The car slowed, then stopped.
Jake frowned, easing his foot off the accelerator as the headlights washed over a massive slab of stone lying squarely across the road. It wasn't embedded. It wasn't weathered. It hadn't grown moss or cracks like ancient obstacles usually did.
It looked… placed.
Clarisse was already moving.
"Out. Now," she ordered.
The doors flew open.
They spilled onto the road in practiced formation, boots scraping against asphalt as Clarisse and Chris instinctively took the front, Jake circling behind, and Teddy pulled gently—but firmly—into the center.
Protected.
Teddy clutched the straps of his backpack, heart thudding, but he didn't panic. His pendant was warm, steady—warning, not screaming.
"This wasn't here before," Jake said, eyes scanning the treeline. "Someone dropped it."
Clarisse tightened her grip on her spear.
"Which means someone's close."
The air shifted.
Jake's head snapped upward.
"MOVE!"
He lunged, shoving Teddy sideways as Chris grabbed Clarisse by the shoulder. The four of them dove just as a second boulder screamed through the air.
It struck the car.
Metal shrieked. Glass exploded outward in a storm of fragments. The vehicle flipped once, twice, before slamming onto its side in a mangled heap, smoke hissing from the engine.
Silence followed.
Jake stared at the wreckage, horror slowly overtaking adrenaline.
"…I borrowed that," he whispered. "I promised I'd bring it back in one piece."
Clarisse grimaced.
"Jake—"
"It was such a nice car," he groaned. "Do you know how hard it is to get Hermes kids to trust you with their stuff?"
A heavy snort rolled through the air.
The ground trembled.
Chris raised his shield, eyes narrowing.
"Found our thrower."
The trees ahead parted.
Something massive stepped into view.
The Minotaur stood well over twelve feet tall, muscles like coiled iron beneath dark, scarred hide. Its single eye burned with cruel intelligence, nostrils flaring as it inhaled deeply. A massive axe rested in its hand—rusted, chipped, and stained with old blood.
It stamped one hoof against the road.
"TINY HEROES," it bellowed, voice echoing like thunder in a canyon. "YOU CAME FAR TO DIE."
Teddy swallowed.
Clarisse stepped forward without hesitation, spear leveled.
"Yeah?" she shot back. "You came early."
Jake slid into position beside her, daggers flickering into his hands.
"Chris—right flank."
"Already there," Chris replied calmly, shield locking into place.
They formed up again, Teddy in the center, the world narrowing to the monster before them.
Above them, unseen, Harry Potter stood on his flying carpet.
He watched.
His hands stayed at his sides.
You can do this, he told himself. They need to do this.
The Minotaur charged.
The ground cracked beneath its hooves as it barreled forward, axe swinging in a brutal arc meant to cleave them in half.
Clarisse met it head-on.
She roared, her spear slamming into the Minotaur's thigh, biting deep. The creature howled in pain, staggering—but not stopping.
Jake moved like a shadow, darting in to slash at tendons, blades flashing silver as he struck and rolled away. Chris followed, shield raised, taking the full impact of the axe when it swung again.
The blow sent him skidding backward, boots carving trenches into the asphalt.
"Teddy!" Jake shouted. "Stay back!"
Teddy obeyed—but his eyes burned.
The Minotaur recovered, wrenching Clarisse's spear from its leg with a furious snarl. Blood steamed as it hit the road.
"You FIGHT WELL," it growled. "BUT YOU ARE CHILDREN."
Clarisse grinned through bloodied teeth.
"Yeah," she said. "But we are half gods."
She lunged again.
The fight erupted into chaos—steel against flesh, roars and shouts echoing through the road. The Minotaur was strong—stronger than anything they'd faced together.
Jake leapt onto its back, plunging a dagger between shoulder blades. Chris slammed his shield into its knee, forcing it to stagger. Clarisse drove her spear upward again, this time into its chest.
The Minotaur did not fall.
It roared.
The sound tore through the trees like a war horn, raw rage shaking the ground beneath their feet. Its eyes burned red as it swept one massive arm sideways—not striking, not aiming—just clearing.
The force hit them like a freight train.
Clarisse, Chris, and Jake were flung through the air as if they weighed nothing. They slammed into the ground hard, the impact knocking the breath from their lungs. Jake rolled twice before stopping, pain exploding through his ribs. Chris skidded across gravel and dirt, his shield flying from his grip. Clarisse hit a tree chest-first with a sickening crack.
"Teddy run!" she gasped as the tree snapped in half, both trunk and demigod crashing to the ground together.
The Minotaur stamped forward, steam hissing from its nostrils. It tightened its grip on the axe, veins bulging along its arm as it locked onto Jake—the weakest, the most wounded.
Jake tried to move.
His body refused.
The Minotaur charged.
Jake barely had time to raise his hands before a translucent golden barrier flared around him—the Hermes charm activating just in time. The axe smashed into the shield with an ear-splitting clang, the force still throwing Jake backward like a rag doll.
The charm shattered.
Jake screamed as he hit the ground, blood trickling from his mouth.
"JAKE!" Teddy cried.
Clarisse tried to stand—and collapsed again, pain blinding her.
"Run… Teddy…" she rasped.
Chris saw red.
He surged to his feet with a roar of fury, charging the Minotaur head-on.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
The Minotaur turned and kicked.
Chris flew.
He hit the ground so hard the air left his lungs in a strangled gasp, body skidding across dirt and stone before going still.
For a heartbeat—
Everything froze.
Jake lay broken.
Chris was down.
Clarisse was barely conscious.
And the Minotaur raised its axe high, looming over Jake.
"THIEF," it snarled. "YOU DIE FIRST."
Teddy screamed in fury.
The world answered.
The air twisted.
Light tore open space itself.
The Sword of Twilight appeared in Teddy's hand.
The runes along the blade ignited, glowing like molten gold as power surged through Teddy's small frame. His body lifted slightly off the ground, eyes blazing with ancient light as his strength, speed, and presence multiplied beyond anything mortal.
"Teddy—no—!" Jake croaked.
Too late.
The Minotaur's axe came down—
—and stopped.
Metal screamed as the Sword of Twilight caught the blow effortlessly, Teddy's small hand holding the blade steady as if it weighed nothing at all. The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, cracking the road beneath their feet.
The Minotaur stared.
Confused.
Teddy pushed.
The Minotaur was thrown backward several meters, crashing into the dirt with a thunderous impact.
Teddy moved.
Like lightning.
He vanished from where he stood and reappeared beside Jake in the same heartbeat, placing himself between the fallen demigod and the monster.
"Don't touch him," Teddy said.
His voice echoed—layered, deeper, carrying something old.
The Minotaur roared and lunged again.
That was its last mistake.
Teddy became motion.
He ducked beneath the swing, slid between the Minotaur's legs, and cut.
Once.
Twice.
The blade bit deep into tendon and muscle, each strike precise, merciless. The Minotaur howled, staggering as blood sprayed across the ground.
It tried to turn—
Teddy was already gone.
He appeared again at its side, then its back, then its front—each movement impossibly fast. The Sword of Twilight flashed again and again, carving deep wounds, severing muscles, breaking balance.
Clarisse watched in stunned silence.
"…Gods," she whispered. "Who is this kid."
The Minotaur dropped to one knee, swinging wildly, desperate now.
Teddy leapt.
He ran up the Minotaur's arm, boots barely touching flesh, and twisted mid-air.
The Sword of Twilight sang.
One clean arc.
The Minotaur's head separated from its body.
For a heartbeat, the body remained standing.
Then it dissolved.
Ash scattered on the wind, the monster screaming silently as it was dragged back to Tartarus—leaving nothing behind.
Silence fell.
Teddy landed lightly on the ground, sword still glowing.
His breathing was steady.
The light around him flickered… then faded.
The Sword vanished.
Teddy swayed.
And collapsed.
"Teddy!" Clarisse shouted, forcing herself upright despite the pain.
Jake dragged himself forward, ignoring the agony in his ribs.
"Teddy—hey—look at me—"
Chris groaned, rolling onto his side.
"…Please tell me that was real."
Teddy's eyes fluttered open.
"I…" he whispered. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone…"
Jake laughed weakly through pain and relief.
"Buddy… you just saved all of us."
Above them, unseen, Harry Potter stood rigid on his flying carpet.
His hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.
Pride warred with terror in his chest.
That sword is waking faster than I thought, he realized grimly.
The silence after the battle felt heavier than the fight itself.
No one said it out loud at first, but all of them understood the same truth the moment the Minotaur dissolved into ash—
they could not continue like this.
Clarisse sat with her back against a broken tree, jaw clenched as she tested her shoulder. Pain flared instantly, sharp and unforgiving.
"Yeah," she muttered. "We're not going anywhere."
Chris let out a shaky breath from where he lay sprawled on the ground.
"I hate agreeing with that," he said, "but I can barely feel my left side."
Jake tried to push himself upright—and immediately hissed in pain, collapsing back with a groan.
"Car first," he said weakly. "Before I pass out. We need supplies."
Chris nodded and forced himself to stand, looping Jake's arm over his shoulder. Both of them limped toward the wrecked car, moving slowly, stubbornly refusing to ask for help.
Teddy watched them go, worry knotting in his chest.
Then he remembered the backpack.
He knelt, unzipping it carefully.
To anyone else, it looked like a normal child's bag—slightly scuffed, patched at the seams. But the moment Teddy reached inside, the space answered.
He pulled.
And pulled.
Until a folded canvas tent slid free—far larger than the bag should have allowed.
Clarisse stared.
"…That's cheating."
Teddy gave a small, tired smile.
"Dad made it."
He placed the tent on the ground and unrolled it.
The moment the fabric touched earth, magic surged.
The tent expanded outward, stakes driving themselves into the soil, canvas snapping into shape as if guided by invisible hands. In seconds, a sturdy, rune-etched shelter stood where moments ago there had been nothing but scorched ground.
Clarisse pushed herself to her feet despite the pain, limping closer.
"Okay," she admitted. "That's impressive."
Teddy opened the flap.
Warm light spilled out.
Inside was not darkness—but space.
A wide common area greeted them, shelves lining the walls, a table already set, and beyond that, two doors leading deeper inside.
Clarisse's eyes widened.
"…No way."
Teddy led her to one side of the tent and opened a door.
The potion room gleamed.
Shelves upon shelves were stacked with vials, bottles, jars, and labeled containers. Healing salves, powders, shimmering liquids—some glowing faintly, others swirling like captured starlight.
Clarisse let out a low whistle.
"Your dad's insane."
Jake and Chris staggered in moments later, both freezing at the sight.
Jake blinked.
"…I take back everything bad I've ever said about wizards."
Chris groaned.
"Please tell me there's something in here that doesn't taste like death."
"There is," Teddy said softly. "But not for broken bones."
He handed Clarisse a bottle of Skele-Gro.
She stared at it like it had personally offended her.
"…What is this stuff."
"Drink," Teddy insisted gently.
Clarisse grimaced, uncorked it, and took a swig.
Instant regret.
"THAT IS FOUL," she barked, coughing violently. "WHY DOES THIS EXIST?"
Jake wasn't far behind, gagging openly as he forced the potion down.
Chris pushed the bottle away when it was offered to him.
"Nope," he said firmly. "I'll take nectar. I'm not drinking that again."
Teddy moved between them with quiet focus—applying healing salves, sprinkling alchemic medicines over deep bruises, murmuring instructions Harry had drilled into him again and again.
"These are for demigods," Teddy explained softly. "Dad made them special. Normal potions don't work right."
The effects were immediate.
Bones knit. Bruises faded. Pain dulled to manageable aches.
Not gone—but controlled.
When it was done, exhaustion hit all of them at once.
Clarisse leaned back against a cushioned wall that had not been there before.
"I could sleep for a week."
"There are two bedrooms," Teddy said. "Dad said they're safe."
Chris and Jake took one without argument, collapsing onto the beds the moment they entered.
Clarisse hesitated at the second door.
"You okay sharing?" she asked.
Teddy nodded.
"Yeah."
Jake, half-asleep already, mumbled from the other room,
"I'll take first watch."
Teddy shook his head.
"No need," he said. "The tent won't let monsters find us."
The words weren't bravado.
They were certainty.
The tent hummed softly, wards settling into place, magic folding over itself like a protective cocoon.
Outside, the road lay broken and empty.
Inside, four exhausted souls slept.
And far above, unseen by all of them, a flying carpet drifted silently towards the ground.
Author's Note:
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