The Demigod Diaries

Page 7

Thalia tensed. “How can you be sure?”

I didn’t have an answer, but I rose to my feet. I pulled out Hal’s dagger, mostly for the glow of the Celestial bronze. Thalia grabbed her spear and summoned Aegis. This time I knew better than to look at the face of Medusa, but its presence still made my skin crawl. I didn’t know if this shield was the aegis, or a replica made for heroes—but either way, it radiated power. I understood why Amaltheia had wanted Thalia to claim it.

We crept along the wall of the warehouse.

We turned into a dark alleyway that dead-ended at a loading dock piled with old scrap metal.

I pointed at the platform.

Thalia frowned. She whispered, “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Something’s down there. I sense it.”

Just then there was a loud CLANG. A sheet of corrugated tin quivered on the dock. Something—someone—was underneath.

We crept toward the loading bay until we stood over the pile of metal. Thalia readied her spear. I gestured for her to hold back. I reached for the piece of corrugated metal and mouthed, One, two, three!

As soon as I lifted the sheet of tin, something flew at me—a blur of flannel and blond hair. A hammer hurtled straight at my face.

Things could’ve gone very wrong. Fortunately my reflexes were good from years of fighting.

I shouted, “Whoa!” and dodged the hammer, then grabbed the little girl’s wrist. The hammer went skidding across the pavement.

The little girl struggled. She couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

“No more monsters!” she screamed, kicking me in the legs. “Go away!”

“It’s okay!” I tried my best to hold her, but it was like holding a wildcat. Thalia looked too stunned to move. She still had her spear and shield ready.

“Thalia,” I said, “put your shield away! You’re scaring her!”

Thalia unfroze. She touched the shield and it shrank back into a bracelet. She dropped her spear.

“Hey, little girl,” she said, sounding more gentle than I’d ever heard. “It’s all right. We’re not going to hurt you. I’m Thalia. This is Luke.”

“Monsters!” she wailed.

“No,” I promised. The poor thing wasn’t fighting as hard, but she was shivering like crazy, terrified of us. “But we know about monsters,” I said. “We fight them too.”

I held her, more to comfort than restrain now. Eventually she stopped kicking. She felt cold. Her ribs were bony under her flannel pajamas. I wondered how long this little girl had gone without eating. She was even younger than I had been when I ran away.

Despite her fear, she looked at me with large eyes. They were startlingly gray, beautiful and intelligent. A demigod—no doubt about it. I got the feeling she was powerful—or she would be, if she survived.

“You’re like me?” she asked, still suspicious, but she sounded a little hopeful, too.

“Yeah,” I promised. “We’re…” I hesitated, not sure if she understood what she was, or if she’d ever heard the word demigod. I didn’t want to scare her even worse. “Well, it’s hard to explain, but we’re monster fighters. Where’s your family?”

The little girl’s expression turned hard and angry. Her chin trembled. “My family hates me. They don’t want me. I ran away.”

My heart felt like it was cracking into pieces. She had such pain in her voice—familiar pain. I looked at Thalia, and we made a silent decision right there. We would take care of this kid. After what had happened with Halcyon Green…well, it seemed like fate. We’d watched one demigod die for us. Now we’d found this little girl. It was almost like a second chance.

Thalia knelt next to me. She put her hand on the little girl’s shoulder. “What’s your name, kiddo?”

“Annabeth.”

I couldn’t help smiling. I’d never heard that name before, but it was pretty, and it seemed to fit her. “Nice name,” I told her. “I tell you what, Annabeth. You’re pretty fierce. We could use a fighter like you.”

Her eyes widened. “You could?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said earnestly. Then a sudden thought struck me. I reached for Hal’s dagger and pulled it from my belt. It will protect its owner, Hal had said. He had gotten it from the little girl he had saved. Now fate had given us the chance to save another little girl.

“How’d you like a real monster-slaying weapon?” I asked her. “This is Celestial bronze. Works a lot better than a hammer.”

Annabeth took the dagger and studied it in awe. I know…she was seven years old at most. What was I thinking giving her a weapon? But she was a demigod. We have to defend ourselves. Hercules was only a baby when he strangled two snakes in his cradle. By the time I was nine, I’d fought for my life a dozen times. Annabeth could use a weapon.

“Knives are only for the bravest and quickest fighters,” I told her. My voice caught as I remembered Hal Green, and how he’d died to save us. “They don’t have the reach or power of a sword, but they’re easy to conceal and they can find weak spots in your enemy’s armor. It takes a clever warrior to use a knife. I have a feeling you’re pretty clever.”

Annabeth beamed at me, and for that instant, all my problems seemed to melt. I felt as if I’d done one thing right. I swore to myself I would never let this girl come to harm.

“I am clever!” she said.

Thalia laughed and tousled Annabeth’s hair. Just like that—we had a new companion.

“We’d better get going, Annabeth,” Thalia said. “We have a safe house on the James River. We’ll get you some clothes and food.”