Chapter 6: Laelaps the Red-Eyed Demon Dog

My eyes blinked open, wincing at the pain from the bright light reflecting off of the ice. Ice? I sat up, looking around.

Large glaciers surrounded us, blocking out the distance. The sun was very bright, but it was incredibly cold. I looked around the raft, and saw that everyone was asleep except Nikki. I looked at her, and she pointed. I finally noticed that she had healed everyone, thank the gods. She was cooking food, and she had magically transported our belongings here.

Where has she been my whole life!? She could've helped so much during the war!

She smiled, and then I asked,

"Hey Nikki, can you like…make it warmer?"

She glared at me.

"Well, sure! Just as soon as I make sure there is food for everyone, so they don't starve or die from injuries!"

I blushed.

"Sorry…I wasn't trying to be unappreciative…but we don't want us to freeze, do we?"

She rolled her eyes, waved her hands, and the temperature inside and surrounding the large raft became normal. I relaxed, letting my body warm up, and dozed off again.

A few hours later, I woke up, seeing that everyone was awake. In fact, everyone was getting off the raft. I grabbed the last bit of food and followed, wondering where everyone was deciding to go without me.

"Hey guys…uh…what are you doing?"

Everyone turned, looking confused.

"Well," Monica began. "We need to look around for evil people, and Chelsea…"

I looked at Chelsea, who was glaring at Monica, and then she spoke.

"Well, I had a vision. It was us, walking, and in the distance was two pointed glaciers. It was like an ice valley, and in-between was…some evil people."

She broke off; obviously not wanting to talk about the monsters she had seen. I nodded, looking around, then feeling a DUH moment. The two pointed glaciers were only a few hundred yards from us.

Without a word, we all took of sprinting, Austin and Reese in the lead. Elise disappeared into the sunlight, reappearing fifty feet ahead, again and again. Nikki transported herself all the way to the edge of the valley, waiting. Monica and Chelsea were just sprinting, using their father's ability to run faster than any mortal man. Chloe flew through the air, moving incredibly fast, catching up to Nikki in no time.

We must have looked like some cheesy, cartoonish superhero gang. Luke and I ran behind everyone, when I noticed Luke speeding forward on some mechanical scooter. He passed almost everyone in seconds.

Did he just build that while we were-? Oh whatever.

I wished I could do something special like everyone else, and then I really felt stupid. I was standing on top of millions of gallons of frozen water. Wow, Percy. Wow.

I willed the ice below me to become water, and then I sunk down, swimming at the speed of a high-powered motor-boat. I reached Nikki, becoming solid again, just as Monica and Chelsea got there. I noticed that everyone, including me, was not tired in the slightest. Yay!

Wait.

"Guys," I said slowly. "Where's Clari-

I was interrupted by a loud BEEP, BEEP! I whirled around, finding myself face to face with a rocket launcher that extended from the end of a tank. Oh. There she is. Why am I not surprised to find her with a tank?

Clarisse hopped out, snapping her fingers, causing the tank to turn into her electric spear. She glanced at us, annoyed, and said,

"Well come on, you pack of sloths!"

Everyone followed her as we entered the ice valley. We walked all the way in to the center, but there was nothing there. I turned to Monica, confused, when Chelsea screamed in pain. Everyone stared as she collapsed to the ground, clutching her head.

"NO! LET THEM GO!"

Clarisse stepped forward.

"What the heck? Is she dying or something?"

Austin replied quietly,

"No. She's having a premonition…a bad one."

Clarisse sighed sarcastically.

"Boo hoo for her. Now get up! Gods, she's like a f-

Nikki flicked her wrist, and Clarisse tried to speak, no sound coming from her mouth. Elise cheered, but Clarisse punched her. Ouch.

After Elise got up, insisting she was fine, Chelsea stood up, panting.

"Guys…We need to get out of here…NOW!"

I didn't need a second reminder, so I rushed everyone out. We were a few hundred yards away when a ferocious "ROAR!" came from behind us.

We spun around, and I let out a silent moan.

A large dog (wolfish like), about fifty feet high stood before us. Its claws were three times the size of my body, and its fangs were about five times larger, dripping saliva. The dog's eyes were wide and vivid red, zooming in on our exact position. Its nose twitched, taking in all of out respective scents. Clarisse gulped, and Elise backed up a bit. Chloe stood her ground, trying to find a way out. She reminded me of Annabeth, always thinking, never stopping.

Luke spoke, his voice shaking.

"I k-know w-what that is!"

We glanced at him, waiting for some way to bring it down.

"It's a monster" he said. "Named Laelaps. He is an old creature that can change from a large dog to a large fox at will. The legend says as a dog, he will catch whatever prey he goes after. However, as a fox, he can never be caught. Zeus ended the paradox by turning Laelaps into stone, but as we all know, no enchantment can last forever."

Ironically, we all glanced at Nikki's bag, thinking about the three apples that were safe in the Keep, at the same time destroying its magic.

Austin groaned.

"Aw come on! Don't we already have enough to worry about! We have this Revenge of the Deep, whatever that is, the Oceanus and Tethys problem, the apples in the Keep issue, and now this! What is the point of this stupid quest!?"

Chelsea punched him.

Reese began waving his hands in a circle, creating this circular wave of fire. Austin began to make the same thing, except made out of light. Monica joined her powers with Austin, while Chelsea helped Reese.

I stared at the giant monster before me, thinking oddly of the Christmas song, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, except I changed the title a bit; Laelaps the Red Eyed Demon Dog. Subconsciously, I hummed the catchy tune, and noticed Clarisse giving me a furious look, as if to say, Jackson, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna feed you to the harpies, limb by limb!

I quickly stopped, just as Laelaps barked loudly, lunging at me. It crossed the frozen tundra between us in seconds. I stood there, frozen in panic, but the four Apollo kids saved me. They released the waves, which combined together, forming a large sphere of golden fire. Laelaps whimpered loudly, turning into a scarlet fox, outrunning the fire until it disintegrated. Laelaps slowly began walking towards us, and then raised his head to the sky, like a wolf.

"AHWHOO!"

I groaned.

"So he's a dog, a fox, and a wolf to call for friends?!"

Clarisse gave him another look.

"No, you idiot. He's not a wolf. Wolves are part of the canine family!"

Nikki interrupted.

"Hey guys. If you're done, maybe we can turn our attention to the more pressing situation at hand."

I turned, smiling in thanks at Nikki. She nodded, and then her eyes grew large. I spun around, watching as four large blasts of light illuminated the glacier. Four large creatures appeared. I looked at each one individually, gasping at the horrific sights.

On the far left was a large creature that I immediately recognized as the Kraken. I somehow managed to recall its description in a Greek Monsters book Chiron had given me.

The legend may actually have originated from sightings of real giant squid that are variously estimated to grow to 13–15 meters (40–50 feet) in length, including the tentacles. These gargantuan sized creatures normally live at great depths, but have been sighted at the surface and reportedly have attacked ships.

A large pool of water surrounded it, and its tentacles writhed around, trying to find something to latch onto. The Kraken is known for destroying ships, but it has a relatively unknown power. Many people believe it just to be the sway of the sea, but the Kraken can actually control water, almost like I can.

I shuddered, and glanced at the next monster. Several meters in the air was a flying stag, a creature known as Peryton. I couldn't remember much about Peryton, except for its deadly power. Peryton is a creature of the sky, and it controls the skies-through its wings. One flap of those bronze wings and you could be thrown thousands of yards away by an incredibly powerful wind-like Nikki's, except multiplied by 100,000,000.

I glanced around, and saw everyone preparing to fight. I knew we wouldn't stand a chance.

The third monster was easily recognizable- a Phoenix. The magnificent bird was floating about the same height as Peryton, but it was on fire, spraying flames all around. It cried loudly, and my ears pained from the loud screech. I knew the Phoenix could manipulate fire- although I wondered if it would become weaker from the opposite climate. Probably not. Darn.

If it wasn't easy enough to guess, the last monster controlled earth. It was a Golem, a large creature made from stone, one that could hurl huge boulders great distances, crushing anything with perfect aim. Sadly for us, its protective stone plate was magically enhanced to withstand almost anything. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

I called for everyone to get in a formation, knowing we could never escape. I prayed to the gods to help us somehow. Laelaps barked, and the monsters charged.

Austin, Monica, Chelsea, and Reese all jumped into the air, attacking Peryton with arrows, swords, and magic. I figured they would be ok.

Clarisse ran screaming at the Kraken, probably not the smartest idea. It smacked a tentacle at her, but she dived over it, rolled forward, and stabbed it into the tentacle. Thank the gods I brought her, I thought.

Chloe was fighting the Phoenix, dueling from midair. Chloe summoned a bolt of lightning, which narrowly missed the Phoenix, only clipping its wing. The Phoenix barreled downward, but it just soared up again.

What the Hades? I thought. Ugh. Stupid healing powers.

I watched as Elise and Luke fought the Golem. Elise used her powers to blind the Golem, and then Luke worked on some contraption to break the armor. Elise intensified the heat of the sun, burning holes in the ice below the Golem, while the armor barely even gleamed. They would need to hurry up before the Golem got to them.

I turned to Laelaps, who was fighting Nikki.

Laelaps would run toward her, and Nikki would blast herself upwards, shooting bolts of energy at him, only to watch as Laelaps transformed into a fox, sprinting out of the way. When she landed, he would transform back into a dog, and the game would restart. I didn't know who to help…I rushed forward, and then-

WHAM!

I flew several hundred feet before landing face first in the ice. I used my last bits of energy, and saw Chelsea fall from the air, the other three already beaten. Clarisse was whipped away by a tentacle, unconscious. Elise was punched away by the Golem; her body crumpling. Luke tried to activate the machine in time, but too late. Chloe and Nikki took on all 5 monsters, fighting out the Battle of the Elements. Nikki focused her energy to perform the spell she had prepared for Chaos, but…WHOOSH!

A tornado-sized wind slammed into her, knocking her off the glacier, sending her deep into the Arctic water. Blood streamed down my face as my eyes closed, wishing we could have finished our quest. We had barely even started…My last thought was hoping Annabeth would forgive me…

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1. Wow. That was shorter than I expected.

2. OMGS. SORRY! That took me FOREVER to upload. Sadly, this stupid thing called school tends to rule my life. Thanks for sticking with me!

3. Thanks for reading! Please review!

4. Going back to what Austin was saying…there are several things going wrong on this quest. I promise, it may seem confusing and too much right now, but they will all connect and make sense in the end.

5. Unfortunately, Chapter 7 will probably not be uploaded (or written) for another week or two. Sorry! My life is very hectic, although I do try to make this story a priority.

6. Please visit my profile, and/or vote on my poll. Also, I have a little quiz/competition. Whoever PM's me with the correct answer first will be able to give me an idea, character, or object to put into my story. Yea, it's not that exciting, but just do it. The question is:

Who is the Greek God of sleep?

P.S. Yes, I know it is Morpheus, but there is another god of sleep. Maybe someone related to him? (HINT)

7. Again, thanks for sticking with me and reading! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! There is a button right below this. Please, just click it and type a teeny little message. You can hate it, love it, come hunt me down because I take too long to upload, whatever. I just want your input! PLEASE!