All is Fair

CHAPTER FOUR

Phil shared a wary look with Emma. He honestly hadn't been trying to make Dan mad—well, other than making Dan fall in love with him (hopefully) and eventually having to break the news that he'd used him to be able to meet his father, which, yeah, would probably end up making him mad. But other than that, this hadn't been intentional. He'd actually thought that his efforts had been working, Dan actually becoming flustered because of the things he did and said to him.

For a little while there, he'd thought to himself, this'll be a piece of cake. He was now realizing that it'd be more like a piece of cake filled with glass. And on fire.

It didn't help that Phil didn't even really know how to make Dan fall in love with him. Firstly because Dan was convinced he was straight, which he so very completely obviously wasn't, even if he was still in denial about it. But secondly because he'd never been in love before himself, and all he knew how to do was flirt (badly, if Dan's reactions were any indication) and sit close to him in hopes that the close proximity would force Dan to realize he loved him. And it wasn't working at all.

He supposed he could tell Dan the situation he was in and hope Dan would play along in front of his siblings so they'd let him meet Ares, but the thought of admitting to Dan his dastardly plan was terrifying. What if Dan yelled at him for only joining the quest because of his ulterior motives? Dan had already threatened to kick him off the quest just about two minutes ago, although Emma had insisted he wouldn't really.

With a sigh, Phil kicked out at a rock in front of him, wondering just what in Tartarus he was going to do to make Dan fall in love with him.

Just then, a strangled yell came from the woods, around where Dan had marched off to.

"Dan!" Emma shouted immediately, sprinting into the woods without a backward look. Phil cursed under his breath, scooped up his sword, and darted after her.

He leaped over roots and fallen trees and ducked under low-hanging branches as they ran, Phil a few paces behind Emma.

"Dan!" Emma shouted, breathless.

"Here!" came Dan's strained reply, and they both darted into the clearing Dan was in, coming to a halt when they saw the monster holding him.

It was a chimera.

Phil had honestly never thought he'd end up seeing one in real life. He'd seen monsters before, of course. He was a demigod, it was impossible to not have seen monsters. But he'd only had to actually face them very rarely.

There'd been the first one he'd ever met, which had posed as a very normal looking girl before he'd realized her arms were snakes and she then proceeded to try to kill him. He'd strangled her with an electrical cord and coughed as she exploded into dust. Other than that, he'd fought a couple monsters in the woods during his time at camp playing capture the flag and whatnot, generally fighting only when he was forced to. But he'd never seen a monster, one on one, after that initial meeting with miss snake-arms.

For a second, he froze—and then he had his sword in his hand and was charging forward.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," the chimera said. Most monsters could talk, and while Phil had thought its voice would come out gravelly and deep, it was instead feline and smooth, which maybe made more sense anyway.

The chimera was scarily human, although much taller than one, standing a good two or three feet above Dan. It stood on two legs despite its lion-like body, and instead of front paws it had hands—with thumbs and everything! It currently had one, claws extended, pressed against Dan's throat. Phil knew it could breathe fire out of its lion-head, knew its snake-tail was venomous, and still he felt tempted to charge.