So You Wanna Be A Demigod: Book 1 - What Lies Beneath The Seabed

Chapter 3: Why Is Everything So Typically Confusing?

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

CHAPTER THREE: WHY IS EVERYTHING SO TYPICALLY CONFUSING?
~R E B E C C A   S T A R F L Y~

The woman grew.

Her legs joined together to form a thick, green tail. It curled around, growing longer and longer. Her hair rippled like it was made of oily, black water. Her teeth grew into fangs and her hands sprouted long, wicked sharp claws. Where her eyes should have been were bloody gaping holes. The sockets glowed a sickly, luminescent green.

It was the strange woman from the plane. Except bigger. And now she had a tail.

She snapped her head around hissing, a forked tongue flickering inside her mouth.

'What-what are you?' I stammered. I was impressed with myself for saying even that, given the situation and the state of my family; my mum, dad, Chloe and Charlotte were all still sitting, shaking in horror.

The creature hissed again, 'I am the Lamia, the child-devouring demon of the ancient world. I lost my children to Hera’s rage and tore out my eyes in grief. But do not think that makes me weaker. Being blind just sharpens my other senses.'

With the last word she lunged. Without thinking, I rolled sharply to the side. As the creature shook its head and picked itself up, I grabbed the knife my mother had used to cut the bread. It wasn’t brilliant but it was better than being defenceless.

The Lamia brought her arm down to claw me, but at the last second I jumped aside and cut off the monsters hand. How did I do that? I thought wildly.

The creature roared in pain and agony. She flung her arm out and sent me flying into a tree. My head banged against the hard bark and made my vision fuzzy.

'Rebecca!' my mum screamed.

Through my blurred vision, I saw two people running towards me; a boy and a girl. My fevered brain couldn’t tell much more.

I heard the boy call out, 'Annabeth, see if the girl’s alright.'

The girl ran towards me, yelling if I was okay. The boy charged the Lamia with the strength and ferocity of someone twice his size, pulling out a sword as he went. At least, I thought it was a sword. It could have been a baseball bat.

The girl reached me and I saw she had blonde hair. As my brain slowly recovered, I recognized the girl from my confusing visions.

'You,' I croaked.

Behind us, the boy cried out in pain. The monster had landed a blow on his arm. His sword lay on the other side of the creature, out of reach.

The girl choked down a sob and turned to me, 'Stay here. Everything will be fine.'

She ran towards the Lamia.

The sight of the boy lying injured on the ground jerked me to my senses. This beast had attacked me and now someone else was paying the price.

I got to my feet as fast as my limbs would allow. I grabbed the knife that had fallen out of my hand and ran towards the monster.

'Rebecca!' I heard my dad scream from somewhere. 'No!'

But I ran towards the Lamia anyway. Disobeying my father was one of my greatest talents.

The blonde girl had taken a position in front of the boy, a knife in her hand that looked like it was made of a giant tooth.

I quickly realized the boy had dark hair, just like the boy in her dream. His arm was bleeding rapidly and his face was pale.

The girl saw me approaching and her eyes widened in alarm.