A/N Hi all! Here is chapter 2 for The Beginning of Kids, sequel to The Beginning of Tratie. I have some exciting news at the end so stay tuned...
We do not own PJO or HoO, that's Rick Riordan.
Chapter 2
Ana sat on a bunk bed next to Jacob, swinging her feet.
"And then we'll have to prank the Aphrodite Cabin," Jacob continued. He stopped suddenly. "Hey, what's that sound?"
Ana and Jacob stood from their beds and hurried to the window. Noting that the coast was clear, they decided it was just the wind. They settle back on their bunks, and began planning pranks, when they heard the noise again.
"What is that?" Jacob cried, standing up again. Ana shrugged. The noise sounded sort of like wind, except that when they looked out the window, no trees moved.
"I vote we go check it out,' Ana said, reaching down to tie her shoes, and stuffing a granola bar in her pocket. Jacob looked at her questioningly.
"What? I'm hungry!"
Jacob and Ana creep out of the cabin and step outside. It's close to night time and most campers, parents, etc. are at the bonfire. Jacob and Ana were sent to the cabin because they got in trouble for a prank. It's was totally worth it, though.
Especially the look on Annabeth's face when she discovered she had eaten a spider in her s'more. Priceless.
Ana shined her flashlight on a bush. "Hmm..." she muttered. "I think the sound is coming from behind that tree!"
"That's a bush,"
"No, I mean that tree over there!"
Ana pointed to a big dogwood tree that looked out of place in a rugged place. The walked silently over to the tree and inspected it.
"There's nothing here!" Ana noticed.
"Yeah. Let's go back to cabin."
They were about to go back when Ana accidentally stepped into a trap that made a silver cage go down around there.
"Remind me why we put this here again," she cried.
"To capture other campers."
"But not us!"
"How could we forget we put this here?"
"We set it up a few years ago."
"True. Okay, how do we get out?"
"With a key."
"Where's the key?"
"Umm..." Ana said. "I don't know. I thought you had it!"
"I gave it to Maddie,"
"What? Why would you do that? Now how are we supposed to get out?" Ana cried. Jacob sighed.
"I don't know. I'm hungry. Can I have half the granola bar?"
"No!"
"Why?"
"Because you gave Maddie the key!"
"So, you're going to let me starve?"
"We just ate a half hour ago!"
"Your point?"
"You're a pig."
"Takes one to know one."
"Not necessarily," Ana said. She sighed. "Fine, take half."
"Yes!" Jacob cried, stuffing the half in his mouth.
"That's gross!"
"Once you stuffed a whole slice of pizza in your mouth,"
"I did not! That was Daddy!"
"You did it after! And got in trouble."
"Oh yeah. I remember that! Mom took away electronics and you played your DS in my face!"
"What...pfft, did not."
"Yeah, you did,"
"Do you think anyone's going to rescue us?"
"No," Ana sighed. "We'll probably die here,"
"Hey, what happened to the weird wind noise?" Jacob asked.
"I don't know."
"Everything went silent after we got trapped."
"Why haven't we yelled for help?"
"I don't know. It never crossed my mind."
Ana and Jacob starting yelling for help.
"Close you mouths, both of you! And keep quiet!" A voice hissed.
"Umm," Jacob said, frowning. "I am I just hearing things, or did something just-" he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, because Ana covered his mouth with her hand. Jacob looked at her, wide-eyed.
"Now, if you just do what I say, no one gets hurt. Understand?"
Ana and Jacob nodded.
"Good. Now, you can either come willingly or we can make you come."
"We won't go with you, whoever you are!" Jacob yelled.
"Have it your way."
Jacob grabbed his sword, ready to fight, but someone pushed him down and blindfolded him before he could do anything. "Aw, dang," he muttered. "They always escape in the movies!"
"I'll go willingly!" Ana yelled, throwing up her hands.
"That's a good girl. But we can't have you seeing where we take you."
Before Ana could comment, a bag was stuffed over her and Jacob's heads and everything went black.
...
Ana woke up a while later, and the bag was taken off of her head, but it was quickly replaced with a blindfold.
"Eat this," someone said, throwing her what she discovered to be a granola bar. "And no talking. Either of you,"
"I'm thirsty," Jacob complained.
"You don't listen well, do ya boy?" A raspy voice asked.
"No."
"Get the kids some water. Let's consider this their last meal."
"Last meal?! What!"
"I can't die!" Jacob cried. "I never got to go to middle school! And then I'll miss getting to eat my birthday cake next month!" Someone handed him a glass of water and told him to quiet down.
"No! You can't kill me! That's not fair!"
"Life isn't fair."
"That's what my mom says," Jacob muttered.
"Well, mom knows stuff." Ana chided him.
"So does dad."
"Never said he didn't."
"Would you two shut up!" A raspy voice commanded. "You are prisoners and prisoners aren't allowed to talk."
"But they do all the time in movies." Jacob pointed out.
"Yeah," added Ana. She managed to pull her sword out of her pocket without her kidnappers noticing while Jacob chatted on about the movies. Ever so carefully, she sawed off her blindfold.
"The girl escaped!" someone yelled. "Get her!"
Ana blinked in the sight around her. There were monsters everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The one who was talking to them , who looked like the leader, was Lycaon.
Ana gasped and stumbled farther into the cell, "Y-you're supposed to be dead!"
"I don't die, pumpkin, I'm a monster."
"But you are also half human!"
"Yeah, I didn't grow back all the way, but just enough to set this little plan in motion."
"It's just like in that episode of-" Jacob started to say, but quieted when Ana took off his mask.
"You got a plan?" he muttered.
"Run like crazy and hope they don't catch us?"
"Works for me!" Jacob replied. "But don't wolves run really fast?"
"True and they have huge teeth that can rip us to shreds."
"Then what do we do?"
"We have to stay and hope someone comes for us."
"But I don't want to stay here. It's terrible."
"It's what has to be done."
Ana sighed, putting her head in her hands. "I'm going to fight," she muttered. "Are you with me?"
"I guess," came the worried reply.
And they walked into battle
...
A howl cut through the sound of battle.
Lycaon turned towards an approaching wolf. They communicated somehow and Lycaon smiled cruelly at Ana and Jacob.
"It seems that people do care about you. But you are part of my plan, you can't leave now. Monsters...attack."
"Wait," Ana whispered to Jacob. "Climb a tree. Wolves can't climb trees!"
"Okay," Jacob mouthed back. He grabbed Ana's hand, and together they ran over to the nearest tree. Ana managed to swing herself onto the first branch, and she pulled Jacob up behind her.
The wolves surrounded the base of the tree, howling with annoyance. Lycaon was talking to someone, pointing at the tree every now and then. Ana surveyed the area, looking for a way to escape. Jacob poked her side.
"What?" She snapped.
"Do you remember how we always carry things to use for pranks in our pockets?"
"Yeah..."
"Let's use those to get out of here."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Empty out your pockets."
They both emptied their and looked at what they had.
"A toothbrush, string, a plastic ice cube with a fake ant, candy corn, a barbie, a pocket knife, chapstick, and a library card?" Ana asked, looking at Jacob's things. "Wait, why do you have a barbie?"
"It was Maddie's," Jacob replied, leaning over to look at his twin's things. "Super glue, those stickers you put on windows to make them look broken, a pen, paper, a math test, a juice box you already drank, a puzzle piece, and fake mustaches,"
"Oh, here. I forgot I had this," Ana said as she pulled an exploding soap bomb out of her pocket.
"I've got an idea. Your earrings are silver, right?"
"Yeah."
"Let's put your earrings into the soap and throw it at the wolves!"
"But it needs water to work."
"We could wait for it to rain," Jacob suggested cheerfully. Ana frowned at the bright blue sky overhead.
"That might take a while," she said. "Do you think it would work if we used the ink from the pen?" Jacob shrugged.
"I don't know, but I guess it's worth a try," he said, taking the pen apart. Ana unwrapped the soap bomb, and took off her earrings.
"Grandma gave them to me," she said mournfully, looking at the earrings, which were shaped like grains of wheat. "Do you think she'd be mad?"
Jacob frowned. "Probably not,"
"That's not exactly reassuring," Ana muttered, "but I guess it's our only chance."
Ana shoved her earrings into the soap bomb and Jacob poured some ink onto it. Nothing happened.
"Dang it! It didn-"
"Jacob, look!"
The bomb started to sizzle and pop. Ana threw it down to the wolves.
She and Jacob both covered their eyes while the soap bomb exploded around them in a bright flurry of light.
Ana opened her eyes, looking around. "I think...I think they're gone," she said.
"YES!" Jacob yelled excitedly. "NOW WE CAN GO HOME!"
"Uh..." replied Ana. "How exactly do we get home?"
"Uh..."
"If you don't know, then I don't know."
"First, we need to find out where we are."
"Good point. Let's get out of here in case more come."
They both climbed down the tree.
"It's kind of cold," Ana muttered.
"Yeah," said Jacob. "Are we even in New York?"
"I don't know," Ana replied. She grabbed Jacob's hand. "Come on, let's find our way out of this forest."
They walked through the woods, stepping over fallen branches and roots. They exited the forest and faced an icy land.
"Where are we?" Jacob asked.
"I don't think we are in New York anymore."
"Definitely not."
"Where do you think we are?" Jacob wondered.
"I don't know, but I want to go home."
They walked a few more miles and came upon a little shop. They walked inside and were warmed up.
"Hello! How can I help you two youngsters?"
"Umm, where are we?" Jacob asked. "We're sort of lost."
"Sort of?" Ana muttered.
"You're in Anchorage, dear," the saleslady said.
"Oh," said Jacob. "What country is that in?"
"The United States."
"What state?"
"Alaska."
"WHAT?"
"You are in Anchorage, Alaska. Where are your parents?"
"They aren't here. We were kidnapped and brought here."
"Oh dear! We don't have a phone here, but I can drive you to the store some miles from here and you can use their phone."
"Please and thank you, ma'am."
"Are you sure we should trust her?" Jacob whispered.
"What do you mean?" Ana whispered back. "Of course we should trust her!"
"We did just get kidnapped. And Mom and Dad said to never use other people's phones, because that would attract monsters."
"What if the lady calls Chiron or someone?"
"Would the monster still attract?"
"I don't know. But what else are we supposed to do?"
"Wait a minute," said Jacob. "What is Chiron's phone number, anyways?"
"Um, I don't know. I thought you knew!"
"Well, I thought you knew!"
"I only know dad's!"
"And I only know mom's!"
"Kids? Are you alright?" The lady asked.
"Can we trust you?" Jacob asked.
The lady frowned. "What do you mean?" she questioned.
"Can we?"
"Of course."
"How do we know that's not what an untrustworthy person would say?" Ana whispered.
"Uh..I don't know?" The lady shrugged. "You can trust me or not, but you two need help and my maternal instincts are kicking in. You are getting my help whether you like it or not."
"You sound like my mom." Jacob told her. The lady smiled.
"Okay, let's drive to the store, and we can talk on the way there."
The lady lead Jacob and Ana to her car and they buckled in.
"What's your name?" Ana asked the woman.
"Rena. What do you two call yourselves?"
"Superboy!" Jacob screamed.
"He's kidding. I'm Ana and that's my brother Jacob."
"My son Henry-he's two- likes to tell people that he's Captain America."
"I'm ten," Jacob said.
"Me too," Ana stated.
"That's because we're twins."
"I know."
"Quiet, you two."
"Sorry."
"So, you two got a number you can call? Or do you need to contact the police."
Ana and Jacob shared a look.
"No police. We have a number."
"Okay."
"I'm hungry," Jacob complained. "I miss New York."
"Stop whining!" Ana told him.
"I have a penny I found on the floor," Ana announced.
"How far away are we from New York?" Jacob asked.
"Oh, sweetie, you're very far from the big city."
"Well, where are we?"
"You're in Alaska."
"I know. But...it's so far..."
"Yeah, you're very far from New York. Oh, here we are."
They pulled up to a restaurant called "Johanna's Home Cookin'."
Jacob and Ana walked inside, and called their mom's number. They waited for him to answer, but it just went to messages.
"I'll call Mom," Ana offered. She put some more coins in it. "Hello? Mom?" No answer.
"It just keeps ringing," Jacob said. "I don't think she's gonna answer,"
"Mommy?" Ana tried again. It went to messages.
"Let's try dad!"
They rang their dad's number and it went to voicemail.
"Wait they put their phones on airplane mode when at camp!"
"Doesn't Chiron have a phone or something?"
"I don't know!" Ana cried. She paused. "Hey, I do know what the ice cream shop in town's number is!"
"How is that supposed to help?" Jacob asked. "Do you want ice cream or something?"
"No. We can call them, and they can call camp!"
"I'm not sure that will work..."
"But we have to try!"
"Okay..."
Jacob called the ice cream shop and was answer by a peppy sounding girl.
"Hi! This is Molly from Pete's Ice Cream Palace! What can we serve you today?"
"Hello, Molly. I need to...uh...contact the camp nearby you."
"Hang on, sir while I transfer you too our manager!"
"Uh okay?"
We waited a moment and a man answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi, I need to contact the camp nearby."
"What are ya? Monster? Demigod? Legacy?"
"I'm a legacy?"
"Name, parents."
"Uh...Jacob Stoll, parents Travis and Katie Stoll."
"Ah here you are. What can I do for ya, ma boy?"
"Well, my sister and I were kidnapped and are in Alaska. We can't get a hold of our parents and we don't know Chiron's camp number."
"All right. I'll give you his number. Now do you have a pencil and paper to write it down on?" Ana handed Jacob paper and a pen.
"Okay," the man said, giving them the phone number. "There you go! Good luck!" He hung up.
Ana recited the number and Jacob punched it in. Then the phone rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Then Chiron's voice flooded through the speaker.
"Hello, this is Chiron. Thank you for calling. Please leave a message after the beep, and I will get back to you as soon as possible."
"What?" Jacob cried. "NO!" He shook the phone, as if that would make it not go to voicemail. "Why?"
"We could take a train," Ana suggested halfheartedly.
"Yeah, that would only cost like a thousand dollars!" Jacob cried.
"Maybe more like five hundred,"
"That's still a ton of money WE DON'T HAVE!"
"Actually, sugar, the train here don't cost too much. But I can't say the same for the other places you go."
"We still don't have any money."
"We could have a bake sale," Jacob said. "Or win the lottery!"
"I don't think we're going to win the lottery,"
"Why not?"
"Well, first off, we don't have money for a lottery ticket,"
"Oh. Right,"
"The bake sale idea was pretty good. I know the perfect place you two sugars can have it," a lady stood beside Rena.
"Kids, this is Joanna, the owner."
"Hello," Ana whispered.
"Wait a minute," Jacob said. "We never tried calling Uncle Connor!"
"Yeah! We should call him!"
Ana dialed his number and listened as the phone rang.
"Hello?" A voice answered.
"Uncle Connor!" Ana screamed.
"Ana? Is that you? Where are you? Your parents are freaking out!"
"Well, if they'd check their phones once in a while..." Jacob muttered.
"Hush. Uncle Connor, Jacob and I were kidnapped by monsters. We are in Alaska."
"Alaska? Oh Gods. Wait, Ana, here is your mother-"
"Ana! Baby, are you okay? Is Jacob?"
"Mommy?" Ana cried, tearing up a little. She wiped her eye and sniffed. "Uh, yeah, we're okay, we're fine," Jacob grabbed the phone from her.
"Mom," he said very seriously. "We are stuck. In Alaska. We are not fine! Ana needs to get her priorities straight!"
"Jacob!" Ana chastised. "We're alive, and we're not hurt. That's what matters,"
"Can you come get us?" Jacob said, putt "Please?" He never said please, unless his mother made him.
"What, you don't like Alaska?" Ana heard her father say in the background.
"Travis!" her mother sighed.
"Can I talk to them too?" Travis asked.
"Sure," Katie said, handing the phone over.
"Dad!" Jacob practically yelled. "Can you come get us?"
"Sure, kiddo. What town are you in?"
"Uh…" Jacob looked at Ana.
"We're in Anchorage, Alaska," Ana said.
"Okay," Travis muttered. "Anchorage, Alaska. When's the next flight out?" he asked.
"Tomorrow," Ana heard her mother mutter.
"Tomorrow?! What are we going to do until tomorrow?"
"Ana, sweetie, calm down. We'll figure something out. Okay?"
"Okay," Ana muttered.
"Where are you right now?" Travis asked. "I mean, like, where in Anchorage?"
"Um.." Jacob glanced at his sister. "What's the name of this store?"
"Reese's," Ana said.
"Okay," their dad said. "I have to go. Stay where you are, okay? Don't go anywhere. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Promise?" Ana asked. Their dad sighed.
"I promise. Now don't move, okay?"
"We won't," Jacob said.
"Okay, bye," Travis said.
"Wait!" Ana cried. But the line was already dead.
"Can we have food now?" Jacob asked.
"Jacob, that's rude!"
"It's alright, darling. Come one, we'll get ya something to eat."
Jacob and Ana slid into a booth opposite of Rena.
"When we get back to New York," Ana started to say.
"If we get back to New York," Jacob muttered.
"Jacob!" Ana sighed. "Stop it! Look on the bright side: we're alive, we have food, and we get to visit Alaska!"
"Do they have polar bears here?" he questioned.
We do, actually," Rena said. "But they're a bit farther north than Anchorage,"
"Cool," Jacob said, turning to his sister. "When Mom and Dad come to save us, let's go see the polar bears,"
"Let's go home!"
"We can go home after we see the pilot bears."
"Or after they get us!"
"I think my idea better but whatever."
"Here you go, kiddos," Joanna said, sitting down plates of food.
"Thank you," Ana said.
"Thanks," Jacob repeated. They both dug in.
"This is really good,"
"Thanks, honey."
"You're welcome."
They fell silent, the only sound was people chatting and eating.
"How long do you think it'll take for Dad to get here?" Ana said.
"Eh. A few days,"
"I miss them."
"I do too. But we'll be okay."
"Hey, I wonder how Maddie's doing," Ana muttered. Jacob shrugged.
"I bet she's having lot's of fun without us," Jacob sighed.
"Well," Ana started to say, but stopped.
"What?"
"Nothing. Let's finish eating, okay?"
"Whatever."
"I'm full," Ana said, pushing her plate away.
"Me too," said Jacob.
"Y'all can stay with me for the night," Rena offered.
"Thank you, Miss. Rena."
Rena took the two home, where they cleaned up and fell asleep on warm beds.
...
"Are Mom and Dad back yet?" Jacob whispered in the morning, waking Ana up.
"What?"
"And where's Maddie?"
"Dude, you're dreaming, wake up."
"We are still in Alaska."
"Yeah."
"Think Mom and Dad'll come for us soon?"
"Of course!"
"Good. I miss home."
"I do, too. Now go back to sleep, we will need all of our energy tomorrow."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
A/N Okay sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo this is unedited. It's after midnight and I'm tired. Anyway, exciting news!
Lunar and I are writing three bonus chapters for Beginning of Tratie! If you have any ideas for one, review! Or review anyway.
Until next time, lovelies!
Goodbye and may the fandom be with you.
~Booknerd and lunarchroniclesandcockatiels