Dearest Readers,

Here is chapter 2 for Bad Moon Rising! Here we see some more of Andie's interworking mind as her ADD/ADHD starts to rattle her visit at an airport and then on the way to her home something massive confronts her and she has to make a split decision. Let me know what you think, and what you think about Andie!

XOXO Ally Layne.

Bad Moon Rising

Chapter 2: I Nearly Hit A Wolf

Good news: I did not become a giant Andie-sized fish stick.

Bad news: I nearly had an aneurysm just waiting for Zeus to decide enough was enough and to try to strike me down from the sky once and for all. He really was rather vengeful, but sometimes I like to think he might have a soft side.

I guess I just haven't seen it.

But the last thing I want to do is be around the dude with a giant lightning bolt that can fry me at any point in time more than I need to be. At least I'm on the other end of the United States, so hopefully, he can't hear me as loud as he can at Camp.

I strutted off the plane, happy to be alive, and became immediately shocked at how complex all the airport systems were. First of all, it was hard to read anything given my nasty case of dyslexia. Second of all, it was hard to figure out where I needed to go because this place was too massive.

At least I was literally told where to go at the last airport by someone who was employed by Camp, but this time I was all by my lonesome.

At least I had a car waiting for me.

And hopefully, I had a Percy waiting for me too.

I decided to follow an older woman that was sitting in front of me on the plane to where I hoped my bags would be. I had three bags in all- one large duffel, a carry-on suitcase, and my backpack that I had slid my wallet into with all the other crap I needed.

I spent the entire four-hour plane ride clenching onto the seat in worry and didn't let myself mess around with the adult coloring books Annabeth had given me for the ride, so I supposed I could do them later on.

My Camp Shirt was tucked away in my duffle with some other demigod-things that I really didn't want to have to explain in the security line. Luckily, I had gotten through security relatively easily even though I literally had a watch that was actually a shield and a sword that was a hairclip in my backpack.

I almost was a bit miffed that I hadn't been stopped, considering how heavily I was packing.

The older woman I followed through the airport terminals came to a stop by a weird carousel- looking-thing, which I noticed was called an "Aggabe Lacim."

Never heard of it.

The older woman's phone started ringing, a shrill, loud tone that made me wince. I noticed I was the only one who wasn't on a phone while standing around this oval-shaped aggabe lacim, or whatever it was.

She quickly scrambled to pick it up, and I sat myself down on a bench near the aggabe lacim, close enough where I could hear her slightly nasally voice. Gods, she's starting to remind me of Tanaka, starting from her voice all the way down to her fake nails.

"Hi hun, I'm at the baggage claim right now, so just call me when you get here and I can run out and meet you outside!"

Baggage claim.

Ah, now I see it.

I pulled out a sheet of paper that was a list of instructions for me, written by Annabeth herself. She had taken care of all the flight booking, car renting, home renting, and even ordered furniture and some food to be delivered to the house I would be rented tomorrow.

I seriously owed that girl so much, it wasn't even funny.

Andie,

Pick up your luggage at the baggage claim, then go to the Enterprise station and ask for your rental car. It is one of the few rental places that are attached to the airport itself, so you will be able to drive out on your own. The rental place is green, it is hard to miss.

I made sure the car you have on hold has a navigation system, just ask the agent how to use it, and put in the address below, so you can get to your rental home relatively smoothly.

Tomorrow a shipment of food will be delivered to the rental home and I have made sure it was already furnished and ready for your arrival. Luckily there are companies who you can hire to do those things, but I had to ask around for some favors, too.

Please don't get yourself killed. Good luck, I hope that you are able to find Percy. For the both of us.

Sincerely,

Annabeth.

I eyed the address at the bottom of the note and shook my head. At least I wouldn't be staying in Forks, so I wouldn't have to constantly be reminded a tool used for eating delicious food, but I was living in a town named LaPush.

LaWhat?

Alas, things never seem to be as simple as Annabeth always tries to make it seem. When I looked out the window when the flight came in, I saw a lot of trees, which was nice, but there were no big cities except for Seattle, which I would soon be leaving.

I was going to be most likely living in the middle of nowhere, something I had never done before.

Even Camp Half-Blood was relatively close to larger cities, yet located on a Strawberry Farm, but it wasn't nearly as spread out as this place.

Where was I going to get food?

Oh gods, what if everyone is closed on Sundays like I was warned about with small towns!

How was I going to survive?

I ran my hands down my face and sat there with my palms digging into my eye sockets for as long as my ADHD could handle. My legs started to shake, making my palms dig even more into my eyes, so I quickly looked up and saw that a green light had turned on near the baggage claim, and there were some people moving toward it.

I grinned when I saw the contraption start to move in circles, and some luggage started dropping out from some chute that came down from the ceiling.

How cute.

I avoided a mass of people who had scurried over to get their luggage and decided to just wait out the rush. I didn't really like being touched by my twin brother, let alone complete strangers. I was definitely not a huggy-type of person.

When the cluster started to trickle down, I noticed my bright blue duffle rotating around the carousel and walked over to haul it off the steel contraption.

I took a deep breath and swung my backpack and the strap of my duffle around my shoulders, and kept holding onto the handle of my carry on luggage. In my other hand, the letter Annabeth gave me was firmly clenched in my hand, as I started forward to take on the world ahead of me.

I faced Kronos, I think I can face this. I know I can do this.

For Percy.

Looking for a green sign-thingy, I started walking around the area to try and see where the car place would be.

My stubborn pride kept me from asking anyone for help, but when an hour had passed and I was more than annoyed with my obliviousness, I finally walked to a kiosk and asked the young woman working there where I could find this Enterprise place.

Apparently, it wasn't even on this floor.

That's why I couldn't find it.

Mentally smacking myself in the face, I thanked the girl before walking over to the escalator where she directed me. "You just go down that way, go to the right off the escalator, and then keep walking until the end. That's where Enterprise is. They're really nice, so they can help you out, too."

I blushed, knowing that my obliviousness to all things airport had not gone unnoticed.

It's not my fault I happen to be the daughter of a sea god. If I was in a boat port or a ship, I would have been completely fine and at home.

But no, of course, I couldn't have taken a boat across the continental United States. No, Andie, such a thing doesn't exist!

Says who? I bet if I really wanted to, I could make something to get me across. I swear I was never going to step foot in an airport ever again. I would walk back to New York on bare feet if I had to, and that's saying something because I'm the lazy twin.

Lazier, slobbier, crasser, rasher, awesomer, has better hair…

The escalator led me down to the level below, where an entire wall of doors awaited me to dozens of cars that waited outside. I saw some people in bright colors directing the traffic, so I had a feeling that was not a place where I needed to be headed.

She told me to go to the right, so I might as well listen to the person who worked here instead of my ADD seeing the bright colors.

Look for green. Green. Bright green.

Oh, look- green!

But that's an advertisement for what- oh, some tampons. Huh. I sure hoped Annabeth remembered to pack me some of those because I am sure I totally forgot all about the necessities for my monthly friend.

Sigh. The joys of being a woman.

I wonder if Percy even knows what a period is? Or a tampon? Perhaps Annabeth had to sit him down and explain to him why she turns into the Kraken about once every month, but that's their relationship and I would rather not get into that right now.

After following the girl's directions all the way down to the very end of the airport (I'm lucky I'm half god and in wicked good shape or I'd be dead by now) I saw a massive green sign that said "Enterprise."

It was like angels singing in my ears.

I rushed up to the desk and quickly started to ask for some help but the dude behind the counter looked at me, then turned to look at a long line of people who were all glaring at me, before turning back to me with raised brows.

So this is what passive-aggressive looks like. Okay, well played, young dude. I will go pay my time at the end of the line.

(Even though I'm literally the Princess of the Seas but I guess I can't have everything in life, can I?)

I waited in line for ages. I think my hair went grey. I certainly felt like I had lost about two decades of my life and was now a crotchety old hag. Like Hera, or something. But of course, I would be better than Hera as a crotchety old hag because I was, you know, a decent person.

"How can I help you?"

I smiled at the young dude who had just passively-aggressively warded me off nearly twenty years before and looked at his nametag. "Kyle."

Sounds like a douche to me.

"My name is Andromeda Jackson, and I need help with my rental car and stuff," I told him. "I was told it would be ready for me when I came here."

Kyle, a blond-haired, skater-boy wannabe, rolled his eyes. "I am terribly sorry, but we are all out of vehicles."

I blinked.

"You're what?!"

"We just rented out our last vehicle. You did not show up when we were expecting you, it's been nearly two hours after your plane landed. We had to give it to the next person on our waitlist."

I glared at Kyle. "It's not my fault this place is so confusing!"

He looked at me oddly. "It's actually one of the most straightforward airports in the country. It is not my fault you cannot seem to follow directions."

I took a deep breath. It wouldn't be smart to blow up in a rage in front of all these normal mortals. At least, not after just arriving here. I let my duffle bag and backpack fall off of my back, and placed my hands on the counter in front of me.

"You are going to find me a car, or you won't like what happens next."

He raised a brow. "Are you threatening me?"

I scoffed. "It's a warning, dumbass. I have places to go and a brother of mine to find so I'd rather not be wasting time here with you, Kyle."

His cheeks reddened. "I am going to grab my manager."

I crossed my arms. "Run along then, maybe your manager will actually help me out."

Ignoring his muttering under the breath as he walked away, I noticed I was the only one waiting at this damn car rental place. Really? Was I actually the last one?

"Miss Jackson," a mousy man spoke, walking up to the counter with a smug Kyle following him. I nearly rolled my eyes when I saw the coffee stains on his white button-up and the comb-over he was sporting.

"You're the manager?"

He nodded, pulling a tissue out of his pocket and blowing his nose loudly before putting it back into his khaki pants. Gross.

"Will you help me?"

The manager-guy looked at me in slight apprehension. "Unfortunately, Miss Jackson, we do not-"

"I am pretty sure that's a lie. You must have some cars on hold for the next round of flights, am I correct?"

He looked to Kyle. "You did not offer another vehicle?"

Kyle crossed his arms. "She tried to budge-"

I threw my arms up in the air. "I didn't see the line!"

"Still, you come up and yell at me-"

"You seriously just sold my car out from under me, and you expect me to be happy?"

The manager held his nose between his thumb and pointer finger and closed his eyes. "Go on your break, Kyle. We will need to talk later about customer etiquette."

I barely kept myself from sticking my tongue out at the evil rental agent. "So are there any other cars?"

The manager looked at me with a grin. "Of course, let me get you ready in the system and you can be on your way. I apologize for the confusion…"

I didn't bother trying to correct the poor man, who obviously had other issues to deal with. Losing hair wasn't an easy thing to come to terms with and obviously he is past due on shaving his head.

Thanks to the manager, I was off and driving away from Seattle within a half-hour with my address logged and everything, sometimes not blowing up and using my powers on people in anger actually did solve my problems.

"ETA twenty minutes."

I glared down at the GPS device. "Yeah, yeah, you already told me."

"ETA nineteen minutes."

I let out a huff as I tightened my hands on the wheel.

"ETA twenty minutes."

"Dear gods, kill me now."

As if the gods had heard my complaint and decided to finally answer a prayer, a giant wolf came running out into the middle of the road and I let out a scream.

It froze, turning to look at my headlights with wide eyes, and I immediately swerved out of the way, but the wheel lost control and I closed my eyes with the last thing I saw being a line of trees dead ahead of me.

And then there was nothing.