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Chapter 3

My body was being crushed by a ginormous black mass that had jumped from the bushes. My rib cage probably would've caved in if it hadn't been for the Curse of Achilles. Just as soon as it jumped on me though, it rolled off and got up on huge black paws, claws glinting in the sun. Hellhound.

I grabbed my ballpoint pen from my pocket and uncapped it. When the cap is missing, my pen also doubles as Anaklusmos, or Riptide, a deadly, three-foot-long, celestial bronze sword.

I got in a fighting stance and was ready to strike, when a voice called out.

"Hey, dude, chill!" It said.

I faltered and inspected the monster more closely trying to see if the huge hound had spoke itself or if the voice had emanated from somewhere else. The dog didn't seem to want to attack me; in fact, it was whimpering. Then I noticed a little silver disk just under its chin, imprinted with a smiley face and crossbones. I straightened up and lowered my sword.

"Mrs. O'Leary?" I asked.

Mrs. O'Leary romped around playfully and wagged her tail, knocking over a few trees.

"Jeez, calm down!" The voice said again. It was coming from atop the ginormous mutt.

I strained to see who would be riding her. I vaguely made out the shape of a teenage boy. He was so hard to see because his clothes and hair blended in very well with the pitch black fur of Mrs. O'Leary.

"Hey Death Breath," I called up to the boy.

He looked at me quizzically. "Percy? What are you doing here?"

"Um, this is my school," I told him.

Nico groaned and glared at Mrs. O'Leary. Nico's glares were definitely getting pretty scary because of the whole goth ensemble, but they still didn't phase me; whenever I tried to take him seriously, all I could think of was the hyper little kid we picked up in Maine.

"I said pizza!" He yelled at Mrs. O'Leary. "I was hoping you'd get it right the first time or at least the second one!"

I glanced at the trail behind me, wondering if anyone would overhear, but the red mulch was untouched, I couldn't hear the eardrum-shattering voice of Coach Dodds, and no one was anywhere in sight.

I turned back to Nico. "What's going on, man?"

"Well, I wanted to get pizza, but Mrs. O'Leary seems hard of hearing," he said. "I say pizza; she brings me to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I say pizza again; she takes me to Percy! Your name doesn't even sound like pizza!"

I chuckled. "Why don't you just shadow travel?"

"I'd love to shadow travel, but somebody grounded me from it for a whole entire month!" He said, looking pointedly at the ground.

"What about hailing a cab?" I asked quickly, hoping to start jogging again before the rest of the class caught up.

"Are you kidding me?" He seemed bewildered at the thought. "Do you know how bad traffic would be right now? As bad as the traffic in the Underworld! That's how bad!"

I groaned, knowing he was right.

I dashed over to Mrs. O'Leary, the usual crunch of mulch was exchanged for soft grass under my sneakers.

"Um, take Nico to Lucali pizza place, girl," I whispered in her ear. Then I looked up at Nico. "Lucali has the best pizza ever."

Nico nodded. "Thanks, man."

I laughed. "No problem, dude."

The giant animal cocked her head to the side and leaped through the shadows displayed on the side of the school.

I shook my head. I can't go a day without something weird happening, can I?

Muk PoV (Ok so I wouldn't normally change PoV's like this, but I thought it'd be cool to hear Muk's thoughts [you'll see why])

"Go ahead, man. I'll be right there," Percy said to me. "I just need to, uh, check something out?"

I didn't trust his words at all. Percy was a great guy and all, but all of the uncertainty laced through his words told me he was lying. I had gotten pretty close to Percy over the past couple years with him being on the swim team and everything. He was a guy that I felt I could trust to the moon and back, but that last sentence threw me off a little. Why in the world would he need to hide anything though?

I did as he said and jogged ahead, but as I came across a few shrubs on the school side of the red mulch jogging trail, I ducked behind there to see what Percy was up to.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I was just a little curious. That's all. I mean, sure Percy acts a little strange now and then, what with being all secretive about his summer camp and basically his life in general.

I made a little peephole trough the bushes with my hand and tried to get a good view of everything going on.

Suddenly, out of what seemed like the bushes, a gargantuan animal leaped right on top of Percy. I jumped backwards in surprise, banging my head against the hard, concrete wall of the school. I rubbed the now-forming sore spot then turned my attention back on the giant dog that was lounging on my friend.

When I looked back through my makeshift peephole, the huge canine was off of Percy and lowering its head to the ground.

I could now get a good look at it. It was all black except for a thin line around its neck, it had teeth as sharp as razors, and red eyes that glowed with what was once anger and hate, but was now concern.

Then something even more surprising than the enormous dog coming from nowhere happened right after Percy pulled a small object from his pocket. I squinted my blue eyes, trying to decipher what it was. I finally made out the shape of the pen I always see him fiddling with in class.

He then whipped off the cap and, what was once a normal ballpoint pen, was now a bronze sword about the length of my arm. It just appeared right out of thin air! Was he like a magician now or something?

That's when I noticed the figure dressed in all black that was riding the massive dog. He was paler than my friend Kat, and that was saying something. This guy looked like the personification of death (without the giant scythe and hooded robe).

Percy exchanged a few words with the goth guy then leaned up and whispered something into the animal's large ear. The boy in black nodded and the dog took off... straight towards me.

I tried to scramble out of the way (surely a big dog to the face wouldn't feel good), but my gym shorts had gotten snagged on the shrubs. I stared in horror as the dog leapt right at me. I braced myself for impact... but it never came.

The canine had vanished. Gone straight through the wall.

I looked back over at Percy and had just enough time to see his sword shrink back into a pen before I ripped my shorts free of the bush (putting a gaping hole in the hem and up the side of my leg) and sprinted like Percy was after me with his sword.

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