The Undead Heroes (The first part of The Reiteration of Olympus)

Chapter 22, A 48-hour adventure comes to an end.

DESIRÉE

I was terrified. No, terrified doesn't even begin to cover it. I was numb. It felt as if my mind had just shut down. I had never been so scared before in my entire life, and my mind couldn't take it.

I was sitting in our bronze van beside Dylan. We were only about half an hour away from camp, and I definitely felt the need to sleep in my cabin for a while. Dylan was texting her mom, telling her that she was okay and that she would be home for dinner. It was such a normal, domestic act that it almost made me forget what had happened earlier.

I could see the snake woman coming closer towards us. As much as I wanted to act be tough and take her out I couldn't do anything but scream. Dylan was fumbling for her weapon, but it was gone. The woman's scaly face was horrifying and her sharp teeth were bared. She was just about to bite Dylan's head off when a hammer crashed into the side of her face. She dissolved into a cloud of golden dust and I turned to look who had thrown the hammer. A few feet away stood Leo with his arm still raised. Dylan nodded slightly at him before darting off to somewhere. Leo walked up to me and my face started to feel hot.

Don't judge me okay! He was cute and he just saved my life.

"Are you okay?" he asked and fiddled with his tool belt. I nodded and screamed. Behind him was a slimy creature almost biting his head off. Leo turned around screamed too. The creature lunged at him and he dodged. It fell flat on its face and it was an oddly silly gesture for such a disgusting thing. Leo stood up and hit the monster with another hammer, and it also dissolved into dust. Where did he get so many hammers from?

After that, the monsters just coming. Leo and I had to fight for our lives, and I have no idea how I made it. My legs were shaking the entire time and I felt as I was going to start crying any second. I was pretty much defenceless except for a hammer that Leo gave me and some seeds Miranda had given me before leaving camp. The odds were stacked against me, but I made it. It was probably all thanks to my mom.

I was surrounded by monsters, slowly creeping closer towards me. My legs had given out on me and tears were starting to pool in my eyes. They bared their fangs and laughed at me. I was ready to give up when I felt a tug in my stomach. It felt as if something was making me take root, keeping me grounded. And not just that, I could sense something. I could sense something in the ground, sort of like veins. I was barely thinking when I dug my hands into the ground and willed the veins to entrap the monsters around me. Rough green vines shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the monsters. They roared as the vines tightened around them and left them hanging in the air. They bared their fangs at me and desperately tried to get loose but they were stuck. I dug my hands up from the ground and a wave of exhaustion hit me. I tried to stand up but my legs instantly gave out on me. I would have smashed my head into the ground if Leo hadn't caught me.

"Woah there," he said as he helped me sit up. "Take it easy kiddo. You just created a jungle, I think that gives you time for a nap." I looked at him, my brows furrowed.

"But there are so many more monsters! I can't take a nap now! We have to continue-"

Leo shushed me.

"I think our resident kid of the big three has got it covered." I was just about to ask him what he meant when I felt a strong wind blowing through. It made the veins whip around and the monsters who were trapped in them screamed. I looked over to where the winds came from and saw Dylan walking towards the Minotaur we saw earlier. Her jet-black braids had been released from her bun and whipped around her face. She looked like a goddess the way she fearlessly walked towards the Minotaur. She was so cool.