Ugh. I'm serious this time, if this chapter doesn't get at least FIVE reviews, I'm not posting the next one. But this chapter was begging to be posted, so you got lucky! You're all just a bunch of lucky duckies! : (I OWN NOTHING!

January 4, 2012

Four days later, I ran into my first monster. I guess I should have been smarter about it. But of course, me being me, I had to be the stupid one. Gods, I was dumb! I know I had never even seen a monster before, but really? Oh it was such a failure…

~Enter Flashback~

Krissetta poked her head out of her tent. It was dark, the only light coming from the moon and stars. Even the glowing embers of the fire had died away, disappearing into the snow. She pulled her head back into the tent and quickly grabbed her guitar, then darted outside. The snow clung to her hair as she walked through the woods, her cheeks turning red with the cold. She sat down on a fallen log a few hundred yards from camp, where she thought she wouldn't be heard. She strummed her guitar softly, lost in thought. Before she knew it, she was singing along to the familiar tune.

Suddenly, a twig snapped behind her. She stopped and whipped around, looking for the source of the sound. "Who-who's there?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound braver than she felt.

"Demigoddessssssss," came the hissed reply. "Your time hassss come." Something ran out of the bushes at her.

She ducked as the dracaena lunged at her. Hands shaking, she dropped her guitar and picked up a stick. She swung at the creature, then threw the stick at it. The dracaena hissed with laughter, then jumped on her, pinning her to the ground. It ran one claw down her face, leaving a trail of bright red blood as she stared, wide-eyed. The creature raised its hand to slash at her throat when something launched at it. Its claws ripped at her leg as it was dragged away. She pushed herself up, trying to ignore the blood dripping off her leg and into the snow. "S-stripes?" she breathed, amazed. The housecat-turned-tiger let out s fierce snarl in reply. She backed up, right into Drop, who pushed her to the side. They both watched as Stripes slashed at the dracaena. The creature let out a cry and dissolved into yellow dust.

Krissetta stared, both fascinated and mortified. Stripes walked over and together he and Raindrop pushed Krissetta back to camp where she sat by the fire pit and stared at the sky. Guitar clutched in her right hand, she waited for the dawn, praying it came soon.

An hour later, she sat still staring as the sky started to lighten in the east, when someone sat down next to her.

"You're up early," someone commented.

She blinked slowly and turned to face the girl, watching her stir the embers and toss a new log on, starting the fire. "I don't think we've met. I'm Krissetta."

"I'm Hannah," the girl said. She turned to look at Krissetta and gasped. "Oh my gods, what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your face! And look at your leg! What did you do?"

"I was out walking…..and I got attacked…by a dracaena," Krissetta said slowly.

"Oh my gods!" Hannah shouted. "Sam, Katie, get out here!"

Krissetta tilted her head curiously. "More hunters?"

"Yeah, they're the best healers we've got," Hannah explained.

Two twin girls with tan skin and dark hair ran up. "Holy Zeus, what happened?" One asked.

"I-"

"She was attacked by a dracaena," Hannah said before Krissetta could say anything.

"It's not that bad…." Krissetta started.

"Yes it is!" Hannah said, freaking out. "You could've…you could've died or something!"

"Hannah, chill out," said one of the twins.

Hannah took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay, I'm calm. It's all okay."

"Why don't you go get some firewood or something?" the other twin suggested. Krissetta felt bad for not knowing which was which.

"Katie?" she asked.

"I'm Sam. That's Katie." Sam pointed to her sister, who waved.

"Okay. Got it." Still, Krissetta knew she would have to get to know them a lot better before she could tell them apart.

"Go get firewood?" Hannah exclaimed. "There's a dracaena out there!"

"No there's not," Krissetta said. "It's dead."

"You killed it?" Hannah stared at her in shock. The twins raised their eyebrows.

"No, Stripes did."

"Oh. Well, okay then." Hannah walked off into the woods. The three girls shook their heads.

"Oh Hannah," Katie? sighed.

Sam? rolled her eyes. "Only her." She began to clean Krissetta's leg wound.

Krissetta winced at the sting of the disinfectant. "Ouch!" she said.

"Suck it up," Sam? said, laughing good-naturedly.

"Well you're nice," Katie? commented.

"The nicest," Sam? said.

Krissetta couldn't help but laugh. Sam? finished bandaging her leg and Katie? handed her a band-aid for her face.

"You're going to have a lot of explaining to do when Artemis finds out," she cautioned.

"I know. I am in so much trouble…"

"You'll probably be fine, but I suggest you get your story straight now and hope it matches Drop's and Stripes' perfectly."

Aqua winced and glanced at her guitar. "I'm gonna go put this away," she said.

The twins looked at the guitar with interest. "I didn't know you played guitar," Sam? commented.

"I don't," Krissetta stated, picking it up and walking away.

Wow, Krissetta's dumb. I know….. Review or no more story!