Daughter of Mother Earth

Chapter Ten

They went into battle mode and immediately grabbed weapons, charging at the bulls. The weapons bounced off the bulls, who played no heed to them. Crystal continued running until she saw a familiar building.
-----

"Hannah!" She yelled.

Hannah stepped out of the forges, dirty and confused. Her eyes widened when she saw the metal animals behind her friend.

She shouted inaudible words inside the building and ran towards Crystal.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled.

"Oh, you know, just taking a walk through the camp. What do you think I'm doing?! I'm trying not to die!" Crystal replied, still running.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Hannah called out.

Grover, Tyson, Percy, and Annabeth ran out, hearing Hannah and the clangor the bulls made. Percy withdrew his pen and changed it to a sword.

Clarisse shouted something and attacked a bull. She hopped on its back and shoved her spear in it. It gave a great roar and bucked her off. Crystal rushed to her.

"Clarisse, are you okay?" She asked.

Clarisse shoved her away. "I'm fine, just leave me alone."

The second bull turned to Crystal's voice. She shot her head up as she heard a loud snort.

She turned and came face to face with the red eyed metal bull. Her battle senses kicked in and she pulled out her hidden dagger, shoving it into one red eye.

It roared in pain and Crystal grabbed a nearby vine, wrapping it around the head. She jumped into the bulls back and pulled at the vine. The bull reared its head up and started bucking. Still hanging on, Crystal pictured vines and plants wrapping around and inside the bull in her mind.

Several thick vines rose from the ground and attacked the bull. Crystal hopped off and stood in front of the struggling monster. The vines tightened as Crystal clenched her fist. One in particular snaked through the golden armor and past the gears inside. It found its way to the main control and wrapped around it. Time seemed to slow as the vine ripped the control heart out of its place.

BOOM

The bull froze then started shaking violently before exploding into pieces. One shrapnel sliced into Crystal's left cheek. She winced but quickly forgot about for she was curious of how she destroyed the bull.

Crystal thought, How did I do that? I couldn't have known how to do that, I've just learned plants grow fast near me!

Just one of your many powers, my Crystal.

Crystal just stayed silent. She rushed to find Clarisse, but she had disappeared. She ran off to find Hannah and the others, passing several campers cleaning the damage and helping others who were wounded. She glanced toward the entrance border line and stopped in her tracks.

Thalia's Pine Tree was turning yellow and wilting.

This... This is impossible! Isn't Thalia's tree supposed to be magic? Crystal thought.

She bolted towards the entrance where a crowd had already gathered. She found Hannah, along with Annabeth and Percy, who had many bruises and cuts.

"Crystal! Where have you been? What happened to your face?" Hannah grabbed Crystal's face.

Crystal shook her head away. "Forget about me, what happened to the tree?"

She glanced at Annabeth who looked on the verge of tears. "We don't know..."

Crystal slowly made her way to the tree.

"Crystal..."

Ignoring the whispers around her, she hovered her hand above the bark, inches from touching in. She felt a painful, stinging sensation in her palm and quickly pulled it away.

"It's been poisoned." She announced, rubbing her palm.

Several gasps and cries of terror erupted.

Chiron trotted forward with a grim face. "What happened?"

"Thalia's Tree has been poisoned, Chiron!"

"And I know who did it." A voice piped up.

Percy stepped up. "It was Luke."

More gasps were heard.

"I ran into him after I fought the bull. He attacked me and told me to join his army. I said no and he disappeared, telling me I've made a mistake. Just before he vanished I saw him put an empty vial into his pocket. I'm sure that's the poison."

Chiron pulled out a cork and filled it with some poison dripping from the bark.

"I see. I will try to find an antidote. I want a border patrol at all times. Make sure no more monsters get in."

A large group of campers nodded and rushed to the weapons shed.

"And the rest of you. Train as much as you can. Make sure you are prepared. We have no idea what's coming to us." Chiron said.