"Veil, hey Veil. You still alive?" A hoarse male voice asked. Dragging me out of the drug like sleep. Groaning, I tried to turn over. "This is no time to sleep." The owner of the voice poked my stomach, side, and face. This only successed in getting an even louder, annoyed groan. "You asked for it."

For a moment, there was peace. Han a loud whistle pierced my eardrums and had me on high alert. In this state, my fist went out and struck the source of the noise. There was a crack followed by a thump and a string of curses. "What the hell!?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that?" fully awake, I saw Ethan on the ground cuddling a bloody nose. "What happened to you? And where are we?" Obvoslsly not the airport. We were in the middle of a forest, the mountains not to far away. He area looked spooky, with naked tree branches looking like boney skectlces hands. Grey clouds blocked ant sun from getting in. Other than us, there was no living thing around.

"What are you? The Hulk?" Ethan's voice was muffled with his hands around his mouth and nose. "I think you broke my nose." He tried to stop the flowing blood and was failing at it.

"Don't you know how to stop bloody nose?" Sighing, I pulled out a rag and handed it to him. "Lean forward." Finally dealt with, I repeated the question.

"How should I know? That woman drugged us and took us here. When I woke up, we were in a cave south of here." Ethan explained. "She wasn't around, so I took the chance to get us outta there. I've been carrying you for the last twenty minutes. Your welcome."

Ignoring him, I rifled through my bag. "she'll come looking for us and it's gonna get dark soon."

"What are you looking for? We need to get out of here!" Having recovered, Ethan stood up. "Let's go."

"Go where?" I looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Look around you, we're in the mountains. No one knows we're out here. Even if we could get to the road, it'd be awhile before a car comes by. Walking along the road isn't any better, she could easily spot us out in the open like this. Found it!" Finally, the only god thing that's happened all day.

"What are those?" Ethan pointed at the three two foot long sticks made of red oak. "Hoping she'll play fetch with you?" There's that sarcasm again, something I can understand and usually appceate.

I snorted, and began assembling the sticks. "Hardly, theses just may save us." Putting the third one together with the rest, I explained my plan to Ethan. "She has talons and I'm not going anywhere near them. Still, we need to be able to defend ourselves. Problem is, my judo skills will be ineffective since she can put us to sleep with one cut. So, that's where my bo staff comes in." Fully assembled, the staff was at its full length of six feet. Six feet of pure awesomeness. The staff was from the bojustu training I did over the summer. Bojustu, a fighting still that trains people to fight with bo staffs. Only three months of training, but this is our best bet. "Come on." Grabbing my bag and staff, I started walking.

Ethan kept quiet as we made our way through the eerie forest, jumping at nearly every shadow. By the tenth time, I was sick of it. "How can someone so sarcastic, be such a scaredy cat?"

"Me? How can you be so calm about all this?" You saw her talons and yet you're not freaked out?" I just shrugged at his question. Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought. After all, it not every day you're shipped off to boarding school in the mountains.

After walking for several minutes, Ethan broke the silence. "It's not that I'm sarcastic by choice or a scaredy cat. I'm..." Face turning slightly red, he paused before letting out a eavy sigh. "Shy. Okay, I said it. I'm shy and prefer books and technology to people. That's why my parents thought sending me to Olympus Academy would be good for me."

I couldn't hold in my laugher, and he ended up taking it the wrong way. Ethan's face turned redder as he pouted, it made him look younger and it was adorable. "It's not funny!" He stomped his foot and pouted even more. (Hard to believe he's in high school) "They think I spend too much alone and on school. Knowing them, they'd probably be happy even if the first time I do go out with people, we get thrown in jail. As long as I was out of the house with kids my age, they wouldn't care." Running his run through is long sandy brown hair, he sighed again. "Can't they understand that I prefer being alone. What's wrong with that?"

We stopped to take a short break under a less creepy tree. "That's parents, no adults; in general, they always think they know what's best for us." I joined Ethan, who was sitting on the ground. "My parents would love for me to be more focused on school and stay out of trouble." It's strange, we've been walking for a while and have yet to see or hear any forest creatures. "How old are you anyway? 16? 17?" Minus the pouting and foot stomping, Ethan didn't have a boyish look about him. He gave off a different aura of...how do I put it? A child who was more mature than some adults, yet no matter how mature they acted, on the inside they were still a child.

His answer, however, was very surprising. "I'll be fourteen at the end of the month."

He's just a year older then my sister. I stared at him in disbelief, "You're as tall as my brother almost and he's seventeen." I thought for a moment, another thought coming to mind. "Wait, if you're thirteen, why are you going to high school? Shouldn't you be in middle school?"

Ethan looked offended, "I'm supposed to be in ninth grade, but they skipped me to tenth. Besides, the academy goes from seventh through twelfth grade. Didn't you read the handbook?"

Several birds flew away in a hurry, heading in the same direction we had been traveling. "Hold that thought." Casually, I scanned the area for what may have frightened the birds. Seconds passed in the eerie silence, seemed like an eternity and nothing else happened. "Must've been not-" A strange half hiss-scream filled the forest. It was almost like a snake screaming out in pain as someone skinned it alive. The sounds was enough to make my ears bleed and skin crawl.

"Where are you!?" The owner of the scream raged. "There are nasty things out here. It's not save for children." The voice echoed, making it difficult to tell how far or close it was.

On high alert, I grabbed my stuff and stood up, ready to move in a moment's notice. "What was that?" I asked, not knowing if it was human or something else.

"Our very unhappy hostess." Ethan was already up and moving. "Our friendly kidnapper has noticed us missing. Let's leave before she finds us."

Another one of those skin crawling hiss-screams came. "Where are you!?"

"No augments here." I bolted after Ethan. Not an easy task when he runs like a track star. Then again, it was a good that I was slower than him. A big grey-green scaly thing jumped out of the bushes and tackled him. The two went rolling down a small hill, with Ethan acting as a cushion.

Already dazed from the fall, the thing began slamming Ethan's head to the base of the tree. "See what happens when you don't listen? Now, I have to punish you." The thing laughed as it slammed Ethan again and again. I think it was having just a bit too much fun.

Gripping my staff, I prepared to attack as I was half way there the third Ethan's head became one with the tree. "Hey ugly!" This did not get its attention. Don't know why, I'm speaking the truth. IT or rather 'she' had pale grey-green scales and moving hair. He sight was almost enough to stop me mid-swing. Yet, I landed a swing hard enough to know her off Ethan. Her head snapped back as she fell to the side.

"You okay?" I stood next to Ethan in a light attack stance. If she got u, I'd have to react quickly.

"I think." He shook his head clear, than put his surprisingly unbroken glasses on. Is she dead?"

Right on cue, she got up. "That answer your question." Really, I was only partly shocked when she recovered. Something that ugly and with a freaky voice, was bound to be strong. Still wish I'd been wrong. Oh and the moving hair, are actually living snakes. That's not even the best part. Her wrinkly scaly grey-green face, with rows of sharp teeth and serpent eyes, were the same ones from the taxi.

Distracted by Ethan's panicked ramblings, I just barely noticed the talons aimed at my throat. Scaly here had taken the opportunity to leap like a shrieking banshee at us. Acting on reflex, I held the bo staff horizontally, it was just enough to block those deadly unmanicured talons. No way those nasty things are touching me again! "Ethan run!" For either of use to have any hope of surviving, Ethan needs to leave.

"What?" He asked, dumbfounded.

Can't he just listen and leave? The staff s gonna break at this rate, Scaly's to strong. "I can't fight if I have to keep checking to make sure your still breathing." Really, you'd think a scaredy cat, I mean, shy person like Ethan would've bolted the moment he had the chance. "Besides, don't you think someone should go for help?" Scaly was determined to get to one of us (me), as she was pushing with all her strength against the bo staff.

"Right." Ethan finally said. "Don't die, I still owe you for that stalker comment." He sure knows how to lighten the mood. But should I be worried he left so easily? I know I told him to, but he could've at least faked wanting to help.

"He won't get far." Man does Scaly have bad breath.

"You know," I smirked, "just because your ugly doesn't give you the right to skip basic hygiene. Ever heard of mouth-wash?" Melissa and mom always said I had a smart mouth. And they thought it would get me into trouble. Ha!

Scaly succeeded in getting angry. Using the free moment, I pushed up on the staff with all of my strength. Already angry and distracted, Scarly was now thrown off balance and off my staff. Planting one end of the staff in the ground, I vaulted myself into the air. Landing a kick in the center of her chest with both feet, she stumbled into some bushes and out of sight.

My victory was short lived. With a vicious growl, she got up to soon for my taste. "Why won't you stay down?" It took everything I had to knock her down , yet she took it like it was nothing.

"That was very naught. I was just going to take your powers. Now I'll have to think of a more suitable punishment." Scaly got a sickening sweet look, made even more disturbing with that sharp toot grin.

Ethan should've had enough time to get away. Now hoe do I do the same? "I'll have to take a rain check." I bolted at a dead run in the opposite direction, hoping to lose her in the forest. Heart pounding, lungs pumping, my body pushed itself to put some distance between us.

The forest seemed to be laughing, the trees smiling. They new some twisted inside joke about this woman. "You can't run, this forest is my home." Again, the voice echoed. Yet, she wasn't behind me. I'm not foolish enough to believe I've lost her. Any horror movie can tell you, when you don't see the creepy crazy person, their usually very close by.

This fact was quickly made true. A large body slammed into me with the force of a truck. Knocked to the ground and dazed, I tried to recover. Only to be punched in the head, then grabbed by the throat. "Thought you could get away? Silly girl, no one leaves here unless we want it." Still holding my throat, she lifted me three feet off the ground, her talons beginning to draw blood. "Anything to say before your punishment begins?" She squeezed harder, cutting off air from my already burning lungs.