Nika was shaking me awake. LURA!! Wake up! We have a problem! She saysfrantically. What? What’s wrong? I ask her sitting up. Nika points to a goldenarrow on the floor. Uh oh. I grab the arrow and find the note attached. Ifrantically unroll it and Read it. Hey! There’s a horde of Monsters headed yourway. You need to get out of there. Astraea. We need to get out of here. You getthe boys, I’ll go talk to George and Jewel. I tell her seriously and run out thedoor. I skip the elevator and go straight for the stairs. I race down them andburst through the lobby door. Jewel was reading at the desk and looked up atme. Oh Lura! What’s wrong? Is the elevator broken? She asks me. I bite my lip,not knowing how to explain a army of monsters coming to get us. No, I justneeded to get down here fast. Jewel, I don’t know how to explain this but there’san army of monsters coming to get me and my friends and we have to leave. Itell her, the truth sounding absurd. She laughs and I hesitate. She finally stopsand looks at me. Oh sweetie, who do you think told them you were here? Shesays and my blood runs cold. She smiled a sinister grin and stood up. I take astep back and take off my glasses. My sword morphs in my hands and Jewellaughs. Cute stick but you can’t win. She says and I watch in horror as she turnsbefore my eyes. Once a sweet older lady was now a bald winged creature withblood red eyes. It screeched and lunged. All the training I had just learnedcame into mind and I dodged and slashed. It was a good move but the creaturewas fast and narrowly missed it. This thing is fast. I think and change tactics. Icharge it and manage to clip one of its wings. I hear another screech And findanother thing flying toward me. I duck as it skims my head and I thrust up. Itscreeches in pain and turns to golden dust. It falls all over me. Gross. Wait. Thatwas George. The thought sickened me but I had no time to thing about it. Jewel,or whatever she was, roared in fury. Her voice was like a snake that had beenchocked. You will pay for thissss daughter of Athena. She says and flies at me. Iduck but it clips my shoulder. I grit my teeth in pain as pain flares from the cut.It lunges for me again but before I can react, red light blinds me. Fear me beast.For your not going to a feast! I familiar voice says. The creature screams andvanishes in golden dust. Cole?! I ask him. He waves. He didnt say anything. What’swrong? I ask him. She cursed me you see. The one with eyes like the deep bluesee. He says and crosses his arms over his chest. I can’t help but laugh. Astraeacurse you with a rhyming curse?! Nika is going tease you about this for the rest Of your life. I say. He glares at me. While that may be true, this is a poem foryou. Im here to fight, to do what’s right. He says. Great then lets get to it. Nika,Devin, and Jacob will need help. I tell him and we both race upstairs. Im out ofbreath when we reach the top but Cole looks fine. We run to my room and findboth doors open. All three of them were running back and forth with differentstuff. Lura! Devin says runnnig up to me. Cole?! He asks. Cole nods. Silence.What’s up with him? Devin asks me. I smile. Astraea cursed him so he can onlyspeak in rhymes. I tell him and Devin smiles. Well, a god on our side is always aplus. Nika was just finishing up with everything. Jacob went to the roof andspotted the army. And boy will we have our hands full. How bad is it? I ask him.He puts his hand on his neck like he does when he’s nervous. A lot. At least adozen or more. All different. He says. He looks at me again. Lura, your shoulder!He says. I had forgotten about it in the heat of everything. I looked at thebloody tear in my skin That had already stained my clothes. As soon as Iremembered it, the pain came back. I gritted my teeth. Its fine, we need to getready. I tell him. No, you will not fight like this. I wont allow it. He says. Dev,there’s no way I’m not fighting. I tell him but my shoulder was killing me. Devinshakes his head. I know but promise me you wont fight until I look at it. Hesays. I promise. I tell him. Great, then its time we get ready. Go to your roomand pack your stuff up and change your shirt so germs don’t infect the wound.He says, going all doctor on me. Ok Doc. I tell him and sit down on my Bed. Ididnt want to tell him that it felt like my shoulder was on fire and I had to takedeep breathes to help the pain. He came back with some ambrosia and handed itto me. Eat this. He says and I gladly take it. The sweet food instantly dulled thepain. Ok, now I have to stitch it up. Devin says. I see the tiny needle and cringe.I hated needles. Devin saw me hesitatE. I’ll be quick just don’t move. He says.Easier said then done. When the tiny metal touched my skin I almost moved myarm away. The tiny pricks and pulls on my skin hurt. Not too bad but still. Itmade my skin crawl. When he finally was ready to stitch it fully closed, he tooka deep breath. This is gonna hurt, just warning you. Try not to scream. He says.Ok just make it quick. I tell him and grit my teeth. On three, one, two three!He says and pulls the strings. Pain ripped through me and I almost screamed.Tears sprung to eyes. There, that should hold. He says and looks at me. He seesthe tears in my eyes. He wraps me in a hug and I feel infinitely Better. Thanks. I tell him. No problem. Everyone needs a hug every once in a while. He says.Yeah. I tell him. We sit in each other’s arms for a while, enjoying each other’scompany. I knew even witH Cole on Our side it would still be a fight. Thethought that I may not see my friends again made a lump in my throat. Whenwe finally pull away, we both turn serious. Ready? I ask him with a smile. Asready as I’ll ever be. He says matching my smile. We grab our backpacks andhead out the door where Nika was waiting for us. She rolled her eyes. Took youlong enough. She says. I roll my eyes at her and we all run to the roof. Whenwe open the hatch, wind and rain try to push us back. I carefully climb up andlook around. Jacob and Cole were watching the monsters approach and talkingto one another. I heard snippets of rhymes and smiled. Alright, how many areThere? I ask Jacob. He looks up at me. At least a dozeN, maybe more. Its hardto tell with the rain And wind. He yells. Ok! Let’s head down and meet them inthe parking lot! I yell back and we all walk to the hatch. We are all soakedbut it didnt matter. We raced down the stairs and pried open the doors. We ranout into the rain again and walked to the back of the hotel. I hear massivefootfalls and roars of the upcoming army. I stood next to all my friends. Prideswelled in me as we took up our fighting positions. Devin stood next to me. Itook his hand and he squeezed it. We go when they hit the asphalt! I yell tomy friends. Cole’s red glow lit up in the rain. Thunder crashed overhead. I see
figures not 30 feet awaY. I hope the lessons come in handy. I think as I pulloff my glasses and they shift into my sword. No or never. That’s when I heardit. Ghostly howls filled the air and it made my hair stand on end. I knew thathowl anywhere. The same creature that killed my father had come to kill me. Istarted to panic. Devin squeezed my hand again. Its ok, we got this. He tellsme. I hoped he was right. That’s when the first monster hit the road and Iyelled CHARGE!!