The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

two

APOLLO PASSES OUT

"Here they come!" Meg yelled.

Grover increased his pace, showing heroic strength as he bounded up the ramp, hauling Apollo's flabby duct-taped carcass behind him.

Facing backward, Apollo had a perfect view of the strixes as they swirled out of the shadows, their yellow eyes flashing like coins in a murky fountain.

Ariana increased her pace so that she was next to Grover.

"Arbutus!" Apollo yelled. "The arrow said something about arbutus repelling strixes."

"That's a plant." Grover gasped for air. "I think I met an arbutus once."

"Arrow," Apollo said, "what is an arbutus?"

Disgusted, Apollo shoved the arrow back into his quiver.

"Apollo, cover me." Meg thrust one of her swords into his hand, then rifled through her gardening belt, glancing nervously at the strixes as they ascended.

How Meg expected Apollo to cover her, Ariana wasn't sure. He was garbage at swordplay, even when he wasn't duct-taped to a satyr's back and facing targets that would curse anyone who killed them.

"Grover!" Meg yelled. "Can we figure out what type of plant an arbutus is?"

Meg ripped open a random packet and tossed seeds into the void. They burst like heated popcorn kernels and formed grenade-size yams with leafy green stems.

They fell among the flock of strixes, hitting a few and causing startled squawking, but the birds kept coming.

"Those are tubers," Grover wheezed. "I think an arbutus is a fruit plant."

Meg ripped open a second seed packet. She showered the strixes with an explosion of bushes dotted with green fruits. The birds simply veered around them.

"Grapes?" Ariana asked.

"Gooseberries." said Meg. "Aren't you the daughter of Persephone shouldn't you know this?"

Ariana simply shrugged. "Probably."

"Are you sure?" Grover asked. "The shape of the leaves-"

"Grover!" Apollo snapped. "Let's restrict ourselves to military botany. What's a-? DUCK!"

Now, gentle reader, you be the judge. Was Apollo asking the question: What's a duck?

Despite Meg's later complaints, Apollo was trying to warn her that the nearest strix was charging straight at her face.

She, evidently, didn't understand his warning.

Apollo swung his borrowed scimitar, attempting to protect his young friend. Only his terrible aim and Meg's quick reflexes prevented him from decapitating her.

"Stop that!" she yelled, swatting the strix aside with her other blade.

"You said cover me!" Apollo protested.

"I didn't mean-" She cried out in pain, stumbling as a bloody cut opened along her right thigh.

Then they were engulfed in an angry storm of talons, beaks, and black wings. Meg swung her scimitar wildly.

Ariana summoned a tornado of shadows, which managed to throw a few Strix's away.

A strix launched itself at Apollo's face, its claws about to rip his eyes out, when Grover did the unexpected: he screamed.

The sound that came from the satyr's mouth was no ordinary cry.

It reverberated through the chamber like the shock wave of a bomb, scattering the birds, shaking the stones, and filling Ariana with cold, unreasoning fear.