|| Runaways ||

|| Chapter 1 ||

Annabeth ducked as Thalia slashed through a hellhound, turning it to sickly yellow dust that scattered over the forest ground. Luke sheathed his sword and looked at Annabeth seriously.

"That was how you defeat a monster" he said, crouching down next to her. "You use a knife, so you have to look for the weak spots in the enemies. But that's the proper way to take one down with a sword."

Thalia looked around warily. "There could be more. We need to get back to the safe house."

Annabeth nodded and stood up, gripping the bronze knife in her small fist. Luke and Thalia glanced at each other before starting off for the abandoned bear den, cleverly hidden by the woods.

Annabeth crawled into the hollow and grabbed some ambrosia. "Here." She thrust it at Thalia. "Your ribs."

Thalia looked in surprise at her rib cage, which was cut by the Hellhound. It wasn't extremely noticeable, and only throbbed, but it was enough to get infected if not treated properly.

"Thanks, Annie." she smiled at Annabeth's pout at the nickname, before breaking off a little and swallowing it. Luke wiped his sword clean and placed it on the ground. His brow furrowed at the thought of the next day, and the day after that. Monsters would attack, they would kill them, then they attack again, and are killed again. It was a sick and endless cycle, but that was the life of a demigod. The life that the disgraceful god Hermes did not bother to explain, that Zeus never warned them of, that Athena refused to lead them through.

"Luke, I take first watch, remember?" Annabeth poked at the son of Hermes, startling him from his train of thought.

"Right." Like nodded distractedly before collapsing down on the makeshift pile of leaves and pine needles. He didn't even notice how dark it had gotten.

Annabeth positioned herself in the shadow of the walls, hidden from sight but with a plain view of what was coming. Her dagger rested in her hand, lowered but tense.

Thalia turned to Luke. "She's a brave one" she whispered under her breath. "Didn't even blink when that Hellhound appeared."

Luke nodded. "It means she's seen it all before." He said. "She's only, what, seven? That's way too young to be off on her own."

"I know" Thalia turned to glance at the little blonde haired, gray eyed, small, seven year old girl and felt a rush of affection. "She has us now, and we have her. We're a family. A better family."

They were quiet for a few more minutes before Thalia realized Luke had fallen asleep. She chuckled lightly and stared at the ceiling, imagining Annabeth taking down an army of monsters on her own. Soon, she too drifted off into sleep.

Of course, the dreams were anything but restful.

Annabeth stood, a sword made of bone in hand, facing a legion of monsters and giants in a vast battlefield of rubble. It looked like the ruins of a temple. Annabeth was older, even older than Luke. Maybe sixteen? Seventeen? Next to her were six other teenagers, definitely demigods, each with their own weapon. The youngest was a dark skinned girl with golden eyes and a Cavalry sword in front of her, sat atop a magnificent horse. The oldest, besides Annabeth, was a tan boy with raven black hair and sea green eyes that looked like the ocean in the middle of a storm. There were others too, a blonde boy with a spear ready to strike, a Native American girl with a dagger that looked like a shorter version of Annabeth's. A really buff, Asian guy stood between the blonde one and the young girl, holding a bow notched with an arrow, ready to shoot at any threatening sign the monsters made. And between the blonde boy and Annabeth was a small, curly haired, Latino boy with no weapons, but there was a tool belt hanging around his waist. Odd.