A LIFE-CHANGING EVENT

"So, you'll be staying the night, Julien?"

"No, Helen. I would love to have another sleepover, but I've got a lot to do back home." Helen pouted. I ruffled her hair. "Don't be so down. He stayed with us for a while now. He's coming again tomorrow, you know." Helen's eyes lit up, and she smiled that beautiful smile of hers. "Really? You are?" Julien nodded. "Yeah. I'm free all day, so I'd love to hang out."

Just then, I saw a flash of lightning out of my window. Helen ran into my arms, and I held her tight. Thunder rumbled loudly in the sky. Julien gazed outside. "It's really pouring, huh?"

"Yeah," I said. "The forecast it might rain like this tomorrow as well."

"I might not be able to come over then."

"Which will suck very much." Helen hugged me tighter. She was scared of lightning, although I couldn't blame her. Our mother was struck by a lightning bolt and died because of it. Helen didn't know, however, that the lightning bolt that killed her wasn't because of our mother's misfortune. I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or not, but I'm confident she wouldn't believe me if I told her that Zeus shot her down. Helen would just scold me for making a joke about Mother's death.

When I saw the look in Julien's eyes, I knew something was wrong. "What is it?" I asked. Fear covered his face. "We need to get out of here. Now."

"What's wrong?" Helen asked. "Um, there's a crazy guy with a flamethrower going about." I raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better to stay here? We're going to get scorched if we go outside." But I could tell he was lying. It had to be some monster from some Greek myth coming after us. I sighed. "Alright, then let's go." We hastily packed our bags, grabbed our coats and our shoes, and ran outside.

I tapped Julien on the back. "Where are we going? What did you see out my window?"

"I'll tell you later. But first-" Julien fished out a gold coin from his pocket and threw it on the ground. "O fími ton theón, evlogeíste mas me asfalí taxídia kai árma!" A golden chariot just popped into existence. My jaw dropped. "Um, might I ask how on earth you got a chariot?"

"Hermes is the god of travelers. If you ask nicely, he'll lend you a ride. More importantly, hop on!" I did as I was told.

Helen poked my arm. "Big brother, what's going on?" Her eyes were filled with worry. I hugged her. "It's going to be alright. I promise."

"Yeah," Julien said. He was at the helm and did a fine job steering the chariot. "Have you driven this before?" I asked. Julien nodded. "Yeah. It covers a lot of distance in such little time. Although demigods can only use it once a day." Helen cocked her head at me, like, "what is he saying? What are demigods?"

"You know, from all those Greek myths. Demigods are those famous mortal children of the gods, like Hercules." Helen scowled at me. "This is no time to be joking, Yiannis!"

"He's telling the truth, Helen." Julien sighed. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but those myths weren't fairy tales; they're real. Look out the window if you don't believe me." Helen peered out, and from her expression, I'm pretty sure she just realized she was in a flying chariot. "Oh, my God! I could have sworn we were in a car" I grabbed her as she fell out of her seat. "It's pretty hard to swallow, but it's true." Helen gripped my fingers. "Whatever you do, Yiannis, please don't let go. Please," she pleaded. I nodded. "Julien, where are we going?"

"We're almost there. We need to get off now." He landed the chariot on the ground, next to a tree. The second we three got off, the chariot vanished into thin air. I didn't ask questions about that, either. I was pretty sure it was beyond comprehension. We ran on foot until we came to a sign that read, "Welcome to Demigod Hotel!" Ahead of us was a massive building that was partly veiled by the clouds.

That's when I heard them. Growls, hisses, and roars. I glanced back and saw what Julien was so scared of. A small army of hellhounds and a cyclops were gaining on us. It was the one leading them towards us that freaked me out most of all.

He was somewhat humanoid, but fur covered his torso and arms. His head was that of a bull's, with horns the length of a meter on them. I wondered how his small neck supported his head. He had an ax in his hand, and he was running toward us, with his mini-army at his heels.

I lifted Helen from the ground and ran as fast as I could. "Hey, Julien, I need a little help here."

"Already on it." Julien turned back to face the monsters. "Yiannis, run as fast as you can to that building! Monsters won't be able to reach you there!" I nodded, but running while carrying a person was tiring. I was almost there when two hellhounds cornered me. Before they could attack, I stopped time around me and slashed them with my scythe as quickly as I could. Then I sped up again, dropping off Helen near the entrance of the building.

"Go inside. You'll be safe there. I'll help Julien and come back as quickly as I can." My sister nodded. "Good luck, Yiannis." I watched as Julien slashed through the hellhounds with his sword. The cyclops swung his fist, but Julien cut his arm off. I hid behind the trees so Julien wouldn't see me. The minotaur lunged towards Julien with his ax. Julien parried and struck back, but the minotaur just smacked him away. Before the minotaur could swing his ax, I slowed time around him. As expected, Julien sliced his head off without difficulty. He made quick work of the remaining monsters, but I was already running back by the time he killed the last hellhound.