Hi guys! Here it is, Chapter 2!

Sorry for the delay, but I've had some computer problems, now they're over, of course. :)

However, I must warn you: aside from my "junior writer" being, I'm also teenager who really deserves her free summer time, in my opinion, so don't expect to find new chapters here every week. If so, good for you, and me, 'cause that means I'm really liking writing this. My advice, though: Follow this story. That way, you'll receive an email alert when a new chapter is published.

As always, don't forget to Review! That's the only way (besides PM, of course) that I know what you think of this attempt of mine of creating something readable.

Hope you like it! :)

Disclaimer: As you already guessed, I'm no Rick Riordan. So Percy Jackson series (Percy Jackson & The Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus) don't belong to me in any way.

Chapter 2

The sun was bright. The peaceful morning sky was filled with the gentle sound of the birds as they flied artistically thought the air; the clouds formed white patterns in the peaceful blue. Everyone was enjoying that Monday, as much as anyone who preserves his sanity could.

Well, everyone but Melody.

Keeping it down to a sentence, let's just say Mel was not enjoying being chased by an old lady, who turned out to be a deadly monster that apparently no else could see but her.

She ran as much as she could for all over the town. The monster had been chasing since the Aquarium when she was talking to the clownfish.

Stupid fish and his stupid marital problems! If wasn't for his blabber mouth, I wouldn't be in this situation right now!

Her legs were shaking, whether it was from the running or for the fear, she didn't know. But she kept going. She ran until she reached an empty warehouse. Perhaps not her smartest decision, she thought, but she needed a place to hide, and fast.

She hid behind some boxes and remained in silence as the lady-monster entered the building. It still surprised her how this thing had chased her trough the city without losing her trace which Mel tried really hard to dismissed.

"You can't hide forever, little one."

Great, Mel thought, I'm going to be lunch to this disgusting thing and I didn't have my breakfast yet… Wait, what?

Before Mel had the time to question why she was thinking about her empty stomach when clearly she was going to be snack to someone else, the monster attacked her.

Destroying all the boxes in the process and making a hole in the wall as well, Mel wasn't caught by only an inch. Melody tried to run but she just had the time to go five feet from the monster when suddenly, she was trapped between another wall and the thing.

That's it, I'm dead.

"There's no escaping now!"

"Don't say." Her usual confident voice broke with fear, becoming tense and slightly hoarse.

"But, you know," added the monster, smiling, "I'm in a good mood today, so I'm going to give you two choices. Tell me, girl, what you prefer, being tortured by me and suffer a slow, painful death or being sent to Tartarus to endure an eternity of torture?"

"What's Tartarus?" I've a feeling I don't want to know the answer.

"Hell, honey."

"Oh..." replied Mel. The numbness was perceptive in her voice. She didn't try to disguise the fact she wasn't surprise anymore. Why did I ask?

"So, no option three?"

"No option three," answered the beast with a hateful smile.

"Ok. Well, what about I get cheeseburgers for both of us in the dinner down the street and then we can sit right here, eat the burgers and talk about this whole 'I wanna kill you for no apparent reason' thing?"

The joke was an excuse. Mel knew it, the monster knew it. But Mel was pretty desperate. Trying to distract the monster was the only idea she had until she could came up with a decent plan that actually help her condition.

"Cheeseburger? Tempting, but no. I prefer killing you!" Her enthusiasm was not something Melody could afford to encourage.

"You know, I don't like your excitement. You really should see a therapist about those murder-feelings. It's not healthy," replied Mel. "Or maybe not," reacted she as soon as she saw the look on the lady-monsters' face. "You can do whatever you want, which is fine by me, unless you still want to kill me, which I can't allow, obviously, because…"

"Shut up!" yelled the beast, making Mel flinch with fear. "That's it, I'm done with you, brat! You're just like your father, with your stupid smirk on your face acting like you're someone! Here I am, actually giving you a choice; because I thought you were a nice little girl who respected the older ones, but no! You're just like him!"

"You… You know my father?" That wasn't the first time the monster mentioned him, and Mel just knew that the thing was doing the comparison on purpose.

"Yes, I do, but now isn't the moment to talk about him when I could be killing you. Imagine when I'm done with you, everyone will know what I did, my sisters will respect me and my master will give me a promotion!"

"But, why? Why me? I'm just a kid dumped in a foster home and who nobody wanted in the first place! And I'm just a kid, anyway. You don't really want to be known as my assassin! It'll give you bad reputation! I mean, I'm a walking disaster! I'm lazy, reckless, I eat way too much, and by the looks of my room, some say my… "

"I SAID TO SHUT UP!" And that was the moment when the monster attacked Mel.

She didn't have the time to move. She just closed her eyes and screamed.

Maybe it was the situation she was in, the fact she was in danger; maybe it was the wild, desperate cry itself. Until this day, she didn't know what it was, but something woke up inside Melody that day.

A flash of light appeared out of nowhere ripping the scene with its brightness. Coming with it, a song. The melody was gentle, but passionate and intense, much like the light itself.

All Mel knew when she opened her eyes was that the monsters was no longer there. It had disappeared along with the blazing light and the beautiful tune.

She stayed there for a while, sitting in a corner, frozen with what just had happen. She kept thinking "Was it a dream?", "Where the light came from?", "Wo was the monster?" And, perhaps the question that changed her without she didn't even realize it, but still had left its mark on her since then: "Who is my father and what does he have to do with is whole thing?"

It couldn't possibly be a dream, because the hole on the wall and the other remains of the monster's presence proved otherwise. However, she didn't have explanations for the other questions. The simple fact of not knowing the answers to something of this importance was reason enough to put her in stressing mode, aside from the obvious attempt of murder, of course.

She didn't bother going back to school, or to Tuckers' house, for that matter. She just remained there, with her eyes wide open, trying to figure out that whole thing, while tears fell down her face as she remembered the beauty of the melody and its promises of love and a home.

*******In the meantime, somewhere in New York*******

The woman yelled as the nightmare woke her and her bed partner in the middle of the chilling night of March.

"What? What happened?"

The worry was impossible to disguise in the man's voice. The dark surrounded them but the woman knew that he had the same lines of worry in his face that, along with his tone of voice, expressed his care for her.

"I… I don't know. I was in some kind of warehouse, and that was a girl and one of the Furies. They were talking and then the Fury attacked her and I heard a scream, I… I don't… I…"

"Shhh, that's ok. You're here, you're safe," the man tried to reassure his wife.

"But, I don't know if she's safe. When I saw it was about to attack the girl I felt powerless, I couldn't help her, and I… I felt that needed to protect her, and don't know what it was, but I couldn't do anything… I… I just…"

The sobs were enough to the man to know what she needed. He hugged her. They cuddled as she cried because they both knew what had happened.

It was their little girl. Their baby who was taken away from them and that couldn't be given back again. They never saw her again, since the day at the hospital when Annabeth had given birth, but they knew it was her. They just knew.

Annabeth cried until she fell asleep. As for Percy, he continued to hold her while his heart also cried for the safety of his little girl, until he, too, closed his eyes and dreamed of the day when he would fulfill the promise to find her and become a family at last. His family.

A.N./ So like it? Hate it? Let me know!

P.S.: What were your thoughts about this last part? Should I write them more, from now on, as a peek of Percy & Annabeth's lives regarding this whole thing?