Grover’s eyes then snapped to me and he froze up a bit.
“Who…” He then kept talking this time to Sally “There’s no time!
We gotta get out of here, right now!” Sally, who had temporarily frozen when Grover arrived, came back to life.
“Grover, what’s wrong?” Grover, still panicked, started rambling.
“I’ve been looking for Percy all night after Percy disappeared at the bus station, he said something about seeing old ladies with a thread!” Sally looked scared at hearing this, then turned sharply to Percy, putting her hands on his shoulders.
“Tell me exactly what happened.” Percy quickly recounted everything.
Mrs.
Dodds attacking him.
His teacher throwing him a pen that somehow became a sword.
Nobody remembering Mrs.
Dodds afterwards.
People acting strangely.
Finally, the three old women cutting a thread.
Sally listened without interrupting Percy’s quick narration and then made a quick decision.
“We are leaving.
Now.” Sally immediately went for the door leaving everything behind, pulling Percy along.
I followed quietly along with Grover.
“Mom, what is going on?” Percy asked as we reached the car.
“Where are we going?” He continued asking questions when he received no answers.
Percy looked back at Grover for answers when getting none from his mum.
His eyes then really took in Grover for the first time since he arrived.
“You’re a goat!” Pointing towards Grover’s goat legs and hooves.
“Half goat, a satyr is the correct term.” Grover answered, with a slight mutter.
Sally drove fast along the small roads leaving Montauk, lightning was flashing outside and thunder rolled.
Percy sat in front next to Sally, and I was sitting in the backseat with Grover.
The heavy rain made it hard to see well outside, but the lightning gave Percy periodic clear view of Grover’s goat legs, reinforcing the strange situation.
Percy, after another glance toward Grover’s legs, turned to his mum.
“Do you and Grover know each other?” Grover jumped in instead of Sally.
“We have never met before, but she knew I was watching you.” Percy’s face fell at that.
“So our friendship was just a lie?
You just needed to get close to me?” Grover looked devastated at Percy’s words.
“NO!
Not at all, our friendship was genuine.
I like you Percy, that has nothing to do with me watching over you.
Like I said before I am a satyr, like from Greek mythology.
Which by the way is all true, gods exist, and don’t say their name.
They can take notice!” Percy now looked at me.
“Did you know, Will?” I nodded before continuing with an answer.
“It was not my place to tell you, also after you become aware of what exists out there as a demigod, things notice you back.
I just like you are a demigod.” Percy looked shocked.
“I’m a demigod?
And you are too?” Sally jumped in at that, cutting the conversation short.
“Yes, Percy.
That also has to do with where we are going.
There is a camp for people like the two of you.
A place where you will be safe.
I should have brought you there earlier, but I didn’t want to lose you.” Just as she finished a loud deep bellow sounded somewhere behind us.
I started noticing some very strong vibrations from something very heavy further back to our right.
Grover now seemed more stressed than ever.
I called.
“Something very large is behind us, I can feel it from here.
Drive faster, Sally.” Her foot hit the pedal harder, pushing it to the floor.
“There’s the hill!” Sally said and we entered the last stretch, driving over the dirt road toward a hill with a large tree on it, lightning struck right next to the car.
Sally swerved, losing control, making the car turn straight into the ditch, making it come to an abrupt stop.
The crash caused my head to hit the seat in front of me despite being strapped in, making me go dizzy and causing my eyes to lose focus.
As I tried to shake off the effect I felt my vibration sense go crazy as something very large came toward the car at a quick pace.
Then I both felt and heard the front-door get ripped off and a very large blurry hand reached in and took hold of Sally, pulling her out.
“NO!” With my telekinesis not working properly, it took a while to finally manage to unstrap my seatbelt and pull the door open.
My vision started to clear just as I got out and was instantly greeted with the sight of the Minotaur holding Sally high in the air.
The Minotaur was over three meters tall, covered in short black fur and rippling with muscles.
“LET HER GO!” I yelled, my anger flaring.
I threw a wandless Confringo, despite knowing the drain that would cause on my magic, towards the Minotaur, which hit it in the chest, causing an explosion.
As the dust settled, there was only a patch of missing fur where the spell had landed.
It had only staggered slightly.
Its hide was far tougher than anything I had encountered.
I quickly adapted, throwing the car door to the side, hurling toward the Minotaur who raised its arm just in time to shield itself.
The door crashed into its arm with a lot of force, but still only staggered it slightly.
I heard Percy yell.
“Release her, you overgrown cow!” Now finally out of the car.
Sally thrashed as she was held by the neck and yelled.
“RUN boys!” Just as Percy instead starts moving straight toward the Minotaur, Sally dissolves into a golden light.
Percy stops where he is and falls to his knees.
“NOOO!” His scream is one of pure pain, anger and hopelessness.
At the same time, I looked at the fading light, frozen.
For a heartbeat everything else disappeared.
“I failed, Hades still got her…” In the meantime the Minotaur grabs the car door I had used and hurls it back toward me.
With no more time to despair I jump out of the way while using telekinesis to push it slightly of course.
It still scrapes my right arm just under the shoulder, ripping through the skin leaving a large cut on my forearm, bleeding.
“We need to focus or we will die here Percy!” I yell out while again throwing the door back toward the Minotaur who is moving toward Percy.
This time I aim right at its ankles causing it to stumble and fall as it hits it from the side.
I take out all five knives I brought and send one of them straight toward its eye, as it lies there.
It hits the Minotaur’s eye but does not penetrate deeply at all just into the eye itself, it remains buried there.
Another is sent trying to distract it by cutting the ears, while the rest try cutting its Achilles tendon.
This time it is no longer dazed and gets up, even as the knives follow it trying to cut what they can reach.
Most of the knives bounced harmlessly off its hide.
Only the one lodged in its eye drew any reaction.
It started running toward me trying to destroy the thing that annoyed it.
Percy finally entered the fight, as the Minotaur passed him.
He flings himself on its lower back distracting the Minotaur.
The Minotaur quickly pulls him off before he gets far, throwing him to the side.
“He has to get back up.” I take the time of his distraction to get some heavier stones from the ditch, sending them to pepper the head of the Minotaur.
Once again I realise the lack of damage I’m doing, even targeting weak spots.
I let out a stream of fire toward its face hoping to scare it or at least distract it.
The flames washed over its face.
It jerked back, more annoyance than pain.
No real damage was done.
It did little else besides making it more angry.
In the corner of my eye I caught sight of Percy forcing himself back to his feet.
The Minotaur roared at me, I sent a knife straight into its mouth that simply got crushed as the Minotaur bit down, only causing a little blood.
The Minotaur roared but still didn’t even look winded.
Percy had shaken off the hit by then, getting back up.
He seemed to refuse to let the thing that he believed took his mother from him get away with it.
He once more threw himself on top of the Minotaur as it moved toward me.
This time from the car getting much higher up on its back.
It tried reaching for Percy on its back, but its muscles got in the way.
Percy refused to give up, no matter how much the Minotaur roared or shook.
Percy no longer seemed to be fighting to survive; he was fighting to kill.
He kept climbing, finally making his way to the neck with a roar of his own channeling all the anger of seeing his mum disappear like that.
He grabbed the Minotaur’s right horn, twisting it.
A sound reminiscent of a large branch snapping came and the horn broke.
This caused the Minotaur to go absolutely crazy, it finally managed to catch one of Percy’s arms and flung him toward me.
I caught him best I could with telekinesis, it was surprisingly easy, unlike any other time I tried to lift somebody.
We looked toward each other quickly as we stood side by side, thunder still roaring around us and rain coming down hard.
Then looked back toward the Minotaur.
It surged toward us, this time on all fours, barely wounded at all.
It was only bleeding slightly from its mouth and its ears.
The knife stuck in its eye annoyed it and reduced vision further, but didn’t do any real damage, and three knives swirling around its ears no longer distracted it.
I moved right towards the car, Percy left toward a tree.
The Minotaur was completely focused on Percy, the horn clearly more important to it than its eyes.
I pulled the now mangled car door, now really starting to feel an immense strain on magic, and sent it hurling toward its ankle again just as it was about to reach Percy.
This time, as he was running on all fours, it didn’t fall.
He did, however, change direction slightly, making only its arm hit Percy just as Percy pushed the horn into the side of the Minotaur.
It penetrated easily, going deep into its side, making the Minotaur collapse and crash into the ground rolling forward.
Percy was at the same time launched by the hit of the Minotaur right into a tree immediately losing consciousness.
I rushed over to the lying Minotaur, trying to use telekinesis to pull out the horn, the magic completely slid off it.
So instead I removed it by hand.
I raised the horn to get rid of this cursed creature, hopefully for good.
Just as I was about to bring the horn down into its head, the Minotaur crumbled to dust.
I quickly ran toward Percy, checking his pulse and breathing, both strong.
I exhaled, we had won, but not without cost.
I picked him up carefully with telekinesis, using the last of my magical strength.
I then went to the car with Percy floating after me to collect Grover.
After putting Percy down on the ground, I carefully pulled Grover from the car, laying him next to Percy.
I then removed a towel from the back of the car for each of them to lie on and another to wrap my injured shoulder, my hand trembled slightly as I tied the towel, adrenaline starting to wear off.
I strapped the horn to my back.
I then proceeded to drag them both physically toward the tree on the hill.
Just as I crossed the top of the hill and felt the magic of the boundary, the camp opened up before me.
A broad valley lay before me, untouched by the storm raging behind us.
A large blue farmhouse at the center, scattered cabins and in the distance a lake reflecting the moonlight above.
Some people were running towards us, ahead was a blonde girl with grey eyes that stopped before me.
“Who are you?” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS arre131 First real failure and the first time Will truly struggles.
Hope you liked the chapter!
It helps a lot 🙂