"Olivia!" Percy yells, and I'm surprised. "Woah!" I say as I fall off the tree branch. I think I'm gonna hit the ground when Percy runs up and catches me. "Thanks." I say. "You don't need to be sleeping on branches." Percy says. "It's your fault for yelling." I say. He puts me down. "It's morning, and I'm carrying the bag." He says. He has the bag on. I check my pocket and can't find my phone. "Hold on." I say. I jump up and flip. I kick my phone down and Percy catches it. "Impressive." He says. "Snuck into gymnastic and martial-arts classes." I say. "For free?" Percy asks. "Well I didn't pay, and they didn't know I wasn't a student. So, yeah." I say. "What school did you go to?" Percy asks. "Well the classes were things around the town, but it wasn't a school. But my school? I forget all the names. I got kicked out of 6, and then a few weeks ago my 7th school." I say. "Wow." He says.
"Why would you get kicked out?" He asks. "Fights, sometimes not doing my work, and weird things going on. People would blame me for it, because what would happen was apparently because of me. But it wasn't my fault monsters came." I say. We put our stuff away in the bag and start walking. "Why weren't people your friend?" He asks. "I was independent. An outsider." I say. "But you're cool." He says. "Not to them. I always felt alone. I had two friends. I was at one school for a while and all three of us were the best of friends. Then..." I say. "Yeah?" He asks. "They were in a wreck and died." I say. Sammy and Kelly Ren were my best friends. They were twins- brother and sister. One day, after school we said bye. We were planning to have a birthday party for them the next day- their birthday. That night I got the news about them being in a wreck and dying. That was the worst day of my life. "I'm so sorry." Percy says.
I blink back tears. "It's okay." I say. "I shouldn't have asked about anything." Percy says. "Really it's okay." I say. "No it's not." Percy says. "Yes it is." I say. "No, it was stupid. I'm stupid." Percy says. I take his hand. "You are not stupid. You're one of the smartest guys I have ever met." I say. "You're just saying that." He says. "No. Really, you are. And one of the greatest." I say. I can see him smile for a second. Then he stops walking. "Did you hear that?" He asks. "No, what?" I ask. Crack. "That." He says. We turn around slowly. A big giant thing is walking with two others that kind of look like it. "Laistrygonians." Percy whispers. They don't notice us. "Back away slowly." I say. We both back away slowly as they walk away. But then Percy hits a trash can by accident and they stop. They turn towards us. One says something that I can't hear but I can read lips: "Demigods." It smiles and they run towards us. "Run!" I shout. Then we start running.
For big dudes, they sure can run fast. "Come here, little demigods!" One yells. "We want to have you lunch!" One of the others yell. I look over my shoulder while running. The one on the left has a big purple shirt on, the middle one has a red shirt on, and the one on the right has a blue shirt on. That's what I decide to call them. "Percy, we have to fight them sometime. They're gaining on us." I say while running across the road. "I know, but there's three." He says. I get an idea. I turn my ring into a sword. "Run across the road to the left." I whisper. He nods and does as I tell him. I grab a street light and swing around it in the air and stick my sword through one of them. It bursts into dust. Red and Purple are left. They're surprised and stop so I take that time to run to Percy. "Good job." He says. "Thanks." I say.
We end up resting for a second behind a big tree in a park. "They are here." One of the Laistrygonians say. "We can fight them now." I say. "Yeah." He says. I look at him and then we both nod. We run out from behind the tree and I run for Purple. As I get closer, I realize he really is big. I swing at him with my sword but he moves and I miss. He takes out a sword and cuts my arm. I cut his leg, but it's so small. I look over and Percy's having a problem too. Then Purple cuts my other arm and pushes me back. I skid on the ground. My side hurts and my arms. Purple walks over to me. "Good-bye, demigod." Purple says. At first I think I don't have a chance. But then I use all my strength to roll over quickly and grab my sword. I stab the Laistrygonian and it bursts into yellow dust. I lay there- hurting. Percy defeats the other one and comes over to me.
He helps me up. "You okay?" He asks. I breathe heavily. "Yeah." I say. "What about your arms? They aren't okay." He says. "Yes they are." I say. He hugs me. "You were amazing." He says. "It didn't feel like it." I say. "You took down two Laistrygonians." He says. "I swung on a street light and the second time I almost died, yeah. Call me a hero." I say. "You're a hero." He says. "I was being sarcastic." I say. "But you are a hero. You're my hero, and I'm sure you're lots of other people's hero too." Percy says. "Thanks." I say. I start to walk and I fall. Luckily, Percy catches me. He sits me down. "We have to go." I say. "No, you need rest." He says. "But I just got up a few hours ago." I say. "I'll carry you for a little while." He says. "No." I say, but he picks me up anyway. He carries me around for a little while and then I start to walk again.
We stop at a factory. I lean up against the building and so does Percy. "Thanks for helping me Percy." I say. "You're welcome." He says. "They're here." Someone says. A big giant thing with one eye steps from behind the side of the building. Then one more. "Jim?" The bigger one asks. "Yeah, Tim?" The smaller one asks. "I think we have us some dinner." Tim says. "Man, not again." I say. "Dudes! Leave us alone." Percy says. "They're exhausted." Jim giggles. They start making there way towards us. They're Cyclopes. I get an old orange next to a trash can and throw it at Jim's eye. He stumbles back. I turn my ring into a sword. Tim runs after me and I run away. Percy starts to follow, but then stops and turns around to get Jim. Soon I can't see Percy anymore. I knock over a trash can and Jim trips on it. He falls but as he's going down hits me. I fall down and lose my sword. I lay there hurting again.
The cyclops Tim gets up and starts limping slowly towards me. I try to crawl over to my sword. I collapse right at it. "I can't do this." I say. You are my daughter. You can do this. A voice says in my head. "Mom? Am I dead?" I ask. I look over at Tim and he takes out his own knife. "Not yet." I say. "I'll get you, and then your friend." Tim smiles and limps over to me some more. "Percy." I say to myself. I don't know if I imagined my mom speaking to me or if it was real. But I don't care. I'm not doing this for her. I'm doing this for my friends, myself, and for Percy. Tim laughs. I have to do this for Percy, I think. I quickly grab my sword and with all my strength I jump up and stab him in the chest. He bursts into yellow dust. I drop my sword and sink to the ground. Then I pass out, just after hearing Percy shout, "Olivia!"
