Once Strong, Now Broken

Chapter 34: I Found A Girl In The Woods With Weird Growth Spirts And Two Dogs.

NICO POV

Will was talking about his patients again, but I'm not really paying attention. I had too long of a day to listen to this hippa violation. Making my peas into a smiley face didn't help my uneasiness that's been following me throughout the evening either. My muscles have been so tense, it's making me sick. Something is going to happen, and it better happen soon before I throw up. The peas swirled in a whirlpool fashion around my fork. Gods, I'm such a child. I go for one more stab as a sharp pain shocks my vision.

"PLEASE... SOMEONE SAVE HER... someone save my daughter..." A weakened voice rang through my ears. Startled, I twitched my head from my plate to the rest of the dinner. Everyone was still laughing, enjoying their meals. Great so I'm hearing voices again. But it sounded like...

"...You good?" I didn't notice Will stopped talking to stare at me. His face painted with worry.

I felt like a fish gasping for air, "You didn't hear that?"

"No??" Will's eyebrows raised so far up they became his hairline.

"I- I'll be right back..." I stood up from my seat and out of the pavilion. A few other campers glanced up from their meals at my sudden movement, but lost interest quickly. Will on the other hand, had his eyes on me the whole way out. He can probably sense my uneasiness. He is my boyfriend and a doctor after all.

I allow my instincts to lead me. The wind picks up as I near the forest; the whispers after I enter. Some are a quick, "Please!!" here and there, while others are hardy screams for someone to save, "my daughter" whoever she is. I brandish my sword as the whispers quicken with each step farther from camp. Was this a prank? Or a new soul hoping that I'll make it in time.

Either way... it really sounded like it was Percy calling for me.

I blinked and the forest in front of me shifted. Went from our well-kept, wild pine grove, into hell's doorway. Trees were bent, snapped in half. Huge footprints tore up the dirt-- chasing who knows what. Probably the daughter of the voice.

A scream confirms my suspicions. I run, following the monster's footsteps, towards the girl. Branches threaten to trip me as they lay in heaps on the path. My breathing becomes ragged as I hear the terrible crashings of the beasts ahead of me. The girl cries and curses slice the air in front of her. This one was a survivor, but on her own—not for much longer. I finally make it to the beast-made clearing, charging in front of the girl. Short, messy black hair, clothes filthy with the dirt kicked by the dogs. Oh thank the gods she's alive.

I block the strikes of the beasts in front of me. They were nightmarish, greyhound-looking hellions. Body's big as a moose, black as the void. Only their eyes and mouths showed any kind of light. Oil-like shadows dripped off the dogs as I swung my sword to hold them off. Their barks like nasty demon screams. The two of them were hard enough to battle on my own, much less protecting a young girl.

I heard a scared cry behind me. I look, but immediately regret the decision. The dog I was battling grabs my leg with it's mouth and flings me to the closest adjacent tree. Two dogs stood between me and the girl cowering at the bass of a large pin oak.

I got to my knees as both of the dogs lunged, mouths open for the kill. The girl screamed and threw one hand out as the other covered her face. A small spark of magic, the same color of the dogs, flew from her fingers to the dog's nostrils. The dogs' bodies crumple and slide towards the tree. I thought I failed, that she was dead, but her soul was intact to her body so I was wrong.

I stumbled to my feet and wobbled my way towards the pileup. I get maybe three meters away and a wave of magic forms around me. I saw the girl and the two, now normal sized but same colored, dogs sitting peacefully. I took another step farther up right as one of the dogs spoke.