Raised from the Depths: The Apple of Their Eyes [A Percy Jackson FanFiction]

Three: I try skydiving

Suddenly, there's a boy standing above me, a golden sword held out in front of him as the creature stumbled back, crashing into the back of the bus. His hair was black and messy, with a streak of grey among the dark locks, and his tan face was scrunched up in effort. "Can we move this along Annabeth? I wasn't really prepared to fight today." He called back. The creature pushed off the bus and lunged at the boy, swiping its black nails towards him. He ducked, rolling out of the way, and the creature went soaring over both of us.

"I'm not sure what you were expecting to come out of this then!" A female voice shouted. Suddenly, there was a hand on my wrist, and I was dragged a couple of feet away from the battle, before I found my footing and was able to follow the person who grabbed me. It was a girl, presumably Annabeth, with wavy blonde hair. I couldn't see her face, but I'm guessing it wasn't too pleased.

"I thought maybe we would get here before a monster tried to kill her?" The boy suggested as the vampire-like creature tried to latch itself onto him. The boy pushed it off with a grunt of effort and slashed the sword at the creature. With a shriek and poof of dust, the creature was gone. My eyes widened in disbelief, watching as the dust fluttered down like snow, sheeting the entire bus in a light powder. Some of it landed at the feet of the bus driver. I met his eyes again. He was still smiling. He pressed his index finger to his lips, as if to tell me to keep quiet, winked, and when I blinked, he was no longer there.

"Hm. I'm impressed, Jackson. Not just anyone can kill off a mormo that quickly." Annabeth stated, letting go of my wrist and turning to face the boy.

"Fighting monsters suddenly becomes much simpler after destroying the Titan of Time." The boy explained, smiling as he kicked the dust farther apart on the forest floor.

"Someone's humble." Annabeth muttered sarcastically, before turning to me. She had stormy grey eyes, and they scanned my features methodically as she spoke. "Are you okay?"

"Uh..." I wasn't quite sure how to answer that, considering the events that had just transpired. They weren't even acknowledging the fact that that bus driver had just vanished from the face of the earth, or even acknowledged the existence of the bus driver.

"Are you physically okay?" The boy redefined the question as his sword suddenly shrank into what looked like a pen, and he walked over to join us.

"Yes." I stated, ignoring the throbbing of my throat from where the... mormo?... had grabbed me.

"Good." Annabeth looked over her shoulder, then met the boy's eyes. "I suggest we get going before the police show up."

"That's a good idea." He agreed, helping her up, and then offering me his hand. "Come with us."

When I hesitated, Annabeth cut in. "That's not an optional invitation, by the way. We were sent to extract you."

The authority in Annabeth's voice drove my hand to meet the boy's. He pulled me up and kept his grip as we ran through the brush, past the crowd of silent students watching with wide, horrified eyes.

"Are we going to be arrested?" I asked nervously. I hadn't technically done anything, but I would undoubtedly be guilty by association.

"Yeah, probably if we don't leave." The boy answered.

"Those kids probably can't see past the Mist, but however they saw it happen, Percy just killed your bus driver." Annabeth added.