The Lad In The Trench Coat

The lad in the trench coat
look i dont mean to sound a bit of a sob but i do have a rough life o.k my dad left me my mum sent me to some boarding school and I have dyslexia and ADHD. now i know what your thinking, poor chap. blah blah blah. but i think i never hit a lower stage in my life. you see a week ago I ran away from boarding school and i had no one I prayed to god that someone would find me heck i prayed to all the gods. now it was chucking it down and i was wearing my dirty school clothes plus a jacket i managed to nick of a homeless guy. while drinking a mcdonalds milkshake. I made 5 pounds this morning and was thinking what i should do with it. i was close to giving up my rebellious act and getting a bus back up to school.

suddenly a dark shadow casted over me and the rain stopped pouring over my greasy gingery-brown mop. I was ready to trip the guy and make a run for it. I slowly turned my head up and i saw a kid about 15 with a baby face and black hair as well as a trench coat which was soaking. a huge sword was by his side and i could here the quiet moans of the dead trapped in the darkness of it. "yeah a lot of us run away from home," he proclaimed.

confused i decided to get up and meet my ... well guest i suppose, i mean i was here first.

"erm... do i know you?" I asked.

"not yet but my names nico di angelo head counsellor of hades' cabin."

"what!"

"i'll explian later but first we've got to move your not safe with me around." he sounded annoyed like he's sone this many times befor and all he got was the same reply.

"o.k sure anythings better than this place. where are we going"

"look i know this is wierd but just not here o.k i'll explain later we've gotta move, fast"

so the idiot that i am i followed and now i'm a ... well you'll see. we walked for 20 minutes through the storm, the silence was thrilling, we had travelled about 1 mile before nico stopped and looked around. he seemed anxious, he was waiting for someone or was it something. whatever it was i had a horrible feeling it was close. I dont know how but i sensed it. something was creeping around us. nico could sense it better than me he even had fear in is eyes. we had stopped in a field i was unsure where though, the glow of the city was behind us and a trail of bushes. in front of us was a gloomy wood. I recognised it as a little kid, but something was different as if it wasnt the same forest or as if i was seeing it from a different perspective.

"these are the woods i was on about It should be out of the way from mortals so i can call our transport," nico reported.

"right... yeah," I replied. i was so confused when did he ever mentioned this forest. well he never really mentioned anything. we travelled inside for about 10 minutes before everything went pear shaped. nico draw his sword and shouted at me to hide. I felt some leadership in him and i did what i was told. Suddenly, a spike flew through the air and got nico in the back. he was hurt he was dying i had to do something but...

"hey kid are you alright, wake up we've got to go," nico started shouting iin my ear.

"whaaat, where am i." i was on the floor we had hardly moved 5 steps from the alley.

"you've been down for about 5 minutes are you o.k?"

"sure, i'm fine, what about you did you get whatever that thing was."

"what thing, kid?"

"look, stop calling me kid my names jack, anyway we were in these woods and something was following us you drawn your sword and told me to hide then a big spike flew out of the trees and hit you in the back, now im here what happened did you kill the monster?"

"jack, none of that has happened so i'm not sure what your dream meant but we havent got enough time, we have to get to those woods and get to camp from there."

"but nico your going to die I know its mad but i had some kind of premonition."

" I believe you, but cant you sense the monsters who ever you are your powerful, it will be daylight soon and im most powerful in the dark so can we hurry."

"just be careful in those woods mate."

we trecked for an hour this time until we came to the field. i told nico that these was the woods and i warned him again. he seemed so calm he drew his sword anticipating an attack. he may not of seemed worrieed about my premonition but he certainly was ready for it. on the way here he told me that the monster was probably the manticore, he ashured me that he could handle it. i asked if he had ever came across one before. he said once when he was 10. apparently that was the first day he got into this stuff. nico and his sister were at millitary school when a 4 teens came after them called percy, annabeth, thalia and grover. he said that the manticore had been watching them to force them to koin and evil army and that percy and the others saved him. he mentioned that the manticore is a monster with a scorpion like tail and a lions body with a humans head, it sounded familiar probably something from school i learnt. It had deadly aim and if there was any reason to think it was close nico said i should hide behind the closest tree and stay down.

"your different," nico blurted out

"what do you mean," i replied

"why arent you asking me a million questions like 'who am I' and 'since when did monsters exist', your not like i was well i havent really told you the big thing yet so, I expect your waiting for the answers?"

"answers would be nice"

"i'm not supposed to tell you until you get to camp, but maters have changed, you need to know the truth just incase the manticore shows up...wow i've never told anyone who they really are this is excititng."

"well, i already know who i am i want to know who you really are and how you brought the dead alive and fought those monsters a couple of years ago."