Second chapter at last! I do not own Percy Jackson, but OCs are minee! Also, I had some help from my from my friend who shall remain nameless until she gets an account. Enjoyeeee!

~~~Emily POV~~~

I woke up laying on my stomach on a couch. Bandages wrapped around my middle and back, snug but not too tight. My T-shirt covered them. I tried to sit up, and tight pain shot through my back. I fought through it, and then my mother walked into the room.

Luana Gaterlily is a retired construction worker. She quit when I was born. Now she works at a convenience store a couple blocks away from our apartment, which barely earns enough money to keep us going. And my dad…Well, I never knew my dad. Mom said he left when she was pregnant.

Whenever Mom thinks about him, her eyes get wet and she says, "He left without a word…I never said goodbye…" But other than her occasional flashback-tears, she's kind and caring and overall a good mom.

"Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?" She sat down next to me on the couch.

"I'm fine, Mom. My back kinda stings, though," I answered. Mom smiled and ruffled my hair.

"Good, that means the cream is working."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bird, right outside the window. It reminded me of the mutt. What happened to the hellhound? Would it go after me again?

"Honey, what happened? How did your back get cut?" Mom looked at me worriedly.

"It-it happened again. This time it was a giant black mutt." Mom stiffened.

It's true, I usually get kicked out of a school by myself, but sometimes something else gets me kicked out.

Like in third grade, everything was going great until one day on the playground a fire-breathing snake blew up the swings, and we moved. Then in fourth, a cow with three tails almost trampled me. We moved again.

Things quieted down for fifth and sixth, but now they're coming back.

Mom quickly got to her feet.

"Honey, get your backpack. Pack everything you need for a summer camp. We'll leave in ten minutes." She walked briskly from the living room to the kitchen, rattling things around.

"Ooookay…" But I slowly stood and went to my room.

Our apartment is one story. As soon as you walk in the door, there's the kitchen. A door on the right takes you to the living room. Then straight to a short hallway, my room is on the left. My room is small, but cozy.

A window is on the wall parallel to the door. My bed is under the window. A desk sits at the foot of the bed, and it's occupied with a journal and my repaired jacket. It doesn't have a chair. A near-empty closet takes up the wall near the head of my bed.

I always kept spare backpacks under my bed, so I pulled out a dark green one and looked around my room. A summer camp? It's the middle of May, there's still a few weeks left until school lets out. And what would I bring to a camp?

I finally settled on a pair of ripped jeans, a pair of shorts, two T-shirts, a pair of socks, my journal, and a pair of worn-out sneakers. I stuffed all the items in my pack, then shoved my arms into my jacket and slung the backpack over my shoulder.

When I walked to the kitchen, Mom grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door.

"Mom, what—" I was cut off as she shoved me into the passenger seat of her jeep. She ran around the other side, jumping in the driver side and slamming in the keys.

"I knew it…I should've got her there sooner…why can't I keep her safe…" She muttered to herself as she pulled away from the curb.

I tried again.

"Mom, what do you mean—" She cut me off again.

"He'll explain when you get to camp."

"So where's this camp? What is this camp?!" I said exaggeratedly, throwing my hands up. Mom just gripped the wheel tighter.

"Why won't you tell me anything!?" I loved my mom, but the secrecy was getting to me. This wasn't like her at all. I gave up and looked out the window, but my thoughts still raced around my head.

I crossed and uncrossed my arms. I fiddled with the strap of my backpack. I looked out the window, at mom, out the window, at the road in front of us, out the window again. I thought about the giant mutt, why my mom was acting so weird, where Mr. Bushkern might be, and steak.

Hey, I was hungry.

I never did well with long-distance car trips, and this was no exception. Even with the window down, I was still a little nauseous.

Eventually, the city landscape changed to country. We passed a sign that said something like, GONL DANLIS, 25 LIMES, or something.

I drifted off to sleep, leaning my head on the window. My dreams contained black mutts the size of small elephants and exploding tractors.

Y'know, the usual stuff.

~~LATER~~

I woke up as Mom swerved the car, squishing my face into the window. As she spun the wheel again, I peeled my face off the window and flailed my arms, trying to regain my balance. All the while, a shadowy dog- like shape was fading in and out of the rear-view mirror.

"What are you doing? And what's going on!? WHY IS THERE A CREEPY DOG-SHADOW-THING BEHIND US!?" My mom didn't reply, and just gripped the wheel tighter. I grabbed the door handle and the strap of my backpack, ready to bail if needed.

"Hellhound." I turned to my mother in surprise.

"What? That's what Mr. Bushkern called it, too."

"Because that's what it is. Very dangerous. You'll be safe there. Just please refrain from your impulses." Mom replied.

"My what?" Impulses? Yeah, like I was gonna go cuddle the death-dog. Then an alien feeling spread through my body. It was like rage, but I've felt rage before, very often, and this…this was different. It felt like a nuke waiting to blow out of me. Like I was the bomb.

I wanted to rip the car door off its hinges and punch the stupid mutt into next month.

Then it was gone. I had no idea what caused it, and it wasn't like I wanted it to come back, either. It was like adrenaline, but a little too addicting, like if I embraced it I wouldn't be in control.

Then Mom ripped the wheel almost straight off the rod, sending us flying through the safety rail as the Hound tore the ground up from where we were seconds before.

A red haze filled my vision, and the rage returned, this time so strong, I couldn't resist. I ripped the seatbelt out of its buckle, throwing myself over my mom, protecting her from flying glass.

After what seemed like an eternity of spinning over bumps and rocks, we miraculously landed on all four wheels. Mom was out cold, and I could hear the dog bounding down the slope after us. The red mist still clouded my vision, I moved quicker than I thought was possible.

Unbuckling my mother, I slid over her to sit in the driver's seat, pushing her into the passenger side. Grabbing the wheel and jamming my feet into position, I slammed my foot on the gas.

I swear, that Jeep almost achieved takeoff. We shot over the abandoned road, as the sun sank lower on the horizon. I could hear the hellhound bound onto the road behind us. I turned to look at the dog, and suddenly it was beside us on the passenger side.

"Gaaahhh!" I yanked the wheel to the side and rammed the mutt. It was so unplanned, I couldn't even react in time as a road-side sign came zooming towards us.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as my side of the car was crushed. Something was screaming, and I think it was me. A 'SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN' sign punched through the driver window, and everything faded into comfortable black silence.