SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

88 - stabbyinnit

THE FIGHT WAS going great – until Jason got stabbed.

Briar flicked her wrist and there her knife was in her hand. She slashed and parried with her right hand, occasionally shooting tomatoes from the cornucopia in her left, while yelling at the suitors, "Save yourselves! I'm too dangerous! And pretty! I'm very pretty."

That must have been exactly what they wanted to hear, because her opponents kept running away, only to freeze in confusion a few yards downhill, then charge back into the fight. Gods, she was good.

The Greek tyrant Hippias lunged at Briar, his dagger raised, but she blasted him point-blank in the chest with a lovely pot roast. He tumbled backwards into the fountain and screamed as he disintegrated.

"Arby's!" Briar grinned as she spun around, accidentally slashing a ghost behind her with her knife. "We have the meats." She promptly killed that ghost that was behind her.

She turned just in time to see Jason yank his pilum out from Antinous, the ghoul then crumbling to dirt. He kept fighting, spinning his javelin – slicing through ghosts, knocking ghouls off their feet.

Annabeth fought like a demon, too. Her drakon-bone sword scythed down any suitors stupid enough to face her.

Briar continued to fight, yelling out commands as her knife hit the ghosts just right, disintegrating them. Occasionally, a well thrown fruit or vegetable from her cornucopia killed a suitor, and she'd squeal in excitement.

Soon no more enemies faced her. The remaining ghosts began to disappear on their own. Annabeth cut down Hasdrubal the Carthaginian.

But then Briar suddenly felt a cold feeling — like something bad happened. She turned to see Michael Varus stab an Imperial Gold sword into Jason's back, the tip jutting through the front of Jason's shirt, just below his ribcage.

Jason fell to his knees. Briar's body worked on autopilot. She only saw red as she screamed, throwing her knife. It cut through Michael Varus's armor with a metallic ka-chunk.

Dust flew around the spot where Varus had been, and an empty legionnaire's helmet rolled across the stones. The evil demigod was gone – but he had made a lasting impression.

"Jason!" Briar ran and grabbed his shoulders as he began to fall sideways. She pulled the sword out of his back, wincing as she did it. Then she lowered him to the ground, propping his head against a stone.

Annabeth ran to their side. She had a nasty cut on the side of her neck.

"Gods." Annabeth stared at the wound in Jason's gut. "Oh, gods."

"Thanks," Jason groaned. "I was afraid it might be bad."

"You're going to be fine." Briar said, though whether she was trying to convince herself or Jason, she had no clue. "Annabeth, ambrosia!"

Annabeth stirred. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it." She ripped through her supply pouch and unwrapped a piece of godly food.

"We have to stop the bleeding." Briar picked up her knife and cut fabric from the bottom of her dress, which would've physically hurt her if she didn't have Jason to worry about right now. She ripped the cloth into bandages, wrapping the wounds on his back and stomach while Annabeth pushed tiny bites of ambrosia into his mouth.

Annabeth fed Jason another bite. "Jason, I – I'm sorry. About your mom. But the way you handled it . . . that was so brave."

"It wasn't her," Jason said. "At least, no part of her I could save. There was no other choice."

Annabeth took a shaky breath. "No other right choice, maybe, but . . . a friend of mine, Luke. His mom . . . similar problem. He didn't handle it as well."