Annabeth slowly turned around and reached for her dagger just as the thing drew itself up to its full height.
"Okay, this brings danger up a big notch," Jackson mumbled nervously.
"Now do you believe me?" Annabeth could not resist the urge for one last jab at the girl as she leaped forward and swung her dagger up at the thing's single eye. Her dagger sliced through the air and caught it on the cheek. Enraged, the monster batted at Annabeth ferociously. She twisted around, but got caught in the small of her back, and ended up slamming onto the ground. The thing then tried to squish her head. Annabeth reached up and tried repeatedly to stab its eye but to no prevail. Just when Annabeth started to think and really believe in her death, a silver knife shot through the air and sunk quivering into the thing's slimy neck. It growled and turned its head just in time for another knife to sink into its eye, making a squelching sound. The monster started to tremble and shake and collapse in on itself until it finally crumbled to sand.
There was a moment of eerie silence in the moments that followed.
"That," said Evie looming over Annabeth. "was the creepiest thing that I ever saw."
"Who threw the knife?" Annabeth whispered.
Evie grinned. "I did. Are you okay? Cuz you seriously look as if death itself passed over you. Twice," she reached down and helped Annabeth get up.
"Thanks," she muttered.
Evie only nodded. Side by side, the headed back to where Jackson stood gaping.
Evie spoke first. "Take a picture, boy, it'll last longer," turning, she walked away.
Annabeth had sunk into a quiet daze since her life was on line. Now she snapped out of it. "Hey Evie! Where are you going?" she called out after her.
Evie blinked. "Back to the party?" she said slowly, talking as if Annabeth was dense.
"But you can't! You're a demigod, and since the monsters have found you, there'll be
more attacks! And don't you want your two throwing knives?" Annabeth said hurriedly.
Pausing, Evie replied. "What exactly is a demigod? And what was that thing that
just attacked us? As for my knives…" She held up her left wrist to show that two silver knives were tied to it.
Annabeth sighed. "The monster that attacked us was a Cyclops. The rest I'll have to
explain later. Right now, I need to check up on Percy, and then get you to Camp Half-Blood."
Evie stared at her. "No, no, no! Cyclops only exist in fairy tales gone bad… Not in reality!"
Annabeth smirked. "This is reality. Face it. It's your new life."
Jackson spoke up. "And what about me?" he asked.
Annabeth looked at him. "You?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, me. What'cha gonna do with me?"
"Stuff," she replied then grinned. "Send you home, probably." She shrugged.
"No, Annabeth, you're not sending me home. I want to stay with Evie."
Annabeth opened her mouth to tell him no, but instead found herself saying: "Of course, Jackson. That would be the best."
Jackson brightened and looked at Evie, who at the moment was nodding
enthusiastically. Very unlike herself.
"Well, now that we got this under way, how about going to Camp Half-Blood?"
suggested Jackson.
At this, both girls' expressions cleared and shook their heads. "No, I need to check up
on Percy, and since it's getting late, we're going to have to camp out tonight."
Annabeth had barely finished her sentence before Evie shrieked. "What? Listen, girl,
this dress cost me hundreds I can't ruin it! Besides, I need to call Susie."
"What for?" asked a bored Jackson.
Evie eyed him. "I'm not going anywhere, or even doing anything without her. If I did,
she'd kill me." She said dismissively.
"You can't do that!" Annabeth yelled. "We're only supposed to bring 2 people back,
and Jackson already violated that!"
"I thought you said 2 people. Evie is one, I'm two."
Annabeth sighed. "You don't get it, do you? We're talking demigods, and that means
Evie and Ethan. And now it's Susie and You. We can't do that!" Annabeth tugged at her hair. "I'm sorry, Evie, but Susie has to go."
Evie shrugged. "No, I'm sorry. I'm not going. Bye."
"Stop right there, you stuck up bi-"Annabeth cut off her sentence with effort. "This is not
an adventure, okay? This is reality. The world you belong in. You don't get to choose whether or not you're coming. You are coming."
"And so," Evie snapped back. "Is Susie. Case closed."
"No!" Annabeth threw up her arms and stormed up to Evie. "Damn it, girl, she's not
coming. Now case closed."
Evie sighed and rubbed her temple. "Jackson," she said dimly. "Go and talk some sense
into her. After all, you know me." With that, Evie strutted a few feet away on her 5-inch boots and flipped open her phone. From where Jackson and Annabeth stood they could hear snippets of conversation.
"So," Jackson started then blurted out his mind. "Just let Susie come with us okay?
Those two are never apart and Susie could also be a demigod, too. There's a 50% chance she is. I don't know how, but take her. Please?"
"Sure," Annabeth replied swiftly and then stopped. "Did I just-" she shook her
head wonderingly. "I've got a call to make," she said to Jackson..
Three minutes later, Susie had arrived and Annabeth had analyzed their little
predicament when a thought hit Evie. "Wait, my brother's coming, right?"
Annabeth nodded.
"I hope he doesn't bring-"she looked up just in time to see a trio made up of a boy with
ocean eyes, Ethan, and Hope. "Awww shit." She finished.
"Crap," agreed Susie.
Annabeth and Jackson looked bewildered. "What?" they asked.
Evie and Susie lifted identical pointer fingers and pointed it at Hope. "Her," they said
in unison.
Annabeth looked relieved. "Oh," she said. "I thought you meant my boyfriend, Percy."
"Hey," Percy said and then raised an eyebrow at Annabeth. "What's this, Wise Girl? I
thought you were only here for Evie."
"I know but-"
Ethan lifted a finger and wagged at Percy. "I told you Susie would be with her! But as
for him, I'm not so sure," Ethan leaned in and scrutinized Jackson. "Sparks!" he said suddenly recognition dawning on him. "Wow. Good job getting my sister!" he held out a fist and Jackson bumped it.
"Okay, Seaweed brain. Why'd you bring her?" Annabeth pointed at Hope.
Evie snickered. "Seaweed Brain, eh?"
"Well, Ethan said that if Evie gets to bring Susie, He gets to bring Hope." Percy
wisely ignored Evie's comment.
"Ohh…"
Susie spoke up. "Why are we all just standing here? And who does their side get to bring?"
"Nobody," Annabeth and Percy quickly declared.
"Actually," Hope started slowly. "How about we bring Derek? It'll be all couples,
wouldn't that be cool?"
"But if you mean couples, then Derek would be on my side. Not yours," Annabeth cut in.
"Well yeah, Wise Girl, it just happens to be that Derek is my brother and that would
make him on our side,"
Annabeth blushed.
"But where is he?" asked Percy not wanting to wait for Derek to show up.
"Behind you," Hope replied just as Derek sauntered into the circle they had
unknowingly formed.
"Hey babes," Derek said.
"Derek!" Susie cried and flung herself at Derek, who caught her and held her close.
"All right, let's go," Evie said grinning and pulled a smiling Susie out of Derek's arms.
*^~Later~^*
"I think this clearing will do just fine, don't you, Seaweed Brain?" Evie rolled her eyes at Jackson. She had realized a long time ago that the names Annabeth and Percy called each other were strictly affectionate.
Jackson grinned back. "So, Mr. Seaweed Brain, will there be tents for the ladies and sleeping bags for us men?"
Percy blinked. "No, we can't just make something appear, you know. But we do have tents and…mats." Percy finished feebly.
Derek stopped. "What?" he asked. "This suit cost me a fortune. I can't sleep in it on mats."
"Yeah!" Evie agreed quickly. "My dress is pretty expensive, too. Like I told Annabeth, I can't ruin it!"
"You," Annabeth pointed out curtly. "already get to sleep in a tent. They're the ones who have to sleep on mats!"
"We know that, woman! We're just asking if you could get us into 5 star hotels is all. They at least have a place to shop for clothes and bags." Susie's eyes widened. "And food. Cuz there's no way in this world am I eating rabbit stew!" she added as in afterthought.
Annabeth sighed and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like: spoiled rich kids. Susie gasped and Derek glared stonily at Annabeth. Ethan growled and Hope shook her head sadly.
"Ex-cuse me?" snapped Evie so ferociously that Annabeth flinched.
"N-nothing I-" Annabeth stuttered surprised by the outcome of her statement.
"That's right Hon, that's what I thought you said." Evie smirked triumphantly.
Suddenly, something inside Annabeth snapped. She was tired of this bunch of rich kids acting hurt and then backstabbing others. What she said was true. They were spoiled rich kids. Nothing in her sentence was false. "Actually," Annabeth said raising her head and staring Evie in the eye. "What I meant to say was that no, you are not getting a 5 star hotel tonight. And I bet Percy and I both would be very happy if you guys actually showed some respect to us. After all, we were the ones who saved you guys."
"No, Annabeth, I saved your life. Not the other way around," retorted Evie.
There was a moment of stunned silence until Hope spoke up. "Then we'll settle for a 4 star hotel. How about that?"
"There goes my personal Jacuzzi," Susie said and turned away in disgust.
Percy shook his head. "No, you heard what-"
"Wait, do you mean that we have to settle for a 3 star hotel? I don't think that anything else tonight could go wrong, do you?
Annabeth sighed. "What we're trying to tell you is that tonight, you go camping like a normal person. In the wilderness."
"I take it back," said Evie. "This is the worst thing that could happen in, say, a year."
*^~More Later~^*
Evie slept. And dreamed about pain, torture, and terror. She was in a fiery room, with
tendrils of blue and orange fire creeping up its walls. She realized that she was looking at somebody's back, as they writhed in pain, tied to a pole by snakes. Suddenly, a black shrouded image entered the room and walked straight to Evie. She tried to run, but found that she was frozen in place. The image stuck a pointy nailed finger under her chin, forcing her to look up."Ah, what I would give for this one, untrained yet defeated a Cyclops, powerful, powerful indeed. Amazing…" it croaked. Suddenly, Evie felt a fire start at her throat, and then a trickle of watery warmth, and-
Evie snapped her eyes open. And to her surprise, found Jackson leaning over her holding
a knife at her throat. "What. The. Hell," she grunted and arced up, driving her knee into his crotch. He doubled over gasping, reaching for the knife but Evie was already on her feet, one knee digging into his back; holding him in a headlock and with her dagger at his throat. "What was that for?" she snarled. "If you value your life…" Evie trailed off and instead dug her dagger deeper into his flesh.
"I-" Jackson choked out before somebody interrupted him
"Evie! What are you doing? Are you planning on murdering us all in our sleep?" asked
a rumpled Annabeth crawling out from under the makeshift tent and rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"He's a traitor," Evie growled. "He tried to kill me. In my sleep."
Annabeth gasped and her eyes narrowed on Evie. "Evie, are you okay? You're neck
is gushing blood. We should get that bind sometime," She glared at Jackson. "Let him go. He's learned his lesson."
"And what," Evie replied sarcasm dripping off her words like venom. "May I ask, is that?"
"Never to mess with Evie," Annabeth answered simply.
Evie paused, and then slowly let Jackson go.
"Explain yourself," snapped Annabeth pulling her own dagger out. "Why did you try
to murder your girlfriend?"
Jackson frowned then sat on his heels and shook his head. "I don't know," he said testing
his voice. "One second I was dreaming and-"
"What were you dreaming about?" interrupted Annabeth genuine interest creeping into
her voice.
"It's nothing," Jackson said looking embarrassed.
Annabeth said nothing. Instead, she raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, okay, I was dreaming about Evie, and me, and… A bed…" he mumbled
Evie scowled.
"Okay…" said Annabeth looking sorry she'd asked.
"And the next second I'm on my knees getting my butt kicked by my very
feminine girlfriend," Jackson added quickly.
"You don't remember trying to kill me?" asked Evie. "Your oh, so very feminine girlfriend?" she mocked.
"No…" he replied looking like a wounded puppy.
Annabeth frowned and turned to Evie. "Did he look any different to you? Especially his eyes?"
Evie looked startled. Then, she finally nodded. "Now that you mention it, yes, his eyes were black". She sounded surprised and relieved. "I thought it was a trick of light… but… So my boyfriend didn't try to willingly kill me?"
Jackson grinned. "Of course, I'd never -" but his words were cut off as Evie flung herself at him and pressed her mouth to his.
Standing to the side, Annabeth had a stormy yet far-away expression on her face. "Possession…" She murmured. "But who? And for what reason?"