Not Quite Mortal • HoO

VIII Savannah Bell

As an introvert, I generally stayed by myself quite a bit. But when Mira insisted that all of us girls, her, Annabeth, and I, spend an afternoon together, Lara wouldn't let me refuse.

Lara's brown eyes lit up when I told her about it, even though it wasn't a big deal.

"You already have friends?" She had asked. "Maybe there's hope for you yet!" I'm pretty sure if Lara could get paid for it, she'd spend her whole time setting me up with girls she thought I'd be friends with, and guys she thought I should date. She's always been that way - like my social conscience: omnipresent, and always whispering irritating suggestions in my ear.

Thank goodness it's not possible to earn a salary that way.

Anyway, that's how I ended up here, at Mira's family's penthouse, sitting on a luxury lounge chair, and sipping a cup of lemonade. Let me just say that describing what I felt as feeling 'out of place' can't encompass my feelings at that moment. I'd dressed up a little bit more than I usually would (Lara's doing, of course. She wouldn't let me out of the house in what I wanted to wear.) but I still felt extremely inadequate.

Annabeth and Mira herself fit in perfectly, their elegance matching that of the scenery around her. We'd had a surprise visit from Leah, who had come to pick up a sweatshirt she had forgotten at the penthouse, and then decided to stay once she saw us all there. Leah was more casual than I was. She had her feet kicked up, pink socks on the armrest of her loveseat, slurping her lemonade loudly, and not caring. Mira seemed to be looking at her with beaming admiration - but that couldn't be right.

"Isn't there anything else you can tell us about camp?" Mira asked for the fiftieth time that evening. "Perhaps its name?"
Annabeth smiled mischievously. "No, sorry. It's a secret." even though she sounded sincere, something in her face didn't match. I got the feeling that this was a secret that Annabeth wasn't sorry she had to keep.

"Let's go eat then," Mira started to usher us out of the living room, when we heard the sound of something hitting the window.

We all froze. Annabeth said, "Probably just a bird hitting the glass. You all go on and start eating. I'll catch up, I just have to go to the bathroom."

Annabeth waited in the same spot while we walked towards the kitchen, which was odd. Why wouldn't she just go? I went back and watched from around the corner, after she thought I was gone and saw her pull out a bronze dagger. I gasped, and covered my mouth. Luckily, she was too focused on whatever was outside the window to hear me, so I left and went into the kitchen.

Why would Annabeth be carrying a knife? Specifically, that kind of knife. The kind I had associated with my worst nightmares - or at least I had thought they had only been nightmares. But if they had been real, that would explain why they were still so vivid.

Five-year-old Savanna and seven-year-old Larissa sat on a park bench together, holding hands and swinging their legs that didn't quite touch the ground. Their mother stood behind the bench, waving to their father, who walked towards them from the pond where he had been fishing.

"Momma, can we get some ice cream," Larissa asked, pointing at the ice cream truck that had just come around the corner. It had stopped just near them, even though they were the only ones in that area of the park.

"Of course Lara," Maya said to her. "It is your birthday, sweetie."

Their father, Ben, arrives and scoops Lara into his arms. Walking up to the truck he said, "Now what would you like, birthday girl."

It was then, when everyone was focused on the list of delectable frozen treats that Savannah saw what no one else did. The already gruesome face of the lady in the truck begins to morph, or maybe it had always been that way, but now that she had come up to the window, it became clear. The scales, the serpent-like tongue. Savannah did what anyone in that position would do, and screamed.

Larissa whipped around, scowling at her sister for making a racket, but Ben looked up. His smile was wiped off his face as he shoved Lara behind him, and whipped a bronze dagger from his belt. Beside him, Maya was doing the same.

"This hasn't happened forever - why now?" Maya asked her husband.

"I don't know. Stay back Lara, Vannah."

The two of them fought the monster together, until she screamed and disappeared as shimmering dust.

Savannah in the present shuddered at the dream she now knew to be true. After that day, there had been several other similar occasions. But not a single one since she had turned nine, which was when their parents had started to leave more often. They said that eleven was old enough for Lara to take care of them. When their parents were around, it was only one of them at a time, the only exceptions were for birthdays, and they sometimes took the twins with them, wherever they went.

So what did it mean? Where were the monsters from, and why did Annabeth also have to fight them?