Unlikely Heroes

Chapter 11: A New Destination

I roll out of the way of the hellhound that tries to pound me. The group of hellhounds consists of seven of them in total. One of them is focussed on me, two on Annabeth, and the bulk of hellhounds are focussed on Luke and Thalia. It is strange. The one I am fighting is mostly trying to occupy me than trying to kill me. I try to finish it as quick as possible, so I can help the others.

I stop my roll and quickly position myself in a crouched position. The hellhound growls at me as he slowly approaches me. I focus as to take control of my feelings. My surroundings darken as my darkened gaze connects with the hellhound. I push its fears into its core, making it tremble before me. The hellhound starts to tremble as its red eyes widen. A dark haze over them, making them look dull.

In a confident and intimidating pace, I walk towards it while looking down at it. The hellhound buckles under its own weight while making fearful and pained noises. I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword and plunge it down into the hound. A burst of light comes out of the hound as it soon disappears. I look to the others to see how they are doing.

Thalia and Luke are easily fending off their four hounds. Bursts of electricity leave Thalia as she fights them. Luke is a skilled swordsman and easily defends himself and counterattacks. They will be fine. I then look towards Annabeth. She is doing okay, but it seems she is still trying to find her way with the dagger. Her main advantage is that she easily outsmarts her enemy and takes advantage of the confusion that follows.

As Thalia and Luke are doing fine, I run to Annabeth to help. When I close in on them, I again gather the surrounding shadows. I extend my hand to grip their cores and find their fears, to make them real. In a slow walk, I come close to them. Their heads snap towards me as they start to growl.

"Fear me, beasts," I say in a dark voice.

Slowly but surely they are having trouble breathing, their legs trembling in fear, whining in pain. Annabeth quickly cuts them down with her dagger. I let out a deep breath, making them tremble before me, it takes the energy out of me. It has become easier over the years, but I still need to practice more with it. The most difficult part is finding their fears, but also finding the focus. I think if I can find something to help me focus, it would help me greatly.

"Are you okay, Annabeth?" I ask her. "Of course! You still good to go?" She asks me. "I can't do it again, but yeah. I'm fine," I assured her. She smiles softly as she looks at the fighting Thalia and Luke. "Go to the goat boy, I'll help Luke and Thalia."

I sigh a bit, but nod. Annabeth squeezes my shoulder before going to help Luke and Thalia. I scan my surroundings to find the half goat boy. It seems he is trembling behind the hut as he watches the fight play out. It is a brown curly haired half goat. He has a small wispy beard, with brown goat legs. I begin making my way to him.

"You okay, goat boy?" I ask him as I close in. "Thank you, kind Demigod! I thought I was about to become a goaty snack for the hounds!" he says, softly bleating like a goat. I chuckle a bit.

"You're safe now. But how do you know that we are Demigods?" I ask, helping up his hooves again. "Your scent gives you away. I have been searching for you four," he explains, trying to calm himself down from the fright.

"Searching? Why?" Annabeth asks as she walks to us with Luke and Thalia. It seems they took care of the remaining hounds. "To bring you to Camp Half-Blood! I have been sent to search for you as rumors reached us. It's where most Demigods live to train themselves and learn to survive. One of the safest places for Demigods to be," he explains.

"You look rather young to be leading Demigods..." Thalia says, looking him over. "I-I'm older than I look. I can certainly bring you safely to Camp Half-Blood!"

I look to my friends to gauge their opinion. Annabeth seems to be okay with it. I think the appeal of learning more about being a Demigod seems to be her drive. Thalia and Luke are a bit indifferent, I think. I mean, they have survived pretty well on their own, I suppose. "Well, what do we think? I believe it can help us to be better," I say as to them.

Annabeth nods in agreement. "It sounds wise to go there. If there are more people like us there, we can learn more about ourselves. Improve our skills," she says contemplatively. Thalia and Luke share a glance. "I suppose that's true. Are you very sure you can lead us there?" Thalia asks.

The Goat Man nods with a soft smile. "Yes, I can! It's near New York, which shouldn't take long considering we're already in the State of New York," he says as he dusts himself off. As he stands back up, I notice he has been chewing on the wooden parts of the hut. I think he gets nervous and scared quite easily. "Alright, we'll rest here for the night. You can lead us there tomorrow," Luke says with a soft sigh.

The four of us quickly start to get the hut in order and prepare for the coming night. The Goat Man, who introduces himself as Grover Underwood, helps too. Although, he can be rather clumsy at times, but I can tell he has good intentions.

As the fire is roaring and food is being prepared, we all sit down next to the fire. The night has rolled in, and a starry night come to welcome in it. Sometimes I wonder... all these the things we take for granted. The night, the stars, even the ground. All is made or controlled by Gods. It makes you wonder how we all forgot about the Gods.

"So, Grover, is it common for you to be hunted by monsters?" Thalia asks while taking a stick with some meat. "N-no not really. I mean, sometimes you can't avoid it, b-but this time it's like they're meant to attack me."

"On purpose? I told you guys, these last attacks have been strange. Something isn't right," Annabeth says as she rubs her chin in thought. Luke shrugs. "Who would be after us? We didn't anger any God or disturbed some kind of sacred place," he says, taking a bite of his food.

"Don't you see? Last we were here, the monster were practically ambushing us. Now, Goat Boy was sent to get us and got attacked. Something is after us. Maybe not because of us, but because of who our Godly parent is," she says. That would make the most sense. Leave it to Annabeth to figure it out.

"That would make sense, but... who's parent?" I ask. Annabeth sighs. "I can't say for certain. It's not like I can peek into their heads. Although that would be very cool," she says, softly smiling as she thinks about it. "It just means we got to defeat them and teach them a lesson," Luke says, nodding to himself to reaffirm his own thoughts.

"Luke, as much as I enjoy a good fight, we shouldn't overreach. You won't hear me say this again, but even I cannot defeat an army alone, at least not yet. Let alone us four," Thalia warns him. Luke sighs but nods. "I understand."

"Don't worry! I can usually smell monsters before we can see them, and I have good directional sense. It will help us avoid most of the monsters," Grover says. "Well, glad to have you onboard, Grover. I can't wait to see this camp," I say.

The rest of the night pretty much went by unhindered. Tomorrow, we make for Camp Half-Blood. A new home, it seems.