Daughter of Magic

Chapter 3 ~ Tyler Almost Gets Killed by a Fairly Cute Dog

"A half-what now?" I say, staring blankly at him.

He lets out that laugh again. "Half-blood. Sometimes we call them demigods."

I sputter incoherent nonsense, then whirl to face my dad. "Did you know about this???"

He winces. "Your mother, ah, may have mentioned it..."

"What's with people and not telling the whole truth around here?!?" I rant.

Tyler glances nervously behind him. "Did your wife talk about a summer camp?" he asks Dad, a little nervous.

"Yes.." Dad sighs. "I suppose now's the time?"

"Yep, and we'd better hurry too... Something's coming, something big."

That's all the incentive my dad needs. "Ly, go get in the car. Tyler, you too."

He nods and runs to the car, but stops when he reaches the garage door. "Dratted things," he mutters. He walks into the garage, and I give the door a weird look. I shrug and follow after him. Dad grabs the keys and slides into the driver seat. I slide into the back near Tyler, then realize that he no longer has pants on. I stare at him.

Instead of human legs, he has furry... goat legs?

Dad starts the car, and, faster than he's ever gone before, peels out of the driveway and zooms down the street, navigating the New York streets and highways as his windshield wipers never stop, the rain pouring buckets on us. "Long Island?" he asks Tyler.

"Yeah," Tyler says, then notices me staring at him. "What?" he asks.

"You.. You're a... A... goat?"

He makes that nervous laugh again, that I now realize is more of an angry bleat. "Satyr," he corrects.

I can't stop staring at him as another loud clap of thunder shakes the car. 'How could he never have told me?' I wonder. I ask it slightly differently. "How come you never told me?" I ask.

He snorts. "Would you have believed me? No. You probably would have thought you were going crazy."

He has a point, I realize.

Dad suddenly slams on the breaks. I hear a low growl, and the hairs on the back of neck stand up. "Tyler," I say. "Do you know what that is?"

He gulps. "Yep."

"Mind telling me?"

He mouths wordlessly, then shuts his mouth and shakes his head. "Tell you later," he says weakly.

"Ly," Dad says, turning in his seat to look at me, his head silhouetted by a bolt of lightning. "I can't go any farther. You're going to have to go with Tyler." He plants a kiss on my forehead. "Love you," he says.

My eyes swim with tears. "Love you too, Dad."

"Uh, Lyla? We kinda have to go... Like, now," says Tyler.

I jump out of the car, Tyler in front of me. We're immediately drenched. I follow him up a hill as my dad screeches away from the scene.

A loud bark booms behind us. "Why are we running from a dog?" I shout over the deafening rain.

"It's not just a dog," he yells back. "It's a hellhound."

"A what?!"

Tyler looks behind us. "Oh gods," he says.

"Let me guess," I pant. "Right behind me."

"Yep."

"Sharp teeth?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Bring it on."

I scream as I sprint faster than Tyler.

As I crest the top of the hill, I realize it's stopped raining. Then I turn around.

My brain finally says, "Ok. Too much. Shutting down."

It's still pouring.

But only on the other side of the hill.

"Lyla!" I hear Tyler.

A bright flash of lightning shows that the giant dog is on top of him. I'm surprised to say, it looks quite a bit like a pomeranian husky.

I hold back my urge of petting it.

Against my smarter instincts, I run towards it. "Hold on Tyler!"

The hellhound looks up as I run towards it. An earth-shaking growl is released from it. It looks like it's about ready to pounce, but as it does, I throw my hands in front of me. The dog suddenly looks confused. It looks around, as if it can't see me, even though I'm right there. It turns it's head to look down at Tyler and looks more confused. As a matter of fact, I can't see Tyler either.

Someone grabs my arm and I flinch. "C'mon," I hear Tyler hiss in my ear.

He pulls me backwards towards the top of the hill. I keep watching the hellhound. It's sniffing the ground, probably trying to find our scent. It howls in apparent frustration and runs off.

I release my breath, not realizing that I had been holding it. We cross what seems to be a boundary, because it's not raining again. Tyler turns to me.

"We need to get you to Chiron."