The Vice Principal Gets A Missile Launcher
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“Nico?”
Snow couldn’t believe her eyes. It was the boy she met in the lotus hotel about…two years ago? It felt longer than that though, and the boy barely changed since she last saw him. Maybe he grew a few inches but nothing noticeable. She could see his mythomagic cards that he invited her to play with and it brought a small smile on Snow’s face.
“How do you know him?” Grover asked.
Ah, right. Snow forgot she blurted that out. Eight pairs of eyes were staring at her, all brimming with questions and explanations for how she knew one of the kids.
“Um, it’s a long story–actually not really a long story. But I–”
“You can tell us later,” Annabeth said, cutting off her rambling. If they continue to stay in one place for too long, they’ll look suspicious. “Have you told them?”
Grover shook his head. “You know how it is. That could put them in more danger. Once they realize who they are, their scent becomes stronger.”
He looked at Percy when he said that, and the latter nodded in understanding.
“So let’s grab them and get out of here.” Percy said, stepping up.
Percy was about to step forward, but Thalia placed her hand on his shoulder. Looking to where she was gazing, Dr. Thorn had slipped out of a doorway near the bleachers and was standing near the di Angelo siblings. He nodded coldly in their direction. His blue eyes seemed to glow.
He seemed to know who they were. Snow’s suspicion confirmed that he wasn’t affected by whatever Thalia pulled on the woman. He probably wanted to make it seem like he was convinced until he was alone.
“Don’t look at the kids,” Thalia ordered. “We have to wait for a chance to get them. We need to pretend we’re not interested in them. Throw him off our scent.”
“How?”
“We’re four powerful half-bloods. Our presence should confuse him. Mingle. Act natural. Do some dancing. But keep an eye on those kids.”
“Dance?” Snow repeated thoughtfully.
Thalia nodded. She cocked her ear to the music and made a face. “Ugh. Who chose the Jesse McCartney?”
Grover looked hurt. “I did.”
"Oh my gods, Grover. That is so lame. Can't you play, like, Green Day or something?"
"Green who?"
"Never mind. Let's dance."
"But I can't dance!"
"You can if I'm leading," Thalia said. "Come on, goat boy."
Grover yelped as Thalia grabbed his hand and led him onto the dance floor. Annabeth smiled.
“You look happy.” Snow said.
“Yeah. It’s just…it’s good to have Thalia back.”
Snow beamed at that. Through the story Annabeth told her during their quest to the Sea of Monsters, having Thalia alive, standing and talking must be elating. She was happy her friend had someone she admired back.
Annabeth glanced at them, eyes racking the two and her stormy gray eyes looked very calculating.
“Well, I’m gonna mingle,” she said. “Can’t stand around doing nothing.”
Snow nodded. “I’ll come with.”
“No. No, no. You stay here,” She said, there was a tiny tug of her lips. “Maybe you two can go chat or dance or something. Your choice.”
The blonde walked away without waiting for their response. Snow and Percy stood there, watching their friends interact and mingle with each other and strangers. Meanwhile, they just stayed there as though their feet were glued to the ground. Neither turned to look at the other either, just staring ahead.
Snow felt nervous. Really nervous. She suddenly didn’t know what to say, which was weird. This was Percy, her best friend. Since when did she not have anything to say to him? Snow gave a quick glance towards Percy and noticed he was as stiff as a board. Tugging her hat, she took a deep breath and was prepared to say whatever popped into her head first.
“Have a good school year?” Percy blurted.
Snow blinked, taken off guard that he spoke first, but she recovered. “Um–yes! It was good. This one was better than my other schools growing up.”
“That’s good. That’s good.” Percy nodded. Then things turned awkward again. Unlike Snow, Percy did have something to say, but wasn’t sure if he should bring it up now.
“Um, Apple,” Snow turned to him. “About last night-”
“Hey!” Thalia called to them. She was slow dancing with Grover, who was tripping over himself, kicking Thalia in the shins, and looking like he wanted to die. Snow slightly giggled at his ‘I’m being tortured’ like expression.
“Dance you guys!” Thalia ordered. “You look stupid just standing there.”
“Gee, thanks Thalia,” Snow said sarcastically, with an eye roll to boot.
Percy looked at her with wide eyes, surprised she could sound so sarcastic. Though, thinking about the previous times Snow surprised him with tones that were outside of her personality, he supposed he shouldn’t act too surprised. Then he remembered Thalia’s orders, switching gazes between Snow and the group of girls that were roaming around the gym.
“So?” Snow asked.
“Um, who should I ask?”
Raising a brow, she pointed to herself.
“Oh. Oh, right.”
Snow giggled, the sound making Percy feel light. She grabbed his arm. “Come on, Aqua Boy.”
So they went to the dance floor. Snow guided Percy in how to hold her, placing his left hand on her hip and the right clasped on hers.
“Okay, now we’re going to move like a box,” Snow said.
“A wha–?” Percy said, confused.
“It’s easier than it sounds,” smiled Snow. “Okay, first you take one step backward. Then to the side–yes, now to the side again–no not that side!”
It took a few bumps, foot steppings and multiple apologies for Percy to start getting the hang of the dance. He was still a bit wonky, still muttering small sorries whenever his foot pressed against hers accidentally. But through it all, Snow just gave him a smile and brushed it off like it was nothing.
Percy always appreciated that about her. How she was able to brush off his mistakes or not be too frustrated and annoyed when he does or says something stupid. She just takes it in stride, and even when she shakes her head, it is never out of annoyance.
Still, Percy felt nervous. Taking in Snow through his peripheral vision, she has grown a lot. Not too much, she was a few inches shorter than him while Annabeth towered over them both. Realizing she was the shortest between the three made him almost chuckle. Taking in the rest of her, her face was still round making her youthful in an appropriate way for her age. Nothing like she was at eleven. Cheeks were as rosy as ever, hair a cute, black bob and brown eyes large, warm and easy to get lost in.
Snow was also observing Percy. His black hair didn’t change, he towered over her a few inches, leaving her always the short one between the two. Though his wasn’t as bad compared to Annabeth. That girl outgrew all of them! His sea-green eyes were still beautiful and she wished Percy wasn’t looking down, it limited her from gazing at it in full.
“So, you were saying something earlier?” Snow spoke. “It seemed like it anyway.”
Percy blinked. “Ah, yeah. I wanted to bring up last night.” he said. “Is everything okay?”
Snow sighed, and suddenly she looked a little tired, which made Percy’s worry spike.
“It’s nothing too big,” she said. “My grandmother visited.”
“You have a grandmother?” Percy asked in surprise.
Snow giggled at his surprised expression. She couldn’t blame him, though. She was just as surprised when her mother broke the news.
“Yes, I have a grandmother apparently. A few days ago, my mom said she was coming for a visit. From her tone and behaviour after that, they hadn’t spoken to each other in years. “Snow said, frowning. “When the woman met me, she didn’t even know my name.”
Ouch, Percy winced. Having a grandmother that didn’t at least know your name must sting. Granted, his grandparents died in a plane crash, but he can imagine that it would be a blow if they didn’t know him.
“Even worse, she noticed the lack of a father and asked about him,” Snow continued. “I already had suspicions that she didn’t know who my father really was, and the question further confirmed it,” she sighed. “It was downhill from there. They started yelling at each other, that was when you IM’d me and heard the yelling.”
“I can imagine it’s not better still?”
“Don’t get me started. I feel guilty leaving her with my grandmother from this point,” Snow said. Once they retrieve Nico and his sister, she’ll probably stay at camp for the whole winter break. Or she could convince Chiron to have her a few moments at home so she and her mother could make up a plausible story as to why she’s leaving the house for two weeks.
Speaking of Nico and his sister…
“Maybe this could be a learning experience for them,” Percy said. “Could either get them to makeup or it blow up in their faces–”
“Percy,” Snow said, her breathy voice getting his attention. “The di Angelo siblings! They’re gone!”
He sharply followed her gaze to the bleachers that once occupied the half bloods. Empty. Dr. Thorn was also nowhere in sight.
Snow’s breathing quickened, thinking about Nico and what that monster could be doing to him and his sister. Her ears grew heavy.
“We have to move! Annabeth! Thalia! Grover!” Snow cried, looking around the gym for their friends who were nowhere in sight. “No, where are they!? Come on, let’s find them!”
Snow removed herself from Percy and ran through the crowd, expecting him to be behind her. It was a hassle trying to find her friends in the sea of people while maneuvering through said sea of people. Guys coming over and asking her to dance every second was definitely not helping this urgent search.
“Sorry, no”, “I’m afraid I’m not interested”, “Excuse me, I’m in a hurry”. Were the repeated words Snow had to hastily blurt out whenever she was stopped and asked the same question. She thought Percy would help her out, but she figured he split up to search other corners. Wish he’d told her first though.
Just as frustration was about to bubble over, she caught sight of Annabeth who was shoving people in her way. Thalia and Grover weren’t too far behind. When they saw Snow, they hurried towards her.
“The di Angelo siblings. They’re–”
“We know,” Thalia said, a scowl setting on her face. “Where’s Percy?”
“I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” Snow said, looking left and right. “I assumed he went in other directions to look for you.”
Thalia frowned. “But we’ve searched everywhere in the gym that we could to look for you two.”
Grover sighed while Annabeth looked ready to murder. Snow frowned. All three simultaneously came to a realization as to where Percy was.
He’d gone after Dr. Thorn. Alone.
“Stupid, stupid idiot,” Annabeth hissed.
Grover winced, causing the girls to look at him with concern and curiosity. “Percy. He’s communicating through our link. He’s in deep trouble.”
“Serves the idiot right,” Annabeth grumbled, but there was worry in her steel eyes. She took out her invisible Yankees cap with a glimmer that all three came to know.
“Plan?” Snow stated.
“Plan,” Annabeth nodded. “Here’s what we do.”
They followed them to the woods (which unnerved Snow, but she forced it off), managing to stay on their trail thanks to dimly lit old-fashioned lamplights. They stopped on a cliff where there was supposed to be a sea at the very bottom according to Dr. Thorn. Once Annabeth, through being invisible, slammed into Percy and the di Angelo siblings, that was Snow, Grover and Thalia’s cue to fight.
The sudden movement caused a stunned Dr. Thorn to misfire, his missiles passing over Percy and the siblings. Now, for Snow this was her first time fighting alongside Thalia and one word she could describe Thalia in battle mode was: scary.
Suddenly the older girl became a force to be reckoned with. She uses a huge spear that expands from a collapsible Mace canister she carries in her pocket. But that was only one part of her weapon. Thalia also has a shield, modeled not only after the one her father uses, but also bearing its name–Aegis–a gift from Athena. The shield has the head of the gorgon Medusa modeled into the bronze. It was just as scary and frightening as the real Medusa. Only upside was the modeled one didn’t turn people into stone.
Even Dr. Thorn winced and growled when he saw it.
Thalia moved in with her spear. “For Zeus!”
It was truly marveling seeing Thalia fight. Snow somewhat felt inferior in her own abilities when comparing them to Thalia’s. She looked like a warrior, someone born and made for battle. Meanwhile, Snow couldn’t join in on the battle. Her weapon doesn’t bode well in close ranges, so she turned her attention to the di Angelo siblings.
The second he looked at her, Nico’s eyes flashed in familiarity. “Snow White! Look, Bianca, it’s Snow White! I told you she exists!”
While Nico looked ecstatic considering everything going on, his sister had a more realistic reaction. Bianca looked seconds away from screaming and fainting. To ease her worries, Snow smiled and began searching for any injuries.
There was a faint sound of a helicopter which confused Snow for a moment, but the battle overpowered the noise.
When she glanced back at the battle, she witnessed Dr. Thorn’s transformation to his true appearance. He grew larger, his face still human but his body was that of a lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.
“A manticore!” Annabeth said, now visible.
Wonderful they can add Manticore to their list of encountered monsters.
“Who are you people?” Bianca demanded. “And what is that?”
“A manticore?” Nico gasped. “He’s got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws! Right, Snow? It was one of the rules.”
Snow nodded despite not remembering. But that was not important right now. The manticore clawed Grover’s magic weeds to shreds then turned towards the half bloods on the side with a snarl.
Snow and Annabeth pushed the di Angelo siblings into the snow to avoid the attack. Percy, meanwhile, remembered he has a shield. Hitting his wristwatch, metal plating spiraled out into a thick bronze shield. And just in time too. The thorns impacted against it with such force they dented the metal.
There was a thwack followed by a yelp which resulted in Grover landing next to Percy with a thud.
“Yield!” the monster roared.
“Never!” Thalia yelled from across the field. From her position on the ground, Snow watched her charge at the manticore the second time. But a thunderous noise and a blaze of light coming from behind interrupted. A helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets.
It was bizarre that a helicopter would show up abruptly. Snow theorized they must have caused much noise that people noticed and called authorities. But why a helicopter? Why didn’t they hear the police sirens first? The searchlights from the helicopter blinded Thalia, and the manticore swatted her away with his tail. Her shield flew off into the snow. Her spear in another direction.
Percy tried to help her by parring a spike that was aiming for Thalia’s chest. Then he raised his shield over them in protection.
Dr. Thorn laughed. “Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes.”
There didn’t seem to be any hope for them to escape this. The situation looked trapped. Until there was a clear piercing sound; the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods.
Snow could feel her face drop. That hunting horn sounded way too familiar. Dr. Thorn thought it too for he froze. For a moment, no one moved, the only sound was the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.
“No,” Dr. Thorn paled. “It cannot be–”
His sentence was cut short when something shot passed Percy like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn’s shoulder.
He staggered back, wailing in agony.
“Curse you!” Thorn cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them, at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast,silvery arrows shot back in reply. It looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two.
The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Percy tried to swipe him with his sword but Thorn dodged his attack and slammed his tail into his shield, knocking Percy aside.
Then the archers came from the woods and Snow groaned. Dozens of girls ranging from the ages fourteen to ten advanced. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, all armed with bows. They stared at the manticore with determined expressions.
“The Hunters!” Annabeth cried.
“Great.”
“Oh, wonderful.”
Snow and Thalia muttered simultaneously.
One of the oldest girls stepped forward. Seeing her, Snow tried not to wince, frown and groan. With her tall and graceful air surrounding her, copper skin, long dark hair having a silver circlet in her braid she drew her bow. “Permission to kill, my lady?”
Zoe Nightshade. She looked the same as Snow remembered. Both in appearance and the way she carried herself.
Looking through the line of hunters, Snow took in the younger girls to guess who was the goddess. It was probably the twelve year old. She looked ethereal.
The monster wailed. “This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws!”
“Not so,” the twelve year old said. She had long, auburn hair that was gathered in a ponytail. Her eyes were unique; silvery yellow like the moon. Her face beautiful, yet stern and dangerous. “The hunting of all wild beasts is within my spear. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast,” She looked at Zoe. “Zoe, permission granted.”
The manticore growled. “If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!”
He lunged at Thalia and Percy, knowing they were weak and dazed.
“No!” Snow and Annabeth yelled. Both charged at the monster.
“Get back, half-bloods!” Zoe said. “Get out of the line of fire!”
Snow threw her weapons, the manticore blocking one but the second slashed him. Annabeth took his brief howl of pain to jump on his back and add onto his injuries by jabbing her knife into his mane. The manticore, again, howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth hung onto dear life.
“Fire!” Zoe ordered.
“Wait!” Snow screamed.
“No!” Percy also screamed.
But the hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, “This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!”
And before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.
“Annabeth, get off!” Snow screamed. She started running towards her, but there was a snap-snap-snap from the helicopter–the sound of gunfire.
Snow and most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the auburn haired girl just looked calmly at the helicopter.
“Mortals,” she announced. “Are not allowed to witness my hunt.”
She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter exploded into what seemed to be dust. But it wasn’t dust. The black metal dissolved into a flock of ravens, which scattered into the night. Snow watched this in horror.
Those were people.
The Hunters advanced on them.
Zoe stopped short when she saw Thalia and Snow. “You,” she said in distaste.
Snow paid her no mind while Thalia responded with equal vigor. For Snow, her mind still reeled in on Annabeth falling from the cliff. Taking the silence, she stumbled towards the cliff and looked down, hoping–praying–that her friend was hanging on a branch or steep or something. But there was none of that. No trace of the blonde anywhere.
There was a lot of talking and a yell, but Snow couldn’t fully hear. Her heart won’t stop beating, her breathing became erratic as she tried to ward off any negative thoughts. No, she’s alive. She has to be. Annabeth’s smart, she would have thought of something. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Annabeth’s okay.
Her state was broken when a hand gripped her shoulder. Turning around, it was the auburn haired girl who Snow knew was the goddess, the leader of the Hunters. She gave her a pitting gaze.
“I’m sorry, Snow LaBlanc. Percy Jackson,” she turned to Percy. “But your friend is beyond help.”
Some of the Hunters were holding Percy down.
“You two are in no condition to be hurling yourselves off cliffs.” she said.
Snow wanted to bite back, but held her tongue. Fortunately (or unfortunately considering who she is), Percy snapped. “Let me go! Who do you think you are!”
Of course the first person to take high offense was Zoe, who stepped forward looking to smack him.
“No,” the goddess ordered. “I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand.”
The goddess looked at Percy, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. “I am Artemis,” she said. “Goddess of the Hunt.”