Bye Bye Brookside

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  • Dedicated to My Best Friends In The World: You
                                    

"Oh gods," I smiled. Cap and gown. Big girl. Smile. Graduate. 

"Can you believe it?" Sophia smiled. She did a little spin for me. "It's going to be perfect. I can just feel it." 

"ALL STUDENTS, PLEASE REPORT TO THE CAFETERIA. FAMILY AND FRIENDS MAY PROCEED TO THE FOOTBALL FIELD FOR THE CEREMONY."


It was a bright, beautiful Saturday. June. Sun. Sophia's high school graduation.

"Annabeth, you ready to go?" Percy said, grabbing my hand. We walked out into the sun, blinding us with its brilliant rays, and there was our daughter, standing at the podium, cap and gown draping over her, a smile on her face.

A few people said a few words, but then it all lead up to this; the speech Sophia had been prepping for for weeks. 

"Brookside has been a journey," She began. "It's had its fair share of highs and lows in my life, but it will always be a high point. The friends I've made here will last me a lifetime. The things I've learned here will get me farther than I could've imagined. The experiences I've-"

Then the buzzing started. The low hum that seemed to drown out everything else. A tick tock tick tock that seemed to last a lifetime. Someone screamed. 

"The experiences I've had here will be in my memory forever. Therefore, I-" BOOM. 

Flashes out light blinded everyone. Percy uncapped his pen, and I grabbed my emergency dagger. Then the Drakon emerged from RIGHT UNDER SOPHIA. 

When I say right under her, I mean she was literally on top of its head. Her face flashed with fear, which quickly turned to determination. I could hear her thoughts in my mind. I'm graduating today, no matter what.

Logan was already attacking. HIs sword stabbed the Drakon, buthe was losing energy fast. He'd just recovered from a broken arm, so I could tell he was struggling. 

I drew up a plan in my mind, the same plan I'd used in the Battle of Manhattan. Find the weak spots. Kill. Destroy. End. 

Percy didn't care about plans. He just went for it. Sophia was stomping as hard as she could- she'd dropped her weapon, and there was no getting it now. Rion and Luke were trying to scale the Drakon, which was a horrible idea. They'd never fought anything like this- we had. Taylor and Lena were trying to stab the underbelly of the beast. No luck.

Kathryn Sorenson, Sophia's best friend, and her entire family were trying to join the effort, and not having much luck. Acid was dripping from its mouth. Within moments, it would hit someone. Right now, it looked like Lauren would take the hit. 

I shielded myself from the Drakon's eyes. They'd paralyze you in an instant. The mortals were all gone, so only the demigods were left. I didn't recognize a couple of them, like the teenage boy fighting next to Lauren, or the other girls trying to jab at the Drakon's side.

I was still searching for the right time to attack when Rion screamed. "Lauren!" I didn't see it at first. This was my chance to attack. I saw the break, the weak spot. There, in the left hand corner of my vision. So I ran. Stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, time after time. I looked over for a brief moment, and saw Rion and the boy huddled over Lauren. She was moving. Kathryn was crying, and everyone else was still fighting for their life. I tried to call out to him, to help my son in some way, but I didn't get that far. The Drakon had me. I flailed my arms and legs in a desperate attempt to free myself, but it was too late. It was my last shot. I got closer and closer to the Drakon mouth, where a single drop of acid venom would kill me. 

So this is it, I thought. I'm done. We had a good run, you and I... I didn't know what to do. I'd given up. But then, when the world was supposed to go black and I shouldn't have felt a thing, I felt wind all around me, the same feeling I'd had when I was in Tartarus, falling, falling, falling-

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