The Grace Curse

Chapter Seventeen

THE LABYRINTH WAS SCARY. I mean if you had nightmares about being in the dark, this place would be a living hell for you. Aaron led us further down the tunnel; and of course, there was no light visible.

"We're almost there," Aaron said. "Just a little further,"

I didn't see anything unusual, aside from the fact we were in a tunnel. "Um, what are you talking about?" I asked beginning to get annoyed. "I feel like we've been going the same way for an hour now,"

Aaron put his hand up to hush me. "There's something in here," I paused, listening closely I heard a small growling noise. It was almost too faint to hear. Acidic green eyes glowed in the darkness, the Sun God's son drew his bow. Blake lifted his trident in response as well. I added to the mix by lifting Ferrum.

"We got a big boy on the loose!" The spear buzzed. "Time to fight,"

"What's a big boy?" Zoe asked.

Ferrum let out a disapproved sound. "A big stupid Monster, I can just sense it...yeah, a nice fat one,"

The green eyes drew closer and Aaron got nervous. "Get back!" He screamed and swatted the creature with his bow, but it didn't back up. Something wasn't right here and we all knew it. The sickly green eyed female monster emerged from the darkness. From the waist up, she was a normal woman. Beneath, she had the hideous body of a serpent. I felt intimidated just looking at her.

"CHILDREN!" She boomed. I almost let out a loud yelp. This half-woman seemed familiar; I think I remembered a myth with a reptile looking lady.

"Get away!" Aaron shouted. "You need to back off!"

The Monster didn't back away. "Fool!" She taunted and batted a claw at Aaron. He quickly dodged her raking nails and did an awesome backflip. Being a son of Apollo must have been beneficial to his athletic skills. Zoe hurled a fireball mist at the monster causing her to roar out in pain.

Blake took the que to leap towards the monster but pathetically missed. He stabbed into pure dirt. She lunged towards me. The monster lady roared and knocked me over with a loud thud. Aaron smacked Miss Reptile face in the head. She retaliated by kicking Aaron brutally in the ribs and cracked Zoe across the face.

"Somebody help me—!" Ferrum levitated and smacked herself into the Reptile Lady. She was knocked off me as I grabbed the spear from the air. The Reptile Lady targeted Zoe and raked her across the arm. I bolted upwards and stabbed Ferrum into the lady, with a loud clang she reflected off her impenetrable scales. Stupid move. The crazy lady let go of Zoe, spun around and slashed her claws harshly against my face. I almost threw up; I felt blood gradually ooze down my face. "Aaron!" The Sun Demigod whirled around from behind her and stabbed an arrow straight into her neck with such force green blood spurted from it.

"You dare defy Lamia the Mother of crazy? Someone has lost their mother...who?" She bellowed. Is Lamia talking about Mom? I started remembering who Lamia was now, not at first but it gradually began coming back to me.

"It's me you want! I lost my mother!" I yelled. Lamia spun around on her serpentine "legs" and glared at me.

"Your so-called patron cursed me to this horrible form, I loved her husband...and she made me hungry...oh so hungry. So I tipped the scales and started killing her heroes,"

Blake shook his head. "Stupid reptile!" He swung around from behind Lamia and stabbed her in the tail with the trident. She howled out in pain and kicked him away. He slammed into the tunnel wall. I leapt into the air and focused on my hands. I never tried to invoke whatever powers I had like Blake had but I sure as heck tried. A spark emitted from my hand, it arced electricity and shocked Lamia right in the head. She bellowed out and smacked me in the stomach. I recoiled backwards and stumbled on my butt. Aaron tried shooting her in the leg but his arrows weakly diffracted off her tough scales. When I studied Hera, I remembered researching Lamia and what happened to her, it gave me an idea.