Daughter of Zeus

Chapter 2

"Hello," says the girl with blonde hair, as she crouches down to reach my height, "My name is Annabeth, what is yours?"

I back up until I run into the trash can, unexpectedly. It knocked the wind out of me, so I slide down and sit on the cold, hard concrete. I didn't realize it, but tears had started to roll down my cheeks. 

The girl that called herself Annabeth came closer and looked me straight in the eyes, "We're not going to hurt you, sweetheart. I promise."

I observed the people that were still standing at full height. They all looked so big and scary. They were all at least a good foot taller than me. I was pretty small for my age because I was malnourished and abused. 

"Look at me, sweetheart," Annabeth said

I look up at her

"What's your name? We can help you." She scouts closer and I flinch hard. I think they all noticed because they looked concerned and or confused. Very softly and gently, she whispers, "What's your name?"

I look up at her with wide eyes, "Avery."

Annabeth's POV

Nico, Will, Thalia, Percy, and I were hanging out near a park while scouting for Chiron. He believes there is a demigod near this area. We watched these two little girls talk. It looked like they were arguing. One was abnormally short, she had bright red hair and seemed very strong-willed. The other was taller and had dark brown, almost black hair. As the little girl with red hair got angrier and angrier, the sky seemed to brew a storm. Maybe this is her? 

"Do you guys see her?" Asked Nico

"Yeah," I replied, "This might be her."

"We need to be sure, though." Thalia said

"Should we follow her?" Asked Percy

"Yes," I said

"But that might scare her," added Will

"What else are we supposed to do, wait for her to come to us? Cause that's never going to happen." Said Thalia

"Okay, Fine." Said Will

We started to walk towards her, but then her friend said something to her. She suddenly looked panicked and starting sprinting as fast as she could. All of us looked at each other and then starting sprinting after her. We ran for a solid 12 or so minutes and then she ran into a house. We stood by the stairs then heard something along the lines of 

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" 

We didn't hear her response, but then we heard him reply back saying, "YOU KNOW YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT." followed by some glass breaking on the ground. 

Finally, we heard, "GO GET DINNER, FREAK." And a loud slapping sound. We all exchanged worried glances. We saw the door knob move so we all quickly. The little girl walks out holding a trash bag. She has a purple swollen hand mark on her cheek and an obviously broken nose. Her right foot was heavily bleeding. Her bright red hair sparkled in the fading sunlight. We follow her to the trash bins. She opens one and throws the trash in, then wipes off her hands. She turns around to see us and gasps. I tried to give my best smile and looks as friendly as possible. But this was hard as she was so much shorter than us, she was probably intimidated. 

I crouch down to her height and say, "Hello, i'm Annabeth, What's your name?" In the sweetest voice I could.

She scoots back until her back hits the can, unexpectedly. She starts to slide down to sit on the ground. The poor thing was terrified. I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "We're not going to hurt you, sweetheart. I promise."

She looks around and sees Nico, Thalia, Percy, and Will. She looks down at all of them holding their weapons, and looks scared.

"Look at me, sweetheart." I said gently. She looks at me with stunningly, wide bright blue eyes. They were oddly familiar, but I can't put on a finger on from what. "What's your name?" I asked, "We can help you." 

I scoot closer to her and she flinches hard. I look at her, concerned, "What's your name?" I whisper.

Her eyes widen as she looks at me and everyone around, "Avery." She said.

I internally screamed, I was so happy I got her to talk. Even if I was just one word. "Avery," I repeated, "That's a beautiful name."

"Thanks, Miss" she barely whispered.

"You can call me Annabeth," I was shocked, "we're all friends here."

"Yes, Miss," She said then caught herself, "I mean Annabeth, please don't hurt me."

My heart broke for her, and it was obvious that everyone else's did, too, even Nico's. "I would never hurt you. I promise."

She looks at me with pleading eyes and nods gently. "Now," I said, "This," I pointed towards Percy, "is Percy, That is Thalia, Nico, and Will. Nico, Will, Thalia, Percy, this is Avery."

"Hey Avery," they all said at once.

"Annabeth," Percy called

"Yes?" I asked

"We need to get moving, it's getting late."

I nod, I crouch back down towards Avery and said, "Do you want to come with us? We can help you, we're all like you, Avery. We're all different and special."

"I can't" she said, pained

"Why not?"

"Cccarrll." She stuttered 

"It's okay, we'll help you. We need to go to your house and get all your belongings. Can you bring us back there?"

She nodded. We walked for about five minutes then arrived at a familiar looking house we'd seen earlier. 

"This is it?" Thalia asked

She nodded her head. Thalia reached out her hand and Avery grabbed it. I was amazed. I've never seen this side of Thalia since we came to camp years and years ago. We walked up the stairs and opened the door, that's when all hell broke loose.