When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I had a cotton ball up my nose (thanks, Lauren—she was my nurse, according to the plaque on my bedside table), and a clear, jelly-like substance all over my face. My hands were bandaged.

"Oh, good, you're awake. We can leave soon," a girl's voice said. A boy answered.

"Lex, don't rush her. She literally just woke up."

"Uh-huh, so she should be ready to move."

"Don't you think we should explain the situation?"

"Uh, no. She wouldn't get it."

I cut in. "Excuse me, she is right here."

They both dropped silent.

I looked towards the door, and saw two kids standing within the frame. A white boy with curly, dirty blonde hair and incredibly green eyes, and a black girl with very long black hair that was straightened and in a braid down her back. The boy smiled at me. The girl looked like she didn't know what to think.

"Hi, Erin," the boy said.

"How do you know my name?" I was instantly on guard.

He pulled a half-melted lump of plastic from his pocket.

"Your student ID. I'm Colin, by the way. And this is Alexa."

Alexa managed a small, rigid, two-fingered salute.

"Hey," she said.

I know that voice.

"…Hi? Where am I?"

Colin looked like he was thinking.

"Oregon Glade hospital."

I had only been to this hospital once before, when my stepsister, Emily, broke her wrist on the junglegym (she's five). Speaking of Emily…

"Are my parents here?" My mom, Hee, had married a guy named William and had Emily after my birth father died. I never met him (Well, I've met Will, not my father).

Alexa and Colin exchanged a look. "Uh…no," Colin said. "They don't know you're here. They…kind of think you're dead."

"What? Let me call them! My mom is probably freaking out right now!"

"…We can't," Colin said.

"And why is that?"

"Because we have to take you to New York. In fact, its your fault were not there already," Alexa said. "If you didn't exist, we'd be on Long Island right now. Thanks for ruining our vacation."

I recognized her biting tone. "Do you know how much those cost?!"

"Lex! Stop being so rude. She's probably in shock right now, after the drakos anthropo, she might have a messed up sense of reality."

Drakos anthropo.

Dragon man.

How did I understand that?

There was no doubt about it; Mr. Scotts was a drakos anthropo.

Colin turned to me. "How are you feeling, anyway?"

"Okay," I answered.

Alexa flashed an ambitious grin. "Great! Then we can leave."

Colin rolled his eyes. "Sure, let's go."

I raised my hand. "How are you going to check me out? I mean, you're not related to me, so…"

Alexa laughed. "Oh, no, it's fine. I can convince them. Stay in here for a few minutes."
I got out of bed and walked to the mirror over a sink. I stared at my face, which looked fine, except for about twenty circular white scars. My burn marks from the steam. I was slathered in something that looked and felt like Vaseline. I touched it, and it came away slimy. My fingertips were pink and peeling from burns, but when I shifted the bandages on my hands, it felt like my skin was covered in the same burn-medicine stuff.

I tried to rake my hair down with my fingers while assessing my situation. I was in Oregon Glade Hospital. I had survived the fire, somehow, although I didn't know how. Two kids wanted to take me to New York, and although they didn't seem too dangerous, I wasn't sure I could trust them. However, I had no way to get back to my family without calling the police to take me home. However, those kids could "convince" the police I was fine. Not to mention my family thought I was dead. Did "convincing" involve torture? I was probably better off at least pretending to trust them.

I pulled the cotton ball out of my nose and threw it into the trash bin. No blood leaked. I leaned down and washed my face with cold water, which surprisingly only hurt a little bit. I dried it with a paper towel, and tried to ground myself by focusing on the crinkling sounds of the brown paper. I didn't want to take the bandages off my hands, partially because they still hurt, and partially because of the way they were wrapped: they made me feel like a gangster from an old movie.

I clenched my fists and flexed them, watching my fingers unfold and fold again. I punched at the air, and appreciated the harsh rush of air against my ankle where the hospital gown was shifted up.

"Your form is terrible," I heard Alexa's voice from behind me. "You can't have your thumb under your fingers; you'll break it. That is, if you can hit hard enough. And don't pull back. Follow through. Keep your fingers even so they aren't strained. Put your feet apart. Use your other hand to protect your ribcage, that way it can move up to block your chest and down to block your stomach."

I felt an embarrassed wave in my stomach when I realized she had been watching me, but when I turned, she was leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her face displaying an actual smile.

She walked over and moved my arms while standing behind me, and positioning my fingers. Her feet nudged mine into the right position. I could smell the authenticity of her leather jacket and another smell, like pine needles at Christmas.

"There. Perfect."

She stood in front of me and held up her hand vertically.

"Try it."

I punched her hand, square in the palm.
"Good job, I mean, still kind of crappy, but pretty good. C'mon. We're leaving."

Maybe I could end up not hating her.

No one questioned us on the way out. No one even looked up from what they were doing. Colin walked back into the washing room and picked up new clothes for me (my old ones were burned) and let me change in the bathroom. I was wearing a soft black tanktop and dark wash jeans. Cheap clothes. But I could live with that. Most of my clothes were cheap clothes. The car outside was a beat up 2000 Honda Civic Si with chipped maroon pain and scuffed tires. Three long gashes ran down one door, and one of the windows was missing. The jagged glass edges had been covered by duct tape. Alexa unlocked the front door with a manual key, reached back and popped up the lock in the backseat.

"In," she said.

"You're not gonna tie me up?"

"No. Why would we? Do you think we're kidnapping you?"

"Well, you kind of are…"

"Nonsense. Get in."

I did, but then another thought popped into my head.

"Can you even drive?"

"Of course," Alexa responded.

"I meant, is it legal for you to drive."

"Nope, I'm fourteen and license-less. But to be honest, I'm a pretty awesome driver. Buckle up, buttercup."

My buckle snapped over my chest without me touching it. I tried, but couldn't undo it.

"Lex, you're scaring her," Colin said from the passenger seat.

I was outraged. "You are kidnapping me!"

Alexa laughed as she shifted the car into gear and started to pull out of the parking lot.

"In a way."

I growled at her under my breath and settled back into my seat.

After about an hour I fell asleep, and I had the craziest dream I've ever had—and that's saying something.

A pair of dark brown eyes, crinkly with smiling.

The feeling of plunging into cold water.

A girl saying, we thought you were dead!
Someone hugging me.

A boy's self-righteous smirk.

A glowing blue shard of glass.

A reptilian hiss.

The dizzying feeling of losing consciousness.

Chapped lips.

A shadowy figure next to me on a dock overlooking a lake. Her fingers touch mine.

"We've been fighting all day, I think Erin and I will just take a break."

A hotel bed.

A fanged smile.

Mr. Scotts eyes.

His eyes.

His eyes.

I choked on my own scream as I woke up. Colin was staring at me.

"How dignified," I heard Alexa say, looking at me from the mirror.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled.

"You okay?" Colin asked.

"…I think so. Hey can we stop somewhere soon?"

"We've already stopped twice. It's nighttime."

"I can see that."

"We can't afford to lose any more time on stops."

"I will pee in your car."

"DON'T YOU DARE."

"Gas station. Soon."

Alexa consented, then turned to Colin.

"She's sassy. I like it."

In about another hour we stopped at a gas station and I went pee (it was very satisfying, thanks for asking) and Colin bought me a pack of Ritz crackers. Colin disappeared behind the station for a few minutes while Alexa fueled up the car. When I asked him where he was going, he just answered "IM".

Alexa got in the car when she was done loading it up and pulled over to the grassy part of the lot, which I was pretty sure wasn't legal. She shifted the car out of gear and imprisoned me in my seatbelt again. (I wasn't sure how she did it. I was starting to learn not to question it)

She reclined her seat and put her arms above her head. She hummed as she lay there with her eyes closed. Her voice was pretty, I guess. But the song she was singing was in a creepy, minor key. Colin got back into the passenger seat and she started up the car again, pulling back onto the road.

No one talked as Alexa was navigating traffic, but around one AM people started to realize this was an ungodly hour and just went to their homes. Alexa, however had different ideas. When we hit open, empty highway she sped up and opened the windows. Around hour nine (or so Colin informed me, it was 2 AM) she said pulled over to a gas station, said "Welcome to North Carolina," and dropped her forehead down onto the steering wheel. It took Colin a few seconds to realize she was asleep.

Colin shook her shoulder.

"How about I take over?"

"You can't drive for crap."

"I can try."

This was when I had to intervene.

"Whoa, whoa. No. I refuse to be driven by someone who can't drive."

Alexa scowled at me. "You have no say," she turned back to Colin. "And I can still drive, I just—"

"Nope. Get in the passenger seat. I'm doing this."

She nodded as she fell down, asleep again, onto his shoulder.

He nudged her again.
"I feel horrible for doing this, but, can you put her, you know…"

She nodded and snapped her fingers druggedly.

I fell asleep in just a few minutes, and it was dreamless, which seemed like a blessing after last time.

Everything… was… peaceful…

"HOLY CRAP COLIN PULL OVER!"

I snapped awake as I heard Colin respond.

"What? Why? What's wrong?"

"Your driving is terrible, I need to take back charge."

"Jeez, thanks for scaring me for nothing."

"You're very welcome."

They pulled over and got out, leaving me in the back.

Colin buckled up, and said "Hey, Lex, you up for hyperspace?"

She nodded, but said, "Oh my gods, you're such a nerd. It's not 'hyperspace', I just speed up."

"Yeah, yeah, can you do it, though?"

" 'Course." She looked back at me. "Hold on."

She leaned over the steering wheel and put her foot down on the gas pedal extra hard. She was concentrating on the horizon, and mumbling under her breath.

"I̱ mi̱téra mou, dó̱se mou ti̱n tachýti̱ta."

We sped up so fast, my vision went black.

Long story short, Alexa had complete six hours of driving in one. For which I was unconscious.

When the car crashed, I was conscious, but apparently not Alexa.

Colin yanked the wheel to the right to drive up some hill onto…farmland? He couldn't hit the break, and when we reached the crest of the hill, a sound like shattering glass starting all around us, and electrical currents arced over the windows and down into the tires. I felt the buzzing deep within my bones, but I didn't get shocked. (Which is a good thing)

Colin closed his eyes and hit the emergency button. Air blasted me back onto my seat. The sound of crunching metal followed.

People were yelling, running over, and sorting through the wreckage. An Indian girl—Bengali, I think—grabbed my hand. Her eyes seemed strikingly familiar. I remember her being gorgeous—or maybe I was just freaked out from the crash. I let her pick me up along with the help of someone I couldn't see, and bring me into a low-lying, wooden building.

They put me down onto a cot, and I didn't have time to question how this entire place had just appeared on top of the hill.

The girl smiled at me.

"Welcome to Camp-Half Blood. I promise it's not usually so terrifying."

I wanted to fall asleep. But I couldn't. I hadn't been hurt in the crash (thanks, Colin—no, I'm serious) and I wanted to know what happened to him and Alexa. Also, there was a pretty girl looking after me (I was definitely right when I said she was gorgeous), I couldn't just fall asleep on her. But after a while she left, and after a while of trying to (fruitlessly, I might add) fall asleep, I finally did.