A/N: I would like to thank emmiem01 and Slone13 for their kind reviews on chapter one. Now onto chapter two!

Imagine the sharpest, loudest, most awful noise you have ever heard in your entire life. Imagine that plus nails on a chalk board, squeaky violin strings, Jar Jar Binks, and the world's loudest, ugliest baby all singing in horrible cacophony.

Okay, now multiply that by six and you'll have a pretty good idea how awful Mrs. Tot's whistle was. She blew it so loud I was surprised that no one came from the auditorium to investigate.

Hayden winced at the noise, her face screwed tight. I covered my ears, but there was no lessening the sound.

Thankfully (or unthankfully) the whistling stopped.

I looked up at Mrs. Tot, who just kept grinning like a crazy lady.

I scoffed. "That's it? You wanted to make us deaf?"

"Kai!" Hayden gasped and grabbed my arm. I followed her eyes to the floor to see what she was gawking at.

My heart nearly stopped beating.

The floor tiles were moving. A low snarl came from underneath, vibrating the floor. With terrible realization, I knew that large beasts were trying to emerge from under the ground, rising and breaking apart the tile like it was made of egg shells. My stomach churned.

"Oh, God," I squeaked.

"Kai," Hayden said. "Let's go."

"Okay."

We dashed towards the exit, running straight into the crisp evening air. We were emptied out into a small alleyway next to an old cafe and a boutique that Alana and her friends liked to visit on weekends. I was expecting the streets to be crowded on a Friday evening, but there were only sprinkles of people present. Families were going out for dinner; friends were hanging out near stores, chatting and catching up; a guy on a corner played the drums on orange buckets. Everyone was blissfully unaware of the awful things that Mrs. Tot had just unleashed.

We ran, weaving through groups of people and cutting through alleys. I didn't dare look back once. Hayden took the lead. I wasn't sure where she was planning to go, but as long as we were far away from the school and Mrs. Tot I didn't care.

My heart felt like it was trying to beat out of my chest, half from running and half from fear. Hayden looked no better than how I felt. Her face was paler than normal, but her eyes told me she was more surprised than terrified. That idea worried me.

Without realizing it, we had made it to a busier side of the city. Cabs zoomed recklessly past with typical cautiousness and consideration of the average New York taxi driver. The side walk was cluttered with people, who paid no attention to two panicked school girls (one wielding a giant battle axe) running for dear life. Then again, stranger things have happen in New York City.

Eventually, we had to stop. I slumped against a building wall, panting and as my adrenaline started to leave me. Hayden checked for pursuers from the direction we had come from.

"Do you see anything?" I asked Hayden between breaths.

She shook her head. "No. I think we threw them off for a while. But they will probably smell us soon."

"Smell us? All right, what were those things?"

She shook her head again, completely dumbfounded. "I… I don't know. I haven't seen anything like those before."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out." I made the time-out gesture with my hands. "What do you mean you haven't seen things like those before? You mean you've seen other–"

"Monsters? Yeah, I have." She frowned so deeply, it looked like it might've hurt.

My mind was reeling with questions. The way she said "monsters" was so casual… this was a side to Hayden that I've never seen before. But before I could ask any more, Hayden grabbed my arm.

"C'mon," she said. "We need to go. We can't stay here for too long."

"And go where?" I asked.

"We need a cab. How much money do you have on you?"

I just stared at her. "Fresh out of money."

She leaned her axe on the wall of the building and rummaged through her bag. After a while, she swore again in that language I didn't recognize. "This is bad."

No duh, I wanted to say. But Hayden looked stressed enough trying to figure out a plan without any snarky comments from the peanut gallery.

"Maybe we should stay in the city," I suggested. "If those… things can really smell us, then they won't be able to find us as easily now. Right?"

Hayden nodded, but the look in her eyes was still distant.

I wanted to say something to cheer her up, but a growl cut me off before I could.

I gulped. No way…

A block away, Mrs. Tot emerged from behind a building, her eyes still wild. She didn't have her beasts with her, but that didn't make me feel any better.

Hayden handed me her bag. "I have a knife in there," she explained without taking her eyes off Mrs. Tot. "Get it out, but stay behind me. I'm not letting you get hurt."

Mrs. Tot was closer.

"We have to get her away from the mortals," Hayden continued. "She's dangerous."

I couldn't find my voice to respond. Everything was too surreal to be happening.

We turned to run, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as we were face-to-face with one of the monsters.

It was easiest the scariest thing I've ever seen: a long, ugly reptile with brown and green scaly skin. Instead of normal lizard legs—whatever those were supposed to be— it had chicken legs; feathers, talons, and all. Small, chicken-like wings seemed to be attached awkwardly onto its side. If that were odd or horrible enough, on its head, it had the horns like a ram. Or, at least I thought it was its head. Its long tail was the size of its neck, with another horrifying head where the end of the tail should be. It whipped side to side angrily, like it wanted a turn at being in the front.

Hayden gasped and jumped back. I (the graceful angel that I am) shrieked pathetically and stumbled back so hard I fell on my rear.

Behind us, Mrs. Tot cackled. "Did you really just try to run?"

I barely registered what she said. I had locked eyes with the monster, and was paralyzed. Its dull yellow glared made it pretty clear that it was going to eat me. Yet, for some reason, it didn't attack.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Tot said smoothly. "He won't eat you just yet. He's awaiting his brethren before ripping you to shreds. Impeccable manners." She glided over to the monster and petted its horn.

Hayden straightened her back and glared at Mrs. Tot. "What do you want with us? And where are your other little pets?" I knew that she must've been as scared as I was, but her voice rang with confidence.

I mustered the strength to finally get on my feet and break eye contact with the monster. Its cold eyes burned their way into my corneas.

My teacher tutted and shook her head in disapproval. "How long were you in my class? You know I hate to repeat myself. But my 'pets' are the, by the way. They were born when the blood of Medusa decapitated head fell to the Earth. After that they were molded by Mother Earth herself."

Shaking, I tore through Hayden's bag and pulled out her knife. It wasn't as ornamental as her axe, just a foot long black blade with the hilt wrapped in beige leather.

I wielded it weakly at the monster. It just growled and raked the concrete, tearing through it like wet clay. If the people of New York found anything odd with a standoff between two adolescent girls and a crazed middle school teacher with her pet chicken/snake monster, they didn't show it.

Hayden gulped, but stood firm. "Who are you really, then?" Hayden inquired. "Is Tot an acronym or something?"

Mrs. Tot frowned. "I guess you wouldn't know of me. I don't have many stories, after all. But no matter. You'll both be dead very soon."

She fixed me with a murderous look, like I was a screaming child who got their candy taken away by their parents. "You really thought that you could fool me? You're dumber than you look."

I wanted to scream. I grew up with kids calling me stupid or slow. I hated it. I wanted to run the monster though with the dagger and backhand Mrs. Tot, but I couldn't stop shaking. I knew I couldn't kill the thing in front of me. It would either bite me in two or slice me to ribbons with its chicken claws.

Behind me, Hayden tensed. "Kai," she whispered. "Duck."

It took me a second before I realized what she meant. I hit the ground.

Hayden swung so fast, her axe was a blur. Mrs. Tot jumped out of the way but the monster wasn't so lucky. The instant it was hit it exploded into a cloud of yellow dust.

I stared at the spot where the monster was. Mrs. Tot scowled at Hayden. Her red face and heavy breathing reminded me of old cartoons before a character blew up out of anger. Only somehow not as funny.

Hayden recomposed herself. "You're not a monster, are you?"

Mrs. Tot's scowled deepen, but otherwise she didn't speak.

"Well then," Hayden smirked. "I guess I can do this."

In a swift motion, she grabbed Mrs. Tot by the arm, pulled her close, and hit her square in the throat with the side of her hand.

Mrs. Tot's eyes rolled into her head, and she crumpled onto the sidewalk.

My draw dropped. "What… how…"

"She won't be out for long," Hayden said. "And more of her… Amphisbaenae are coming. Let's move."

I groaned. "You know, sooner or later I want a thorough explanation."

She didn't respond as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down the street. I didn't want to do anymore cross-county races, but on the other hand I didn't want to be around when Mrs. Tot recovered her senses.

As we sprinted down the street, pedestrians either moved out of our way or mumbled something about bratty teens as we barreled past them. Strange…

"Why are people just now noticing us?" I asked.

Ahead of us, a hot dog vender and his stand carted in our way. I darted past it, but Hayden didn't seem to be fazed by it. She jumped gracefully, gliding over the counter in one clean motion, and continued her running. The hot dog vender looked surprised for a second, but then shook his head and grumbled something about pigeons.

"The Mist," she said simply, as if that explained everything.

"Miss who?"

"Mist," she corrected. "It's this magical veil that separates the mortal world from the world of the gods by distorting their vision to fit their perception of reality—"

"In English please!"

"I was speaking English!" She grabbed my arm and turned me left.

I huffed. "In layman's terms, then."

"It makes people see what they want to see. It changed reality so they can't see what's really happening."

Okay, I thought. I wanted to argue, but Hayden suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

We were running so long that I hadn't even notice that we were on the esplanade Battery Park City.

The walkway was deserted, except for an old woman feeding some pigeons on a bench. The murky blue waters of the Hudson River glowed orange in the setting sun.

My brow knitted. "Why did we stop?"

"You'll see if a minute," Hayden said. "Just get behind me and—oh, gods."

I turned in the direction where she was looking. My jaw went slack.

The old lady on the bench wasn't feeding pigeons. They were more of the monsters, about five Amphisbaenae in total. And don't ask me why creepy chicken-footed snake monsters were eating bird feed in the middle of Battery Park. This day kept making less and less sense.

"I didn't see them," I whispered. "Was that the Mist, too?"

"Yep," Hayden confirmed. "The lady must think that they're birds or something. The Mist around them must be really thick."

"This is insanity."

"Yeah, well stick around. It'll get a lot worse."

"Oh, goody."

The Amphisbaenae swiveled the heads on their tails like they just noticed us. They growled like lions gargling gravel. The monsters sauntered over like we weren't worth the hassle of killing. One of them (the ugliest of the ugly bunch) took the lead, its eyes glowing brighter than the rest.

I lifted my knife, although I wasn't sure what I could do. Hayden grabbed her axe, and fierce determination flashed in her eyes.

The one in front unhinged its jaw and shot out something foul-smelling and orange. At first I thought it was fire, until I saw that it moved more like a cloud than fire. It moved so quickly we didn't have time to dodge it.

Then, for the umpteenth time that day, something crazy happened.

Hayden raised her free hand forward. Water spiraled out of the Hudson behind us. A liquid tentacle whipped over us, dispersing the orange cloud and grabbing the Amphisbaenae that had unleashed it. In the blink of an eye, the watery lasso shot the monster over head and it flew straight into the river.

Did she just…

I looked at her incredulously. "What are you, a water bender?"

She gritted her teeth. "Nowis not the time for cartoon references!"

The remaining four Amphisbaenae stared behind us as if realizing their fallen comrade had just drowned in the Hudson. They returned their glares at us.

Another one approached us, and I wondered why they weren't attacking us together. Then I scolded myself for not considering us lucky.

Instead of another cool water bending trick, Hayden gripped her axe and swung, but this monster was smarter than its brethren. It hobbled back in a wacky, chicken-legged way, and lashed its tail at Hayden. She backed away in time for it to miss her legs and just snap at her skirt, ripping it. Hayden brought her axe down on its tail like a guillotine and cleaved it through the monster's belly in one swift motion. The Amphisbaena erupted intoa shower of sand.

Hayden flipped her axe and dug the upper corner of it into the dirt. She glared at one of the Amphisbaenae, mumbled something I didn't catch under her breath. Suddenly, the shadows on the esplanade elongated and the air turned colder. I had the sudden urge to run and hide in a tree. The jewel at the bottom of axe glowed with a black light.

The Amphisbaena that Hayden addressed turned and fled down the esplanade. The remaining two backed away nervously. For a moment, I thought that they would runaway, too, but no such luck.

One of the monsters charged at Hayden, spewing the foul orange cloud. She jumped away, but not before the orange mist hit her in the shoulder.

Hayden hissed. The cloud dissolved, but the sleeve on her shirt was rapidly dissolving. She ripped it off before it could do damage to her skin.

But the Amphisbaena wasn't done yet. It swung its tail, attempting to attack her again from her blindside.

"No!" I scream, temporarily distracting it. I was shaking, but I lunged myself at the monster. It shot its poisonous gas at me. Somehow, I managed to sidestep it and kept advancing.

I did the natural thing and drove the dagger straight into the monster's side.

The Amphisbaena exploded into dust, covering Hayden and me in a veil of nasty yellow dirt.

I recoiled. "Ah, gross!"

"You get used to it," Hayden said, wiping monster dust out of her hair and eyes.

I gagged. This was something I definitely didn't want to get used to.

My heart still pounded. My mind was so fixed in replaying how I killed that monster that I hadn't even realized that there was one last monster left standing.

We stood together facing the Amphisbaena. It growled at us, clawing at the ground, successfully tearing it to shreds. The beast crouched like a panther ready to jump its prey. But before it could, it froze.

A glittering tip stuck out of the base of its neck before it exploded like the rest of the Amphisbaenae.

I stared dumbfounded at the spot where the monster was. For once, Hayden looked as surprised as I was.

"Uh…" I waved in front of us. "Should we be worried about that?"

Hayden shook her head. "I…"

The air in front of us shimmered. The shadowy image of a girl materialized in front of us, solidifying into a definite form. It was the blonde girl I saw earlier in the common room. She wore normal clothes, jeans and an orange T-shirt. In one hand she held a dagger, like the one I had; in the other hand she was clenching a blue Yankees cap.

She looked up at us; her grey eyes were startling. For a second, I thought she was going to attack us next.

The scary girl looked us over. Her eyes widened in horror at me.

"Gods," she muttered. "It got you."

I blinked. "What?" I looked down at myself and realized what she meant.

I hadn't missed being hit by the Amphisbaena's poisonous gas. The right side of my shirt had been eaten away. My skin underneath was blotchy and red. When I touched it, pain shot through my body. I yelped, and would have collapsed if it weren't for Hayden.

Funny how something doesn't hurt until you notice it.

The blonde girl rushed towards us. "Amphisbaena poison is slower than other monsters' poison, but if you're not careful…"

Hayden hefted my arm around her shoulders. "Is she going to be okay?"

The girl nodded, but her features looked grim. "Yes. But we have to leave now if we're going to get the antidote."

"You're from that camp?" Hayden asked.

"You know about the camp?"

"Only a little—"

"Hey," I interrupted. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm starting to see black spots and I'm pretty sure that that's not good."

"Sorry," the blonde girl said and turned to Hayden. "You're good with your axe. I'll help her to a cab. Cover me in case anymore monsters show up."

Hayden didn't protest as she handed me over to her.

My head bobbed back, but I managed to stay awake. "Wha—where we going?"

The girl's hard eyes soften a degree. "To the only safe place for Demigods," she explained. "We're going to Camp Half-Blood."

Hayden managed to flag down a cab for us. We all squeezed into the back seat, with me wedged in the middle. The girl, who introduced herself as Annabeth, told the driver where to go. When he tried to protest, she folded a wad of cash into his hand. That would make almost anyone an obedient little lamb.

Once the cab was driving, Annabeth fished out a baggie of odd food, broke off a piece and handed it to me.

"Ambrosia," she explained. "It'll slow down the poison."

Magical healing food? Sure, why not? At this point I was inclined to believe anything.

I ate it, expecting it to be sweet, like a brownie or a lemon square. Instead, it tasted like garlic bread and grilled fish. The kind Mom and Dad would make when Alana and I come home on holidays. The food warmed my whole body and eased the pain in my side.

"What did it taste like?" Hayden asked, closing the glass divider between the driver and us. Her axe was back inside of her lavender bag. I guess it was like a Mary Poppins' Bag of Holding deal.

I told her what it tasted like, and she smiled. "Your dad makes awesome garlic bread."

I laughed, but as soon as I did pain shot through my side.

"Don't push yourself too much," Annabeth warned.

"Yeah," I groaned. "Laughing hurts."

We drove in silence for a while as the cab sped down the road. For the first time I noticed how exhausted scratched up Hayden looked. Even though we were driving away from the monsters, she still looked tense.

She turned and addressed Annabeth. "Why didn't you help us sooner?" she asked, although she didn't sound angry. "With your magic cap, you had the upper hand."

Annabeth twirled a ring on her necklace. I hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now I noticed that it had about a half a dozen clay beads on it.

"Cole told me that the two of you were pursued by your teacher," she started to explain. "He said that she smelled of monsters."

"Wait a second," I said. "Who's Cole? And he can smell things, too?"

"Cole's a satyr from the camp—"

"Satyr? You mean like the faun from the Chronicles of Narnia?"

"Kai," Hayden sighed, "That's a movie; this is real life."

I nodded sarcastically. "Right, this is real life. Not a medically-induced hallucination."

"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "Cole is in one of your classes. Gym, I think."

It finally dawned on me. "The small seventh grade kid."

"Right."

Hayden chimed in. "Fa—I mean Satyrs. They're searchers, right?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Correct."

"Then shouldn't Cole be the one escorting us to the camp?"

"You know that, but I haven't seen you at camp before."

Hayden fidgeted in her seat. "Uh, my father told me some things about it."

"Your dad?" I asked. She nodded solemnly.

"Is your dad a Half-Blood?" Annabeth asked.

"Something like that," she mumbled, twirling a strand of her hair. Her shoulders slumped, and I could tell that she wasn't going to open up about her dad again.

Annabeth must've noticed that, too, because she went on with her story. "Anyway, Cole was able to I.M. me in the bathroom outside of the theater. It looked like he busted some pipes in the wall or something. He said that he tried to follow you, but your teacher wouldn't let him leave. She got the other teachers to make sure that he couldn't.

"When I got to the auditorium, you two were already gone. I followed your teacher and managed to catch up to you guys. I would've jumped in sooner but you two were handling yourselves pretty well." She turned towards Hayden. Her eyes held respect, but also a bit of curiosity. "I've never seen a Half-blood with a weapon like that. You fight well."

Hayden's cheeks went pink. "Thanks."

She looked out the window for a quiet moment before saying, "Those monsters, the Amphisbaenae… they wouldn't attack us at the same time."

"Yeah, I noticed that, too." I blinked the black spots out of my eyes. "It was like they didn't know how to work together."

"Amphisbaenae are scavengers," Annabeth explained. "They didn't attack all at once because don't normally kill their prey."

Something about being prey made my stomach queasy.

"Then why did they try to kill us?"

"Orders from your teacher," she guessed. "She must have some sort of control over them. But, honestly, I'm not sure why she sent them after you. She must really hate you."

"Yeah," I said dryly. "I noticed that, too."

Annabeth furrowed her brow. "Did she say anything to you before she unleashed the monsters?"

I explained everything, beginning at when we left the auditorium. Hayden chimed in to add any details that I forgot to mention.

When we were done, Annabeth was silent for a beat. She turned to Hayden. "Do you know what she could have meant by her 'patron'?"

Hayden shrugged. "Not a clue."

Annabeth twisted the ring on her necklace again, deep in thought. Her grey eyes seemed troubled. "I don't think I've ever read a story about psycho teachers killing their students," she said finally. "But…"

"But what?" I inquired.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Right now we should worry about the last Amphisbaena that's out there. If the monsters really were under the teacher's control, then there's no doubt that it'll come back looking for you."

Oh, great. More good news. It couldn't just run away and stay gone; no, it just had to come back.

"Why did it run?" I ask Hayden. "What did you do to it?"

She looked down at her boots. I was worried that I hit a sore topic.

"In short," Hayden said, "I scared it away."

"Oh." I decided to leave it at that.

We drove the rest of the way in silence. I would have liked to ask the Annabeth girl more questions like "Who are you?" or something more subtle like "You're not taking us to your extremist cult, right?" but I was too exhausted to pay attention to any more explanations that she might give us.

I stared out the window. I was surprised at how dark it had become so quickly. The city dissolved into trees with rolling green hills, wineries, and farms. I've never been this far down long island unless it was on a fieldtrip.

My side throbbed dully. I tried not to think about the fact that I was poison and was slowly dying. My eyelids were growing heaving, and I was tempted to fall sleep, but was worried that I might…

Nah, I thought. I wasn't going to die. We were on our way to the place with the cure. I was going to be fine.

I concentrated on the road in front of us. Occasionally, I would check behind to make sure that we weren't being followed. So far so good.

The cab arrived at the bottom of a hill when Annabeth decided that right here was a good place to get out. When the cabbie insisted he could take us further, she handed him an extra fat tip, and he didn't object. The cab sped down the road, back into the city.

"Come on," Annabeth said. "Camp is just over the hill."

"We're going over it?" I asked.

"That's the idea. Hayden was it? Would you—"

A low, guttural snarl interrupted her.

A dark blob floated over the road and hills behind us. It flew on small wings too quickly than what should have been possible. The last Amphisbaena.

I starred at the quickly approaching monster. "That thing can fly with those stumpy chicken wings?"

"Apparently so," Hayden said.

"Come on," Annabeth repeated. "We need to get past that pine tree. We'll be safe once we do."

That plan sounded better than dying, so we followed her up the hill.

The pine tree we were heading to looked a million miles away, and the Amphisbaena kept advancing, which, quite frankly, was pretty discouraging.

I pushed myself harder, which wasn't easy with my side burning. Running made my whole midsection feel like it was on fire. The pain shot to my eyes, causing my vision to blur. I kept moving.

The monster was closing in on us.

We were closer to the top of the hill by now. I could see the glow of whatever was behind it.

Then, I did something so stupidly dumb it'll make you hate me.

I tripped. Over a stupid rock. And I screamed like a sissy when I fell (yes, I am ashamed).

I hit the ground and got a mouthful of grass. The pain on my waist exploded tenfold. I blacked out for a second. Hayden helped me back up and let me lean on her for support.

Annabeth unsheathed he dagger. "You guys keep going," she said. "Get to the big blue house. They'll help you there."

"We can't just abandon you!" Hayden protested, and I agreed with her. If felt wrong to leave her after she did so much for us.

Annabeth frowned at us. "This isn't the time for—"

Too late.

The Amphisbaena was maybe fifteen feet away when it shot a plume of poisonous gas at Annabeth. She rolled out of the way and charged towards it. She went to stab it in its scaly neck, but it simply dodged and swung its tail at Annabeth. She managed to jump out of the way before it got a bite out of her.

Hayden gritted her teeth. She retrieved her axe and handed me the bag. "I'm going to help her. Don't… please don't die." And with that she jumped into the fight, slashing at the monster.

I stared in terrifying awe as the two took on the final monster. This one seemed larger and smarter than the others (of course the final boss had to be the biggest and the baddest). Watching it dodge their combined attacks, I had the horrible feeling that these things actually learn from its mistakes.

I felt like a loser not being able to help them at all. My best friend and a total stranger were risking their lives fighting this thing and I was powerless to help. I felt awful.

My knees buckled, and I (again) collapsed onto the grass. I was losing energy and fast. My head dipped as I struggled to stay awake. I remembered the food that Annabeth gave me, and excitedly started to search through Hayden's bag for it, but no avail.

I decided that I wasn't just going to watch Hayden and Annabeth fight; I was going to at least try to get help.

Shakily, I stood—ignoring the pain— and trekked up the hill. I passed the pine and notice a glittering gold rug that hung low on the branches, and the pile of cables wrapped around the base of the tree.

Below the top of the summit was dark, but I saw the big blue house that Annabeth had mentioned. I smiled, in spite of the pain.

I took a step and heard a terrified scream.

I was too slow to turn and see who it was. Pain clawed its way into my back, and I was violently shoved down the hill. The last thing I remember before blacking out was tumbling down the side of the hill, gasping for air.