Henry

I just wanted to find a way out of the dam camp and back to my library. At least there, there were less people, less anxiety, and less jerks gossiping about one another.

I thought Nico would be my friend, with the whole "understanding of stupid powers related to death" and all. But, that was down the toilet. Now, he would forever remember her as the girl he thought had a crush on him.

Why on Earth would she have a crush on him, anyway?! She'd just met him the day before. How could anyone develop a crush that fast?!

I kept on running, darting away from my problems rather than facing them. It was second nature at this point. When things started going wrong, I'd drop everything and run.

Either that, or someone would end up dying. And since I'm still alive, anyone could guess who would next be seen at the morgue.

I sprinted so far and fast that before I knew it, I was at the borderline of the camp and the forest within it. I knew from my last visit to the woods that it could be a dangerous place.

Sadly, life-threatening danger was preferable to staying in the camp at the moment.

I didn't hesitate to bolt into the woods and keep going. I dodged trees, low branches, and rocks protruding from the ground. Campers warned that in the past, monsters managed to sneak in through the weaker borders of the camp and into the forest. A few even mentioned a traitor who once let monsters in purposefully.

None of that scared me as much as my fear of talking to Nico again.

I only stopped when I caught a blur of black pop out in front of me. I can to a halt just in time ...

To trip over a ground-breaching root and fall flat on my face.

Dirt got in my mouth, and I spit it out the second I got me face out of the ground. I pushed myself up and onto my feet to see a hellhound eagerly slapping his tail to the ground. His dopey smile a slobbery tongue impossible to avoid.

I grinned at him, the one true friend I'd made at this camp so far. "Having fun, Roofus?"

He barked in response. I took the liberty of brushing the dirt off my new clothes. Too bad some the of the stains were already ingrained in the fabric.

Roofus clearly had something to show me, but I wasn't too interested. I went on walking, not running. He followed, and nudged me with his nose in the backs of my knees. I was determined to ignore it.

Until he managed to shove me over.

I fell into a bush, and a leave slipped down my throat and into my stomach or lungs. I groaned allowed, much louder than I intended.

"WHaT?!" I screamed, in an uneven voice. At first, Roofus backed away, timid. I took a breath, and drew the twigs from my hair. "Sorry," I apologized. "What are you trying to show me?"

He perked up again, and bounced around before finally heading off in the direction he wanted her to follow in. She sighed, and yanked one last branch out of her hair before going.

.....................

For about an hour, he dragged me through the forest. I was completely disoriented by the time Roofus brought me to what he'd been so excited to see.

When I cleared the brush from my view, I saw a tree with a circumference the size of one of the camp cabins. Carved into the tree was a large, tall door, with runes engraved in the borders.

Ones similar to the runes and symbols I saw on the cave door in my dream.

However, this door was made from wood, not rock. So I decided this had to be some other door with a resemblance to the one I'd seen prior.

Still, my curiosity was peaked. I needed to see what was in this hidden tree.

I reached for the doors, ready to push them open.

Roofus barked in alarm, and I spun to see what he was fussing about. From the direction we'd come, I saw a creature with a one eye in the middle of its head. It was huge, as in muscular and tall to boot. On top of that, the only thing it was wearing was a loincloth. In its hand, it held a club with spikes that could take an eye out.

If he hit himself with it, then he'd be blind for sure.

I knew what Greek creature it was almost instantly. Something concerning the Odyssey and sheep. It had to be a Cyclops.

I'd never seen one in person before. Or smelled one. Trust me when I say they are not the most pleasant in terms of odor.

"Hello, Henora," he taunted. His voice deep and grumbling. "Long time, no see."

"How do you know my name?" She gulped, and subconsciously stepped closer to Roofus. I had confidence in his fighting skills and ability to tear things to shreds. I had little to no confidence in my ability to fight him with the weapon I didn't have or my chances of outrunning him.

The cyclops squinted at me with his one eye. "I'm surprised at you, Henora. Our battle was glorious. After all, you did break my spine and hang me from a flagpole."

"I did what now?!" I thought for sure I would have remembered doing something so violent and brash. "You must have the wrong person. I've never done anything like that."

He chuckled, but I wasn't so sure what was making my laugh.

"No better lie has ever been told," he mused. "I almost believed you for a moment. You should audition in Hollywood and become an actress. Well ... if you survive this."

"Excuse me?!" I blared. That was all I got out before he charged at me. His club over his shoulder before he swung it at my head.

I ducked, stumbling as I did so. Roofus leaped into action and tackled the cyclops. Though with the monster, Roofus was a lot less friendly and cheerful. He dug his teeth into the cyclop's arm, making him howl in agony.

He ripped the hellhound off himself and toss the poor dog at the large tree. Roofus hit the wood with an inhuman CRACK and slumped to the ground.

"Roofus!" I called out, hoping to hear some form of reply. But there was nothing, not yet.

The cyclops got back on his feet and gripped the new bite that was oozing ... something. The closest thing I could compare to it was dust, or some kind of sand.

Internally, I was screaming and hoping any of the heroic demigods from the camp would come to help me out, kill the monster, or just give me a freaking weapon.

On the outside, I was standing on place, watching as the Cyclops loomed towards me with his club. He was going to squash me like a grape.

A distinct cawing came from above, and I had to peer up and see. In the middle of the sun in the sky, a blip of black grew larger and larger. At first, I imagined that the blip was making a nose dive and would impale me. Killing me before the cyclops could.

Ten feet above my head, the blip swooped to fly parallel to the ground and directly at the cyclops. Now that I wasn't staring into the sun, I could see that the black circle was the crow that haunted me.

Seriously, this crow had to be my stalker. That's how often I saw it near me or in my way.

The crow jetlined into the cyclops and started pecking out his eye. The one eye he had. The cyclops cried out in agony and swatted at the bird.

"GET OFF ME YOU WRETCHED FLYING RAT!" he commanded. Of course, as I knew from experience, the crow refused to listen to him, and continued to annoy and bother him.

Though, the crow had never pecked out my eyes before. It tried to once, but it didn't actually do it.

Perhaps it ... liked me more than other things?

Yeah, the idea of that disturbed me.

As the crow kept poking and jabbing the cyclops in the eye, I realized it wasn't just poking and jabbing the cyclops in the eye. The crow was nastier than that. It was eating his freaking eye out.

I had a sudden realization that there was a story that had an ending with birds eating Prometheus's liver. At the moment, I couldn't remember if those birds had been crows or eagles.

Either way, it was freaking disgusting.

By the tree, I saw Roofus stir, and he shakily got on his feet. He was limping, but he was alive.

Thank the gods, I thought. Before I could say how happy he was that I was okay, he was dragging himself over to me and nudging me again, telling me to leave.

He was so weak, and from the looks of it, the crow had the cyclops occupied. I figured I had enough time to get my friend out of the mess I let him jump into ... to help me.

It was awkward, and he weighed a ton. Yet, I found a way to lift him up, place him around my shoulders, and carry him through the forest.

There were two things on my mind as I left the area. How was I going to explain this Hellhound to anyone that could help me? And, how did that cyclops know my name?