Chapter 1

Penelope

When Penny woke up that morning, she really wasn't expecting an over-sized dog to chase her from her own house. As far as she knew, all she was going to experience was burnt toast and sour milk for breakfast.

She had woken up to her mother opening the curtains, letting the morning glare through. Penny's first instinct was to cover her head with the blanket.

"Time to get up, Penny." Her mother said cheerfully. She must've been having one of her good days.

Penny groaned. "It's too early." Her mom didn't respond and instead ripped the blanket off her, the cold air stunning Penny. "Hey!"

Her mother frowned. Her stringy blonde hair was pulled in a ponytail, her brown eyes watching Penny expectedly. "Up." She ordered. "Or you'll be late for school."

Penny just glared at her. "Since when do you care?"

"Excuse me," Her mother's eyes flared.

Penelope ignored her and stood up from her bed. She started to head into her bathroom when her mom caught her elbow.

"Penny," she twisted her daughter to face her then suddenly smiled. "You're birthday is in a few days, lighten up."

"Yeah," She replied bitterly. "Maybe Dad will stop by."

Her mother instantly let go at the mention of Penny's father, hurt plain on her face. Penny felt bad but she took her chance to escape to the bathroom.

Penny had never met her dad, he left right after she was born. There were no pictures or any real sign that her dad had even existed really. And if she asked her mom about it, she would freak out or just completely shut her down.

Penny looked into the mirror to see how hard she was going to work to look presentable and by the looks of it, her hair was going to be the problem. It was a black tangled mess, she moved a lot in her sleep so she was only half-surprised. But seriously, it was a rat's nest. It wasn't going to just be a problem, it was going to be painful. Her attention turned to her green eyes that were glazed over from sleep.

"Terrific." She muttered. "Just…plain…terrific…"

"So, Athena has +100 knowledge with 3,000 attack power." Shaun told Penny. "She's personally my favorite character but Kris likes Ares and it's understandable since he could hold infinite health for three rounds-"

"Shaun," Penny held her hand up for him to stop. "What are you talking about?"

Shaun seemed surprised that Penny didn't know. He pushed his glasses higher up his nose, making his blue eyes larger. "The card game Kris and I play. Mythomagic."

Penny nodded. "Oh, yeah. I knew that."

Shaun rolled his eyes.

"What do you see in all those Greek gods and monsters, anyway?" Penny asked him. She stepped over a branch that was lying in the middle of the sidewalk.

Shaun pressed a hand to his chest, feigning to be hurt. "Penelope Gosselin, that's like asking someone what they see in life."

Now Penny rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic." Penny saw a truck pulling out of an alley but for some reason it gave her an uneasy feeling. She shifted the strap of her backpack.

"How do you know the Greek gods don't really exist, huh?" Shaun asked her, pressuring.

"Because they don't." Ironically, thunder rumbled in the distance.

"See, Zeus will punish you." He pointed to the gray sky. "He has 600 damage."

Penny pushed him. "Shut up." The truck had stopped moving and was just sitting halfway out of the alley. She stopped to get a steadier look at it, then it pulled back in between the buildings.

"What are you looking at?" Shaun asked her.

"Huh?" She turned back to face him. He had gone several feet without her and was then backing up. "Oh, nothing." She looked back at the alley the truck had gone but she didn't see anything.

"Umm, it's something." He waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello, Earth to Penny!"

She swatted his hand away. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

She was already walking towards the alley. "Just stay there. It'll only take a minute." Penny didn't hear Shaun's response because she had already made it halfway across the street. She jumped onto the walk space and quickly went to the gap between the buildings.

There she saw the truck. She couldn't really make out the details of it because when she really looked at it, it seemed to shimmer slightly.

She focused a little harder, then the whole image of the truck faded into a…dog? The dog was humongous, the size of an actual truck, with midnight black fur and canines that didn't seem so welcoming.

Penny heard a scream, only later realizing it was hers. The dog started running towards her, its huge paws taking extremely long strides. Before Penny knew it, she was running.

She saw Shaun just standing on the other side of the street and she shrieked at him, "Run!"

Shaun only gave her a quizzical look and Penny had no choice but to book it down the street, the over-sized dog right at her heels. She knew she didn't stand a chance with whatever the thing was, even before it used one of its paws to smack her down to the ground. Penny went tumbling on the concrete, her skin being scraped raw.

For a few seconds she didn't move, every muscle in her body aching, then she managed to lift her head and saw a few pedestrians pass by. They didn't even give her a second glance, not even for the dog that was staring at Penny, licking its lips. The thought that Shaun might've been right about myths went through her mind but it was gone as quick as it came.

One boy a little ways down the street met Penny's eyes, and she had a flicker of hope. She recognized the curly brown haired boy from her school, his name being Holt Silas or something like that. Holt seemed horror stricken and Penny didn't blame him if he was able to see the monster that was standing only feet from her.

That actually reminded Penny of the dog. She looked at the beast again, but all she saw was the razor sharp teeth that were only inches from her face. She instinctively rolled over, but the dog put a paw on her chest and the weight made her lungs burn with pain. Drool spilled from the creature's mouth onto her face.

"Penelope!" It was Holt. He was closer now. "Penelope, they're sending an extraction team now! Just wait a few minutes!"

Extraction team? What was he talking about? "I don't think I have a minute!" She screamed back at him. Her brain was having trouble processing everything that was happening in just the span of seconds. All she knew was that this thing was about to kill her.

A shrill tune started to play and roots sprouted from cracks in the pavement, wrapping around the thing's legs. It didn't really seemed effected by it, just more annoyed. It just lifted its paws and the roots would snap off. The tune became more frantic and the roots grew thicker, climbing higher on the creature. That was when the conch horn echoed through the whole block.

The monster lifted its head to find the source of the sound and Penny took the advantage to roll out from its crushing paw. Holt dragged her away and Penny saw a pair of what looked like reed piped in his hand.

"The Hunters." Holt said in awe.

Penny didn't know what he meant, because she had looked down at Holt's feat, which turned out to be hooves. His sneakers were kicked off at the edge of the street, and seeing the dark brown fur on his legs and his hooves made Penny's head spin.

The conch horn got closer and just when Penny thought her day couldn't get stranger, a group of adolescent girls wearing silver jackets ran up with bows in their hands. None of them looked older then seventeen, and one girl with spiky black hair wore a silver circlet on her head. She aimed her bow and started to draw an arrow.

The dog creature growled savagely, then returned its attention to Penny. Penny's voice was stuck in her throat and all that came out was a whimper. Holt had put his reed pipes back to his mouth and started playing when the girl with the black hair yelled, "Attack!"

A whole volley of arrows went whistling through the air, almost every single arrow landing in the monster's hide before it managed to sink it's sharp teeth into Penny and Holt. It yelped then exploded into a puff of dust, blinding Penny momentarily.

She heard boots pounding on the asphalt as someone came running up and a few seconds later she heard Holt say, "The extraction team is supposed to be here soon."

"We need to tend to her, first." A girl responded. It came from right next to Penny.

Penny opened her eyes saw the girl with the spiky hair examining her face. The girl's eyes were a startling electric blue and they almost seemed to spark. "Half-blood?" The girl said.

"Yeah, I was assigned to watch her a few weeks ago." His voice hushed. "Monsters come left and right here. The only reason they probably don't find her is because she doesn't know."

Half-blood? Monsters left and right? Penny could feel herself slipping.

"She needs ambrosia." The girl said. She scooped Penny into her arms and that was when Penny blacked out.