup.”

“What the heck is the backup?” I asked him. Well, I really yelled it more than I did ask it, but the message was passed.

He waved me off before running and shouting behind his back: “You’ll know! Just yell for me!”

He swung his sword before diving right in, yelling at innocent civilians standing around and screaming. They didn’t need another warning. It was almost mesmerising, seeing him dance around the chimera with practiced ease. As if he had done this a million times. The chimer snarled and breathed flames at him, but he rolled out of the way. He really wasn’t trying to kill it, I realised. He was just using himself as a target so others could get away. I could also see his eyes darting cautiously between the rear end and the head of the monster, the way someone would knowing they had made a mistake sometime in the past.

He had said he encountered it before, and he fell six-hundred feet. What made this time any different? I could see him really dancing now, his slashes not quite breaching the chimera’s fur. I could see now that it wasn’t really as big as it should’ve been, and some of its features were rounder than they could’ve been. It was a baby, I realised, or at least, close to one. But Percy didn’t know that.

I thought of people that played with bear cubs in the woods. What was it that happened to them? I… it was on the tip of my tongue. The top of my head. They, they… no, if there was a cub, the mother was always nearby, ready to attack. So if this tiny chimera were a baby, then the mother-

“Percy!” I yelled, but I think it was too late. Another roar pierced the air as Percy turned towards me in confusion before the mother Chimera burst into view on the block, at least twice the size of the baby. Percy realised at that moment he had been battling the baby just as I did, the only difference being? He was in the middle of it all. I wasn’t. With how good he seemed to be, how experienced he showed himself to be, I was sure he could handle on chimera baby-or-not just fine, but two? That was a stretch. A very dangerous stretch. And Percy seemed to realise this at the same time I did.

“Ship biscuits,” I saw Percy mouth, though I was sure he had said something much cruder and inappropriate than that. I then watched as the two chimera nuzzled together before roaring in unison at Percy. He withstood the combined rush of two roars, but I could see he was shaken. They proceeded to split up, flanking Percy on both sides, and I knew he was screwed— Unless I came into the equation.

But what would my weapon be? A stick? What good would a stick do to a chimera? No, I had to find something, and something quick. Percy was depending on me (though I’m sure he would rather admit otherwise). I looked around me, trying to see what could be useful. A glass Coke bottle, rubble, some more rubble, broken street signs, an overturned car, a pawn shop, a comic book store, a—

Wait, a pawn shop? There was usually something good in there, right? Though I’d never actually been in one, I glanced one more time at the Chimerae and muttered “Screw it.” I bolted for the store, throwing the door wide open and yelling at everyone inside to get out because there was a monster outside. When they proceeded to look outside, all they yelled was “Dragons! What the heck?! Ahhhahhahahah!”

I stared at them in confusion as they ran out the door, but I couldn’t waste anymore time. Wondering what normal people saw wasn’t going to help me save a life. Slamming my hands down on the counter with weapons out for display, my eyes were immediately attracted to a wide blade about the length of my forearm among a couple other glowing artifacts, its wicked leaf-shaped blade glinting eagerly in the light of the case. Looking nearby, I grabbed a cane from a tube full of them and whacked it at the glass, breaking it.

I grabbed the blade and the accompanying sheath, stuffing said sheath in my bag before rushing out, my grip on the dagger already feeling snug and at home. I glanced down at it, wondering whether that was just my imagination, but I didn’t dwell. I think all-in-all, I wasted three minutes, but that may’ve been three minutes too long.

Percy was looking tired, and I mean tired. I could see he was struggling, having to dodge two paw swipes and and two breaths of fire as well as two snake tails all at the same time. It was amazing to even know he survived so long. With a whistle, I threw my bag as far behind me as I could and jumped up and down.

“Look at me, I’m a target!” I yelled. That got their attention. Percy also turned toward me, looking grateful but worried. I winked at him. “Come and get me, losers! Your breaths stink worse than a garbage dump!”

Percy yelled “Hey, what are you-”

I waved him off, running straight at the chimera. “Just a distraction, right?” Just as I reached the baby, it raised a paw and I dropped sliding completely underneath the beast. Its wipe reached nothing, but mine did. With a quick swing, as I passed underneath, I was able to cut off the snakehead tail of the baby, the whole thing flopping uselessly before lying limp and disintegrating into golden dust.

The baby roared, and then, so did the mother. They both turned towards me, and I knew I was screwed. They opened their maws, and I braced myself, knowing that being roasted alive would not be fun, but it would be quick all the same. When I felt the rush of air hit me, however, it felt like taking a tanning bed when it was a one-hundred degree day (that’s 38 celsius for you Canadians). Terrible, really really terrible, but not deadly.

My nerves were on fire. No, they actually felt like they were, literally and, well, metaphorically. Opening my eyes, I saw that my sleeves had caught fire, and my pant legs too, and maybe my eyebrows had been singed a little, but otherwise, I was fine. I looked at my hands and gulped, seeing them at least ten shades darker, but I was alive. I was alive.

I was alive? What?

That question seemed to boggle the chimerae too because they both cocked their heads at me, asking with their eyes You’re not dead? I honestly wondered that myself, and I turned to Percy in confusion, who stared at me thoughtfully as if he had seen something like this before.

And that’s when everything hit the fan.

Percy was sent flying by the baby chimera, who had recovered quicker than either of us. He slammed into a wall and crumpled to the ground, his sword clattering to the side as he was dazed beyond all measure. Then I felt a sharp sting in my leg, as if something bit me. Stumbling back in shock, I saw the snake tail from the mommy chimera retreating. I’d been bit, and already, I could feel its effects on me. Then, I too was sent flying back.

I hit the ground hard, wheezing as the air was knocked out of me. I could see stars and spots in my vision, which was never good, and I was sure I had concussion. I felt like giving up, just letting the monsters eat me. Seriously, it would’ve been easier, but I got up anyways. Tears were lining my eyes from the fire that was crawling up my leg, but for some reason I still got up. Why?

Well, maybe it was because of the scream I suddenly heard, and I whipped my head to look for the source. A little boy, who had been spectating in awe, was now cowering behind some broke concrete as the mommy chimera advanced on it’s new target. I could see the mother just a hundred feet away, looking for her boy and suddenly finding him the prize of two chimera; she also screamed.

I couldn’t let anything happen. These monsters were after me. That was for sure. Percy had just come along for the ride. But a little kid? No.

I screamed too. I yelled in pain but I ignored the venom in my veins, running with all the strength I had left to put myself in between the monster and the boy. I threw myself in front of the chimera, yelling something I couldn’t really understand, other than that I knew it was a completely different language than what I knew was english before I did something stupid.

Only after I woke up in the infirmary of the camp would I know what I did.

Percy told me that he had been conscious enough to see me thrust my dagger into the ground in front of the chimera. I had fallen to one knee, the wounded leg crumpling to the ground as I had yelled in frustration and leaned on my blade as if it were a lifeline, and the ground cracked.

Starting from my blade, the ground shifted and broke, rippling out and cracking everything in front of me. The earth began to slide and shift, rumbling so intensely that I had held onto the blade with my whole might, but I knew I was safe. The hard asphalt that would’ve taken a drill to break broke with ease, breaking open like an egg and swallowing the chimera whole. The surrounding buildings shook with the tremors, pieces of plaster and rock raining from the sky. Percy proceeded to take out the distracted chimera before shoving it towards a growing crack in the ground beside him.

Percy then ran towards me, having to avoid the spider-webbing fractures in the ground as he ran towards me. I was still yelling, he said, when he hugged me and made me let go of my dagger. At that point, the dagger popped out of the ground like it had never been there in the first place, and the ground slowly stopped quaking. All the cracks in the ground started to seal themselves, but the largest of them stayed as they were, unable to heal. The boy stared at us as if we were superheroes, but we knew better.

The mother ran up and snatched the boy away, staring at us with fear as the kid started pointing at us and smiling. Percy let go of me and gripped my shoulders, telling me to stay with him. I could’ve sworn I saw winged horses above me, swirling around as if unsure where to land. I saw Percy yell at one to grab my bag while he took my knife and placed it in my hands, the shadow of a pegasus blocking the sun.

At that point, everything was tunneling and I could feel my mind slipping away.

My mind slipped into oblivion.

Author's Note