A bird in hand is worth two in the bush

The more we approached the Church, the more the fear grew. Up to now the voyage had been quite simple, quite tranquil.
That was definitely going to change.
See, when you’re a demigod, the monsters sense your presence throughout their smell. The more you know about monsters, the stronger your scent grows. Now that my knowledge had grown, I could actually feel less safe than before.

Finally, we arrived at St. Paul’s. You could see a long line coming from inside the church, probably to get into the tour.
We got in the line and some minutes later came a group of four girls. They were around fifteen and looked at us as if they might’ve swallowed us. They chatted in an incredibly disturbing level of voice, and from time to time, they coughed, as if they had something caught in their throats.

And suddenly it occurred to me.
The group of girls behind us couldn’t be exactly girls. After being told that monsters sense your smell better when you know more stuff about them, I had it in mind all the time: whoever I met could be a monster in disguise.

Of course I didn’t only believe that because I was obsessed, but they had a suspicious look. Finally I got to a conclusion: these girls weren’t human, they were harpies.
Those hibrid half-bird, half-woman creatures that pooped on everything and made old Greek king Phineas mad while he dinned. They devoured everything, including human beings and demigods, especially demigods.
I got nervous, more and more. I tried to warn Will and Ginger, but every time I tried to approach their ears to whisper the truth about these girls, one of them stepped on my foot and gave me a yellowish crocked smile. That was not an option. I had to think, and fast, since the line got shorter and shorter. My only option was to unsheathe my knife and attack the beasts, but there was my problem again: they were four and I was one.

Quickly and impulsively, I grabbed my knife and pushed my friends back. My life was now in fate’s hands.