As they approached, they saw smoke near Thalia’s pine. They flew past and landed in the stables, sliding off their horses and drawing weapons.
“Hunter! Philippa!” Hunter turned, bow drawn, and stopped to see Penny running toward them.
“What’s go—“ Hunter was interrupted when Penny threw her arms around him.
“We thought you two were killed!” She said, pulling away and hugging Philippa. “What happened?”
“Penny, we saw the attack. This really isn’t the time to talk.” Hunter said, notching an arrow. “We’ll talk later.” Hunter said as he sprinted to the front of the camp. He stood on the hill and watched from below as the two enormous bronze bulls thrashed and stamped, nostrils smoking and flaming, surrounded by campers who helplessly stabbed at its thick armored hide. Hunter aimed and fired, aiming for its eye or its nostrils or something that would hurt it, but nothing worked. He drew his knife and ran at it, getting an angle to avoid the fire breath. He stabbed into its side, the Nemean dagger, slicing through the bronze, leaving a gash in its side. It snorted loudly and whipped around, knocking a few campers to the side. It opened its mouth and Hunter was about to run when Marina appeared next to him. With a strong push, she knocked him out of the way with just enough time for the full blast of fire to hit her, completely concealing her in the flames.
“MARINA!” Kyle appeared next to Hunter and watched as his girlfriend was engulfed in flames. Hunter took a step forward then fell to his knees, his heart clenching as he watched his best friend turned to ashes. His knives fell out of his hands and he buried his face in his hands, wishing that he could save her. There was a popping noise and Hunter looked up as the fire seemed to go back up the bull’s throat, revealing Marina standing there unscathed. She had her hands up and she looked like she was pushing the fire back into its throat. The bull seemed to twitch a little and suddenly there was a spark and a thick plume of black smoke. The bull collapsed in a heap and Marina stood there, breathing heavy.
“Marina, did…” Hunter started to speak, but there was a shout and he turned to see Will with his trident stuck into the head of bull, slashing at its nose with his sword. Hunter shook himself and stood, grabbing his knives and climbing the collapsed bull and using it to jump to the other.
“Hunter! There should be a control panel near the neck! Unscrew it and remove the motherboard and it’ll shut itself down!” Marina shouted to him as Hunter carefully stepped on the back of the bull, straddling its neck. He looked down and saw the control hatch. He thought for a second and tried to stick his knife in the side to pry it open, but Will jabbed his sword into the bull’s head and he used it to climb on top.
“Just stab it, Hunter!” He said angrily as he used his sword and trident to keep a hold on the bull. Hunter cursed under his breath and jabbed his knife in through the top of the hatch, being met with sparks and some smoke as the bull twisted and groaned, finally collapsing in a heap. Hunter took a deep breath and fell back onto the bull, taking deep breaths. After a moment he slid off the side only to be met by arms, hugging him tightly and the smell of fire tickling his nostrils.
“Hunter, where have you been?” Marina said, quickly pulling away and punching his shoulder.
“Where have I been?!” Hunter asked, his eyes wide. “Since when can you control fire?!”
“Where did these things even come from?!” Will said as he hopped down from the bull’s nose.
“I—We thought you were dead!” Marina shouted, punching him in the shoulder then hugging him again. Hunter turned when Philippa appeared next to him.
“We got trapped in this casino. It’s uh…It’s a long story.” Philippa said, giving a hesitant look at Hunter.
“Why didn’t the barrier hold up?” Hunter said, looking at the downed bulls. He paused a second before looking up at Thalia’s pine where the golden fleece and the dragon guardian were both missing. “How did this happen?” He breathed, running his fingers through her hair.
“Go ahead and stand there! Don’t help me carry in wounded or anything!” Dana shouted, pushing through to help a kid with a broken arm up off the ground.
After they got all the wounded into the infirmary they gathered in the rec room. Chiron walked up and looked over the group. He looked more worn than he usually did. It made sense, but it didn’t make it any less sad.
“First things first, Hunter, Philippa, you should be caught up.” Chiron said, sitting down into his wheelchair. “Will?” Will stood and looked at Kyle and Marina a moment. He was grateful that they got home safe, but it was a long trip and then worrying about Hunter and Philippa took over everything else.
“We stopped in Louisville…”