This chapter contains spoilers for Night Broken, the 8th book in the Mercy Thompson series. If you like the series, but haven't read it yet, don't read this story, go buy the book. My writing can't compare to Mss. Briggs or Mr. Riordan's.

Note, I'm skipping a lot of flavor text and background info, I figure if you're reading a fan fiction about a book, then chances are you've read the book and know, at least in part, that information.

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Also, I own none of the characters, not even the OC I made as she is part of the PJaO books and anyone is free to duplicate her for their own stories. Writing a story using characters from published books, I certainly can't complain if someone likes my idea enough to run it in a different direction, but please, no slash.

As a side note, I hope everyone was able to figure out that Terry is an OC. I was going to use a minor character from the books, but I couldn't find one that really fit.

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Also note, For Percy and crew, this story takes place after the battle for New York, and before Percy disappears, obviously. I haven't decided yet if the Son of Sobek has taken place yet.

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We Escape

Percy

We were in trouble, lots and lots of trouble. We were falling, we were flying, we were just plain out screwed. That's when Ms. O'Leary bit into the open air and stopped us. It looked like she was chewing on some sort of sheet, but the sheet was the open air around us, or maybe it was just the darkness.

Whatever it was, it stopped us from moving, assuming we even were. I looked around and could see the others drifting around as much as they could while we were holding hands. It looked kind of like we were doing the wave parachuting or something. I looked out beyond us and could see nothing. It was complete and utter nothingness. I was reminded of a movie we watched called Serenity, in it, one of the characters mentions how a group of people went insane by going to the edge of space and another character laughs at her. At the time I had agreed with him, now. Now I'm pulling pretty hard in her favor. I'm pretty sure we're going to go insane here.

As I was having those pleasant thoughts, I noticed a new figure appear. She was semi-transparent, like a ghost and her legs faded to nonexistence below her knees and her left arm below her elbow and it looked like she was leaning out thru the sheet that Ms. O'Leary was gripping. I watched for what seemed like hours though was probably only seconds and her facial expressions would have been rather amusing under any other circumstance. She went from awe, to joy to horror and seemed to break out in tears of happiness at whatever she was looking at. I looked around again, nope, still nothingness. Maybe her divine parent gave her a gift to see stuff I couldn't, maybe she was just a loony. Either way, she was our only hope and I needed to get her attention.

I started to yell at her and suddenly she looked down at me with surprise and I saw her mouth the words "Oh, I almost forgot." Really, you almost forgot. Whatever her failings, she grabbed Ms. O'Leary by the collar and pulled. She started to slide in further when she tried, but then I could feel a surge of electricity thru us, a snapping sound, and then we were lying on top of a smashed kitchen table. Ms. O'Leary starts licking the ground, diverting our attention until it downs on me, she's kissing the ground.

We struggle to our feet and look around. We are in a large kitchen surrounded on all sides by people, mostly large buff men and 5 females, 3 of whom are also rather buff, 1 not so much, but then she looks like the one who saved us and one girl, about our age, maybe a little older if she's the national average for weight and build. Just those 4 women and 1 girl and close to 2 dozen fit looking guys. Just as I'm starting to think we've stumbled onto some sort of illegal porn set up a phone rings. The biggest dude there, who was up till then hugging our little savior answers and starts talking to someone named Bran. After a couple of seconds I hear him say he's giving the phone to his daughter so he can keep his hands free if this turns into a fight.

OK! So, not porn after all, that's good right. They're just workers our something. Meh, they look to ready for a fight for that. After a bit, I start to listen to the rather amusing description of us the girl, Jesse evidently gives Bran, and I notice that several people seem to be talking to whoevers on the phone, answering questions only they can hear.

Mercy

When Adam hands the phone to Jesse, I can see him tense and get ready to pounce. Jesse is of course describing the scene to Bran and I wonder exactly what he's thinking. I can hear Charles and several other wolves on Bran's end of the phone, and I can just imagine the looks of bewilderment passing between them.

"So anyway, Mercy just fades out, like some sort of ghost right, really super freaky, like scare the crap out of you type thing." I faded out?

"Then she seems to just stare off into space for over a minute, and it looks like she's crying, kind of like her Mom did when she got married right." I wasn't crying.

"Then she seems to look at the ripple in the air and then dad and everyone else here with the pack seems to strain and the next thing I know there's this group of kids, I mean like kids, several years younger than me right, like maybe 15 or 16." She's only 17.

"Though they do look pretty buff, even if they're dressed like they're about to meet the President or something. Anyhow, there's this mondo sized dog right, I mean it's huge. It's practically crawling on its belly but its back is almost to the ceiling!" She's right; that is one monstrous dog.

"Yes, sorry, I know I'm babbling, sorry, I can't help it, the dog looks like it eats souls or something. Right, sorry, the kids, um let's see. The one in front, he looks like a younger, buffer version of dad and is definitely the one in charge." Younger, buffer version of Adam, what?

"So, yeah, he's wearing this nice suit with some really tacky jewelry, mostly sea or navy type stuff. But he doesn't look scared at all, like everyone in the pack is just here for his amusement. And I'm starting to hear several of the pack talk about stupid kids and needing to learn their place like everyone's forgotten the whole hole in space thing and the fact that they have a dog that looks big enough to eat one of them like they would a rabbit." At that, I see several wolves of to the sides glance up, Jesse hit home on that one.

"Ok, sorry, standing right next to him is this girl, she's wearing this fancy dress suit but is holding a baseball cap in one hand and has the other one in a purse like she's holding a gun but doesn't want to show it until something gets worse. Like her leader, she's more amused than scared." Unless it's got an unlimited supply of bullets in the purse, a gun isn't going to cut, yet she really doesn't seem the type to underestimate people, what's she really holding?

"Behind her is another girl, maybe 11 or 12, but actually more buff then the 2 guys. Kind of like those pictures of the female body builders except that she's really young and she's got these scars on her face and neck like she's been attacked by a werewolf before, only she looks like she killed it instead." I can hear amusement at that comment; right up until the girl seems to acknowledge the statement with an affirmative, though she say's something to the effect of drakkon, or dragon, or something like that. I've never known dragons to be real, but that doesn't mean they aren't.

"On the other side of the leader is another boy, he looks scary as all hell even though he's only about 13 or 14. Seriously, I can't decide if he's a SS officer who became an undertaker, or if he's the living embodiment of death or something. Oh, and his Abraham Lincoln hat is looking at me. Kind of like in the movies and books were there's a talking hat, except it doesn't look friendly, more like it wants to eat my face off or something." I look at the hat, God, I think she's right. I take a big whiff of the group, and I immediately begin to sneeze. Magic; and lots of it. Magic seems to be oozing out of these kids. I haven't felt this much magic since I was on the Walla Walla Fae reservation, but it didn't seem like fae magic.

"Standing just behind him is another girl; she looks like she's the same age as the 1st girl, and holds herself like she's nobility or something, though honestly, she's the only one who doesn't look like a threat."

At the last point, that particular girl puts her hands to her mouth and starts to giggle. After a few seconds, she steps forward and holds out her hand, "Hi, I'm Rachel Dare."

Adam is about to take her hand when suddenly green mist shoots out her pores, a green skull replaces her face and she grows claws. Before Adam can react, the 2 boys and the older girl grab her and pull her back while she's spouting something of in another language in a very strange voice.

"I take that back!" Jesse nearly screeches, "She's even scarier than the rest!"