Annabeth

Annabeth didn't find the monsters. The monsters found her. They would come to her school, attack her on the street. They looked like normal people, but acted…strange. They kept talking about how she smelt, like they wanted to eat her, or something. Which Annabeth had no doubt that they did. She had told her parents, her dad and step-mom. Annabeths mom had left just after she was born. She always wanted to meet her. Both her parents never believed her, though. They told she had an active imagination, just like all kids with monsters under the bed. But these monsters were real. And they were out to get her.

Annabeth lied in bed, watching the shadows from her window. Then, someone, no, something's tentacle flopped over the open window sill. She scrambled up against her headboard. A head rose up over the tentacle, eyes glowing green, sillheuted against the moonlight. She slowly got out of bed and opened the door. The monster was in the room now, coming towards her. She hurried down the stairs, making sure not to wake her parents. She pulled on her shoes and ran out the door, into the garage. the Monster slithered up to her, leaving slime on the floor. Its tentacle wrapped around her ankle. Her right hand groped behind her, then closed on a worn wood handle. Dads hammer she thought, then brought it down with all her might on the monsters head. Again. And again. It retracted its tentacle and backed away. Once more. The Monster imploded into dust, slowly scattering on the floor. This is the last straw Annabeth thought. I've got to get out of her.

Hours later, Annabeth had deicided she had no idea what she was thinking. She was 7 years old, on her own on the streets. Plus, there were monsters out to get her, and she was the only one who could see them.

Something clattered behind her. She started running. She didn't look back. The footsteps clattered faster. She ducked into an alley and looked frantically for somewhere to hide. A garbage can. She ran over and climbed in, closing the lid on top of her.

Voices sounded outside her smelly hiding place. "I don't care how many there are, Luke!" a muffled girls voice, said in a loud stage whisper. "I saw someone run down here. You never know, maybe there're more out there." "well, I guess we'll see, then." A boys voice answered her, probably Luke. More footsteps. The lid of the can rattled and came up. Annabeth jumped up, hammer swinging, she would've brained him, but he caught her wrist. "Whoah!" he shouted. "cool it." He lifted her out and set her down. "Its okay." The girl said, stepping in front of look and kneeling to look her in the eye. We're monster-fighters too."

"It's just through here." Thalia said. She shoved aside a collection of brambles and opened the door to a low hut built from broken boards and sod chunks. She rummaged through a stack of supplies covered in water proof plastic. "Here, she said, turning around and handing Annabeth a pair of jeans and denim jacket. "see if these fit."

After she'd changed, Luke took her aside and said "Here." He took his knife from his sleeve. "This is a real monster killing weapon. Works a lot better than a hammer." He handed it to her.

Rain pounded on the roof outside. Something louder pounded at the door. Luke jolted from his sleep, then rolled from his sleeping bag and shook Thalia, who was sleeping with Annabeth. It was their second night in the safe house. He took a long spear from beside the door and flung open the door. Someone yelped, and Annabeth was sure it wasn't Luke. "I-I came here on a Keeper mission. I had no idea there would be three!"

As it turns out, Grover, who was the person at the door, came to lead Thalia, just Thalia, to a place called camp Half-blood. But he didn't see the harm of two more. They had to get going immeidiatly. The four of them hurried from the safe house into the driving rain.

Grover seemed a little on edge, Annabeth thought. He couldn't stop sniffing at the air, wich Annabeth found strange. "there's an entire army of them behind us. We'll have to get there by tommorow at the latest." Grover said.

They still needed to sleep, though. Annabeth, Thalia, Luke and Grover all crashed in an abandoned mansion around midnight. Annabeth had a bad feeling about the place, but she trusted Luke and Thalia, so they went in.

They slept in what was living room. Luke collapsed on a tattered sofa, Thalia crashed on a short coach, and Annabeth curled up on a dusty armchair. Grover jumped around, insisting on keeping watch.

Luke woke up in the middle of the night. He heard shouting down the hall. Annabeth. "Don't! Stop!" she cried in fear. "Luke!? Thalia!? Help!" He jumped up and ran towards the voices.

Thalia woke up in the middle of the night too. But she heard Luke calling for help. "Thalia! They're here! Help!" she heard "Help!" she tiptoed past Annabeth and Grover. They couldn't help. Not if the monsters had caught up with them.

Grover woke up, too. He looked around. Thalia and Luke were gone. He hopped up and followed their trail, sniffing like a dog.

Annabeth woke to an empty room. Thalia, Grover and Luke were gone, along with their weapons. She got up carefully, grabbed her knife and left the room.

It wasn't hard to find Thalia, Luke and Grover. She just had to follow the voice. It was her dads, but it was different, somehow. Telling her to come without a trace of caring. She knew it wasn't his. Just someone impersonating him. She came out on a huge dinning room. What was the table was broken up for a huge cookfire. Thalia, Luke and Grover were tied and hanging from the high ceiling. Luke had been knocked out with a huge welt on his head. Grover was shouting frantically, and Thalia was writhing like a maggot. And there, citing in the center of the room, stocking the fire, was a huge hairy Giant. He turned around, but didn't see her. He untied Luke, and brought him to a pot on the fire. Annabeth panicked. She ran to the giant and stabbed him in the foot. He yowled in pain and looked down at her, dropping Luke beside the fire. She gasped in horror. He had one eye. One huge, milky eye in the center of his forehead. She backed up, scared. He lumbered after her. she skirted to the side and picked up a rock that had fallen from the ceiling. Annabeth hurled it as far she could down the hall. It clattered down the corridor. The Cyclops trampled after it. She smiled and hurried to Thalia. She hung high above her head, but next to the wall. Annabeth grabbed one of the hangings. It held, thank heavens. She started climbing. The Cyclops would be back any moment. She reached up to Thalias hands, clinging to the wall hangings. She started sawing with the knife Luke had given her. the rope on Thalias hands fell to the floor just as the Cyclops clomped back into the room. Thalia pulled herself up to untie her feet and flipped down to the floor. Annabeth slid down after her. Luke sat up groggily. Thalia ran to grab her spear from where the giant had thrown it in the corner. She kept the Cyclops distracted while Annabeth ran to Luke and cut him free. Together they watched while Thalia finally hurled her spear like a javelin and caught the Cyclops in the stomach. She watched it disintegrate. Annabeth scaled the wall again and cut Grover free. She glanced at Thalia, then Luke, and they ran.

They were on an old country road, when Grover pointed "That way. Right there, that's the border." He was pointing to the top of a bald hill. Growling sounded behind them, Luke glanced behind them and broke into a run. "Hurry! Don't Look, Just GO!" he sounded so panicked, Annabeth didn't question.

They were near the top when the first monsters attacked. Thalia spun around, wielding her long spear. She fought so hard Annabeth was surprised. The monsters were pushing her around, back down the hill. As she watched, the monsters wore down her defences. There were just too many. Annabeth and Luke backed over the border as Thalia stumbled and fell. "What are you doing! RUN!" then she collapsed on the top of the hill, overrun by monsters. Annabeth and Luke backed down slowly, watching as monsters devoured their friend. Just as the monster army started to back away, Thalias body shimmered and changed shape, growing and thickening, until a tall pine tree stood in her place, guarding the camp.

"Well, then." Luke's voice was about to break. Annabeth was already crying. He looked at Grover. "Lead on."