𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐘 →percy jackson (on hiatus)

THREE; artemis and co. save us

                                                                    {🍇} . . .

daphne forgot how fucking strong annabeth was. 

  annabeth—who was the 'invisible force', she just had her cap of invisibility on—plowed into them to avoid the round of flying poison-coated spikes. for just a moment, thorn was taken by surprise, which gave thalia and grover the chance to advance.

  thalia raised aegis—her magic shield that resembled the shield her father, zeus, also uses.(also named aegis,) it had the head of medusa carved into it, which made everyone wince or run from the sight. she raised her spear, and yelled, "for zeus!"

even thorn winced at the sight of aegis.

  they had thought thorn was a goner. thalia jabbed her spear at his head, but he growled—inhumanely—again and swatted it away. his hand morphed into an orange paw, with giant claws that sparked when it made contact with thalia's shield. if it hadn't been for that shield, thalia would've been diced to pieces. she managed to roll back and land on her feet.

the chopping of helicopter blades got louder, but no one seemed to dare to look back.

  thorn launched another volley of spikes at thalia, this time, they were able to see how he did it. he had a tail—a leathery, scorpion-like tail that bristled with spikes at the tip of his tail. the spikes deflected off aegis easy, but the force was able to knock down thalia.

  grover jumped forward and blew into his reed pipes—a frantic jig that sounded like something pirates would dance to. grass broke through the snow, and within seconds, weeds that must've been rope thick were wrapping around dr. thorn, entangling him.

  thorn snarled and began to enlarge, until he was his true form. he still had his face, which was really disturbing because the rest of his body was no longer human. instead, it was replaced with the body of a lion—and his hands and feet were now huge, orange paws. his leathery tail whipped spikes in every direction.

  "a manticore!" annabeth exclaimed, now visible. her cap of invisibility fell off when she plowed into the four. so that's the monster thorn was--

"what is that!" bianca gagged, "and who are you people?"

  "a manticore?" nico gasped, "he's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

  daphne shot nico a look, she didn't know what the hell this kid was talking about, but they didn't have time to worry about it. thorn clawed grover's weeds to shreds and turned to them with a snarl. "get down!" annabeth yelled, and pushed the siblings flat to the snow. daphne ducked and rolled to the opposite side, landing on her feet and successfully avoiding the spikes.

  at the last second, percy slapped his wristwatch and a bronze shield spiraled out infront of him. there was a loud thwack, and grover landed next to percy with a thud. she winced and stayed low to the snow, focusing on the manticore.

as long as his attention was directed from her...

"yield!" the monster roared.

  "never!" thalia yelled from across the field and charged the monster. before she was able to run him through, a blaze of light and the thunderous sound of a helicopter sounded behind them. the light blinded thalia, which gave thorn the chance to swat her away.

...there would be an opportunity for her to strike. 

  quickly, she grew vines from under thorn's monstrous body. they tightly curled around him, restricting his movement. that gave percy the chance to run across the field and raise his shield over thalia. thorn kept struggling, which made it harder for her to keep his tail from lashing and whipping spikes to them.

  there was a snap-snap-snap sound from the helicopter, and daphne quickly realized it was gunfire. she scrambled to her feet as a bullet almost caught her in the leg. the distraction caused the vines to slightly loosen, and thorn was able to get a paw free, and slash away the vines. "do you see how hopeless this is? yield, little heroes."

  she ran and ducked next to thalia, the lenses of her glasses were cracked, but was able to see. she thought they were goners—until she heard a sharp, piercing sound—the call of a hunters horn blowing in the woods. for just a few seconds, no one said anything. the only sound audible was the loud chopping of blades. then, thorn spoke. "no.." he choked, "it cannot be—"

  an arrow struck him in the shoulder, cutting him off. it gleamed elegantly, even in the dark, you could see it. a silver arrow. he staggered backwards, wailing in agony. "curse you!" he snarled, and unleashed his spikes towards the woods, where the arrow had come from.

  but just as fast, a dozen more silver arrows shot back in reply. the arrows seemed to intercept the spikes, midair, and slice them in half. daphne's jaw dropped, no one, not even the apollo kids back at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.

  then the archers came from the woods. girls, about a dozen of them, the youngest was maybe ten, and the oldest could've been fourteen. they wore silvery ski parkas and jeans and they were all armed with bows, that glittered dangerously. they advanced with determined expressions.

"the hunters!" annabeth cried. 

 thalia grumbled from beside daphne, "oh, great."

how could thalia be so negative? they were saved!

  two of the oldest hunters stepped forward with their bows. on the right was a girl with coppery skin, she was tall and graceful. unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into her long, dark hair. on the left was a girl, with caramel skin and curly hair that was tied back. she was shorter then the other girl, but instead of a fancy circlet, a raven was perched on her shoulder.

  "permission to kill, my lady?" daphne didn't know if she was talking to the girl beside her, or someone else, because her eyes were trained on the manticore.

"this is not fair! direct inference is against ancient laws!" thorn wailed.

  "not so." another girl with silvery eyes and auburn hair stepped forward, in between the raven girl and the circlet girl. she looked much younger, maybe twelve, but her presence felt.. powerful. "the hunting of wild beasts is in my sphere, and you, foul creature, are a wild beast." she looked at the circlet girl, then to the raven girl,