chapter three
' new world of myths '

       THIS KID IS INSANE, Maria had thought. She looked at Percy as he glanced behind them, his eyes looking like he was actually thinking of jumping. The four were still spooked by Thorn's ominous message, Bianca scanned around while Nico looked at the sky expecting something to come. María however was still spooked by her last.. daydream? She didn't know exactly what to call them.

The person in the daydream looked exactly like the lawyer that brought them to Westover. Maria wished she could see the lawyer and ask them all those questions. But, Maria wished even more that she could get out of this situation.

"By all means, Son of Poseidon . Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself," Thorn laughed, noticing Percy's constant glances to the sea. Nico's head whipped at the mention of a Greek God, but his mood fell when he realized where he was. Usually Nico would've gone on a Mythomagic rant but now Thorn probably would've thrown him off the cliff. Meanwhile Maria and Bianca glanced at each other, son of Poseidon? What did he mean by that?

Sighing, Maria shuffled toward Percy, "Why'd he call you that?" she muttered, a curious look on her face. Though she rolled her eyes when he said, "I'll explain later." They couldn't work together to get out if Percy was hiding something.

But at the same time what does Percy have to explain, there's no way Poseidon was actually his father. He's a literal Greek God. Maybe Percy's family just has Greek-related names or are Greek, Maria thought

"You do have a plan right?" Bianca whispered to him. He looked at us blankly, as if he was thinking about it.

"Uh," Percy looked back at the water.

Maria sighed, they were doomed.

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Thorn said suddenly, causing all the kids to look at him, "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

No, Maria would've said if Thorn didn't have poison weapons. To be fair, she only really knew three people, the mysterious lawyer, Bianca, and Nico. Maria could've sworn Thorn could mind read when he launched another projectile right beside Maria. She took a step closer to Nico, her eyes widening.

"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise, you would already be dead."

Wanted? Maria felt the urge to scoff. It wasn't pretty nice to tell some orphans whose parents basically disappeared that they were 'wanted', Maria thought. Though if there was someone who wanted them of course it would be some mysterious boss of a kidnapper.

"Who wants us?" Bianca asked, "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We uh, we don't have any family. Nico, Maria, and I..." She stopped for a second, frowning.

"We're orphans, we've only got each other," Maria finished, looking a her sister with a sad smile. Nico looked up at his two sisters, he didn't enjoy being the youngest. It annoyed him how he couldn't protect Bianca and Maria, how he was always the one being protected.

He wondered what it would be like if they did have parents. He believed none of them would have to worry about protection, Maria wouldn't have to cook dinners for them and Bianca wouldn't have to defend him from bullies. Their parents could do all that.

"Aww," Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family." Maria scoffed slightly, she was right. Only a kidnapper's boss would want them. This is some weird way of adoption, Maria thought.

"Luke, you work for Luke,"

Everyone turned their attention to the boy who was being pretty quiet. Bianca looked at him with accusing eyes, Nico tilted his head in confusion, and Maria raised an eyebrow. Unlike the three Thorn looked at him with distaste.

"You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

The three turned to Percy but he also looked confused "The general?" Percy asked in a french accent. "I mean... who's the General?" Maria smiled slightly and so did Nico, both humored by the little joke.

Though Maria's face fell when Thorn changed the subject, "Ah, here we are. Your transportation." Maria followed his gaze, looking out at the horizon.

Vaguely, she could see a light and hear the small sound of helicopter blades chopping. As the seconds passed the blades got louder and the light got brighter. She took a step forward. "Where are you taking us?" Maria asked, a sudden sense of courage. She couldn't just let her siblings get kidnapped.

Thorn crossed his arms, seeing the unpleasant look on her face, "You should be honored, girl. You will join a great army, be just like that silly game your brother plays. The one with the cards and dolls," A smug smirk that made Maria want to punch him was on his face.

"They're not dolls! They're figurines! And you can take your great army and-"

"Nico," Bianca murmured. His two sisters looked at him with a 'not the time' face. For all they know backup could be in the helicopter. So Maria's main goal was to find an escape, the only problem was that the only escape was down that cliff.

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" Percy asked.

Maria got a bit worried at that. It was understandable for Bianca, Nico and her to be clueless but Percy not knowing something? He was the only one out of the kids who actually had a clue what was going on. Also 'half-blood', what did Thorn mean by that? None of it made sense.

"The stirring of monsters." He smiled evilly, "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!" Thorn explain.

To Maria, this felt like when an evil super villain exposes their master plan right before it's finished. Now all they needed was a person to save them so they could end the mast plan before it finishes. But that only on TV.

"Okay," Bianca murmured, "He's nuts." Maria nodded. Also what was with the Greek mythology references, weird, she had thought.

"We have to jump," Percy whispered making the girls turn to him. Bianca scoffed muttering something about two psycho people and Maria looked at him like he was crazy. "We have to jump off the cliff, into the sea," Percy repeated

Maria crossed her arms, giving the boy a light glare, "You're joking right? Is this about that 'son of Poseidon' thing or whatever? What's that about, also why did he call you that? I don't remember you ever telling us," She said, finally getting impatient about Percy's secret keeping. How would he tell them later if none of them are alive? Percy's eyes widened, somewhat surprised of the girls proclamation.

Before Percy could respond something, or maybe someone slammed into him. The Di Angelo trio jumped, stepping back as Maria stepped in-front of them. Instantly Thorn began shooting projectiles, causing Maria to fiddle with her pocket, pulling a knife out.

She would've used it a long time ago but then she'd found out about Thorn's projectiles. There was no way that could compare to her little pocket knife but it was worth a shot. Originally it was going to be her backup plan so if they were taken she could've easily escaped and then Percy appeared. Two more people came running to the scene, one holding a shield and a spear.

"For Zeus!" Shield girl yelled, heading straight for Thorn with the spear.

This has to be a prank, Maria thought, some kind of Greek Mythology role play scene. Or maybe the set of a movie? Either way Maria hated this joke, it wasn't exactly funny to fear for your life.

Though her assumptions was proved wrong when Shield girl stabbed the spear into Thorn's head. Bianca gagged slightly while Maria wince. Unlike the other two Nico stared at her in awe, most likely thinking about his mythomagic cards and how cool this was. Though the three were surprised when Thorn just snarled and threw it aside. Maria had
really thought he was a goner, it was a spear, a real one! Yet Thorn's hand still turned into a giant paw and slashed at Shield girl's shield.

The siblings did a double take, giant paw? That didn't sound right and yet when they looked back it was still there, a giant orange paw. Maria pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Though she still felt the slight pinch, and still heard the loud sounds of the helicopters. The girl who'd stabbed Thorn had rolled backward as another wave of projectiles came.

Maria looked around, holding her pocket knife defensively. Nobody was near her but she didn't like how close that helicopter was sounding, or possibly how her ex vice principal had a paw for a hand. Nico and Bianca eyebrows furrowed as they squinted to see the next person coming up. It was a boy holding as... Pipe?

The oldest Di Angelo scoffed slightly in disbelief. "Grover?" Nico murmured, squinting to see if that was really him . Soon after Grover started to play a sea chanty which Maria and Bianca both thought was stupid. For one, they weren't at sea, then for two they were literally inches away from death.

But the two were confused when grass erupted from the snow, the weeds wrapping around Thorn's legs.

Everyone was somewhat unsettled when the old professor began to transform. Maria face scrunched up in disgust as he changed into some kind of beast. Definitely not a regular one, she'd thought. His body was like a lion's and then he had that spiky tail that was throwing the projectiles. The unnerving part was that his face was the same. Maria shuffled uncomfortably whilst Nico looked over her shoulder excitedly. "Manticore!" He whispered under his breath in pure awe.

Turns out he was right because a random girl had shouted, "A Manticore!"

Now this was getting crazy. Maria didn't get this sick joke and why it was so Greek Mythology related. She sighed, staring at her siblings. It was hard enough taking care of them single-handedly. Now she was being forced into a new weird world of myths, or at least, that's what she assumed.

NOTES.

very unedited, i'm very tired, but thank you all very much for reading 💕💕

words - 1851