Chapter 1: Familiar Mystery
Percy POV
"Raid of monster, border control left!" a voice yelled.
I was beginning to scale the climbing wall when I heard the warning. Disappointed, I reluctantly jumped off the wall and sprinted toward the voice. You see, I had this goal that I would beat Annabeth's record of climbing the wall sixty-four times. I've only climbed the wall forty-nine times, and since Annabeth was gone, it was the perfect time for me to try beating her record.
Camp Half-Blood didn't have border control because the boundaries were weak, but because new demigods were always coming in. Sometimes, one too many ugly monsters were chasing the half-blood, and we would help destroy the monsters.
When I finally got to the border I saw a small horde of monsters down the hill. I realized Byron and Hector had sounded the alarm.
Byron Rivers was a really cool and friendly guy of the Zeus cabin. He had pale blonde hair and hazel eyes, so he looked nothing like his father. Byron was tall and built and one of the best swordsmen at Camp Half-Blood. He can manipulate lightning as good as Thalia can. Though, his battle skills were so good that it was scary, his personality was anything but threatening.
Hector was holding a golden spyglass. Son of Athena, Hector Lunar, was known for being just about the best strategist that Camp Half-Blood had. I hardly knew Hector, but I always thought he was a relatively decent guy.
"What type of monsters are those?" I asked.
"Small-time monsters," he replied. "I think they're telekines."
"The telekines are chasing a girl," Hector said, "She's probably a demigod since she's armed."
"Armed?"
"Knives or something," Byron answered, "I can't tell from this distance."
"Why isn't she using them to kill the telekines?" I asked.
"One," Hector said, "she might not know how to kill a raid of monsters. Two, she's running with a limp. She's probably injured from an earlier battle."
Ugh, Athena kids and their simple and infuriating logic.
"What's the plan?" someone called from behind.
A small group of demigods had gathered.
"Let the monsters through the borders," Hector said carefully, "We'll be able to get them faster, and therefore save the girl from more danger than necessary. Besides, the monsters are weak; they pose no threat to camp, even if there were no borders. If we fight carefully, we'll be able to get out of this with no wounded people."
People murmured in agreement.
He turned around and raised his arms. He shouted, "I, Hector Lunar, give you permission to enter camp!"
As usual, the sky got darker and we heard thunder.
"Who'll get the girl?" Nicholas Eston asked after Hector was done.
Nicholas is my half-brother and has better manipulation of water and storms than I do. He's one of the best fighters than most people at camp.
"Percy," Hector replied.
He started to run down the hill, towards the telekines.
"Wait!" I exclaimed, "Why me?"
"You have a better chance of saving the girl since you have the Achilles' Curse. If the telekines try keeping you away from her, you can overpower them easily-invincibility and all. After you get her, bring her to safety."
I grimaced at Hector's simple logic. While running, he pressed a button on the spyglass. It made a few clicking and whirring sounds while small metal pieces folded together. When the clicking sounds stopped, it had transformed into a small golden bead. He broke the bead in two halves and snapped the pieces back together onto his camp half-blood necklace. As the bead dangled from his necklace, I realized how much he looked like Annabeth. They both had the same blonde hair and gray eyes. Maybe Hector's chin was pointier, and the color of his eyes were duller, but they bared the same features. The golden bead reminded me of the college ring that Annabeth hung on her necklace. I suddenly wished she was here fighting by my side, like the past, instead of spending her time rebuilding Olympus. I quickly shook the thought off. Building something great was Annabeth's dream, I should be happy for her.
"Missing Annabeth, Percy?" Byron said.
He patted me on the shoulder, "No need to worry. I bet she's doing fine, and missing you, too. Anyways, we're almost there."
The telekines saw us approaching and…seal-flopped towards us. I uncapped Riptide and slashed a telekine in half. Then, I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to get the girl to safety. Where was she? I scanned the field, and I couldn't see her anywhere. I abruptly remembered that I didn't even know what she looked like.
"Byron!" I called, "What did the girl look like?"
"Black hair and…" he answered as he stabbed a telekine. He turned his head towards me and his eyes widened. "She's already up the hill!"
"What!"
I whirled around and saw a few telekines chasing a figure up the hill…towards Peleus. I swore inside my head and sprinted as fast as I could towards them.
Although, Peleus was really strong and nice to all the campers, he was pretty dumb, even for a dragon-and dragons were pretty dumb. He'd eat anyone or anything that he didn't recognize.
As I ran closer, I started to see the figure better. As Byron said, the person was a girl with dark hair. Hector was right, she ran funny-like there was something with one of her legs.
"Hey, wait!" I called.
The girl turned around and I saw her eyes. They were a particular shade of misty green with a pale sheen of silver. She saw me and started running faster up the hill. I looked down and saw that I was still holding a sword.
You're an idiot, Percy! I told myself. Of course she's gonna run away if she's a stranger waving around a huge sword.
She ran fast! I sprinted after them and the big golden dragon came into view. Shoot! Why couldn't Hector have chosen somebody else? I was known for being bad at foot-racing. The girl was only a few yards away from Peleus.
"Peleus!" I called in a desperate attempt, "Don't eat the girl!"
I didn't bother to remember that dragons probably didn't understand English. As I ran closer I saw that Peleus was asleep. If the girl ran quickly and quietly around Peleus, she wouldn't be in trouble. One of the telekines whacked her with his clawed hand, the force wasn't that strong but her bad leg made her trip. Her head snapped back and smashed against Peleus' hard golden scales. She fell to the floor, motionless.
Peleus lazily opened his eyes and saw her body. He hissed with pleasure and bent over her body.
"Peleus!" I yelled, "Don't eat her!"
I thought the telekines were smart enough not to go any further, since a huge dragon was there, but apparently I was wrong. The telekines kept seal-flopping towards the girl. One telekine was about to stab the girl with a lame copy of Posidon's trident when Peleus chomped down on the telekine. The telekine disintegrated between the dragon's teeth. Peleus snorted unhappily at the loss of his snack. He wrapped his tail protectively around the girl's body crushed all the other telekines under his claws. When I got near Peleus, I immediately headed toward the girl. Peleus uncurled his tail and lightly pushed her towards me.
"Thank goodness you understood," I muttered, patting his head, "You're smarter than I thought."
Peleus growled softly with contentment. I got to my knees and turned the girl's head towards me. For the first time, I saw her face clearly.
The first thing I thought when I saw the girl's face was that she was really pretty. Even for a demigod. Her long, wavy hair cascaded beyond her shoulders and her pale caramel colored skin was flawless. Her features were delicate but I couldn't see the silver-green color of her eyes. They were closed and she still wasn't moving. I gulped, thinking of the worst possible scenario that she'd already met Charon. I took her wrist and felt for a pulse. After a few moments, I felt a steady beat. I let out a sigh of relief. When I glanced at her face again, I flinched. Something nagged me at the back of my mind. I suddenly recalled indistinct memories of an incident long ago. I strained to remember, but it was like trying to remember a forgotten dream. The sudden shadowy flashback disappeared. Where had I seen her before? What had I forgotten?