The Chronicles of Olympus, Book 1, The Goddess's Fury

Evil Spiders...

"What exactly did you see?" asked Julia curiously, breaking the silence.

I turned my gaze to the ground. We were traveling over a vast prairie. The topic of the sirens was still uncomfortable.

"My family," I said quietly. Another silence.

"Oh," whispered Julia. Then, I heard a hiss.

"Um... what's that?" I asked. I looked around. When I saw what it was, I froze.

It was 2 huge spiders. When I say huge, I'm talking about big as a car. It was enough to scare anyone. Even worse, I had a deathly fear of those creepy crawly creatures. I tried to scream, let all fright out, but my vocal cords refused to work.

The spiders charged at me, and for some reason, not my friends. Julia, Xander, and Natalie rushed to surround me. I wanted to help, but I couldn't move.

"Celestia!" cried Julia.

"Are you ok?" shouted Natalie. I wanted to answer. I wanted to help.

But I was helpless.

A battle raged around me. Natalie summoned the winds to help her, calling upon the power of Zeus. She summoned winds that knocked the spiders back. Julia and Xander shot volley after volley of arrows at the colossal spiders.

And me?

I stood there, frozen, not lifting a finger to help my friends. My mind had been simplified to 2 words: SPIDERS! AHHH!!!

Finally, the spiders were destroyed. Their remains were scattered all around the ground.

"Celestia!" Natalie screamed, rushing towered me. I must have been ghostly pale.

I snapped out of my trance.

"Wow." I breathed.

"What happened?" asked Julia, concerned.

"Are you ok?" asked Xander. Before I could answer, there was a loud noise, and 6 spiders approached. I was once again paralyzed. -_-

"What will we do?" asked Natalie. "We're outnumbered!" Julia grabbed her bow.

"We have to try to hold them off," she said. Xandor nodded and took out his bow too. My friends were skilled, but they were greatly outnumbered. The spiders had the advantage. Soon, something horrible happened.

The spiders seized my friends, and they flew, yes, flew, away on a silk string.

I snapped out of my trance.

"Gods of Olympus...." I muttered, aghast. I stared at the spot where my friends had been. I slapped myself in the head. How could I have done that? Culpability washed over me. How could I have done that? I wanted to create a time machine, jump into it, and actually help my friends. I looked around. My friends were gone, and I was alone. All because of my stupid spider-phobia. I took a deep breath. I scanned the area. No immediate threats. That was good. I didn't have to worry about monsters. Thinking about monsters, my mind trailed to my friends. I had to save them. But where were they? I looked around. After a great deal of looking around, I spotted a distant figure of spiders. I hopped on Moon.

"Follow the spiders," I whispered to her. Moon neighed, flapped her wings, and soared into the sky.

The spiders were faster than us, and they had a head start, so me and Moon were far behind. I tried to catch up with them, but it was impossible.

Finally, the spiders dropped to a spot in the forest.

"There,"I whispered to Moon. Moon dived down. She hid the grassy ground with a thud.

I hopped down and scanned the forest. No monsters. I looked around to see where the spiders possibly could have put my friends. I spotted them a few yards away. When I saw them, I gasped. They were hung on a huge web. Each of my friends were wrapped in a silvery cocoon. Spiders surrounded them, binding them and hissing. Each of my friends appeared to be unconscious.

I decided not to set free my friends until night when there would be a smaller chance of the spiders catching me. I walked a few yards away and sat behind a large oak tree. Before I knew it, I was sleeping. And sleeping meant...... nightmares. At least for me.