The Kiss Of Death - A Percy Jackson And The Sea Of Monsters Fanfiction

3 - Tyson Plays with Fire

I saw two bulls. And not just regular bulls-bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.

As soon as we exited the taxi, the Grey Sisters peeled out, heading back to New York, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment. They just left us on the side of the road, Annabeth with nothing but her backpack and knife, me still with my schoolbag over my shoulder, Tyson and me still in our burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.

"Oh, man," said Annabeth, looking at the battle raging on the hill. What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves. Or the ten heroes in full battle armour who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped.

What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree. But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.

One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice-gruff and familiar. Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't have a border patrol.

"It's Clarisse," Annabeth said. "Come on, we have to help her."

Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my "to do" list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. The first time we'd met she'd tried to beat me up, which resulted in a black eye (for her). She was also a daughter of Ares, and Percy and I had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer, so now the god of war and all his children basically hated my guts. Except my boyfriend Aaron, the nicest Ares kid to ever walk this earth.

Still, she was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk.

Clarisse's own armour was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

I pulled off the double-headed axe (Heather HTTYD style) charm from the cain on my jeans. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until I held the Stygian Iron weapon in my hands. I grabbed the shield charm too, roared and charged.

Clarisse, began yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation. It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills. I helped.

Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster.

The other bull charged Clarisse's line.

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors.

Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave. She was a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armour, but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.

"Behind you!" Percy yelled. "Look out!"

He probably shouldn't have said anything, because all he did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke.