Biting Back Ch2

Chapter 2 - Annabeth
After that whole encounter, me and Thalia decided to stick together from now on. We continued to travel around the US, fighting mobnsters wherever we went. Thalia distracted them and I went for the kill.

But it was probably somewhere near Pensylvannia that our group was completed:

"So your dad's Zeus?" I said to Thalia.

"Yeh, it's difficult to explain, but I met him again when . . ."

She stopped talking. Her eyes watered slightly, but she wiped them away and carried on walking. I dared not ask her anymore questions in case I offended her.

We walked by a loading dock when my senses were telling me I should look around for a while. I turned towards it, Thalia walked with me.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Looking for something important".

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Something is down here. I sense it.” I don't know what it was, I just knew that something importaant was here

A rumble echoed from the alley, like someone had banged on a sheet of metal. We crept forward towards it.

Old crates were stacked on a loading dock. Thalia and I approached with our weapons ready. A curtain of corrugated tin quivered as if something were behind it.

Thalia glanced at me. I counted silently, ready to pounce: "One, two, three!" and I ripped away the tin, and a little girl flew at him with a hammer.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed.

The girl had tangled blond hair and was wearing flannel pajamas. She couldn't have been more than seven, but she would've brained me if I quciker to react than she was.

I grabbed her wrist, and the hammer skittered across the cement.

The little girl fought and kicked. "No more monsters! Go away!”

"It's okay!" I struggled to hold her. I could see that Thalia's sheild was scaring her more than either of us ever could. "Thalia, put your shield down. You're scaring her.”

Thalia tapped Aegis, and it shrank into a silver bracelet. "Hey, it's all right," she said. "We're not going to hurt you. I'm Thalia. This is Luke.”

"Monsters!”

"No," I promised, trying not to get a big lump from getting a hit on the head with her hammer. "But we know all about monsters. We fight them too.”

Slowly, the girl stopped kicking. She studied me and Thalia with large intelligent gray eyes.

"You're like me?" she said suspiciously.

"Yeah," I said. "We're . . . well, it's hard to explain, but we're monster fighters. Where's your family?”

"My family hates me," the girl said. "They don't want me. I ran away.”

Me and Thalia locked eyes. We both realised that she was in the same situation as us. We both agreed that we all had alot in common.

"What's your name, kiddo?" Thalia asked.

"Annabeth.”

I smiled at her. "Nice name. I tell you what, Annabeth, you're pretty fierce. We could use a fighter like you.”

Annabeth's eyes widened. "You could?”

"Oh, yeah." I turned his knife and offered her the handle. "How'd you like a real monster-slaying weapon? This is Celestial bronze. Works a lot better than a hammer.” I slightly didn't want to give away my knife, but I knew that she was going to need it more than I would.

Maybe under most circumstances, offering a seven-year-old kid a knife would not be a good idea, but when you're a half-blood, regular rules kind of go out the window.

Annabeth gripped the hilt.

"Knives are only for the bravest and quickest fighters," I explained to her to make her fel better about having such a small weapon. "They don't have the reach or power of a sword, but they're easy to conceal and they can find weak spots in your enemy's armor. It takes a clever warrior to use a knife. I have a feeling you're pretty clever.”

Annabeth stared at him with adoration. "I am!”

Thalia grinned. "We'd better get going, Annabeth. We have a safe house on the James River. We'll get you some clothes and food.”

"You're . . . you're not going to take me back to my family?" she said. "Promise?”

I put my hand on her shoulder. "You're part of our family now. And I promise I won't let anything hurt you. I'm not going to fail you like our families did us. Deal?"

"Deal!" Annabeth said happily.

"Now, come on," Thalia said. "We can't stay put for long!”

We walked on for several days later, maybe even weeks. We were all beat up from a few monster encounters that I would not like to go into detail about. We also managed to get Annabeth some new clothes to waer instead of her PJ's: a pair of jeans and an oversize army jacket. It wasn't much, but it was the best we could get.

"Just a little farther!" I promised. Annabeth stumbled, and I took her hand. Thalia brought up the rear, brandishing her shield like she was driving back whatever pursued them. She was limping on her left leg.

They scrambled to a ridge and looked down the other side at a white Colonial house, May Castellan's place A.K.A. my moms house.

"All right," I said, breathing hard. "I'll just sneak in and grab some food and medicine. Wait here.”

"Luke, are you sure?" Thalia asked. "You swore you'd never come back here. If she catches you. . .”

"We don't have a choice!" I growled. "They burned our nearest safe house. And you've got to treat that leg wound.”

"This is your house?" Annabeth said with amazement.

"It was my house," I muttered, I said that I would never come back, but here I was. "Believe me, if it wasn't an emergency . . .”

"Is your mom really horrible?" Annabeth asked. "Can we see her?”

"No!" I snapped.

Annabeth shrank to get a way from my anger.

"I . . . I'm sorry," I said. "Just wait here. I promise everything will be okay. Nothing's going to hurt you. I'll be back . . .”

A brilliant golden flash illuminated the woods. we tried to cover our eyes from the bright light, but it was too powerful that we winced, and a man's voice boomed: "You should not have come home.”

"Who are you to tell me where not to go?" I shouted at the light.

The light dimmened and a man was left standing in front of us. "Maybe your own father, prehaps?"