Annabeth:
We hadn't even made it to Pennsylvania when we found our first monster. Or monsters, more like. Out of nowhere, a huge flock of about three dozen Stymphalian birds dive bombed us.
Clunk, Clunk, Clunk went feathers into the deck.
I dove out of the way as a feather whistled past my ear. Four more hit the deck behind me in quick succession.
Coach Hedge screamed, "Die Birds!" and raised his club. Seven darts impaled themselves in the club. He ran around yelling, "Die! Die! Die!", and whacking any birds that came too close.
Piper grabbed her cornucopia and a variety of fresh fruits shot into the air.
The flying mangoes, peaches, and watermelons helped catch incoming darts, and a few of the fruits managed to kill some birds. We had taken out a dozen or so now.
Piper launched some pineapples, and the monsters screeched as they were hit with the spiky fruits. A few well aimed coconuts, and three more were down.
Jason swung his gladius, clearing out a half dozen more.
I saw one coming from behind him.
"Jason, duck!" I shouted.
He fell to the ground as I threw my knife at the bird.
"Thanks," said Jason breathlessly.
I retrieved my knife, but there was no need for it anymore. Leo and Festus had toasted the rest of the birds.
By nightfall, we were to Missouri. No other incidents had occurred. I lay in my bed, wondering where Percy was, and crying my heart out.
Max:
The pair of Eraser guards were down in the blink of an eye. Me and Fang snuck up on them, jumped on their backs, and broke their necks before they could even scream. They fell to the ground limp, and I kicked the door open and immediately saw a marker. Shoot. This was the East Wing.
We flew around to the opposite side of the building. I hopped over the barbed-wire fence with a little boost from my wings. Fang and Nudge followed closely behind. We pressed our backs against the wall, and Fang looked around the corner.
"All clear," he said.
We rushed around the corner and into a new patch of shadows. I saw the patrol Eraser walk around the other corner. He didn't see us yet.
I picked up a rock, and chucked it at the video monitor. It shattered, and the Eraser looked around, startled. He still didn't spot us. I crept along the wall in the shadows, getting closer and closer.
"Who's there?" he asked, right before I slammed the rock down over his head. He crumbled and I kicked the second pair of open. A startled Eraser reached up to sound the alarm, but Fang delivered a swift jab to his chest, and he double over, coughing. I kicked him where it hurts, and then spun around and roundhouse kicked him in the head. He fell to the floor with a crash. Three more Erasers came around the corner in wolf form. I dove under one's legs, and he skidded to a halt. He turned around, growling, but I had already swung out my legs. They hit him in the knees, and he cried out in pain. He limped toward me, and I pretended to be tired. I put on my best frightened face, and cowered on the floor.
Then, I pushed off the ground, and my wings exploded outwards, propelling me into the startled Eraser. He landed with a thud, his head hitting the cold tile. I landed on his chest and rolled off.
Fang and Nudge had already dealt with the other Eraser. He lay unconscious on the floor, a huge bruise on his forehead from where they had thrown him into the wall.
"Let's go," I panted, and took off sprinting down the halls. Backup would arrive any second. We had to get this special boy named Percy, Angel had said, or we didn't stand a chance. Finally, I found it.
Room 105.
I gritted my teeth, and ran my shoulder into the door as hard as I could. The door came crashing in, and I grasped my throbbing shoulder.
A boy was in one of the cages, his mouth open in awe. He had untidy black hair and mischievous sea-green eyes.
"Um..." he said, and glanced at my wings.
"You're Max?" he asked.
"Umm, yeah," I said startled. How much had Angel told him?
"And that's Fang and Nudge," he said.
Okay then. Angel had told him everything. I didn't know whether to trust this guy, or to grill him for information. I decided to trust him. If Angel trusted him, she must not have seen anything suspicious in his head.
"Where's Angel?" I asked him.
"The whitecoats took her about an hour ago," he said, frowning. "I don't know where though,"
"Okay, well, let's get you out of that cage," I said, and started picking the complicated lock with one of Nudge's hairpins.
I heard alarms starting to blare outside the room. The boy said, "There's no time!"
"I'm not just going to leave you here!" I exclaimed.
"Stand back," said this Percy dude, whipping a ballpoint pen out of his pocket.
"Um, how do you plan on escaping with a pen?"
"Like this," said Percy, whipping off the pen cap and tossing it to the ground. My jaw dropped when a three foot sword sprung from the pen. It gleamed bronze in the light, and he casually sliced through the bars like they were made of clay.
The mutilated door clattered to the ground, and Percy reached into his pocket. He pulled a pen cap out. How had the pen cap... He had a sword. That was a pen. He touched the cap to the tip of the sword, and instantly, the sword shrunk back into a harmless pen.
I was too startled to talk.
"W-what? H-how?!" I stuttered, sounding like a complete and total idiot.
"I'll tell you later. Right now, we have a School to bust out of," he said, then frowned. "We'll have to spread out if we ever want to find Angel.
"She said she was in the south wing, but not what room. She screamed twice, and went quiet," I shivered.
"Okay. I'll take Corridor A. Max can take corridor B. Fang and Nudge, you take Corridor C and D," he said.
I suddenly heard footsteps behind me. Then Gazzy whined, "But what about us?"
Percy:
"Gazzy?!" cried Max. "I told you to stay at the house! You and Iggy took a huge risk, traveling alone!"
"Sorry Max..." said Gazzy, bowing his head. "We were ambushed by Erasers," All of a sudden, Max turned from angry minotaur to protective mother. "What?!" she exclaimed, taking hold of Gazzy and Iggy, inspecting them for injuries.
"Are you okay?!" she asked. "What happened?"
"Well... the Erasers thought we were in the house, but we were actually in the trees with pinecone bombs," he explained.
"Pinecone bombs?!" I exclaimed.
"Well, yeah, we hid bombs inside of pinecones so we could drop them from the trees and watch Erasers go BOOM.
"Dude," I said. "Leo would love that. When we get out of here, you guys totally have to meet him!"
"Wait, you have friends somewhere?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'll tell you the whole story later," I said laughing.
"Okay whatever. What happened?"
"Well..." muttered Iggy.
"When we um, threw the bombs, a few got snagged in the Erasers fur. They were running for the house," said Gazzy.
"And umm..." muttered Iggy.
"Well, the house kind of um, is not existing anymore."
"What?!" cried Max. "You blew up the house?! Last time you blew up the swimming pool, and now you've gone and blown up the house?!"
I stifled a laugh, and Max glared at me.
I heard loud step behind us. I whipped around, and was face to face with a horde of at least twenty Erasers.
We never stood a chance. Max kicked one in his bifurcum, and judo flipped another. Nudge was taken out with a single whack to the head.
I managed to stab one of them before I got electrocuted. Oh. I had forgotten about the dang zap collar.
I lay dazed on the floor. I saw an Eraser jump on Gazzy from behind, and snap a zap collar around his neck. Another Eraser punched Fang hard in the face, and while he was stunned, the Eraser snapped a collar around his neck as well. One of the Erasers pushed a button, and the two fell to the ground, screaming in agony.
Iggy cried out as an Eraser clawed his side. He stumbled, and the Eraser grabbed his arm, and snapped a collar on him as well. He jerked and shrieked as electricity flowed through his body.
I received another huge shock, and the world faded around me.
Well, that escape attempt failed miserably.