Alternatively

To Be Human (iii.)

Well, the demon was tearing into an overturned produce cart, it's driver limp at the treeline.

"That's..."

"We aren't going around."

Her words stalled and at his interjection, she thought about just leaving the creature to be someone else's problem. Then, she scowled and elbowed him. "Of course not, I would never leave someone to the mercy of a demon."

"I mean no disrespect," he huffed, rubbing his side. "I just didn't know how badly you wanted to get to the castle."

"Is that what you think of me?"

"Of course not, I just-"

They clapped their hands over their ears as the demon shrieked, apparently having noticed their extremely loud mounting argument. It's red eyes bored into them as it's head swiveled, chunk of vegetables and saliva dribbling to the dirt. If she wasn't mortal, Annabeth knew exactly how she'd deal with the being. There would be no fight, the matter resolved in an instant. But since she was...

"I'm going to tell you a spell," she muttered to Percy.

"What?" he yelled, hands still over his ears.

She frowned, gesturing for him to stop being a total idiot. "You're going to repeat exactly what I say, but you need to dig deep."

"Dig deep for what?"

The demon hunkered down, claws burrowing deep into the road. She didn't need her powers to know it was ready to pounce, it's eyes tracking their every move.

Percy froze, quietly whispering, "You do it."

"Wow," she hissed. "How heroic."

"I can't cast anything!"

"Uh?"

He scowled. "You know what I mean. Besides, you must have some magic left."

"How can I possibly have-"

"We're still bonded, that must mean something!"

She raised her eyebrow because there wasn't a shred of magic still binding him to her, his soul relinquished the moment he turned her mortal, but the demon howled. "Sorry, you're going to have to cast the spell yourself."

They bolted separate ways as the beast barreled for them. It was difficult to adjust to running on her new legs and she barely managed to twist her body away from swiping claws, but there was something she had forgotten. Something she had ignored, but it was resurfacing. She quickly adapted to these instincts finally taking over, fighting far more efficiently as she yelled for Percy to repeat her spell.

"If it backfires and we die," he ducked under a slimy limb. "It's your fault!"

Coughing on billowing dust, Annabeth threw the spell before grabbing the demon's tail and yanking hard, sending it skittering to the side. It whirled around to snap at her, breath hot and spit stinging her skin, but she slapped it's muzzle and snarled right back. For a moment, it was confused because how dare a human have the audacity to smack it's nose like that?

Before it got over it's shock, Percy's voice shot through the air, sending goosebumps up her arms as the spell wrapped around the beast in front of her. She couldn't say it was quite correct, even if she couldn't see the specific energy, but she could only watch. Wind swirled around the creature and she backed up, squinting against the dust, and the demon shrieked as a dark essence was stripped away. It disappeared, leaving a smaller being with black fur hunkered down where the slobbering demon had been.