DISCLAIMER: MR. RICK RIORDAN IS THE GENIUS BEHIND THIS BOOK SERIES. I ONLY OWN THE PLOT AND SOME CHARACTERS.. SADLY.

Chapter Three

Well at least I thought it was the man. The sun had gone down and all that we could see was what the light was shining on. He was holding her captive right in the middle of the football field. How were we supposed to get there without him knowing?

"Well what do we have here? It took you long enough. If you didn't come when you did, I would've eaten your little girlfriend here. She looks delicious." I don't know what angered me more; the fact that he had already been waiting here for us or the fact that he took my Katie. My Katie? Where the hell did that come from?

"Let her go," I demanded, putting every single ounce of persuasion I had in my voice. I'm assuming he heard me because right when I said that, he reluctantly let her go. Katei dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, shaking in fear.

The man's face was priceless. My mind must've been playing tricks on me because it seemed as if he didn't want to let her go. Like he was forced to. He suddenly had this blank look in his eyes as if in a trance. Again, I put every ounce of persuasion I had into my voice. "Now go walk away and don't stop until your feet start bleeding. Then keep on walking." Usually I would have never tortured a man like that, but he took Katie, one of the most important things in my life and that was just unacceptable.

He slowly and shakily turned around because he was fighting the urge to do what I said. For some reason, I could make him do anything I wanted. If the situation we were in weren't so serious, I probably would've made him do cartwheels or pat his head while rubbing his stomach. That would've made Katie laugh, which in turn, would make me laugh.

Once the man was out of sight, I ran straight to Katie. Nothing else mattered at the moment. I didn't even notice Alex and Rondale trying to catch up to me. By the time I got to Katie, tears were streaming down her face. Her face was covered in dirt and grime. I reached out to scoop her into my arms but once I was a couple inches away from her, she flinched. I stood there, shocked. She flinched which means that she thought I was going to hurt her. I mean I know a couple hours earlier we had fought, but she'd never once been scared of me before.

Alex and Rondale had finally caught up to me. They stared at me while I stared at the girl on the ground. She was still shaking and muttering to herself. Her hand was clutching something around her neck. Her mother's necklace. Whenever she was deathly scared of something or she felt lonely, she would always hold that necklace. Once she told me that she could feel her mother with her.

"What the hell are you doing just standing there?" Alex snapped at me, which brought me back from my thoughts. Slowly she approached Katie and once again Katie flinched. Alex rose up both of her hands as she slowly started towards her again as if to show that we were the good guys. Katie let Alex get closer to her than she let me get close.

At first I though Katie was shaking from fear, and I'm pretty sure most of the shaking was because of that, but then I noticed that it was freezing cold outside. I'd been too focused on trying to find her that I didn't even notice. Rondale noticed though so he handed Alex his coat and she draped it over her. I was still standing there like an idiot not knowing what to do.

Katie shakily stood up and almost fell to the ground but Alex caught her before that could happen. She dragged Katie by the elbow and started to head back to the safe house. Rondale followed silently. I stared down at my feet and started to follow them but my mind was elsewhere. I kept walking until I bumped into a very annoyed Rondale.

"Watch where you're going man." He looked at me like there was something was out of the ordinary. Like I was something out of the ordinary.

"Sorry…" I mumbled. I looked up at Katie and Alex. Even though were were a little far from them, I could still see Katie shaking like a leaf. I could tell that she was trying hard not to break down. The only other time I'd seen her like this before was when her close friend at the foster home was murdered.

When we finally caught up to them, I noticed that they had abruptly stopped talking. Guess it was something that didn't need to be shared. I'd have to ask Alex about that later seeing as Katie isn't in the best condition. We all walked together in silence until we made it to a crosswalk. All of a sudden, this random black car pulled up. It had tinted windows so I couldn't see who was in it until they rolled it down.

"I was sent here by the boy's mother," he said monotonously. I froze in shock. My mother? Was this some sort of trick? I'd been in trouble before and she never sent help then. Why now?

They all looked at me as if to say, "is it safe?". I shrugged and opened the door, motioning them to get in. Rondale sat in the front of the car with the mysterious man and Alex, Katie, and I sat in the back. We drove with nothing but the pitter-patter of the rain to break the silence. Alex was staring out the window and Rondale was sitting in the front, giving me weird looks through the side view mirror. I pushed it off. He was probably just trying to see if I'd break down, and I probably would've, but Katie was unstable and if I broke down she'd become even worse.

Soon enough Katie fell asleep, and she deserved it. I bet she'd been through a lot today. There was that guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach. If you had gone after her once she ran off, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Shut up, I told myself. Great… Now I'm talking to myself.

Katie's head slowly rolled onto my shoulder and I adjusted myself so that she was comfortable. I at least owed her that. Looking at her, I almost smiled. Even though she had dirt all over her face, small cuts, and her hair was everywhere, she still managed to make it look good. I looked at her sleeping next to me and then looked out the window and thought to myself, "What would I have done without her?" I gritted my teeth. I almost lost her today. A small strand of hair fell onto her face and I moved it away from her beautiful face. Let it be known that today is the day I swear to let nothing ever happen to you.

"We're here…" the driver said. I was thinking about waking up Katie myself, but considering her reaction to me earlier, I thought it was best I shouldn't. Alex looked over at me and then at Katie, silently asking if she should wake her up. I nodded. Alex slowly touched her arm and Katie woke with a start. She noticed that she had been leaning on me and quickly sat up straight.

Seeing as I was the person with the window seat, I had to get out first. But when I was just about to get out of the car, I had a bad feeling. I brushed it off and got out. All of a sudden, the doors closed and the car speedily drove away. I tried to run after it, but a dozen of guards came out of nowhere and dragged me inside this huge mansion that I hadn't noticed before because of my worrying about Katie.

Once inside, this amazing aroma attacked me. It was the same aroma that came off the rose that my mother had given to me. The guards took me into this extravagant room. It looked like one of those old fashioned mansions that only the richest people had. It looked a lot like my old house as a kid.

The guards shoved me onto a couch and left the room, locking the doors behind them. I was thinking about snooping around, trying to figure out where I was, but then I remember all those movies that Katie and I had watched. Every time the one of the supporting characters snooped around, they usually ended up going missing or dead so I decided not to.

Behind me, there was the sound of a door opening. Despite me telling my feet not to get up, they did anyways. I turned around and saw… My mother.