Child of Zeus {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

TWENTY-FIVE: Big Ants. Like, Really Big Ants.

I had this chapter finished a long time ago. I went to publish it, and something happened. The chapter said 'Published: null". I don't know what that means, but the next day the chapter was gone. I had to re-write the thing, and it took some time -- especially with all the homework I've been procrastinating on. Please, without further ado, enjoy.

Agra had been completely right about one thing - if you didn't know the forest, you wouldn't know how to get from point A to point B relatively quickly, and the risk of getting lost ran thick.

Flashlights would have come in handy - and I again mourned our packs that had a bunch of things we could be using.

Johnny was the most graceful of the three of us. His nimble sheep legs carried him quickly through the brush. Occasionally, he stopped to chatter with some squirrels to see if we were headed in the right direction. Weird? I know. But it worked.

Soon we'd made it back into one of the temples. Whether it was dedicated to Persephone or Demeter I wasn't sure; they were both beautifully decorated with flowers. Though, maybe the wheat on the alter was some indication towards it being the latter.

The lights had gone out in the village houses. Again, the only light came from the temples my friends and I now occupied, otherwise the moon was the only thing carrying us through the night.

I got distracted for a minute, staring at the silver crescent sparkling in the sky. Artemis took care of the moon as her brother took care of the sun. She was the goddess of maidens on top of other things, right? I said a silent prayer to her. I was a maiden, I guess, and I needed to get to Russia ASAP. Maybe she could help.

Or, you know, I thought as we walked past the dormant cottages, heavy bags weighing us down. Maybe not.

As we got to the merge from dry land to sand, a door slammed open far behind us, and even the skeleton horses attached to the chariot turned to look. I figured, good timing, they just missed catching us and we can leave.

But then a low-frequency buzzing vibrated through me and I felt a pang in my gut.

Something was wrong. Johnny's nose must've been all weird again, so he didn't catch it. But I was sure. There was a monster behind us.

Whatever it was had spooked the skeleton horses so bad, that in five seconds flat they'd flown from the beach and disappeared into the night sky, me and my friends screaming after them.

Slowly, we turned back towards the village.

Diana cursed loudly. Fifty feet away, walking out of one of the cottages like it was normal, was a big ant. Like, a really big ant.

Before I had the chance to say "That's a gi-ant!" (hahahahaha, I'm sorry), another one peaked its blood red head out of the neighbouring house. Their bodies were so hard and shiny that the light bounced off them like mirrors. Their eyes were beady black ovals, they were easily the size of a full grown hippo, and their razor sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack. That must've been how they communicated, because soon, more ants crawled out of their homes.

"Myrmekes." Diana cursed loudly again. "That's ancient Greek for ants."

"I don't remember learning about ants in mythology - seriously, what the heck!" I pulled my dagger from the sheath around my waist, the moon added to the faint glow of the celestial bronze. As I raised it readily in front of me, the door to the closest cottage opened and Johnny pulled me back towards the water.

"They love shiny metal. Especially gold!" Diana hissed. "If they hadn't before, they've noticed you now!"

"Gee, amazing!" I said, quickly hiding it behind my back as we skirted closer to the waves.