Annabeth Chase and the Sea of Monsters

Chapter 1 - I run away again

I was in Virginia when I got the letter. To tell it simple: camp was in trouble. And that was enough to make me run again.

I barely said goodbye to my dad before leaving. I hadn't had that great a time with him anyway. He was always so busy we rarely actually saw each other. So that left me with my stepmother and stepbrothers. I didn't get along with any of them, so it was almost a relief to get the warning.

Not that camp being under attacked was a relief. As soon as I heard, I left. I had to find Percy. If camp was in trouble, then we needed him.

I knew he was in New York with his mom. He probably wouldn't have gone to camp yet. Sally was so protective of him that she couldn't bear to willingly take him to danger. I had to get him myself.

With only a backpack of the bare essentials such as money, food, clothes and my knife, I caught the train closest to my house, hoping to ride it all the way to New York. It didn't quite turn out that way.

I'd been riding for only a few hours when trouble arrived. And that trouble was in the form of monsters.

I was in the aisle seat, reading a book on architecture when I felt a tingle up my spine. Looking up, I saw a trip of young women watching me from the end of the carriage, their eyes fixed solely on me. When they saw me watching, they smiled and leisurely sat, still facing me.

I felt my heart began to beat faster. They were all quite pretty women, their hair styled and makeup immaculate. Their clothes even fit them better than mine ever did, tight jeans and flowery tops. If I ignored the Mist surrounding them, then I could see their legs change into the serpent tails they had instead. Scythian Dracaenae.

I hadn't actually personally met them before, but I'd researched enough about them to know what they were. Practically part-women, part-snake, part-dragon, they were pretty fierce fighters, and dangerous, but not the smartest. I could outsmart them, but honestly, I wasn't in the mood.

"Di immortales," I cursed.

I was at the worst possible place to deal with them. The minute I moved, they would attack and dozens of mortals would be hurt. I had to try lure them away.

Casually, I hopped into the seat beside me so I was against the window and the rows of seat before me blocked their view of me. But it also blocked my view of them. Swiftly, I packed all my stuff away and pulled on my cap. As silently as possible, I slipped out of my seat and into the aisle.

The dragon women were getting agitated. They kept craning their necks to find me. One even got up as if to check where I'd gone. I grinned to myself as I began for head in the opposite direction. The train should be stopping at a station soon. I'd get off and catch the next train and they'd never notice.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite happen like that. I looked back to see the dragon women had come down the aisle and were at my seat. They looked startled to see that I wasn't there. It was only a matter of time before they started looking for me now.

I turned back to keep going when a man suddenly stepped in front of me. I slammed right into him and we both tumbled over, despite my efforts to keep us both upright. He was crying out in shock, looking around to see what had knocked him over, but I didn't dare reveal myself. There was a slight chance the dragon women hadn't noticed.

One glance behind me showed they had. All three of them were looking my way, devilish smiles on their coated faces. I checked to make sure that I was still invisible but it didn't seem to matter. They could smell me any way.

Oh, Styx, I cursed to myself as I scrambled back to my feet and quickly began heading along the aisle. I made sure that no one was getting up in front of me this time as I checked behind and saw the three dragon women following me, sauntering casually in single file.

I had to find somewhere to hide. Unfortunately, there wasn't an abundance of options. I just had to last until the next station. Then I could lose them.

I reached the end of the carriage and found myself stuck. If I tried to get to the next, I would have to open the door that parted them and the dragon women would notice for sure. I had to stay in the carriage.

I looked back to see they were only a few metres back, coming closer every second. My brain took over and I waved my hand over the door sensor so it opened before I dived to the ground and scrambled under the chair closest to me. It was a tight squeeze as train chairs aren't built to fit people under them. Luckily I was thin so I managed to wriggle fully under and dodge the passengers feet and baggage as well.

Looking out, I saw serpent legs glide straight past me and out into the next carriage. I heaved a small sigh of relief. Obviously they thought I'd escaped into the next compartment. That bought me some time while they hunted fruitlessly for me.

I could feel the train slowing down as it prepared to stop at the next station. Hurriedly, I wriggled out and ran down the aisle, back the way I'd come. There were a few people getting off, so I stopped behind them and followed as they stepped out onto the station.

I kept my cap on while the train pulled out, making sure that the dragon women hadn't followed me. As the carriages slipped past, I saw them hunting down the aisle, sniffing for me. By the time they realised I was gone, I should be too far for them to catch. But I couldn't risk catching another train.

I slipped unnoticed out of the station and found myself in Philadelphia. At least I'd made it most of the way to New York, even if I did have a few long hours of trekking ahead of me.

It was late afternoon by that time, but I started anyway. I didn't have enough money to book a room for the night. I'd spent most of it getting on the train.

I managed to get a few kilometers before it really got dark. I hadn't taken off my cap yet and I still wasn't inclined too. It was my only protection, other than my bronze knife. Stopping in a small park, I made a bed under a bush, using my back pack as a pillow. I ate most of my food and drank most of my water but I didn't care. I was too tired and I just wanted to go to sleep, so, naturally, I got dreams.

I was in Camp Half-Blood and it was under attack. Most of the cabins were on fire, the Big House had been torn down and the strawberry fields trampled. Even the trees were dying, the dryads screaming as their hosts fell.

But the worst of it was the bodies. Campers were strewn all over the ground, sprawled in unnatural positions with staring eyes and pools of blood around them. And I knew all of them. I had grown up with them all. Beckendorf, Silena, Castor and Pollux, the Stolls, Clarisse, Grover, Chiron, Luke . . .

I woke with a start, Luke's lifeless blue eyes fixed in my head. I ran my fingers through my messy hair as I calmed my breathing. It was just a dream, I told myself but I couldn't convince myself. Demigods never just had dreams. There was always something about them that made them different from mortal dreams. And why was Luke at camp? He'd betrayed us. So why was he among the dead friends?

I knew why, but I just didn't want to admit it. Despite everything he'd done, stealing the lightning bolt to create a war between the gods, betray us all, trying to kill Percy, despite all that, my heart just didn't want to let him go. The heart couldn't be rationalized with. My head recognized what he did and hated him for it, but the heart resisted, made excuses for his actions, protected him. Would I ever be free of him?