The Next Generation: A Percy Jackson Kane Chronicles Crossover EDITING

The Great Escape: Sarah POV

I was never at the same school for long. Weird and slightly disastrous things always happened to me. Like the incident in which four teachers were somehow tossed into the indoor swimming pool. Or the time with the woman who had a snake-like tongue tried to kidnap me. Or the wild dogs, I don't even want to think about that!

I had a big steak knife and a hammer to defend myself with, but strangely enough that first week of my freedom, I didn't see any monsters. The second week? I was not that lucky.

I had made a little home in an alley with some blankets and cardboard boxes. It wasn't a five star hotel but it was better than my home. For an eight year old, it was kind of an adventure. There was only one downer, one flaw in my plan, one problem: I was starving. I was eight, and I wanted food so I did the only thing I could think of. I stood outside of restaurants and begged. After that didn't work, I lowered my standards and resigned myself to dumpster diving.

Moping behind a restaurant, trying to decide whether or not I was going to climb inside that garbage, I felt something off. Well more like smelled it, and it wasn't the garbage. I froze and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The hot summer day was cold now, a frozen wind blew through the alley. Shivering, I slowly rotated to face the strangest, scariest thing I had ever seen in all my short years. Blue. Frozen arctic blue ice was towering in the alleys entrance. But it wasn't ice at all. It was a man. A giant! I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I just stood there, starring transfixed at the thing. He starred back, almost mimicking me.

Then I sneezed.

The giant gave a howl of rage and launched himself at me. The last thought I had that wasn't run, run, or run was 'I'm allergic to giants!' His hand shot out at me and I ducked, slipping through his legs. Without thinking I plunged my steak knife into his calf. He roared, his breath making a big cloud of mist in the air. I couldn't pull it out again, so I just left it sticking out of his leg like a giant splinter. I left it and ran like the wind. I felt him following, the sidewalk shaking, as he stumped after me. He is going to get me! I thought hysterically. [I was having a pretty rotten day.] I flew around a corner and tripped spectacularly over a well-placed crack in the pavement. I went soaring through the air and skidded on the concrete painfully.

I was breathing hard and terrified as I tried to haul myself to my feet. My knees were skinned and scraped, and my chin was bleeding. Desperately I looked around me, and saw only an old jewelry shop that was closed. I was done for. Shakily, I faced the street corner just as the big ice man rounded it. He stumbled over the same crack as me, but I wasn't lucky enough for him to fall and shatter into a thousand pieces. I backed away slowly, hammer clutched in my shaking hands, sure that I was not getting out of this alive.

The giant pointed a long hand at me, "Contagion!" he bellowed, "Disease!"

"I'm sorry!" I whispered croakily, "I'm sorry I sneezed on you."

"ILLNESS!" he roared at the sky. I tripped and landed on my butt. He ran towards me, his arms out stretched. I braced myself for certain death, and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't feel like I was being creamed...I opened on eye. The giant had frozen mid-step. I gazed at him stupidly with my mouth half-open in confusion. Then, unbelievably, he crumbled into a mound of ice. On the other side of this ice was a boy. Dressed in a bright orange shirt, that I struggled to read, and jeans he looked normal. Well, almost normal. He was holding sword, I kid you not, a real working sword, and kicking at the ice. I stared at him, unsure whether he was friend or foe, and finally he looked up.

He was really old, like twenty or something with black hair that was messy, like he'd flown here. His eyes shocked me. They were green, sea green, like mine, and alert. It was like he radiated some silent power. He definitely wasn't normal.