Not Just Another God ✓

Chapter 9: Meg gets her own personal Groot

I desperately scanned the horizon, searching for anything anything that could get me out, but all I saw was dry land and scheming nosoi.

And then I made the mistake of looking one directly in their yellow, gleaming eyes. They stared past me,  their eyes filled with a kind of blankness that I had the unfortunity to have experienced.

These nosoi had been either controlled or commanded. No way would they have attracted us on their own accord, or known where to find us otherwise.

My brow furrowed, going through titans and potential villains that they could be serving for, yet coming up with nothing that could make sense.

A geyser erupted a few feet away spraying the air with water, suddenly reminding me that I has nosoi fumes all over myself.

I crawled towards it with a kind of determination you would only see in half-blood, drenchedmy face in the water, and washed away most of the glittering smoke.

Stuggling to my feet, I found the source of the geyser–an irrigation pipe–and turned the water on Apollo, soaking him in water from head to toe, to which he gave me a withering glare. I ignored him. Being Annabeth's boyfriend gave me a kind of immunity to any other glare less powerful than hers.

The water disrupted the smoke, giving Apollo an opportunity to scamper away,  dripping all over the dryish land. Nearby, the nosoi re-formed as water drenched corpses, their yellow eyes glowing with annoyance.

"GET DOWN!" Meg yelled.

I hit the ground, completely trusting some twelve year old kid as frozen blackened fruit of the harvest started to levitate, ricocheting off trees like eight balls, ripping through the nosoi’s bodies. If I were standing up, I would have been killed, but Meg simply stood there, unfazed and unhurt, as frozen dead fruit zinged around her.

All three nosoi collapsed, riddled with holes. Every piece of fruit dropped to the ground, lying there comfortably on the ground.

I looked up."Whah jus happened?"

Ugh. I didn't escape from the clutches of sickness completely.

"I don’t know," Apollo said, so very helpfully. "Meg, is it safe?"

She was staring in amazement at the carnage of fruit, mangled corpses, and broken tree limbs. "I—I’m not sure."

"How’d you do thah?" I snuffled, not really expecting an answer.

Meg looked horrified. "I didn’t! I just knew it would happen."

I didn't press it any further, though a small smile itched at the corners of my mouths, threatening to turn into a full blown grin.

One of the cadavers began to stir. It got up, wobbling on its heavily perforated legs.

"But you did doooo it," the spirit growled. "Yooou are strong, child."

The other two corpses rose, and I inwardly groaned. Whoever commanded these spirits had chosen them well. They hardly seemed defeatable.

"Not strong enough," said the second nosois. "We will finish you now."

The third spirit bared his rotten teeth. "Your guardian would be sooooo disappointed."

Guardian? Did he mean Apollo?

Meg looked as if she’d been punched in the gut. Her face paled. Her arms trembled. She stamped her foot and yelled, "NO!"

More peaches swirled into the air. This time the fruit blurred together in a fructose dust devil, until standing in front of Meg was a creature like a pudgy human toddler wearing only a linen diaper. Protruding from his back were wings made of leafy branches. His babyish face might have been cute except for the glowing green eyes and pointy fangs. The creature snarled and snapped at the air.