I couldn't remember the moment I met the ground, only what came after. My eyes fluttered open, and I was laying on the wet grass, the pain in my side a million times worse than before.

If it hadn't been before, something was definitely broken now.

Nico lay beside me, in just as bad a state as I, if not worse. Blood was soaking his shirt from multiple cuts caused by the broken glass shards he had been showered with.

"That wasn't exactly a nice gesture now, was it?" Came a familiar feminine voice, "You meet her father, and the first thing you do is throw him out of the bus window? My my, do you have a lot to learn still."

"Ol...iv-"

"Shush, I'm talking!" She cleared her throat, "I'm honestly surprised at how easy it was to get you completely wrapped around my finger... Teenage boys, please, never change. All you need to see is a pretty face, and you're completely oblivious to all manner of traps. Now, what was it that I wanted to do? Ah, right! Stand up." As if I was suddenly standing inside a tornado, wind roared past my ear and my body floated off of the ground, surrounded by a cloud of grey. A new lance of pain thrust through my body thanks to the movement.

Olivia stood before me, dressed like she had been when I had last seen her.

"What are-"

"Quiet! How many times do I have to tell you?" He closed his fingers together in a silencing way, and the grey maelstrom grew a tentacle and forcefully closed my mouth, "To answer your unfinished question, I am Dolos." Her feminine voice disappeared, fading into millions of other voices all speaking at once. The god bowed with a smile, and the tentacle around my mouth receded.

Getting pulled closer, I tried to spit at her, much to her dismay as she side-stepped the globule of spit and frowned at it. In response, my cage of clouds tightened around me, forcing a grunt of pain out of my mouth.

"Fuck off!"

"Now, now, that's no way to speak to a lady, is it? You really are in need of learning some proper etiquette, but I'm not going to be the one to teach it to you. Anyway, may I just say that you did a fantastic job at achieving absolutely nothing on this quest? I bet your father is proud." It looked at Nico, "And our other contender is awake too! Good morning, and I guess I can say that your father would be proud too. I'm not sure how things are going right now in the depths of good old Uncle Pontus, but I'm afraid he'll have a lot more on his mind than whatever quest you decided to be a part of."

The primordial beckoned towards Nico, and half a dozen horses flew through the air, appearing from seemingly thin air. Their bodies were made of storm clouds and their manes crackled with electricity. They surrounded Nico and lifted him off of the ground, their forms melting into the same grey clouds that were also around me.

He gasped as they tightened their grip on him, and floated closer, coming to stand beside me.

"Who-"

The tentacle instantly clamped around my lips, and I grunted in annoyance.

"Hmm, I'm fairly certain there should've been three of you." It mused. While still looking like the girl from the gas station, its voice made it impossible for me to see it as a human being, "That's how many I was told there would be." It looked to the side, and I followed its gaze to spot a lion laying on the ground like some loyal pet. It was of a size that befitted the paw I had seen moments before getting flung out of the window, that being half the length of our tour bus, and nearly as high. As for its fur, it gleamed in the setting sun like a coat of gold, muscles rippling under it. "You smell anything, kitty?"

The lion stood up and sniffed around the bus, while Dolos looked back at the two of us. They hadn't found Sophia yet then. Maybe she could come up with something and get us out of this tough spot.

Once again the grey cloud tightened around me and a new wave of pain erupted inside my chest. Dolos laughed gleefully at both our screams.

As the sensation reduced back down to a constant background throbbing, I stared at the lion searching the wreck of the bus.

"I'm terribly sorry about all of these... things." He waved around himself at his minions, "I prefer working alone, but I do have to agree with-" It was getting off track, but it stopped himself before saying anything more, "Ha! Nearly said something I shouldn't have there! It's been a long time since I've been on the surface, and mortals are just one of the few interesting additions on Aunt Gaia... Useless, weak, greedy mortals." With each word, I felt the grip around me tighten even more.

I opened my mouth to retort and let out another roar of pain, but anger suddenly clouded Dolos' face.

"Shut up! I was told I could have my fun with you, and you're not going to ruin it!" It spat.

The lion roared at something, causing him to frown for a moment before a smile pierced his expression, his gaze falling upon thin air.

"I have to say, that's very rare to happen. Congratulations! You've surprised me! Come here now, you deserve a prize." He flicked his hand, and yet more storm-horses arrived from the air and twisted around an invisible figure. I already knew who it was, and sighed sadly. The grey cage flew close enough to Dolos for it to reach out and grip something, wrenching it upwards and off of Sophia's head.

The daughter of Athena now sat inside the grey cage, a Redsox cap in Dolos' hand, along with quite a few strands of blonde hair.

"Go fuck yourself!" She yelled.

It was good to see that her attitude was back, even though dried blood still caked her face and her shoulder was dislocated.

"I'd rather not." He muttered, turning the hat over in his hand, "This is quite a useful item... For someone who doesn't make do with the best. Smells of poor magic, is this what Olympians smell of?"

"Give it back..." She grunted the grip around her tightening too.

"Now that's a sudden change of tone, is it not? Unfortunately, I couldn't give it back to you even if I wanted to. My boss would kill me." The god smiled, using the term as if he hated it.

He placed the hat on his palm and stretched it out towards Sophia. The grip around her lessened to such an extent that she could move her arms again, which is just what she did.

Just before she could grab it with her good arm, three bolts of lightning erupted from each of our grey clouds, striking the hat and turning it to ash in the blink of an eye.

"NO!" Sophia screamed, followed by a stream of Greek and English curses. Her face was red with anger, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh shut up already, you're incessant screeching is giving me a migraine!" The primordial waved his hand, and as he had done with me, she too got her mouth forcibly shut. Ever so slowly a smile spread over his mouth once again, "With all three of you here, I want to officially welcome you to the last few minutes of your life..." He trailed off, his eyes narrowing.

I noticed it too. We were standing under a shadow, yet there were hardly any clouds in the sky.

Both of us looked up, but he snapped his fingers and the clouds forced my head back down.

Nico still had some freedom of movement, so I raised an eyebrow in his direction. He understood what I was asking of him, and very carefully looked upwards.

His eyes widened, as did the primordial's.

Without warning, something crashed into the ground right where Dolos had stood, the clouds holding us dispersing in the blink of an eye and dropping all three of us. I tried my best to land on my knees, but there was no painless way to take the fall when my ribs were broken.

"You have decided your last!" Roared Pandora in my mind, the gigantic dragon gripping our attacker in its massive claws and lifting it into the air. Its last words hung in the air even as the primordial was smashed into an overpass and two apartment complexes.

Attack.

Rising from a nearby forest, a flock of birds gathered in the air, growing in number before, as a single body, the thousands of creatures sailed after my pet. As they moved, I swear I could see the glint of metal among them.

My chest still felt like it was on fire, though the pain was subsiding thanks to yet another blast of adrenaline ripping through my body. As I tried getting to my feet, my arms gave way with the influx of sudden, red, hot pain once again clouding my mind. The lion's roar brought my focus back to my surroundings. It was slowly walking towards us, but even so, the distance separating us from it was getting alarmingly smaller with every step it took.

Nico was, like me, in no shape to stand up by himself, a leg wound hindering him along with his other injuries, yet he was still trying. Sophia, however, was staring at the ash that was her hat a few minutes ago, the black powder already scattered far and wide by the cold winter wind. I kicked her thigh, which got her attention.

"Get ambrosia, or we won't stand a chance," I grunted, holding my side as even that small movement sent a wave of pain through my body.

She nodded, slowly standing up, and sprinting over to the bus for our backpacks, one arm hanging limp beside her. The lion focused on the moving target, taking two large steps and pouncing through the air before she was even halfway to the wreckage. Those claws would tear her apart before she'd put together what the sharp pain in her back was.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my arm, concentrating hard on the beast moving through the air. Suddenly, I willed a spike of chaos energy into existence, about the size of my entire arm, and I sent it racing through the air to intercept the monster. An overwhelming urge to take a nap followed a moment later, my energy completely drained from just that one move.

Truth be told, I had never tried creating such a large projectile while training with my father, and even the smaller ones were mentally draining.

The jagged creation slammed into the side of the beast, releasing enough energy to kill something even twice its size. Yet, instead of atomizing it, it veered off course and cartwheeled into the already-ruined bus, causing metal shrapnel and a wheel to fly in all directions. Shaking itself free, it stood back up and searched for the source.

Its eyes snapped onto me, and getting up from the twisted bits of metal, it shook itself once, then bounded straight towards me, ignoring the daughter of Athena.

Unsheathing my knife, and ignoring the pain in my side, I crawled backwards as the growling lion approached too fast for my liking. Sophia was rooting through the remains of the bus as I watched the approaching beast, searching for any of our three bags.

"Come on kitty cat, keep your eyes on me," I muttered, slowly reaching for my other knife, wincing as I did so.

The beast leapt before I could grab the hilt, and I rolled to the side, pain exploding in my chest.

"Fucking... HURRY UP!" I cried to Sophia, who glanced towards me, saw the predicament I was in, and sped up the search, pulling another backpack from the wreckage, unsure of whose it was.

A paw filled with razor-sharp claws flew at me, and I managed to parry them to the side with my knife. That was surprising, that my blade hadn't simply carried through them. Somehow I could cut through celestial bronze with it, but not claws that were made from... Well, claws?

The lion seemed just as surprised as I was, losing its balance for a few seconds and presenting me with an opening.

Thrusting my dagger as hard as I could, I aimed at the very centre of the revealed opportunity, targeting its furry chest. I prepared myself for the tug of the blade entering flesh, bracing my shoulder for the impact.

But the blade skitted to the side, like the fur this thing wore was adamantine plate armour in disguise.

"HERE!" Sophia shouted, throwing the bag at me from behind the giant beast, the bag sliding on the ground the last few meters, "Weapons won't work on it, this is the Nemean Lion!"

"Fucking... really... brilliant," I grunted, struggling to open the bag while the lion was deciding who to attack, me, Sophia who had just thrown the bag filled with godly superfood, or Nico, who was trying his best to put some distance between himself and the monster.

It roared, and even though I had blocked it from view with that bag, I knew it had chosen me. With the zipper on it broken, it was next to impossible to open, and I was already pushing my dagger into the material to tear it apart with brute force.

"Watch out!" Sophia yelled while running towards Nico with the other backpack she had found.

Another swipe flew towards me, and I had no way to deflect it, my hands full. Holding up the bag as a last-ditch attempt, I felt the material give way as the claw tore through it with little to no resistance, almost completely cutting it into two halves and causing all of its contents to fall onto me.

A piece of metal shrapnel bounced off of the creature's face, causing it to whip its head towards wherever it had come from. Sophia was standing over Nico, who was already chewing some ambrosia cubes. One of the counsellor's arms still hung limp, but she was doing a good job of ignoring it, another piece of the wreckage already in her good hand.

That too sailed through the air and struck the beast again.

As it was focusing elsewhere, I sorted through clothes and money, both torn in half by lion claws, golden drachmae and the remnants of some food from camp. I grabbed one of the unorthodoxly-opened boxes of Ambrosia and, without thinking too much about the consequences, threw three cubes into my mouth. It wouldn't be enough to kill me, and I'd happily suffer through a fever later just to get out of this situation alive.

Ever so slowly, the beast walked towards Sophia. This was a monster that knew how invulnerable it was and therefore took its time to approach, calculating its next best move.

Half a minute passed in the blink of an eye, the pain disappearing completely... Or rather, it was pushed to the back of my mind, forgotten for now. My body reminded me that it would still be a problem later on by giving me a tiny tugging sensation in my stomach and chest after every small move I made.

I stood up and turned towards the lion, about to pounce on my friends, Sophia uselessly pelting it with bus wreckage. Running up behind it, I had no better plan to make do with, so I kicked it as hard as I could, my boot connecting with its rump with a loud smack. The overgrown cat let out the strange combination of a roar and a yelp, darting backwards and turning to face me.

"Meow, motherfucker!" I muttered, lifting both my daggers, "Come at me!" My confidence was back, that much I could feel, but I wasn't going to be able to take on this thing with just my knives, "Nico! Can you help me out a bit here?" I asked, glancing at the son of Poseidon, who simply nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he did so.

He lifted his arm towards the bus and, emerging from the wreckage, came a squadron of water bottles, flying through broken windows and holes made in the crumpled chassis. There were dozens of them, and circling the lion, they started smashing into it, one after another.

That would keep it occupied for a while.

Now it was my turn to reach towards the bus, the sound of already damaged aluminium giving way as I willed my swords to arrive into my hands. Smashing through what little was left of the roof, my two swords flew through the air like fighter aircraft, stuck between them the strap of the duffle bag.

A fortunate turn of events, not to mention that it was nice to see my powers actually working outside of my cabin.

Dropping my knives on the ground, I braced myself for the arrival of my swords.

They slammed into my hand hilt-first, the bag flying past me, carried by its incredible momentum. As it made contact with the mud, weapons spilt out onto the ground, the much-hated duffle bag spilling its guts in a final show of glory. Throwing two of the nearest swords to my friends, both of them let them drop down in front of them. Sophia was quick to pick her's off of the ground while Nico merely gave it a glance, too focused on annoying the lion to arm himself.

Both of them looked better now that they had some ambrosia in their system, their cuts were all but healed and broken bones, if not completely fused back together, at least allowed for a less restricted form of movement. Sophia's shoulder, however, was still dislocated, hanging limply beside her, even if she didn't seem all that concerned about it.

"I can't keep this up forever!" Nico exclaimed, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead, "It's far from as easy as it looks."

"We're as good to go as we'll ever be, Nico. Let's teach this kitty how to fight." I grinned.

As one, the two dozen or so bottles still flying around the lion crashed into the beast. Letting off a yelp of surprise, the sopping wet creature staggered under the weight of the strike, its regal look gone, its mane drenched in water, making it look like a deadly mop.

Sophia and I charged as soon as the makeshift airforce was demolished, Nico lagging behind as he took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Dodging a disoriented paw swing, I struck at the outstretched limb in response, but once again my sword bounced off of it. Three more times I tried, and every time I got the same result.

The son of Poseidon tried deflecting a blow, only for the lion's claws to pass straight through his blade, similarly to how a hot knife passes through butter. Only his fast reflexes saved him from a quick death, though he didn't get out of the situation unharmed, blood blooming on his shirt, near his shoulder. He wasted little time rearming himself, picking a new weapon off of the ground before, once again, closing in on the monster.

With the ground slippery from the snow and water that covered it, it was only a matter of time before one of us would slip, and that was going to be a deadly mistake.

Whatever it took, we needed this thing dead.

"Sophia! How the hell do we kill this thing?" I asked, kicking the beast as it turned towards the daughter of Athena, only for it to ignore me.

"Well, it was the first monster-" She dropped to the ground with a groan as the monster swiped at her, some of her hair caught in the arc of the claws. Those blonde strands fluttered to the ground beside her, "Mouth!" She yelled, rolling to the side as the lion threw its entire weight at her prone body. I saw the discomfort in her eyes as she put her weight on her dislocated arm.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Mouth?

I shoulder-barged into the lion, the feeling akin to sprinting into a brick wall, but at least it was now looking at me. With a grunt, I stepped back to steady myself, feeling my ribs complain heavily about that move. That couldn't be a good sign.

We couldn't wait for the ambrosia to wear off, otherwise, we'd be once again immobilised with pain. As I stared at the lion, Sophia's words bounced around in my head.

"Mouth?" I muttered, "Is that your weakness?"

If that was the case, I couldn't have been in a better position, because I was staring right at that teeth-filled cave that some might call a mouth.

As I stepped away from the monster, taking up a defensive stance, I felt a bump under my foot, yet thought nothing of it until the moment it shot out from underneath me, and I went cartwheeling backwards.

There was no time to curse about my new predicament... Pushing as hard as I could against the ground, I slid away just in time, for the beast had seen the opportunity arise, and had pounced on the position I would've landed in, had I not been as quick as I had been.

Before I could lift my swords, it was already reaching toward me, and a clawed paw struck me in the chest.

I let out a gasp, managing nothing else as the air was pushed out of my lungs by the raw strength of the lion's strike. Was this it? After getting stabbed so many times already, was this my last one?

Slowly, the pain subsided, and I looked down at my chest seeing no wounds... Nothing. My cloak had deflected the blow, though I was fairly certain I'd have more broken ribs to count after the effects of the ambrosia cubes wore off. The lion roared in surprise, and I couldn't help but smirk through the pain.

You weren't alone with that ability anymore, bitch. Though, I'd rather keep using my swords. A few more of those strikes, and I'd be as good as dead.

Nico charged at the lion once more, causing it to quickly get over its surprise. As it growled in response, the celestial bronze xiphos connected with its teeth, a massive crack ringing out as metal met enamel.

Something fell onto my leg, and I looked over to spot a glistening tooth sitting on top of the mud, just beside my leg. The shock of feeling pain caused it to scamper backwards, backing up against the bus' wreckage. It was growling at us, revealing its ichor filled mouth, and giving off a sound that others would associate with a starting helicopter's engine.

This was as perfect a time to rest as any, all three of us silently agreeing upon that. The lion stopped retreating as we stopped advancing towards it.

I took this lull in the fight to look for Pandora, quickly finding her flying through the air, thrashing her head from left to right, like a dog with its chew toy. A figure was in her mouth, that was clear even from this far. For the first time since grabbing the primordial, she flew over the wreckage and the sight of the battle, golden blood spattering on the cars and mortals, onlookers of our duel with the lion. Unknowning of just how much danger they were in thanks to the mist, they stared at the sky in confusion.

The swarm of birds was still following my pet, and as they passed above us as well, feathers rained down from the sky. As the first one connected with the asphalt, it gave off a metallic clinking sound.

That wasn't a sound that normal feathers made.

Many of them landed on cars, their tips ramming through the metal chassis easily.

Something struck Pandora in the face, and she roared in pain, a duplicate of that roar also ringing clearly in my head. With her teeth no longer clamped around the figure in her mouth, Dolos was flung from her jaw and sent crashing to the ground at high velocity, bouncing once before a parked car finally caught the god. I doubted it'd be able to stand up from that for quite a while yet, even if it was a god.

That was a wake-up call for a lot of mortals, who started to back away from us, realising that even from the distance they were currently observing from, they were far from safe.

The beat of large wings stopped suddenly, and the shadow of the large dragon was gone. I could still hear her grunting in pain in my head, but she was now something smaller, something that she was much more used to.

A phoenix.

Her copper feathered body slowly flew away, dragging a part of the horde of birds after her. Even so, hundreds still remained, fluttering in place, unsure of what to do. A hand covered in golden ichor rose above the car that the primordial had crashed into and shakily pointed at the mortals.

The birds didn't even hesitate as they fluttered into position over us, all other sounds drowned out by their collective flapping.

"Stymphilian birds!" Sophia exclaimed, her voice almost lost in the cavalcade of noise. Twisting her ring, her shield popped out, but she only grimaced as it pulled down on her bad arm.

A torrent of feathers streamed from the bird storm, easily enough to cover the entire area in sharp projectiles.

Time felt like it had slowed down as I made my mind up in a split second, sprinting towards Sophia, whose face was starting to show signs of panic as she struggled to hide behind her shield. I grabbed her hand the moment I got there, slipping the ring off of her finger, and twisting mine open alongside hers.

Not a second after both were lifted into the air, dozens of deadly projectiles slammed against them, some of them piercing through mere centimetres away from my arm. From underneath the armoured umbrella, I watched as mortals fell to the ground, dead, as tens of feathers pierced their bodies.

Those that survived the initial volley stared at the aftermath in shock, before taking off towards the city.

Sophia looked at me with a mixture of pain and thankfulness written on her face. It probably hadn't been a comfortable feeling when I had slipped the ring off of her finger, but it was better than getting turned into a pincushion.

I wasn't going to put the shields down just yet, in case a second volley came.

As the shadows of birds followed the mortals, I realised we hadn't been the targets in the first place. Those escaping towards the suburbs were getting gunned down by the monsters.

"Save the-" Sophia's eyes widened, and she shoved my sword arm forward. I didn't doubt her reasoning, and held onto it tightly, feeling a tug as the lion's claws deflected off of it. Instantly, I was locked onto the lion's furry body, throwing my shield as hard as I could at its face, then bracing myself for a continuation of the fight, "Daniel, save the bloody mortals!"

"And leave you guys here?" I asked, glancing briefly at the bird horde, currently in the process of riddling the first house with feathers.

"Nico and I can take care of the lion, but you're much more well equipped for the birds."

"We can?" Nico asked, kicking the lion, before jumping backwards, narrowly dodging a swipe.

"Shut up," Sophia retorted, frowning at Nico before looking back at me, "Hurry, or there won't be any mortals left to save."

I nodded, and ran off, following the feathers that stuck out of the asphalt and cars.

Not like I needed those as guides, the screams were enough.

Sophia

As Daniel ran off, I could only watch him for a moment before whipping my head back towards the beast, who looked downright pissed after getting smacked in the face with a shield.

Maybe I had been a bit too cocky saying that we could handle it alone. After all, only Daniel's weapons were strong enough to deflect the claws of this thing.

His weapons...

My gaze wandered across the ground, glancing over the tens of swords strewn all over the place until I finally found what I was looking for. Two black objects dropped in the mud.

"Nico, keep it distracted for a minute... Please?" I muttered, slowly backing away.

"Would you like fries with that?" He asked, and I raised an eyebrow in his direction. He shook his head in response, "I'll try my best, do whatever you think needs doing."

I sprinted towards the knives, feeling the ground rumble as the lion started after me. The snow surrounding me suddenly lifted off of the ground and slammed against the beast, causing it to fall over and struggle back onto its feet again. Sliding the last two meters, I grabbed one of them, glowing with a barely-visible white light in the darkness settling around us.

"NICO!" I yelled, seeing the guy playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the monster, bobbing and weaving between its pounces and strikes. The lion was fast, but it was large enough that every throw of its paw was fairly easy to dodge, especially for Nico, who wasn't exactly the biggest of people.

"Bit-" He shouted back, just barely managing to jump back away from an evisceration, "-BUSY!"

I threw the weapon in front of him, and I saw recognition spread across his face as he realized what it was and what my plan had been from the start. Rolling on the ground, he dodged a paw adorned with razor-sharp claws and scooped up the dagger, lifting it up above his head just before it was too late.

"Alright, alright. Now what?" I muttered to myself, picking up the other one with the one good arm I had.

Gods, was this dislocated shoulder annoying! Even with ambrosia, it was a constant source of pain, and I couldn't use it unless I popped it back in place. I had seen enough of those medical interventions performed by John, and had, in fact, done a few myself during my time at camp. All of those times had helped me understand that it wasn't something you wanted to do in the middle of a fight.

I slammed into the lion with my good shoulder, causing it to stagger a bit as I caught it off guard, my bodyweight far from ideal to do anything more. We had to somehow stab it in the mouth, otherwise, we'd be here until we tired to the point of losing focus, or the ambrosia wore off.

Then we'd die.

As the lion backed away slightly, I saw it breathing through its nose, and its eyes were reduced to tiny slits. It knew that we knew its weakness, and it was doing everything to stop us from using it against him.

"I'll attack from the left, and you get on top of it." Nico said, looking at me, "Stab it in the eye."

"It'd shake me off faster than I could say Gotcha!, and then I'd be right under its paw."

"What about-"

A column of grey slammed into the son of Poseidon, sending him spinning through the air and bouncing off of the bus' wreckage. Whipping my head around to find the source, I felt my heart drop into my boots.

It was Olivia, the gas station girl that Daniel had managed to get the number of... And me, being the idiot I was, had actually tried helping him. Well, that's the thanks I get for trying to be a good friend. Turns out, she was a primordial god, who was intent on hunting us down.

Holy shit, did the son of Ragnos have the worst luck ever when it came to girls.

Dolos was bleeding from multiple cuts all over his body and there was a massive bite mark on his chest, golden blood flowing from it instead of crimson.

Ichor, the blood of the gods.

"This. Ends. Now." He uttered, each word filled with pure rage. I heard Nico's body slam into the bus three times, after each word.

"Let him go," I said, gripping my knife tighter. The lion stared at me intently, waiting for any new command that his master might utter.

"Both you and I know that that is something I cannot do. In fact, once I finish beating your friend to death, I think I'll feed you to the lion. Have you ever been eaten alive? It doesn't feel good, I can assure you."

I screamed and ran forward, but just like at the start of this whole mess, I was surrounded by the Anemoi Thuellai, and rendered completely motionless.

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!" I screamed as I heard Nico crash into the bus once more and I was lifted off of the ground.

"What is it with you mortals-" He muttered, opening his mouth to continue, only for his eyes to suddenly widen, "NO!"

A second later I was flying through the air, the grey storm spirits dispersing and a massive, golden-furred body following me. The primordial spirit of trickery was screaming what I guessed were curses, though they were nothing more than an unintelligible jumble of sounds to my ears.

As I turned in the air, I saw the Nemean lion drop to the ground... The beast had knocked me from the air whilst Dolos had been holding me.

I landed with a grunt and instantly scurried backwards, trying to get enough distance between me and the lion so that it wouldn't kill me in a single pounce. Daniel's knife was gone from my hand, dropped somewhere in the mud.

"Shit, shit, shit," I whispered, watching as a group of storm spirits tried to hold the beast down, but a swipe of its claws was enough to turn some of them to dust, the others quickly retreating.

With a growl, the lion looked at me with pure anger burning in its eyes.

My gaze rested on the glint of celestial bronze through the grass. It was a piece of the first sword that Nico had used when he had tried deflecting the lion's claws. A slice of the blade.

I wrapped my fingers around it and stared at the toothy grin of the monster.

Opening its mouth to bite down on me and end my life, I realised it was now or never. Gripping the shrapnel tightly, I felt the sharp blade cut into my palm, but I couldn't care less right now. Its head moved towards me and I thrust forward, reaching as far as I could into its mouth and stabbing the broken sword blade into the roof of its mouth. The momentum of its killing blow was lost, and it recoiled in shock, gasping and roaring in pain and fear. Warm golden blood drenched my arm, and it poured out of its mouth like a waterfall, the piece of shrapnel still lodged in its mouth.

The beast turned around and sprinted towards the suburbs, crashing into Dolos in the process, and sending him spinning into the mud. Beside the wreckage of the bus, Nico's limp body dropped to the ground.

I expected the lion to slow down as it got further away, then keel over and turn to dust, but no such thing happened as it disappeared from sight through an already damaged mortal house. The house collapsed in on itself in the monster's wake.

"WHY. WON'T. YOU. DIE?!" Dolos screamed and propping himself up on one knee, the storm spirits returned to surround Nico, squeezing him hard. I saw his body reflexively gasp for air, and knew he had only moments left to live. Jumping up and running as fast as my legs could carry me, I spotted Daniel's knife laying on the ground on my way toward the distracted Dolos.

Managing to scoop it up without stopping, an almost impossible feat thanks to my injured hand, slick with my own and the lion's blood, I slammed into Dolos.

He might have been a primordial deity, but his body was still that of a teenage girl. One that was far from my own weight class.

The primordial's body gave way to me, and both of us crumpled to the ground, me on top of him. Rolling off of Dolos, I felt myself panic as realised the knife was no longer in my hand. As I lifted my arm to search for it, I smashed my forearm into something that felt like a hilt and turned my head towards the body of Dolos.

Daniel's knife, or rather the black hilt of it, was sticking out of the god's chest, his hand wrapped around it in surprise.

There was no time to waste, and with a snarl that shocked even me, I jumped onto the teenager, and pushed downwards on the knife hilt, causing a gasp to escape his lips.

"Leave," I growled, pulling the blade violently upwards, through where regular humans would have their ribs and sternum. The blade cut through it all without trouble, "And don't come back."

The god disappeared in a light puff of air, melting into the shadows.

I let go of the knife hilt that was no longer there, probably still stuck in the primordial's chest, wherever he had fucked off to. Taking a deep breath, I felt my knees start to shake, a moment after which I collapsed onto the ground. Steadying my breathing after what felt like forever, I half-crawled, half-dragged myself towards Nico, who looked like he was on the verge of death.

Blood spattered the side of the bus and he looked like he'd just been beaten up by a thirty-member gang of thugs.

"Wake up!" I yelled, shaking his shoulder.

Tears started streaming down my face as the adrenaline finally wore off and exhaustion finally caught up with me. Choking back a sob, I tried again.

No reaction.

Daniel

Steadying my hand, I focused on the next bird and released the black arrow. Striking its body, it fluttered to the ground in a downward spiral, dropping the last half a meter and turning to dust.

Dozens of their tiny trophies littered the floor, but that was far from all of them.

Mortals lay dead everywhere, while others cried in terror, their bodies covered in wounds as they hid from the monsters. Meanwhile, I hadn't even been noticed by any of the swarms flying around the place, something I was both thankful and angry about. I'd rather they attack me than the defenceless mortals.

Searching for my next target, I spotted a nearby house, under assault by about a hundred of the death-pigeons. There was no time to formulate a plan, and just like that, I was sprinting towards the scene, lashing out with my swords at the nearest creatures, cutting at least a few of them in half, their trinkets tinkling on the concrete. Yet, they still remained focused on their task of killing mortals.

The rest were too high up for me to reach them with my sword, and their movements were too unpredictable for me to use a bow properly. There'd be nobody to save inside by the time I finished them all off using that technique.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the power of chaos inside me, willing it to come to life. Albeit slowly, but the energies did, in fact, react to my will. My eyes fluttered open, and I silently ordered the tendrils now sprouting from my body to lash out at any monster I could see.

Just a touch alone was enough to cause the birds to drop dead, and at least half their numbers were gone with the wind by the time things took a turn for the worst. Hundreds of beady eyes focused on me, and I wavered. The tendrils dissipated... They had worked too well.

"Fuck." I muttered, pulling my hood over my unprotected head, and sprinting down the street, the tornado of wings following close behind me. Feathers bounced off of my cloak, each one like an airsoft pellet striking me. They'd most definitely leave a bruise.

A roar made me look up into the sky, a dangerous move that risked my face getting hit by a rogue feather, but it had been a reflexive reaction rather than a conscious one. Pandora flew overhead, once more a dragon, though a smaller one than what had previously mauled Dolos, and I watched as she chased down groups of birds, scorching them with blue flames.

I crashed into a car, abandoned by its owner, and cursed myself for getting too distracted. Striking the car by the dozens, I realised that continuing to run away from the feathers would eventually see one of them getting a lucky hit on me. Jumping over the hood and crouching behind the car, I focused on trying to recreate the tendrils, even if my strength was fading fast. The maelstrom of birds remained focused on the car, each feather causing the chassis to spit tiny sparks into the air.

Then I smelt it.

The distinct smell of gasoline.

Quickly making up my mind that sparks and gasoline weren't a good combo, I barely had enough time to curl up into a ball and pull up some sort of defensive shield around myself before I felt the dull thump of an explosion and I was flying through the air.

I was alive, the pain of crashing into another car parked on the side of the road reassuring me of the fact, a hot wave of pain running through my entire body. Whatever protection it was that I had managed to pull up around myself, it had protected my ears too, because I could clearly hear the car's alarm blaring beside me, in fact, half a dozen others were doing the same all along the street.

Where was the feeling of deadly feathers striking my cloak though? The flapping of wings and the squawking should have drowned out the alarms.

Slowly lifting my head, I peeked over the car at my surroundings. The birds were no longer working together as a single, writhing swarm, rather, they were flapping around erratically in the air above the detonated car's ruins. No feathers, no attacks directed towards me. Their eyes were filled with terror as they tried their best to flee the noise.

"What the actual fuck are you doing?" I muttered.

I got up from the ground carefully, and pulled out my bow, shooting down the birds one after another. Their random, darting movements made it hard to calculate my shots, yet I was managing to amass quite a few kills.

All of a sudden, the car alarms stopped in quick succession. With a snap of the finger, all eyes were on me once again, their episode coming to a stop.

Only one option remained, and I wasn't stupid to not take that into consideration.

I turned tail and ran.

Were they afraid of the car alarm? Noise in general? That jogged something in my memory, maybe about Theseus... Or was it Heracles? All these names and what they did... I didn't have the mental capacity to remember all of that shit, especially during a battle.

Sprinting down random streets, I tried to pull as many of the demon birds as I could away from the helpless mortals. It was easier than I expected, as most of them didn't even hesitate to join the horde chasing after me.

It felt like an eternity, running down the various roads whilst my back went numb with pain from getting struck by feathers. I had no plan, no idea of what to do, and I could feel myself succumbing to exhaustion. Turning down yet another corner, three police cars loosely blocking the street came into view, men and women wearing uniforms standing around said cars. All their heads turned towards me as I arrived at the end of the street, bird-horde breathing down my neck.

Unsure of what to do, they finally followed the lead of the first to jump behind his car, and as I closed in on the blockade, I realised that fifteen or so guns were pointed right at me.

"Stop where you are!" Came the voice of a policeman over a loudspeaker, "Or we will be forced to shoot!"

Fuck that.

Fuck everything, in fact. I now had to choose between getting riddled with bullets or with feathers. Neither option felt particularly inviting.

With a grunt, I pulled my cloak even tighter around myself and ran straight for the car line. The rattle of gunfire was quickly followed by the punches of bullets cracking against my cloak. In hindsight, I'd rather have taken the feathers than the bullets, but what was done was done, and I'd have the bruises to show for my decision.

Taking a deep breath, I dove at the window of the nearest car, putting as much force as I could into the leap forward. Feeling some resistance before I broke through the glass, I landed on the stick shift and grunted as it just barely missed my already wounded ribs.

Two birds followed me in through the broken window, but they were quickly taught a lesson as to why that was a bad idea on their part when I crushed one against the wall with my boot and stabbed the other. Noth of them tumbled to the floor, dead. Outside, the air was suddenly filled with yells of terror as the officers became the new targets of the birds.

"Where's the siren on this thing?" I whispered angrily, looking at the various buttons on the dashboard, trying to find any pictogram that could be of help. The screams and the sweat dripping into my eyes weren't helping matters.

All of a sudden, the door at my head was wrenched open, and I looked up into the barrel of a pistol. The shaking police officer had a crimson stain running down his shirt arm, a feather still sticking out of his bicep.

"Stop these things!" All professionalism was gone from his voice, replaced by fear, "I don't care how, but do it!"

"I can't-" A golden blur appeared in the rearview mirror, one that I recognized, much to my horror, "-WATCH OUT!"

The man had no time to react as, with a crunch, the car was swept to the side. He was dragged along unwillingly as the door slammed closed and kept him in place. The stick shift pressed into my side, while a pained scream erupted from the officer's mouth. I couldn't decide if I wanted to vomit because of the car's spinning movement, or because of the crushing pain in my side.

Finally, a tree stopped the sickening experience, the airbags blasting out of their place, and my stomach lurching forward. Staring at the upper body of the officer laying next to me, his skin was becoming more and more white with every passing second.

His ragged breathing was terrifying to listen to, but he was in the way of the buttons, so I pushed him out of the car. Instantly, he started yowling incoherently.

"I- I can't f-f-feel my legs." He screamed after half a minute and I glanced over to where he lay. One of his legs was bending in the opposite direction to how his knee should have bent, and the other one was just... Gone. As for his hand, I hadn't even noticed that the back of my head had been laying in the policeman's blood which had poured out of the stump that had once been one index finger's-worth longer. The officer had yet to notice that injury.

I was going to be sick, but I needed to do something now, or this man would be in a much worse condition, not to mention everyone else outside. The screams had mostly fallen silent, which was more distressing than hearing them.

"Tell me where I can turn on the siren!" I asked him, but he was panicking, his eyes unfocused and filled with terror. There was no time for this, I slapped him as hard as I could. After the third one, he focused on me once again, "HOW DO I TURN ON THE SIREN?" I screamed into his face. Understanding filling his eyes, he started reaching for a button.

Just before he could turn it on, half a dozen feathers pierced his chest while hundreds more embedded themselves through the roof and into the ground. I yelled in shock and anger and flipped the switch, the car's siren coming to life, blaring loudly.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the birds flutter randomly into the air in shock. A bald eagle swooped down low and took out three in a single flyby, tearing them apart like they were made of cotton candy. In my head, I could hear Pandora's cheer of victory as she massacred them.

I placed my hand against the neck of the police officer, searching for a pulse. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and what I felt confirmed what I could already guess.

He was dead.

"Piece of fucking shit!" I shouted, kicking the driver side door as hard as I could, regretting it at once as pain flared in my side.

"Dan?"

Sophia? What was she doing here?

Moments later, the door was opened, and I saw the daughter of Athena standing at my feet, bloodied, but overall looking better than ever. Her shoulder was no longer dislocated, which I realised when she pulled me out, and laid me on the floor, gasping as she saw my face.

"Don't worry, it's not mine," I grunted, wiping some of it off.

Her face was pale, but still, she tried to clean me of the mortal man's blood. Nico sat on the floor beside her, giving me a pained smile.

"Dolos escaped-"

"And as I saw, so did the lion." I interrupted, angry that it had cost the life of an innocent. Maybe multiple.

"I wounded it, but it's too strong and didn't turn to dust. We've been trying to corner it, but it's constantly retreating."

"Then we've gotta go after it before it decides that its dinner should be a mortal family. Enough mortals have already died today without it having to add more to the pool." The daughter of Athena offered me a quarter of an ambrosia cube, which I gratefully took. The taste of freshly-baked cookies filling my mouth, and warmth spreading through my body.

My sides complained with every breath I took and as I tried my best to calm down a bit, I watched Sophia walk over to Nico and lift him up, acting as a makeshift crutch for the son of Poseidon.

With a sigh, I looked at the wall of police cars, now covered in metal-tipped feathers. Bodies lay on the ground, filled with deadly projectiles and their eyes glazed over. Dead. Every single one of them was dead.

Well, not exactly.

Two of them had survived, though they were too terrified to register our presence. One of them had a feather sticking out of his shoulder, blood pumping out of it rhythmically. The other was kneeling down beside him to treat his wound.

"Any ideas where it went?" Nico croaked, drawing my eyes away from the horrible scene.

"No, but I doubt it'd be hard to follow it." I pointed towards the trail of destruction it had left behind itself.

Sophia

After ten minutes of jogging through the streets, I could feel the last bit of ambrosia energy leaving my limbs, even if its healing effects would stay for hours still. The places where I had cut myself ached, as did my shoulder, which I had popped back into place quite painfully once Nico had regained consciousness. Never did I think I'd have to do such a thing to myself.

And fuck, did I never want to do it again.

The two boys were in much worse a condition, Nico at a point where he couldn't walk by himself and Daniel, he had to stop every fifty meters or so to grab his side and take a few deep breaths, even with the extra ambrosia I had given him. Before I could ask if he was okay, he'd power onwards. I had to give it to him, he was determined to stop the Nemean lion.

The golden splotches of blood were easy to spot in the snow, even though there was only a slither of sunlight illuminating everything. Most of the streetlights that would've aided us had been knocked out by the fleeing monster, or by scared mortal drivers who had been attacked by the Stymphalian birds, most of which had now been hunted down ruthlessly by Pandora.

At times I could see half a dozen flutter above us, but moments later they'd get torn to shreds by some sort of predator bird, monster dust raining down on us like snow.

Nearby, a house crashed to the ground, followed by a roar.

"So that's where you are," Daniel muttered to himself.

After turning a corner, and entering a cul-de-sac that had been living in relative peace until the lion's arrival, we spotted the beast pawing the ground angrily. Blood still dripped from its mouth, and as it roared in agony the glint of celestial bronze was easily visible inside its maw.

Daniel unsheathed his swords and walked closer to the creature, locking his jaw in determination as it focused on him. The monster was cornered, hurt, and it looked like it wanted one thing, and one thing only. Revenge.

Without warning, it pounced at Daniel, who only just managed to roll out of the way, but he was unable to stand up, instead, sprawling on the floor and holding his ribs. I dropped Nico, who grunted in surprise but didn't complain, and rushed forward, smashing the monster in the face with the pommel of my sword, pushing myself backwards as it countered with a quick swing of the paw.

Before it could close in on either of us, two blasts of water erupted from the ground and the smell of sewage permeated everything. They struck the lion with enough force to send it flying across the air, and into a row of abandoned cars.

Running over to my black-cloaked friend, who thanked me with a smile and a pat on the shoulder after I looped his arm over my neck and lifted him off of the ground, looking him over from top to bottom.

"You okay?"

"I've been through worse... How should we kill it? You've already stabbed it in the mouth and you can see where that got us."

"A second blow should end it, the question is how we do it? It's prepared for such a move." An idea popped into my head, "Nico!"

The counsellor of the Poseidon cabin was currently playing the Lord of Sewage role fairly decently.

"Not a good time!" He shouted back.

"How long can you keep this up for?"

"I- I'm not sure. It's getting quite painful even as we speak."

"Alright, then shut it off!"

"You sure?" He grunted, shifting his body a bit, "I don't think I'll be able to continue this once I stop."

"Yeah," Daniel said, his eyes meeting mine. With a small nod, I could see that he trusted me.

I was thankful for his support, though truth be told, I wasn't exactly as sure about my own plan as I would've liked.

The column of toilet water harassing the lion stopped, and the beast returned to its senses instantly, quickly locking back on the two of us and closing the distance with three massive bounding steps. Daniel shoved himself away from me, pushing me out of the way whilst also doing the same for himself. I punched into its side as it passed by, and I saw the son of Chaos kick its leg. At this point, every small roar of indignation it let off would be a massive opportunity for us. Its mouth was already somewhat open thanks to that small bit of celestial bronze lodged into the roof of its mouth, causing it immense pain if it closed its maw completely.

Turning sideways to dodge the next attack, I saw what I was looking for.

Our one chance.

The tooth it had lost when Nico had struck it with a sword, the hole it had left behind... There was enough space for a single arrow to fit through. An impossible shot.

Dodging a swing, I braced myself for a roll.

My foot struck a patch of ice, and there was a brief moment of weightlessness, just enough time to realise what had happened before I collided with the ground, my head connecting with the concrete. A second passed, and I was opening my eyes as I was getting lifted off of the ground by the waist.

Meeting Daniel's eyes, I watched him grimace as he fought against his wounds to get me out of harm's way. Yet he hadn't been there a moment ago, and where was the lion?

"What-" Without saying a word, he pushed me away from himself, a paw landing between us not half a second later. Two cuts from Daniel's swords landed harmlessly against the monster's face, a third attempt failing as he was forced to deflect yet another strike.

I watched in amazement as he danced an epic and deadly tango with the lion, forgetting that I should try to help him, or that I was still laying on the floor. Only when he kicked aside the two front paws of the creature, and stabbed forward at its mouth, aiming for the hole in between its fangs did I come back to my senses. The thurst bounced off of the impenetrable fur that was around its mouth, the son of the Lord of Chaos missing his chance by just a few centimetres.

Quickly jumping up, I tried helping as much as I could, hitting its body as hard as I possibly could, but it was now focused solely on Daniel.

"An arrow can fit through the gap!" I shouted at him.

"And who the fuck do you think I-" He snapped, deflecting yet another swing, "Am?! Apollo?" Parrying a swipe, he kicked the monster in the face. It was enough to cause it to back away, but Daniel winced as he put his foot down, reflexively grabbing his chest.

I could kick it, hit it and wish every curse upon it, and yet its eyes would remain fixated on Mister Chaos. Two black blasts, surrounded by faint white light, ricocheted off of the creature's face as it pounced, the attempt at stopping it failing miserably.

This was it.

The son of Chaos looked too spent to be able to roll out of the way again.

An unhealthy murky-brown coloured blast of water crashed into the lion and to the side, I watched as Nico collapsed against a knocked-over lamppost.

In Daniel's hand, his bow appeared in the blink of an eye, stretching the drawstring back as far as he could. There was a rattle to the deep breath he took as he tried to steady his shot. The Nemean lion wasn't going to waste a single moment and was already charging back into the fray with frightening speed.

Time seemed to slow down as the black arrow was released from the bow. Whether it would hit the target or not, the speed and size of the monster would surely crush my friend into chaos-flavoured paste. I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me, but even that felt incredibly slow.

Only when I crashed against him, tackling my fellow camper to the ground, did I realise how fast my heart was beating, how ragged my breathing was. The immense body of the beast cartwheeled over us, bits of its body flaking off and sprinkling down onto us.

But he was safe.

We were alive still.

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face, up until a voice spoke from underneath me.

"Ow." Daniel groaned. I realized the soft thing I was lying on was, in fact, my incredibly wounded and exhausted, broken-ribbed friend, who I highly doubted was enjoying my body weight sitting on his chest.

"Sorry, Sorry... Sorry." I muttered, getting up quickly, before reaching down and lifting him off of the ground.

"Sorry? For what?! You saved my life while I was focused on celebrating such a sweet shot... Of course, with such an amazing idea such as my own, the execution could only be perfect." He smirked.

"Ass," I smirked, punching him in the side, realizing, too late, that I had chosen the incorrect reaction, "So-" He raised a hand to stop me from apologising again, even though he had almost doubled over from the discomfort.

"Please, stop being Canadian." He muttered, and I couldn't help but laugh. It was a shrill noise, one filled with the anxiety of a recently closed fight for our life. Letting him drape his arm around me, I helped him walk over to where the son of Poseidon now laid.

He had his back against the lamppost, surprisingly still conscious, though his face was white. We settled down around him and passed around the bottles of water from the two backpacks we had managed to take from the wreckage. Most of the important stuff from Daniel's destroyed bag was split between ours, and we had tried our best to save as much of the duffle bag's contents as possible, but the bags had far from everything in them.

Fishing out the one dagger that still remained out of the original two he had left on the ground before the bus, he took it thankfully.

"How will we continue?" Nico asked, sipping from his bottle and some of his colour returning.

"Well, the bus is no longer an option, and I doubt any taxi would take us seeing the state we're in. A train?"

"Pandora can take us," Daniel muttered, barely audible above the sound of sirens in the distance. There'd be a lot more of that noise for the rest of today.

"What do you mean?" I looked at him quizzically.

The glowing form of the bronze-feathered phoenix fluttered to the ground, clutching a fur coat between its claws. The battle trophy of the lion, its impenetrable fur.

"Are you well enough to take us to Camp Jupiter?" He asked out loud, gently taking the fur from between its claws.

The phoenix nodded in response, and stepped back half a dozen steps, turning black as the night and growing in size until a dragon stood beside us, the complete darkness taking on a slight purple hue. The same one that had almost singlehandedly taken care of Dolos. She had done it so fluidly, it was comical.

Nico reached over to close my mouth.

"We should get going now, we can treat our wounds on her back. Hopefully, before police arrive and start asking us some very uncomfortable questions."

Before I could respond, I was being lifted off of the ground and plopped onto the dragon's back, Pandora's head moving back to do the same for the boys. Bony protrusions grew around my waist, keeping me locked in place, but I barely had time to process that as, with two powerful wingbeats, Pandora kicked off of the ground.

I could hear both Daniel and Nico let out a laugh at the exhilarating experience, and I couldn't help but let off a whoop of my own. I thought it'd be cold this high up, but Pandora's scaly skin was giving off warmth like some sort of living furnace.

"We should try to pick up the rest of the weapons we left at the site of the accident," I shouted above the loud beats of Pandora's wings.

Daniel was silent for a moment, his head slightly cocked, as if someone was talking to him through an earpiece.

"Already passed above it. Pandora said it was surrounded by police cars and officers. No chance of getting those back without getting riddled with bullets."

"Shit." I fretted.

"Indeed... Shit. What do we still have?"

We both looked at Nico, who had both the packs.

"The bag that got shredded was yours, Daniel, so we've still got our clothes, the money we had in our bags, the ambrosia, nectar and drachmae. We also looked through the contents of the duffle bag and the destroyed backpack, taking the ambrosia, nectar, drachmae and denarii, leaving everything else."

"While we're at it, throw me another cube, I could use a bit of a boost right about now." He caught the cube and popped it in his mouth, relishing the taste. I also accepted one, and Nico threw one into his own mouth. The taste of carrot cake and the warmth of the ambrosia travelled through my body, "So what exactly did we leave there?"

"All the weapons and armour we were taking with us, one of the ring shields, the one you threw at the lion... Though that was pretty much unusable. Umm... A few boxes of ambrosia and quite a bit of other, more common medical supplies."

Daniel snapped his finger, "And that bastard Do-" He stopped himself, "Names have power, right?" He smirked at me as he said that, "Olivia... She's got one of my bloody knives. I'll try to summon it back to myself, but I guess I can live with the two I still have if I have no other choice."

I was surprised that he had remembered that little bit of info about names in the world of gods and monsters. Grinning back at him for a moment, I looked at Nico.

"Got anything that you need help with?"

"Nah, I'll just drink a bit more nectar and then a good night's sleep will set me right. Watch me wake up tomorrow like nothing happened today." He snorted, "That sounds stupid, even to me."

"Just try not to get a-"

"Fever, yeah, yeah... I know how it works, Mom."

I rolled my eyes and spun back around, meeting Daniel's eyes, who was just barely managing to keep back a laugh. That eye contact was enough, and we both let out a small chuckle.

"What about you, Mister Lord of Darkness?"

He smirked, "I'd also accept a bit of nectar. Combine it with the ambrosia, and I'll feel just like one of the Olympians. That'll surely help my chest get better."

"They in bad shape?" I frowned.

"I can still breathe, so it could be worse, though every single one feels like there's a baseball bat with nails driven through it smacking my side." He joked, but my expression probably didn't convey the same feeling he felt, because he let off a laugh, and held up his hands placatingly, "Relax, Soph. I survived a fight against the Nemean lion and those bird-fuckers, all with my ribs broken or cracked... or whatever. I also managed to survive one of your killer punchers to the side after the fight was over..." He shrugged, "I'm still talking, so I think I'll be fine."

I subconsciously pushed a strand of fluttering hair behind my ear with a smile, a backpack touching my back. Quickly pulling it in front of myself, I dug out one of the bottles of nectar and handed it to him. I uncapped another and took small sips of the warm liquid, tasting of... Oddly, it tasted of cappuccino. Before, it had always been mulled wine.

Twisting the cap back on, I felt my eyes get heavy, only to jerk awake a second later as Daniel groaned in front of me, and my head lifted from his back.

"Sorry!" I whispered, hearing Nico's snores coming from behind us. All of us were exhausted, that much was certain.

"Don't worry about it. Wasn't sleeping anyway."

Maybe not all of us then.

"You're not tired?" I asked, yawning.

He turned around halfway, facing toward one of Pandora's wings.

"That's not why I can't sleep..." He sighed, "I close my eyes and I see the police officer I couldn't save, the father who had died in the crash... I saw so many people die, all for a battle that they were never meant to be a part of. A battle encompassing a different world, a world of gods and monsters." He looked at the clouds in the distance, the very bottom of the sky a light blue colour still.

"Tell me about it, about the officer, for example. Maybe that'll help."

He stayed silent for a while, thinking before he wetted his lips and spoke softly.

"One of the officers in that street blockade, the one the lion had crashed through, he had wrenched open the door to get me out of his car when the lion had arrived," A single tear rolled down his sweaty and grimy face, and I placed a hand on his shoulder, "One leg broken, the other just... Just gone, along with a finger. Still, we could've treated him. Still, he could have been saved. If, instead of watching him slowly reach for the switch, I'd have pressed it for him, the birds would've been scared off before they could've launched that final volley that killed him. A few seconds, and instead of death, he could've gotten an ambulance ride to the hospital, hopefully keeping his life in the process. Not the life he had yesterday, a very different life, but a life nonetheless. Those birds had to attack him though. He was dead before he could even figure out why he was laying on the floor, why he couldn't feel his legs... Off to the Fields of Asphodel for him, or whatever place he believed in."

I was at a loss for words... This was far from my field of expertise. I too had seen the carnage that had been left behind on the streets. Mortals... Hunted down and killed ruthlessly by the birds. Mortals, who were completely clueless about why they were attacked and what it was that had attacked them.

"This- I mean..." I paused, "I don't know what to say, honestly, I don't. You said he barely understood what had happened to him before fates cut his life short. Maybe that's a good thing, that he died a quick death. Leading up to it, it might not have been the best way to go, but there sure are worse."

He played with one of his cloak's buttons.

"I guess there's some truth in those words..." He scratched his nose absentmindedly, "Never mind my shit though, you need some sleep." He said, smirking sadly, "If anyone, it should be you who should be in tip-top condition tomorrow morning."

"What about you? You need just as much sleep as I do, if not more. After all, it's you that's leading the quest."

"Yeah, and what a nice start to the quest this was," Daniel huffed, both of us staying silent for a while. Finally, he spoke once more, quietly, "I'll get my fair share of sleep, don't you worry... Just not yet, I need some time to clear my head." I sighed, really wanting to give in to temptation, but also not wanting to leave him alone. He shook his head, as he realised I was still staring at him, "Look, I'm going to be fine."

"Alright, alright!" I exclaimed, "But if you need to talk some more, wake me up, I won't be mad." Crossing my arms on his shoulder I placed my chin on them, "Just don't drive yourself beyond your limits. Not yet anyway... We've only just started."

As my eyelids closed, the last thing I saw was his smile. A genuine one, filled with happiness.

Daniel

Sophia's head slowly slipped off of my shoulder, and into my lap, to which she didn't react. I was thankful for the weight lifting off of my shoulders.

"Did I do well, Master?" Pandora asked.

I looked at the head of the dragon.

"What sort of questions is that? Without you, we would've died without ever managing to even put up a fight. Thank you."

"This is why I was created, to help you. You thanking me is not necessary."

"Not necessary my ass. You're not a tool to be used, and I'm going to continue expressing my gratitude whether you want it or not..." I frowned, staring at the night sky's constellations that would've otherwise been covered by clouds. "How long can you keep this up for? The flying, I mean."

"Once morning comes, I would be gracious if we could stop for a while so that I may rest. I know, however, how urgent this quest is, and I am willing to forego that stop if you so wish."

"Nonsense. We were going to arrive in San Fransisco after three days anyway. You can rest tomorrow."

"You honour me, Master."

"What did I tell you about calling me that? I'm not your master, Daniel is completely fine." I sighed. She didn't reply, and I had a feeling my request had fallen on deaf ears. She was stubborn when it came to this topic.

For what felt like an hour, I stared blankly at the sky, enjoying the breeze that passed over Pandora's head and trying my best to clear my head. It was most definitely working.

"You should sleep, Master."

"You copying Sophia?" I smiled.

"The girl is right about what she said. Spending so much energy this early would not be wise."

I closed my eyes for a bit and felt how hard it was to open them again.

"You're right..." I yawned, and felt a surge of energy around me as a backrest made out of dragon scales formed behind me, "Thank you." I smiled and closed my eyes.

This day had been far from perfect, and my mind was still on the people I had seen die today. Talking about it had helped though, and Sophia had said something that had stuck with me about the Fates. Everyone was destined to die someday, and you can't go against fate itself. Right then and there, that was their time and place to leave the world of the living behind. It's in the past, and no amount of trying can change what happened. Nobody can go against their fate.

I still had my friends, and though we were all beaten up pretty badly, at the end of the day what mattered was that we were alive, and still able to lean on one another.

Anything or anyone that wanted to get to them would have to get through me first.

And by the gods, would I make them sorely regret choosing that option.