The New Faces (A Percy Jackson Story)

Abby and Jill

My dad, little sister Jill, and I are going to his work so he can finish cleaning out some of the tractor trailers. Well, we live about seventy miles away so we have to get up early and go. We get there at nine o'clock and he gives us a choice, "You can stay down on the floor with me, or you can stay up in the office for a little while. Which will it be?" My sister and I decide to stay up in the office.

To explain my dad works in a warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia. His 'office' is a building inside the warehouse. It has two stories and his office is on the top, they fix computers on the bottom floor. His office is a room with a table in the far corner, two desks in the center, two filling cabinets (one for each desk), a coat rack in the other corner, a heater against the far wall, and windows around the entire room.

My sister and I sit at the table in the corner. I sit in the corner kinda squeezed by her chair, but I still am able to work on the English homework I have to do, but my sister is drawing. I keep having to brush my hair off the page because my hair is too short to be shoved down my shirt but then too long for me to not have to worry about it. In other words its about at my shoulder. I sit forward and take a drink of water.

I look out the window in front of me. I see that the loading docks has one truck in and two other guys are out there with my dad. Jill, my sister, is drawing a rabbit with scuba gear on. Its kinda good but I still think its stupid. She hasn't gotten any marker on her outfit yet which is unusual. She's wearing a blue/green hoddie with a koala on it, a green over sized jacket over that, a pair of dark wash jeans, and brown/pink crocks. She is also wearing a gray Vail hat, that our dad had been wearing, it keeps her brown curly hair out of her eyes. She has dark brown eyes that can become blue, and she doesn't talk much. Well, unless we are having an argument.

We keep doing this for a while, but I become bored and plug in my ipod. We listen to Pink for a little while but then Jill complains about how loud it is. I throw my hands in the air, and say "Well what do you want to do?" She smiles a wicked smile that tells me that she has one of her diabolical plan to get us in trouble, and by us I mean me.

We go down to the bottom floor of the office area, my dad and the other guys have gone out to the parking lot to move some of the trucks. When we get the door open, with Jill's lock picking skills, we open the door and Jill says "There! You can praise me now!" she lifts her chin like she is royalty but it just makes her look strange. I laugh and pull her in the room. The room has a table and a workbench. The workbench has a partly taken apart computer and at the table sits a man in a pin striped suit, black leather shoes, ice white skin, and is wearing a black fedora. His face is hidden by the newspaper he is reading. We start to back up slowly towards the door, until he lowers the paper. He has bright red eyes, and a forked tongue. My reflects take over and I grab Jill by the sleeve and run out of the room. When we get to the top of the stairs and have shut the door too the office I lock it. Jill is panting but still manages to say "What...What" she swallows hard and continues

"What was that!"

"I don't, I don't know" I reply to her. Her eyes are wide and have become blue. I can feel the shake of the building because of the man. He is coming up the stairs, I look up at the ceiling, take a deep breath and say to Jill, "Get under that table, I don't want you to make a sound. You got it!" She looks like she is going to protest but then does as I say. The room stops shaking and I feel someone try to open the door. I put all my weight on it trying to keep it shut, but I know it won't do anything. I am a small girl and the man looked to be almost 7 feet tall, The door does remain shut to my amazement and my mind says How is that possibly he could be up to three hundred pounds while you are merely a thirteen year old girl who weighs 110!

Suddenly there is a sharp rap at the door. My eyes get wide and I turn and push harder on the door. Then right at eye level I see a small set of symbols a Δ and a Ω inside a rectangle. I for some reason knew that they mean do. I push on the door harder, but I feel a sharp pain in my left hand. I back away with my hand searing. On both sides of my wrists are the symbols. The symbols glow red, I stare at it and slowly it stops glowing and turns black. I look up with my wrists held up and see that the door is open.