The Flames of Hope Ch 12

Chapter 12~The Goddess of Mood-Killing Moments
“You really had to pick now of all times?” I said out load as I cursed the god of bad timing or maybe the god of mood killing moments.

“Move it Slowpoke!” Megan yelled as she grabbed my shirt and pulled me to my feet as we started run down the dock. Ceto followed us and her torrent of water began to rip at the boards of the dock and pulled them up like a tornado.

“Please don’t take it personally,” Ceto said in a semi sweet tone. “I’m simply under orders to stop you.”

As she spoke, she lifted her arms into the air a huge wave formed behind her. As she thrust her hands forward, the wave followed her movements.

“This is going to hurt,” I said before running over to Megan and I wrapped my arms around her. The wave of water hit us and we were pushed back with the current. I kept my arms around her, but I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back and I figured I had hit something. It actually worked out kind of well as we were no longer being swept around by the water as I was able to grasp onto what I guessed was a tree branch. I felt the water’s current retreat back toward the lake and I took in a deep breath of air.

“That is no ordinary monster,” I said as I let go of Megan who rolled out of my arms.

“That is because she isn’t. That is Ceto, a goddess of the sea. However, I don’t know what she is doing here,” Megan explained as she got to her feet and pulled out her twin swords. I also jumped to my feet and that sharp pain returned, but I’d check it out later as right now I was more worried about fighting a goddess.

“What am I doing here? Well, with the gods falling one after the other, Leiomenos will need a new set of gods to rule over. He made a lot of friends on his way out of Tartarus and we are simply trying to stay on his good side,” she said and prepared for another attack as the water levels rose again.

“Have any good ideas?” I asked Megan, but she just kept up her pose. The water once again came crashing toward us and I thought we were doomed. However in that instant, a large string of cacti sprung from the ground and quickly started to absorb the water into themselves.

“Cacti?” Ceto questioned, as if confused by the presence of desert plants on the shore of a lake.

“We’re coming!” yelled several voiced as they rallied around us with weapons drawn. Ceto seemed a bit nervous at first as a small army had come to our rescue, but this only lasted for a moment as her face quickly took on that of complete calmness.

“How did you know we were in trouble?” I asked Malcolm, who had an arrow pointed right at the goddess.

“Well, the giant wave has helpful. It didn’t hit the camp, but it went far enough to tip us off that something was wrong,” he explained.

“Foolish demigods,” Ceto said calmly. “Do you really think your powers are any match for mine?”

“Let’s find out,” Malcolm said and released his arrow at her. She swung her arm up and the water reacted to her movements, rising up to her defense. Malcolm got ready another arrow and the tension built as neither side was ready to make a move.

“Insolent fools,” Ceto spat at us and readied another wave. This one was slightly larger than the other ones; possibly she was trying to take us all down at once.

“That won’t work,” Cacnea said and several more cacti grew from the ground. Rose also helped out by running over to a group of trees. She placed her hand on one and a second later, the roots of the trees sprung from the ground and began snaking their way toward the water. Once the wave had built up enough power, there was already a dam of plants ready to absorb the blunt of the impact. The wave crested once it hit shore and the dam held back the enormous amount of water.

“Fine, I’ll just have to go with the direct approach,” she sneered. She rose her arms, but instead of a wave, the water rose up and wrapped around her arms until they took the form of two whips. The torrent of water she was propelling herself on seemed to bend to her will and I could tell she was about to charge. Everyone else seemed to notice and she came flying at us like a jet stream.

“Hit the deck!” Megan yelled and everyone dropped to the ground without question. Ceto swung her arm forward and in one swift motion, she sliced the massive dam of plants in half and would have done the same to us if it wasn’t for Megan’s order.

“Alright everyone, surround her!” I ordered and everyone got to their feet. They started to move around Ceto. This had mixed results unfortunately, as Ruff tried attacking her head on which was a dumb move and it was only thanks to Tuff blocking for him that kept him alive. It did provide a distraction which allowed Malcolm to shoot off a few arrows at her, but they were sucked into the torrent of water. In fact any attack seemed to be sucked into the torrent of water. Sammy ran up and tried to jab at her, but his sword was sucked in to who knows where.

“This isn’t working,” Gear yelled toward me and I tried to think of a plan. Was it really too much to ask for a little help when we really needed it? As if on cue, the van came crashing onto the shore, taking out a tree or two in the process. The window rolled down and Sarah’s head popped out the window.

“Gear, I brought the van but what am I suppose to do?” she called to him. Mike turned around and I could see the gears turning in his head.

“Hit the yellow switch!” he yelled, so she sat back in her seat and I could see her scanning the dashboard for the switch. She pressed down on something and the headlights turned on, but were flashing on and off. “No, not the yellow knob, the yellow switch,” he yelled to her as he slammed his face into his palm. I turned around and saw Will get hit with a jet of water and was pushed several yards away and slammed right into a park bench. I turned back to see how things were going with the yellow switch and the car looked like it was having a breakdown. The windshield wipers were on full blast while the lights were still flashing. In addition, several gadgets or features Gear had added were activating; including things like spiked tires, a parachute deployed from the back bumper, and a periscope rose up.

“Where did you manage to hide a periscope?” I asked him, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Then the front bumper opened up and a golden ball shot out and trailed a strong behind it.

“That’s it!” he yelled. “Gods are powerless if you manage to trap them, we just have to get her too it.”

“It’s a ball of yarn,” I protested, but I trusted him. “Alright, but what does it do?”

“Well, it is actually pretty ingenious,” he began and he acted like he was going to give a lesson in Mechanical Engineering. He never got the chance however as a snake like strange of water wrapped around his ankles and flung him into the air. He landed somewhere in the lake and I hoped he knew how to swim. Still, at least now we had some kind of plan. I ran over to Malcolm who was still firing arrows.

“What kind of arrows do you have on you,” I asked him and he looked at me puzzled.

“Nothing that would be strong enough to kill a god,” he said, but pulled his quiver off his back and looked at his inventory. “Two Greek fire arrows, three silver arrows, a bunch of Celestial Bronze arrows, and this one, an exploding arrow. But it won't do you any good, I can't get a clear shot at her because that torrent keeps blocking everything.”

“I have a plan,” I told him. “Get that exploding arrow ready. When she is over that golden ball of yarn, fire it.”

“But it will just get blocked,” he argued.

“Doesn’t matter just do it,” I told him and he didn’t argue.

Next Chapter Chapter 13~ Megan Makes a Deal

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive