Dying In A Cupboard Means Waking Up As Harry Potter, Right?

Rebel

I was on a quest with Percy Jackson. Here's a list of everything wrong with that:

One, I was pretty sure Percy has managed to mess up all of the quests he'd been on. Two, Percy nearly died more than once on those quests and his "companions" also got put into life-threatening situations, which meant I was doomed. Three, Percy and Annabeth were both younger than me despite having gone on more quests than I had, forcing me into the awkward place of being older, but also having less experience with quests.

That's the other thing - this was my first quest. My first. I had been at Camp Half-Blood how many years, and the first quest I get is with Percy freaking Jackson? And not only that - it was a boring quest. My luck, huh?

Apparently, Percy's satyr friend, Grover, sent a distress call. It was probably about an untrained demigod getting stuck in ice with a monster not far behind. Translation: I was doing this for a kid I didn't know or care about. With my recent fortune, they were undoubtedly going to be even younger than Percy.

Fun.

So, as Percy's mom, Sally, started talking nonstop about Percy's younger days - which, believe me, I was not interested in - I pretended to sleep against the back seat with my arms crossed, my hood over my head, and my long, light brown hair acting as a blanket on top of me. I was so comfortable that I felt myself drifting off to sleep despite Thalia and Annabeth's 'awws' that came out every time Sally got to the "good" part of a story.

Percy leaped forward in his chair. He shouted, "Mom, watch out!"

Sally swerved to the side of the road in point three seconds, sending me flying into Percy. Annabeth, thank the gods, had already flung open the door and was rushing out with the son of Poseidon on her heels, leaving me to scoot out of the impossibly small care alone.

I took out the first weapon I could get my hands on and dashed over to where Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia were standing. They were battle ready, but me? I was too busy glaring at the sword Chiron insisted I bring. I wondered if it would change into the weapon I wanted if I gave it the evil eye long enough. After a few moments, I gazed upward and remembered we were in fighting mode.

Or, at least, we were supposed to be. Why was everyone just staring? I relaxed a little - only a little - and peered in the direction Percy and the others were gawking at.

I narrowed my eyes. A girl stood where a monster should have been. She didn't seem much older than me—thirteen, maybe fourteen? She was a blinding blonde and her eyes were a golden sort of brown. She was weird though. She carried herself like a princess and wore light blue robes that seemed right out of Harry Potter. That, and her gaze was so distant I wondered if she even noticed the people in front of her.

And then she spoke.

I'm used to hearing Japanese, and hearing a little Spanish here and there wouldn't even make me pause. But whatever she spoke made me tense up and pray to the gods we hadn't just come across an abnormal, mortal tourist who had run away from the hotel.

Annabeth straightened up, leaving Percy to mimic her despite his narrowed eyes. Thalia stood as still as a tree (pun intended) while her eyebrows furrowed.

"We speak English," the daughter of Athena spoke calmly, "not German." The girl tilted her head to the side.

"I am sorry," the girl said, though I could just barely understand her. Her accent was heavy. "I did not know I had Traveled zhis far."

I blinked as Annabeth shifted her position. Just who was this girl?

"Did you run away?" Annabeth asked, still tense.

The girl shook her head, then stopped. She nodded before saying, "I needed to get away from my fazer. I was making zhings bad. Usually I can Travel far, but I have not Traveled zhis far. Where am I?"

"Maine, Bar Harbor," Annabeth answered. Quickly, she added, "You're in America."

It was the girl's turn to get suspicious. She took a step back and clenched her fists, as if she thought she could beat us to death. Good luck with that, I thought.

"America? How. . .? I cannot be here. I need to go home." Her eyes grew distant again. "I need to go home."

As the girl attempted to turn, Thalia took a step forward and shouted, "Wait!" The girl obeyed. Thalia went on, "How did you get here? I could have sworn you just popped up out of nowhere."

The girl tilted her head to the side again.

"Did you see zhat?" she asked.

"Of course we did," Thalia spoke, "We see everything."

"Ozhers do not say zhey see anyzhing," the girl said wistfully, as if the thing in question was a mystical wonder of the world. She was seriously starting to become the creepiest person I'd ever met. Well, excluding some of the children that happened to go through the Hermes Cabin that I was very certain were not children of Hermes.

My head settled into a slight tilt.

"Hey, can you see this?" I asked, waving my sword in the air along with another weapon I had handy.

"Rebel!" Thalia scolded.

"What? I got a hunch!" I snapped back.

"Should zhose zhings be invisible?" the girl asked. Her eyes grew wide and she took a large step forward. "Can you do magic too?"

I held up my hands and said, "Woah, that's not what I was saying." The girl's shoulders fell.

"Can you do magic?" Percy asked quickly. The girl nodded.

"No one believes me when I tell zhem. Zhey say zhey cannot see it when I show them," the girl answered. "Zhey zhink I am crazy."

"Is that how you got here?" Annabeth asked. "By magic?"

The girl smiled. "You know magic! What all do you know? Invisibility? Traveling? Av—"

"Hold on," Percy said, stepping forward. "Are you saying that you just popped up here? You didn't take a plane or a boat?" The girl tilted her head.

"Why would I do zhose zhings? I go by Travelling," she said highly.

Percy stared.

"Well, she's obviously not a mortal," Annabeth spoke.

"Yeah, but there's no way she's a demigod, either," Thalia muttered under her breath.

"A. . .demigod?" asked the girl. She formed the word weirdly, like she wasn't sure about how she was saying it. "Is zhat what you are?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "And we're good ones. Anyway, you said you had a father. . .what happened to your mother?"

The girl's face fell.

"My fazer did not talk about her," she replied. "He said she was beautiful and. . .and en-chan-ting. He told me she did not stay with me. She was doing more important zhings."

Percy glanced at Annabeth and said, "Sounds like a demigod story to me."

"I've never heard about anyone with the ability to Travel like that," Annabeth said. "What else can you do?"

While the girl tried to answer Annabeth's question, I narrowed my eyes at her and listened to her speak. The girl spoke shakily and carefully, which was freaky to me. Not that anything else about her was less creepy. The way she stood straight up reminded me of royalty, but forced. Like she didn't want to be regal, but she had been trained to be.

"When were you born?" I asked suddenly, causing Thalia to roll her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Rebel, age is not the most concerning thing—"

"1931," the girl replied.

There was a bit of silence. Annabeth's eyes were narrowed, Thalia's grew wider than I'd ever seen them, and Percy was frozen. I smiled and threw my hands out.

"Ha! I followed a hunch, and look! I just found out we have a time traveler on our hands!" I shouted, and my laugh broke into the sentence.

"A time traveler?" asked the girl, her eyes narrowed.

"Welcome to 2007!" I exclaimed. The girl's eyes widened, and she took a step back.

"Rebel, stop making things worse," Annabeth told her. She faced the new girl. "Look, we've got somewhere to go right now, but we can bring you to someone who might be able to help. Do you think you'd be alright if you came with us?" The girl swallowed, her eyes wide. I would be a bit shocked too, I guess, if I found out I'd jumped through eight decades. And into a different country, no less.

"Are you kidding?" Thalia asked. "She's not a trained demigod. Who knows what trouble she could get into!" As much as I hated agreeing with Thalia, I did once I realized just what was happening in German speaking countries in the 1930's. No wonder the girl flipped out when we mentioned she was in America, I thought.

"We don't have a choice," Annabeth said, her arms crossed. "If we leave her here for Chiron to pick up, who knows how long it will take? And what if a monster comes by? Whatever she can do is too important to risk her life." Thalia glared, but didn't challenge the daughter of Athena any further. It was fine by me - I just wanted to get back into the car. It was too cold outside.

"I-I. . ." she began, backing up another step.

"We can help you," Annabeth repeated.

"She really can," Percy spoke up, that dorky smile on his face. Although, what was I to say? It seemed to calm the girl down. Percy did have his upsides, I guess. He was a people person, which meant I didn't have to be.

"I will go," she said, nodding. She didn't seem very sure of herself. "Is where we are going far?"

"But the car is already full," Sally pointed out, speaking up from the other side of the car. It struck me that Sally was in the worst position ever had this girl been an actual monster. I made a mental note to tease Percy with that later, assuming he didn't have to go on another heroic quest to save the world.

"We'll have to have four in the back," Annabeth said, giving a glance to Percy's mother. "Grover is only a few minutes away." I groaned. As if this trip wasn't bad enough, now I had to cram myself into a car with people I hardly even knew.

We all piled in like clowns and I found myself sitting next to the new girl and Percy. I clenched my teeth, crossed my arms, and settled into what little room I had.

This was going to be a long few minutes.

"So. . .What's your name?" Percy asked the girl a few miles down the road.

The girl answered very quickly and clearly, but I was not going to even try to say that correctly. It might have been her accent, or she may have just had the most unpronounceable name in the universe. Either way, it was not easy to say.

"Can I just call you Lulu instead?" I asked. It was the only two syllables I could really make an English name out of.

"Rebel, really -" Percy's mom began.

"My fazer said my mother called me zhat," the girl said, a smile spreading across her face. "I do not remember it. I was young."

I gave a firm nod. "Lulu it is, then."

When we finally got to there, wherever "there" was, I decided this truly was the worst quest I could have possibly gotten. It was a school, that much I could see, but it also seemed like a castle that belonged to Dracula. It was black, taller than any other school I'd seen, and the windows were shut. It also sat on a cliff, which just screamed "safe."

"Are sure you want me to go? It wouldn't be any problem if I waited," Percy's mom said as they shuffled out of the car.

"I don't know how long this is going to take," Percy responded. "But we'll be okay."

"But how will you get back? I'm worried, Percy."

That's an understatement, I thought. I didn't hate Percy's mom. In fact, she's pretty cool for being a stranger's mom. But still, we were on a quest, and we weren't going anywhere with her worrying about her son who, as far as fighting was concerned, could take care of himself.

"It's okay, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth said with a smile. "We'll keep him from getting into trouble." I rolled my eyes as Percy's mom relaxed.

"All right," Percy's mom said. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Ms. Jackson," Thalia said. "Thank you for the ride."

"Do you all have my phone number? Did you bring your extra sweaters?" Sally went on.

"Mom—" Percy began.

"What about—?"

"Percy, we need to find out what's wrong with Grover," I interrupted, staring at the son of Poseidon. He gave me a look that said 'what did you think I was trying to do?' I mentally answered him, I can do it better.

"Alright," Ms. Jackson sighed, a bleak smile on her face. "Just be careful."

"We will," Annabeth spoke, continuing to smile. Ms Jackson nodded, turned the car around, and went back up the road. Annabeth faced me and crossed her arms. "That was a little rude, you know."

"I never said I had people skills," I responded as Thalia started forward. I followed closely after the older girl, and the two lovebirds (it wasn't official, I don't think, but it was bound to happen) trekked behind accordingly.

So, we went through the unbearably cold snow storm toward the giant black doors. I didn't quite understand how we were going to go through the front door without being noticed by a monster in disguise, or how Thalia and I, who would be freshmen had we actually stayed in school, would even get through whatever security there was. Yet, Thalia seemed pretty confident, so as long as she had a plan, I was okay with it. At least I didn't have to put in the brain power to think of one.

We were strolling down a hall, listening to the buzzing sound of distant, bad pop music, when a large man—big surprise—came out from around the corner and stood straight in front of us.

"Who are you?" he asked, his arms crossed. He was pale and his eyes kind of reminded me of a bug's, even if their color didn't match. "Visitors aren't allowed!" Thalia snapped her fingers, and a loud echoing noise ripped through my ears. I glared at the older girl, but she didn't give me a second look. Show off, I thought.

"We're students," Thalia piped up, standing up straight with her head level. "Don't you remember? I'm Thalia, that's Rebella, that's Percy, and that's Annabeth. Sorry we're a little late." The man narrowed his eyes.

"Who's she?" he asked, pointing behind us.

"Oh," said Thalia, her shoulders falling. "That's Lulu—she's the new girl from this morning." To be honest, I'd forgotten about the weird time traveler demigod too. I didn't care; I was busy keeping my eye on the advancing teacher who would probably kick us out and ruin our entire plan.

"Ms. Gottschalk, do you know these students?" asked the man, turning toward the other teacher.

"What students?"

The man turned back to face the demigods, but he looked right over our heads like we weren't even there.

"Are you alright?" the teacher asked.

"I. . .um, yeah, I'm fine," the man spoke. He turned around again. Mumbling something under his breath, he escorted the other teacher back down the hallway from the direction they came.

I blinked.

"Is the Mist supposed to work like that?" I asked. I never took the time to learn it, but something still felt. . .wrong. Thalia's eyes were narrowed and she was very still.

"No," she said.

"Wait, what happened? Why couldn't they see us?" Percy questioned, taking a step forward. Thalia continued to be silent.

"I did zhat," said Lulu quietly. We all turned to face her slowly, which made her shift nervously.

"You did that?" Thalia asked. Lulu gave a slow nod.

"I did not want it," she said. "Zhat is how magic happens. I wish for it to happen, and it happens."

"So you wished for us to be invisible?" Thalia questioned, taking a step forward. Lulu flinched a bit.

"Did you not want zhat?" Lulu asked.

Thalia sighed. She glared at the new demigod. "What happens when they see us again? If you had let me do my thing, we wouldn't have to deal with those stupid teachers for the rest of the night!"

"Your thing?" Percy asked.

"The snapping her fingers thing was supposed to make the teachers think we were students here," I translated.

"How?" Percy pressed.

"Guys!" I twisted around, finding the satyr, Grover, coming to us. "You made it! I was wondering when—" He stopped. "Who's that behind you?"

"Long story short, we found a demigod on the way here," Thalia said quickly. She opened her mouth to say something, but Grover interrupted.

"Found?" Grover said. "How in the gods names did you find a demigod?"

"It's not impossib—" Annabeth began.

"My mom almost ran over her," Percy said. I hid a smile.

"She what?" Grover asked.

"Never mind that," Thalia said forcefully. "What did you find here? What's the emergency?"

"I found two demigods," Grover said, smiling a bit.

"Two?" I asked, uncrossing my arms. "How did you manage that?"

"Er—"

"We're on a bit of a tight schedule here!" Thalia hissed, shooting me a glare. I rolled my eyes in response. A little fun wasn't going to kill us all. Thalia turned back to Grover. "Why did you call us here?"

"There's a problem," Grover said, coming to attention. "A monster. Every time I've tried to get close to them, he gets in the way. I would just keep trying, except this is the last day of term and I doubt he would let them off. I don't know what to do!" Thalia bit her lip. She was probably thinking of a very nice plan—maybe even a brilliant plan—but said plan was probably never going to work because we were on a quest with Percy Jackson.

"They're at the dance, right?" Thalia asked, her eyes flaring with determination. Grover nodded. "Then let's dance."

"We need to look out for ze monster," Lulu claimed, nodding and standing stiffly. "He was scary." Annabeth tilted her head to the side.

"We haven't met it yet," she reminded the older demigod.

"Actually, you have. . ." Grover said, staring at Lulu. "The man—he's Mr. Thorn. He's the monster."

"How did you figure that one out?" Thalia asked, crossing her arms while glaring at Lulu.

"Thalia, she's magical, even more than we are," I said. "Can we just leave it at that? We need to get going." Annabeth's eyebrows rose.

"I didn't know you cared so much," she commented.

"I don't," I growled. "I just want to get back to camp alive. All this cold, wet, and boring is not pleasing me."

"Quests aren't supposed to please you," Thalia responded, standing tall. Then she turned around from where the teachers and Grover came. "Let's dance."

I've always hated school dances. Well, I guess I should say I've always hated the point of school dances, considering I didn't go to school long enough to be in one. Anyway, I despised them because dancing was not in my DNA and social interaction was not my forte. What's the point of talking to strangers if they're either dumber than they look or are going to stab you in the back later?

Lulu, on the other hand, peered over the students (which wasn't hard to do, given her height and the students' lack thereof) and toward the DJ station, or whatever you call it. Her mouth was open and curled at the ends as she gazed upward to the ceiling where multicolored lights danced harder than any of the awkward students below. Her eyes grew wider, too, as her gaze flickered from one group of kids to another.

"Zhis place is wonderful!" she exclaimed. I stared at her. I guess if you're from the 1930's, middle school dances would seem that way.

"There they are!" Grover announced over the music. "Bianca and Nico de Angelo." We all drew closer to him as we glanced where he was pointing. There was an older girl and a younger boy, both very white with very black hair. There was also another girl. She was at least a few years older with black hair and darker, hispanic skin.

"Who's she?" Percy asked, pointing to the same girl.

"Victoria, their best friend," Grover answered. "She's always with the di Angelos, so separating them might be hard. . ." Just then, Mr. Thorn, with cold eyes, stepped in between them and the two demigods.

"We can't look at the kids," Thalia decided, "I think he might suspect us, so we need to throw him off our scent."

"How?" asked Percy.

"We're four—" she stopped herself as she her gaze caught Lulu. She went on, "—uh, five, powerful demigods. Our presence alone should confuse him. So mingle. Dance. Just act natural."

"Dance?" said Grover. "But I don't know how to dance!"

"I do if I'm leading," she said, and pulled him away. Grover stepped in every direction while Thalia laughed at him and rolled her eyes, being. . .well, her. Seeing Thalia that way made me smile a bit considering I'd only seen her as a tree for the last several years.

"Right," Annabeth spoke. "Um, Percy, do you think you and Lulu could give Rebel and I some privacy? I'll catch up with you later." She gave him a small smile, but Percy's shoulders still fell.

"Okay," he murmured. He left with dragging feet and Lulu, who followed his every move. They weren't going to look normal in a million years.

"Rebel," Annabeth said, snapping me back to her. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"It's a school dance," I said, "and you know how much I love social interaction."

"No, I meant—" she cut herself off and sighed. "I meant with Thalia." I tensed.

Of course Annabeth would notice something like that. Of course she would. Sometimes I wish she just had an 'off' button.

"You remember a few months ago when she was a tree?" I asked.

"Rebel, take this seriously!" Annabeth snapped.

"I am," I said back quickly. "You can't just expect me to be perfectly okay with the fact that a person I knew suddenly went from being a protective tree to alive again. Besides, we didn't even get along before everything happened. In fact, we hated each other."

"But she's Thalia!" Annabeth exclaimed. "We fought together for months! Yes, she was a tree, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing she's back! It could mean that good things are going to happen, that maybe our little group—" I shot up and my eyes narrowed.

"Annabeth, stop," I said lowly. "I don't care how happy you are that Thalia is back, or how much you miss the old days, but Luke is not coming back. Ever." Annabeth stared at me. She was tense and shaking like she'd just run a mile. By the time she went off toward Percy, her eyes were getting puffy and red.

I swallowed, turned, and crossed my arms. Call me cruel, but that daughter of Athena needed to hear it. It was the truth, and it hurt, but she needed to hear it.

I noticed the food and my mind was quickly taken away from the Luke/Annabeth/Thalia catastrophe. Instead, my only thought was of the chips and the cubes of meat I prayed were steak.

"You are worried."

I jumped and turned toward the voice. When I realized who it was, my eyes narrowed.

"Really?" I asked Lulu. "Did you have to come up behind me and scare me?"

"I did not mean to be scary," she said with the tilt of her head.

"Well, you were," I grumbled, taking a chip out of the pile and munching on it.

Lulu turned to face the crowd. "This time is very weird. I have never seen so much. . ." She paused. Then she said, "freedom." I laughed.

"Trust me," I told her, "this country isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Lulu opened her mouth to say something. A shrill scream interrupted her. I spun around and saw the di Angelo's friend on the ground. The kids themselves were being shuffled off toward the door. I heard Annabeth order the other kids to remain, and I noticed Thalia and Annabeth glance at Percy, who nodded.

"Hey! Demigods!" the girl, Victoria, shouted, clutching a wound. "That monster's on the move with Nico and Bianca! He's headed out to the cliff!" I narrowed my eyes. Who on earth was that girl and how in the gods' names did she know about monsters and demigods? I ran toward her, following Thalia and Annabeth's moves. I saw Percy moving toward the door.

"Yo! Percy! Go out a back door and beat them to that cliff!"

What on earth did I do that for? I asked myself. When my brain caught up to my mouth, my question was answered.

"Don't you dare, Percy!" Thalia shouted, swirling around to face him. He stopped mid-run, looking from me to Thalia.

"Hey! If all goes to hell, he needs to be our escape route!" I yelled from behind her. She turned on me with wild eyes.

"How on earth is he an escape route?!" she shouted back.

"Percy, go!" Annabeth told him. She was helping the di Angelo's friend get up. When Thalia opened her mouth to shout, the daughter of Athena interrupted with, "He might as well be there to see what's going on with Nico and Bianca!" Thalia tensed, took a glare at me, and glanced to where Percy had been. He was gone. Apparently, between Thalia, Annabeth, and I, Percy would rather listen to Annabeth despite the fact the two of us were older. Big shocker, I thought.

Thalia spun and stormed toward the door. I matched her rampaging pace with my arms crossed and my eyes narrowed.

"Do you know what that monster is?" Annabeth asked. I assumed she was speaking to the mystery girl, because if she wasn't, I sure wasn't going to answer.

"I don't know, but it's fast and poisonous," Victoria spoke.

"Poisonous?" Annabeth questioned.

"Not deadly, just painful," Victoria told her as she messed with a ring on her hand. "But no monster as stupid as that is going to keep me from fighting." The grin on her face as I glanced back at her reminded me of Hermes' kids when they found something particularly shiny and valuable.

"Which way?" Thalia asked as they came across a hall.

"To the left," Victoria answered. "There's a back way around so we won't be seen."

It was silent as we half walked, half jogged down the hallway. We went out the door with the large exit sign over it, and the cold bit at my face.

"The monster will be right around that corner," Victoria told them, pointing to their right. They shuffled over as quietly as possible, despite already being covered by a blizzard, and peered around.

Nico and Bianca were inching backwards toward the cliff as the monster gave a monologue. Next to them, of course, was Percy.

"How on earth did he manage to get caught—?"

"Are you a demigod?" Thalia asked, staring at Victoria. Ambrosia was in her hands.

"Probably," the girl responded, still on Annabeth's shoulder. Thalia sighed and put it back into her pocket.

"I'm not risking your life on a 'probably,'" she muttered.

"Well that's new," I stated.

Ignoring me, which was likely the best course of action, Thalia turned to Lulu.

"Can you make the three of them invisible?"

Lulu nodded as she stared at Percy and the di Angelo's. As soon as I followed her glance I saw absolutely nothing. Not even the monster.

"I said the three of them!" Thalia exclaimed with a voice that I was sure could break glass.

"I am sorry. I cannot—"

"Thalia, we need to distract him," Annabeth interrupted Lulu. I stepped forward to face the daughter of Zeus.

"Think you and I can lead him the other way?" I asked, messing with the charms on my bracelet. When Thalia saw what I was doing, her fists clenched.

She turned to Annabeth and said, "Get these two to safety and find those kids. Rebel and I will buy you enough time to get everyone out, but you have to do it quick." Annabeth gave her a firm nod.

"I'll do my best," she said. "Don't die."

Something silver and sharp hit the wall next to me.

As I spun around, I saw Mr. Thorn making his way toward us looking rather wild. Apparently, he'd gotten out of the invisibility cloud.

"Thalia, time to go," I said, fumbling with the charm as I tried to tear it off. Thalia sprinted out into the open and I caught up to her, listening to her shouts as my hands found their spot on the trigger of the weapon that finally decided to show up. I glanced back to Annabeth, but she wasn't there. Invisibility, I thought. It was probably going to take me awhile to get used to that.

A spike missed my eye by two inches. I dashed to the enormous front doors. Thalia brought up her shield and blocked the spikes zooming past me. I whirled around, pulled the trigger twice, and pushed the doors open. Thalia was inching backwards in my direction, so I held them ajar.

"Any day now, Thalia!" I yelled.

"Shut up!" she shouted back. After a few more spikes hit her shield, she turned and raced inside. I closed the heavy doors and locked it half-heartedly.

"Don't lock it!" Thalia ordered, rushing over. "If he can't get in—"

"I just want a diversion," I interrupted, facing her.

"Do you have a plan?" she asked, staring at me intently.

"When in all the time you've known me have I ever had a plan?" I snapped.

There was a bang on the door. I glanced down the hall way and began jogging. Thalia caught up to me in no time, and then I heard the doors burst open.

What are our options? I mean, we could just fight him here in the hallway, but with such tiny hallways, something is bound to ricochet and hit us, I thought. However, all the big enough spaces were probably being occupied by glassy-eyed eighth graders, assuming they followed Annabeth's orders.

Thalia slowed down so that she could bring out her shield again. I followed her lead and bent down with my gun. Let's hope to the gods Beckendorf made me enough bullets, I thought as they went flying toward the armored enemy. I broke off another charm and shoved the magazine into the bottom of the gun.

I continued shooting carefully, thinking, We could always just play ring around the rosy until Annabeth—

There was a scream.

I looked over my shoulder just long enough to see a kid staring in my direction with wide eyes. Unfortunately, so did Thalia, and the next thing I knew, she was on the ground with a spike embedded in her shoulder.

I went in front of her, reaching for the shield. A spike flew past my arm, managing to cut it. I shifted my gaze. Mr. Thorn flicked his tail just as I activated my shield. I inched backwards and nudged Thalia with my free hand.

"Thalia, get up and summon your stupid shield!" I shouted. I only got a moan in response. "Oh sure, you pick now to get knocked against a wall."

A spike went through my shield. I clenched my jaw and knew there was only one option out of this. Don't fail me now, mom, I thought, and focused completely on the shadows in the room.

Gradually, the shadows grew larger and larger until the lights did absolutely nothing. While Mr. Thorn was momentarily gazing around like a moron, I grabbed Thalia's good arm and began dragging her down the hall.

I held the shield up just in time to hear another 'thunk' on my shield. A few more hit it before I rounded the corner into a classroom.

I dropped Thalia and closed the door. I searched for the lock, but couldn't find anything but the handle. I sighed, thinking, Your turn, dad, as I heard the lock click into place. I grabbed Thalia again and drug her into some sort of cupboard and somehow fit in there myself.

What am I doing in here? I thought after I closed the doors. I'm cornered here. All I've done is made my body easier to find. My thoughts drifted after a little while and I thought, Hey, maybe if I die here in this cupboard, I'll wake up as Harry Potter. I smiled at the image of me at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor, pranking with Fred and George.

I nearly fell out of the cupboard when the door to the classroom blasted open. I listened carefully, knowing just how horror movie-esc this was becoming as the floorboards began to creak.

There was a muffled yell. I couldn't hear what was said or who said it, but the monster stomped off with a furious growl.

As I heard his footsteps fade, I laughed.