Squeezing through the dancing crowd was way harder than it had any right to be, so they lost precious minutes. When they got out, they rushed through the dark stone hallways. They split up to look for the di angelo siblings. Percy went to the right, Annabeth and Grover to the left and Thalia and Alexander went straight ahead. After a few minutes they found themselves out of the school building, looking towards the edge of the cliff, distant helicopter blades chopping away. Percy and the di angelo siblings stood next to Dr Thorn, one of his spikes imbedded in his arm, venom dripping from it.
Annabeth looked at Alexander, Thalia and Grover and whispered, "get them whilst I cause a distraction" and she put on her invisibility cap.
She tackled Percy and the kids and for a good few seconds, Dr Thorn was too surprised to react. Thalia transformed her shield and spear and rushed in, electricity sparking from it, "for Zeus!"
As she rushed at his head, the monster transformed too, now taking on his true form, a lion with a man's face and a tail full of spikes. He swatted away the spear and almost got her in the chest, if she hadn't raised her aegis just in time. Alexander's ice lance shot at the manticore, piercing the large creature in its shoulder. It screamed, shooting spikes at both of his attackers. Thalia managed to block them with aegis but Alexander wasn't half as lucky. One of the spikes entered his right leg. He hissed as he felt the poison enter his body. Quickly, he took the spike out before it could pump more venom in him. It was painful but only dealt 5 damage, so he would live.
"Who are you people?! And what is that?!" Bianca demanded, her eyes looking on with horror.
"A manticore?" Nico gasped but not in terror but in joy, "he's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!"
Mythomagic? Alexander played that game a bit, it was a niche game created by a son of Hermes close to a hundred years ago and was still going strong in the mortal world.
Annabeth threw the Di Angelo's to the ground, just as Dr Thorn shot another wave of spikes. Percy and Thalia raised their shields. Alexander remembered just in time that Tyson had created a shield for him too and he pressed the button on his watch, saving him from being pierced by half a dozen spikes but denting the metal.
"Yield!" Dr Thorn roared, his tail flicking dangerously behind him.
"Never!" Thalia charged at the manticore, only to be blinded when the helicopter -which they had been hearing- shone its flashlights directly at her. It had machine guns and even what looked like heat seeking missles. She stumbled and Dr Thorn swatted her away with one of his big paws.
Thorn readied another spike and was just about to send it through her heart, when Alexander jumped in between them. His armor, disguised as a t shirt, blocked the spike, "that is my girlfriend who you are targeting you monster bastard"
Dr Thorn laughed, a deep, unnatural thing, "do you not see how hopeless it is? Yield little heroes and I will give you a quick death"
He was gloating… until a hunting horn sounded in the distance. The manticore froze lid laugh, eyes widening in horror, "no… it cannot be!"
A silver arrow hit the beast in the shoulder like a streak of moonlight condensed into a weapon.
He roared, shooting spikes in every direction, dozens of them but to everyone's surprise, they were all intercepted by silver arrows. Alexander's mouth hung wide open. Not even the Apollo kids could shoot with that kind of accuracy.
A group of girls, all underage, came out of the woods, each one carrying a bow with silver arrows.
"The hunters!" Annabeth cried. She was still near the monster.
"Oh great", Thalia groaned.
The hunters? As in the hunters of Artemis?
"Permission to kill, my lady?", one of the older girls asked, training her bow on Dr Thorn. Above her stood [zoe nightshade]
"This isn't fair! Direct intervention! It is against the ancient laws!" Dr Thorn protested.
A girl, maybe twelve, looked at him plainly, "not so, the hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere and you, vile creature, are a wild beast. Zoe, permission granted" above her head was a name which he hadn't expected [Artemis]. He was standing before a goddess, a little girl goddess.
"You will regret this. I'm taking this one with me", Dr Thorn grabbed Annabeth's arm with his spiky tail and rushed towards the cliff as arrows sunk into his hide. He disappeared into the darkness as bullets shot from the machine guns on the helicopter.
"Annabeth no!" Percy yelled.
Artemis scowled, her auburn hair falling gracefully into her face, "mortals aren't allowed to witness my hunt"
She waved her hand and the helicopter turned into a murder of crows.
Zoe looked at Thalia, "you…"
"Zoe Nightshade", she spat back, slowly getting up to her feet, Aegis at her side.
"Five halfbloods and a satyr, my lady", Zoe told Artemis. Her silvery yellow eyes gazing at them like bugs beneath her foot. Well, actually just the boys. When she looked at the girls, her gaze was softer, more caring, "some of Chiron's campers I see…"
"Annabeth! You have to help her!" Percy pleaded, looking over the edge of the cliff, not finding the girl down below.
"I'm sorry, Percy Jackson but your friend is beyond help. You are in no condition to hurl yourself off of this cliff", Artemis said, as some of the hunters held down Percy who wanted to throw himself down to her.
"Let me go! Who do you think you are?!"
"Artemis", Alexander answered his question, bowing deeply. He was nervous. Artemis was known for turning men into wild beasts and then hunting them, so he tried to keep on her good side.
"Ah yes, Alexander Dorn, your name has traveled quite far two and it seems as though you have some sense, something I cannot say for the other boy", Zoe hissed the word 'boy' with venom.