Daughter of Neptune

Freefalling

Chiron rode into the clearing where Hannah and Percy were sitting, their backs against a tree. He looked around the clearing, at the small crater, the trapdoor and realised what he must do. He walked over to Percy and Hannah.

 Hannah was sitting, waiting, “Chiron. Brianna’s gone. We don’t know where she went!” She exclaimed.

 “I am well aware of that.” Chiron said. “Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter told me that Issy was missing. I simply put the pieces together.”

Chiron walked over to Hannah and said, “Hop on my back, we will get you two back to the Infirmary." I hoped on Chiron’s back. It was no easy feat, so Chiron helped me up. Then he grabbed Percy, who was drooling, and held him in his arms.

 Chiron walked through the forest. I am sure he would’ve gone faster but he was carrying two demigods, which would’ve made it hard to run.

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 I woke up while the Harpies were flying North Pacific Ocean. I opened my eyes and screamed.  She didn’t know where she was being taken. However, she did know that these harpies were dangerous and they worked for Kronos. 

Chiron had told me that Kronos is the King of the Titans. He is trapped in a sarcophagus at the bottom of Tartarus. He is always wanting more power and control. 

I was scared because she didn’t know what the harpies were taking her. She looked down and saw the ocean. Brianna shivered; she was up about 200 meters above the sea.

 The sea. Suddenly she got an idea. I rocked in the harpies clutches, trying to fall. Pain who was flying next to Suffering didn’t notice. Suffering noticed that Brianna was wriggling, trying to get out her grip.

I immediately heard Suffering’s voice in her head, “It’s useless. You can’t escape us. We will always find you; it’s what we were meant to do. Stop struggling and the trip will be as painless as possible.”

I take her words into account. They certainly make sense. I stop struggling and then realise what she’s doing. Percy had told me something about charmspeak. This must be something similar.

 I thrash around, desperately trying to break free. Suffering tightens her grip trying to stop my movement. I shake my body but Suffering grips me tighter. I go limp and dangle in the air. Pain still hasn’t noticed that I have am conscious.

I lay still, deciding what to do. Then an idea pops into my head. It wasn’t the best idea, but I was able to do it. I lifted my upper body to the harpy’s foot. I braced myself and then opened my mouth. This was going to be gross. I bit into Suffering’s leg and she mentally screamed.

Her scream was high pitch and hurt my head but it was worth it. Suffering was so surprised that she dropped me and I plummeted toward the ocean. I wasn’t scared of falling because the waves would catch me. 

I look down; I am nearing the waves like a bullet. I just realise I might hurt myself from the height. I think of the water in a tall waterspout, the top just under me. I open my eyes and find the tall waterspout is where I imagined it.

I fall into the waterspout and immediately strength surges through my body. As I fall I imagine the waterspout shrinking, becoming a ball to protect me from the harpies. I can’t believe it, I’m breathing underwater! 

That’s so cool! I remember the harpies, which are trying to take me to Kronos and than panic. The waves sense my fear and the waterspout fails. It shrinks back to normal waves and I am left free falling. Pain had obviously realised what was going on when I started falling.

I felt her talons clutch my leg and she flies higher. She keeps flying higher until she is at the same height as Suffering. Pain snickers, “Demigods’ never learn. Always assume they can out-think us.” 

Touching the sea gave me new strength so I wriggled in Pain’s grasp. Her claws sunk into my arm and I gave a little yelp. “If you keep struggling there’ll be more of that.” Pain looked down at me.

I remember Pain sinking her claws into my arm deeper. The pain was intense and I remember keeping in a scream. I saw black dots in front of my eyes and then the world went black.

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Tom was walking to school like he did every Friday. He had his backpack slung across his back. He saw two bird-like shadows pass over him. Tom looked up and saw two flying chickens. Well, they looked like flying chickens. One of them was orange and the other was yellow. The yellow chicken was carrying something that looked like a girl.

Then Tom realised that they weren’t flying chickens, they were harpies. The yellow chicken was also carrying an actual girl. Tom realised what he must do and he pulled his backpack from his shoulders. He reached into in and pulled out a quiver and a bow.

He dumped his backpack on the ground and slipped his quiver on his back. His quiver immediately filled with arrows. The arrowheads were made of celestial bronze, deadly to monsters. He pulled one out of the quiver and nocked it. He closed one eye, breathed out, and let the arrow loose. It whistled through the air. He quickly nocked another arrow and shot it at the orange harpy. 

Thunk! The first arrow hit the yellow harpy in the stomach. It dropped Brianna and she fell through the sky. Brianna screamed as she fell. She looked up at the orange harpy, diving to catch her. An arrow whizzed pass the harpy’s head.

Tom nocked a third arrow and closed one eye. He aimed under the harpy, and fired. It whistled through the air like the first two. Thunk! The arrow hit the harpy in the head. It fell through the sky, like the yellow harpy before it. Tom grabbed his backpack and started running. He stuffed his bow and now empty quiver in his backpack. 

Brianna was still screaming while she was falling toward the pavement. Tom calculated where she would hit the pavement. She would hit the ground 15 meters away from where he was standing. Now he knew where she would land he had to stop her hitting the ground.