Daughter of Hades: Dahlia's Struggle

Monster attack 101

I'm sorry this is kind of short. This is my first time writing in a long time. Sorry if it sucks.

         A year after my friends died and only a day out from camp. "I've almost made it guys." I said to the cloudless sky. "Who are you talking to?" A little boy jumped out from an alley and scared me enough for my hand to jump down to my dagger, which was at my waist. The little kid was wearing clothes that looked like he'd gotten them from a charity and his curly hair was matted and dirty. His pale skin had such a thick layer of dirt that only an intense scrubbing could have touched, but I pretended not to see it. I knew he needed help, but I couldn't help him. He needed someone else, someone who didn't have a camp to get to. "Shoo, kid. I've got to go."

I walked past him and heard him following me; I ignored it and kept walking. His ridiculously too big shoes slapped against the concrete and the sound echoed off of the empty storefront windows. We had almost walked a block when he said something that made me freeze in my tracks.

"You're a demigod, aren't you."

the kid said it casually, but it chilled me to my core. I stopped and he crashed into my back. "Ouch! Why'd you stop?" I turned around and grabbed the kid by his shoulders.

"What are you? A monster? A god?! What.are.you?" The little boy wriggled away before answering.

"I'm a son of Nike. I need to get to camp. Can I come with you?" He grinned up at me as he finished talking.

"No," I said vehemently, "I'm not going to look out for some little kid. You won't be the first demigod to die because you followed my lead."

"I don't need a babysitter," He said petulantly, "I just need you to show me where camp is. I'll go myself." I looked around the small town streets for this kid's parents or somebody, but it was like a ghost town. He saw me looking around and grinned, "Nobody's gonna miss me here, so let's go!" I shook my head and got my thoughts in order. Something was off about this kid and it was picking at my mind.

"How do you know about camp? Who told you that you were a half blood? Where's your parents?" I rattled off the questions, hoping he would slip up and I could kick some monster butt, but he answered perfectly.

"My dad told me before he ran me off, about camp and my mom. My dad is in New York somewhere and my Mom should be on Olympus. Anymore questions?" This kid was so annoying. He still hadn't wiped that grin off of his face, like he was laughing at his own private joke.

"There's something off about you, but ok. If you die don't blame me." I left all emotion out of my voice to scare him and walked off without looking back. I heard the kid hesitate a moment before his shoes slapped against the concrete sidewalk as he ran to catch up.

I got out of town with the kid tagging along, and we camped in the hills about three hours away. The area was heavily forested and about a football field from camp, perfect for hiding from mortals and monsters, both. I kept my daggers on standby, though. One was celestial bronze and the other was ordinary steel so that I could keep both monsters and mortals off my back. I built a fire with bracken from the forest and we roasted chipmunks that I'd caught. Lia had taught me to hunt while I was traveling with her and the others, but that was a year ago. I had been alone since then. 

I ate in silence while the kid babbled about his last week or two since he had left the big apple. I got two sleeping bags out of my bag and passed one to him. He laid it out and went back to his food, talking the whole time.

"What's your name? I know you have one." The kid asked, the first question since town.

"Dahlia. Yours?" I grunted as I unrolled my own sleeping bag.

"Nick. After my mom." He sounded a bit sad but I pretended I hadn't heard it. It's what I would've wanted had I been sad over some flaky god, not that I would be.

"You met her?" I asked, my interest piqued.

"Only as a baby. She named me then left." He tried to sound uncaring, but he failed miserably.

"Well that's more than most of the other demigods can say. We reach camp tomorrow so I suggest sleeping." I ended the conversation and curled up in my sleeping bag. I was almost too big for it.

I dreamt of Lia, Willow, and Sean. We were sitting around the fire, laughing, when a hydra came and killed them. I'm not sure if it was even the same night, but they all died in my dreams. I was left all alone. Again.

I woke up at the crack of dawn and began packing up, but I froze when I heard a familiar sound. The hiss of a hydra. My adrenaline kicked in. I crawled over to Nick and shook him awake. I whispered the situation and my plan to him as he crept out of his sleeping bag. We were being as slow and quiet as possible so the thing didn't charge. I put everything in my bag and put Nick on my shoulders, holding the bag. I took off and I could hear the hydra roar as the chase began. I dropped Nick into bushes near camp as I took off the other way, screaming at the top of my lungs. "Get help! Go get help!" I knew the hydra was going to go for the one making the most noise, so I kept screaming. I took off, and once I was far enough ahead of the hydra, I made a u-turn back to the camp entrance.

I ran right along the barrier, gunning for the entrance. I heard it right behind me and turned to face it, knowing I would never make it, and prepared to fight head on. My daggers were useless against an enemy like that. I was ready to go down fighting.

Just as I had accepted my fate and gotten into battle stance, The hydra was pegged in the chest with a celestial bronze arrow, and disappeared in a cloud of gold dust. My shock didn't stop me from bolting through the camp entrance and it didn't stop me from halting just under the giant oak tree on Half-blood hill.

I rested with my hands on my knees as I took in the quiet of the camp's valley. I heard a couple of people run up to me, but I was too out of breath to look up at them. A blonde girl about my age grabbed my shoulders and stood me up, making the world spin. Just before the world went black I heard her say, "The Apollos are gonna love this one."