ALORA WAS MESMERISED by the vehicle she was in. She had never been in a car before, or at least not that she remembered, and was impressed by the speed of it as well as its ability to produce light for its path.
"My job has been to guide you to this moment." Grover tells percy from the backseat beside Alora. "Its always an emotional rollercoaster for a young demigod, so providing a support system is really-"
"Who are you?" Percy cuts him off, looking between the pair. This is when Alora realises she has yet to introduce herself and internally scolds herself for her lack of manners.
"Im Alora." She tells him, her voice sounding like honey to his ears. "Daughter of Hypnos, the god of sleep. I'm a demigod, like you."
"And what are you?" He turns to grover after analysing the girl carefully.
Grover pulls the hat off his head to reveal two horns in the midst of his hair.
"Im a satyr." He admits, "And I'm your protector."
"You're my protector?" Percy asks in disbelief.
"If i hadn't gotten you kicked out of school, you wouldn't have survived the night.."
Grovers voice faded in Aloras ears as she got a shiver up her spine. The minotaur was going to be here any second now.
"I don't mean to intrude on this conversation but we need to hurry." Alora told them as she cut off Grover explaining what camp was. "Camp is a sanctuary for half-bloods to learn who we are and what the world is like on the other side of the midst blah blah blah..."
The girl spoke very quickly trying to get the warning out as quick as she could without worrying the others, but that wasn't going to plan.
"It's going to be here any second now so please, for the love of gods, speed it up a little!"
As she finished her sentence a lighting flash shot down behind the car and the minotaur appeared. The kids, well the kids and grover, turned around in a panic.
"Is that the minotaur?" Percy asked in shock. Alora almost forgot that to him these creatures were nothing but fiction.
"Once the attacks start they never let up." Grover warns, "Dodds was just the beginning. He is next! He is brutal. He is relentless."
"He is still wearing underpants." Percy seems to still be in shock.
"Yeah and we are looking like his next meal so we really need to hurry!" Alora panics while the minotaur gallops towards them quickly.
"The Mythomagic cards were training." Grover admits to percy, ignoring his friend who was clearly not enjoying her first away from home trip. "Everything has been training for whats still ahead of you."
"What's ahead of me?" Percy asks in disbelief.
"Kids.." Sally warns slowly, gaining their attention for a split second.
"I'm actually 24."
Alora turns to him in utter confusion. Why must he blurt that out when they are seconds away from death?
"Hold on please."
The minotaur quickly gains speed and catches up to the car. Grover quickly pulls Aloras seatbelt across her as she scoots further away from the window the minotaur is now looking through.
The creature growls as Sally swerves the car against him, in attempts to throw him off, only to shove back at the car and break the window with its horn.
His horn gets stuck in the steering wheel, preventing Sally to turn out of the path of the oncoming truck that was going to crush the car. Having no other choice she steps on the gas pedal and turns the other direction down a hill, while the minotaur is crushed by the truck.
When the car finally stops moving at the bottom of the hill Grover immediately checks that Alora is not hurt, before turning to break the back window to allow them out of the car.
Grover climbs out, Percy following behind him and Alora lastly climbs out, groaning in pain from the impact, taking the helping hand percy offers her. She mutters a 'thanks' as they help an injured Grover to the other side of the car, opening the door for Sally.
"Is everyone okay?" She asks instantly, her motherly instinct taking over. That was something Alora greatly appreciated.
They climbed up the hill, following the woman in the rain before Grover let go of Percy and stopped outside the camp boundary.
"We're here." Grover announced looking ahead. "That's the boundary."
"No monsters can cross it." Alora added, longing to be on the other side of it where she was comfortably safe from the dangers she experienced in the past hours.
"Percy will be safe on the other side." Grover turns to Sally.
"Percy will be.." Percy questions and turns to his mother. "But won't all of us be safe?"
Sally walks towards grover and alora looking at them with a serious expression.
"Grover, Alora, I am entrusting you to protect my son, my only child." She tells them, ignoring her son's question.
"Don't worry Mrs Jackson, Percy will be totally safe at camp-"
Sally cuts him off.
"Swear it."
Grover looks at her with hesitation and Alora feels her throat go dry.
"What's happening?" Percy asks, once again in total confusion. Alora felt bad for the boy, he had no clue what was going on and was being brought to some place he didn't know without his mom. The only person he knew he could depend on.
"Swear it! Keep him safe from anyone or anything that comes for him, that wants to do harm, that looks at him the wrong way. Do you understand me?"
"I swear!" Grover blurts out confidently.
Despite feeling immense pressure from a woman Alora barely knew to protect her only child, she agreed. "We swear."
The minotaur was heard growling in the depths of the woods as sally turned to her som slowly.
"I gotta go now sweetheart." She admitted sadly, trying to put on a brave face for him. Alora felt like her and grover were intruding on a moment and pulled him aside.
"Grover something bad is going to happen." The girl tells him, the feeling growing in her gut. "We aren't all getting away from this unharmed."
"What?" He asked, worry taking over his features. "What do you mean? we're nearly at camp, what's going to happen?"
"I don't know!" Alora was growing frustrated with herself for not being able to work out what was going to happen. "I just know that we need to go, right now!"
The roaring of the minotaur can be heard as trees in the distance fall. Grover nods, trusting the girls instinct. Despite her reputation to be oblivious and ditzy, Grover knew how truly smart and powerful she was.
"We need to move." The satyr announces, as the mother and son break away from their moment.
"Give me your coat." Sally tells Percy.
"Why?" Percy asks, doing what he was told. "What are you gonna do?"
"He smells half-blood, that's what he's tracking yeah?" Grover and Alora both nod yes. "So if he smells you in two directions at once, maybe i can confuse him, buy us both a little time to get away."
"Mom please, don't.." Percy begins to beg.
"Hey," She reassures him, "It'll be okay."
The minotaur roars and eventually comes into sight, spotting them easily.
"He does not look happy." Alora comments, knowing she was not helping by doing so.
Sally kisses Percys forehead before heading in the other direction, "Go! Now!"
Grover grabs Percy before he can think of turning back and they quickly head towards the direction of the boundary. They only get so far before Grover falls over due to his injury. Alora tries to help him up again while Percy watches his mother distract the minotaur. He starts running towards them in worry.
Alora watches as the minotaur grabs Sally and crushes her until she fades away into a cloud of dust. Her heart breaks for Percy but she knows they need to get out of there before they are next. It was only a matter of time before the minotaur smelt them out.
"Go!" Grover tells her and she looks down at him in confusion. "Go help him."
She doesn't waste a second before following after Percy who ran towards the minotaur. She takes the necklace from around her neck and presses down on the emerald stone, watching the chain solidify into a bow and the emerald turn into arrows.
She carefully takes an arrow and aims it for the minotaurs head, she breaths deeply before letting go and hitting the minotaur straight in the head. It drops the rock it had picked to crush Percy, giving him time to stand up and collect himself.
He climbs atop the minotaur, which then starts smashing itself into trees to get rid of the boy. This made it impossible for Alora to take a proper aim at it. It is unsuccessful as Percy breaks off one of its horns, slamming it into its head.
The minotaur fades away as Percy falls to the ground, losing consciousness.
"Holy shit."