Percy Jackson and the Golden Net

Carter and his "Friends"

He came in looking devastated, but he didn’t seem to see me. I was praying to all the gods that he wouldn’t notice me, even the ones I didn’t like and who didn’t like me. He ran off a string of names to check out, (was he using the Mist?) but I only caught one thing that he said.

“What’s your name, hon?” the desk lady said.

“Carter Kane,” he replied.

Well, I was dead. I knew it. This kid was seriously bad for me. If I ran into him today, while I was trying to save Annabeth, I knew that there was a really big chance that this wouldn’t be good for my health. And here I was thinking my day couldn’t get any worse.

He was about to sit down next to me, but I guess the gods found this amusing or something, because right then he noticed me. “Oh no, what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” I shot back.

“I asked you first!”

“Yeah, well… I’ve been through a lot more than you have!”

Carter considered this for a moment, and, in an almost defeated tone, said, “I’m trying to save my sister.”

That completely stunned me. This kid has a sister? I thought. “Oh, well… I’m…”I sighed. “I’m trying to save my girlfriend.”

“So, why are you here then?”

"I need a daughter of Aphrodite first,” I said, being careful of how much I told him. We could mess a lot of things up if we said something wrong. I wasn’t really in the mood to get shot by Zeus’s lightning bolt, so I said, “Why are you here?”

He seemed to be doing the same thing. “I need some of my... uh… friends first. I can’t save her on my own.” It looked like it was killing him that he couldn’t help his sister, and I gained more respect for the kid. He couldn’t have been older than fifteen. About how old I was when I first saw Kronos in Luke’s body…

“So, what happened?” I asked.

He hesitated for a moment. “We were at our house, and…”

"Percy?” Lacy called.

I had been so absorbed in our conversation that she and Drew had walked in without my noticing.

Before I could answer, though, another group of kids walked. There were three of them and they all were talking in hushed voices. One was this big black kid who reminded me of Beckendorf and Hazel. Beckendorf, because this guy was buff and had the same kind of look about him, and Hazel because he had a kind of look about him that seemed to say he was kind of new to the world and didn’t know exactly what to expect. The seriously ADHD part of me wondered if he knew what chicken nuggets were.

He was flanked by two girls who weren’t quite as memorable to me. They were both pretty in their own way, I guess, but one looked like she would readily hide in a book and the other looked like she was scared of a lot of things. They both looked scared now, but the Beckendorf-ish guy walked straight up to Carter and said, “What’s wrong?” Then he glanced at me and said, “And who is this?”

“Walt, Percy. Percy, Walt. And this is Cleo and Alyssa,” Carter said. I guess this big guy’s name was Walt. Then Carter looked up at him and said, “Walt. Sadie, she’s…” His voice broke.

This Walt kid looked ready to kill someone, so I assumed that Sadie was his girlfriend. Believe me, I know that look. Sadie was definitely his girlfriend. I realized I probably had the same look on my face.

“How?” he asked glancing at me.

“I don’t know, ask him,” I said.

“Percy, what is going on?” Drew asked her hand on her hip. “And how do you know Carter?”

“Long story, but look, your mother took Annabeth, and I have to get her back. I need your help.”

“Wait, time out,” Carter said, making a time-out gesture, “What kind of a mother do you have? I mean, Sadie said you were horrible, but what person just takes a girl off the street and kidnaps her?”

“My mother,” Drew said, “is Aphrodite, and she’s probably just ready for another tragic love story.” I didn’t like the way she had said tragic. I’ve had enough of that word. After explaining that to Carter, she folded her arms and looked me up and down. “Not much, but you’re her favorite, so there you go. Any more stupid questions?” At this, she looked at Carter.

“How did she kidnap your girlfriend?” Carter asked me.

“Annabeth was on her way to… you know what? Never mind, but she was caught in your mother’s,” as I said that, I shot daggers at Drew, “golden net, and I need a daughter of Aphrodite to help me get her out.”

“Wait, a golden net?” Carter asked. He looked scared.

"Yeah, why?”

"Sadie was caught in a golden net.”

Oh, crap, I thought. Now these guys are coming too? This day was going from bad, to worse, to oh-my-gods-how-is-this-even-happening?

“Well, let’s go get our girls, then,” I said.