The Unclaimed

The Day That Everything Changed

     As I lay in my bunk I stared up at the ceiling; it had been a little over two years ago that my life has changed drastically. The day had started out like most others: I had woken up, checked on Michael, gone to the nearest convenience store to steal some food (don't judge me, I was a thirteen year old girl who took care of her little brother), but when I got back I could immediately tell that something was different. Standing between me and my little brother was a massive dog; and I don't mean a dog like a Great Dane, I mean one three times that size. I now know the proper name for it is a hellhound but at the time I didn't have time for official titles. Sensing my arrival, it turned and I saw its blood red eyes. That image still haunts me to this day. I can't remember how long I stood there frozen in fear, but I remember the sound of Michaels whimpering being  what snapped me out of my shock. 

     Plan after plan started running through my mind, I had no clue what type of creature stood in front of me but I knew that there was no way I would let it hurt my little brother. Before I could act, an arrow came flying from the direction of the forest and hit the beast. Breaking eye contact with me, it turned towards the woods; I could just make out the outline of a brunette girl holding a bow that she had notched with another arrow that she sent flying at the hellhound. Forgetting about me and my brother, the monster charged at the girl. Before she turned to flee, she made eye contact with me and mouthed run. With that, she disappeared into the woods; the monster chasing after her.

     Without missing a beat, I rushed to Michaels side. I grabbed my backpack and made sure he had his; these bags contained all of our worldly possessions, losing them would be devastating.

     "It's ok Michael the monster is gone, but you gotta get up ok. We need to leave quickly." His hesitation made me nervous; my brother was smart and I could tell that he knew we shouldn't be here in case the monster came back. Which only left me with the question as to why he wasn't getting up. I looked him up and down and found the problem; the was a shallow but long scratch from the monster on his leg. The bleeding wasn't to heavy but if I didn't stop it he would lose to much blood and we would have to go to the hospital, and they would send us back to the orphanage. From around my waist I untied my only jacket and quickly wrapped it around Michael's leg; it was my only jacket which meant that I would either have to steal another (again don't judge me, I was 13 and homeless) or I would get cold. I shook my head quickly, one problem at a time I reminded myself.

     "Jess, don't, don't waste your jacket. I'll be fine without it," Michaels voice was weak but he was still trying to look out for me. That was how it was, we always looked out for each other.

     "I'll be fine Michael," I lied. "Right now I just need to stop the bleeding to make sure you'll be ok. And then we need to run ok, I know it's going to hurt but we need to get away from here before that dog comes back." I knew it would; that girl was clearly a bigger threat to it, we were weak prey. As soon as it realized that it wasn't going to catch up to that girl, it would come back for us. If we weren't long gone by then, I didn't know how we would get away.

     As soon as I made sure that the bandage was on tightly, I stood up and gently pulled him up with me. The moment I saw him try to put pressure on his injured leg, I saw pain wash over his face but he didn't say anything. I wanted to tell him to sit down, to believe that we didn't have to start running now, but I couldn't believe myself even if I tried.

     "Come on buddy, put your arm around me ok," I coaxed. "That's it, I can support your weight ok. I just need you to move your healthy leg as fast as you can. Do you think you can do that for me?" I saw a look of determination enter his eyes and he nodded. With that, I cast one last look to outskirts of the woods and then we ran. At the time I had no clue where I was headed, we were in a relatively secluded location; I was just running. My only thought was to put as much distance as possible between the woods with the beast and us. The farther we ran the more my body started to operate like a machine, all I did was move. Whenever we came to end of the street I would listen to my gut feeling about what direction it to it; this logic led to a lot of random turns. Just when I started to feel like we could slow down, that we might be safe, I heard someone yell,
   "Wolf." Looking behind me, the sight I saw caused me to nearly freeze. A few blocks down the monster was gaining k on us quickly. The humans it ran by screamed and got out of its path, most were screaming wolf. Part of my brain began to wander how they were mistaking the giant creature as a wolf but I pushed those thoughts back and started running even faster. We seemed to have reached the end of the city, but I kept moving.

    With the monster gaining on us, I had just been about to give it (or at least run away from Michael and try to get the creature to follow me when I saw a sign that read "Leo's and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters," next right. For some reason a new found hope was sparked within me, something inside of me told me that I would find the help I so desperately needed at the shop. I kept running; by the time we got to the shop Michael was panting and no longer even trying to hide the amount of pain he was in. I'd never been a very religious person but as I pounded on the door that day, I was praying to any and every god that might exist that someone would open the door. My prayers were answered when a man with black hair, brown eye, and a smile on his face opened the door.

     The rest of that day was a blur for me. After the man who I now know to be Leo Valdez got rid of the hellhound, chaos erupted. Michael and I informed that one of our parents was a Greek god (we now know that our dads are the gods), I found at that I had been blessed by Artemis, Leo and his wife Calypso (yes the famous daughter of the Titan Atlas) had brought me and Michael to our current home Camp Half Blood, I found out that Michael was actually only my half-brother, and of course I got the everyday news from the god Dionysus that I was going to have a rough future but was still destined for greatness. Two years have passed but here I am, still trying to figure out what's so great about me. Oh and a final piece of information, it's been two years and my father still hasn't claimed me (thanks dad) so that's lovely. I'm the only unclaimed who lives in the Hermes cabin; others come and go but I've been here consistently since day one of camp.