The Sword Of Tiberius

Chapter 4

A Monster In The Commons

| Juliette |

I called Adrian the moment I got up from the computer. I told him to meet me at Boston Commons and hung up without an explanation. I quickly put on a denim jacket on my tank top and leave the apartment, my hair still a mess. The park would be closing in a couple of hours so I decided to take a cab instead of walking. I hoped Adrian would do the same. I wanted to talk to him as soon as possible.

As I paid the cab driver and walked towards the entrance, Adrian came running up to me. His sky blue eyes shone with worry. I took his arm without saying anything and we entered the park. Passing the horse statue, we headed to the pond. Our pond. We found our usual spot stopped. Adrian stared at me,

" What in the world Jules? 5:30 in the evening you ask me to come here and never tell me why. For all I knew, you could've been dying!" He exclaimed. I was a bit surprised at the emotion in his voice. He worried, but he didn't worry that much.

"I could've handled myself, that is, if I were dying." I said calmly. He inhaled sharply,

"Why'd you call me?" he said, a bit calmer. I looked at him, with a face I hoped wasn't about to cry.

"I found my mom," I said softly. Adrian's face transformed into confusion, shock, and at last happiness for me. He grinned and said,

"Really! Wow. Where? How?"

I told him about my mom and told him she was in London. I saw his face drop, just like mine had.

" Then how are we going to get to her?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. But we're going there." I said, determined. He stayed silent for some time, knowing not to argue with me when it was a matter of my mother. But then he spoke again,

" What about Camp, Juliette? We gotta go in a week."

"Forget Camp-" I started but he interrupted,

" We can't! We can't do that, we promised Chiron. Plus, we promised each other!" I knew he was right. When I make promises, I don't break them. I've never done that, nor will I do that. I sighed,

"Then what?" Adrian squeezed my hand, making my blood run faster. He looked right into my eyes and said,

" We'll figure something out. We'll find her. I promise." I couldn't say anything. Adrian rarely made any promises. So if he made that for me, I could count on him. We would figure something out.

"Ok" I said softly. He smiled a little bit.

" That's my Jules," he said. I grinned.

After that, we roamed in the park for a bit. Both of us were holding hands. Anyone in the park would think we were a thing, but we didn't care what anyone thought. Anything like that just wasn't us. Right? I didn't like him. Or did I? Nope. No way. He was like a brother to me. Plus he flirted with any human being he saw in his way. So I wouldn't ever have a chance. Right? I was being stupid. Only thinking of stupid stuff so that my mind wouldn't go so much towards my mother.

Suddenly my hand felt empty and found out that Adrian was no longer by my side. I started panicking since Adrian would never do that.

 Finally spotting him, my eyes widened more than I ever thought they could. He was with an Empuosa. Or the Empuosa was with him. It didn't matter. I ran towards him, scared the Empuosa was going to strike before I got there. Taking out my Stygian iron dagger which I always kept with myself, I shoved Adrian out of the way. He looked confused and started blinking the moment he lost contact with the monster. 

The empousa shifted to its monstrous form and started attacking. I used the dagger to dodge and made my fingers spark with fire. Trying to burn the thing, I called Adrian. Hopefully he was aware of what was happening now. Just as the thought crossed my mind, an arrow whizzed past me onto the empousa. Startled, the monster swiped its long claws towards my arm and neck and I shrieked with pain. But my other arm was still sparked with fire. I bound the Empousa with fire and Adrain shot 2 more arrows straight at it. Just as the arrows hit, the monster disintegrated. I slumped to the ground instantly. I felt Adrian's hands carry me and his voice saying my name over and over again.

"Stay with me." I heard his distant voice say. I mumbled something I didn't know and dropped into nothingness.