THE CHALLENGE OF THE GODS: The City Of Beasts

We discover a new species

I looked up and my eyes met with two large, glistening eyes. The eyes blinked at me as its nose twitched. I got onto my knees and threw myself back. The further I got, the more I could see what I'd landed on. It was a big, fluffy beast. Its fur was grey and white with black streaks in between its eyes, on its ears and from its chest leading down to the paws. Its nails were sharp - obvious in retrospect as it's a wild animal. The more I inspected it, the more details I noticed. It had bushy eyebrows, a short stubby tail like a rabbit and a very, very wet nose. As I was staring at the beast, I almost forgot that it was that. A beast. I looked back at its eyes and screamed. I uncapped riptide before realising that in the amount of time I'd been staring at it, it hadn't attempted to attack me. I stood up, also realising that I was on its stomach. Clarisse shot up and stared at me, then the beast.
'Stay still,' she said while pulling out a repaired electric spear. It had been given to her by Ares, her father - the god of war. 'I'll handle this.' she said. It took me a minute to process what she had said, but once it did I blurted out,
'No! It doesn't seem dangerous.' I looked back at the creatures eyes and stepped off of its back. Clarisse looked at me like I was crazy.
'It's a monster! Every monster is dangerous.' She said. I thought maybe I could talk to it, since I can do that with a few animals.
'What are you?' I asked. No response. Ajax and Eros stared at me like I'd just tried to bring back the dead without using a happy meal.
'I guess we'll never know.' Eros giggled to Ajax. Ajax elbowed him in the ribs and continued to stare at me. It stood up and just stood there as i'd it had no soul behind its eyes.
'Does anyone know what it is?' I questioned, determined to know the answer. Everybody shrugged before I turned back to the animal (I think the word 'beast' or 'monster' is a bit harsh at this point). 'Well, buddy,' I spoke to the animal again. 'Since nobody knows, I'll name you.' My head ran a list of a few names that I'd heard before. None of them fit. Eventually I decided on something not so complex.
'Seriously? Bob?' Grover questioned, raising an eyebrow towards me. Okay, maybe it wasn't the best name for an animal, but all the other ones were too complex. Plus, it's cute for him. Yes, it's also a he now. I ignored Grover and turned to face the huge forest that was ahead of us. I saw a few twigs on the ground and ordered Grover to go grab a few and some vines. He got them and we all tied the twigs together with vine.
'Grover, can you lift me up?' I asked, getting closer to Bob. Grover's jaw dropped so low it almost reached tartarus.
'You're gonna ride that thing?' He asked. I smirked and answered his question while looking him dead in the eyes.
'No,' my smirk grew bigger. 'We are.' Grover's jaw somehow seemed to drop lower. Ajax stepped forward, trying to put on a brave smile.
'And you're sure that we can trust...Bob,' He struggled to get the - super amazing, super cool - name out.
I nodded, 'I just have a feeling that we'll be needing him to get there.'
Eros butted in from behind Clarisse, 'Where exactly is...there?' I gritted my teeth. The truth was: I didn't know where we were supposed to be heading. But, as I said, I had a strange feeling that Bob could help.
My thoughts were cut off by Clarisse asking, 'How do we know we can even trust you two?' She tilted her head teasingly. 'I mean, we all have no memory of you.' She had a point. Suddenly, we heard howls from behind us.
'I guess you'll just have to trust us.' Eros spurted out.

Eros huffed as he pulled Ajax behind him onto Bob. I used the twigs as that leash type of thing that they use in horse-riding. I put the twigs in Bob's mouth, being careful in case he did turn out to be dangerous. I grabbed on hard to the vine and told Grover to get my dream journal from my bag. He tried to pass it to me, but I told him to give it to Clarisse. 'Just look for the page with coordinates.' I said to Clarisse while focusing on trying to get Bob to move. He just kept running in circles, chasing his tail.
'Woah!' We all screamed as Bob almost tipped over from running around.
'You're sure this is safe?' Ajax asked, his breath shaky. I didn't want to lie so I just shrugged. As I did, I heard a gasp of protest coming from Ajax but it seemed like he'd resisted. Okay, Bob. Let's do...oh wait, I forgot that he couldn't hear me.
'Ready Bob?' I said - actually out loud this time. Bob just huffed, catching his breath after chasing his stubby tail for that long.
'He might be, but I'm not,' Ajax muttered. 'I think I'm going to vomit.' I heard Eros let out some air as if he'd been squeezed, so if I had to guess, Ajax was really gripping onto him.
'Hold on tight,' I shouted to make sure everyone could hear me. I know that sounds stupid but Bob was big. He was like sixteen metres long.
'Not you Ajax!' Eros screamed. I giggled and pulled the vine up and then down to get Bob moving, but nothing. Please work, I thought. I turned around to see if Grover could give me any ideas on how to get Bob moving, but I saw Clarisse reading a page in my journal. And it wasn't the one with the coordinates.
'Hey!' I screamed at Clarisse. I jolted to grab the journal, but the sudden movement must've scared Bob and he started running. Right when I needed him to stay still. Clarisse threw her head up to look at me, her eyes were wide. I tried to reach for the book but she was too far behind Grover. Clarisse just kept staring at me. It started to feel like she was taunting me. 'Just go to the coordinates,' I said, giving up and hoping she hadn't read a certain page.