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chapter forty-three ☄︎. *. ⋆
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"ON MY MARK," Zoë said, "separate. Try to keep it distracted."
"Until when?" I asked. I wanted to lift my bow, but I figured any sudden movements might startle the lion into attacking.
"Until I think of a way to kill it. Go!"
We split off into different directions. Thalia went to the right, Percy rolled to the left, Bianca and Zoë began climbing the Apollo capsule, and Grover headed as far away as possible. He played a sharp whistling cadence on his reed pipes. As for me, I did perhaps the stupidest thing I could think to do—I charged the lion. I unsheathed my dagger from its resting position as a hairclip and made a jab that should have plunged directly into the lion's heart, but the blade ricocheted off its fur with a shower of sparks. I was thrown back by the force of the impact and landed ten feet away on my ass.
Groaning and now in major butt-pain, I stood. My dagger had flown way behind me, but I didn't dare turn my back on the lion. I debated using my bow instead, but Bianca and Zoë were already one step ahead of me, and their arrows were just bouncing off the lion's fur harmlessly. Percy ran forward, his sword above his head like he was going to slice the lion's mane clean off. When he swung his sword onto its head, the blade did the exact same as what my own dagger had only moments before.
"Oh, brilliant idea, Percy," I shouted, unable to stop myself. "I wish I'd thought of that!"
He went to snap something back, but the lion gave a huge roar that cut him off. Its giant paw swiped him across the side and Percy flew to the left, hitting the wall with a loud THUD. I heard Thalia and Grover shout in fear for him, but with Percy now out of its way, the lion turned its attention on its next closest target: me.
I was practically unarmed. My dagger was halfway across the room, far enough that I wouldn't be able to make a move towards it before I became Meow Mix. My bow hung across my body limply. I knew Zoë and Bianca had no luck with their own arrows, but I had no other choice.
I nocked one of the trick arrows from my quiver and aimed it right at the lion. It was obvious shooting its fur wasn't doing anything, so I had to go for my next best bet.
Just as the lion prepared to pounce at me, I took aim and shot before it could make a move. The arrow whistled through the air. It landed right where I'd intended—the ground in front of the lion—and upon impact, the head of the arrow burst into a cloud of gas that enveloped the lion's face.
I wasn't sure how well tear gas would work on a mythical lion, but it did the job well enough. The lion roared louder than ever and begun to flail its head around. I barely had time to scramble out of the way before it skidded across the slick floor and crashed into a rocket ship display. It took down four different planes and sent a helicopter flying off the balcony. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of mayhem, the lion dropped down and fell completely still. I remembered my old bio teacher mentioning once that tear gas is lethal to cats and dogs. I guess that rule extends to.. large cats, too.
