Rachael

Chapter 13

I tumbled out right in the middle of a bustling road.

Muttering under my breath, I straightened and brushed myself off. What was that on my clothes? Sand? Frowning slightly, I turned behind me to where I had emerged.

But nothing was there.

A couple of old ladies walking by stared at me briefly, probably wondering what a teenager covered in sand was doing in the middle of…

Of where? I looked around at the cars whizzing by and squinted at the illuminated road sign. 42nd street. Huh.

Wait, WHAT? How in the world had I ended up here? This place was like an hour drive from Camp!

It looked familiar for some reason, even though I hadn't grown up in New York. The excess of bright lights brought spots to my eyes and the tall commercial buildings towered over me. Only then I realized that this had been one of the places I had been guarding during the Battle of Manhattan, otherwise known as the Titan War.

I started walking till I reached the intersection and then went left on 9th avenue. I knew my way around here (sort of) but I had absolutely no idea whatsoever how to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Moreover, how in Hades had I ended up here? Magic of some sorts? The gods? Maybe I just randomly flew 50 miles. Wonderful.

…

I trudged ahead, completely out of ideas.

It was pretty late, past midnight, but cars still whizzed past me, their drivers anxious to go…well, wherever they needed to go. I stopped by a restaurant bar, which was still open, though the staff were already cleaning up. I had to keep walking, so I started forward, but my stomach grumbled in protest.

Food It complained.

"Later."

Eat It persisted.

I sighed heavily. I spoke into my bracelet again, calling out for anyone. "Annabeth? Percy? Leo?" Nobody answered. Stopping by a nearby fountain, I tried to Iris-message for probably the fifth time in the last hour, but, like all the other times, nothing got through.

I had already covered most of 9th avenue, turning only at 65th street, and then circling back on 7th avenue. Now I was back on 42nd street.

I felt kind of guilty for leaving Leo alone with the drakon. The gash I had managed to deliver in its back definitely would have done some damage, but in no way could've killed it. I had let myself fly 50 feet backward, land in the river screaming and had left Leo alone with a two-hundred-foot long serpent to deal with. Not the most helpful thing to do.

I threw down Alexis in frustration. I just felt so…useless these days.

I sat down on a bench to catch my breath. I had no plan, no mortal money, and no contact whatsoever to Camp Half-Blood. (Thanks a lot Iris!)

Right now, I felt like pretty much the dictionary definition of useless.

My stomach still complaining, I looked across the street to see a dingy two-storey inn squished in between to grander buildings. The paint was pretty old, and a few flowerpots stood wilted by the doorway. I glanced at the sign, and rolled my eyes.

The Zues Hotel.

Some name. It wasn't even spelled right. Zeus was spelled Z-E-U-S not Zues. It almost sounded like the Zooos Hotel. It was a wonder Zeus himself hadn't yet electrified it with his master bolt.

However, I couldn't help but smile. It was kind of funny. I cracked up, imagining telling Chiron that I had stayed at the Zooos Hotel.

A strong breeze ruffled my clothes, making me shiver. It was getting cold, and I was completely worn out from the long walk as well as Capture the Flag.

I had no mortal money, so there was no way I could pay for accommodations for the hotel, but it looked completely deserted anyway. Spotting an open window open window on the second floor, I climbed a nearby tree and stepped into the room. However, just as I was about to climb into the room, my foot slipped and I tumbled right through the window.

I glanced at the window and sighed, and then took in my surroundings.

The room was very simple, not decorated in any way, and held only a bed and a night table along with a small lamp. I opened the creaking door to find no one downstairs. It was as I had guessed: the hotel was uninhabited.

A thought crossed my mind: there could be monsters hiding out in the hotel, waiting for the right moment to attack. I wondered where all those little kids had gotten the silly idea that monsters lived under their bed from.

I threw open the closet door and glared at it, almost daring a monster to come out.

The closet was empty.

I locked the door for good measure, and after depositing Alexis and my dagger on the night table, crashed out onto the bed.

…

By the time I awoke sunlight was already streaming in through the open window, despite it being the middle of November. I stretched and lazily got out of bed, half mumbling, "Annabeth?" After looking around the room in confusion for a couple minutes, I remembered my situation.

I slammed my head against the pillow, my stomach grumbling again. What to do?

I got out of bed, extremely hungry. But how was I supposed to get food? As I walked across the room, I noticed something that hadn't been there before. I glanced down, noticing a backpack.

Instantly I grabbed it and spilled the contents onto the bed. A pack of biscuits, beef jerky, and a little mortal money, as well as a bottle of water. It wasn't much, but my heart leaped. Who had sent it? My finger traced a symbol inscribed on the water bottle: Poseidon's trident.

Could it be Poseidon who sent me this pack? Either way, I had to get moving.

After counting the bills, I discovered that I had just enough money to be able to hail a taxi and be back in Camp Half-Blood by midmorning, but something held me back. I was already stuck out here, so why didn't I use this opportunity to try to find Savvy? I hadn't seen or heard of here whereabouts since the arai attacked our school, so I had no idea where to start, but it was worth a shot.

Depositing my belongings into the pack, I climbed down the stairs and walked out the door.

…

I yawned as a trudged downstairs while munching some bread absentmindedly. It's been five days, yet there is still no sign on Savvy anywhere. Every morning I checked the newspaper, social media, looking for any disasters suggesting that Savvy was nearby. I had even stopped by the Empire State building to ask the gods for help, but had been denied access. My friends back at Camp must be worrying now, but I still wasn't going back. Not without Savvy. Plus, I kind of spent all the money on food so I had no way of getting back to camp even if I wanted to. I stepped out the door. It was drizzling softly, but nothing I had to worry about. I almost didn't notice the monster sitting right outside the doorstep.

At first, everything seemed natural. Just another stray dog lapping water from the stained dog bowl that sat outside. What else is new? But when I looked closer, I knew that there was definitely something wrong. The creature was much larger than an average dog, only slightly smaller than a horse. It was covered in reddish-grey fur, a curved snout and a forked reptilian tail. Oh yeah. And don't forget about those deadly dripping fangs. Slight detail.

As soon as the creature noticed me, its eyes glowed red with fury and it's whole body radiated power. It lowered its head slowly and snarled menacingly at me.

Yep. This thing pretty much yelled MONSTER! in my face.

However, as I carefully unsheathed my dagger, the monster bounded away with lightning speed. For a moment, I was too stunned to move. I'd never seen a monster leave a demigod alone like that. Given the chance they always attacked. If this crazy glowing horse-thing had something more important to do than kill me, I wanted to know what it was. Besides, I couldn't just let it roam the city freely.

I glanced wistfully at the road that would have taken me to the next place where I would yet again begin my search for Savvy, and then sprinted after the monster.

I completed a full search of the area around the hotel, and found the creature hunched over in an alley right behind the hotel, as if it was hesitant to leave. I hid behind a trash can, just observing it. I had never seen anything like it before, and I had no idea what it was, therefore no idea how to destroy it. A faint memory ticked annoyingly at the back of my head, but I couldn't grasp it.

I stood only a few feet away from the creature, Alexis still gripped tightly in my arm. But when I looked into the creature's eyes, what I saw surprised me. I was expecting menace, hatred even. But what I saw was only a single emotion: fear.

It was fear I saw in this creatures' eyes, and slowly I understood why. It had never encountered something like me before. I was an unknown source of power. The thought gave me an emotional boost that had been overdue in ages. Not seeing Savvy, the news of Night were all tales of things I couldn't do. But to have something before me, something so powerful that I could beat...it was what I needed.

And I was going to take full advantage of it. This creature was going to be sorry it was ever born.

I glanced down to unsheathe my dagger, but when I looked up again I only saw the shadow of the monster bounding down the alleyway.

Taking a deep breath, I bolted after it.

I weaved in and out of cars, not bothering to take the crosswalk. Drivers honked loudly and began to clog the street. I spotted the monster just at the end of the road, where a couple of teenagers were petting it calmly.

It must be the Mist at its work. Sometimes I wondered if the mortals ever noticed how… stupid they looked.

I crept up behind the monster and lifted my dagger, but at the last minute the monster let loose a blast of blinding red light, and I had to drop my dagger just to shield my eyes.

Of course, the mortals took no notice.

The monster bounded away again, and I chased after it.

It went on like this for a while. Sometimes when I would stop to catch my breath this low voice began taunting me inside my head, almost like it was saying can't catch me, can't catch me. As stupid as it sounded, it was true. I half expected it to turn into the gingerbread man I had been chasing it for so long. At one point I lost the monster on 52nd street, and then found it again on 11th avenue. I jumped on picnic tables and dived through clothing racks, but still it ran ahead of me.

No. I would not be outrun by this, this thing.

I eventually chased in onto Broadway street. I was walking along a lake when I spotted a closed amusement park ahead. The entrance was a huge stone arch and it had strong fencing that was lined all around the park, the lowest almost twelve feet high.

Bingo.

I spotted the creature running out of a department store. Cars clogged the intersection and the monster was weaving through the cars and pretty much flattened a taxi when it land on the hood. Mortals were running around in panic, screaming wildly.

Well, at least they noticed something.

I tapped my pearl bracelet and Alexis grew into its full form. I nocked an arrow and released. It grazed the monster's ear and then stuck in the cement. I fired another arrow at its head, but it twisted in midair as a sudden gist of wind blew in the opposite direction. The arrow streaked away and buried itself in the amusement park sign.

The monster leapt off the taxi with inhuman ability and landed just over the fence. I watched the monster glide over the top of the fence gracefully, and then groaned. Really? I mean, I was okay at rock climbing and such, but how was I supposed to jump twelve feet in the air?

Sighing, I slid my next arrow back in the sheath and made a running start and headed for the fence.

I pushed upward with my legs and soared over the fence, but at the last possible second my foot nicked the edge of the picket. My feet hit solid ground, and a sharp pain shot up my legs, but I stumbled forward.

I glanced at the fence briefly, brushing myself off. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I glanced around the clearly, but it was completely desolate, devoid of life. The monster could be long gone by now. I sighed, and renewed our little game of tag.

I was searching through the rubble of a broken Ferris wheel when I heard a voice behind me.

Well, well, finally we come face to face.

I looked around in confusion, but no one was there. Just the monster glaring down at me.

I expected so much more. However it seems like you were just as ignorant as my mistress thought. The voice spoke inside me head.

I stared at the monster, my heart pounding. "Who are you? What are you?"

Me? I suppose you could call me the Set animal. Although my plans are the thing you should really be worrying about. Not that you'll live long enough to find out.

My mind raced. What did I know about the Set animal? My lessons from Madam Isabel came back to me.

"The Set animal also known as the sha, is symbolic of Set, and embodies Set's cunning, strength, and evil. It is a perfect hunter and once it catches a scent, it does not stop. The Set animal has no magical powers, but it's physical ones are so powerful that they were greatly feared among the Egyptians. It is also extremely fast. The drool it produces is like acid and burns anything it touches."

Not very helpful. But one thing was for sure, the Set animal couldn't talk. The only way it could communicate was if someone spoke through the Set animal of its free will. And that someone had complete command over the animal's actions.

"What do you want?" I asked, fear still gripping my voice.

The animal answered by pouncing on my directly.

I escaped only by rolling away in the nick of time. I ducked as the Set animal swung its claws at me, its drool creating blisters on my face. I manoeuvred so that I was directly on top of the monster, but it snapped at my dagger and I had to move away.

I didn't have enough time to load Alexis, so I hurled my dagger directly at the Set animal, but it snapped it out of midair and threw in aside.

I sighed. So much for that idea.

I climbed a set of boxes and fired an arrow at the monster but it evaded it with expert instincts. It leapt onto the first box and I backed away. It growled at me and I climbed as fast as my legs would take me until I stood at the very top of the tower of boxes, the Set animal right on my heels. I was seriously freaked out now.

The boxes shifted which caused him to loose his balance for a second, which was enough time to launch an arrow that only slightly missed. If only I could get the boxes to shift again…

Making sure my stance on the boxes was firm, I began shifting my weight back and forth, causing the boxes to sway. The Set animal began to lose its grip and clawed at the boxes as it slowly slid down. Using the opportunity, I fired an arrow at the Set animal's leg. The monster roared in pain and fell down onto the ground, half of the boxes toppling on top of him. Stuffed animals flew in all directions, burying the Set animal. I smiled. The Set animal quickly dug itself out of the pile and threw aside a Sponge Bob Square Pants, tearing it to shreds.

This thing really had temper control issues.

I could feel the boxes swaying below my feet; any second and they would give way. Taking a chance, I jumped and landed right in front of the Set animal, which was now on the floor moaning in pain. The ground surrounding it was steaming from its acid drool.

It growled at me menacingly, it's expression full of hate, and I understood its thoughts right away. One pounce, and I would die.

The Set animal pinned me down with its claws and breathed down on me.

Pity it has to end this way, it spoke in my head. With that, the Set animal opened its huge jaw and I squeezed my eyes shut.

I counted seconds in my head. What would dying feel like? Painful? Would I actually have one of those flashbacks of all the memories of my life? I mean, unlike most mortals I knew what would happen after I died: I would go to the Underworld. I had even been there before, but was not really looking forward to attending the area as a ghost.

It was a full four and half seconds later before I realized that I was taking quite a long time to die.

I opened my eyes, which were immediately met with a blinding flash of white light. I felt the weight of the Set animal leave me, and I raised my head to see the last possible face I would ever guess standing behind the Set animal.

"S-Savvy?"