A/N: Hello, I am The February Rose and this is my first posting of a fan fiction. I hope you like it and if you review (please, please, please review) don't hold anything back. Your criticism is what will make me a better writer. Oh, and I in no way, shape, or form own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I'm not that good. (lol) ^-^
She's running, scrambling over fallen trees and rocks, getting whipped by branches, but the girl doesn't mind the cuts and bruises that begin to appear. All she could think of is getting away, getting away from the monsters that chased her. She trips, falls, and the monsters are on top of her in an instant. She screams…and…
Thunk! "Ouch!" Kara lies back down, rubbing her head where she hit it, catching her breath.
"Kara! Are you okay?" A girl's head appears upside down. The rest of her body's leaning against the railing of her bunk making it creak ominously.
"I'm fine, Jenny. I just hit my head on your bunk again."
"You were having a nightmare again, weren't you?" Kara nods. "The same one?"
"It's so strange. I steer clear of anything Ancient Greek, and yet I still have these horrible dreams of a minotaur chasing me." Kara swings her legs over the edge of her bed, being careful not to hit her head or Jenny's. "I'm going to go see to making breakfast. Go back to sleep for a bit." As the oldest girl in the orphanage at the age of twelve, Kara has the duties of feeding the inhabitants. Although it means she has to get up earlier, she enjoys working with the food and without a recipe.
"Don't forget to wake up Marco and Herby. Herby will sulk if you don't and…" Jenny yawns widely. "…and Marco will be upset if you try to lift the heavy stuff without him."
"Don't worry. I can't forget my muscles and taste buds. Sleep well." Kara quietly exits the room and descends the spiral staircase that leads down the middle of the tower that the girls occupy in the orphanage.
"Good morning, Kara." Kara stops at the beginning of the bridge that leads from the girls' tower to the boys'.
"Good morning, House Mother Stevens."
"Are you going to make breakfast now?" Kara nods.
"Yes, ma'am. I just need to wake up Herbert and…"
"Kara!" Suddenly, Kara stumbles as she gets nearly tackled from behind.
"Herb, don't kill her." A tall, muscular boy of the same age as Kara gently pries the much smaller boy off of her back. "Good morning, House Mother, Kara."
"Good morning, Marco. Pleasant to see you up so soon on your own. Kara was just coming to get you."
"Herbert came into my room and just wouldn't let me go back to sleep at three in the morning." As he says this, Marco's tone gets jokingly dark and he turns the young boy upside down.
"Marco! Put me down!" Herby cries and Kara runs to his rescue, taking him from Marco. "I came to your room because Kara was distressed." Shocked, Kara looks at Herby with a confused look on her face.
"Distressed? How did you know I had another nightmare?"
Herby puts a hand over his heart. "I felt it. And saw it." He places a reassuring hand on Kara's arm. "The minotaur scared me too."
"Minotaur? Kara, you dreamt of the minotaur again?" Marco frantically looks in Kara's eyes. "Are you okay?"
"Geez, Marco, it was just a dream," Kara tries to convince him, but Marco just continues to search her eyes. Kara sighs, "I'll tell you about it in the kitchen. Good day, House Mother Stevens."
"Good day, Kara." As they start to head down more stairs, Herby looks back at the house mother with suspicion written on his face.
Once in the kitchen, Kara tells Marco what happened in her dream while mixing ingredients and watching Herby shudder at her words from time to time. After they've finished, their day continued as normal until Kara starts to get lunch ready for the children.
"Hello, Kara." The house mother walks in, her voice sounding a little off.
"Hello, House Mother Stevens. Why are you here? You know that I only allow Herby and Marco know what I'm making beforehand."
"I am not here to find out what's for lunch. I'm here for you." The woman starts to walk menacingly towards Kara. "You are never away from your two little friends, but right now you are." The house mother is right; Marco is working on homework while Herby is in the middle of playing hide-and-seek with the younger children, and Kara is getting nervous.
"Um, House Mother, are you feeling alright?"
"I'm going to be perfectly fine in a moment; right after I get rid of you." The house mother jumps at Kara.
"Get down!" Kara ducks not caring who said to, and gets showered in golden dust that suddenly disappears as a bronze knife hits the floor.
"Kara, are you okay?" Marco comes up from behind Kara to help her up. As she steadies herself, Herby picks up the knife.
"Herby, leave that…" He twirls the knife between his fingers and tucks it in one of his boots. "…be. Did you throw that? What is a nine year old doing with knives in his boots? And what the heck just happened? House Mother Stevens just tried to attack me and then was vaporized!"
"Kara, calm down, calm down." Marco takes Kara's head in his hands and forces her to look at him. "Are you calm now?"
"No, I am…" Marco cuts her off by drawing her into a hug. "Okay, now I am."
"Kara, you need to go upstairs and pack a bag of your things," Herby says, packing food into a backpack. "We need to be quick and quiet about it; we need to go about this wisely." Kara pulls away from Marco.
"Go about what?"
"I don't know why she didn't change but her vaporization proves it," Herby mumbles to himself.
"Proves what?"
"Marco, you're coming too. Go get packed. I'm hesitant about guiding two, I'm not leaving you here."
"Herbert Underwood, what is going on?" When Kara uses Herby's full name, he's in trouble. He shakes his head.
"It's not safe to tell you here. I will explain as soon as we are far away from this place." Pulling out two bronze knives, Herby turns to Kara and Marco. "Take these. They won't hurt normal people, but they will hurt whatever tries to attack you." Marco silently takes one of the knives and straps it to his calf, while Kara just stares at the other. "Take it Kara." She hesitates, but takes the knife and also straps it to her calf. "Now go pack your things. Only the necessities."
Kara is up in her room gathering her things when Jenny comes in.
"Kara, what are you doing?"
"I'm…going on a trip. There are too many children here so the house mother is sending some of us to other orphanages. Maybe we'll see each other again."
"No! You aren't leaving! I won't let you!" Jenny gives Kara a hug from behind.
"Jenny, I must," Kara explains, pulling away gently. "Just be good and not hyperactive like me, and I'm sure that a lovely family will just beg to take a cute little girl like you home." Picking up her bag, Kara looks down at the younger orphan. "I'll miss you." She hugs Jenny and leaves her teary eyed.
"Goodbye, Kara."
Back downstairs, Marco and Herby are waiting for Kara.
"I'm ready," she says as she descends the stairs.
"Okay, so we'll take a bus to Lynchburg, a train from Lynchburg to Long Island, and then a cab to our destination," Herby says staring at a map.
"What's our destination?" Marco settles his bag on his shoulders.
"A very, very special camp. Let's move." They fold up the map, and head out to the bus stop.
A/N: Like I said before, all criticism is welcome as long as you are polite about it. So, please review and tell me what you think.