Percy and The Games

"Percy! Jump through the vortex!"

"Why?! We might get separated!"

"I don't care just jump, NOW!" Without thinking, I threw Riptide at the hellhound and leaped into the swirling purple mass.

It felt so weird. I felt like I was on a never-ending rollercoaster, with the most horrible twists, turns, spins and loops imaginable. I felt ill, sick, like the whole contents of my body was about to spew from my mouth. The only thing that was stopping me form being sick was Annabeth's hand clutching on to my ankle for dear life.

We suddenly landed with a painful crunch onto some dry leaves. Before we got to look at our surroundings, however, we suddenly we carried up again with a swoosh! I looked around in shock and saw that me and Annabeth were caged in a net, hanging high above the ground from a tree. I also saw that there was forest all around us.

"Well this is useful" Annabeth said, sounding bored more than anything else.

"Wait, shh. I think I hear something" I said, holding my finger up and listening intently. I thought I could hear footsteps, stepping on leaves. I listened and looked my hand slowly moving down to my pocket to get Riptide out. My hand crept into the pocket…and the pen was gone. I started to fumble about, searching franticly for Riptide.

Annabeth looked at me with a funny look "what's wrong Percy?"

"My pen! It's gone!"

"Well duh, you threw it at that hellhound Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said, annoyed.

Our conversation was cut short however, when an unfamiliar girl's voice shouted "Gale, come and look at this!" she began to laugh. I turned to look at the girl. She looked dangerous. She had dark olive skin with dark brown hair that ran down to just past her shoulders. She looked about 16 or 17. The girl also carried a bow with an arrow loaded. We stared at her. She stared at us.

Suddenly a boy came crashing through the bushes. He didn't have a weapon, but he looked quite strong and clever. He also looked like the girl, dark olive skin with dark hair. He also looked about 16 or 17.

"What's up?" he said. She pointed at us inside the net. He turned and looked at us…and snorted with laughter. Me and Annabeth just looked at each other, exasperated.

"Do you speak English?" the girl said.

"Yes we do" I said, annoyed that I was stuck inside a net without Riptide. But these people were probably mortals; they wouldn't be able to see through the mist.

I was rather annoyed and said quite angrily "my name is Percy Jackson and this is Annabeth Chase. I am the son of Poseidon and she is the daughter of Athena and I demand that you tell us where we are and who are you?" Annabeth elbowed me in the sides and I suddenly realised what I just said. You don't just claim to a mortal that you are the son of a Greek god.

The girl and the boy just stared at us. The girl said "ok, well I'm Katniss and this is Gale and at the moment you are in District 12 in Panem" the girl looked confused.

"May I ask who are Poseidon and Athena?" Gale said. Me and Annabeth stared at each other. Every mortal in America knew the Greek gods, plus where were Panem and District 12? I asked this to Gale and Katniss and they explained, clearly amazed. They explained that Panem used to be called North America and that there was the Capitol and the 13 Districts. But then there was a rebellion and District 13 was destroyed and in order to "celebrate" the peace, there was an event called The Hunger Games.

"The Hunger Games? That sounds…horrible" Annabeth said, clearly disgusted.

"Yeah The Hunger Games are part of our tradition. A girl and a boy from each district are chosen to fight to the death in a computerized arena. The last person alive wins" Katniss said, as though it was perfectly normal.

"So what about you? Where do you come from?" asked Gale. Me and Annabeth looked at each other concerned. Should we tell Katniss and Gale about everything? We both decided that we should. They could help us find the portal back home. So we explained about the Greek gods and mortals and half bloods and all about the monsters that chase us. We said where we came from and how we got here.

"Wow, that sound unreal but you're both here so…it must be true" Katniss said looking at Gale.

"Um, I think you might of forgotten that we are still dangling in this net" Annabeth said.

"Oh yeah, you landed in one of our traps" Gale said and then he talked for a long time about how most of the districts were poor and had trouble finding food. He also said that technically they were not meant to be in this forest but they could both hunt so they could sneak into the forest and get food.

While Gale was talking, he climbed the tree that we were hanging from and untied the ropes. We fell to the floor with a nasty thump.

"Shame you didn't have Riptide" Annabeth moaned, rubbing her head.

"What's Riptide?" asked Katniss.

"It's my bronze sword that kills monsters but before we jumped through the vortex stupid me threw it at the hellhound that was chasing us" I grumbled angrily.

"Never mind about your sword, you two might get picked to enter the games!" Gale said.

"What? But isn't there like a register or something?" Annabeth asked.

"No I don't think so, but it doesn't matter because your names' are only in there once. So is Prim's, she keeps getting scared that it will be her" Katniss said, looking a little sad.

"Even though, there still is a chance that at least one of you will take part in the games…and the Reaping Day where the tributes get picked is tomorrow" Gale said with a warning look.

Both me and Annabeth looked at each other in horror.