Chapter Thirteen


Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan. I do own all of the OCs mentioned, except for Walker. He belongs to Star Holder Commander.


Adrienne's POV

A creaking floorboard woke me up, which was strange because the floors in Laura's condo didn't creak. I sit up in bed, looking over at Jade. She was curled up on her side, sound asleep. I slip out from under the blanket and grab the throwing stars out of my bag.

I go back over to the bed and lightly shake Jade awake. She squints open her eyes, quite plainly irritated that I had woken her.

"What?" she mumbles, squinting up at me.

"I think there's someone in the hallway," I whisper.

"It's probably Tristan or James getting up to go to the bathroom, go back to sleep," She rolls over and away from me.

I grab her shoulder and pull her back over. "Jade, I'm serious. The floor creaked out in the hall, and the floors didn't creak at all earlier. The footsteps were also a lot heavier than anyone else who's here,"

She sighs and closes her eyes, shaking her head. "Fine, fine. I'll humor you and sneak around the condo until we find this mysterious "person" who's apparently in the house right now,"

She swings herself out of the bed and grabs her sword. We open the door slowly, peeking our heads out before actually leaving the room.

We step out and sneak into the living room where James and Tristan were sound asleep. They were both obviously out cold, simply by how heavy their breathing was. We turn around and head back down the hall and check the bathroom to find it empty. Then we walk a few more paces and come to Laura's door. It was slightly ajar.

I prepare myself to throw the stars as Jade pushes the door open. What we find was completely unexpected. There was a man standing over Laura's bed, about to plunge a dagger straight into her heart.

"No!" Jade screams, startling the man.

He stumbles backward, dropping his dagger on the floor with a clatter. Laura sits up, shrieking slightly and her eyes wide. She notices the man on the floor beside her and scuttles to the other side of the bed.

Jade raises her sword, and I my stars. The man gets up, snatching his dagger up off the ground. He looks up and makes a b-line for Laura. She backs herself against the wall with nowhere else to go.

Jade charges in and jumps on the guy's back, yanking at his neatly trimmed hair. He shouts and nearly falls over again. Jade was smacking the top of his head as he was furiously trying to get her off of his back.

I sneak in and grab Laura by the arm and drag her out into the living room. She sits down in one of the chairs and I dart back into the bedroom.

Jade and the man were rolling around on the floor now, both had lost their weapons so they were fighting with their hands. I aim a star and throw it at the guy's back. He shrieks and stands up, grabbing at the star and pulling it out with a painful yelp. He turns around and looks at me, giving me a glare.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Can you not tell when a guy is trying to kill a monster?" he says.

"Monster?" Jade asks, disbelief in her voice.

"Yea, chicky. You stopped me from killing that thing and dragged it to safety instead. Gods know what it's doing now." He grumbles as he quickly moves past us and out the bedroom.

I rush over to Jade and kneel down beside her. "That man, he said Aunt Laura was a monster. He was going to kill her,"

"I know. There must be some misunderstanding though, she's not—" James' shouting interrupts me.

I quickly hop to my feet and pull Jade to hers. I swipe the throwing star I had used up off the ground and barrel out of the bedroom and into the living room where the boys were.

James was already on his feet, drowsily trying to notch an arrow. Tristan was just barely awake, and upon seeing what was in front of them, rolled off the couch from being startled.

In front of Jade and I was the man who had tried killing Laura. He was armed with a bow I hadn't noticed before, and he had it steadily aimed at Laura, or what I assumed had been Laura.

There was a creature I had never laid eyes upon standing in the middle of the living room. It was at least seven feet tall, its eyes an icy blue that glowed in the shadowy darkness. It was scaly like a lizard, and its skin seemed to change slightly any time it moved.

"Well?" it says, looking at the man.

"I think it's about time you go back to Tartarus, don'tcha think?" he says, cocking his head to the side slightly.

The thing smiles – which was terrifying considering it had brilliantly white, sharp, tiny teeth – and glowers down at the man.

"You might think so, but I'm not so sure I'm ready to leave this nice place you people call your home,"

"Well I disagree." Before the thing can react and before the man can shoot it, Tristan yells and slices its head off with his sword.

It slides off the neck with a sickening 'shlich' and onto the floor. We all stare at it in shock, and then Jade rushes to Tristan and grabs him by the shirt.

"What is wrong with you?! That was my aunt!" she screams. She was going in to hysterics now, doing that weird gasping thing people tend to do when they've cried too much.

The strange man calmly comes forward and removes the hysterical Jade from Tristan. He sets her on the couch where she completely collapses and breaks down into a puddle of sobs.

"Who are you?" James asks, suspicion in his eyes.

The man looks up from Jade and turns to face James. "Me? My name is Keegan."

A/N:

Heh heh, guess who's back now! Yes, yes I know, I'm bringing back a lot of the old characters, but they have to come back in order for the story to work. As to what happened to Laura, that should be explained in 15, maybe 17. But it will most likely be 15. Also what Keegan was doing there will be explained in that chapter.

I've had a relatively low-key week. Except that on Thursday I took my first adult class in pottery! It was fantastic! Two and a half hours of nothing but throwing and talking to the other three ladies and my teacher. There was no yelling, or water and/or clay fights. No one destroyed another student's piece. It was all just really, really, nice. I feel like I'm going to just thrive in that class.

Then yesterday, my mom and I went to see X-Men: Days of Future Past. Holy fuck, it was INCREDIBLE. I highly recommend seeing it if you've watched the other X-Men movies.

M/A:

"'May your feet serve you well

And the rest be sent to Hell

Where they always have belonged

Cold hearts brew colder songs

Fate will play us out

With a song of pure romance

Stomp your feet and clap your hands'"

Let's Kill Tonight by Panic! At the Disco

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25