Chapter 2

I followed him, keeping a distance and trying to avoid bumping into people. He slipped away in the midst of a particularly large crowd and I lost him momentarily. Once I managed to push my way past the crowd I scanned the subway station to see where he had gotten to.

Tousled black hair stuck up as a small boy hopped onto the tube with a friend of his. I was about to follow in pursuit when three vulgar creatures stepped in my way. I groaned inwardly. Gods how could I be so careless? I shook my head. My Yankees cap lay folded in my pocket as I took it off not to surprise anyone incase I tumbled into them while invisible. I sighed In the presence of these grotesque fiends knowing I would have to fight them one way or another.

They seemed to tower over me and I decided instinctively, I don't know how, that if I was going to fight them I would fight them on my own conditions, my own turf. This was seriously going to make contacting Percy that much harder but Tartarus seemed bent on throwing me monsters, so I had no other choice than to get rid of them as quickly and efficiently as possible. In other words meaning I had to vaporize these revolting monsters without attracting the attention of humans, even if the Mist could bend to keep mortals from seeing the truth.

I quickly ducked into an unused kids play centre knowing no mortal would come in. If anything had told me this it was the sign hanging over it.

Welcome kids! A brand new play centre opened for teenagers as a cool place to "relax" come anytime you want with adult supervision to make whatever you feel like doing, safe.

Clearly who ever made this sign knew nothing about children. From my experience with people close to my age kids didn't want to hang in places made for them. They wanted to "relax" in places they weren't allowed to go in, just to make them feel more mature and rebellious. Of course I have had a lifetime of reading people's emotions, who ever put up that notice couldn't have known what a bad idea it was at the time. I slipped under the sign and carried on walking quickly down a narrow corridor splattered with colourful paints. Immediately out of the corner of my eye I saw the creatures follow in pursuit. I whipped out my dagger from under the cuff of my sleeve and turned to face them.

"A young demi-god, tasty by the looks of it." A slither came from my right and for the first time without any real plan in mind I lashed out at the monster. The snake like figure screamed as it burst in to monster dust at my feet. I was not in a good mood today to say the least.

"Feisty as well. This will make eating her even more fun!" The second creature snarled in triumph and I had to resist the urge to puke. I knew it was two on one but Athena always had a plan, and now that I had the time to think I came up with one too.

"You can't eat me if you can't see me." I cried prying open my hat and stuffing it onto my head before slashing the hideous creature in the throat. A guaranteed kill. Hey it was a simple plan and even though it was the oldest trick in the book it worked. I use this technique nearly all the time with monsters. Sensing I was running out of time I ran away from the third beast as it stared around trying to capture me.


Sometime later after finally pinpointing the location of Percy's classroom, (which took me the whole morning) I was standing outside the door. This school was a joke! They called this education? I was fuming. Just now a group of moronic eighth graders got an A for pushing a spindly boy against the classroom walls to get his money for maths. It beats me how it's even related to maths. Trust Percy to end up at a school like this! It looked like everyone there needed a good lesson in manners by the looks of it. Not that I was one to talk. Peering through the small window at the top of the door I noticed Percy as expected not paying attention to what the teacher was getting the class to do. By the looks of it, it had something to do with latitude and longitude. Geography? Perhaps Social Studies? It didn't matter because just then I saw him take out a notebook and look at something. Immediately I felt curious. What was Seaweed Brain doing? Was he actually reading something? I knew reading was a pain and Kelp head never paid much attention to trying to read anyways so the only other option was that it was a diary of some sort. He was staring at it for a while and my curiosity increased ever more at me being unable to see it. What was he looking at under the table so intently? Just then I found out my answer.

A skinny boy who clearly wanted to look strong and tough, reached over Percy's desk and ripped the page out of his ring binder. I felt anger pulsing through my veins. I could tell by the way Percy sat alone that he didn't have many friends in his class and who ever this kid thought he was, messing with my friend was like messing with me. Which many people think twice before doing. I calmed myself down thinking rationally.

"Hey!" I heard Percy protest. His cheeks were most definitely a beetroot red which clearly meant that whatever he was looking at was embarrassing to him. Now I really wanted to know what was on that piece of paper. The ugly brute that stole his page looked at the piece of paper, his eyes widening. So I was right it is something embarrassing. But what?

"No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your-"

"Give it back!" Percy said. He was blushing even more than I had ever seen him do so before. The red flame on his cheeks spread to his ears almost giving the comical image of a red tomato. What was it the brute was saying? "She is not your-" Your what? Girlfriend? Is that what the brute had been about to say before Kelp head interrupted. I flared instinctively. So Seaweed Brain was looking at a picture of a girl was he? A million possibilities flashed through my mind until I saw the boy hand the page over to a couple of very big kids. When I mean big they were massive. What would kids that size be doing in seventh grade? If you thought about it they looked somewhat grotesque. Like beasts… like monsters. I racked my brain trying to think about what they could be when I saw a glimpse of a picture that the bullies were passing around. A picture of me.

It was the one I sent Percy over the holidays when I was in Washington D.C. I was sure of it. I don't know why I sent it to him. Maybe because I wanted to share my pride in visiting it, with him? I mean he is one of my closest friends after all. Suddenly my face felt very hot and a rush of warmth spread. Oh Gods Seaweed Brain actually printed it out and stuck it in his notebook? I didn't know whether to feel happy or embarrassed. I was feeling a lot of both actually and my hate for the stupid bully just multiplied by a thousand. Percy's kind gesture left me a little breathless. He clearly missed me. I smirked to myself. I knew if I confronted him about it he wouldn't admit it but I was positive he missed me. That made me feel a bit better. It made me feel less embarrassed about missing him too. Even if he was a little annoying sometimes. If possible I became livid once the monster cronies of that stupid skinny boy tore up my picture and was using it to make spit wads! Of all the things they could create with paper they choose spit wads. What kind of idiots were they? For a minute I wondered whether the mortal bully was in league with these obvious beasts but then decided against it. The Mist was probably really strong and I doubted even Percy knew they were monsters. Then again there are a lot of things I doubt Percy knows. I heard the mortal speaking again.

"These guys are moving here next year," The boy bragged. Wow. He really was as stupid as he looked if he bought that. Percy had a slightly sceptical expression which looked like he couldn't care less. "I bet they can pay the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."

"He's not retarded." I heard Percy say. Uh oh. He looked really really angry and I knew from personal experience that his anger caused him to do very rash things. I prayed for Percy to calm down. I didn't have the time to wait if he got detention too.

"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period." Percy glared at them and I knew he was wishing he could pulverise them. At the moment I was too. No one talked to my friend like that. I was going to have my own form of payback to this foolish mortal. I knew Chiron warned Percy not to harm mortals but he never warned me. Just then the bell rang.

I saw Percy gather up his possessions and then narrowed my eyes as I noticed who his new best friend was. The one that was called a "retard". Usually I would defend anyone who was given that accusation but as I took a good look at him I took a sharp intake of breath. He was a Cyclops. I scowled in anger, when Percy came out of the door.

"Percy." I whispered in a rush. I wanted to speak to him alone without the company of his over large friend. He looked around the locker area, close to where I was standing and I cursed mentally. There was no way to get to him without attracting attention so I decided to bide my time and wait for any sign of trouble, and considering his next period was P.E it's safe to say he would get into trouble.

I followed them to the changing area and waited outside until they came out. How in the Hades am I supposed to get to him now? I can't just go strolling into the boys changing room even if I am invisible. It's embarrassing. Finally I came to the conclusion of waiting outside the gym, close at hand but not in the thick of things.


BOOM!

A rattling shook the ground. An explosion of some sort took place. I stormed through the door knowing something had gone terribly wrong. To confirm my suspicions I found Percy in burnt gym clothes running towards the changing rooms while a Laistrygonian laughed.

"My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw a ball. He was probably going to throw it with inhuman strength and speed then eat my friend alive. I heard it's what they tend to do. As if I was going to let that happen. Grabbing my knife from under my sleeve I charged at the giant and stabbed him through his stomach with all the force I could muster. The ball fell from his hand while the monster stared at my knife with confusion. He muttered "Ow," before bursting into a green flame.

I stood in the smoke waiting for it to clear. I didn't know what I looked like but I felt pretty pissed off. Not one day could Seaweed Brain not get into trouble. My head hurt and I was pretty sure my hair was full of twigs which I did not appreciate, my backpack had been torn and scratched at while I was fighting the monsters to get here and I gave a look of pure loathing possibly bordering onto wildness as I killed yet another ugly beast. The skinny mortal who seemed to get on my last nerves noticed the entire affair. "That's the girl… That's the girl-"

Do you know what? I have really had enough of this kid. Anger swelled in me again as I remembered him bullying Percy and ripping up my photo. I looked good in that picture.

I punched him in the nose and knocked him out flat getting my own small form of revenge. "And you lay off my friend." I said. Gods the gym was in flames. Percy was so going to get excluded for this which made me feel a little bad for him. I noticed him looking at me with an expression of awe and surprise.

"Annabeth…" He stammered. "How did you… how long have you…"

"Pretty much all morning." I told him as I sheathed my bronze knife back. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."

"The shadow I saw this morning- that was-" I saw his face blush and mine reddened considerably as he joined the dots. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"

"There's no time to explain!" I snapped. Gods why did he have to make things so difficult by being observant? "I just didn't want to-" What I was going to say I have no idea, though thankfully I didn't have to finish that sentence.

"There!" A woman screamed. Probably a teacher. Adults poured in after bursting open the door. For goodness sake was there never a good time to talk to him?

"Meet me outside," I told him, then I eyed the Cyclops still sitting against the wall with distaste. "And him." I pointed to him. "You'd better bring him."

"What?" He asked shocked. Did Seaweed Brain honestly not know what was going on? Had he not realised that his best friend was a freak of a monster? One look on the expression on his face told me not.

"No time! Hurry!"

I put my Yankees cap back on and vanished while I quickly ran towards the burned building exit. Great just great. I waited outside an alleyway for my best friend to arrive with a creature that I loathed nearly as much as spiders. Camp half blood was under attack from monsters that could now cross the boundary and Thalia's pine tree had been poisoned. This day was going just great.


Hey guys review please to let me know what you think of this chapter and I'll try and continue it soon! Happy Easter break my peeps.