Annabeth POV

So, that girl thought she could just come along and flirt with someone she'd never met and get away with it? And then just go and bully some random kid who never did anything. That was when it got interesting though. I was watching the situation when suddenly the water jumped up, grabbed the girl and pulled her into the fountain. A teacher walked over and there was a quick exchange before a raven haired boy was escorted into the museum but his friend quickly followed, trotting along like a satyr. I'd turned to my friends and told them what I'd seen. We ran in after them and drew our weapons. We saw the boy running with his friend who was now not wearing trousers and we knew for sure he was a satyr. I grabbed and put him in a lock and Thalia got the boy safely behind her shield whilst Luke put his sword against the satyr to prevent him from running.

And now, apparently, the satyr is our friend? I find that hard to believe. And I'm furious at this Percy boy for being so annoying in the argument. We were trying to protect him; didn't he understand that? Well, anyway, we ran due to the monster coming in the museum. We ran out the back and onto the street. Percy managed to hail a taxi and we all clambered in. "East One-Hundred-and-Fourth and First, please and make it quick for an extra tip," he told the driver but he probably shouldn't have added that last part because the driver drove like a bat out of hell after that. We made it half way across New York in under 30 minutes (is that too long? It feels like it might be too long. Or is it too short?). Percy climbed out after paying the driver and went into an apartment building.

"Percy, what are we doing here?" I asked curiously. It didn't seem like somewhere I would go for a safe house.

"It's my Mum's house. I needed to see her," he explained and I sighed exasperated. Still, we followed him up the stairs and into a small apartment that smelled suspiciously like a pub; cigarettes and stale beer. As we walked in, I noticed, sat at a dining table, there was a group of middle aged men playing Poker. One, in particular, looked like an oversized walrus with three hairs combed over his head as if that made him handsome. He was altogether revolting and he seemed to only just notice us.

"A bit early in the year to return home isn't it? And who are your little friends here. I don't remember giving you permission to bring friends over." He sounded like a revolting person as well. No 'welcome back' or 'good to see' you? No 'did something happen at school to mean you're here this early?'

"It's an emergency. I need to talk to my mom, now, Gabe. Where is she?" Percy asked through gritted teeth. It was obvious he didn't like 'Gabe'.

"She's in the kitchen making me some bean dip. Oh and don't forget," he said before holding his hand out expectantly.

"I don't have any money," Percy replied, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my mom," he finished before walking out to what must have been the kitchen.

A woman with a kind face and long, brown hair was in the kitchen, making what must have been bean dip. She turned and noticed Percy. She smiled widely at him and pulled him into a hug. "Oh Percy what are you doing home so soon? I didn't get any notice that you were coming home or I would have made more of an effort. You're just lucky it was my day off today." It was then that she seemed to notice us and her smile wavered. She looked at Grover, "He knows doesn't he. He knows about his father," She looked like she was about to cry and I don't blame her. She obviously loves her son and now she's saying bye to him forever.

"Not exactly but we need to tell him. The monsters will start attacking now and this is the best thing for him, Sally," Grover explained morbidly. Percy was looking confusedly between the two.

"You two know each other? You know about my father?" He asked them both and then Grover.

"Percy, I'm sorry. I wanted to keep you as close as possible but Grover's right. You have to know now before you get killed during your ignorance. Grover will explain everything but you have to go soon, do you understand? I love you, Percy, ok? Never forget that." Sally was properly crying now and Percy seemed to have realised what was going on.

"No, mom, I don't want to go. I can't leave you. Please," he was crying, too, but he obviously understood that he couldn't stay and I really felt sorry for him.

"I'm sorry, Percy, but it's too dangerous for both of us. You need to leave as soon as possible and I'm sure these people will take care of you. They'll explain everything," they hugged tightly, as if hoping that it will last longer that way. They were both sobbing on the others shoulder as we stood by awkwardly and watched.

Grover's nose twitched and he said "We need to go now, Percy. I'm sorry but we do."

"Percy, before you go I need to give you something. Your father left it to me to give to you when you were ready," she opened a draw and pulled out a small ball point pen. "Take it, Percy, it will protect you when you need it. This is your lifeline now," she gave him the pen and he looked at it confused and disappointed. "Uncap it," she told him.

As he did so, it sprang up into a sword with a leaf shaped blade. It looked a perfect fit for Percy's hand and he admired it. It had a name written across the handle.

"Anaklusmos," I muttered.

"Riptide," Percy finished. I stared at him in shock and he seemed to realise he'd translated Greek. He tapped the cap on the top and it shrank back down into a pen. Then he frowned, like he'd just realised something. "You can't lose it Percy. It will always return to your pocket," Sally said as if she could read his mind.

Percy put it in his pocket and hugged his mom for what was probably the last time. "We really need to go guys," Grover reminded us and Percy pulled away

She turned to me, Luke and Thalia. "Take good care of my boy now, won't you. Make sure he comes to no harm," she begged us. I couldn't say no to her.

"Of course. We'll protect him with our lives. Won't we guys," I told her. Luke and Thalia nodded

"I'll miss you mom," Percy said, before turning away to leave.

"I'll miss you too, Percy. I'll always love you," she replied as we walked out of the apartment.

"'Bout time you left, punk. Always too many people in this house, I think," Gabe said as we left and a look of pure rage flashed over Percy's eyes, making them look like a raging ocean in a storm. Grover noticed it too. He hurried us out before Gabe could make other comments.

"I'm sorry about this, Percy. I really am but we have to go. You're in danger," Grover tried to reassure him. Percy just nodded vacantly and continued walking down the steps.

"If you need a place to hide, we've got somewhere we could go," I suggested, looking at Luke and Thalia for permission.

Thalia glared at me, before nodding and saying, "Yeah, it's not far away. We might be able to get to it if we run."

"What about school, though?" Percy asked, confused, "I mean, I don't want to go back there but won't they come looking for us?" He continued, gesturing to himself and Grover.

"Percy, they've probably forgotten you even existed," I told him.

"Gee, thanks," he muttered glumly.

"No, Percy, I didn't mean it like that. There's something we call The Mist that obscures mortal eyes, meaning they can't see monsters or anything magical. That means The Mist will cause them to forget you because that's the only explanation for you and Grover suddenly disappearing. They also won't be able to remember the Kindly One," I amended. He didn't seem to be listening, though. He was trying to remain calm and emotionless but his eyes betrayed him. The swirling storms showed his grief.

When we got outside, I saw a tall man staring at us. He was huge; muscles all over him and he was wielding a long spear, tipped with a bronze point so sharp it could spear all of us like a kebab. But the scariest thing about him were his eyes, or eye. He had one large eye in the centre of his forehead and it was directed right at Percy. "Guys, we have a problem here," I told them. Thalia looked where I was looking and cursed.

"Alright, we need to run now," she told us.

Percy turned around to look at what we were looking at. "What on Earth is that!? Why does he only have one eye?" He asked shocked.

"Like I said, we'll explain when we're somewhere safe. This is an incredibly dangerous life and the best chance we've got is to carry on running," Grover explained to him.

Thalia muttered her command word and her shield sprang out. I unsheathed my dagger and Luke did the same with his sword. Percy pulled out his pen and uncapped it. The cyclops started to walk towards us and we started to walk away, keeping our eyes on it at all times. "We need to get it away from this crowd. We don't want it hurting anyone," Percy told us and we backed into an alley after checking it was clear. The cyclops followed and blocked our exit.

"Annabeth, protect Percy. This is his first fight and we need to keep him safe until he has had time to practice. Thalia, you go left and I'll go right. Grover, just stay out of the way and if you know any magic that could help then, by all means, do it," Luke said, taking command quickly as he always did. I stayed in front of Percy and Luke and Thalia charged forward, attacking the cyclops from two sides. Grover started to play some pan pipes and the wood from his spear seemed to remember that it was once a tree and started to grow branches and leaves that wrapped around his hand and up his arm. Luke and Thalia slashed at his legs, dodging his kicks and swipes of his hands. They fought together in perfect sink and the battle seemed to be decided - until it wasn't. The cyclops managed to get a lucky hit on Thalia and knocked her to the ground. She was out cold. This distracted Luke for long enough for the cyclops to kick him in the chest and he went flying back, before he could dodge. I went to move forward but not before he ripped the branches off his hand and knock Grover over with his spear so he couldn't play any more nature magic. He rounded on me and, to be honest, I wasn't very sure about my chances of beating him. Percy wasn't either, apparently, because he moved forward as well, standing in front of Grover to prevent the cyclops from attacking him. I moved in front of Thalia, meaning we were on opposite sides of the cyclops. He tried to look at both of us at once but that's difficult with only one eye so he turned on Percy. He charged forward and Percy ducked underneath his strike. While he was distracted, I leapt onto his back and drove my dagger into his spine. The cyclops roared with rage and span around, trying to pull me off. Percy ran forward and stabbed him in the stomach, causing more screams of pain and more violent jostling. I could barely hold on and I had to keep my mouth shut so I didn't bite my own tongue. The cyclops reached over the back of his head and finally managed to grab me. He pulled me off and threw me against a wall. I felt my ribs crack and I landed on the floor in a heap.

Percy screamed "NO!" And jumped at the cyclops. He stabbed the sword into the cyclops' head and dropped to the ground. The cyclops crumbled to dust and Percy rushed to my side. "Come on, Annabeth, you need to be ok," he muttered to himself as he checked my pulse. He sighed in relief as he found it. I pointed weakly to Thalia's backpack and he went to grab it and brought it back. He searched through it and pulled out a bag of small squares. I managed a nod and he brought a couple out and gently placed one in my mouth. Chewing and swallowing the ambrosia, I felt energy surge into my limbs as my bones started knitting themselves together. With my new strength, I managed to sit up and gesture for another one, which Percy fed me readily. I told him to take care of the others and he rushed of to give them some ambrosia.

"Please tell me there's somewhere we can go close to here," Percy begged, once we were all awake. "You guys can't go very far like this."

"No. The closest place is an hour's walk away at least. In our condition, though, we'd struggle to get there in six," I told him. He was sat next to me as I leaned against the wall with Grover, Luke and Thalia sat opposite us. We were discussing our plans. After the fight, all of us except Percy were injured and we probably wouldn't be able to move very far.

"I agree with Annabeth. We won't be able to go anywhere soon. At least, not until tomorrow. You better get comfortable, guys, because this is where we sleep tonight," Thalia told us.