The chimera exited the flames engulfing the school and stalked toward Selena and the golden-haired boy. When Major met her earlier, she mentioned she had a twin. Could that be him? His golden hair offset his sister’s black, one would barely think they were related off those features alone. Though, Major had seen twins with those same exact features before.

He had spotted the mark of Artemis on her hand back at the cafe and if she was the one he was looking for, then no doubt her twin was Marked as well. He sat unmoving, watching the scene before him the best he could. People were still running around in the chaos, sporadically blocking his view.

If they were indeed the twins Major had been sent to find, then the chimera would pose no threat. The golden-haired boy took in most of the flames during the explosion of the stage. Now they stood in front of the Chimera, frozen in complete shock, like they had never seen a Greek monster before, as if it was their first.

This wasn’t Major’s first, not by a long shot. He remembered his first monster vividly, the one his father had sent out when he had just started his training at thirteen. It wasn’t a mere Stymphalian Bird; no, Zeus didn’t partake with lesser monsters. If his sons Perseus and Heracles became legendary heroes without the Mark of Zeus, then Major could be more, so he sent out the Nemean Lion freshly recovered from the depths of the Underworld. Major had almost died, but out of pure dumb luck, he summoned lighting, and fried the monster like a chicken. He couldn’t remember much of what had happened after that, having to spend at least three days unconscious in the infirmary, since wielding that much power, especially for the first time, put a significant strain on his body.

His eyes followed the twins backing away from the approaching chimera. Major supposed those two down there were the twins. Monsters only targeted those they were sent for, and since it stalked only toward them, ignoring anyone else that ran right past it, and because the twins could see it, it meant they must be of at least demigod origin.

Were they not trained then? Did Apollo send his children to damnation by hiding them from Zeus? Did he honestly think he could’ve kept his Marked twins hidden from the world forever, full well knowing Zeus wanted them? The twins still stood there, petrified, in front of the monster. Major rolled his eyes and let out a grunt. Guess it was true then.

Major slowly rose to his feet. Would they fight? If they were the twins he needed then some primitive reaction of theirs would be to fight; it was how they were wired, a demigod characteristic, so to speak.

His hand rested on the pommel of his sword that sat sheathed on his left hip. Major could just let them face the chimera themselves. Sink or swim. Prove to him they were worth the never-ending search his father put him up to for the past two years. He never once thought they’d be so normal, so untrained.

He leaned against the back of the stadium bleachers. Major wished he possessed preternatural hearing or even lip-reading would do. The best he had was the reading of the body language, which didn’t help him much. The twins were breathing hard, and their bodies were rigid. They were both ready to flee or fight the beast, and he didn’t know either sibling, so his guess was as good as theirs at what they would do.

Major scanned where they stood, still being approached by the chimera—less than ten feet away—ane their environment lacked a weapon, even if they hadn’t been trained, a weapon would still be useful.

He white-knuckled the pommel of his sword and bit his lip. He didn’t want to intervene, not yet.

The golden-haired boy pushed his sister out of the way, and he laid a roundhouse kick straight to the chimera’s lion face.

Selena ran to the end of the bleachers where a single metal chair laid on the ground. She called something to her brother, sliding it to the ground between them.

Major smiled, so not untrained after all. They definitely had the demigod fight instinct.

The boy grabbed the folded metal chair laying at his feet. With a swift motion, he swung it at the lion’s face. The chimera let out a deafening roar and charged at the boy. Selena remained crouched next to the side of the field bleachers, she let out a deafening scream and grabbed her face in her hand. Major had seen Selena get flung across the stairs and into the bleachers during the explosion, her head making contact first with the metal; he could’ve sworn she had been knocked unconscious for at least a few moments.

The chimera lunged for the boy twin, and he dodged it once more. Selena went to move to her brother, but fell, her hands reaching out to catch herself. Perhaps whatever adrenaline she had to make the movement to get that chair to her brother evaporated.

Major turned his attention away from Selena, and back to her twin with the chimera. Who once again smacked the beast with the chair to the face. The chimera lifted its left paw and slashed at him. The boy raised the chair to defend against the attack, and the chimera’s claws shredded right through it. Leaving the metal chair in shreds and his only defense ruined.

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The goat's head let loose another set of flames directed at the boy and opened its mouth. The flames evaporated around the boy, leaving him untouched.

Major frowned. That’s interesting. He had been told that the boy may have preternatural healing, but nothing about absorbing fire.

The chimera swiped with its right paw at the gold-haired boy. He raised his right arm up to defend himself, and the Chimera’s claws shredded through his graduation gown and his skin like paper. The boy let out a blood-curdling scream.

Major sighed.

It looks like he needed to intervene, after all. These two had some training but were more than likely going to get themselves killed. Which happened to be the exact opposite of the reason why his father had sent to retrieve them in the first place, and if he showed up with the news that the twins had died, and he stood idly by and watched it happen...well, he would probably end up dead too.

***

Selena’s vision blurred; her throat was raw from screaming. She commanded her body to move, to help Sam, but it wouldn’t obey. She could only watch in horror as the creature approached her brother. The goat’s head wheezed fire from its mouth, encircling them completely.

Sam backed up, but his feet stumbled, and he fell backward, and the creature lunged for him.

Selena closed her eyes. Cowardice or not, she didn’t feel like watching her brother become a lion’s snack.

This is all just an illusion. She rationalized to herself. This is just a hallucination due to hitting my head.

Yeah. That was a reasonable enough answer. Sure as hell made more sense than what was before her eyes moments ago.

A blistering rush of wind interwoven with the smell of burning wood tousled her hair. Selena gulped down a smoke ridden breath before slowly opening her eyes.

The boy from the coffee shop stood in front of her brother, and the creature, hands-on top and bottom of its snout to prevent it from closing. He smiled, the wind blowing in his shaggy platinum hair, and he pushed the beast back. Her brother looked at Major with the widest eyes she had ever seen anyone give. She made to move again, but the pain in her head yielded her to stop.

“What...who...huh?” Sam stuttered.

Major didn’t look back at him; his eyes never left that creature that lay before him. Its eyes widened bulged like it did not expect Major to get in the middle between it and Sam either. How did Major get in between the creature and Sam? Why was Major here?

“Do you know what this is?” Major asked her brother.

His face was calm, as if he weren’t looking at a lion-goat-snake creature.

“What?” Sam asked in disbelief while rising to his feet.

The creature shook off Major. Now with his hands free Major unsheathed the sword laying in a blue and white scabbard. Revealing a double-edged blade at least half his height, the sword glistened in the light of the flames. The left side of the blade shimmered and shone with something of a diamond-like substance, and on the right side, a golden bronze was lit up by the light of the flames.

Major stared at the monster and flexed his free hand. “Do you know what this is?”

Sam scrambled to his feet and peered over Major’s shoulder. “It’s from my dreams.”

Selena raised her head up at that. What did he mean from his dreams? She knew he had vivid deja vu like dreams before in the past, but that was to the extent. Selena’s head throbbed again, and she stifled a groan.

“Go help your sister,” Major instructed Sam.

Selena wanted to tell them she was fine and to focus on the monster, who now looked even angrier at Major than it ever did to Sam, but the words never came.

Sam heeded the order and slowly walked behind Major, making his way to her, cradling his arm that the monster had attacked. The beast followed Sam with its eyes.

Then it smiled, and Selena braced herself for another round of flames. It opened its mouth directly toward Sam, but Major struck it instead. The sword sliced through the monster’s shoulder.

It roared, and Major let out a hiss, like attacking its shoulder wasn’t the original target. The goat’s head turned around to face Major, and flames shot out of its mouth at him. Major dropped to the ground, narrowly missing the flames. He stood back up and twirled the sword in his hand tauntingly. Like being shot at with a stream of flames wasn’t challenging enough for him.

The monster read the taunt and lunged at him again. Its snake tail-head snapped its jaws as if it needed something to stick its fangs into. Major swung the sword at the beast, and the snake head intercepted its path biting down on the blade, snagging it from Major’s hands. The snake whipped the blade to Major’s left, skidding across the field, and landing right in front of Selena.

“Fuck.” Major cursed.

The monster lifted its right paw and swiped at Major, claws extending. Major easily moved out of its trajectory; Selena had never seen someone move with so much grace. It looked like the monster and Major were dancing. It kept swiping at him, alternating claws, and Major kept evading its lethal strikes.

Sam stood before her, blocking her vision of the battle.

“Get up,” He hissed. “We need to go!”

Sam hauled her up from her underarms. Selena rose to her feet and swayed, her legs trembling. She leaned against her brother for support.

The monster made a guttural growl, and both twins snapped their attention back to the fight taking place. She couldn’t see much now that she was standing, due to the smoke engulfing the field, but she could easily distinguish where Major and that monster was...or were. Only Major remained, the monster vanished.

“Behind you!” Major shouted.

Claws pierced her back before she could do anything. Her face slammed into a rock on the ground, and she let out a cry.

Flashes of red hot pain pulsated through her face and torso.

The monster kept its claw on her back, pushing down with its weight, pinning her there, crushing her lungs. She heard Sam persistently kicking its lion’s head to lessen its hold on her.

This is how I’m going to die. She thought, feeling completely and utterly helpless.

Selena’s squeezed her eyes shut, focused on trying to breathe and not on the potential of dying.

Footsteps slapped against the track. The blood from the monster’s injured shoulder dripped on her face while it pinned her down; even in this weird near-death position, she tried not to gag.

Something crackled and the slice of a sword pierced through flesh and muscle. The monster’s lion head tumbled to the ground, blood splattered across her face. Opening her eyes they looked straight into the unseeing one’s of a lion.