ELIMINATE | Percy Jackson & Twilight Saga |

58 | MANTICORE POISON

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT | MANTICORE POISON

"I know who you are."

—

THINGS HAD GOTTEN BAD—FAST. First, Malia had been cornered by a group of undeniably cute boys about her age and older. They threw at her cheesy pick-up lines, asked her to dance and offered to get her a paper cup of punch. It was her fault she'd gotten distracted, but it was nice to pretend to be a normal, mortal teenage girl attracting the attention of boys.

Sure, she'd had the opportunity to do so at her school in Florida, but that was different—Malia had to be intimidating and athletic and mysterious to ward off the bullies. Here? Well, it wasn't like she was staying long anyway. And the attention doubled when they assumed she was a normal, jaw-dropping, rich girl—the enhanced ring around her finger, the baby blue pearls dangling from her neck, the way she made an over sized sweatshirt look like a name-brand ball gown, nothing more than mascara to define her eyes, had gotten her some positive attention and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't loving it.

Malia hadn't realized, though, that one of the boys coddling her had a girlfriend just a few feet away, and things between her and the girl were getting pretty heated fast. It's not Malia had known that this guy had a girl—the boy had approached her!

"Mal!" She heard Annabeth shout of the music just a few feet away. Her hand extended, finger pointing at a spot in the bleachers. That's when Malia had realized she had bigger problems other than the girl squaring up to her: Bianca and Nico Di angelo weren't there anymore.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, bitch!" The girl hollers, and that's when Malia has had enough. Her head snaps toward the girl, once changing colors and not straining at stormy grey. Malia gave the ugly blonde her best wolf stare and suddenly, she was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say or what to do. Malia was suddenly a completely different person and it was, in fact, intimidating.

Instead of further pursuing the problem, Malia turns back to find Annabeth, but the Athena girl is gone, and Percy takes a hold of his sister's hand and leads her in the opposite direction. She's about to protest, but then she sees what he sees: Dr. Thorn steering the di Angelo's out of the gym by the scruffs of their necks. Now, usually that something like that wouldn't matter to her, but Malia's suddenly angry. Who the fuck gave him the right to handle the two that way?

Malia takes her royal blue tube of Covergirl mascara out of her pocket and, instead of untwisting it for the wand and product, simply pulls both ends apart to reveal her handy six inch, celestial bronze dagger, Raging Riptide.

The door led into a dark hallway. Malia heard the sounds of scuffling up ahead, then a painful grunt. Percy uncaps Riptide.

She and her brother jogged down the corridor, but when Malia got to the other end, no one was there. She opened a door and found herself back in the main entry hall. They were completely turned around. Malia didn't see Dr. Thorn anywhere, but there on the opposite side of the room were the di Angelo kids. They stood frozen in horror, staring right at the Poseidon siblings.

Malia advances slowly, lowering the tip of her dagger, "it's okay." She says, softly. She'd been in their shoes before, and knows that a small and gentle smile might help to sooth their nerves. "We're not going to hurt you."

They didn't answer. Their eyes were full of fear, and Malia considers for a moment that their weapons might look a lot more intimidating to the di Angelo's than they did to them. But, still, where was Dr. Thorn? Had he sensed the Celestial Bronze weapons and retreated? That wasn't very brave.