"Alice? Alice, are you even listening to a word I am saying?" Karen shook my shoulder getting me out of my trance. "What- oh yes Karen you were just telling me about how much my ex-boyfriend is a loser. Thank you Karen I don't know what I ever saw in him." I said sarcastically. My name is Alice Prior and as of three days ago I am single from my jerk boyfriend. My best friend Karen is trying to make me feel better by telling me what a loser he is, but it isn't helping much. I am 16 years old and a cheerleader at Hale High School in Jacksonville, Florida. "Yes… well good thing you were listening because I hate repeating myself. How long do you think this pep rally will last?" Karen likes to jump from topic to topic faster than my ADHD can keep up with. I gave her my best 'are you serious look' and she just huffed out a breath. "Fine, fine I'm only staying long enough to watch you though and then I'm outta here." I rolled my eyes and laughed until I saw a huge black dog growling at me. And when I say huge, I mean made a Great Dane look like a poodle, thick with muscle all down its legs, fur black as midnight and a nasty, slobbery, growling snout. I gasped in terror and froze, grabbing Karen's arm. "What?" Karen asked in surprise. "How did that get inside the school, Karen?!" I shrieked. The hallways were crowded with students, teachers, and a few parents, how did super mutt manage to get into the school building? Karen looked confused, "How did what get inside the school?" her eyebrows knitting together. I looked at her, exasperated, I pointed over to where the huge dog was, "That! How did that get-" I looked over to where the dog was, but nothing was there. Karen gave me a look, "You okay?" I took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Yeah fine, must just be the nerves. Hey, I got to go to the locker room. See ya after?" I turned around and walked as steady as I could to the locker room to change into my red cheer uniform. I looked down at my hands to see them trembling. Because that was the third time I had seen something that no one else could see or explain.
A few days ago I was out shopping with some friends when I realized there was a man following us. I kept telling my friends but they kept saying they didn't see him. And I didn't dare tell them that he only had one eye in the center of his head. Yesterday morning, as I was doing my daily jog through the woods I could swear I saw a huge black dog like the one I had just seen staring at me through the underbrush of the trees. I pushed my way through all the people in the hallway until I got to a bathroom I went in and made sure I was alone. I went to the sink and held myself steady by the sides. Looking at my reflection in the mirror I could see that my bright hazel eyes were wide with fear and I was drained of color. I let out a deep breath and pushed myself away from the sink, "This is ridiculous. What is wrong with me?" I went into one of the stalls put my uniform on fast and put my long auburn hair into a high pony tail. I looked into the mirror one last time pinched my cheeks to give them some color back and walked out of the bathroom. The hallway was empty of people, I checked my phone. "Crap." I said the pep rally was starting right now. I was about to put my phone away, when I was tackled to the ground by a boy with black hair. "Ow! Hey! What the-" he grabbed my arm, put his hand over my mouth, and pulled me up. The boy pushed me against a wall so the lockers on the wall were hiding us from… whatever he thought we needed to hide from. He looked at me with sea green eyes and whispered, "I'm going to take my hand off of your mouth now. Do not panic or scream. We are here to save you." He took his hand from my mouth and I took a breath of panic. He was about two inches taller than me and was wearing an orange shirt that said Camp Half-Blood on the front, he looked about my age. "Who are you? And why did you tackle me?" I asked my voice not sounding at all brave or mad; just shaky with terror. "My name is Percy Jackson. We are here to protect you." He said in a whisper. "We?" I asked. "You'll meet the rest of 'we' in a second but we have to get you out of here right now. I didn't know how much you were wanted dead, but you must be pretty powerful. What's your name? How old are you?" he said still whispering. I stared at him, gaping. "My name is Alice, and I'm 16. Who wants me dead? And I can't leave; I'm in the pep rally. Why are you whispering?" I asked at normal voice level. "Shhh. We can't let them find you. I promise to explain everything to you but we have to get you out of here right now. You have to trust me." He looked me straight in the eyes with those green eyes. And it was so strange because I felt like I should trust him. So I nodded, "Where do we have to go? And can you let go of my arm now, it's starting to lose blood flow." He let go of my arm, "Sorry, forgot. I promise I will explain all of that to you but you just need to follow me right now." He looked all around him to make sure there wasn't anything around. "Percy, what are we running from? You can tell me that much." I asked as we ran down the hallway. He gave me a wary glance, "A hellhound." I stopped in my tracks. "Alice, come on we have to keep moving, we have to-" "A hellhound? Like a big black dog thing?" "Have you seen it?" he asked urgently. "Twice." He nodded, "We should probably hurry. Gods, where is Annabeth." Right then we heard a girl scream and then, "Percy!" she cried. Terror passed over Percy's face as he turned around and broke into a sprint looking for the girl named Annabeth. "Annabeth!" he called out, "It sounded like she was coming from over here." I told him and he ran faster than I've ever seen anyone run. I ran after him. He turned the corner and I caught up with him, and I almost ran into a pretty blonde girl about as tall as Percy wearing the same orange shirt. She was holding a bronze knife in one hand and her side in the other. "Annabeth, are you okay? What happened?" he reached into his pocket and took out a baggy of some yellow cookie thing and handed her a little piece of it. She took it and ate it and a look of relief automatically came over her face, which made me very curious on what that cookie thing was. "Is this the half-blood?" she ignored his question. "Yes, this is Alice. Alice, this is Annabeth Chase." Percy introduced us, Annabeth smiled and held out her hand, I put mine in hers and we shook. "Well Alice, I'm sure you have quite a few questions."