Chapter One
Sasha struggled for air as the monster held her by her neck up off the ground, suffocating her slowly. It had millions of eyes all in a big glob at the top of his head like a bunch of grapes. Gasping and sputtering, Sasha could feel the need for oxygen killing her gradually. The monster opened its purple lips, baring its fangs, as sharp as a butcher's knives. Kicking weakly in a failing attempt to be freed, Sasha braced herself as the demon leaned so close Sasha could feel its breath on her shoulder, reeking of rotten meat and blood. Just when she thought the demon's fangs would pierce the skin between her neck and shoulder, it spoke.
"Sasha, wake UP or I'm getting freezing cold water and dumping it on your head!" Sasha's annoying brother's voice pierced through her dream, and she sighed, exasperated. "Ryan, get OUT OF MY ROOM." Sasha snapped, opening her eyes. The light coming through the open window blinded her momentarily, and it took a few seconds for the spots dancing above her eyes to disappear and her vision to clear. She was in her bedroom, and Ryan was sitting on the foot of her bed, poised as if he had just been about to hit her in the face with a pillow. Muttering, she kicked him and he fell of the bed, tumbling to the ground. He stood up, cursing, and tossed Sasha the pillow, leaving the room. She groaned and fell back down on the bed, head throbbing. She could still feel the monster's breath tickling her neck, it's fangs centimeters from her skin. Exhausted, She closed her eyes, only to see the horrific face of the monster leering down at her as it strangled her to death, and she opened her eyes abruptly. Sighing, she kicked the blanket off her and tossed her feet over the side of her bed, rising slowly from the mattress. She dressed in her school's uniform: A navy blue skirt that went down to her ankles and was so grandma-ish she always pulled it up so it was just above her knees, a light blue polo shirt under her school's navy blue sweater, and her navy letterman jacket with the school's emblem of dove battling a vulture stitched over the breast. She slipped on her black combat boots and stole her way downstairs, pouring herself a bowl of cereal and taking her usual seat next to Ryan at the kitchen table. She barely paid attention as she took bite after bite of her Lucky Charms. "Hell-O? Earth to Sasha?" Ryan said, waving a hand across her face. She rolled her eyes and smacked his hand away. "What?" She asked. He sneered, and Sasha rolled her eyes. Although she couldn't deny that her brother was cute, the effect was kind of ruined with the ugly gray school pants and the red sweater and wrinkled tie. She scrunched her nose and stood up, dumping her plate in the sink on the way out the kitchen. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom, where she brushed her teeth and did her hair up in her usual messy bun, making her chocolate locks a swirl of brown atop her head. Unsatisfied, she pulled out a strand of her hair and let it hand down her shoulder, the wavy texture looking more like a fully formed curl alone then a wavy strand of hair. Smiling, she shouldered her backpack, grabbed the latest book she had been reading, and waited by the door for her brother and her mom. Her brother had done his hair today so it was spiky like a metal singer's, and Sasha gagged. "Exactly how much hair product did you PUT in...that...thing?" She questioned, and he scrunched up his nose, imitating her disgusted face. "it's COOL. And what would you know about looks, anyways?" Sasha snorted. "More than you, obviously." She reached up and messed up his hair a little bit, ignoring his protests. Once pleased, she pulled her hand away, smiling. Ryan turned to look at Sasha's work in the mirror, then shrugged, obviously happy with her work but too prideful to admit it. "You're welcome" She teased. "Shut up." "Come on guys, let's go." Their mom. She had walked in and was dressed in her typical work suit. Pastel blazer and pants, white shirt, a little black purse, and black heels that clicked as she walked. All in all, Sasha hated her mom's wardrobe. Like, okay, she was a lawyer, she had to dress professionally, but she COULD at least wear those cute mini-blazers or even some comfortable flats every once in a while. Her mother's blonde hair was pulled up into a perfect bun, swirled to perfection. Not for the first time, Sasha couldn't help but wonder where her dark hair came from. Her father wasn't dark haired, or her grandparents on either side. Ryan was fair haired too, with short light brown hair that he usually did into the surfer 'do. Sasha made her way out the door, grabbing the door to the passenger seat of the car and jumping in before Ryan even had a chance to protest. She put in her ear buds and cranked up the music on her phone, finding her spot in her book and slipping away to her own little world as her mom drove them down to school.
"Seriously Sasha, what is UP with your hair?!" Andrea cried, appalled by Sasha's messy bun. Bored, Sasha shoved her Literature books in her locker and slammed it shut, making her way along the hall with her best friend to home ed. "Andrea, why do you always say that? I'm never doing my hair any other way." Although Sasha loved Andrea, sometimes she was seriously, seriously annoying. She loved to read, like Sasha, and they shared a common interest in multiple different series, but one thing they could never agree on was how Sasha did her hair. Andrea always insisted that Sasha's wavy dark hair looked beautiful when she let it fall down her shoulders freely, but Sasha preferred to have it out of her way. Plus, Sasha always felt self-conscious about her looks. She found Andrea to be really pretty; she had perfectly straight hair, a beautiful red-brown color, and warm brown eyes. "Look, I know you never like to fix it up, but there's this new guy in your algebra class, and he is SO H.O.T. Hot! Really Sash, and he's TOTALLY your type." Sasha raised an eyebrow. "I didn't even realize I had a type." She argued. "Sure you do. You're all into the mysterious bad-boy kind of guys. That's why you're so googly-eyed over Matt Bray." Andrea said, elbowing Sasha lightly and giggling. Sasha stared at her friend. "What?" Andrea asked, and Sasha shook her head. "You're so odd." She said, pushing open the door to home ed. and stepping in, Andrea right behind her.
Sasha and Andrea didn't have free period at the same time, so usually Sasha spent her time in the library or with Mikeal. Mikeal was Andrea's boyfriend and usually was pretty nice to Sasha, so they had begun to hang out, but today Sasha decided to stay in study hall and finish up a last-minute book report. "This seat taken?" Someone asked behind her, just as she was finishing analyzing 'Romeo & Juliette'. Sasha whirled to see a boy with shaggy black hair like shadows falling down into his eyes and a black leather jacket, black jeans, and black combat boots. Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Uhm...I don't know." He smiled, and his teeth were a dazzling white. Sasha immediately realized this was the new kid Andrea had been talking about and suddenly regretted not taking her best friend's advice about her hair; she was pretty sure she looked like she'd just rolled out of bed. "Well, would you mind if I sat here?" He asked, and Sasha shrugged. "I don't care." She turned back to her computer, pretending to be working on her essay she'd already finished, blushing wildly. He sat down next to her and turned to his computer, opening Google and typing in something Sasha couldn't make out. "You like archery?" He asked, and Sasha turned to him. "How'd you guess?" he pointed to a page she had opened while doing her research. "That's a great company. If you were thinking of taking lessons with anyone, I recommend them." Sasha raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?" The boy shrugged. "But I think it's a better use of time to try fencing. It's almost exactly like sword-fighting, and more useful if someone tries attacking you." "Actually, Archery is a more strategic choice for defense. You protect yourself from a distance." Sasha argued, and the boy rolled his eyes. "Right, if you happen to have a bow and some arrows handy. And who do you know who travels around with a bow and arrow on their back for emergencies?" Sasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like someone would carry around a spare sword everywhere they went." She argued, and Nico shrugged. "I'm new, by the way." He told her, and Sasha smiled pitifully. "Yeah, I know how that feels. Well, welcome. And if you need anything, I'm Sasha, I think we're in the same algebra class." He nodded. "I'm Nico. Can I ask you a random question?" Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Uhm...go ahead?" "Do you know anyone dyslexic that goes to this school?" Sasha tensed, and her shoulders set. For her, dyslexia was a pretty touchy topic. "No." She replied simply, an edge in her voice. Nico raised an eyebrow, obviously totally aware she was lying, but didn't question her further. She turned away from him and plugged her flash drive into the computer, saving her paper onto it. All she wanted was to get out of the library and away from Nico. He was...strange. And although she couldn't deny the fact that he really was extremely cute, she knew he was trouble. Which Sasha found slightly ironic, because she knew that when Andrea had teased her about having a type she hadn't been wrong. Sasha realized that Nico was definitely her type, and that should have made Sasha into him even more. But there was something about him that stirred odd feelings inside Sasha. And she had the sneaking suspicion that one of those feelings was fear. She shook her head, deciding not to think about it, and made her way to French.
-
A.N.: Yay! My first chappie~! This is a CHB fanfic between most of the characters from the PJO series, a few from the Heroes of Olympus, and some OC's of mine. Now Sasha doesn't reach camp until around the 3rd of 4th chapter, please be patient with me :)) So In this fic, I won't be mentioning ANYTHING from the Heroes of Olympus other than the characters. Simply because it doesn't go well with my story. But I hope you enjoy it anyways! :)