Thank you for the views/follows/favs/reviews and basically just reading this fic. I hope you enjoy this chapter... it's dedicated to TeAmLeO.56, who reviewed first :)

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. Yet *evil cackle*

I just saw black. Black...black...black. My feet sought for the ground underneath me... nothing. There was nothing there. I heard the sound of the wind around me and felt something sharp digging into the skin on my shoulder. It felt like my fabric of my jacket was being thrust upwards. I felt sick.

I opened my eyes then looked up then got sicker. I tried hard not to panic. Of course, that was impossible.

I was dangling in mid air, as high as the trees in the forest (they're pretty tall). There were claws around my arm, stopping me from getting my sword which was still hanging by my side.

Great. What the hell was holding me up? I could hear distant yells from below, hopefully Percy had noticed I had disappeared and was now getting help. I tried to grab my sword, but the creature who was holding me just dug it's talons into my arm harder. I winced in pain and felt blood ooze through my jacket sleeve. This was just getting better and better.

I struggled against the hold but it wasn't working. The bird or eagle or whatever it was just kept pressing it's stupid nails into me. I even screamed for help a few times. No such luck.

I had no idea where we were heading, the bird was still flying. It was getting darker and I was getting more agitated. I prayed to the gods that I would survive this. We flew over trees and mountains, dodging taller trees and a few birds. I really hated the dark. I couldn't see anything, I didn't know what was out there and it was cold. Despite my jacket, I was still shivering and trying hard to enjoy the wind that was blowing on my face. Enjoy any good moment at a bad time, right? Make the most out of it. That seemed to be my motto.

As the moon came out, I saw that we were getting close to the ocean. I could see the light of the moon on the waves. At least there was a little light. I could feel the creature slow down. The beach was just right below us. The bird descended down to a point where we were just hovering over the sand. That's when the stupid animal dropped me and I landed on the beach face first.

I groaned and shook my head, getting rid of the stars. I turned around and got a good look at my kidnapper. That just made things a lot worse.

Like I said before, I have only slayed a few monsters. Hellhounds and others that don't matter right now because I am practically scared out of my wits to even utter a word. This monster was... scary, massive, terrifying, horrible, scary, massive, terrifying, horrible and I can just repeat those words in my head over and over.

What was it? Why don't you take a guess? The head, talons, and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

Gryphon.

I cursed under my breath. We had studied monsters in the mortal world many times, I always fell asleep in monster class, it was boring sometimes. But I didn't feel like falling asleep now.

I kept a firm grip on the handle on my sword, as if it was the key to the entire universe. I heard footsteps near by. Footsteps!

I looked around only to be disappointed. The gryphon was only calling for its buddies. A sense of dread washed over me. I was never going to get out of this situation alive.

NO. I couldn't afford to think like that. Positive. Stay positive. THINK. CALM.

I had two options:

One, slice all the gryphons advancing towards me. It seemed like a good idea but I was going to be easily outnumbered.

Two... scream for help. That wouldn't be such a good idea. Who knew what else was out there other than gryphons?

What to do? What to do... Gods, I hated my life sometimes. Couldn't the Olympian Gods just give their demigod kids a break, for, I dunno, let's say a few years? They always seemed to depend on us defenseless half-bloods for their dirty work.

I settled for option one.

My kidnapper walked towards me slowly, I waved my sword in front of it's ugly face, hoping to scare it away. It didnt' work. It lunged at me and knocked me onto the ground again.

He wasn't fighting fair, huh? Fine... two can play that game, buddy.

I brought my sword up and ran my sword straight up it's chest. Cruel, I know, but what choice did I have?

The gryphon disintegrated. I grinned triumphantly.

But my good mood was short-lived. To my horror, five more gryphons were glaring at me, I cursed and got up. Maybe I could do option two? No... I looked around in desperation and saw the ocean. The ocean! Could gryphons swim? Maybe I could stay underwater for a bit, hoping they would go away.

That wasn't a very good plan, of course, but my priority was getting away from the monsters. With one last look at the ugly beasts, I dashed towards the sea, panting heavily.

I reached the water and jumped into it, the gryphons tailing not so very far behind. I panicked and swam faster into the waves. I finally stopped looking at the monsters and pushed forwards. Before I realized it, there was something very large and sharp in front of me. I bumped into it headfirst.

The last thing I heard was howling and just like before, my vision went black.

Sorry for the long wait. Hope you're still sticking to the story. Review if you can, even though your a guest. One question, do you ship Lazel or Frazel? I would love to hear your thoughts.

xx