❛006❜

IVY LOOKED AROUND THE air and space museum. the main part of the museum was one huge room with rockets and aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling. three levels of balconies curled round, so you could look at the exhibits from all different heights. the place wasn't crowded, just a few families and a couple of tour groups of kids, probably doing one of those holiday school trips.

they've looked all around the museum, making their way to the top floor balcony. all her friends were observing, while ivy was daydreaming about the reformation palm linen two piece in gray she'd been dying to get. her quest companions were party poopers, though. and they didn't even let her go into the store. she's been away from the malls far too long, thanks chiron! (note the sarcasm.)

a loud boing snapped her out of her daydream, thalia had been pushed into the apollo space capsule. instantly unsheathing her knife, ivy twirled around to strike whatever attacked. on further inspection, she found that it wasn't a what, but a who.

percy.

by the time the son of poseidon had somewhat regained his balance, zoë and bianca had arrows notched, aiming at his chest. they stood further away from ivy, who stood at punch distance of percy.

"what the fuck, seaweed brain?" ivy asked, sheathing her golden knife and putting the golden pick back into her pocket.

she wasn't sure if she was glad or not that he was here. on one side, ivy was used to fighting with percy, taking down monsters was easy when fighting in a perfected synchrony. but there was also the unsettling prophecy that ruled this quest, one lost, one left behind, and one dead. she didn't want percy to be any of those.

when zoë realized who she was aiming at, she didn't seem anxious to lower her bow. "you! how dare you show thy face here?"

"percy!" grover said. "thank goodness."

zoë glared at him, and he blushed. "i mean, um, gosh. you're not supposed to be here!"

"luke," percy panted out. "he's here.'

the anger in thalia's eyes immediately melted. she put her hand on her silver bracelet. "where?"

percy old them about the natural history museum, dr thron, luke and the general.

"the general is here?" zoë looked stunned. "that is impossible! you lie."

"why would i lie? look, there's no time. skeleton warriors –"

"what?" thalia demanded. "how many?"

"twelve," percy said. "and that's not all. that guy, the general, he said he was sending something, a playmate, to distract you over here. a monster."

ivy, thalia and grover exchanged looks.

"we were following artemis's trail," grover said. "i was pretty sure it led here. some powerful monster scent... she must've stopped here looking for the mystery monster. but we haven't found anything yet."

"zoë," bianca said nervously, "if it is the general –"

"it cannot be!" zoë snapped. "percy must have seen an Iris-message or some other illusion."

"illusions don't crack marble floors," percy told her.

zoë took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. ivy didn't know why she was taking it so personally, or how she knew this general guy, but there wasn't time to ask.

"percy said there are skelton warriors," ivy said to the group, "we have no time to argue. those little shits are horrible. we have to leave now."

"good idea," percy agreed with a nod of his head.

"that does not include thee, boy," zoë said. "you are not part of this quest."

percy squinted his eyes at zoë. "i'm trying to save your life!"

"you shouldn't have come, percy," thalia said grimly. "but you're here now. come on. let's get back to the van."

"that is not thy decision!" zoë snapped.

thalia scowled at her. "you're not the boss here, zoë. i don't care how old you are! you're still a conceited little brat!"

"you never had any wisdom when it came to boys," zoë growled. "you never could leave them behind!"

thalia looked like she was about to hit zoë. then everyone froze. ivy heard a growl so loud she thought one of the rocket engines was starting up.

below them, a few adults screamed. a little kid's voice screeched with delight: "kitty!"

something enormous bounded up the ramp. it was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur.

"the nemean lion," ivy said. "no sudden moves."

the lion roared so loudly it made ivy's ponytail fly backwards. his fangs gleamed like stainless steel.

"separate on my mark," zoë said. "try to keep it distracted."

"until when?" grover asked.

"until i think of a way to kill it. go!"

ivy decided to go for golden knife, unsheathing it. she rolled to the left with percy as arrows whistled past them. grover played a sharp tweet-tweet cadence on his reed pipes. she turned and saw zoë and bianca climbing the apollo capsule. they were firing arrows, one after another, all shattering harmlessly against the lion's metallic fur. the lion swiped the capsule and tipped it on its side, spilling the hunters off the back. grover played a frantic, horrible tune, and the lion turned towards him, but thalia stepped into its path, holding up aegis, and the lion recoiled. "roooaaar!"

"hi-yah!" thalia said. "back!"

the lion growled and clawed the air, but it retreated as if the shield were a blazing fire.

for a second, ivy thought thalia had it under control. then she saw the lion crouching, its leg muscles tensing. the lion was going to pounce.

"hey!" percy yelled, charging at the beast. gritting her teeth at his lack of planning, ivy followed his actions. she slashed with her knife while the lion was focused on percy, a good strike to the flank that should've cut the monster into meow mix, but the blade just clanged against its fur in a burst of sparks.

the lion raked at ivy with its claws, she managed to get out of his range but the blade of her knife wasn't long enough to counter the claw swipes. when the monster went to swipe again, percy stood in front of her with riptide. the lion tripping off a chunk of the boy's coat. the two demigods backed against the railing. it sprang at them, half a ton of monster, and they had no choice but to turn and jump.

they landed on the wing of an old-fashioned silver aeroplane, which pitched and almost spilled them to the floor, three stories below.

an arrow whizzed past between percy and ivy's head. the lion jumped onto the aeroplane, and the cords holding it began to groan.

the lion swiped again, and they each dropped onto two different exhibits that were leveled lowe. she looked up and saw the lion roar – inside its maw, a pink tongue and throat.

"zoë!" percy shouted. "target the mouth!"

the monster lunged. an arrow zipped past it, missing completely, and now together percy and ivy dropped from the spaceship onto the top of a floor exhibit, a huge model of the earth. they slid down russia and dropped off the equator.

the nemean lion growled and steadied itself on the spacecraft, but its weight was too much. one of the cords snapped. as the display swung down like a pendulum, the lion leaped off onto the model earth's north pole.

"grover!" ivy yelled. "get these people out of here!"

groups of kids were running around screaming. grover tried to corral them away from the monster just as the other cord on the spaceship snapped and the exhibit crashed to the floor. thalia dropped off the second-floor railing and landed across from them, on the other side of the globe. the lion regarded the three of them, trying to decide which of them to kill first.

zoë and bianca were above them, bows ready, but they kept having to move around to get a good angle.

"no clear shot!" zoë yelled. "get it to open its mouth more!"

the lion snarled from the top of the globe.

"keep it occupied," percy told thalia and ivy.

the daughter of zeus nodded grimly.

"that i can do," ivy smirked. she would be lying if she said she didn't want to use her powers against a monster.

pink light redirected itself from its natural course, heating up at scorching temperature. she wrapped the sunbeam around the lion's neck, burning through his skin. at the same time, thalia pointed her spear and a spidery arc of blue electricity shot out, zapping the lion in the tail.

"roooooooar!" the lion turned and pounced on thalia. she rolled out of its way, holding up aegis to keep the monster at bay.

"this is no time for souvenirs, boy!" zoë yelled.

zoë and bianca were still showering arrows on the monster. ivy maneuvered beam after beam of light, but it was no good. the lion seemed to know better than to open its mouth too much. it snapped at thalia, slashing with its claws. it even kept its eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

thalia jabbed at the monster and backed up. the lion pressed her.

"percy,' she called, "whatever you're going to do –"

the lion roared and swatted her like a cat toy, sending her flying into the side of a titan rocket. her head hit the metal and she slid to the floor.

ivy thought about what she did on the sun chariot. it was difficult and it took a lot of energy, that part of her powers were the result of the mixed and matched with aphrodite. the light would become a bit... dense in way. it wouldn't let objects through like a normal light without mass would. it was more like solar energy at its purest form. if she could force its mouth open...

"hey!" percy yelled at the lion. he hurled riptide like a throwing knife. it bounced off the lion's side fruitlessly, but it gave percy the lion's attention.

ivy took a deep breath, holding her arms up in preparation of what she was going to do.

"percy, throw it!" she yelled at him.

he probably understood what she was going to do or trusted her to not fuck up, because her threw the a space-food pouch towards the lion with all his might.

ivy manipulated the light around her, pulling at that part of herself that brought out the dense type of light, the energy. the light turned a shade of hot pink, it seemed to pulsate in the air as it got a hold of the lion's jaw and head. she snapped it open.

the nasty space food landed right on its mouth. the lion's eyes got wide and it gagged like a cat with a hairball.

"zoë, now!" percy yelled.

ivy kept the hot pink energy up, maintaining the lion's mouth open for service. grover was playing another horrible song on his pipes. percy landed another space-food packet.

arrows sprouted from the lion's maw – two, four, six. the lion thrashed wildly, turned and fell backwards. ivy dropped the energy, breathing heavily. the monster laid still.

alarms wailed throughout the museum. people were flocking to the exits. security guards were running around in a panic with no idea what was going on.

grover knelt at thalia's side and helped her up. she seemed okay, just a little dazed. zoë and bianca dropped from the balcony and landed next to percy. ivy walked a little wobbly to her friends, but somehow not as tired as the sun chariot stun. she was still up for a nap, though.

zoë eyed percy cautiously. "that was... an interesting strategy."

"it worked," percy said with a shrug.

the hunter didn't argue.

the lion seemed to be melting, the way dead monsters do sometimes, until there was nothing left but its glittering fur coat, and even that seemed to be shrinking to the size of a normal lion's pelt.

"take it," zoë told percy and ivy.

percy stared at her. "what, the lion's fur? isn't that, like, an animal-rights violation or something?"

"it is a spoil of war," she told him. "it is rightly thine."

"you killed it, and fitzy basically did everything," percy said.

zoë shook her head, almost smiling. "i think thy icecream sandwich and ivy's abilities did that. fair is fair, both of you take the fur."

"perce, i have the inner furnace, remember?" ivy wiggled her fingers in front of his face. "if i get anywhere near that coat i'll have a heat stroke."

percy frowned at her."are you sure?"

"yes," she confirmed.

"hundred percent?"

"hundred and ten percent."

hesitantly, percy picked up the fur easily. he was either stronger than she knew or the coat was lighter than it seemed. as she watched, the pelt shifted and changed into a full-length golden-brown coat.

"not exactly my style," percy murmured.

ivy wrinkled her nose. "chérie, fur is no one's style in this century."

"we have to get out of here," grover said. "the security guards won't stay confused for long."

ivy noticed for the first time how strange it was that the guards hadn't rushed forward to arrest them. they were scrambling in all directions except ours, like they were madly searching for something. a few were running into the walls or each other.

"you did that?" percy asked grover.

he nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "a minor confusion song. i played some barry manilow. it works every time. but it'll only last a few seconds."

"huh," ivy bumped grover on the shoulder teasingly. "groovy's got some groove going on."

"the security guards are not our biggest worry," zoë said. "look."

through the glass walls of the museum, ivy could see a group of men walking across the lawn. grey men in grey camouflage outfits. they were too far away for the quest group to see their eyes, but she could feel their gaze aimed straight at percy.

"go," percy said. "they'll be hunting me. i'll distract them."

"no," zoë said. "we go together."

percy stared at her. "but you said –"

"you are part of this quest now," zoë said grudgingly. "i do not like it, but there is no changing fate. you are the fifth quest member. and we are not leaving anyone behind."

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ﾟ。 a's notes
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short chapter but basically double update?? depending ur time zone ofc it's 5am where i live so i should sLeep lol.

also i was thinking that like sometime u don't see the faceclaim given to the oc as u read. for example, while u read harry potter u can't imagine daniel radciffle as the harry ur reading ab. does that happen to any of u w ivy??? idk im just curious and i kinda want to changer her face claim bc yeal shelbia has very limited sources but idk lol

french, chérie - dear.

thoughts???