Our Gifted Class is Whaat?!?-A Percy Jackson Fanfic

Seven-I battle the bull

7

I battle the bull

 

I fell asleep shortly after reassuring myself that there would be no monster attacks for a while. Little did I know how wrong I was.

            My eyes fluttered open to the sound of Grant and Nellie conversing. Well, actually, they were bickering.

            "No! It says Helios is in the SonoranDesert! We need to go there!" Nellie argued.

"Nell, he's probably somewhere that's a landmark. Like SouthMountainPark," Grant countered calmly.

"Well, I guess you're right." Nellie was surprised to see me awake when she caught a glimpse of my open eyes. "Oh, you're alive!" she said to me. "We'll be in Phoenix at the next stop."

            Wow. Time flies when you sleep. Just a couple hours ago I had almost died fighting Lamia, but Grant had saved me. I glanced at him.

            "I'm not a very good leader. You had to save me," I stated.

            "You're doing fine," Grant reassured me. "Hey, I might almost die later, and you'll  have to save me. We'll be even."

            I smiled to myself, and the train dinged. The doors slid open, and we got off. The sun was beating down on this hot, early summer day. The humidity was unbelievably high, and the heat was sweltering. I began to sweat as soon as I got off the train.

"Ugh, it's so hot!" Nellie complained. "Helios is definitely here."

            "Now, where would the Titan sun god be? What part of the desert?" I asked.

            "Me and Grant thought SouthMountainPark. It's in Phoenix overlooking the desert."

            "It would be 'Grant and I', and that place seems reasonable," I responded. I just had to correct her.

            I walked over to the map-holder thingy and took out a map of Phoenix. I pointed to SouthMountainPark. The 'you are here' star indicated that it was on the opposite side of the city. I groaned.

            "Skata! It's on the opposite side of the city!" I cursed under my breath.

            "How'll we get there?" asked Grant.

            "I'll call my aunt! She lives here," Nellie said.

            We all agreed, and Nellie used my cell phone to call. I hadn't used it since the day I found out I was a demigod. I didn't know at the time how much that one call would jeopardize our lives.

            We sat around waiting for Nellie's aunt.

            "I'm hungry," Grant groaned.

            I hadn't realized how hungry I was until he said it. My stomach growled, and I laid a hand over it, as if to tell it to be quiet. I whipped out three granola bars.

            "Here," I said, handing them to Nellie and Grant.

            I kept one for myself to eat, and tore the wrapper open. Immediately digging in and gobbling it up, I felt better. Looking around and noticing Nellie and Grant finished as well helped too. That was when the unthinkable happened. I heard a snort. I thought it came from Grant or Nell, but looking up, I knew I was wrong. Standing in front of us was a massive bull. It was unlike other bulls, though. This bull was half bull, half man. The Minotaur.

It blew through its' nostrils and charged. I was paralyzed with fear until Nellie pushed Grant and me out of the way. We came toppling to the floor on top of each other. Nellie dove out of the way in time, and the Minotaur crashed into the wall. It snorted with rage.

Just then, I got an idea that could redeem me from what had happened earlier and save us. Or, I could get us violently killed. I was hoping that the first option would be the true one.

 I called out to the beast and whipped out Annabeth's cap. It charged at me, eyes ablaze. As it came, I put on the invisibility cap and hopped out of the Minotaur's path. It smashed into a panel of glass, sending shards of it all over the floor. A couple of them caught my feet, and I winced. But I had to keep going.

I ran behind the even angrier Minotaur and tried to get the ugly thing's attention. It must've worked because I had to dodge it again, the beast running like a bulldozer. There was a loud bang as the monster crashed into the wall. I pressed the sapphire in my necklace and stabbed the Minotaur with Eliadentro while it was stumbling, and it evaporated into dust. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I looked at Nell and Grant. They had inched back against the wall gradually, and their mouths were gaping at me.

            "That. Was. AWESOME!" Nell exclaimed. "You killed the Minotaur!"

            Theseus had killed the Minotaur, too. I wondered if that meant something. It must've, because I felt flattered.

            "You got me back for saving your life," Grant stated.

            I grinned. But then I thought, how had the Minotaur found us? I mean, Lamia is attracted to children. But the Minotaur wasn't. I pondered upon this until it hit me like a slap in the face. Annabeth had said that whenever you use a cell phone, it's like telling monsters, "Hey! Dinner's here!" It sends a blatant and unmistakable signal to the monsters. I cursed myself for being so stupid. I was a terrible quest leader. I knew I could do so much better. But then again, Annabeth had said that hubris, or deadly pride, was my fatal flaw. I couldn't be too confident, or it would kill me. A lot of other things could kill me as well. As Nellie's aunt pulled up to the curb, I started to think of some of those things. And as we drove away, I knew that we weren't just driving towards Helios. We were driving towards our certain death.