"With all the pain,
with all my chaos,
I somehow feel
myself being calm
when I'm next to
you, Percy."
IN WHICH
AELLALINA WALL IS THROWN BACK INTO HER
...
xviii. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN And With Just a Snap of a Finger ≿————- ❈ ————-≾
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"THIS IS JUST PAIRRR-FECT," the manticore gloated.
He was wearing a ratty black trench coat over his Westover Hall uniform, which was torn and stained. His military haircut had grown out spiky and greasy. He hadn't shaved recently, so his face was covered in silver stubble. She could've laughed at the tight eyepatch that covered his previously blue eye if he wasn't glaring at her with the brown one that was still there.
"Long ago, the gods banished me to Persia," the manticore said. "I was forced to scrounge for food on the edges of the world, hiding in forests, devouring insignificant human farmers for my meals. I never got to fight any great heroes. I was not feared and admired in the old stories! But now that will change. The Titans shall honor me, and I shall feast on the flesh of half-bloods!"
On either side of him stood two armed security guys, some of the mortal mercenaries they'd seen in D.C. Two more stood on the next boat dock over, just in case they tried to escape that way. There were tourists all around—walking down the waterfront, shopping at the pier above them—but she knew that wouldn't stop the manticore from acting.
"We don't care for your backstory, brown eye," Aella said without emotion. "It's boring."
A spike farted past her and nicked her ear. Someone's not having a good day.
"Where... where are the skeletons?" Percy asked the manticore.
He sneered. "I do not need those foolish undead! The General thinks I am worthless? He will change his mind when I defeat you myself!"
Aella needed time to think. They had to save Bessie. Percy could dive into the sea, but how could he make a quick getaway with a five-hundred-pound cow serpent? And what about my everyone else? She could maybe take Thorn, but not with the backup. She cocked her head. Maybe the other eye?
"We beat you once before," Aella said, readying her knife calmly. "What makes this time so different?"
"Ha! You could barely fight me with a goddess on your side, Romero." He said her last name like it was some sick joke. "And, alas... that goddess is preoccupied at the moment. There will be no help for you now."
"Good thing we don't need any," Aella snapped back.
Zoe notched an arrow and aimed it straight at the manticore's head. Aella positioned herself to throw. The guards on either side of them raised their guns.
