Readers,

Thank you for the kind words for the story! I really appreciate it. Here is the first meeting with the crossover worlds! I hope you like it!

XOXO Ally Layne.

Bad Moon Rising

Chapter 3: Weird Small Town Strangers

The horn from the first minotaur he ever killed was still perched above his bunk.

There were a few different post-it notes pasted along the wall with reminders written in his chicken-scratch to "remember to take Mrs. O'Leary for a walk" and to "visit Juniper" or to "go check-in with the Hephestus cabin for Annabeth."

Of course, the Seaweed Brain spelled Hephestus wrong, but there weren't many campers who knew how to spell the god's name right, anyway.

An old picture of him, Grover, Annabeth, and I after our first quest was taped to the wall next to his bedside table. The tape was peeling upward at the ends, mostly from time and age.

"Percy?"

He wasn't with Annabeth at the lake. He wasn't with Chiron going over different plans for extending different cabins, and he most definitely wasn't at the practice yard beating someone up.

I quickly checked over our cabin again and felt my heart pounding heavily in my chest. He was probably just being stupid like normal and was hiding from us to make us worry and then he would jump out at one of us and everything would be okay-

"Is he here?"

I whirled around to see Annabeth standing in the doorway, her chest heaving with every breath. She had come running. She must not have found him where she thought he was going to be.

They had a date.

He never showed.

Percy might have been a Seaweed Brain, but if there was something he was never late to, it was the dates he had with Annabeth. There was something really, really wrong with this picture.

"He's not here, either," I told her, wincing at the silver that started lining her grey eyes. "I'm sure he's just in the lake or something and fell asleep. I can go check again."

Her tanned hands massaged her temples. "He's not there, Andie. You already checked three times. I know you, and you have better attention for detail than some of my siblings- you would not have missed him the first time."

I gulped. "What do we do?"

A tear fell down her cheek, and she hastily wiped it away. This was going to be their break- they were going to be a normal couple, and Percy was so excited that he could hardly wait the entire semester-

"We need to go to Chiron. If Percy's missing, something bad must've happened. He's gone without a trace, and you didn't even hear anything happen-"

"But I-"

Her sharp eyes cut me off. "Andie, you haven't slept well since the Labyrinth. You're not a hard sleeper, and Percy tells me that you wake up if he shifts in bed, let alone snores too loud or is abducted in the middle of the night."

I sat down on his bunk, placing my head in my hands. "I know," I said, my voice muffled. "I should've noticed, I could have helped him-"

Annabeth held up a hand. "If you didn't wake up, there was a reason you didn't wake. Something powerful must have taken him, you know that."

I dropped my hands down at my sides and looked up at her, slightly pissed. "But I'm powerful too!"

Her arms crossed. "Something godly, Andie. Something godly must have done this, that's the only way-"

I let out a groan and fell back into the bed, closing my eyes when I saw the pictures that were taped on the bunk above. Percy and I arm in arm, Percy and Annabeth hugging after the battle, Percy and I enjoying some of mom's blue cookies, Percy and I…

"I will go inform Chiron. You stay here and keep looking to see if anything was left behind," Annabeth instructed, eyeing my current state warily. "We will find him, Andie. I promise."

I nodded. "Of course we will."

She hurried out the door and toward the Big House, while I was left in a mind puddle of memories that I wondered if I would ever be able to experience again.

My brother was gone.

Tears started to stream from my eyes.

My twin was gone.

A wolf howled.

"Cheif Swan, she's waking up-" a cautious voice murmured.

"It's 'bout time too," a young voice chimed.

"Did you boys say you saw her wrapped around a tree?" a low, gruff voice asked.

"Yes, sir," the first voice insisted.

"She wasn't hurt too badly given the circumstances," the young voice claimed.

The pain radiating through my body told me differently.

My chest feels like it was being sat on by Mrs. O'Leary and my face felt like I had gone a few rounds with Ares himself in hand-to-hand combat. I was definitely down for the count.

A low moan escaped my mouth, making the voices in the room go silent, and I heard a button being pressed. "The doctor will be in shortly," the first voice told me calmly. Something told me this person was used to being around injured people. Normally mortals aren't this calm.

"Can you open your eyes?" The gruff voice gently asked, using almost a fatherly tone.

A small part of me wanted to keep my eyes closed to avoid the incoming conversation I knew I was going to have, but I knew whoever helped me out of the car wreck probably also deserved a thank you.

Who knows what could've happened to me. I was free food for any monster that walked my way.

So, gathering most of the energy my body had, I opened my eyes to see several faces looking down on me.

There was a pale man with curly brown hair that had a few streaks of grey and very homey brown eyes. He was dressed in a police uniform, and I noticed the nameplate on his shirt read "Swan."

How fun must it be to be named after an angelic bird?

Ha.

Next to him was a massive indigenous man with short-cropped hair who stood next to my I.V., eyeing it warily. That must've been the one who had been around injuries quite often if he knew what the Hades an I.V. was. It was almost humorous to see him standing next to a cop that looked to be a foot shorter than him.

The other two younger guys were on my other side, both obviously of indigenous descent, and they had short hair just like the other man, yet they weren't as large.

"She's alive," one of the younger men said, breaking out into a large, white grin. "We thought you were definitely a goner."

I choked out a snort, immediately regretting that as soon as the pain radiated throughout my ribs in retribution. "I still might be," I rasped.

"These young men found you alongside the road heading into LaPush. My name is Cheif Swan, I was called in as a favor from the Forks Police department when the hospital couldn't get a hold of any emergency contacts for you, Miss Jackson."

I rolled my eyes. Of course the ever-so-secretive Camp Half-Blood hadn't picked up the phone of some unknown caller. It was probably disconnected as soon as possible.

"Doesn't surprise me."

"My name is Sam Uley, and this is Embry Call and Quil Ateara," the big man- Sam Uley- told me, while gesturing to the two younger guys on the other side of the bed. "They are the ones who found you, and my fiancée who was a nurse here immediately had us bring you to the hospital."

I blinked. "Is it normal to be that tall on this side of the continent?"

Quil and Embry looked at each other and started to laugh. "No, not unless you're cool," Quil insisted. "You're not short, though."

I thought about my 5'9'' frame, a gift from my father. I guess I wasn't too short, but these men made me feel like a dwarf.

The doctor, a middle-aged man, walked into the room with a clipboard secured in his hand. "Miss Andromeda Jackson, you certainly have been through a lot, haven't you?"

I sighed, ignoring the pain in my ribs at the deep breath I took. "What happened?"

Cheif Swan rested his hands on his belt. "You were found with your car wrapped around a tree, Miss Jackson. It seems like you lost control of your vehicle and took a sharp turn into the forest."

My eyebrows furrowed. "I think I saw something crossing the road that stopped me-"

"Here, it is important to always drive through any deer you might see," Chief Swan instructed me as a father would, eyeing the bruising that must have been pretty bad given the slight wince he made. "The difference between trying to swerve out of the way and driving through an animal could mean life or death. You were lucky this time."

I shook my head slowly, also ignoring the pain that whirled in my head at the movement. Gods, I was a mess. "It wasn't a deer, Chief Swan."

It was his turn to be curious, and he shifted forward slightly. "What was it, then?"

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the younger men shifting on their feet in unease, which confused me. What did they know? Were they hunting the wolf and sent it my direction?

"It was some sort of overgrown wolf," I told the police chief. I was sure he wouldn't believe me. Most mortals thought I was half crazy most of the time, so this certainly wouldn't be any different.

The look in his eye told me he most certainly thought I was high off pain medication.

The others, however, looked between each other warily. An untrained eye wouldn't have noticed, but I certainly did. Again, what did these men know? Were they some sort of monster hunters?

"Okay, Miss Jackson. I will keep that in mind," Swanny-Man told me, and I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes in blatant annoyance. Of course, he wasn't going to do anything.

The doctor, Dr. Mason or something, took the moment to make his little introduction before carrying on, "Miss Jackson, you suffered from multiple bruised ribs and a face full of deep bruises. You were lucky and did not break any bones or suffer any major liaisons from the glass that required stitches. You were very lucky, this evening. Most people don't walk away from such wrecks alive."

I ignored the whole lucky part but nodded in acceptance. At least it didn't sound like I would be holed up in the hospital for too long.

"You will be kept here overnight for observation, but if there are no changes you are more then welcome to go home." Dr. Mason paused. "But speaking of home, your ID puts your home on the other end of the country."

"Where were you headed?" Swan asked. "The car you were driving was a rental, and you had just gotten off a plane from New York."

I suppose my situation was a little odd. Any half-decent cop would look into it and question my motives.

"I'm moving to a home on the outskirts of LaPush," I informed him. "I work for a travel magazine and they want me close to Seattle to investigate the disappearances and see if it is safe for people to travel to."

The other guys looked between each other again. I was very close to asking them if they realized they were unconvincing at being discreet, but decided to not start any fights while in a hospital bed. Annabeth would be proud.

Chief Swan nodded slowly, but I could still see a million questions whirring around in his brain. "Why stay so far out of the city?"

"It's cheaper," I shrugged. "I'm a high-school dropout and live paycheck to paycheck. I don't exactly have the money to stay in a condo in Seattle."

He let out a hum of acknowledgment. "I suppose the story matches your whereabouts." He looked down at his watch. "I need to be getting home or Bells will be wondering where I am. Sam, you'll tell her about where her car is and everything? I will be back tomorrow to gather more information and help you get to your house."

I blinked. Looked like small towns really did have everyone knowing each other.

"Uh- okay?" I accepted.

The Doctor grinned at me and watched as Chief Swan nodded to us all before taking his leave. What an odd concept. A cop coming back to make sure I got to my new home safely and efficiently.

Most of the time, the police were too busy to do things like that. I guess things are a little different around here, even with the disappearances.

"Not used to all this attention in the big city, huh?" Dr. Mason asked, a faint twinkle in his eye. I looked to see the other men now huddled together and looking at me strangely.

"I guess not," I told him. "It's easier to be under the radar back home."

"Just a fair bit of warning, Miss Jackson, the new person in town is always the most popular for the first few months."

"Oh goody."

"But I am sure these boys will make sure you are well taken care of."

Sam, Quil, and Embry looked up at the doctor with nods of affirmation. "She will be treated like a pack member, doc," Embry assured.

The doctor nodded and walked out, tapping his clipboard thoughtfully.

"Pack member?" I questioned, looking at the guys in confusion at their wording.

"Just a group of us who always get together and hang out," Quil explained quickly, eyeing Embry with annoyance before turning back to me calmly. "Nothing too weird, I promise."

I laughed a little but quickly stopped from the jolting of my bruised ribs.

"Your car was sent to Black's house to be restored," Sam informed me, crossing his arms. "It may be a rental, but you will need to have something to get around in."

"Can't I just get another one?" I nearly whined.

"It'll cost too much to have it towed to the nearest rental shop in Port Angeles," Embry explained. "Might as well have Jake take care of it."

"Who's Jake?"

Quil let out a huff. "He's a sucker for Chief Swan's daughter, Bella, but also has a knack of fixing up cars. He'll take care of it, we promise."

I felt slightly overwhelmed at everything being taken care of by this group of random strangers. Random strangers who most likely knew more about the wolf-thing than they were letting me in on.

I didn't like it.

"Okay, dears, it's time for you all to go!" a cheery nurse exclaimed as she walked in. "Visiting hours are over, and Miss Jackson here is going to need some sleep!"

They immediately gathered their jackets that had gone unused and hurried out, not before promising to meet her at the Black's residence where they knew Cheif Swan would bring her. Apparently, Chief Swan was friends with Jacob Black's father.

Small world- well, actually it's a small town. Same difference, I suppose.

"I am just going to give you a dose of some nice medication to make sure you can sleep tonight, okay Miss Jackson?"

I closed my eyes, already starting to feel tired after the weird strangers had left. The adrenaline I had used to keep awake was already draining away.

"Good night, Miss Jackson."

I fell into a nice, calm sleep. The first one since Percy had disappeared.