Chapter 2: In Which I Get Poisoned and Meet a Girl
I tried to scream for help, but the Bill's hands were around my throat, constricting my breathing. I hoped to anyone who was listening that someone would either come to find me or try to get something from the shed, but I doubted it highly.
"Now calm down. Just one little prick from one of these," said Bill, fingering one of the spikes on his newly grown tail. I had no idea what he was, but I knew it was bad. "Will send you to dreamland and paralyze you for several hours. Nothing serious, but enough to subdue you're feisty attitude."
He plucked one of them from his tail and pricked me in the neck, right by the artery, and I knew that I was in trouble. I started to see black, and I felt my limbs starting to stiffen up, going into shock and paralyzing. I gasped, the pain stabbing me from the inside like needles, heating up my insides like a microwave. I needed to get to my backpack somehow and grab the vial. It was my only hope.
The blackness was closing in fast, but I felt the knife start to lose its grip and Bill backed away, allowing me to fall to the ground. Bill was about to reach down and pick me up, when he saw something that made him hiss. I looked, and through my haze, I saw a girl with light blond long hair and startling gray eyes, wielding a bronze knife similar to the one stuck in his shirt. The girl advanced on Bill, the monster, whatever you want to call him, taking a stab at it. The knife only scratched his arm, but he instantly exploded into yellow dust, like had just turned into sand and had a bomb placed in his chest.
The girl picked me up, she was remarkably strong, and brought me out to the woods, where she set me down in a field of soft moss. Before I passed out, I managed to whisper to the girl, "Quick. Blue backpack. Boys' locker room. Vial with yellow liquid. Bring it and a needle. Inject me with it," I managed to eek out before I passed out.
I woke up to her standing over me, dabbing my face with a wet towel and talking to me.
"Hey, are you alright?" she asked.
"Ugh. I'm fine, but I need to get to my lab quick before this antidote wears off. It works by identifying anything not supposed to be there and tagging it for my immune system, but it only works for two hours before the toxin comes back, which gives me just enough time to get to my lab and do a blood test and synthesize a proper antidote. Can you drive?" I asked.
The girl looked somewhat flustered before nodding, grabbing out a set of keys from her pocket.
"Where's your lab?" she asked.
"It's...somewhat unauthorized. It's on the top floor of the Institute. We'll need to sneak in, but I know I way."
"Why do you live at the Institute?"
"Let's just say I was orphaned at ten and leave it at that," I said, trying to avoid the topic. "So who are you anyway, and how on earth did you do...that to Bill, er that creature, er, whatever he was."
The girl just sighed. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to get you to your lab or you'll be a goner. While Bill may have meant to just make you pass out, that dose was big enough to be permanent if not treated. I hope you know an antidote, besides that magic vial of yours," she said.
She mumbled something else under her breath that she thought I couldn't hear, but my ears have always been sharp. "Mortals. I can't believe he can see through the Mist, but I have to help him. Ambrosia won't work. I hope he knows an antidote."
"I do, you know. You whisper loudly," I said over my shoulder as I walked sluggishly toward the locker room to grab my stuff. She cursed in some language, which I somehow understood as her calling herself an idiot.
I got my stuff, and the I walked out to the girl's car. It was a truck, an old Ford F150 to be exact. Nothing fancy, but it did the job. We hopped in and raced off for the Institute. The girl had a lead foot, I had to say.
We pulled in, and I slipped out, beckoning the girl to follow, and I led her to the dumbwaiter that was outside, by the chimney on the right side of the house. I had expanded it so that it was more comfortable, but it was still cramped for two people. We got up to the top quickly, and I raced off for my blood testing equipment.
I drew a small vial of my blood and inserted into the Spectrograph that I had made, and sat back to wait for the results. The girl soon found me, marvelling at the lab space I had set up. Most everything was on old wood tables that had been stored up there, but everything was organized and neat, everything at right angles and put in perfect positions.
"So...you made all of this?" the girl asked, incredulous.
"Yeah. Took me forever, but yeah I did. The school gives me all their old equipment, and I get materials from an old shop in Elizabeth. I do a lot of work in here, and I've churned out a lot of devices and concoctions, including the one that's keeping me awake right now," I said, tapping the now empty vial. "I made this vial after I was poisoned for the first time, about three years ago. This concoction took forever to make, but it is specified to me, and labels everything that's not natural. Let's just say that I have no shortage of people who hate me, and I took the habit of taking this baby around with me. Useful, as you can see."
"Hm," said the girl, giving me a calculated gaze, which was really unnerving with her storm gray eyes.
"Uh, I don't believe I caught your name," I said awkwardly.
"Oh. Yes, well, my name is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."
I wracked my brain when she said her name. I knew it from somewhere, but I couldn't quite place it. Well, it became irrelevant as I saw that the test was done.
"Alright, let's see what got to me here," I said, examining the sample. "Ah, a neurotoxin, quite lethal in a dose as big as I got, but I was able to immobilize it. Luckily, thanks to my little device here," I said patting the Spectrograph, "I know just what I need to make."
I got to my major synthesizing table, and got to work. I strapped on my goggles, and then proceeded to grab the necessary chemicals and elements, heating things up temporarily, and then cooling them, coming up with a light green concoction, just enough to get rid of the toxin. I grabbed a sterile needle, and putting the mixture into the needle, injected myself with it. I immediately felt a result, the lingering paralysis and sluggishness dissolved, and I could breathe easy.
"See, nothing to worry about. I'm fine. Now, would you mind telling me who your are, what Bill is, and how you killed him," I said before making to go clean up my lab equipment.
"Well, I told you I'm Annabeth Chase. Your buddy Bill, well, that's harder to explain, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you. As for how I killed him, harder to explain. How about you? You said you were orphaned. How did that happen?" she asked.
I noticed the change in topic, but I decided to just roll with it. "Well, it started about eight years ago. I had a whole host of aunts and uncles, but they all started to die off, one by one, on both sides. Really weird circumstances, too. Anyway, the killer found my parents. I woke up one morning to find them dead in their beds, blood everywhere. I was put up for adoption, but no one wanted me, so I was shipped here, to the Institute, where I have lived for five years. Depressing, I know, but I've moved on," I said, fingering the small compass that hung around my neck. It was a last gift from my mom, the night before she died. I remembered it vividly.
"For if you need to find your way when you are lost," she said. It was kind of cryptic, but I just accepted it.
"So you say you knew both of your parents?" she asked.
It was a weird question, but it wouldn't hurt to answer it. "Yeah. I have great memories of them and the times we had together. They were truly amazing people."
"I'll bet they were. Well, that puts that theory to bed. Now..." she was about to say when I saw Aaron race toward me. He was one of the few who knew about my lab, along with Maggie and Mary. He raced up, breathless, and panted out a message.
"Bill...downstairs...looking for you...found dumbwaiter...on his way now," he said, gasping for breath.
"I thought you killed him," I said to Annabeth.
"Let's just say that Bill is of another breed," she said curtly. I heard footsteps, and then crashing from somewhere in the lab.
"Crap, he's here. Alright, make for the dumbwaiter. I need to grab something real quick," I said before racing off.
I found what I needed quickly. My laptop held every bit of information about all of my work, and I needed it. I stuffed it in my backpack and raced for the dumbwaiter, grabbing a spare wooden board. It was no knife, but I would be able to fend him off if he came for me.
I was almost at the dumbwaiter, but of course, I couldn't be that lucky. Bill, or whatever he was, had crossed my path, baring new fangs and that tail of his.
"Gah! How are you not asleep and paralyzed?" he yelled, flinging a set of spikes from his tail at me.
"Let's just say I've got science on my side. Computer, activate sleeping gas!" I yelled, yanking on my mask before bracing myself. The sound of gas leaking filled the air, and Bill's eyes crossed before falling on his face in slumber. I knew that it wouldn't last long, maybe a minute, so I raced for the dumbwaiter. I went down it quickly, racing for Annabeth's truck when I got out. I heard another crashing sound before seeing a large shadow above me take form. I looked up and saw Bill hurtling toward me. I ran faster, trying to outdistance myself from his flight path. He landed in front of me, surprisingly, and I reacted by promptly smacking him on the head with the board.
It only made him madder. "I will get you halfling!" he yelled, grabbing a huge decorative stone and flinging it at me. I saw Maggie and Mary, as well as Aaron, grabbing bats and beginning to advance on Bill. I smiled inwardly. I had such awesome friends.
All I had to do was stall, and soon Bill would be sleeping with the daisies, but then again, I had already tried that, and it hadn't worked. I crossed my fingers, hoping for the best, but of course, my luck had to turn again.
I kept dodging his attacks, either stones or spikes, but somehow I managed to dodge them. Unfortunately, I tripped over a tree root, and fell face first in the dirt. I got up, but it was too late. He was on top of me.
I tried to free myself, but he had me pinned. I heard a slam, and then Bill fell unconscious on the ground. I saw Aaron with a bat standing over him, a look of triumph on his face.
"Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about! What is that thing?" he asked.
"Um, a little help here!" I yelled from under Bill's heavy body.
"Oh, right," he said, and shoved Bill's body off of me. I saw that he was already starting to come around again, and I turned to Annabeth.
"Can you do that thing where you turn him to dust again?" I asked. She nodded and slashed him with the bronze knife. He exploded, but almost immediately, the dust started to shift together again.
"Um, what is that?" asked Maggie.
"He's reforming. I need to get you four to camp. I think it's obvious that you're demigods too," said Annabeth.
"Wait, did you say demigods?" asked Aaron.
Annabeth just sighed. "I'll explain when we get to camp. Right now you just need to trust me. Hop in," she said, unlocking the truck. We all piled in, getting quite cramped in the process. The truck was filled to capacity with us and our stuff, so I elected to ride in the bed of the truck. All I had to do was cover myself with a tarp if a cop ever showed up.
We pulled away from the Institute, and I saw Bill's form take shape again and come charging at us full tilt, gaining on us quickly.
"Drive faster! He's catching up!" I yelled to Annabeth.
"You have one stubborn monster on your hands!" she yelled back to me, flooring the beat up old truck, and I could hear the transmission whine in protest. The rustbucket wasn't going to get us away from that thing, so I did the best plan I could come up with. I reached in through the hatch in the roof, grabbed Annabeth's knife, and dove off of the truck.