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When I woke up the next morning, I went out of my tent and found Dad having a heated conversation with Zoë.

"Zoë, I can't tell them!" Dad was saying, waving his hands around. "They're not ready!"

"You'll have to tell them at some point!" Zoë snapped, an evil smirk on her face just visible for a second. "You can't keep them in the dark forever!"

"I'm just trying to protect them," Dad said.

"You are a fool, Orion Theron," Zoë rasped, except it wasn't her voice.

"Zoë, what-" Dad began, but then he went rigid. An evil smirk appeared on his face, too.

"Fool, am I?" He rasped. "We'll see who's the fool, Zoë Nightshade!"

Dad pulled on his bracelet, and his sword appeared in his hand.

Zoë then pulled out her daggers.

Then, at the same time, they charged at each other.

Zoë swung at Dad's face, but he ducked. Dad brought his sword swinging down in its lightning form. A bolt of lightning crashed down Zoë, blasting her backward. She landed in a heap at the foot of a tree.

Dad advanced on her, sneering. "I will finish you."

He raised his hand and summoned a ball of fire.

Orion! No! Snow barked, running forward.

Dad raised his hand and shot the fire at Zoë, but just before it was about to hit her, Snow leapt in front of her. The fire struck her right where her heart was.

Snow crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

"Snow!" I yelled.

Dad seemed to come out of a trance. He looked down, horrified.

"Snow!"

He kneeled down at her side, tears streaming down his face.

"What have I done?!" Dad screamed.

"Dad, look out!" I shouted.

He raised his sword just in time, blocking Zoë's dagger attack.

"Okay, that's it!" I yelled, drawing my own daggers and charging at Zoë.

Before I could reach her, Agro grabbed the back of my shirt.

Don't interfere! She barked. It's too dangerous!

"What's going on?" a sleepy voice said.

I turned around and saw Aidan walking toward me, yawning. He was wearing his silver shorts and t-shirt plus bunny slippers.

Then, he saw Snow's body and his eyes widened in horror.

"Is she- is she-" Aidan said, unable to finish the thought.

"She's not dead!" Dad yelled, looking back at Aidan, while at the same time stopping Zoë from decapitating him. "She's just knocked out! Aidan, Ainsley, you need to leave, now! Wake Raiden and get the Hades outta here!"

"You're crazy if you think we're gonna leave you!" Aidan yelled, trying to run at Zoë too and failing because Pher was holding him back. "No one gets left behind!"

"I'll be fine!" Dad shouted back, summoning a geyser of water right in front of Zoë and forcing her back. "Just go!"

"No w-" I began, but just then someone tackled me to the ground from behind at the same time when the smell of burning hair reached my nostrils.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

"Sorry," Raiden's voice said in my ear. "I was just saving you from being burned!"

You've got to be kidding me! Pher barked.

"What?!" I yelled, leaping to my feet.

"That!" Raiden shouted, pointing.

A creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, a blood-caked mane, and a ten-foot-long diamondback snake-headed tail growing out of its shaggy butt stood in the trees.

"Oh, great," I said sarcastically. "A chimera."

The chimera roared and bleated (reated, bloeted, bloared?) in rage.

Do not insult me, little demigod! It roared. I am the son of Typhon, Defeater of Zeus and Echidna, Mother of All Monsters! And your doom!

And then it charged at me.

"Nope!" I yelled, diving to the side.

"Over here, ugly!" Raiden shouted, waving her arms with her scythe over her head.

The chimera changed course and charged at Raiden, roaring some very nasty words at her that I can't repeat.

Raiden swung her scythe back and cleanly cut off the head of the lion.

"Yes!" She yelled triumphantly. "Take that!"  

Just then, the chimera spun around so its snake-butt-face faced her. The snake-butt breathed out a cloud the color poisonous green.

"Raiden, watch out!" I yelled, but too late.

Raiden collapsed as soon as the green cloud got near her face.

"Dam it!" Aidan yelled, pulling his bow off his back and notching an arrow.

He pulled back his bowstring and released the arrow. It ripped right through the goat-head and snake-head. The chimera collapsed into golden dust.

"Okay," Aidan panted. "What now?"

"Now, we deal with the fire!" I yelled, pointing.

A tree about 10 feet away had caught fire. Apparently, the chimera had managed to breathe fire onto it before it had been disintegrated. 

"We need to put the fire out!" Aidan yelled. "Summon the rain."

Aidan grabbed my hand and silently, we willed it to rain. Instantly, the sky turned dark, and thick dollops of rain began to thunder down upon us.

The fire was doused, but leaving the bark of the tree charcoal black.

"There we go," Aidan said, letting go of my hand and pushing his wet hair up.

Suddenly, a fork of lightning streaked across the sky.

"Oh no," I muttered, and I was right.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the ground, sending sparks everywhere. It ignited several trees. We had started a forest fire.

"SCHIST!" Aidan and I yelled together, willing the rain to fall harder.

It did, but it made little difference. The fire was spreading too fast.

Even worse, there came a yell from behind me, "AUGHHHHH!"

I turned a saw 3 green giants with one eye blundering into the clearing, smashing trees down as they went. Cyclops.

"Agro!" I yelled, pulling my bow out and notching an arrow.

I let it fly and it struck the cyclops on the left in the foot. The cyclops roared in pain.

Aidan! I said sharply into his mind. You and Pher take the one on the right. Agro and I will deal with the one on the left.

Okay, He said back into my mind. But what about the one in the middle? It looks like the biggest.

We'll deal with that one later! I said. On three, we charge, got it?

Okay.

1, 2, 3, go! I yelled into his mind, and together, we charged.

I let loose a volley of arrows, and they all hit the cyclops in the chest.

"Agro!" I yelled, putting my bow away and drawing out my daggers. "Use your form!"

Instantly, Agro turned into her giant carthorse form and launched herself at the cyclops. She crashed into it with such force that the cyclops fell backward into a flaming tree.

"Enough!" the cyclops roared, and grabbing the flaming tree, he tore it out of the ground and chucked it at me.

I dove out of the way just in time. The torn tree crashed into the ground, sending sparks everywhere and lighting more trees on fire.

"Aidan!" I yelled, smoke going into my lungs. "We have to kill these things quickly! The fire's spreading!"

"Okay," Aidan coughed back.

He notched another arrow and hit the cyclops in the eye.

"Agro!" I coughed, inhaling more smoke. "Grab his arm! I'll get his head!"

On it! Agro barked.

Agro leapt at the cyclops again, latched her jaw onto his arm, and ripped it off.

Distracted, the cyclops roared in rage and pain and tried to grab Agro off. However, Agro held fast, and then...

AINSLEY, NOW! Agro barked.

Just as the Cyclops turned, I took a jump onto his back, grabbed his shoulders, and clambered onto them. The cyclops, realizing I was on his back, reeled backward and slammed his shoulders against another tree.

"OUCH!" I yelled, my head throbbing. "OKAY, NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!"

I drew out my daggers, pressed them against the cyclops's, and pulled back. The head came clean off, and I quickly jumped the cyclops before his body fell.

"Okay," I panted. "One down, two to go!"

"One to go!" Aidan yelled to me, as he and Pher came running over. "What's the plan to take the other one down?"

"Just summon some nature!" I said through clenched teeth clutching my head.

"Okay," Aidan said and vines sprung up from everywhere.

They wrapped around the last cyclops, creeping around its arms and legs. The cyclops roared and struggled, but the more it moved, the tighter the vines wound. Finally, the vines got too tight and with a final roar, the cyclops was reduced to golden dust.

"Now we have to put this fire out!" I yelled, rushing toward it.

It was easier said than done; the fire had already surrounded us and even as much as Aidan and I summoned water to put them out, more fires sprang up. Not to mention, we had to evacuate all the animals. I shouted at the birds to fly away and sprinted past the fire to yell at the woodland animals to get out.  I reached into trees and pulled the nymphs out. Finally, after what felt like an hour, we managed to subdue the fire.

I was completely exhausted, and I had spent almost all of my power. Not only had I to summon a heck of a lot of water, but I'd also had to use my healing powers on all the creatures injured by the fire.

"Are you alright?" I asked Aidan, who was looking like he'd just been beaten with a socket wrench.

"Fine," Aidan muttered, sinking to his knees.

Only when a yell punctured the air did I remember that Dad and Zoë were still fighting. I whipped around and saw Dad, with a bleeding dagger slash across his cheek, collapse as Zoë hit him with the butt of her dagger.

"Dad!" Aidan screamed.

Zoë stepped over Dad's unconscious body and called in a sneering voice across the clearing, "No one is here to protect you know, little half-bloods! You're all alone."

I may have been completely spent, but I was ready to sprint across the clearing and smack Zoë upside the head. But before I could, Zoë went flying across the clearing across the clearing, hit a tree, and crumpled at its feet.

"No!" I yelled.

Before I could run towards Zoë, something else got my attention. Across the clearing where Dad's body lay, a giant crab was scuttling toward us. When I say giant, I mean giant. This crab was ten feet tall, with a mottled blue and green shell. It had black eyes were full of intelligence and hate and pincers longer than my body. It smelled like garbage and was foaming at the mouth.

"Bring it on, crabby!" Aidan and I yelled together, ready to charge across the clearing, but Agro and Pher held us back.

No! Pher barked. We must leave now! You can't fight that thing you're too tired!

"We're not Dad, Zoë, and Raiden!" Aidan yelled. "I'll die before I leave them!"

Not an option! Agro barked, and she grabbed me by the back of my shirt, tossed me into the air, and I landed on her back. Pher did the same with Aidan. Raiden was already slung over Pher's back, still unconscious.

As we were on their backs, Pher and Agro started to run. If you think they can fast, think again. It's not fast like a cheetah; it's like Pher and Agro are hurricane winds. They can so fast that trees will almost be flattened as they pass. 

"NO! NO! NO!" I yelled, trying to jump off, but for some reason, I couldn't get off. "AGRO, GO BACK! GO BACK! WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM!"

I'm truly sorry, Agro barked, but she didn't stop running.

When Agro and Pher finally stopped running, the smoke left over from the fire was out of sight, I had no idea where we were, and it was already night.

"Where are we?" I asked Agro, even though I was still furious with her.

Vancouver Island, Pher barked.

"We're in Canada?!" Aidan exclaimed incredulously. "That's bad news."

"Why?" I asked, extremely confused. "What's wrong with Canada?"

"They're too polite," Aidan said, his eyes narrowed. "They're up to something."

That's not the only bad news, Agro barked seriously, as much as a wolf can be serious.

"What?" Aidan and I asked together.

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, Pher barked. We have one day left to find the hind and get back to New York before a war breaks out.