Our Family

Chapter 5

"How do they keep finding us?" Thalia panted as she ran around another corner in the streets of Brooklyn. Luke, Grover, and Annabeth were right behind her, all of them breathing heavily as well. For a satyr, Grover could run pretty fast when he wanted to. "Stupid Hades and his hellhounds!"

"Names have power!" Grover warned them. "Don't say his name."

"We're only just finding this out now?" Luke shouted.

Grover had made his way to the front of their group, leading them. He was drawing deep breaths and his face was red and flustered. He kept chewing on the collar of his shirt even as they ran towards Flatbush. "You already know monsters smell demigods. But names also have power, so if you say a monster's name or a gods', they can usually hear you."

"Then he knows," Thalia realized, her face pale. "We talked about Hades a few weeks ago, and that's when we started fighting more hellhounds. He knows Zeus is my father."

Grover's face looked grim, but he didn't say anything and just kept moving. They came to a crossroads. "Which way?" Annabeth asked.

Grover paused for a moment, his ears and nose twitching. He didn't look sure, but he said, "This way," and darted off to the right. The others had no choice but to follow him.

They came to an abandoned house and Grover said, "I think we've lost them. Let's rest here for a moment." They all piled inside, grateful for the moment's reprieve. There were no lights on and fog outside blocked any natural light from entering the building. If it weren't for their breathing, Annabeth wouldn't have known anyone else was in the house with her. It smelled musty, but also like smoke and something else Annabeth was horrified to recognize as rotting flesh.

"Grover?" She said quietly and there was no response. Her heart started beating faster and she clutched her knife closer, feeling more secure with the familiar handle in her grip. The metal gave off a slight glow, but she still couldn't see anyone. "Luke? Thalia?"

She heard a muffled voice in the distance, then heard Luke scream, "Annabeth!" and the sound of someone running. Annabeth called out for Luke, but there was only silence. Then the same voice from before spoke, and she heard more footsteps followed by Thalia's cry of, "Luke!"

Annabeth ran forward blindly, but no one was there. With the dim light of her dagger to guide her, she slowly started making her way through the house, which seemed to be an endless maze of corridors. Her boots felt sticky with something she hoped wasn't blood. Not once did she come across Grover, Thalia, or Luke. All she heard was the occasional creak of the house and a low growling.

Finally, she emerged into what could only be the main room of the house and sheathed her blade, and her breath caught in her throat. Finally there was some light, but she didn't want there to be. The crackling fire in the middle of the room illuminated a sea of bones littered across the floor. A pot was pushed to one side of the wall. Thalia, Luke, and Grover all hung from the ceiling like smoked hams, all of them wide awake but completely tied up and gagged. Right below them, tending to the fire, stood a giant Cyclops.

Annabeth was beyond terrified. This creature had managed to take out a satyr, a daughter of Zeus, and Luke, someone Annabeth thought to be invincible. If they had been bested, what good could she do?

But she still had to try. They were so close to Camp Half-Blood. A Cyclops would not be the thing to keep them from the place where they belonged.

Slowly, Annabeth drew her knife again but the Cyclops heard her and turned, his one eye fixed hungrily on her as he smiled. When he spoke, she couldn't explain how, but it was her father's voice. "Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever."