2. Barbie Gets Singed.

Annabeth was already outside, waiting at the entrance and tapping her foot on the ground. Me and Shannon looked at each other then around us, noticing how no-one even turned their heads to look at us.
I spotted our alley to see Liam looking round, as if he was trying to find us whilst the guy whose name began with a J was still throwing his ball onto the track next to ours. Leading through the room, I was still trying to decide where I should go. Do I follow the person who had just saved our lives, to especially find out what on Earth was going on? Or do I return back our lost looking friends?
It turned out I had no choice in the matter as I accidentally bumped into Mrs Doyle who gave me a confused look. "I'm sorry dear I did not see you there."
"No problem Mrs Doyle." I replied.
"Do I know you?" she asked, peering at us like she was half blind. If she got any closer I was suspecting Shannon would make her blind.
"Mrs Doyle, it's us, Natalie Hunt and Shannon O'Riley," I said, pointing to the both of us. The teacher did not look confidently at us. "We're part of the programme."
"What programme?" I was going to say something inappropriate when one of Liam's partner's throws narrowly missed my feet. "Jonathan!"
It was Jonathan, now I felt the little switch of recognition flip in my brain.
Mrs Doyle wandered off to deal with the problem whilst me and Shannon were left in absolute bewilderment. Our own teacher didn't recognise us.
Annabeth must have noticed us because she quickly walked over to us. "What's wrong?"
"She didn't recognise us," I gaped. Annabeth nodded whilst Shannon received another static shock off a metal statue. "She didn't recognise us?"
"I know, I did that." Annabeth seemed to be smug when she said it although I was sure she didn't intend to sound like she was. Shannon must have heard it because I saw her tense up. If there was anything she hated worst than bullies, it was people who thought they were better than others. "Now, let's get out of here before more Lamias turn up."
"More!" I whined in a high-pitched voice, one I wasn't proud of making. Annabeth shushed me in a harsh and wary tone.
"Maybe, some people say they live in a clan. Others say there is only one, the cannibal we just killed." she explained before nodding to the door and marching off.
I grabbed her hand and making her turn round to face me, her intensifying grey eyes meeting mine. I thought I saw a look of recognition in them but they soon changed to one that could only be translated as 'get your hands off before I break them off'.
"Not before you explain what just happened." Shannon growled. Annabeth sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as if this was all exhausting. "You just killed the owner of this place, who had a snake tail for legs."
Seeing no other way to get us to follow her, Annabeth pushed us to a corner of the room and began to explain everything. "You know in Greek Mythology, the Gods and Monsters?"
"Yes." We both said.
"Well, they're real." Annabeth said, looking serious and I couldn't help but wonder if this was a prank on TV or something. "The Gods are real, they live in Olympus and sometimes they come down to Earth and hook up with Mortals. This often leads to people like us, Half-Bloods, children of the Gods."
"Us?" Shannon cocked her head.
"Yes, I was sent here to keep an eye on two Half-Bloods, I didn't know who you were at first but with you being the only students in the 'special' programme," She sniggered. "You stuck out, ADHD and dyslexia are qualities that all Half-Bloods have. And before you say anything about Gods having weird children, the ADHD are your battle reflex, you can't stay still which would often help when you face creatures like Lamia."
Shannon didn't seem to believe her before somehow I was, even when I was stuck in Lamia's grasp, all I could do was struggle out. Annabeth continued. "Your dyslexia is due to your brain being hard-wired for ancient Greek, you recognised the symbols on your bowling shoes didn't you?"
I nodded and surprisingly so did Shannon.
"And I can guess that both of you have one parent, the other not around anymore and you have no memory of them." They was no reply as she had hit the nail pretty hard on the head.
I don't often speak about my family, neither does Shannon. I was lucky, even though my Mom is a single parent, she's a rich single parent who has a nice family. We didn't live in a Mansion, both me and Mom share our dislike for showing off our money. Instead, we live in a large apartment that could fit a family of twelve if you wanted too.
Shannon on the other hand lived on the outskirts of Manhattan, living in a run-down garage which her Mother runs alongside Shannon's Grandfather. She was a hands on woman, spending most of her nights grease covered a dirty since the water was once again not working. Shannon offered to help but her Mother stops her from doing so and doesn't explain why.
I have had many talks with Shannon about her wanting too run away, luckily she hasn't had the urge or timing to do it.
Annabeth coughed, catching my attention. "You are the child of a God and a Mortal and now that you know, neither of you are safe."
"Like we were back in that room." Shannon gawked.
"That was just a random Monster, you entered her Lair." Annabeth explained, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "Monsters hate Half-Bloods, they sniff them out. Knowing what you are seems to make your scent more noticeable."
"SO we could have been risking our lives by staying here?" I asked, feeling a slight amount of regret in my stomach.
Annabeth nodded. "There is a place near Long Island that will protect you from these Monsters."
"You wanna take us there?" Shannon blurted. "Not being funny here Barbie but some of us have Mothers waiting for us at home."
Annabeth winced at this and not in the 'you wound me' sense, more like 'prepare yourself for an ass-whooping'.
"I'm gonna let that slide cause none of you know my life so don't make assumptions." She gritted her teeth, placing her hand over the scabbard hidden underneath her long sleeve shirt. "Now I suggest we leave since we may have just let other Monsters find our scent and no one here will help because they don't know who you are."
Giving no chance to reply, Annabeth glared at Shannon and swiftly turned around, leaving the bowling alley. We quickly followed.
As we were leaving, I took one glance back and found Liam standing behind Mrs Doyle screaming at Jonathan, still looking round the room. His eyes finally found me and his crooked half smile appeared. I felt he was looking confused as the doors shut behind us.

We were soon piled into a Taxi, driving down seventh avenue. Annabeth had managed to call one over and apart from the expensive fare the Driver explained that he would have to make a stop for fuel. Although she wasn't happy at first, Annabeth agreed since she could tell from the metres in front of the Driver that they didn't have enough fuel to even reach Central Park let alone the Manhattan Bridge.
It was mostly silent, just the subtle noises of car honking each other and an argument in the middle of traffic. Home sweet home. The sky was growing dark as thunder clouds drifted over the city.
"How much longer will it take?" Shannon whined.
"We're five minutes off a gas station, then it'll take half an hour in this traffic to get to Camp."
"Camp?" I asked, peering round so I could see Annabeth's tiresome profile.
"Yes, the place we're heading too is called Camp Half-Blood." She explained, looking round as if we were being followed.
Shannon hid back a giggle, probably finding it funny that the safest place from Monsters was a place with tents and counsellors and activities. I would't have believed it myself but I decided that day to keep an open mind, a really open mind.
The taxi pulled up at the gas station and I was half glad to stretch my legs. Annabeth said she was going to ring up the Camp, telling them we were on our way. This left me and Shannon standing around, watching the Driver fill up the gas tank.
"So, your Dad's a God?" Shannon joked, nudging me in the ribs.
"Maybe?" I was telling the truth, I still didn't know what to make of it all.
As we were talking, I noticed something standing against the side of a gas pump. He was standing around a red pick-up truck which was filled with three other similar looking men. Each had dark beady eyes and hands that seemed to big to use. The one filling up the tank accidentally dropped the pump, wasting a few dollars worth of fuel.
"You fool!" The one in the Driver's seat growled.
"I'm sorry Sir." The other one whimpered, bowing slightly as if he was scared.
"You'll be paying for that later!" The one standing against the pump said, moving to join the others in the truck. "Right now we need to find them Half-Bloods."
That caught my attention. "What if they got away Sir?"
"No, I still smell them." The oldest one said, sniffing the air. "They're near by."
I poked Shannon in the arm, getting her attention away from the vending machine nearby. "We have a problem."
"What?"
"I think we have a family of Monsters in front of us." I whispered, nodding in the direction of the red truck.
"Where?!" She blurted. Everyone turned to look at us, even the large handed men. "Oops Sorry."
"Sir!" The youngest of the four sniffed. "They smell really close."
"So close, I can see them." The three inside the truck got out, all letting their dark eyes land on me and Shannon. All of them seemed to growl in delight as they were only a few feet away from us. No one seemed to notice them act weirdly.
"Oh no." I muttered. Suddenly the men started to shift, their large hands turning dark and shiny whilst their necks extended and heads shifted in that of a dogs. "What the hell are they?"
The lead dog man rolled his eyes and tutted. "For once I want to meet a new Half-Blood who knows who we are."
"The last one to recognise us was four months ago." Another moaned. "We're Telekhines girl!"
"I don't care about being recognised, the more Half-Bloods we kill the more I can sleep at night!" A grumpier one added. "Just kill them!"
The youngest one bared his teeth and was about to attack when his face went blank and he made a squeal before her burst into black dust. Behind him stood a storm-faced blonde guy, he was roughly eighteen but built up like a professional athlete. In his hand he held a sword which had a similar colour to Annabeth's. He wore an orange shirt which had 'Camp Half-Blood' written on the front. He smiled at the Telekhines, a scar on his lip shined as lightning lit up the dark sky.
"Back off sea-dog!" he said, his voice vibrated like the thunder. The Telekhines growled in response.
All of Hades was let loose as the remaining three Telekhines pounced on the boy in the orange shirt. I was confused at first when no one reacted to the four dog people in front of us but now everyone was scattering, someone even began filming the fight. The guy managed to swipe the head of a Telekhine that tried to bite his feet.
Shannon was dragged away by some of the fleeing crowd, leaving me on my own. I noticed quickly that whilst the guy in the orange shirt was dealing with the oldest Telekhine he didn't notice the other one sneaking up behind him. Acting on instinct, coming from deep inside, I picked up a nearby mop and ran forwards. The guy locked eyes with mine, punching the dog creature in front of him whilst I swung for the one behind him.
"What the-" my mop caught the Telekhine in the mouth, forcing him to the ground where he whined in pain. "Ow!"
"Thanks there, ashamed I didn't see him there." Orange shirt jumped to his feet. "The name's Jason, have you seen a girl named Annabeth?"
"Watch out!" Shannon's voice caught our attention. Looking up, I barely saw Shannon breaking through the crowd, her hand outstretched and her eyes shining. A blinding light made me turn my head as a trembling roar filled my ears.
The light disappeared as quick as it appeared. Opening my eyes, the smell of burning flesh wafted up my nose. Jason must have smelt it too because together we turned to see two piles of ash on the floor and smoke rising upwards. What was surprising was that Annabeth was standing, her blade raised up as if she was going to stab someone and her entire front was black and the tips of her hair was glowing red. "What was that?"
"Lightning." Jason smirked, looking over towards Shannon who was stunned and as still as a statue. "She can control lightning."
"You think?" Annabeth spat, finally moving and shaking her head.
"Are you OK?" Jason asked.
"I'm fine."
"I'm only asking, Percy would never forgive me if I let you get eaten by Telekhines." Jason joked, placing his sword in a scabbard at his side. "But now we know why these Half-Bloods were so important"
Jason turned his attention back to Shannon who was now by my side. She placed a steady hand on my bare one and I felt like a sudden shock ran through my body. My body twitched uncontrollably and I automatically looked wide-eyed at Shannon. "What?"
"You must be kidding me?" Annabeth muttered, wiping the soot from her face.
"What?" Shannon asked again.
Jason offered his hand up up to Shannon who loosely shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Daughter of Zeus."
Thunder rolled through the sky, seeming to agree with Jason.

The Taxi Driver had fled along with the other people, leaving his Taxi behind for us to borrow. Steal technically.
Annabeth was driving as she and Jason had spent ten minutes arguing over who drove until Annabeth brought out her fully official New York Driver's License. Jason took shot-gun and me and Shannon had the back seat to ourselves. Ever since we had left the gas station Shannon had been plagued with constant static shocks, unable to move in case she received another one. In total she had already been shocked fourteen times.
"So you're my Brother?" Shannon asked, placing her chin against Jason's seat as she waited for an answer.
"Half-Brother," Jason stated. "I'm not being rude it's just I already have a full sister, same Mom, nearly similar Dad."
"Nearly similar Dad?"
"Well, you know in history when the Roman's practically had control of all Greece?" Shannon nodded, I didn't. "The Greek Gods were taken by the Romans and changed for their own needs. In Olympian life, the Gods took to their new persona's and from time-to-time they change it up a bit, shifting to the Roman side. I was Fathered by Jupiter, Zeus's Roman persona, and sent to a Camp for Roman children miles away from here."
"Is that the Camp on your shirt?" I asked, placing my head on Annabeth's seat, something she didn't like at all.
"No, this is the Greek Camp." Jason explained and somehow I guessed that I would be wearing a similar orange shirt upon arrival. "Anyway, neither Camp knew the other existed and something big happened which almost caused a civil war and the rise of the Goddess of Earth. Afterwards a truce was formed and we now live in peace, sometimes joining up once in a while to compete in tournaments or just to hang out. So although my Dad was Jupiter, I found my allegiance moving towards Zeus and when given the chance to choose between the two, I choose the Greeks."
"And our sister?"
"Her name's Thalia, she is doing fine as far as I know. She travels with a far different crowd than Camp Half-Blood." Jason smiled, his blue eyes shining in the rear-view mirror as he was probably thinking of Thalia. I could also see Shannon's uneasiness, finding out who your Dad is and that you have half-siblings was quite an emotional ordeal.
The rest of the drive went by quick and soon we were stopping outside of a large archway with the similar 'Camp Half-Blood', that was on Jason's shirt, chisled into it. Beyond was a collection of white Greek buildings, rows of strawberry fields and a circular arrangement of tables, surrounding what appeared to be the a controllable fire-pit.
"Wow." I gasped.
"Welcome to your new home." Jason smiled, Annabeth even smirked a little as she left the car, rushing into the Camp. "Don't worry, its been a month since she saw her boyfriend, he spent it with his Family."
I laughed at that and together, alongside my best-friend and her half-brother, we entered the camp-site.