The End of an Olympian

11 | No Plan

Now I had to figure out what to do. Go back and apologize? Roam the streets? Turn myself over to foster care? Only the first option sounded logical, but I never got the chance to make that choice. Instead, a giant scorpion crept up behind us and cornered me and my friends. What could go wrong?

1111 words

Caleb

How does a giant ass scorpion sneak up on not one but three people? Well, I don't know, but it happened and now we're fucked.

I pushed Flora and Michaela behind me. I wasn't sure what was going on but I couldn't let them get hurt. But Michaela had other ideas. She stepped around me and glared at the monstrous creature. I officially thought she was insane. I mean she didn't even look scared! I was flipping terrified! But I held my ground and stood firmly at her side.

Flora, ever the pacifist, suggested, "If we just walk around it non-threateningly, it might leave us alone."

"If it was going to leave us alone," Michaela replied matter of factly, "it wouldn't have cornered us. We need another plan."

A plan. Yeah. A plan sounded good to me. The only problem was none of us had a plan.

"Well, I know there are sprays that can kill scorpions," Michaela said.

"I'm all out of my supply of scorpion-away-spray, sorry," I deadpanned.

She glared at me with those cold grey eyes.

We didn't have time to talk after that because the scorpion aimed its tail in our direction. The three of us scrambled to either side, but we forgot about the pinchers. Flora managed to jump behind the large dumpster just as its venomous pinchers came down. I heard that the larger the pinchers the less venomous and the larger tail the more venomous. But this thing was so big I didn't know how to compare it and in any case, a small amount of its venom would probably kill us.

And somehow that triggered an insane idea. I ran out in front of the thing and got its attention.

"Hey ugly!" It turned towards me, which gave Flora and Michaela a chance to scoot by and possibly get help. "No wonder you're alone! A face like that? No one would want you!"

Ok, ok, I know the insults were horrible, but I was under pressure! And its face was pretty ugly. I mean, it was scary, but it was more so scarily ugly. At this point, the giant scorpion sneered at me—or whatever the equivalent of sneering is for scorpions—and reached out both of its pinchers.

At the last second, I jumped forwards towards the monster and its pinchers rammed into each other.

Then, I somehow managed to jump onto its head. Its teach didn't extend up and back, so its only option was to shake me off, which it tried and failed to do, or use its stinger. I was batting on the latter.

This creature must not have been very smart—not complaining—because it was about to fall for the same trap twice. As its tail whipped towards me, I rolled out of the way. When I turned back, I saw my plan was a success.

The scorpion impaled itself with a fatal blow to the head. Death by its own stinger (thanks, Mr. Incredible). Suddenly, the monster burst into gold dust. When the dust settled, I saw something red where the giant scorpion had once been.

"A spoil of war," a voice declared.

I spun around so fast I almost got whiplash. I saw one of the gym teachers, Mr. Bloom, standing protectively in front of Flora and Michaela. Upon closer inspection, I noticed his legs were very hairy. Like... very hairy.

"It's yours, young man. Take it while you can. You're going to need it." Mr. Bloom gestured to the red object.

When I walked over to it, I realized what it was. The stinger had broken off and become a curved, double-edged, short sword, about 3 ft. in length. I picked it up by the leather handle and found it fit perfectly in my hand. I knew nothing of balance for weapons, but it just felt right.

I wondered how I'd carry around a sword inconspicuously. My question was soon answered as the sword shrunk down into a portable flashlight. The flashlight had two buttons, one red and one black. I assumed the red one would bring out the swords again while the black one might act as an actual flashlight, but I wasn't entirely sure and now was not the time to test out any theories.

I forgot Mr. Bloom was there for a second, until he said, "You three need to come with me. More monsters like that will be after you now. I can take you to a safe place."

"Hold up," Michaela interjected first. "We aren't going anywhere until we get some answers. What was that? Why was it after us? Why did it turn into gold dust? Are there more of them around here? Who are you? Why aren't you in school? What are you doing following us? How-"

Suddenly a roar was heard in the distance. We didn't need any more motivation to unquestionably follow Mr. Bloom wherever he leading us.

We were traveling by foot and had to stop for dinner. I wondered how we'd pay, but Mr. Bloom took care of it. After a good burger, fries, and a milkshake—making this the largest meal I've had in the past few months—we continued walking towers Long Island sound, the east shore of Montauk, I believe. Mr. Bloom—who told us to call him Gavin—answered our questions, explained about the Greek and Roman gods, and gave us unwanted advice about plants. It took forever, but eventually, we could see a large hill and an equally large pine tree at the top.

"Just past Thalia's tree and you'll be safe," Gavin informed with a smile.

The smile quickly faded when a large, black, menacing hound jumped out of the woods. I knew Gavin spoke too soon. Doesn't he know never to jinx yourself?

I took out my flashlight and tested the red button. Sure enough, it morphed into the stinger sword. The grip molded to my hand and the head elongated into a curved, red blade with a black tip. The red was much darker than my hair, but it looked wicked, so I didn't care.

I held the weapon in front of me and prepared to attack when what I guessed was a war horn blew across the clearing. Faster than I could blink, five arrows embedded themselves into the monster. It quickly turned to dust, which blew away in the wind. That's when two archers jumped out of trees and approached.

"Hey! I'm Calvin, son of Apollo! Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!" one of them introduced enthusiastically. I internally groaned at his cheerful persona. This would be a long night.

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A/N: So sorry, but I won't be able to update for the next few days. Thanks for understanding. Have a great weekend!