Percy Jackson: Tries For A Normal Life

Oh, dear gods.

Anastasia's POV:

I was terrified. I don't think I've been this scared since I saw a Cellar Spider in our bathroom. Not to be confused with Daddy Long Legs. Anyway, the Hellhound was charging towards the three of us. I took my Crayola marker and took it off, drew a poorly drawn owl and it glowed as a dagger formed in my hands.

"λαμπερός." Meaning, shiny, was my weapon.

Alex put on his hat as Watter Bottle transformed into his hands. We didn't name our weapons nearly as cool as Dad had. But, I guess, Poseidon named it, so it was a cool name from a god.

Phoebe didn't have a weapon specially made from Poseidon yet, as she was too young. But Chiron had allowed her a spear.

As the hellhound got closer, we got into position.

It was about two feet away when I charged, the wind blowing against my straight blonde hair and the cool breeze against my sweaty legs.

Phoebe and Alex were right by my side.

The hound tried to bite Phoebe, but she somersaulted underneath him and stabbed his stomach.

He bellowed in pain and shook her off as she fell from 3 feet after hanging onto his stomach.

"Ah!" She yelled.

"𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉" I thought.

I needed to get down there, but I was on top of the Hellhound. I looked at Alex and pointed down and he nodded and I grabbed onto the hound's hair with my hands.

I started climbing my way down to the stomach when I realized that Phoebe's spear was still in the stomach.

I took it and pushed it sideways as a rift tore open inside his stomach. He bellowed in pain.

I wasn't squeamish, I had always wondered whether I should be a surgeon or lawyer, so I looked at blood and such online as I'm studying.

I tossed the spear to Phoebe when I created a big enough hole in his stomach.

I took my dagger and shoved it into the hole.

"RAHHHHHH!" The monster screamed in pain.

I heard Alex scream from the top, but i didn't see him fall, so he was fine.

I definitely slowed the monster down, and Phoebe was making her way to the top again.

Alex stabbed both the monsters eyes with his sword.

"Alex!" I yelled "Why'd you do that?!"

The monster bellowed again and fell to the ground, blood pouring out everywhere.

Phoebe, Alex and I all tumbled forward off the monster right in front of his mouth.

We all fell at least 5 feet from the ground and my vision was foggy.

Phoebe started standing up and rubbing her head when I kicked her legs back down.

"Don't move." I muttered "He's blind now, but if one moves, we all have to move at the same time."

Alex was the closest to his mouth and nose, so he had a pretty good chance at getting eaten by it.

The hound began to gain consciousness, so we had a better chance at getting up when he moved.

He started sniffing, I think he smelt us. Although we'd only been out and about for about 7 hours, we smelt disgusting. My ponytail was covered in dirt and my fingernails. My face was splattered with blood, along with my hands in legs. Phoebe and Alex weren't looking any better.

"When I say three, we all run to this will of the ally, okay?" I whispered as the monster started standing.

"Okay." Phoebe whispered.

"One,"

"Two,"

"Three!" I whispered loudly.

We ran and pressed our backs against the wall as the hound growled.

But it couldn't stand up. He was losing too much blood. It covered about 2 feet of the ground of the alleyway.

We could hear cop sirens blaring, I think someone saw something and called the police, so we had to hurry up.

The hound whined and, although it was blind, looked at us with pleading eyes. A part of me felt bad for this creature. It didn't know any better. It'd been ordered to kill its whole life.

As the sirens got closer, the monster turned into gold dust.

"Bye, buffy." Phoebe said.

"Buffy?" Alex asked.

"That's what I named it." She laughed.

We ran out of the alleyway and started heading down the alleyway again.

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There was a sign that said "June 20th, 10:15 pm."

"Tomorrow's your birthday." I said to Alex.

"Oh, yeah, I completely forgot." He chuckled "I guess I won't get the blue cake with buttercream frosting and a letter from mom and dad tomorrow." He shrugged.

Mom and Dad. . . I didn't want to admit how much I missed home each summer. And I missed them more now that I was on a life or death quest- Well, life or death for someone else.

"Let's find a place to sleep." He said.

We walked for about 20 minutes until we found a small section in a wall that we could all curl up and sleep at.

I offered to take first watch since I couldn't fall asleep without thinking about mom and dad, so Phoebe and Alex were dead asleep.

I looked up at the stars and was surprised to see the constellation my parents had described to me in their stories. Zoë Nightshade. One of Artemis's hunters. Blessed with so much honor. A hero. Gods, I was named after her. Anastasia Zoë Jackson. After hearing those stories, I felt honored to carry her name. I wondered how Zoë would think about all this. About the situation that Artemis is in. Artemis. Sometimes I had a dream about becoming one of her hunter's.

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