Hey everyone!

First, I have some bad news. Yesterday, I wrote Chapter 14 and it was literally the best chapter I've written. I think you know what I'm going to say now. It got deleted. As I said the other day, I use an old computer that doesn't work properly. The power cord got knocked and the entire computer got shut down without creating any backups. I know. It sucks.

So I'm trying to find a way to not use that computer now. Anyway, I won't bore you all with my ranting, so here's Chapter 13.

Disclaimer: I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I don't own Percy Jackson. But I do own Gabby. And Nate. And this story.

As I walked home that night, I walked abnormally slowly. It gave me time to ponder everything that had happened over the past couple of days. It had only been three days since school started back up again, three days since I met Percy. It's funny how much can change in such a short period of time. Before this week, I would never have had the courage to threaten Kayleigh like I did this morning. And I would never have thought that I'd have two new friends, especially one who had already caught the eye of the popular crowd. I was actually quite impressed with myself. I had told myself that this year was going to be different and here I was, three days later, feeling like a completely different person.

The loud horn of a taxi jarred me out of my thoughts and I jumped out of it's way as it swerved around me. I was standing in the middle of a road that I hadn't even realized I was crossing. I jogged to the sidewalk shaking my head, trying to wrap my head around what just happened. I looked back at the road, still stumbling a little.

Suddenly, I lost my footing and stumbled backwards.

"Hey!" I heard a voice shout from behind me. I turned around and saw that I had bumped into a lady covered completely in black clothes and silver piercings.

"Sorry," I said, steadying myself. "I didn't see you there, ma'am."

The lady huffed and glared at me before flicking her short cropped hair out of her eyes. She made me feel uneasy. "Watch where you're going, lossser," she hissed at me. "Nexsst time, I won't hesssitate to give you a piecsse of my mind."

Her eyes were bright green, the color that reminded me of a kind of poison that I had read about in a class novel last year. But as her eyes narrowed, an obsidian ring darkened her stare.

My heart was racing; I could feel it almost jumping out of my chest. I nodded my head wildly and walked away as quickly as possible, only sparing a short glance over my shoulder. The lady had disappeared.

I started fanning my face; a sudden wave of sunlight illuminated the bustling streets. I shrugged off my jacket and turned the next corner. My house was only another couple of blocks away so I quickened my pace, eager to get my homework over and done with.

I stopped. Right in the middle of the sidewalk. I ignored the angry remarks from people trying to weave around me and just stood there. I whisked around, my gaze were darting around everywhere, searching for something that my eyes had seen but my brain hadn't. It was like I had seen something but I didn't know that I had seen it. And I didn't like it. At all.

I was about to turn away and ignore that feeling in the pit of my stomach. And that's when it happened.

I saw a dark shape rush across my path and I jumped a little bit. I looked around at the other people walking around me, but they didn't seem to have noticed anything. I continued walking, a little faster this time. My vision flickered from one thing to another, faces blurring together like a faded watercolor painting. And two eyes stared out at me through the confusion. My mind couldn't comprehend much of what was going on but those eyes stood out, stabbing at me like shattered glass.

I stood frozen to the spot, like a deer caught in headlights. It was the lady that I had bumped into a couple of minutes ago. She was staring at me and sneering in an inhuman way. Her features seemed stretched across her face and I could swear that I saw elongated canines when her lips curled up into a snarl. They were almost like fangs.

I blinked, and then she was gone.

My palms were sweating now, and I let myself get swept away by the crowd. I turned another corner onto a street that was completely devoid of people, spare the business man in a fancy Italian suit that was now driving away in his fancy Italian car.

Despite the sun being out, I shivered and goosebumps were forming on my arms. The echoes of my footsteps reverberated off the tall sides of the buildings around me, making it sound like there were a hundred people walking down this street, their strides all slightly out of time.

Hisss.

I jerked my head in the direction of the sound. It was coming from a dark alley to my left, where the sunlight had reflected off of those two eyes that I had become all to familiar with. I heard the hissing sound again and backed away.

If this was a horror film, then it would be dark and raining and the middle of the night. I would be a naive girl who you know wouldn't last six minutes after the creepy music starts. I would then walk into the alley to investigate the mysterious sound, not taking into account the numerous disappearances of my friends of whom I was with. I would then get savagely slaughtered by whatever lay in those shadows.

But this wasn't a horror film, for which I was very grateful. It was quarter to four on a sunny afternoon and I wasn't a naive girl and there was no creepy music playing as far as I could tell. I was definitely not stupid enough to walk into a dark and secluded alley, where I'd be murdered by the rogue assassin or swamp monster or other mutated creature.

I took a couple of steps back and pressed my shoulder blades against the poorly painted wall of the building beside me. I took a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm my racing heart. I wasn't so concerned as to who had been following me, as much as I was about what was. Because whatever that was about fifteen feet away definitely wasn't human.

The hisses grew louder and something that was possibly adrenalin pumped through my veins. I knew what this meant: Fight or Flight. And it wasn't exactly hard to decide which one I was going to do.

With shaking legs and trembling hands, I slowly pushed myself off the wall and brushed some rogue hairs out of my face. As quietly as possible, I walked across the road so I wouldn't have to pass that alley. I was about half way across the road when a horrible sound - a mixture of something like a growl and a hiss - erupted from where I knew that green eyed lady was hiding. Without bothering to look back, I sprang into a run, only thinking about one thing: moving forward.

Everything around me was a blur; colors and street names blended together in one massive puddle of confusion. Around me I could hear the sound of cars whizzing by me in a dull whir and the hissing sound of what I would normally presume to be two carpet pythons. I was all to familiar with getting up close and personal with snakes from a trip to the zoo in sixth grade. Unlike Harry Potter though, I didn't make the glass of the enclosure disappear to take revenge on my evil cousin. It's a rather unheroic story actually. When my class visited the zoo we were taken to a reptile show. When the presenter asked for a volunteer to hold this massive snake, my teacher called on me. Obviously.

So, long story short, as soon as I got up on that stage and the presenter put that snake around my shoulders, I fainted. I woke up ten minutes later staring at a ceiling.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I do not like snakes.

As I ran aimlessly through the streets of New York I could feel the sweat dripping down my forehead. I ran into another alley and glanced behind my shoulder. No sign of it.

I sighed loudly in relief. I wiped my forehead on the back of my hand and staggered backwards a bit, just to trip over something. I caught myself from falling and glanced down at me feet. A metal bar. Perfect. I bent down to pick it up; at least now if snake-lady turns up again, I should be able to hold my own. The metal was cool against my skin and heavier than I had hoped. I took a deep breath and stood back up, my pursuer still nowhere in sight.

I stood there for a few minutes, metal bar in hand, waiting for something to slither out of the shadows. But nothing did. Slowly, I softened my stance and lowered my arm.

I hoisted by bag back up onto my shoulder and relaxed.

"That was close," I whispered to myself. Suddenly, I felt two clammy hands clasp onto my arms and what felt like snake-skin wrap around my ankles.

"A bit too clossse if you asssk me."

I whimpered, and a scream was caught in my throat as one of the hands clamped itself over my mouth. I was whisked around to face the hideous features of the snake-lady. Although her face had completely transformed, I could still see a shadow of the person that I bumped into not even an hour before. Her nose was shaped like that of a snake and her skin was covered in dark green scales. Her eyes had become narrower and she had slits for pupils, but I could still see her eyebrow piercings glistening in the afternoon sun.

She opened her mouth and hissed at me; her breath smelled coppery and what I was sure was blood trickled from her elongated canines.

Her fingers enclosed around my neck and she lifted me above her head until I was at least two feet above the ground. I clawed at her hands, gasping for breath, but to no prevail. She just laughed.

This is it, I thought. I'm going to die.

I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. It sounded like a drum. Thump-thump, thump-thump. I counted time by my heartbeats.

Thump-thump. Four beats since I stopped kicking. Instead I thrashed my head around in a desperate attempt to escape.

Thump-thump, thump-thump. Two beats since she ripped a clump of my hair out.

Thump-thump. Two more Since I last opened my eyes.

"Thisss isss the end of you," she whispered in my ear. I only coughed and gurgled in response. "You do know that, don't you?"

I couldn't feel my fingers.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Light burned against my eyelids. I forced my eyes open and looked up. I saw the sky.

Thump-thump.

"Too bad no-one wasss here to sssave you," she said, licking her fangs. My lungs were burning. "Oh well. Tonight, I feassst!"

Just as she was about to crush my throat, I took a raspy breath and raised my arm, ready to bring the metal bar down on her head.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

I couldn't do it. My eyes lolled back in my head and my arms fell limp by my sides. I heard the clatter of the metal bar hitting the ground.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Everything around me became all surreal. Sounds became a gentle lull; a sort of humming filled my ears. If this was dying, it wasn't so bad.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

I suddenly heard a distant yell and a violent hiss, although it was hard to hear over the throbbing in my ears.

Everything was black, and I felt like I was falling. My eyes opened, and I couldn't find the energy to close them. The last thing I saw was a shower of gold dust and two green eyes.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

Two breathy words escaped my lips. "Help me."

I couldn't see or hear anything.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

My heartbeat was the only thing I could hear.

Thump-thump.

And even that was growing faint.

Thump-thump.

And then, it fell silent.

Is Gabby going to survive? I don't know because I haven't written it yet.

Please review telling me about your New Year's resolution, comments, constructive criticism or anything else. If you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

Happy reading, everyone. All the best for the New Year!

Daphne