Death's Touch | Jason Grace

One

Well, Cary wasn't expecting two gorgons to show up. Nor did she expect them to come back to life every time she hit them with a crossbow bolt.

From a watchtower, Cary could see Frank burst from the tunnel, so she took a chance and shadow traveled over with her crossbow and quiver.

"Camp Jupiter," Frank said. "We'll be safe once—"

Footsteps echoed in the tunnel behind them. Hazel burst into the light. She was covered with stone dust and breathing hard. She'd lost her helmet, so her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her armor had long slash marks in front from the claws of a gorgon. One of the monsters had tagged her with a 50% off sticker.

"I slowed them down," she said. "But they'll be here any second."

Frank cursed. "We have to get across the river."

The old woman squeezed the boy's neck tighter. "Oh, yes, please. I can't get my dress wet."

He bit his tongue.

He stumbled a few times as they ran for the river. Frank, Hazel, and Cary kept him on his feet.

They reached the riverbank, and the boy stopped to catch his breath. The current was fast, but the river didn't look deep. Only a stone's throw across stood the gates of the fort.

"Go, Hazel." Frank nocked two arrows at once. "Escort Percy so the sentries don't shoot him. It's my turn to hold off the baddies."

"No," Cary said, unhooking her bracelet. "It's my turn. You go with Hazel and... Percy?"

He nodded.

"And let Reyna know that there's been a swap."

Cary's eyes glued themselves on Percy for a moment.

"GO!"

She whirled and nocked a bolt in her crossbow.

Hazel nodded and waded into the stream.

Percy started to follow, but something made him hesitate. Usually he loved the water, but this river seemed...powerful, and not necessarily friendly.

"The Little Tiber," said the old woman sympathetically. "It flows with the power of the original Tiber, river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out, child. The mark of Achilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away."

Percy seemed too exhausted to understand all that, but he got the main point. "If I cross, I won't have iron skin anymore?"

She smiled. "So what will it be? Safety, or a future of pain and possibility?"

Behind him, the gorgons screeched as they flew from the tunnel. Cary let her bolt fly.

From the middle of the river, Hazel yelled, "Percy, come on!"

Up on the watchtowers, horns blew. The sentries shouted and swiveled their crossbows toward the gorgons.

Percy forged into the river. He reached the other side and put the old woman down as the camp's gates opened. Dozens of kids in armor poured out.

Hazel and Frank turned with relieved smiles. Then they looked over Percy's shoulder, and their expressions changed to horror. "Cary!"

Cary was halfway across the river when the gorgons caught her. They swooped out of the sky and grabbed her by either arm. She gritted her teeth in pain as they dropped her into the river, disintegrating from her bare arms. Then they reformed as she stumbled across the river as fast as she could.