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GOOD DECISION making wasn't an easy thing for some people, but Kalani didn't take Zoë as the kind of person to scream at a sleeping dragon. She always admired Zoë for her initiative and bravery as well as the caution the Hunter took towards new dangers. Which was why this came as such a surprise.
The pile of shiny treasure (it almost looked like a stack of pennies were glued along with its body) began to rise, red eyes blinking as he awoke.
"Are you mad?" the lead girl said, yelping. The Hesperides scattered in fear of what Zoë had stirred.
"You never had any courage, sister," Zoë said. "That was thy problem."
The dragon was starting to writhe now, all one hundred of its heads (and yeah, it was beginning to remind Kalani a lot of Hydras with their snaky long necks connected to all of its heads). Zoë took a step forward, raising her arms.
"Zoë, don't," Thalia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you."
"Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoë said. "Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore them."
"Should," said Percy. "Not exactly reassuring."
"It is the only way," she said. "Even the four of us together cannot fight him."
Ladon opened his mouths, drawing out a hiss at the intruders in his garden. Wincing at the acrid sting his breath brought her skin, she held her face in her hands, shaking. The smell made her want to die. It was like the scent of a million dead animals floating inside a sewer canal, their carcasses staining the water with the toxicity of their putrid corpses.
Not wanting to get killed, Kalani swallowed and carefully unsheathed her axe. She held it with a shaky grip, going right with Percy. Thalia went left. Zoë confronted the dragon head on.
"It's me, my little dragon," Zoë cooed. "Zoë has come back."
The dragon shifted forward, and then back. Heads bobbing in confusion, Ladon watched her as if puzzled on whether to trust Zoë or not.
Meanwhile, the Hesperides were continuously weaving in and out of the shadows, appearing and disappearing again from time to time. "Fool," whispered the oldest Hesperid.
"I used to feed thee by hand," said Zoë, lowering her voice to a soft, soothing voice. The kind of voice you use when you're singing lullabies to a baby. Calm, reassuring. That everything was going to be okay. "Do you still like lamb's meat?"
Kalani was almost halfway around the garden along with the others, when the dragon lunged at Zoë. The Hunter dodged the slashing fangs, weaving around the dragon's heads and running in the direction of the three. Next to Kalani, Percy drew Riptide out of his pocket, ready to sweep in to assist Zoë. Kalani shirked back, biting her lip.
