𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑻𝑾𝑶 ━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑾𝑶

𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 either Percy, or the others, and she had been searching for a while now, well 5 mins actually, she was just short tempered today. But she could tell Thalia was near, she could hear the short haired girl's voice. And when she did find Thalia, Iris was sure they were going to be fine.

She was wrong, terribly wrong.

She had been running around trying to follow the girl's voice until she saw the two together, it looked like they were having fun. And she knew the moment, they would hear what she had to say, everything would go down.

   "Guys!" yelled Iris. Their laughter faded as they noticed her serious expression.

   "What's wrong?", Thalia asked looking around frantically knowing it had to do with the two kids, "Wait. Where are the kids?".

Grover cursed, "Oh shit." and the three started running. She knew Percy had found them. Now, she had to find Annabeth.

Which was not difficult since she had been waiting near the doors of the school for them, and the moment she saw them, she ran and yelled out, "The kids are gone, we have to find them."

They had gone around the school, going through each class, every corridor, every bathroom, trying to find Percy and the two. 

Realizing they might have already gone to the school premises, Iris and the others decided to take a bold risk and ventured into the woods. As they got deeper into the dense forest, Iris's gaze fell upon a familiar figure near the cliff—the French vice principal and accompanied by Percy and two other students.

She turned to Annabeth, Thalia and Grover who were already looking at her, and said, "What do we do?"

   "We need a plan." said Annabeth. 

Annabeth was always the one with the best plans or at least that's what Iris thought, but she had to hand it to her it was brilliant. Wearing her cap of invisibility, she charged into the di Angelos and Percy, knocking them to the ground. Which caught Dr. Thorn off guard for a moment, causing his first wave of missiles to fly harmlessly over their heads. 

This gave Thalia, Grover, and Iris a chance to advance from behind—Thalia wielding her magic shield, Aegis and Iris getting her dagger out. 

Thalia moved in with her spear towards Dr. Thorn. "For Zeus!"

Thalia aimed a strike at his head, but he snarled and batted the spear aside. His hand morphed into an orange paw with enormous claws that sparked against Thalia's shield as he slashed. If not for Aegis, Thalia would have been sliced like a loaf of bread. 

Thankfully, she managed to roll backward and land on her feet. Iris who had been trying to get to Dr. Thorn without him knowing, yelled out to her, "Thalia!"

Meanwhile, the sound of the helicopter grew louder behind Percy, but he didn't dare look. Dr. Thorn launched another volley of missiles at Thalia. The missiles deflected off Aegis, but their impact knocked Thalia down.

As Thalia struggled to regain her footing, Iris moved in to assist. Iris used her charmspeak to create a distraction or at least tried to. She commanded him to stay put, and though he hesitated for a few seconds, he didn't seem too affected by her charmspeak.

Seeing the limited effect of Iris's charmspeak, Grover sprang forward. He put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play a frantic jig. Grass broke through the snow, and within seconds, thick vines wrapped around Dr. Thorn's legs, entangling him.

Dr. Thorn roared in anger and began to transform. He grew larger, revealing his true form—a monstrous manticore. His face remained human, but his body became that of a huge lion, with a leathery, spiky tail that whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

Annabeth, now visible after losing her magical New York Yankees cap during the earlier scuffle, exclaimed, "A manticore!"

Bianca di Angelo, bewildered, demanded, "Who are you people? And what is that?"

Iris, staying close to Thalia, readied herself and looked at the Bianca giving her a look which clearly stated, 'Really, right now?' 

   "A manticore?" Nico gasped, the younger of the two. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"

Percy had no idea what Dr. Thorn was talking about, but there was no time to worry about it. The manticore shredded Grover's magical vines and turned towards them with a snarl. 

   "Get down!" Annabeth yelled, pushing the di Angelos flat into the snow.

In the nick of time, Percy remembered his own shield. He hit his wristwatch, and metal plating spiraled out into a thick bronze shield. Just in time, too—the thorns impacted with such force that they dented the metal. The beautiful shield, a gift from his brother, was badly damaged. Percy doubted it could stop a second volley. He heard a thwack and a yelp as Grover landed next to him with a thud. 

   "Yield!" the monster roared. "Never!" Thalia shouted from across the field with Iris who turned to her. Thalia and Iris then charged the monster, and for a moment, Percy thought they would run it through.

But then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind them. A sleek black military-style helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It had attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The searchlights blinded Thalia and Iris, and the manticore swatted them away with its tail. 

Iris was thrown a bit further away from Thalia while Thalia's shield flew into the snow, and her spear in the other direction.

   "No!" yelled Percy as he ran out to help them, parrying away a spike just before it would have hit Thalia's chest. He raised his shield over them, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. 

Dr. Thorn laughed. "Now do you see how hopeless it is? Yield, little heroes."

They were trapped between a monster and a fully armed helicopter. There seemed to be no chance of escape.

Amidst the chaos, Iris stumbled towards Percy and Thalia desperate to stay closed to them. Despite their differences, Percy couldn't help but reach out to steady her. Their eyes met briefly.

   "You, okay? Iris," Percy muttered, half out of concern, half out of irritation.

She nodded as a respond, silently asking if the two of them were okay. But she got no answer as a sudden clear, piercing sound echoed through the woods: the call of a hunting horn.

𝐍𝐎 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘. The sound of the hunting horn made the manticore freeze in place. Only the swirling of snow and wind from the helicopter blades could be heard. Iris felt her heartbeat at a hundred kilometres per hour.

   "No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—"

His sentence was cut short when something shot past Percy like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder. He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

Iris gasped, she knew what was happening, she knew who they were or at least she knew who she'd heard of. She looked back at Dr. Thorn who was in pure pain which Iris was not mad about.

   "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 quickly, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but Percy's eyes must've been playing tricks on him. No one, not even Apollo's kids at camp, could shoot with that much accuracy.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain, his breathing heavy. 

Percy tried to swipe at him with his sword, but the manticore wasn't as injured as he appeared. He dodged the attack and slammed his tail into Percy's shield, knocking him aside.

As Percy hit the ground, Iris rushed over to help, and she extended a hand to him. "Get up, Percy." she said, her voice steady but strained.

Percy took her hand, pulling himself up.

Then the archers emerged from the woods, they were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten years old, while the oldest looked about fourteen, the same age as the others.

   "The Hunters!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Standing next to Percy and Iris, Thalia muttered under her breath, "Oh, wonderful."

But Percy didn't get a chance to ask what she meant. One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful, with coppery-colored skin. 

Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair. "Permission to kill, my lady?" she asked.

Percy couldn't tell who she was talking to because she kept her eyes fixed on the manticore. The monster wailed, "This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

   "Not so," another girl said. This one was a much younger than them, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow.

Iris knew instantly who she was and muttered underneath her breath, "Gods, is it really her?" Iris couldn't help but marvel at the scene unfolding before her. She had heard of the Hunters but seeing them in action was a whole new experience.

The danger was palpable. They were here to confront a deadly monster, and the risks were immense. 

   "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl with the circlet. "Zoe, permission granted."

The manticore growled, "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!" The manticore lunged at Thalia, Iris, and Percy, sensing their weakness and dazed state.

   "No!" Annabeth yelled, charging at the monster.

   "Get back, half-blood!" the girl with the circlet commanded, yelling at Annabeth to get out. "Get out of the line of fire!"

But Annabeth ignored her. She leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, spinning in circles with his tail flailing as Annabeth clung on for dear life. 

The thought of Annabeth getting caught in the crossfire made her stomach churn. Iris's mind raced with the terrifying possibilities: what if the arrows missed? What if the manticore retaliated before they could bring it down? 

And then, Iris's was nightmare came true, the words that she was dreading were said. "Fire!" Zoe ordered.

   "No!" Percy screamed. Iris still in a daze didn't know what to say or do. 

Iris felt a surge of panic and helplessness seeing Annabeth in danger. Losing Annabeth was unthinkable, a nightmare she couldn't bear to face.  She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, a mix of terror and a desperate hope that her friend would somehow come out of this unscathed. 

Iris's thoughts raced, filled with an overwhelming urge to do something, anything, to save Annabeth. The fear of losing her best friend was almost paralyzing, but she fought to stay focused on the scene unfolding before her.

She tried to get up only to fall back down. "Annie! No!"

The Hunters let their arrows fly. The first struck the manticore in the neck, and another hit his chest. The manticore staggered backward, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"

But before anyone could react, the monster, with Annabeth still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness. . . 

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the 2nd chapter for act 2 of LOVE STORY everyone, lysm, I know this has taken a while and im sorryyyy and its quite short so i hope you enjoy ❫
❪ . . . This is about 2k words ❫
❪ . . . PLEASE tell me how you guys feel about it ??❫
❪ . . .PLEASE don't be a ghost reader, comment and vote, I love to reply to everyone and interact with my readers, love all of you darlings <33 ❫