Fastest Hero Alive Ch 2

Chapter Two
Now that the team was together, we prepared a plan to reach our destination. We would start our quest right after lunch as time was not on our side, but leaving on an empty stomach wouldn’t help us either. I sat at Hermes table with all my other half brothers and sisters. Every so often I would glance over to the Athena table hoping to see a glimpse of Megan but I knew that was impossible. One of them would also look back at me every so often; after all I was the one going to save her after all. At the end of the meal I walked up to give an offering to my father, Hermes was the god of travelers and it only seemed natural.

The plan was simple, at least on paper anyway. We bought some tickets for a charter plane online that would take us as far as Ohio. After that, we could rent a car and drive the rest of the way. I already had a license to drive and most of the campers were required to learn the basics of driving if they ever needed to make a quick getaway. Argus had dropped us off at the airport and given us some golden drachmas, about $200 of real world money, and a change of clothes. We walked past security with no problem and I was amazed at how smooth everything was going. I saw our plane outside one of the windows, it was a small plane and I think we were the only people taking it as no one else was in the waiting area. As I walked up o the desk to see when we could board, there was a lady standing there and she seemed to be focusing on me and my friends but I didn’t give it much thought.

“Hello, when would we be allowed to get that bird in the air Mrs….” I looked down at the name tag to see her name which was Harp P, an interesting name. “….Mrs. Harp?”

She typed a few words into her computer and answered me in a low tone.

“You and your friends can expect to be flying very shortly, very shortly indeed.”

She then began to laugh at herself, as if she made a joke I didn’t quite understand. She then asked to see my ticket which I pulled out of my pocket and began to hand to her. I soon as I put my hand over the counter, her hand shot at mine and grabbed my wrist. It was like a vise had wrapped around me and the kind lady behind the desk began to morph into a giant bird. She was a harpy, it was so obvious, Harp-P, gods I could be dumb sometimes. Her huge wings began to flap as she pulled my up into air. Malcolm and Erika had seen what was going on and immediately pulled out their weapons.

“You know, sometimes I wish we could start off a quest without running into some kind of monster!” Malcolm yelled as he placed an arrow into his bow. Erika wasn’t much of a fighter, but she had her own way to bring down monsters.

“Malcolm, if you can get her to stop moving, I think I can get swift free.”

Meanwhile, the harpy was flying me around the room smashing me against chairs and pillars and I think a water fountain. Everything was moving so fast and in so many directions that it was hard to keep track. Also, without being able to brace myself against anything my hammer would just be dead weight. Wait a second, if I couldn’t use it as a weapon then I could use it to slow down the harpy or at least knock it off balance. I pulled at the pendant I kept on a detachable clip around my neck and it grew into my favorite weapon. I swung it around in different directions and sometimes I would be lucky enough to clip the edge of her wing.

Malcolm was still trying to line up a good shot; he didn’t want to risk fitting me if the monster made a sudden jerk to one side. He then got an idea, “Erika, cover your ears!” and a split second later he shot a sonic arrow straight up as it stuck to the ceiling. It then gave of a high pitched blast of sound that paralyzed Harp long enough for Erika to toss a small spiked plant at its claw. The plants spikes embedded itself into the harpy’s skin and caused enough pain for it to drop me. I landed hard on ground right next to one of those airline couches for people taking overnight flights, lucky me. I sprang to my feet and shouted “Hurry, lets finish her off!” but Erika just stepped in front of me and said “Wait for it.”

I didn’t know what she meant until the plant still stuck to its leg had been splashed with some water from the broken fountain and it started to grow. Thorn vines began to sprout out of the seed and wrap around her legs, her wings, her head. Before long I couldn’t see the beast anymore and the last thing I heard was a loud scream as the vines fell in a heap on the floor. A few minutes later, some security guards came running down the hall and asked us if we had seen a giant bird around followed shortly by our pilot. At least we didn’t miss our flight.