Apparently, I'm Dead

Chapter Thirty

Disclaimer: I own only the plot.
PERCY

The Nemean lion.

My gods, I haven't seen that thing since I was fourteen, maybe thirteen. I'm pretty sure it's fourteen, though. The amount of effort it took to kill it...

We needed space food. And we are in the middle of Massachusetts. Or maybe we're not. I don't know the layout of any state other than New York, and even then, it's mostly Manhattan, maybe some of the bordering boroughs.

A streak of gold flashes across my vision. I spin to follow it, and the nondescript shape slowly transforms into the lion. Its face is twisted into a mask of anger and a slight twinge of fear.
That sends a chill through me. The Nemean lion, one of the most deadly and famous monsters in Greek mythology, fears me. I'm not quite sure how to feel about that, but there are definitely hints of shame and pride and triumph.

"You've killed this thing before, haven't you?" Magnus whispers from the side of his mouth.

"Yeah," I respond. "But we're not going to be able to use that strategy here."

"Why not?"

"We were in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and we choked the lion with space food."

"Like the stuff astronauts eat?"

"Exactly like thAAAAAAT!" I shriek. I yank Magnus and Sam by their shirts as I scream towards Alex, "Run away!"

He- she, actually- ignores my advice. She slices her garrote across the neck of the lion. It does nothing, as I expected. She curses under her breath, then launches into the air and turns into a bird, flapping away.

"What is this thing?" she squawks.

"The Nemean lion is invulnerable. We need to kill it some other way!"

Her little bird head makes a motion that could be a nod. She dives towards the lion, landing on its neck. She morphs into a snake, feathers turning into scales and the beak into a forked tongue. She stretches herself around its neck and pulls tightly. I feel a flash of hope. Could this be over so quickly?

The lion's eyes bulge out of its head. But it's been tricked like this before. Strangled to death by Hercules, then choked to death on dehydrated astronaut food. It shakes violently, trying desperately to detach Alex from its neck.
It works. Alex slips, bit by bit, until she's flung away from the lion. She hits the ground hard, and her snake form flickers into a few other animals until it settles on her normal human body. Her eyes flutter a bit and she falls unconscious.

Magnus cries out and rushes over to try and heal his girlfriend. I stay where I am, rooted to my spot. Anger floods through me, tinting my vision red. How dare it? Nothing hurts my friends!

I open myself up completely to the power I gained in Valhalla. Strength courses through my veins. I stand up straighter. Sam grabs my wrist. I look at her, confused.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asks. "You won't lose control?"

A bit of doubt breaks through my wall of confidence. I give her a weak smile, remembering what happened when I found Magnus's blood and twisted it. "I can't make any promises, but I will try."

Sam's grip tightens. "That's not good enough. You could hurt someone!"

I attempt to break out of her hold, but she's stronger than her lithe form suggests. "Sam, please! The lion is attacking them!"

Her eyes are fierce and she doesn't let go. "You could attack them when you're in your weird trance thing. And you know that will hurt them more than the lion can."

I inhale sharply. There's a twinge in my chest, and I feel sadness and shame bloom in me. But it quickly turns to anger. Why can't she see I'm trying to help them? To help everyone?

The Nemean lion stalks closer to Magnus and Alex.

"I don't have time for this, Samirah!" I roar. She flinches minutely, her grip loosening for half a second. I yank my arm out of her grasp, trying not to feel horrified at the fact that I just scared my friend, and that I might scare away the few I have left.

"Hey, kitty cat!" I yell, trying to draw the lion's attention to me instead of Magnus and Alex. It works, and its head swivels towards me, eyes narrowed. It seems to be saying, what did you just call me?

I breathe a sigh of relief. I close my eyes so I can pay better attention to the water around me. Almost immediately, a map forms in my mind. Anything solid has very few or no water molecules. Humans are a weird system of circulating liquids. And the lion, a strangely shaped circulation, is stalking towards me.

My eyes snap open, and the Nemean lion seems to glow with a sea-green light. I reach out my hands, and they seem to grow longer until I hold the lion's blood. The blood streams in ribbons, taking on the shape of the veins it flows through. I wrap a ribbon around my hand a few times, then yank.

The lion jerks towards me. I do it again, this time pulling my hands apart at the same time. It makes a noise that sounds like a strangled whimper, then falls silent.

I blink. Was that all it took? That can't be it. I reach out again, but the lion's blood has stopped circulating. Its heart stopped beating. No, it hasn't stopped beating. It's just very, very faint.

The lion is lying in a pool of its own blood. The pool grows bigger and bigger until the lion's heartbeat disappears completely. And then it's dead. All it took was a twist of its blood, and it died almost immediately.

If only I had figured out how to use this power earlier! I could have saved so many more people. If all I had needed to do to kill a monster was flick my hand...

Just imagine how many more people would still be alive.

I'm really sorry for all of the delays. School is out really soon, so I should be able to get back on schedule for updating in a week or so. Thank you all for being so patient with me!

Thanks,
ATOTALMUSICALNERD