Second chapter! Yay!
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His hope:
Of course, after Katie left, Travis got involved in monster-related shenanigans almost instantly. He'd been sitting silently in the grass, minding his own business, when a huge – like, twelve-feet-tall huge – monster marched in, grasping three leashes made of what-looked-like-possible-human-skin-turned-to-lea ther-and-six-inch-wide-black-iron-studs with one gigantic fist. The leashes ended at the necks of three lion-bird-things. Travis didn't stick around to find out what the lion-bird-things were, or whether the leashes really were made of human flesh. Instead, he hopped to his feet and sprinted for the woods, picking up what Katie said was his sword on his way out. The humanoid roared wordlessly and very loudly (if thunder had suddenly clapped less than two inches from Travis's ear, the noise would've been nearly as loud as the monster) and, as if on cue, the three lion-bird-things joined in together a few seconds later, creating some sort of twisted shrieking harmony that grated on Travis's nerves and made his brain feel like it was crumbling to dust. But he didn't stop running. He ran and sprinted and dashed and stumbled and hurried and crashed and tripped and leaped through the woods as fast as was humanly possible. However, even as he distanced himself from the monsters as much as he could, he prayed to whatever Greek gods could hear him and take pity on a poor, amnesiac, demigod teenager: Please, let them come after me. Don't let them hurt Katie. Please, let them come after me. Don't let them hurt Katie. Keep her safe. Keep her away from this. Let them come after me.
It was strange, really, because he could only remember remembering her for a day, but he wanted to protect her so badly. He wasn't sure if he'd always been this worried about her, or if it was some weird result of his amnesia, but he had this hunch that it was the former. Feelings this strong didn't spring up in a day, after all.
Caught up in his thoughts, he could almost block out the constant keening of the hunting monsters tracking him down persistently. He stayed focused on a topic far away from his present situation – he wondered about the life he'd lived for seventeen years that some monster had knocked out of him just… was it really just yesterday? All of his memories were only one day old? The thought distracted him, and a very rude tree root popped up out of nowhere while he wasn't paying attention. As he toppled towards the ground, he cursed at the cruel and cold-hearted tree that had borne an equally ruthless tree root possessing a single purpose in life: to trip him. And then (of course), things got worse. Because Travis found that he couldn't get back up. When the monster and the monster's pets (for what else could they be?) had appeared, an instant adrenaline high had fueled Travis's insane burst of speed. But now that the ruthless and very rude tree root had broken his lack of awareness of his limitations (that was a strange phrase that Travis had never thought he'd ever think), his ankle – throbbing intensely and swelling before his eyes – was getting his attention again. And it was saying, Hey, look at me! Feel me! Feel my pain! You will never walk again! (Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was really only a slight one. After all, if the monsters caught Travis and killed him right this moment, he really wouldn't ever walk again.) He must've tried to stand about five times, but his stupid attention-seeking ankle just wouldn't let him. Finally, he gave up and slumped behind the very tree with the evil protruding root, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the monsters tracked him down. He only prayed that the Greek terrors would be satisfied with his death and would ignore Katie.
"Leave him, my pets!" For a second, Travis was grateful for the end to the screeching. And then he realized what the humanoid's command meant, and his gratitude instantly turned to heart-pounding, cold-sweat-inducing, blood-curdling fear. "Well, one of you can track him down, if you must, but you all know Gaea's orders. The daughter of Demeter is the one we really want." And with that, Travis's only hope was really and truly shattered.
