/ thálassa | pjo \

/ chapter four | el encierro de los toros de bronce ardiente \

edited.

_____________________________________________________________________________

 I took no time to shoot up the Hill, only wearing one shoe, mind you.

I never found it, lucky me.

With the tread being uneven as I ran and driving me crazy, I kicked off the one shoe as the inclined run made my knees scream at me. I pulled Undertow from my finger, flicking it and twisting my wrist as the sword formed in my hand. I had learned from over a year of having the sword to ignore the weird pulsing/burning of metal against my palm. The slight pain I had felt every time I activated the weapon was hardly noticeable to my pain receptors now.

Especially when it came to needing to move fast in the chaos of the moment. Which was the case as I threw myself in front of a camper who had turned his back to help someone else.

The muscles in my arms moved with a practiced swing–slashing downward in an arc at the oncoming bull charging at us.

Yes, a bull. Except to my annoyance, the bulls attacking the Hill were on fire and did not look like they would go down without a fight.

Unfortunately for them, I was just slightly stubborn.

My strike lopped the horn off the one that nearly skewered me–sending it lurching to the side as it was thrown off balance.

The camper–Will Solace, a son of Apollo–looked up at me in relief, his young face flushed from adrenaline, "Thanks, Sal. Welcome back."

I grinned at him, ruffling his hair, "Good to be back, Sol."

Yes, I do call the son of the Sun god...Sun.

I hefted him and the other camper to their feet–helping Will support the wounded before I nodded toward the Big House, "Get her outta here. I'll cover you."

He nodded, taking off with the female camper at his side–even though he was about a foot shorter than her.

The bull that had nearly bulldozed us was now running a rampage toward a familiar daughter of Ares–balanced out again and having a new target.

"CLARISSE!" I shouted–running toward her. "LOOK OUT!"

My voice mingled with my brother's, and it must have startled her because the other bull with both horns slammed right into her shield, and the girl went flying.

The bull shot past the fallen daughter of Ares–leaving its twin to finish off the job.

Percy was closer, so he grabbed her by the straps of her armor and yanked her to safety, to which she promptly punched his hands away, screaming, "LET ME GO! PERCY, CURSE YOU!"

I sprinted in front of both of them–my sword raised as my eyes bounced between the two monsters, ready to kill anything in their paths.

The bull with both horns ran in a wide arc and was making its way toward us again. I readjusted my grip, watching as it approached where the magical boundary should have been. It slowed down a bit and then broke through as if it were nothing, racing towards us with a further vendetta to take us out. While the other bull continued its raging path, the one-horned bull turned back to us, fire sputtering from a cut in its side, its ruby-red eyes glowering at us.

Percy barely climbed to his feet next to me, looking exhausted as he took in my hardly flushed face, "How are you not dying?"

I wiped my own face and muttered, "Boxing, bro..."