Running From the Olympians

Jay's P.OV.

I wandered through the school hallways looking for my best friend, Nyla. We met by the entrance to science class every morning, and Nyla was always there first. When I stood by the entrance to science class without her, I began to worry. She was never late, so I decided to text her: 'Where r u?'

Five minutes had gone by without a response, and first period would start in ten minutes. This wasn't like Nyla at all. I texted my other friend, Joseph, who we call Joe for short: 'Have u seen Nyla?'

I got a response right away. He wrote, 'No. Why? She isn't with u?'

'No, and I'm worried," I replied.

I slipped my phone in my pocket and looked up. The corridor was empty except for me. Strange. This corridor is always filled. Especially in the morning. I looked down both ends of the corridor and saw no one.

"Hello?" I asked to no one in particular.

I looked into a classroom where I had seen my science teacher before. She was gone. I'm positive I hadn't seen her leave, and even if she did, she never walked by me without saying a simple greeting. Actually, she never walked by any student without a 'hello.'

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and turned around. I saw an old lady with a hood covering her face. She seemed to be looking at the floor, but I knew she wasn't. She wore a long black cloak that was torn in several places, and there were stains, which looked uncomfortably like blood. Her hands were wrinkled and judging from her hands, she looked ancient. Something about her seemed familiar, though.

"No one is here to help you this time, child," the old woman said and lifted her hood. "No one at all."

She had thin gray hair and an extremely wrinkly face. She looked as if she hadn't had a decent sleep in centuries, and judging by her looks, she could be a few centuries old. Then I saw her teeth. No, not teeth. Fangs. They were a rotten yellow, and her breathe was worse than the garbage bins outside of school, and those were never emptied. It looked like the Mount Everest of trash, basically.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to sound brave.

"Don't you remember?"

I shook my head, but never looked at the ground. I couldn't show her fear.

"Oh, that's a pity. Your death won't be so fun as I had hoped it would be," she said and lunged at me. Fortunately, I jumped out of the way just in time. I ran down the hall with my backpack hung over my shoulder. I tried to remember who the old lady was, but no memories popped into my head.

"You cannot run from me, Jay Nefili. You have no one to run to," she said in a raspy voice.

I didn't dare look back, but I responded. "That may be true, but I can fight if I need to."

I turned and saw the door leading outside, but just a few feet from the door, another old lady appeared. I skidded to a stop and looked back, but the initial old woman was there. I pulled up my sleeve and tapped my bracelet which turned into a celestial bronze sword. The two old ladies hissed and backed away. I charged the one nearest the exit, but she disappeared. I didn't care. So long as I was out of that building.

I ran as far as I could away from my school, and rested in a dark alley. Usually, a normal kid wouldn't be hanging around a dark alley, but I wasn't normal. I kicked off my regular sneakers and searched through my bag for my winged sneakers. Yes, winged sneakers. Though, the wings weren't visible until I wanted to fly. They were gift from Hermes for saving one of his daughters from a rouge centaur last summer. I put them on just in case I needed to make a quick departure. Though, being me, I wouldn't need flying sneakers, but I wasn't going to rely on my powers just yet.