Chapter 2: Leaving Camp

Chapter 1

North America 2011

After being at camp for a few months Alex knew two things - 1) if she had godly parents, they had not claimed her, and 2) she felt like this camp was both home, and the most dangerous place she had ever been. In fact she felt this dichotomy of safety and fear the entire time she had been at camp so far. Then that strange blond boy fell from the sky. Literally.

Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena - de facto leader of Camp-Half Blood while her boyfriend Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, was missing - had gotten a vision from Hera, queen of the gods, about a hint to finding him. She took off with the camps flying chariot (yes, it actually had one, and Pegasus's to load into the harness too!) and another camper to track this clue down. An hour later, with a boom that shook the Big House (the place she was staying until she got claimed and center of the camp) Annabeth returned. Followed promptly by crashing the chariot, now on fire, into the lake. With her were three new campers. Two of whom gave her that dangerous feeling, and one who she felt immediately safer around.

Like everyone else in camp she had certain talents that came from her unusual lineage. The two that everyone in camp knew about was she was a natural swords woman, and when she wanted to hide nobody could find her. She put the latter to use, slipping into the shadows and tracking the blond boy who was being escorted by Drew to the Big House.

Drew No Last Name Needed, was a word that would have had her mouth washed out with acid if she said it out loud. The flaming pile of excrement once tried to tell Alex that she was the spawn of an overly amorous hell hound and its own feces. For the rest of the week Drew hid in her cabin while the black eye healed enough for her to leave the camp to go to the dentist to fix the broken and missing teeth. After that, Drew didn’t bother trying to taunt Alex anymore. Chiron came around the side of the building and turned pale for a moment...then said something to the new kid. As soon as they went inside Drew was surrounded by her cronies and they chattered and chirped at her as they walked back to the Aphrodite cabin.

“That Jason, so cute!”

“And that blond hair!”

“Whats with the tattoo?”

“Who are we going to hook him up with?”

“Was he with that ratty girl?”

“Enough ladies,” Drew interrupted smoothly. “He is mine, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Now, be quiet I need to think.” The other girls shut their mouths and walked behind Drew the rest of the way back to their cabin. If they stayed silent Alex would have counted it a minor miracle.

“So....his name is Jason...” Alex said to herself. Then she slipped out of the shadows and walked to the Big House like it was any normal day. As she got close she strained her ears trying to hear what they were talking about while putting a bored expression on her face, it wouldn’t do for anyone to realize she was eavesdropping. She approached the door and reached for the handle. Next thing she knew the world went white.

“Hmm...interesting. You don’t belong here child, but I don’t have the power to do anything about that. You are stuck between two worlds...an unlikely mix. I would say you don’t belong anywhere, but you won’t get the training you need here. Head west, and tell no one. The journey will be hard, but once you get to Lupa she will help it make some sense. Now leave child.”

When Alex could see more than white or black, she found herself looking at a tree. As she got up she realized it was The Tree, Thalia’s tree. It was missing the Golden Fleece, or the guard dragon. She looked at her feet and found a backpack, a note, and her sword. She was also wearing the black coat that George had given her before her coming to camp. She slipped the note into an inner pocket, and noticed it had some food rations, a lot of mortal money, and some medical supplies. Slipping on her backpack she thought about what the mysterious voice had said. Go west, find Lupa.

At that thought a feeling, the only way Alex could think to describe it, gave her a general direction in which to travel. So she headed west.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The first day nothing exciting happened, Annabeth flew overhead on a peggusus, a giant bronze dragon flew northi-ish, a couple of monsters roamed the countryside playing a game of dodge ball with ruined cars. Nothing too unusual. The second day was much the same, although there were less campers flying through the sky.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">The third day she realized she was being hunted. She was breaking camp when the wind switched directions and she caught the smell and froze. It was like burned rubber over a camp of refuse. Disgusting, and yet revealing. Alex continued moving like nothing was wrong, but looked around without moving her head. What she could see of her surroundings was not helpful, tall grasses, some trees, and a road less than a mile off. When she was done packing she slipped the backpack on over her shoulders and made to walk towards the road, the direction she had intended to go before. After a few steps she heard movement behind her and broke to her left. With a roar, the creature was following her.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">On the other side of the road was a forest, with lots of shadows. She knew that if she could reach that she would be safe. The problem was, that road, and the safety of the forest, was still a long way off and any monster could move faster than her on open plains. She heard feet slapping against the dirt behind her as the monster got closer. Then the sound stopped. Without thinking about it she braked and spun around, running under the leaping hound creature while it was in mid air. The look on its face was ‘why am I in the air so long’ kind of confusion, and would have been funny if it wasn’t trying to kill her. The creature was the size of a hell hound, but instead of black it was grey, and it looked more wolfish. Instead of fur it was covered in stone that moved and flowed like fur.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">As it slammed down and spun to try and catch up with her she turned toward the road again. The stone hound barked at her and gave chase once more, and a glance back showed Alex that its red slobber was starting a fire in the grasses. To her right new sounds were coming, hoof beats on dirt. Above the grass was a humanoid figure, and she almost breathed a sigh of relief. Then it raised a bow and tried to fire, the arrow missing her by a full foot. A good year blimp flew overhead casting a shadow that covered the road, parts of the tree’s and, most importantly, her. She slipped into the shadow, moving slower but thinking she wouldn't be found by the monsters.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">While she moved towards the forest she got a better look at the centaur. His horse half was palamino, and the tail switched back and forth angrily as he looked through the grasses for her. The bow looked like it was made from some sort of bone, but the centaur had put it away in favor of a pair of maces. He patted the dog on the head.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Find her Fido,” he said in a gravely voice that was more serious than any other centaurs (except for Chiron) would ever use. “The Earth mother demands that she dies, she can ruin her backup plans,” then he rambled off in Latin, which Alex didn’t bother trying to translate.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">She heard all she needed to. She sped up, carefully, and reached the forest. Turning around to check on the progress Fido was hot on her trail. Cursing to herself she kept to the shadows and moved further in. Something told her there was water up ahead, and she knew from combat classes that she could use that to ruin the trail the hound was trying to follow.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Fido barked and when Alex looked back she saw he was looking straight at her. Then he started running.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Good boy Fido!” The centaur yelled, following close behind his hound. “Runner of the Maceborn will give you a good treat if you catch her soon!”

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Runner of the maceborn....never heard of them. Alex decided that she didn’t want Fido to get his treat, so she turned and sprinted, melting in and out of shadows as she made her way to the river in as straight a line as possible. She heard Runner slam into the tree’s trying to follow them but Fido had no problems keeping up with her. So she cheated.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Alex drew her sword in a quick motion and slashed at some bushes, frightening the creatures hiding in the forest. None ran out, but acorns were falling from the tree she had also hit, and luckily enough Fido stepped on a set, sending one foot out from under him and he slammed into the offending tree. In dog vs tree, the dog won. The tree snapped and fell down, being caught by a few other tree’s for a little before falling again. Runner slammed into it as it was falling and was crushed. The dog got up and continued the chase, and before Alex spun around she saw the golden dust that had come from the centaur reforming into the beast.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Great, just what she needed, an un-killalble monster.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">Alex cursed the fact she was not paying attention to where she was running as she tripped over a tree root and fell into a river. As she slammed into the water she was surprised at how safe she felt. She was also surprised that she could breathe. The river flowed quickly, and it dragged her away from the strange monster and its stranger master, weaving her around rocks and under fallen logs so she didn’t hit anything. After a while she tried to get out of the river, fearing the current would make it impossible. Luck appeared to be on her side as the current seemed to change to make it easier on her.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">She climbed out onto the river bank and noticed that she was dry. It was certainly a pleasant surprise, but she pushed any questions as to why out of her mind for now and focused on getting away from the stone dog and his seemingly immortal master.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Psssst...” The sound came from somewhere around her, but Alex had no idea where it was coming from. She crouched and drew her sword again, it glowed red against the darkness.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Girl, look up!” Came the voice again. Alex looked up and saw a Dryad in the branches of a tree, her green hair falling down around her face, her tree bark dress helping the spirit blend with its tree.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Climb up before they get here, we can help you get back to camp,” the Dryad said. Alex began to climb, but when she reached the top the Dryad tried to lift her up and carry her away but Alex held tightly to the branch.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Hera told me I needed to go west,” Alex told her but the dryad interrupted.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Of course you go west. I don’t know what one of you is doing this far east, but its not safe. Jupiter has wind spirits flitting back and forth across the country. They won’t carry you far, but they will get you to Chicago at least. After that you are on your own,” As she finished the tree grew thorns, stinging Alex’s hands so she let go of the branches, and a strong wind lifted her up.

<span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; ">“Just relax deary, your power lets us carry you easier, it will be about a day to get you to Chicago. That mean old centaur and his stone hound won’t bother you...for now at least,” said a matronly voice as the wind nymph carried Alex away. A trip to Chicago...well that helps in the travel west Alex thought to herself. The wind nymph started humming something that lulled Alex to sleep.

Chapter 3