Night Riders

Sometimes I feel like the most beautiful tales of people and their lives are sent from heaven and whispered in the ears of a few people, in the most fascinating and unusual ways.

Preface

It was the coldest winter Santaro has ever experienced in years. The cold wind blew forming a misty haze. A lonely person in a dark brown coat and a dark hat walked down the street in the eerie silence of the night. The clock on the tower struck half hour past eleven as he passed the center of the city. The cloudy moonless sky created a kind of atmosphere that would have sent shivers down one's spine just from fear.

He walked further through a newly constructed area where a guard was patrolling. Guessing from the look on the guard's face it gave the impression as though he would have been anywhere than here in the freezing night. He didn't notice the mysterious man on the other side of the street as the man walked towards him and directly through him. It seemed like a ghost had moved though the guard's body.

The mysterious stranger walked though the twists and turns of the city further and further in the direction of the ocean shoreline. As he stopped on the shore his expressionless face gave the hint of a smirk. Slowly he lifted his arms with a gesture like he was summoning something. A few moments later the sea erupted in a havoc of waves and the tremor shook the ground. In the next instant the stranger suddenly disappeared to the nowhere leaving a dark gloom in the air.

Annabeth

Hid in the shadows of the night Annabeth glanced at the red roofed, well kept two story house. Her curly blond hair fell in dark cascades on her shoulders and till her mid-back. Her stormy grey eyes scanned the area and studied the house. There was nothing interesting in the work she was doing and the cold made it even more difficult. Santaro was one of the places where people didn't expect cold winters. It was a very humid and warm place and it was almost impossible that a snowfall would occur or that the temperature would even reach near to it. But this year the weather was unnatural. She secured her coat more tightly around her as a cold wind blew past her.

Spying on an eighteen year old teenager seemed more like baby-sitting to her. She had spent whole week uncovering whatever information she got about him. Though that was not what made it look like baby-sitting. The fact that she was looking out for him, keeping the threats and danger away him was more discerning to her, knowing that he has spent eighteen years of his life without the help of people like her.

She glanced at her watch. It was still 20 minutes before this night duty was over and she would get to go home and have the luxury of sleep. Annabeth was a shadow warrior. It was her job to find people of her kind, to gather information about them and make sure they stay safe until someone is sent from Wertingon to do the further proceedings. Her current suspect was a boy named Percy Jackson. She has spent days on observation and it was almost certain that her suspicions were true.

Annabeth was not the kind of girl to get surprised easily. But there was something in him that felt strange to her. It was rarely that someone had such strong aura as this boy's and Annabeth had sensed it. He had a strong personality too so she was positive that he would not take the truth with a complete shock. She knew he could handle it better than others had.

As minutes passed, she was just waiting for the time to get over. Suddenly, she felt the ground shake and tremors erupt which were not noticeable to others. Annabeth knew exactly what that meant. She could sense the gloom in the air that made her feel nostalgic. Since last few months, these kinds of things were happening all over the world. It wouldn't have clued the humans that anything was wrong but the shadow warriors knew. Every one of them had the ability to sense the energy summoned by the ghosts and that was a clear clue that something was going wrong.

As if to give her a sign, her suspect came to his bedroom window and searched outside for something. He didn't see the girl hid in shadows, who had the satisfaction as she has finally, come to her conclusions. He went back inside and the clock struck twelve signaling Annabeth her time to go home and the end of her yet another assignment.