Legends, Percy Jackson

ii. nina's vice principal is a monster.

chapter two
nina's vice principal is a monster.

     FEARS CONFIRMED, NINA was scared out of her mind. Thorn was some sort of monster. Yes, Nina had suspected, but really, she had only been sixty-five percent sure! It wasn't like she actually believed in monsters! And yet . . . here she was. She and the di Angelos backed up into the wall, making a sort of line of scared children. Bianca and Nina pressed Nico in between them. The youngest di Angelo slipped a hand into both girl's palms. He was terrified.

     "What . . ." Nina tried, but she couldn't get the words out. She was horrorstruck. And a bit disgusted, honestly━whatever sort of creature her vice principal was, it was certainly an appalling sight. "Oh, my god?"

     She heard the sounds of quick footsteps down the hall they had walked through, and she knew the others had heard it, too. Dr. Thorn (if she could still call him that) laughed lowly and backed into the shadowy corner once more.

     The door opened. The pretty boy from the dance advanced into the room, a glowing bronze sword in hand. This might have surprised Nina had she not seen a damn monster two seconds ago. Dr. Thorn looked vaguely amused as he stood directly behind the boy.

     "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," he said, lowering his sword.

     Nina and the di Angelos weren't afraid of him, she wanted to tell him, they were afraid of that monstrosity behind him. She clenched her fists as Thorn started crawling out of the shadows.

     "My name's Percy," the boy introduced in a shaky voice, oblivious. "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe."

     Dr. Thorn's scorpion tail raised, preparing to attack. Nina widened her eyes, glancing between the two to try and warn the boy━Percy━but too late did he realize what she was trying to get at. Percy wheeled around, but was hit with some sort of projectile shard right in the shoulder. The impact threw him back slightly, and Thorn's tail picked him up and slammed him back into the wall. Percy slashed wildly with his bronze sword, but there was nothing to hit. The scorpion tail retracted as Dr. Thorn let out a booming laugh.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson," Nina's (former?) vice principal cackled. His annoying french accent pronounced the J in Jackson like Jacques. Nina might have laughed if she was in literally any other scenario. "I know who you are."

Percy Jackson tried desperately to free his shoulder, but his coat and shirt were pinned to the wall by the projectile. It was about a foot long, pitch black, and spiky. It looked like a miniature version of Thorn's tail. Percy blinked rapidly, like he was trying very hard to concentrate. He looked ready to pass out.

There went their brave savior. Nina squeezed Nico's hand tightly. They were doomed.

Dr. Thorn approached them in the dim lighting. His body had returned to his normal state, minus the scorpion's tail. He looked like a ghost version of himself. Nina imagined this was something you would only see in the depths of Hell. He was a nightmare in reality.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," Thorn said mildly. "I hate middle school dances."

Percy swung his sword again, but Dr. Thorn was just out of his reach.

There was a whoosh sound by Nina's ear, and a second projectile spike flew past her and landed a centimeter from her friend's head. Bianca yelped in terror.