Chapter 2

Miss L.

Caspia Kelley

At about 2:00 it was time to go outside after finishing our schoolwork. I was feeling much more comfortable because I was with Blade, like his nickname, he always managed to have a weapon on him, hidden somewhere. They never seemed to be able to catch him. He was also really big and I'm think he likes me. I thought if anyone could protect me from Miss L., he could.

A good thing too, because she was coming over here right now.

I pressed myself closer to him. He stopped his story about how he snuck into a My Chemical Romance concert and met Gerard Way and Frank Ieuro, and said "What's wrong Caspia? You look uncomfortable. I'm not that boring am I?"

He was one of those people who were able to make fun of themselves, one of the many things I liked about him.

But I couldn't smile, not now. "It's not you, it's her. Miss L. I think she's the one who's been causing the disappearances. And she was glaring at me at breakfast."

He looked at me. He had a weird look in his eye, a little scary actually. It almost made me feel bad for her. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you. If she tries to hurt us, I'll cut off her limbs and feed them to the rats in the basement." I laughed and kissed him, actually kissed him, something I had always thought about doing but never had the courage until now. It was long, but the joy wouldn't last long because I knew she was coming. I pulled away. "What's wrong?-oh shit."

Miss L was right in front of us. For some reason, she, instead of having a gauzy floral skirt, had serpent tails below the waist. Rather than having a pastel cardigan, she was bare chested. She had large fangs and green hair.

She grabbed my neck and wrapped her talons around it. Blade grabbed his own weapon from in his shirt, but she cackled and said "None of that, son of war, or I'll cut your girlfriend's throat. Now march."

She directed us towards the main building, where I was sure she would kill us. I thought long and hard about how to defeat her, but I was overwhelmed by a sense of dread. I couldn't think straight. It was actually happening. The monsters I had always saw and heard and hoped weren't real, were real. And one of them happened to be holding her claws at my throat, already had experience with killing the other patients and was threatening to kill me and the guy I liked. I had no doubt that once we were dead, she would continue to kill the other patients, all of our friends. It gave me another reason to keep fighting. I had to stop this monster.

We were nearing the rec room, where on a normal day, we would watch movies, play video games and hang out, but were instead being taken to our deaths. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if someone was in here. But I liked to read, and I knew a few things about tricking of the oldest tactics: keep them talking. Maybe if I figured out who or what she was, I would be able to defeat her. I spent a lot of time in the library, and I figured out that a lot of the "imaginary" monsters I'd seen were from ancient times; Greek and Roman myths. I also figured out that most of them had weaknesses. Maybe if I learned more about her, I would remember her story and how she could be subdued.

Or perhaps someone would notice we were gone and come save us. Maybe the director with a machine gun?

"So," I began." Do you think you would mind telling us a little about yourself, why you hate mental patients, why you're going to kill us, or at least your name? You know, common courtesy."

She snarled. "Well, I suppose I owe you at least that much. If you must know, I am Lamia. I was a... consort of Zeus's for a while, but Hera got very jealous. She killed my 8 children, which I bore for Zeus. I was traumatized. I had lost everything. Zeus did nothing to help me. But I decided to take my frustration out on humanity. I used my once-good looks to lure men into my web. After they came to my bed I would kill them and drink their blood. Hera, however, did not like the happiness I had grown to feel. She didn't like my sudden spark of sexuality. So she transformed me into this, this haggard thing."

I was confused. "But wait. Before this you looked normal. How did you change?" Her snarl grew wider. " A very thin layer of mist. But thanks to my new appearance I could no longer use men as my prey. Hera decided to make it to where I could never close my eyes, never sleep, never able to forget my pain. My bitterness grew towards mothers who still had children. I decided to start killing them. Children are so easily lured, so easily frightened! Makes it so much easier!"

Blade spoke for the first time. "Why would you hate kids? Wouldn't you, you know empathize with them. Maybe adopt?" She looked very sad. "And tell me. What child would accept me as their mother, a hideous monster?"

For the first time I thought I felt bad for a monster. "That's horribly sad. But you don't need to take it out on us. We might be able to help you. Children really are sweet you know." She looked ready to sob, but she pulled herself together. "What help could you offer me? Mere demigods with no grasp on your own power, no idea even who your godly parent is? No, you are not sweet. Not like mine were. So innocent, so young, but you. You are nothing like them. Trying to trick me. You deserve to die. Now, enough of this talk. I want to kill you now." She lunged.

But before she could, a bronze sword struck her in mid air. Instead of falling, she vaporized into dust, and was scattered by wind that shouldn't have been there. The throwers emerged. There were 2 girls with curly blonde hair, one with violet eyes, the other grey. Of the other 2 boys one had black hair and dark eyes and the other dark brown with green eyes. The one with the purple eyes came over.

"Are you alright?" She had a very sweet voice and I had a feeling that if that It had been a command, I would have done exactly what she said. I would have hurt myself. It sounded like a mix of French, Romanian, and Southern. I looked at her face and I was like "Wow" She was easily the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She had fair skin, full, blood red lips and high cheekbones. I simply nodded, a bit overwhelmed.

There was this weird feeling that came from looking at her, it was like staring at a thousand different pretty things at once. It made me happy, too, it reminded me of all the good things that had ever happened to me. Not only that, but her face just...clicked so well, every feature perfect and sculpted. The way her blonde hair curled over her shoulders, her eyes shone like the midnight sky, and her lips...Whoa, Caspia. You're straight.

The one with grey eyes laughed and said "Nice job keeping her occupied so long. We never would have gotten here in time. Of course, we might have, if Percy hadn't made us stop for donuts." Percy looked offended. "I was Hungry!" She rolled her eyes "Whatever you say seaweed brain."

The gorgeous girl and the dark one looked amused, like this was an everyday occurrence. "So, who are you guys?" The pretty one spoke " I'm Snow Sabrina, That's Annabeth Chase, He's Nico Di Angelo, and Percy's last name is Jackson." Percy looked up, as if he enjoyed being recognized.

"You guys ready to go?" he said. "Do you have a car?" Blade asked.

"No," Nico said. "But we can shadow travel."

I was happy to remember something. " That's something Hades and his children can do, right?"

He responded with a thin creepy smile. Snow embraced him "Are you sure you can do it with 6 people. I mean, since Tartarus and Hazels Not here..." He kissed her cheek.

"I'll be fine. Everyone grab hands." The world dissolved around us, and left me with a cold feeling. They were in a dark room, with green torches on the walls and 4 poster beds with black skull sheets.

"The Hades Cabin." Annabeth said. "Let's go to the Big House. Chiron and... Mr. D will want to see you. They're the ones who set the Quest. Come on."