This will be updated every other day. (Amazing, isn't it?)

The companion fic is up! And, guys, even though this seems like this is related to my other stories, it isn't; I just cannot imagine a little Percy so sweet, especially if he has to do something like this, and the name Alaster... I just really like it. So I made him like the other Percy from my other stories; it fits. Go with it.

I DO NOT OWN.

Safety

Annabeth had absolutely, positively no idea where she was—like, she didn't even know what state she was in. Seriously, she had left "home" only four days ago, and already she was lost. But she was surviving on her disappearing food supplies and the hammer she borrowed to thwack monsters on the head with. It was all good. Sort of.

She shook her head and kept moving forward; no reason to stop, because if she did that, then she would think of them, and she would want to return… But no, she couldn't. They did not even tolerate her, so even if she did return, she would still end up leaving again.

Keep moving forward, she ordered herself, but she was so lost in thought, Annabeth didn't realize that she had kept moving forward into the middle of a rode.

Where a car was speeding toward her.

She turned when she finally heard the noise of the rumbling vehicle, but she was frozen to the spot; besides, it would have been too late—it was mere feet before her.

All Annabeth could manage were her last thoughts—Wow, of all things, I'll be killed by a car. Not a monster, a car.

She squeezed her eyes shut, the exhausts filling her nose, and then something slammed into her side. She went tumbling down a small ditch that was on the other side of the rode, bouncing on top of broken tree branches and small jagged rocks.

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…

She did one final roll, plopping into a stream. After trying to breathe in water, she shot straight up, coughing and hacking it all out. Slowed by the weight of the water, she slugged out of the stream and started heading upward, to the top of the little ditch she had just oh-so-gracefully been shoved down.

Of course, she was stopped, but at least it wasn't by a monster. Well, she hoped it wasn't a monster.

Oh, and by "it" she meant a young boy her age, wearing ripped jeans, a baggy black T-shirt, a chain looped though his beltline, a gray beanie, and large sunglasses—who was laughing at her.

Annabeth basically lost it right there. "What are you laughing at?" she demanded, fists clenched at her side.

He smirked. "You're welcome." He climbed on a stump of a tree and did a mock bow.

"For what?" Her voice was hard and an octave higher than usual.

"For saving your life, of course. That car would've run you over, and all that'd be left is a girl pancake." His lips quirked up again, just begging to turn into another smirk.

She calmed down slightly after he said that, because she knew he was right; it didn't mean she had to thank him though. "Well, I have to go."

He hopped down from his tree stump. "Go where?"

Annabeth glared at him. "Anywhere," she replied, her voice hard.

He spread his arms. "Well, anywhere is here. Anywhere is where I'm headin'. Anywhere is everywhere, so that's not a very plausible answer, truthfully."

She stopped her trek. "And where are you going?" she questioned, because it just hit her that there were no adults around.

A ghost of a smile passed his lips. "Away." She saw him blink through his sunglasses, and he stood up straighter than before. "Besides, even if you do leave, you won't last very long."

"Away? Yes, that is very specific. And what do you mean by, 'I won't last very long'? I have enough supplies to last me a whole week."

"No, you don't." As if to prove his point, her bag started falling apart, her limited food supplies—that wouldn't really last her a week—becoming useless as they hit the ground, mixing with the dirt. Her hammer fell, too, but she didn't mind that all too much; she just lost her food, and she had been hungry for days before she even left.

She nearly sobbed at the sight. What was she supposed to do now?

The boy cautiously walked up to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "C'mon. I know what I'm doin'. You can stay with me."

She shrugged off his hand and sniffled. "How can I trust you? I don't even know your name."

He stuck out his hand. "You can call me Alaster."

…..

Annabeth followed Alaster through the edge of the wood, their cover before they raided the store. She had been "staying" with him for about two weeks, and it had been… easy. Alaster made the whole living-on-your-own thing easy. There was food and water and shelter, and sometimes even something extra that was unneeded, like an ice cream cone or roller blades. And the best part—no monster attacks.

See, Alaster didn't really "stay;" he moved every day and covered more ground than thought possible. In the two weeks that Annabeth had been with him, she had gone all over Virginia. And she meant all over.

He pointed at the Wal-Mart. "What do ya wanna get?" he asked, because he was awesome like that and actually wanted to know, unlike some other people.

She pondered for a while, then answered: "Strawberries, and ice cream, and—"

He cut her off. "—ham or salami or peperoni. You cannot just eat sweets all the time. We're gettin' something healthy."

Sometimes it was hard to remember that Alaster was only seven.

She sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll just wait here and distract them if something goes wrong?"

He nodded. "And I'll go get the food." Then he left, walking into the store and slipping out ten minutes later, holding an apple in his mouth.

He sprinted to her, shoving a pack of strawberries and Neapolitan ice cream in her arms. "Lez go," he ordered.

…..

Annabeth was stuffing the chocolate ice cream in her mouth, trying to eat it all before the fire melted it. Her eyes flicked to Alaster, who was sitting on the opposite side of the fire he made, knees pulled up to his chest, arms clasped tightly around them, completely still minus the erratic tapping of his fingers.

She stood up and shuffled over to him, plopping back down when she was close enough. "What's up?" she asked, licking the last remainders of ice cream from her spoon.

He turned his face to the sky—not looked; he was blind. "The sky is up, Annabeth."

She bumped his shoulder playfully. "You know what I mean."

Alaster grimaced. "Something's 'bout to happen. My gut instincts are screaming for me to leave this area, like, right now."

To most people, that would sound ridiculous, and they would laugh at the pure ridiculousness of the idea that someone would follow their gut instinct like that. To Annabeth, it would sound ridiculous if it was anybody else. But it wasn't anybody else; it was Alaster.

She sighed and crushed her empty ice cream container. "Okay, but later. I want to get a good night's sleep."

He squirmed, as if he didn't want to wait any longer, but gave in. He pulled out a sleeping bag for each of them, and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the ground.

Oh, how stupid she was. They should have left.

…..

Annabeth was awakened by Alaster shoving her out of her sleeping bag and placing some food and a hammer in her hands. He was telling her something, but it was difficult to hear anything over the wailing of—of sirens. Finally, she heard what he was saying, but she didn't like it, not one bit. "Leave. Leave, right now. Don't look back. Just leave!" He was screaming to be heard over the deafening sirens, but the message got through.

Leave.

Of all the things that could have happened, she never ever thought it was that she had to leave. Leaving Alaster was worse than leaving her family. He took care of her and didn't laugh at her irrational fear of spiders; actually, he helped her fear not be so extreme. He showed her the world. He made her happy.

With him, there was a type of freedom that most seven year olds did not experience.

Because Alaster understood; he was seven, too.

But now, he was telling—ordering—her to leave. Leave.

"No!" she cried, throwing the hammer to the ground. "What's going on? Let me help!" She was desperate for anything that would allow her to stay with Alaster.

Alaster, faster than her eyes could process, handed Annabeth back her hammer and was shoving her out of their clearing. "No. Go. Leave. It's dangerous."

She twirled out of his grip and turned to him. She stomped her foot defiantly. "I am staying."

His faced hardened. "No, you are leaving." He shoved her into the forest, and she landed behind a bush. "I—I promise we'll meet again."

A gun shot rang through the air.

That was the final decision maker.

Annabeth left, only turning once to see if Alaster was following her.

He wasn't.

…..

It had been a week since Annabeth had left Alaster, and her heart still stung. It didn't help that ever since she had left him, monsters were always on her tail, so she couldn't find the time to sleep or gather food.

Now she was running through an alley, a hellhound nipping at her heels—almost quite literally. She swung her hammer at its head and landed a pounding right on its eye. It howled and leapt back, allowing Annabeth to get a head start on running again, but she was exhausted. She wouldn't be able to outrun this thing for much longer.

She turned a sharp corner and found an old, gray metal trash can that had cobwebs flowing off of it. More were stacked behind it. An idea began to form into her mind—a stupid, simple, but possibly life-saving idea—and, panting and heaving, she ran around the first trash can and lifted off the lid, pushing the actual can down the alley.

It rolled into the hellhound, not causing any harm, but thoroughly confusing it. Annabeth used this distraction to bash the thing in the nose with the lid as hard as she could. She stepped back after doing this as few times and threw it at the hellhound's thick throat.

This, because of her horrible luck, only angered the monster.

It roared and lunged for her throat, its large yellow canines revealed from behind its big black upper lip. She lunged to her right to dodge the gaping mouth, rolling into a standing position. Holding out her hammer, she kicked another trash can at it.

Then a sheet of metal suddenly went flying through the air, crashing into the hellhound's throat, crushing its trachea. It staggered and then dissolved into a pile of yellow sand that blew away in the nonexistent wind.

Just like that and it was dead.

Annabeth would have celebrated, but she knew that there were more monsters, no doubt.

And that she didn't kill it.

Someone else did.

The dusty silver garbage cans rattled. She pushed the thought aside and ran for her life down the alley, waving her hammer around wildly when she heard voices. That was when she met Luke and Thalia, who took her in, kept her safe, sort of like Alaster. But not quite.

She followed them, Luke and Thalia, out of the alley, only turning twice: once to see if Alaster was behind her like she always did, and once because she swore she saw the flash of light off of a special metal chain.

Annabeth was still holding Alaster to his promise.

And the first chapter is up! Did ya enjoy? What happened will be explained later; you just have to look for it. But if you want an explanation, just ask.

Anyway… review, favorite, follow!

Peace and all that other stuff.

~Unexplainable Contradiction