Annabeth's Pov
Annabeth didn't know what to do, she had run away from her home in Virginia because of her evil stepmother. But she hadn't bothered to pack anything in her backpack beyond some granola bars, a flashlight and her dad's multi tool.
Now walking down the down the streets of an unknown city without any more food, she silently berated herself for not packing more food, and wondered what she was going to do get more when she suddenly stopped. She had heard sounds of a scuffle in an alleyway to her left, and against her better judgment decided to investigate. What she found made her breath get caught in her throat, for near the end of the alley, in a bloody heap lay the barely breathing body of a dog.
Carefully after making sure the coast was clear she made her way towards the dog. As she got closer she was able to make out the dog better, the dog looked like it had been attacked by a weed whacker, there were gashes and small cuts all over it's body, blood seeped from the gashes and pooled on the ground making it sticky and smelly.
Once she made over to the dog she ripped off parts of her shirt and began to bandage up the more significant wounds. While she was doing this the dog's eyes fluttered open and whined in pain before falling back unconscious.
"Who did this to you boy?" she asked.
It wasn't until she noticed the lack of crowd noise that she realized that it was getting close to nighttime, not having anywhere else to go she sat down using her backpack as a pillow and went to sleep.
Annabeth was woken by a strange sound, when she opened her eyes she saw the dog with it's eyes open, it had dragged itself closer to the spot where she had spent the night, and was staring at her while breathing heavily.
"Hey boy, good to see your up".
The dog responded by continuing to stare at her with sea green eyes, Annabeth felt that there was power behind those eyes, a power that comes from a ancient time.
"So what's your name?"
The dog continued to stare.
"Tell you what ill tell you my name first, then you tell me your's"
Under normal circumstances Annabeth would have thought she was going crazy, but after weeks on the run she was in need of some companionship.
"My names Annabeth what's your's?"
She didn't expect an answer, so she was surprised when it responded to her question.
"My names Percy" it said.
Annabeth was so surprised that it took a second before she could comprehend what had just happened.
"Wait you can talk?"
"Yes" it responded "And thanks for helping me with my wounds"
"How can you talk, normal dogs can't talk"
"I have no idea" Percy responded as he began to lick a cut on his paw.
"Hey do you have any food?"
"Yeah I do" Annabeth said rummaging through her backpack and taking out a granola bar, she splits the bar in half and hands one to percy.
"Here you go" she said "It's all I have left"
Percy finished off his half of the granola bar in seconds, sighing in content as he gulped down the final bite.
"So" percy said "where are you from Annabeth"
"Virginia" she responded "How about you?"
"I don't know" Percy said confused "All I remember is trees, lots and lots of trees".
"Maybe you ran away from home?"
"Maybe" said Percy doubtfully " are you running away from home?"
"Yeah I am" she responded sadly " My dad and stepmom hate me so I ran away"
Percy was taken aback,
"That's not right" he said "your family is supposed to love you no matter what"
Annabeth didn't respond, she just hung her head in sadness thinking about all the bad memories of the past weeks.
"Hey Annabeth I have an idea"
Annabeth raised her head to look at him,
"What's your idea?" she asks without much hope in her voice.
"What if we become a family" Percy responds wagging his tail " Besides I owe you for stopping me from bleeding out".
Annabeth cracked her first genuine smile since her last birthday when her family was still together, before her dad remarried and her life went to hell.
"I'd love to" Annabeth said excitedly leaning forward and hugging the dog in front of her,
"So what do we do now?"
"Well first we get cleaned up"
Annabeth was confused until she realized that she now had blood on her clothes from hugging Percy.
"And second" he continued " we have to find a way to get food"
"Can't you hunt or something? you're a dog after all"
"No" he said standing up and taking a few shaky steps " Not until my wounds heal and I can walk and run properly".
"What about you" he continues "Do you have any ideas inside that big head of your's?"
"Hey my head isn't big" Annabeth said indignantly, suddenly she cracked her second smile of the day, this one was more devious than the first one "But as a matter fact I do have an idea".
