My room lit up as cars passed by. Bright lights and then sweet gloom. Over and over again until I thought I would get a seizure. Then suddenly a bright light lasted longer than they usually did. I heard something pull in to the driveway of my little suburban house, which was something I was unused to. No one lived here but me, and I didn't drive a car.

I slowly got up from my position under the window and dropped to the ground. I pulled out the compact mirror that my dad had given me before he died. I held it up and saw a black impala with two dark figures inside it. Unless the Winchester brothers were here to exorcise a ghost I doubted it was a social call. They sat there in the car not moving. It was dark out so I figured it was a trick of my imagination. Eventually the lights were cut and they got out of the car at the same time. As I looked in the mirror I saw their faces. Or at least, their masks. They had jagged teeth jutting up from their mouths and wrinkly skin with small nubby horns. Little early for Halloween, ain't it? It's only June. Well then, if Christmas is in July, then isn't Halloween in June? Makes sense.

So creepy guys in masks are stopping at a house that only contains a 15-year-old girl and that's not supposed to raise an alarm? Yay bystander apathy. It always gets the job done. I closed the mirror and moved away from the window. If I could get downstairs before they started trying to break in I could jump the fence and get down the street. At this time the forest would be a bad route to go, but if I could hit the park then I could hide in the shadows or the bushes. I silently thanked my knack for only buying black clothing, and grabbed my backpack full of essentials like granola bars, tooth brushes, and comics. Hey, a girl's gotta keep up on the adventures of the 70s Teen Titans.

I fingered my pocket knife strapped securely to my calf and slipped out the upper bedroom door. I paused as I listened for movement from the outside. Nothing. I moved on to the stairs which were creaky and hollow. I descended slowly to try to arouse as little sound as possible. I pulled out my mirror from the pocket of my jacket and opened it up again. The front door had a huge decorative window installed by my aunt a year ago after she took me in and dumped me off in this... well, dump. “Take care of yourself,” she said. Great guardianship skills, lady!

In the mirror I could see the two creeps standing there. Waiting. Not moving. They weren't even making like they were looking in to see if I was there. It was weird. Usually guys in masks would be singing or catcalling by now. The only real way out of the house was through the big sliding door in the back. The back where I had to pass by the huge window to get to. I sat down on one of the stairs to think. If they weren't going to move, then I could have time to think of a plan. Maybe I could run upstairs and throw something out of a window so I could then run out the back? But then they would be able to split up and get me.

Suddenly a bright light appeared. At first I thought I had just turned on the hall light by accident, but this light was a deep green color. I looked up and saw a circle with a bunch of swirls and a star in the middle. The heck was that?! Everything that happened next happened too fast.

The door busted open and the two men came in snarling like beasts. I flew towards the kitchen and started opening cupboards. I grabbed sage, salt, cloves, thyme, and other spices I didn't know about and threw them at the masked guys. They covered their faces with their hands and screamed a shrill, thin scream. Almost like a little girl on a kids' TV show. Next I grabbed vinegar and threw it at their feet like a grenade. Before I could think of doing anything else I ran out the back door and jumped the fence. I felt like I was riding the wind with all the adrenaline pumping through my veins. What were they? Who were they? How did I know to do any of that? What had I just done? Did kitchen spices really do that? When was the next episode of Supernatural coming out?
Time to move. I ran past the park, suddenly having the realization that maybe I should just keep moving instead. I wasn't exactly a track star, but I thought I was making tracks. I ran up the side path out of the neighborhood. One that cars couldn't follow. Man, I hoped those guys were slow. Or fat. Or both. I ran and ran and ran. I kept running until I hit the creek. It was filled with sewage and looked more like a subway sewer than a creek, but we took it where we could get it.

Beyond a cut chain-link fence I saw two older teens. One was a blonde chick and the other was a tall really hot boy. If ever there was a model for Teen Abercrombie, he was it. The green light was still going, and it reflected off the murky water. The blonde chick turned around and gaped. “Percy, look!” she said. Teen Abercrombie and Fitch turned too. He had been crouching by the water. “Hey!” he called waving his arms. “Are you okay?” After a moment's hesitation I made the decision to dive through the fence. I ran down the steep slope to them. The blonde chick grabbed me before I could crash in to them.

I wiped the tears I hadn't realized I was leaking and pushed them down in to the bushes. “They'll see you, you idiots!” The both got back up. I cut my loses and got in the bushes. If they wanted to die, then that was their beef. I wasn't going to be any part of it. “Who will see us?” the blonde chick asked. I pointed towards the direction where I had come. “The guys in the masks! They broke in to my house when this light appeared!” The light! There was no way I could hide. I had to keep running. I got up to start running again. They both grabbed my arms and stopped me. “It's cool,” said Teen Abercrombie and Fitch. “We got this.” He let me go and reached in to his pocket. He pulled out a ballpoint pen and showed it to me. “See?” he said. “It's going to be okay.”

A pen. A ball point pen was going to save us. Got it. Now that I knew we were going to for sure be attacked I could come to terms with my death. What were the stages of death again? Anger. Yeah I'm pissed that this really hot guy thinks he can save us with a pen. Check. What's next? Denial. I know for a fact that Really Hot Guy isn't going to try to use a ball point pen to save us. Check. Next? Bargaining. Ye Gods, please don't let this boy die. He's so stupid. I promise I'll smack him for you, just don't let him die. Please don't let any of us die. Check. And then? Acceptance. Pretty sure I missed one, but let's just skip to acceptance. Well, looks like I'm gonna die. At least I saw this really hot guy before I died. And heck, the blonde chick ain't half bad either. She's a little tall, though. But not half bad.

After that I saw the two men running towards us. Really Hot Guy then did something that if you told me someone did it I would ask you what you were smoking. He uncapped his pen, and it turned in to a sword.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I get it now. He can save us with a pen, because it's a sword. Imagine, Dr. Percy with a pen in his lab coat and someone needs an amputation. “Oh no, don't worry about waiting for a bone saw BECAUSE I HAVE THIS AWESOME SWORD RIGHT HERE!” Yeah. That would go over so well.

Really Hot Guy Who's Name is Percy Instead of Really Hot Guy or Adonis or Something Useful Like That charged at the guys who had just come through the fence. He slashed his way through him like it was some action video game. Only where they were supposed to bleed, they didn't. They just... disappeared. Huh.

“Well, that cakes care of that!” Percy came back and the blonde chick let me go. The light began fading away and the full darkness of the night returned. “What were those things?” I aksed.

“I dunno,” said Percy. The blonde chick scowled and smacked him upside the head. “Ow, Annabeth, that hurt!” he said while rubbing his head. “Monsters,” she said calmly. “Monsters who could smell your blood.”

“My blood?” I swallowed hard. What was this. This was getting too freaky-deaky. First two masked freaks – monsters- came to my door and busted it open, then I went all Jet Li with the herbs and spices, and then this really hot guy showed up with a frickin' SWORD FOR A PEN. Sword. For a pen.
“Yeah,” Annabeth said. “They can smell the blood of Demigods.”

Wiggity whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat now? A demigod? “What's that?” I asked like an idiot. Percy laughed and said, “A demigod is someone who has one human parent and one divine parent. I'm the son of Poseidon. And, Annabeth here is the daughter of Athena.” I gaped. How was this a thing? How was something like this possible.

It wasn't, that's how.

These were weirdos who were in some kind of weird cult and they saved my life and now they thought that I owed them something. Like membership to their guild or something. Hell, no.

“That's cool guys, but really, I'm just going to go so bye.” I tried to leave, but Annabeth grabbed my arm. “You look like you haven't showered in a week.” she said. “Which means that you are on the run and have been for awhile. If you go now, more will come. And eventually, they will kill you. If you come with us, we can take you somewhere safe. Somewhere where there's more kids like us who are demigods. People who can help.” I noticed their shirts, which Percy was pointing at. “Yeah,” he said. “See? Camp Half-Blood. It's pretty cool. You get to make awesome necklaces, play capture the flag, live in an awesome cabin with all these half siblings you didn't know you had... it's great.”

“Fine,” I said, yanking my arm free. I'll go with them for now. If what they say is true, and only more of those things will come, and I am a 'demigod', then going to a place with more of them should be safe, right?

Notes