The Invisible Demigod

Marry - XVIII

My first instinct was to grab my gun and start filling these crapfaces with bullets, but I fought it off and took three deep breaths before following the others towards the shed.

We stopped at the back of the line, I was surprised by how many people were here. Then I realized that no one but us knew there were monsters present.

When we finally reached the shed, the man scowled. He had paler then death skin and black shadows under his shaded eyes. He was bald and had spikes instead of hair. That's right, spikes. They were gray and razor sharp, I did not want to get head butted by this guy. He was glaring up at us from dark sunglass, I saw his eyes were bright, neon green.

"We don't take in the likes of you." he growled with an english accent, then motioned with two fingers for us to go away. "Go on, scoot." Claire crossed her arms.

"Here." she slapped three drachma onto the table. The man considered them, then pulled them towards him. He grunted and pressed a button. With a buzz, the gate keeping people out swung open and we walked in.

"That was surprisingly easy." Sam said. I groaned. "What?" he asked.

"Never say 'easy'." I said. "You've just jinxed us." Sam snorted and rolled his eyes. He was looking better, less pale and tired.

We passed many, many stables and whatever you would call them. Each time a monster would shift or move, my hand tightened on my gun. To my surprise, the monsters eyed us warily, but didn't attack. A little girl squealed and ran up to a pen of hellhounds. They trotted up, like show dogs, and let her pet them. She laughed and chattered away happily.

"Look at that," I muttered, nudging Sam. "I wonder what they see." I saw Sam's eyes slide out of focus and I remembered what Nico said in the McDonalds. I let my vision become fuzzy and the scene around me changed.

The hellhounds became a dog and her litter of puppies. A group of seal, dog, and human things became seals in a pool. A cluster of really hairy and long-necked creature with hair covering their faces became sheep. All around me, frightening monsters became harmless and cute farm animals.

"Wow," I heard Nico say. "The Mist is really strong here." I nodded, letting my eyes focus. I blinked away the lingering images of the dogs and sheep as we kept walking. We followed signs towards an area with tables under a covered area. The signs said that there were demonstrations every hour.

We came to the covered area and it was crowded with many tourists. Women fanned themselves, men laughed and talked. Children screamed and chased each other around. It felt weird being this close to people with everyday lives, who never saw anything monstrous or abnormal. I surprised myself when I realized I wasn't jealous. I wouldn't trade my friends for anything in the world, not even a monster-free world.

I saw that Claire was making a beeline for the man in the center of all the people. There was nothing significant about the man from afar, then details started to become more clear.

He was tall, like almost seven feet tall. He had long, dark hair that was tied up into a ponytail. He had dark skin and bloody red eyes. He was a little scary, one biceps was the size of my head. He was holding a leash in one hand, his other hand gesturing to the monster on the end of it. It was a hellhound. I shuddered as a young girl scooted closer to it, just one bite and it would be all over for her...

I swallowed and followed the others towards the man. He was speaking to the crowd of overheated tourist. The hellhound rolled onto it's back and barked a few times. It wasn't until we were a few feet away when I could make out words.

"...she's only four years old. When she's grown, she'll be only a little bigger than she is now." I let my eyes slide out of focus. The hellhound was suddenly a lioness. I had never seen a lioness before, I still haven't, but this is the closest thing I'll ever get to seeing one. Going to the zoo isn't really near the top on my wish list.