Chapter Two

A week later marked the longest day of my life. I had to get up early. Stephanie had a meeting at school, so if I wanted a ride I needed to be ready. However I didn't even make it across the parking lot before the first monster of the day appeared.

A pit scorpion jumped, landing right in front of me, several feet from the front of my school. I froze, my hand moving towards my knife. The insect crawled towards me, its little black eyes all staring at me. Just as it reached my foot I brought my knife out, stabbing it in its abdomen. It exploded into gold dust at my feet.

That was the first of several monsters throughout my day. A Draken attacked me in third period, a telekine at lunch, and then two myrmekes during sixth. I'd never been attacked that often and I could tell my luck was running out. Things were changing and it sure as Hades didn't seem to be for the good.

And to top that all off, people were starting to ask questions about Katy. Questions I had no answers to. Thankfully as a granddaughter of Hecate I had a more than reliable control over the Mist. Which I used to my advantage to convince teachers and cops alike that Katy had been seen after we'd talked in the hallway and that she had made it home safely. But I'm pretty sure it didn't work on all of them. From then on I'd have to lay low. Too bad the monsters didn't get that memo.

I tried calling Dad and Carly several times, Dad for reinforcements and Carly to get me out of school early, but neither of them picked up. Turns out they wouldn't have gotten there on time anyway. Before I even made it out of the school I was attacked by a flock of metal demonic birds. It took twenty or more minutes of hacking at them before the survivors finally flew off. Leaving me with shredded clothes, feather arrows sticking out of me, and no ride home. Stephanie had left several minutes beforehand.

By the time I wandered into the apartment I was wiped, wanting only to fall onto my bed for the rest of the evening, "Dad!" I called, "I'm home!" No answer. Confused I dumped my bag on the floor, grabbing my crossbow as I passed, "Dad?" Silence.

I tiptoed around the house, my senses on high alert. It didn't feel right. He was always home and if he wasn't then he called. The downstairs was clear. Every nook and cranny was clean. Steeling myself I headed up the stairs, careful to not step on the creaky step. Once upstairs I noticed that the door to my dad's room was ajar. Instead of going directly there I headed the other direction, into my room.

Looking around I dumped the entire contents of my closet into my duffel bag. I didn't own that much to begin with so there was still plenty of room in the oversized bag. I grabbed some weapons, stuff I'd acquired over the years. Knives, swords, throwing daggers, whips, anything sharp or dangerous, 'Oh hell. Where the hell are my bow and arrows?' I scanned the room unsuccessfully. They had to be there somewhere. I finally located my weapon of choice under my bed. Next was the horde of nonperishable food I kept in my room for emergencies. Stashing them in my bag I surveyed my room again. Nothing I needed. If something was wrong I was packed and ready to leave at a moment's notice.

Deciding I was as prepared as I could possibly be, I headed back out into the hall. A sword now hung at my hips, another dagger at the small of my back. I held my crossbow out in front of me, an arrow notched and ready. Slowly I pushed open the door.

My dad's body was splayed across the floor, blood pouring out from a deep gash in stomach. His skin was white, eyes unfocused, staring up into space. Bile rose in my throat at the sight, and the smell. The room smelled strongly of death and monsters. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sob. My dad was dead. But we were so careful! The house had as powerful wards as he could set up and he ALWAYS carried a weapon. Although, as evident by the gold dust covering the room, it had been quite a fight. I made my way over to him slowly, closing his eyelids, smoothing his hair away from his face. A sob choked its way out of my throat as tears clouded my vision. But I didn't have time to mourn. Another monster was in the house. I could feel it in my gut, a fuzzy, uncomfortable feeling that I always got when I was about to be attacked.

I spun around coming face to face with a hellhound, "Ah shit," I swore, ducking behind a dresser as fire soared past me, "Oh, so your one of those dogs!"

The hound barked, it's foul breath coating the room. I gagged, covering my mouth and nose with the collar of my shirt. Realizing that I was in no condition to fight, what with my shoulder and arm, I had no choice but to get out of there. I could hear the hellhound's heavy footsteps as it tromped into the room, sniffing around. Counting to five, I readied myself, "One, two, three," I whispered, "Four, Five," With one last look at my dad's motionless body I ran. Out the door, down the hallway and into my bedroom. I grabbed my bag off the floor, pushing a bookshelf in front of the door. It wouldn't hold any monsters out for long, but it would give me a head start.

One last look at my home and I was gone, dropping to the ground silently. Landing on the balls of my feet behind the apartment building I thanked my dad again for the second story apartment. I waved goodbye to the building, loping out of the alley.

Glancing quickly around the deserted street I headed south, determined to put as much space between me and Seattle as possible. I'd head to Cali if I had to. I wasn't exactly looking forwards to that, but it was my best bet if I wanted to get away.

I ran and ran and ran, not stopping for anything. And when I could run no longer I fell to the ground, in the middle of the forest. Curling up in a ball I let my emotions out, crying until there were no tears left. I spent several nights like this, sleeping under the stars. My dad was dead and I had no one. No, that wasn't true. I guessed I had Carly, if I could ever get a hold of her. I'd stopped at a few pay phones before I was out of the city. Each time I called it went straight to voicemail. I was on my own.

My fifth day on the run I was beginning to get low on food. Worried I prayed to the gods for someone to guide me, 'Mom, if you can hear me… Please help. I'm lost, I'm running out of food and Dad's dead. I don't know what to do,' I plead as a last resort. No reply. Sighing heavily I meandered along, following a well-worn trail.

Just as I was about to pass out again I heard hooves behind me, and not the normal animal kind. My heart began to beat double time, flying into my mouth. I broke out in a sprint, running for my life. I was so tired of running. All the sudden I could hear voices ahead of me, and smell cooking food. Someone else was out here. Too tired to question whether they were friend or foe I pressed on, stumbling into an open encampment.

Several kids sat around, others fighting with swords, spears or knives. There were tents set up in a circle, surrounding a campfire with meat cooking over it. My mouth began to water just looking at the food. I was also shocked. Things like this shouldn't exist. It was obviously a demigod camp, but according to my dad there weren't any. This couldn't be happening. There was already too much shit that had gone on in the past couple weeks for me to handle demigods together on top of everything else. However I knew then that my mother had answered my prayer. She'd sent me help, or more likely she'd sent me towards help. Either way she heard me and responded.

A tall boy stood, making his way over too me. He looked to be eighteen or so, his dark hair falling over his equally dark eyes. He was decked out in all black, from his shoes to his aviator jacket. His T-shirt sported a creepy looking skull, matching the silver ring on his right hand. His skin was pale but olive toned, and I could see his muscles move as he walked. Clearly he was made for fighting. As he approached me he had a weird look in his eye, like I was exactly what they were needed. What exactly that was I had no idea. He extended his hand, shaking mine slowly, "My name is Nico. Welcome to Outpost 13. We've been waiting for you."