Going through Time-Chapter Twenty-Four: Victory (Almost)

     I woke up to a bright light. As my eyes adjusted I noticed a blonde guy mixing some type of drink off to my right. It was Will Solace, son of Apollo, one of the best medics in camp. He glanced up and saw me awake. "Oh, you're up." he smiled. "Well, drink this and I think you'll be fine." he handed me some nectar and I quickly drank it, then set it on the table beside me.

    "Thanks, Will," I said, then hastily got up and grabbed my sword. When I stood there was a sharp pain near my ribcage but it gradually faded away. Cautiously I stepped out the door and surveyed the battle, my heart hoping for some good news, but it immediately was crushed to pieces. The campers were doing their best, but the ones fighting were sparse. All the others were heading towards the infirmary with some nasty wound. Even with the few fighters we had the monsters were still taking them down. I decided I had no time to lose and charged with a battle cry, and brought my sword down on the nearest monster. The telkhine turned around with a surprised look at my celestial bronze blade, then disintegrated. 

     I then turned my attention to a cyclopes that was battling my friend, Sadie. She jumped up with all her might as the cyclopes bent down and landed on his knee. She stabbed it in the thigh with her sword but that only made the monster angry. Before she could leap to somewhere else the monster whacked her off into a tree to the left.

     My vision turned red. No one hurt my friends! Running as fast as I could, I slashed at the monster's foot and succeeded in lopping off its big toe. It roared with pain and tried to step on me but I ducked out of the way and stabbed wherever I could. I squinted to see where I hit and discovered I had poked where the sun doesn't shine. The cyclopes growled and smashed his fist down, but I wasn't there. I leaped onto his arm and when he raised it up, I scrambled up to his shoulder and threw my sword into his eye. The cyclopes howled so loud my body shook, then exploded into golden dust. 

     I was falling down to the ground, but I remembered what I saw other campers doing while I was here. Before I hit the ground I tucked in my body and rolled safely away. Then I hopped up and ran desperately over to Sadie. For a terrible moment she was motionless, even when I called her name. Then she croaked, "All men have that weak spot, huh?" I almost laughed. Helping her up, I walked her to the infirmary. Then I decided where to go next.

    Will was fighting a giant monster that looked like Medusa from the neck up. Her hair was made up of snakes as well, but there were animal heads around her waist. She had six dragon-like feet with nasty claws. I thought that would make her clumsy but she moved surprisingly fast. In her arms there were two swords dripping with green goo that I inferred was poison. Will was attempting to freeze her, but the monster was too big and powerful. I remembered this monster from the Greek myths Annabeth had taught me. Kampe was the guardian of the cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires (the hundred-handed ones) when they were tossed into Tartarus by Ouranos. The worst thing? She was the ultimate challenge for heroes. From my friend Percy's account, she was almost impossible to beat.

     I gulped and ran to Will's side. He was now on his back, Kampe's giant dragon foot holding him down. Will saw me and his eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. I snuck up as quickly as I could and slashed at Kampe's leg. Fortunately, I succeeded and made a huge gash on her calf. Unfortunately, Kampe turned and noticed me with her beady eyes. She growled and stomped around to face me. Will scrambled up and focused on freezing her legs so that she was immobilized in a block of ice. It worked for a second, and I took the opportunity to hack at her thigh. However Kampe roared and brought down one of her poison swords. Once the dripping green liquid touched the ice the block sizzled and melted away.

     Kampe then turned her attention to Will. His legs were shaking and his eyes filled with fear. Under normal circumstances I would have laughed at him, but...well, let's just say Kampe wasn't much of a joke.

     I tried to hack at her leg (that was the only thing that I could reach) but Kampe turned and showed her teeth, which were like a shark's, and I cowered. But monsters weren't here to scare, they were here to kill. She threw her sword down at me and I barely had enough time to dodge. The blade landed a few inches from me, the point sizzling, but Kampe wasn't done yet. She slammed her foot down on top of me and I was now in the same position that Will was in a few minutes ago. I closed my eyes and thought, Well, this is the end.

     Suddenly, Kampe froze. Ice was starting to form near her ankles. As it spread up her body she roared and reached for her poison sword, but the ice was progressing faster and soon her whole body was frozen into a sculpture ready to be shipped off to the Ugly Monster Museum. Will collapsed on the ground, his face pale and his body limp, but Kampe was frozen.

     Chiron galloped up and gently set Will onto his back, then trotted off to the infirmary. My Latino friend Leo showed up next to me. He was a pyrokinetic, which meant he could summon fire, control it and he could never be burnt. "Need some fire?" he asked me. I nodded and once I told him where to shoot, he summoned a fireball and threw it near Kampe's head. It hit and started melting the ice. Once it started burning a thought hit me.

     "We need to put it out before it unfreezes Kampe completely!" I exclaimed. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder and I whirled around, expecting a monster. However it was only Percy, who had gained conciousness. 

     "I'll help," he grinned, then summoned water from the nearby canoeing lake and doused it when the fire had reached where I wanted it. Kampe roared once her head was unfrozen and reached for her poison sword, but the bottom half of her body was still frozen. I thanked the two boys and they ran off to help the other campers, then turned to some of the Apollo archers that were still on the battlefield. 

     "Archers, fire!" I shouted, and they nocked an arrow and shot. Their aim was perfect. One arrow sprouted in Kampe's shoulder. Another hit her arm. One by one the arrows hit and slowly, Kampe disintegrated. I cheered and turned to survey the fight. It was looking okay. Most of the campers had recovered and they were fighting. Monsters were falling quicker than ever, and less campers were crumpling to the ground.

With a sudden shock, a happy thought struck me. We were winning.