When I woke up, the maid that had been hear earlier and a new one were standing at the door way. When they saw me wake up they smiled and pushed their cart of cleaning supplies into the room.
I gripped Skylar's arm, "What are they doing?" Skylar never answered me.

As if on command, the two Gorgons ripped off their turbans and uniforms, relieving their true forms.

Stheno, the eldest and most violent of the Gorgons, was very thin and covered in shimmering, blood red scales. Where her hair would be, dozens of vipers stirred with excitement. Her hands were covered in some kind of bronze, and small tusks protruded from the corners of her mouth. Adorning her back were two large black wings.

Euryale, on the other hand, had menacing red eyes and a head of coral snakes. Her duster had been replaced with a spear, which she hurled at me. I slid underneath the weapon and slashed at Euryale, but she contorted, narrowly avoiding my dagger. Behind me, Stheno lunged, but I rolled to safety just in time. Euryale recovered her spear and I prepared a volley of arrows. Skylar bravely lunged at Stheno, but the monster caught her blade with her hands and, with one subtly movement, broke it in two. When I unleashed the volley at Euryale she contorted again, dodging all three arrows. The good thing was : she had fallen for the distraction. As soon as I released the arrows I dashed, and managed to slice the gorgon's back while she was still contorted and unable to move. Enraged, Euryale swung her spear wildly. I ducked, notched an arrow, and waited for Ilíos to ignite it. Euryale glared at me, her loathe-filled eyes causing me to shudder.

"Ignorant little boy! You've already lost!"

She lunged at me, but I used the wall to my left as a leverage point. I ran up the wall, pushed off of it, flipped backwards in mid air, and landed behind Euryale. The Gorgon let out a devastating screech as I let the arrow fly, causing me to drop Ilíos and cover my ears. I had heard stories about how Euryale's screams were powerful, but I failed to take that into account before attacking her.

Just like with the Fury, golden flames creeped up the monsters back. Only this time, it wasn't enough.

This seems like a good time to explain. I've always been very close to my father, practicing archery in the sun chariot with him every chance I got. He cared for me, more so than any of his other sons. I was, and am, his pride and joy. So, when I turned thirteen, he gave me the best gift I've ever received. With the help of Hecate and Hephaestus, Apollo forged Ilíos out of imperial gold and celestial bronze. The bow was enchanted twice; the first time giving it the ability to slay monsters with and type of arrow, and the second, giving it the power of the sun. Whenever I needed, Ilíos would ignite my arrows or make them explode on contact. Now, I know what you must be thinking; how could something so unrealistically powerful exist, let alone in the hands of a thirteen year old nymph? Well, nothing is unrealistic when the gods work together for a change.

Euryale struggled to put out the fire, but only succeeded in making it spread more. Once it got to her neck, though, it occurred to her that we had a bathroom, so she took advantage of the shower. While she was gone, I joined Skylar in her fight against Stheno, and realized something. The two sisters were on completely different levels. Euryale was a mere worm standing next to Stheno.

"You might be able to kill my sisters, but there's not a chance in the Underworld that you'll best me, heroes."

She said heroes as if it were some highly contagious and terminal disease. Skylar tried desperately to find an opening to strike, but failed.

"Got a plan, oh, great legacy of Athena?" I asked, switching from Ilíos to duel daggers. I lunged, but Stheno sidestepped, evading both Skylar and my attacks.

"Not yet!"she replied, swinging her blade at Stheno once more. The Gorgon bent over backwards and Skylar's blade went straight over her head. Stheno retaliated by clawing at Skylar, but I shoved my dagger through her hand before she could touch her.

It was at that moment that Euryale returned, steam billowing off of her as she exploded out of the bathroom. Her once blue-green scales were now a scorched black, and the look on her face was hilarious. I reached for an arrow and stood back-to-back with Skylar, who was still swinging at Stheno.

"Ok, I've got it! Buy me some time!" she exclaimed before jumping out of combat, leaving me with both sisters. Her sword was returned to it's charm as Skylar activated a different one. In a few seconds, a four foot trident had materialized in her hands. The weapon radiated power as she raised it above her head. Like a huge magnet, her trident began glowing a brilliant turquoise color, attracting and absorbing all steam in the area within seconds. This distracted Euryale, allowing me to send a volley of blazing arrows into her chest. Stheno swiped at me, but I spun around and deflected her claws with Ilíos. The two of us glared at each other, both of us knowing the importance of this battle. Stheno reached for a weapon from her cart, but she was too slow.

"Aidan, duck!"

A concentrated blast of water sent the gorgon through the wall of our room and into the hallway. A mortal who had been returning to his room witnessed this and ran away in utter hysteria. Grabbing my daggers once again, I started after Stheno. Skylar stopped me.

"Allow me."

The daughter of Poseidon pointed her trident at the quickly recuperating gorgon and shot another pulse of water at her. On the carpet next to us, Euryale tried to get up, but I impaled her through the chest with the sharp end of Ilíos before she could. The charred snake let out a final scream before reducing to vapor.

"Not half bad." I smiled at Skylar. Her cheeks turned pink.

"Thanks, but if it weren't for you there would be no steam. You know-" Skylar paused and pointed. "She's gone."

My smile faded as I looked in the direction she was pointing. Stheno was nowhere to be found.

"Dekára" I cursed. The thought that Stheno could jump us at any moment sent a shiver down my spine. "Come on," I continued, cautiously grabbing Skylar's hand. "We can't stay here."

Skylar nodded and we began to walk outside. She felt bad about leaving the room a mess but I assured her that some other maid (a real one hopefully) would take care of it.

We hadn't even turned the corner when we ran into the manager. He was yelling about the amount of complaints he had been getting about us. I ignored him and scanned the area for any signs of Stheno. When I didn't see her anywhere, I began to let my eyes wander back to the manager. Big mistake.

In his irises, I noticed a figure behind me. I squinted until I realized who was slithering up behind us. My eyes widened and I tugged on Skylar's arm. Right as she began to turn, Stheno raked her claws across my back and I screamed in pain.

Skylar's gasped and turn towards Israel. She kicked the manager to the side and summoned her trident again.

If I had the choice, I would say I had bravely returned to me feet and heroically saved Skylar again. But Skylar wouldn't let me lie like that so here's the truth. I panicked on the floor, gasping for air as my blood leaked on to the floor and Stheno's poison made it's way through my bloodstream. The cold winter air felt like an icy dagger slowly dragging itself deeper into my cuts.

Skylar hit Stheno between the eyes with her elbow and ran her down with her trident. Stheno gasped and exploded into dust, covering Skylar.
She dropped to her knees next to me.
"Aidan?? Are you okay??"
Nodding, I tried to get up. Thanks to my necklace, the pain I experienced was heavily diluted. Skylar pushed me down gently and stroked my hair.

"Don't worry, I'll get some nectar. Don't force yourself. "

I smiled gratefully at Skylar and fixed the sunflower Demi had given her. She took my hand and smiled down at me before shuffling through her bag looking for nectar.
Meanwhile, the manger who Skylar had saved began to get up.

"Murder! You two kids just killed that poor old lady!" It shocked me how powerful the mist could be. "I'm calling the police! You two are coming with me!" He grabbed my arm and jerked me up, sending a wave of pain through my body. I cried out in agony and my necklace brightened. Skylar hit the manager's hand with the hilt of my dagger and shoved him to the ground. She pointed the dagger at him.
"Don't you dare touch him." The look on her face caused the manager to tremble before scrambling away. Sighing, Skylar knelt beside me and began to treat my cuts. By then, I was almost completely healed. Together, in a warm embrace, we were the only two people in the world. But that feeling of tranquility left when we heard the sirens. Skylar's head jerked up and she looked directly at the incoming cops.

"Aidan do you think you can get up?"
I nodded and slowly rose to my feet.
"Stop!" The police approached us, guns in hand. I had never actually witnessed a gun in person before, but saw them occasionally on television or social media. Unsure what to do, I turned to Skylar. The girl was terrified. You could see it in her eyes. She looked at me as if to say I'm sorry.
The two of us hugged, hoping to send a message to our captors. Luckily, the cops were eating our stupid garbage of an act right up. They were trying to convince themselves we weren't such horrible and dangerous people after all. But when they asked us to follow them, Skylar began to concentrate until finally her eyes flew open. She wrapped her arms around me tightly and together we were erased into nothing but mere shadows.

***

Shadow traveling for long distances are the worst. Think of the fastest and most extreme ride you've ever been on. Now multiply that tenfold. That might be a fraction of the intensity you feel when hafiz traveling. We blasted through a tunnel of shadows at what felt like the speed of light. Only, I might actually enjoy myself had there been any light at all. My face felt like it was being peeled off. Shadows ran parallel to us before fleeing in the opposite direction. Despite how I felt, the jump only lasted about half a minute, but it didn't even take that long for disaster to strike.
Skylar began to lose conscious. The jump was to unfamiliar and overwhelming to her. She wasn't use to this.
I knew she couldn't handle this. I thought about what would have happened if she had tried to jump all the way to California. I shuddered and shook the thought off as her grip on me began to loosen.

"Skylar please, wake up." I pleaded and shook her gently in my arms.
She groaned. Finally we saw light and ascended into some kind of dark alleyway. Funny, I never thought I'd use the words ascended and alleyway in the same sentence. We both landed on our feet but almost immediately Skylar's eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted. As her head neared the ground, I caught Skylar and picked her up bridal style. She snuggled up against my chest and began to snore softly. I smiled at her.
"Rest," I whispered. "We're almost there."