Our Family

Chapter 2

It had been a few months since Athena's visit. Annabeth hadn't made much progress in leaving Virginia and going to New York, as she was preoccupied with finding food, water, and shelter when she wasn't fighting off monsters. They always seemed to find her, no matter what she did. Ever since her heritage had been confirmed, the monster attacks became more frequent. Only Athena's warnings kept her alive.

Besides that, Annabeth didn't have much contact with her mother. Every so often, if she had had no luck scrounging for food, she would settle in to sleep hungry when a small meal would appear before her. She thanked her mother every time, but Athena never replied. Only when a monster was closing in on her did she hear her mother's voice in her head, warning her and advising her on what to do. But for the most part, Annabeth survived on her own.

That was until she met them. Annabeth was hiding in an alley near Richmond Ironworks when she heard the familiar clanging of claws against stone which meant that another monster had found her. Panicking, she pulled a sheet of iron over her frail body and hoped it would be enough to hide her.

She could hear them coming closer. The shuffling of monstrous feet, the hiss of weapons and claws cutting through the air. Her heart started beating faster and faster, and even though she was wearing only a worn-out pair of thin pajamas, she started sweating. She clutched the hammer closer to her chest, waiting for them to inevitably find her.

Her hiding spot was discovered and they whipped off the sheet of iron concealing her. Immediately, Annabeth launched herself at them with her hammer.

Except, instead of catching a dracanae or empousa or hellhound off guard, Annabeth found herself face-to-face with two kids only a few years older than herself. The boy was closer to her and his face was wide with surprise as he caught Annabeth by the wrist, wrenching away her hammer.

The boy looked about fourteen-years-old, with blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans that looked like they had seen better days, but were nowhere near as beat up as Annabeth's clothes. A backpack was slung across his back and a few bronze weapons hung from his belt.

The girl was a bit smaller, maybe twelve-years old. She had spiky black hair and blue eyes as well, but hers were so much brighter than the boy's, almost like a bolt of lightning. She wore a goth t-shirt and jeans that were also torn up and dirty. In one hand she brandished a spear and in the other a large shield imprinted with Medusa's face, an exact replica of the shield Athena had held.

"Woah!" the boy exclaimed.

"No more monsters, go away!" Annabeth shouted, her eyes wide with fear but not actually seeing.

"It's okay," the boy said, trying to hold Annabeth in place but she was too scared and hopped up on adrenaline to stop moving. The girl next to him was frozen in place and Annabeth fixated on her shield, wondering how and why she had a replica of her mother's shield.

"Thalia," the boy said, "put your shield away! You're scaring her!"

The girl finally began moving and touched the shield, which shrank into a bracelet. She put down her spear and moved toward Annabeth, speaking in a soft tone, "Hey, little girl. It's all right. We're not going to hurt you. I'm Thalia. This is Luke."

"Monsters," Annabeth wailed. She knew enough not to trust that they weren't monsters in disguise.

"No," the boy, Luke, said. Annabeth shivered in his grip. "But we know about monsters. We fight them too."

Luke held Annabeth closer, but she could tell it was more about comfort than restraint. Eventually, she stopped kicking and tried to calm down. Could it be true that these people were like her? If they were monsters, they would have killed her by now. Luke's embrace was soft and warm.