Wolf/lion/crab aura

The wolf-lion-crab was pushing its way forward, snarling at the mortals,

Crabby kept shoving its way toward the front of the train. By the time Annabeth caught up with it in the next car, the monster’s aura was so strong that even the mortals had started to notice. Many gagged and hunched over in their seats, as if someone had opened a locker full of spoiled lunches. Others fainted onto the floor. Annabeth felt so queasy, she wanted to retreat; but the fishhook sensation kept tugging at her navel, reeling her toward the monster.

The train rattled into the Fulton Street station. As soon as the doors opened, every commuter who was still conscious stumbled out. Crabby’s wolf head snapped at one lady, catching her purse in its teeth as she tried to flee. “Hey!” Annabeth yelled. The monster let the woman go. Both sets of eyes fixed on Annabeth as if thinking: Do you have a death wish? Then it threw back its heads and roared in harmony. The sound hit Annabeth like an ice pick between the eyes. The windows of the train shattered. Mortals who had passed out were startled back to consciousness. Some managed to crawl out of the doors. Others tumbled through broken windows. Through blurred vision, Annabeth saw the monster crouched on its mismatched forearms, ready to pounce.

The wolf snarled and took a step toward her. Meanwhile, the train kept tunneling under the East River. Cold wind swirled through the broken windows and made Annabeth’s teeth chatter. All her instincts told her to run, but her joints felt like they were dissolving. The monster’s aura kept getting brighter, filling the air with misty symbols and bloody light. “You...you’re getting stronger,” Annabeth noted. “You’re heading somewhere, aren’t you? And the closer you get—” The monster’s heads roared again in harmony. A wave of red energy rippled through the car. Annabeth had to fight to stay conscious.

She lost track of time as she wrestled the creature. She only knew she couldn’t let it combine with that dog-headed thing. If the monster turned into a complete three-headed whatever-it-was, it might be impossible to stop. The dog lunged again at Karate Girl. This time it knocked her down. Annabeth, distracted, lost her grip on the crab monster, and it threw her off—slamming her head into the edge of a seat. Her ears rang as the creature roared in triumph. A wave of red-hot energy rippled through the car. The train pitched sideways, and Annabeth went weightless.

“Up you come,” said a girl’s voice. “We have to move.” Annabeth opened her eyes. The world was spinning. Emergency sirens wailed in the distance. She was lying flat on her back in some prickly weeds. The blond girl from the train leaned over her, tugging on her arm. Annabeth managed to sit up. She felt like someone was hammering hot nails into her rib cage. As her vision cleared, she realized she was lucky to be alive. About fifty yards away, the subway train had toppled off the track. The cars lay sideways in a broken, steaming zigzag of wreckage that reminded Annabeth of a drakon carcass (unfortunately, she’d seen several of those).

SoS pg.8-11/15