Outside my cabin door, I hear an explosion. I sit straight up in my bed and nudge Percy's side. He groans.
"What do you want?" He puts his pillow over his head, covering his face.
"Did you hear that it? Get up!" I order him. I yank the sheets off me and grab my black ski jacket as I head out the door.
When I step outside, I gasp. The cabin to my left which is Zeus' cabin is on flames. Some campers flood in with hoses to smother the flames. Good thing no one was inside. But from where the damage is on the cabin, it looks like he/she was aiming for Poseidon's cabin.
I rush to the aid of a fallen camper who seemed to be injured, which is highly unlikely because curfew was three hours ago. I pull him up on to his feet.
"Are you okay? How did you get hurt?" I ask.
"I'm fine, thanks." He nods without answering my second question. I look at his neck and see a silver pendent with 7 other clay beads.
"So, what is your name?"
"Oh, Christian. And we will see each other again, hero." He walks away, seeming perfectly fine.
"Alex, what happened out there?" Percy rushes to my side.
"Do you know that kid? I have never seen him in camp?" I ignore his question.
"How does he look like?" Percy asks.
"Well, he has light brown hair, I guess intelligent but in a certain degree not intelligent, as tall as me, and goes by the name Christian." I stretch my neck out to see him again.
"Hmm, I don't think so. We should probably tell Chiron." Percy mumbles.
"No! Let's not tell Chiron. Keep this to yourself, don't even let Annabeth know." I say.
"Bu-" I cut him off short.
"Go help them clean the rubble. I need to go for a walk." Percy nods and heads toward the damage.
I walk to the strawberry fields and pluck one of the berries and put it in my mouth. The flavor bursts in my mouth. Most people think that these are ordinary berries. Demigods can eat them but if a mortal does, they will explode.
I hear a ruffle of leaves in the woods. I whip my head back. Nothing. I reach into my pocket and pull out the pen. Riptide springs into full formation. I slowly creep toward the woods.
A few feet away, I see a human silhouette emerging from the shadows. I squint to get a better look from the darkness.
The same man-Christian- comes into sight.
"Hello again. It seems you have got my hint." Christian says, his head raising high to make him look taller then me.
"What hint?" I ask.
"Oh never mind. I was just wandering here. This place is actually quite lovely." He touches one if the leaves. I look at his necklace again.
"Are you a new half-blood? How come I never seen you here?" I load him with questions.
"Ah, you are a curious one. And, you could say I am special like you." Christian pulls out his necklace. An owl bead, Thalia's pine bead, A centaur in a prom dress, A Greek trireme bead, a red coral pendant, a ring, and more. The silver pendant glistens in the moonlight. It has a curved X in the middle and a thick silver border.
"Those are all Annabeth's beads! What have you done with her?" I slash out with Riptide. He ducks backwards and pulls out his knife at his belt. He kicks me with his left leg and hits me in the stomach. The force is like a three pound hammer striking my windpipe. I fall backward on to the ground. I try to breathe but it is like inhaling knifes dipped in centaur blood.
"Such a sad end to a wonderful… prodigy," He says as he grips his knife hilt. He chucks the knife at me. I have enough time to roll right, but it still creates a deep gash in my skin.
I stand up, my hand pressed against the wound to stop the blood flowing.
"Why Annabeth? What makes her special? Actually, let me rephrase that… never mind, why Annabeth?" I blabber, trying to slow down his pace.
"I'm not going to fall for that trick again. I tell you my plan, then you stop me, and I have to blow something up again." This time, I don't wait for him to have time, I slash out. He doesn't see it coming so I made a cut on his cheek. I move closer toward him and smash the butt of my sword on his nose. I push him on the ground and let him stay their.
"Tell me where she is right now!" I demand.
Instead of answering me, he smacks Riptide out of my hands, cutting a slight cut near his Adam's Apple. Since my weapon is gone, I kick his chest and rest my foot there. I reach to his hand and grab the knife.
"If you are not going to tell me, then you deserve this-" I thrust my hand forward but stop when I hear my name.
"Alex, what are you doing?" Percy runs toward me at full speed and grabs hold of my wrist.
"This is a camper you are trying to murder. What has gotten into you?"
"What, no. He is not a camper. He is a butt head." I argue.
Percy helps Christian to his feet.
"Sorry about that. My sis-" He didn't have time to finish the sentence because Christians hand were at Percy's throat.
"Don't touch my brother." I tackle Christian. I am on him, my hands at his throat like his on Percy's.
"Oh, you-gags- are brother and-gags- sister?" He chokes between his breaths. I lose my hold on his neck but grab the tops of his hair and yank back.
"You look nothing alike. You," he points at Percy, "have black hair and I think sea green eyes." He looks at me. "You have light brown hair and bright blue eyes."
"That has nothing to do with this." I say to Christian. "He has captured Annabeth and wants this camp to crumble."
"So like the second Luke." I glare at him and he realizes what he said. No one likes to talk about Luke's incident.
"Wait, he has captured Annabeth? Than why does he have the clay beads. He has the bead of truth." Percy says.
"Look at it carefully," I say.
"Those are Annabeth's beads. Tell us where she is fraud." Percy yells, drawing other camper to look to our direction.
"Fine, I will tell you. She is being tortured in one of our most remote experiment labs."
"Oh geez thanks. That is totally going to help. You better tell me or you won't live to see tomorrow" I say.
"Death threats will not get the answer out of him. If we kill him, we won't know where to go and find Annabeth." Percy jokes and sounds serious in an instant.
"Okay get lost. If we see you again, we'll kill you." I get off of Christian and he heads back in the woods muttering something to himself.
"So where do we start to look for Annabeth?" I ask rubbing my hands on my jeans to take of the dirt.
"I don't know. We should start off by sneaking out. Pack all your things, we leave at sunrise."
"We are in the same cabin stupid. You can pack for me." I say, humor involved.
"First of all, no and second, you're not a baby." Percy walks away but I trail behind him.
"Come on bro. Be the kind brother you have to be for your little sister. Come back!"
I rush back to the cabin. I grab my back
pack and shove clothes, nectar, ambrosia, some bandaids (you never know when they come in handy), and a sandwich. I throw my bag over my shoulder and head out the door.
Percy has his back against the cabin wall, his backpack at his feet.
"How- never mind. Anywho, who is going to accompany us?"
"All ready figured out." From behind Percy, Leo steps out of the shadows, grinning.
Chapter 2
"Leo? Why Leo?" I ask.
"I thought that we need some humor on this quest, so I asked him to come." Percy answers. I don't want to argue with him so we don't we don't waste time. I start by walking to the big house. I hope Percy and Leo are following me.
The big house has these really cool weapons in the attic. I head inside.
"Where do you think you are going Ms. Jackson?" I turn around and see Chiron.
"Oh, uh Chiron. I was just wandering here, waiting for them to clean the wreckage."
"And the backpack?" Chiron folds his arms.
"Well, it is very comfortable. Also, I have a sweeper to clean the rubble. That makes sense, right?"
"You are a terrible liar, Ms. Jackson. Back to your cabin and tell your brother and Leo the same thing too." Chiron turns around and heads toward the cabins.
Percy and Leo are now by my side.
"Did Chiron talk to you? What did you say?" Leo asks
"Oh man, if Chiron asked questions about where Alex was going, she screwed up, right?"
"Yup. He told us to head back to our cabins. If Chiron knows that we are going to sneak out, he would put up the border patrol."
When I reach there, Zeus's cabin has been blackened by the smoke and damaged by the fire. I open the door and see Rachel sitting on my bed.
"What are you doing here?" I beckon Rachel to get off my bed.
"Oh sorry. I came here to tell you about a dream I had a few nights ago." Rachel gets.
"And I should care because..."
"You were involved in it." Rachel frowns.
"Go on."
"So in my dream you and Percy were fighting someone-"
"Who?" I interrupt.
"I was going to say a giant or maybe another titan," Rachel says, "impatient much." She mumbles which I hear. "Anyway, you guys were fighting and then one of you fell. Seconds later, the giant or whatever rose up to kill you."
"Thanks for the information, Rachel. I have to go now. I have some work to do." I get up and close the door behind me. The sun is just setting over the valley. I wait outside until dinner is called. I head to the dining pavilion. I slowly eat my ribs and broccoli until Percy come to sit next to me.
"Wanna leave after dinner?"
"I was just thinking the same thing." I answer smiling.
"Go tell Leo," Percy says, bumping my shoulder. I want to argue but I have no time because I already get up towards the Hephaestus table. I slide in next to Leo.
"Leo, buddy, we are going to leave after dinner." I whisper in a soft tone. He looks into my eyes, his brown eyes show fear yet also excitement. He shows two thumbs up which is my cue to leave.
I quickly head back to my table and call Percy with our secret signal. I tiptoe out of the pavilion and to the edge of the barrier. I can hear the footsteps of Percy and Leo behind me.
Then, I hear other more louder footsteps at a quicker pace. I start running deeper into the thicket. I jump over huge roots and fallen branches to avoid getting a sprained ankle. My blood rushes to my brain which is why I can't hear Percy or Leo behind me if they are.
I finally reach the road. Should I go left or right? I sprint left and back into the woods. Branches hit my face, cutting cuts on my cheek and neck. I don't stop. I leap over a huge log but my foot gets caught in one of its crevice. I stumble and fall on the littered ground.
Leo and Percy are now by my side. I knew they were running behind me the whole time. Percy grabs my arms and hoists me up.
"They are coming still. Can you still run?"
"I think I can. I can try." I put pressure on my feet. My left ankle sears with pain like pins and needles were shoved in my ankle. "I don't think I can run or walk. Can you find a place to hide?" Percy nods and heads south and Leo heads west.
In about 20 seconds, Percy comes back with a smile. "I found a really deep cave!" He picks me up again and calls for Leo. I can hear the people coming closer from the east. Leo comes and they both help me into the cave. The sun is setting and the footsteps grow faint. I rest on the soft moss at the corner of the cave. Percy and Leo sit at the other corner watching me as I close my eyes. I can hear them whisper about getting food for dinner. They leave the cave and I fully doze off.
I wake up to the crackle of fire. I slowly open my eyes and see Percy stroking the fire with a stick. I get up and sit on the log that is set up in a circle.
"Where is Leo?" I ask, fiddling with my hands.
"He went to go find some food." Percy answers but doesn't look at me.
"That is why he has his tool belt," I joke.
"I guess you're right, but he did say he wanted to make something homemade"
After about 5 minutes of sitting in silence, Leo comes back. He has a dead deer slung over his shoulder. No one talks still. Leo doesn't even make one joke.
"Whatcha cooking us there Leo?" I ask.
"I am thinking about making burritos, none of you are vegetarian right?" Leo responses. We shake our head.
"Won't the fire smoke give us away? Why did we make a fire in the first place?" Percy questions.
"OMG you're right!" Leo says in a high pitched voice. "Don't you think I would have covered that already. I put a barrier above the fire so the smoke would not give us away and I put camouflage on the fire so we can only see but not anyone else at camp." Now I see why Percy choose Leo to come with us.
My eyelids start to close while Percy and Leo talk. I drift off once again.
Chapter 3
Someone shakes my shoulders to get up. I sit up and realize it is my shift. Percy and Leo are sleeping by the fire. I sit with me hands over my legs eyeing the forest.
A russell appears over by the left and me head perks up. I stand and pull out Riptide from my pocket. The russell becomes louder and faster. I jump through the bush but no one is there. I walk deeper into the forest, knowing that if I get lost I won't be able to find my way back. I turn back around and there is no fire. Leo really did put a camouflage on the fire.
Then and russell to my right and another one to my left, front, and behind me. I know that there are multiple of them.
Suddenly, a creature appears but only in front of me. It's red eyes make me nervous. I have never seen any monster like this. It was fully black so it blended into the shadows easily. Rows of sharp teeth form in it's mouth. It's pointed ears make it look like a fox but I'm not sure. Of course it was beautiful but it was also nerve wrecking to look at it.
The creature moves closer to me as I step back. I will only attack it if it attacks me, first. I keep backing up, I don't want to fight with it. With it's teeth bared, it lunges at me. I duke the first pounce but then it leaps onto my back.
I struggle to keep my footing. It claws away at my jacket and bits my shoulder. I howl in pain. I do a front flip to shake the creature off of me and it does. I kick it and slash out with Riptide. It jumps back but doesn't leave. I remember to not stare at it in the eyes, the next thing I need right now is it to be on full attack mode.
I try to rack my brain with the type of monster it is. Not a wolf, too tiny. Not a hellhound, doesn't have a shaggy fur.
Instead of trying to kill myself by thinking, I fight with it, show him who's boss. I never had a dog before and the creature looks like one. Everyone tells me you have to show a rough dog who is in charge. I rush to it and duck once again as it's sharp paws reach out quickly. I grab the dog by its ears and stab Riptide into it's back. It creates a high pitched screech and disappears in a cloud of yellow dust.
I rush back down to the cave before it is Percy's shift. I sit back on the rock that I used when I was watching for any monsters.
The sun is just about rising, the sky is pink and orange and so are the clouds by the sun. Percy is not awake yet and neither is Leo.
They finally wake up when the sun is already high in the sky.
"Leo, Percy, you're awake, we have to leave now, I packed everything, get up both of you." I order them up so they can get up. I throw them their backpacks and we set off into the woods.
We reach the highways at half past noon. We are starving. Leo's dinner wasn't really fulling. For "breakfast", I had my sandwich. We walk in silence by the highway. Cars whizz past us, ruffling my hair. We could probably hitchhike but these are New Yorkers we are talking about. But the most weirdest thing, there are no taxis. New York should be called Taxi state, that is how many taxis exist in new York. Probably 99% of the world's population of taxis.
I suddenly stop. "How about we hitchhike. We can give it a shot. My legs are sore." I say.
"Your right." Percy says. Percy holds out the hitchhiking sign, a thumbs up which is tilted. Cars keep driving past like we don't exist. Sweat drips down my face. I wipe my sleeve across my forehead.
Finally, a car stops. Nothing fancy. It is a beat up Toyota with the headlights broken. I open the door and hop in the furthest seat. Leo squishes me and I have to push him away.
"Thank the gods. We really needed a ride. If you mind, can you take us to Trenton?" I ask. The man doesn't say anything. He starts the car and hurries down the road. We ride in silence except when Leo asks me,
"Why Trenton?"
"I don't know. I just have a feeling there will be something there that will help us find Annabeth."
We come upon a sign above the highway saying TRENTON, EXIT 61. Our car zooms past the exit.
"What are you doing? You passed the exit for Trenton."