Stanley Pines, Our Hero (TEOC series #1)

The Retreat

I woke up some time later, with my head throbbing horribly. I groaned, rubbing my eyes. 

Then out of nowhere, a hand ripped my own away from my face, while another one slammed onto my forehead and held my head to the pillow.

"What the - " My eyes flew open to get a look at my attacker, only to be half blinded as a light was shined directly into my left pupil, then moved on to the right one. After a moment, the light was shut off, and I heard a soft sigh of relief. I blinked furiously to try & dispel the light spots on my retinas so I could actually see again.

I realized that Ford was standing over me, holding a mini flashlight. He removed one of his six-fingered hands from my forehead.

"Sorry Stanley. I had to make sure that you weren't Bill again," Sixer explained. "Are you feeling alright?"

I gave my head a small shake; what Ford had just done had brought back memories of a similar, unpleasant experience thirty years ago.

"I'm fine, I suppose," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"Nearly two days," answered an unfamiliar voice. I looked up and noticed the stranger sitting at the foot of my bed. The girl was in her late teens or early twenties, with curly blond hair tied back in a tight ponytail. A few curls had escaped and now hung over her face, framing her unusually stormy gray eyes. She wore a thick brown coat over an orange shirt with lettering that seemed to advertise some sort of camp.

"Oh, right," Ford said suddenly. "Stanley, this is young Annabeth Chase. She and her boyfriend Peter - "

"Percy," the girl corrected.

"Percy, sorry, were the children we saw fighting that giant the other day, remember?"

It took a moment, but then everything that had happened before I was knocked out came flying back in full detail.

"So Bill had possessed me, eh?" I asked my brother.

Poindexter looked uneasy. "As impossible as it seems, yes, that was Bill who'd taken over your body. I saw it in your eyes."

"That three-sided bastard's not as dead as we thought, then," I grumbled, picturing a second Weirdmageddon, or something even worse. 

"No, he's not," Ford agreed. "And he's not the only creature who's supposed to be dead."

"What do you - " I started to ask, but Annabeth cut me off.

"You remember that giant we were fighting? Well he should've died two years ago, during the Giant War. Gaea had managed to resurrect him and the other giants from Tartarus so they could try and kill all the demigods and mortals, wake the earth goddess from her sleep, and rule the world once again. That's why the Seven - me and six other chosen demigods - had to go on a quest to close the Doors of Death and keep Gaea from wakening, while also attempting to reunite the Greek and Romans and prevent a demigod civil war." She played with the cuff of her coat. "We succeeded, yes, but it was very difficult. Percy and I had been lost in Tartarus itself for a while, and one of the Seven is - is not here anymore." 

Annabeth took a deep, steadying breath before continuing. "Monsters have been unusually quiet ever since the war. Then, a few months ago, there was a sudden upsurge of monster activity all over the country. Now we have a returned giant, and I'm not sure the demigods or Olympus can handle another war so soon after the last one." Annabeth looked directly at me. "That dream demon of yours and this giant are most likely connected to the same source."

I stared blankly at her. Then I instinctively turned to Ford for a simplified explanation.

My brother watched me expectantly for a few seconds, then began to look puzzled. "Something wrong, Stanley?"