Ethereal

Chapter II

AELIA'S POV

I had my guesses on what kind of monster Dr Thorn was, but all I knew for certain was that he was fast. I had left Bianca and Nico for a few minutes while I went to find Grover, but when I got back, they were gone and Grover was nowhere to be found. 

I was creeping around Westover Hall when suddenly I heard a noise from down the corridor. Reaching up, I tugged my necklace from its previous position around my neck revealing my 11th birthday present from my Dad. My trusty gold bow, and its accompaniment of never-ending arrows in a quiver on my back, which I had nicknamed ήλιος, meaning light in Greek.

Stepping down the corridor, I nocked an arrow of my bow. 

There was a flash of light then suddenly I crashed into someone.

Pulling back the string, I pointed my bow at whatever it was.

"Found you" muttered the dishevelled pile on the floor.

"Grover!" I exclaimed after realising who it was. "Where were you? What happened to the original plan!?"

"Percy Jackson happened" grumbled a less than happy Thalia while coming up behind me.

"Oh"

"Have you seen him? I was with him but he just ran off" asked Annabeth.

I never got the chance to answer her, because Thalia suddenly turned and ran off.

Exchanging a look with Annabeth, we quickly followed her.

Outside, it was bitterly cold. We ran along a snowy cliff edge for a minute, until Thalia suddenly stopped almost sending me straight into her.  

"What?" asked Grover.

"I see them!" answered Thalia. "What's our plan?"

"I'll distract, you attack" Annabeth answered before putting a blue hat on her head and disappearing.

An invisible force suddenly slammed into Percy, stopping his and Bianca's hushed conversation.

Annabeth's move was truly brilliant. Wearing her cap of invisibility, she ploughed into the di Angelos and Percy, knocking them to the ground. For a split second, Dr Thorn was taken by surprise, so his first volley of missiles zipped harmlessly over their heads. This gave Thalia, Grover and me a chance to advance from behind—Thalia wielding her magic shield, Aegis.

If you've never seen Thalia run into battle, you have never been truly frightened. She uses a huge spear that expands from this collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket, but that's not the scary part. Her shield is modelled after one her dad Zeus uses—also called Aegis—a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa moulded into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible, most people will panic and run at the sight of it.

Even Dr Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.

Thalia moved in with her spear. "For Zeus!"

I thought Dr Thorn was a goner. Thalia jabbed at his head, but he snarled and swatted the spear aside. His hand changed into an orange paw, with enormous claws that sparked against Thalia's shield as he slashed. If it hadn't been for Aegis, Thalia would've been sliced like a loaf of bread. As it was, she managed to roll backwards and land on her feet. 

I realised that my bow wasn't going to be a big help, so I placed it on my back (it quickly disappeared and reappeared back round my neck as my necklace) and pulled my ring off my finger which transformed into a golden sword.