Carystus

One.

I landed on my shoulder with a pain-full crunch. Car pieces flew everywhere and I had a metallic taste in my mouth. I rolled immediately and a strange spike hit where I had been seconds ago. An ear-splitting roar shook the ground.

"Keep moving!" Thais yelled from the haze. I ran towards her voice just to ram into her, Annabeth, and Percy.

"Sorry," I managed.

"Any tips?" Annabeth whispered, polishing her dagger. I shook my head no.

Thais sighed, "Just run if it gets near, stay quiet, and stick together."

"The last two are the most important." I added. "Easier to hit one person than a bunch for this monster, even though it should technically be the other way around." Thais winced at the memory, "Yeah, and don't look at its eyes-they paralyze you. The dagger-things usually bring a slow, pain full and unavoidable death."

"Usually?" Percy repeated, frowning.

Thais nodded, "Although he did experience the pain, Carystus didn't die-thanks to me." She added, and I rolled my eyes.

"I did fall into a rapid succession of hallucinations, mania, seizures, and an eventual twenty-year coma, though." I replied.

"Also thanks to me." Thais added cheerfully, "But hey, we were only nine..."

I snorted, "Yeah, which is why everyone thought I had died and what-not and tried to burn me." I retorted. Annabeth and Percy looked kind-of, well, petrified.

"You'll be fine," I said reassuringly. Just aim for the eyes but don't look at them." This time it was Percy's turn to snort, but Thais hushed him.

A cold breath ran down my neck and Thais turned slowly, keeping her eyes on mine. Her lips moved in a silent warning; Don't. Move. Being the idiot I am, I did- I turned around and shot an arrow into one eye in the space of a heartbeat. Its ears flattened back and it aimed one of its new weapons at me. Its roar.

I fell to the ground, clutching at my temples in pain. It hissed at me and its tongue hit my cheek, causing the world to crumble into shards of glass. I tried to tell myself it wasn't real, but I couldn't move.

The problem with One-We never found out what it was- was that it was constantly changing and adapting, and remembered each individuals weaknesses, and it could also read body language exeptionally well. If one muscle on my jaw tightened, it would know what I was thinking about- Throwing a blade, running, nothing, pain- anything.

Hey, Helios, if you want a nice prison break-with me in charge- anytime would be fine now. I thought. Within seconds a sharp pain erupted in-between my shoulder blades and behind my eyes. And suddenly... I was flying. Oh lord.

Although not exactly what I had thought being Helios would be like, it was helpful. I could still see the threads, and also One shooting a dagger at Annabeth, just to have Thais block it.

My body exploded into a supernova of light and the monster crumbled to dust as I fell, as the strange dagger plunged into Thais' stomach.

A figure stepped out of the haze, and I found myself face-to-face with a pair of serpentine, black-flecked eyes. Lips formed a sneering grimace and a hand helped me up.

"Well, brother." John sneered, his putrid breath hitting my face as his slaves put Thais in his car and shoved Annabeth and Percy in, "Fancy seeing you here." His eyes rolled back in his head and pulsed mesmerizingly. "Now sleep, little brother, sleep. And when you wake up, she will be mine forever. And I will know how you came to be what you are"

My eyes slipped shut and with no complaint, I drifted off.