"This is me trying..." (Book 1 of the Storm Decology)

"Look, it's a poodle, why's it pink?"

We were pretty miserable that night.

              We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast food wrappers.

               We'd taken some food and blankets from aunty em's but we didn't dare light a fire to dry out damp clothes. The furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

                We decided to sleep in shifts, Percy decided to take the first one. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the ground.

   

              "Vicky" Thalia hissed urgently.

               "What?" I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?"

               "We need to leave!" Thalia said, helping me up and folding my blanket.

               "What? Why?"

               "They've found us" she shoved things into a pack quickly. Why was it so cold?

               "Who's they? The monsters?"

               "Yeah kiddo, do you have your swords? We might need to fight our way outta this"

               "Yes I do, where is Luke and annabeth?" I said, grabbing my swords.

               "We split up for now, we are gonna meet in around two hours at the nearest highway"

              I stood up, worried. "Will they be ok?"

             "They will be fine Vicky, but right now I'm worried about you, you not them, Annie has Luke okay" she tousled her hair and grabbed her spear.

              The monsters were coming at us. Thalia stepped in front of me, as though to shield me. I summoned lightning, feeling it in my fingertips. I saw Thalia do the same. "Channel it into your sword!" She yelled. Our powers combined made the sky gray and cloudy. The wind was stronger than ever.

             "How do I do that?" I asked brushing more hair out of my eyes.

             "Remember kiddo, it's your powers, you're in control tell it what to do, bend it to your will"

            I am in control of this, I gathered the lighting in my hands and watched as it traveled down my swords, electrifying them.

          The furies screeched "spawn of Zeus! He has broken the oath! You will die!"

         They grew closer, only three of them. Thalia straightened and slammed her spear in the ground. "I am Thalia grace, daughter of Zeus, and I am scared of no one!" Her voice echoed through the empty valley.

        I slashed the nearest fury with my sword, deflecting her whip with the other one. She screeched as I cut off her right wing. She started dissolving into brown dust. I turned to my right and saw Thalia sparring with one of the others, she finally stabbed it through the middle with her spear. I deflected the last furies whip and stabbed her in the throat.

         I sat up, shivering. My hands and forehead were clammy and covered in a cold sweat, I was panting. Percy was looking at me worried, his hand on my shoulder, I shrugged it off.

          "Are you ok?" Percy asked. No, no I wasn't.

          "Yeah I'm fine, don't touch me" I said, I could feel electricity gathering around me.

          "Why can't i-"

          "Just don't" I said standing up and feeling my forehead. I had a fever, cold sweat? Meant something was infected, clammyness? Signs of fever, fever was a sign of infection. I took off my jacket and looked at my wound. Half of my veins in my left arm were all black. The wound had blisters, and the flesh was charred.

          Percy stepped beside me, looking wide-eyed at the wound. "What is that? Are you ok?"

           I clenched my jaw and put my jacket back on, covering it. "It's nothing" I winced as I felt an even sharper pain in my arm than before.

          "It's not nothing!" He said, raising his voice slightly.

          "Yes it is. And you better shut up, people are sleeping, I'll take next watch"

          I woke up slowly. First the sun penetrated my eyes and then I opened them.

          "Well," Annabeth said to Percy and I it seemed. "The zombie lives."

           Percy was trembling. Why, though? "How long have I been asleep?" he said.

           "Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed Percy and I a bag of nacho flavored corn chips from aunty em's snack bar. "And Grover went exploring"

           "Look, it's a poodle, why's it pink?" I said groggy, rubbing my eyes and eating the chips. They were really nasty.

            "Percy, Vicky meet gladolia, gladolia, Percy and Vicky"

            "How are you doing?" I asked the poodle to start braiding my hair, my black hair was tousled and messy from last night's sleep, or lack thereof.

           "I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," Percy said. "Forget it"

            "Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

            The poodle growled.

             He said hello to the poodle.

            I started packing up the few things I had while Grover explained that he'd come across gladolia in the woods and they struck up conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladolia didn't want to go back to his family, but he was willing if it meant helping Grover.

             I yawned. "How did gladiola know about the signs?" Percy asked.

             "He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh"

             "Of course," Percy said sarcastically. "Silly me"

              "So we turn in gladolia," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice. "We get money, and we buy tickets to los Angele. Simple."

           Not another bus" Percy said warily.

           "No" Annabeth agreed.

           She pointed downhill, towards train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to gladolia, the west bound train leaves at noon."