If Looks Could Kill *Percy Jackson and the Olympians*

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Argus dropped us off in the city. He waved us a silent goodbye and then drove off back towards camp. I sighed, blowing the hair in front of my face skyward.

 "Well, it looks like we're on our own, huh?" said Percy, in an attempt to lighten the mood. I looked at him in the ‘don’t even try’ way. He looked down at his feet sheepishly. After that, we all walked in silence towards the bus stop.

On the walk, Devin and Percy talk quietly to each other about something I can barely hear. I honestly don’t care. When we’re just feet from the bus stop, Devin’s bowed head shoots up, listening intently. Then Percy and I hear it, too.

 There is a noise from behind us. We look back tensely, and see, to my horror, the woman in the trench coat.

Stheno.

  "Stheno?! I thought I killed you! I almost DIED killing you!" I cry, activating my sword. Percy and Devin are behind me, brandishing their own weapons.

"No, foolish one, I am Euryale, sister of Stheno. You have killed my sister, and I've come to avenge her!" shrieks Euryale. Suddenly, she's the ugly monster Stheno had turned into- a gigantic, ugly serpent with snakes for hair and claws for fingernails. Instead of legs, she has a big tail. She waves her hand, and Percy and Devin fly back into an ally, lost among old boxes and garbage cans.

I jumped out of the way as Euryale threw her tail in my direction, screaming with rage. I slashed away at her tail, scratching it up pretty good, but not good enough to kill her.

  "I will throttle you, Daughter of Aphrodite!" she screamed.

 "Not...before...I CUT YOUR TAIL OFF!" I bellow. Taking all the anger inside me, all the anger that had built up inside the past few weeks, all my feelings that had been bottled up, I unbolted them, and let them out in a cold, harsh wind of fury.

 Euryale flew back five feet as I hit her hard with the butt of my sword. She got up faster than a cheetah and charged at me. I slashed the air, but missed her. She was three feet away and she leans forward, faster than anything. Suddenly, there was a stinging pain in my left leg.

 I look down at my leg. It's bleeding heavily, but the blood isn't red. It's the ugliest mix between red and green that I have ever seen, gushing from teeth marks where Euryale had evidently bit me. I feel like I’m about to faint, but I pull through and continue fighting.

  After minutes of slashing and kicking and bleeding, I finally manage to cut off Euryale's arms. She barely has enough time to look at me, then at the bloody stumps before I cut a deep, fatal X mark on the front of her, and she disintegrates.

 I, breathing heavily, drop the bloody sword out of my hand and fall down. My leg can barely sustain my weight anymore. Percy and Devin rush out of the ally and over to me just in time for me to black out.

*****

 "Here, Percy. Not much but-," I heard Devin start to say. 

 “But it's enough to help Violet."

 "Help me what?" I croak as my eyes open. Percy and Devin sigh in relief.

“Thank the gods!” Devin says, sounding close to tears.

 "Help you stay alive," says Percy grimly, "Violet, stay still." Percy pours nectar down my throat, and immediately, the wounds start to close. The pain, however, hasn't left.

 "I think it might be infected. Here, take one bite of the ambrosia," says Devin, reaching into his bag and taking out and ambrosia square. I take it and take the biggest bite my body will be able to deal with.