Young Writers Society

Hades gave Annabeth a questioning look.

"What's the beast of boggy creak?" he asked. It sounded like a title and not just a description, but it was a monster he had never heard of before. Like everything else he had encountered since leaving the off version of the underworld, Hades felt lost and confused.

Elias wasn't sure he liked where this was going. It was starting to feel more and more obvious that they had to kill this monster, although he barely understood what was going on. For once he decided to bite his tongue and instead drink the tea handed to him, letting Hades and Kaz do all the talking.

Kazimir put his hand firmly on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Annabeth here is the best out of all of us," Kazimir said, feeling a strange need to explain Hades's cluelessness when normally he was the one who was clueless. Of course, he still was, he just didn't ask the question. Hades did.

"She's got lots of experience. Tell 'em what you know about the Boggy Beast."

Kaz's words warmed Annabeth's heart, and she patted his hand in gratitude. Swallowing the nerves, she interlocked her fingers and cleared her throat -but, Fred beat her to the chase.

"The Fouke Monster?" he said, exchanging a sceptical look with his wife. "That hasn't been seen since the 70s." Annabeth felt irritation spike through her as she unconsciously tightened her grip on her cup. They wanted to know what had been attacking their livestock, and they had asked for her help.

She didn't like her job; but she knew her monsters.

"I am sure that this is what's been causing trouble," she said calmly. "Your description sounds very similar to it, and the Fouke Monster only appears in Arkansas."

Annabeth sipped her tea slowly. Remembering, Hades's question, she turned to him.

"The Fouke Monster is kind of like Bigfoot," she said to him and everyone else. Then, she clarified for Hades's -and probably Elias's- sake. "Bigfoot is one of America's most famous folktales, and it's a sasquatch, like the Fouke Monster. Also real.

"It was first 'sighted' in 1908, but it rose to fame in the state during the 70s, after a series of newspaper accounts featured it. It's said to live in swamps and creeks, hence the nickname..."

Annabeth paused and looked at the couple curiously. "But, I didn't see any creeks around here."

"There used to be woods," said Julia, "but they were torn down to increase the farmlands. And what little creeks there are have dried up."

"Oh" was all Annabeth could say as she leaned back in her chair, mind churning. The Fouke Monster had attacked the farm for a reason, and she knew why.

Hades didn't know what Bigfoot or a sasquatch was, but he quickly realized he didn't need to as the conversation continued. His earlier guess - that a change in the environment had forced the creature to move into the farm - was right.

The answer seemed simple now. They just had to make somewhere for it to leave. But this wasn't his place; this was Annabeth's. If anyone was going to solve the problem, it would have to be her.

He glanced over at her.

"Do you know what to do?" he asked.

Kazimir stood next to Annabeth's chair, and he rested his hand on the back of it.

"Of course, Annabeth's always got a plan," he said.

"Uh, well, yes," stammered Annabeth, fully aware of everyone's eyes on her. She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. Her heart started to creep up into her throat. "At-At least I think so."

The couple began to look skeptical again, so Annabeth straightened up. Everyone was looking to her for guidance, and she was stumbling on her words like a child. She was the Monster Hunter, for goodness sakes; she had to act like it.

She cleared her throat more vehemently. "I have a plan," she said, speaking with such force that it startled everyone. She stood up, eyes blazing. "I have a plan, and dammit, it's going to work!"

Silence followed, and for a moment, nobody moved. Annabeth blinked, and her cheeks reddened. She clasped her hands nervously. "But, uh, I'm going to need everyone's help."

"What do we have to do?" asked Frank, looking determined.

Be the Monster Hunter, Annabeth whispered in her mind. "We're going to set a trap. We'll use the dead sheep as bait and close off the area. We're going to need some rope."

"I've got ropes in the barn," said Frank, "and a bear cage." He gestured to Kaz. "You can help me carry them on account of my arm."

As they left the room, Annabeth heard Frank tell Kaz, "I've got a couple of rifles. You can shoot, right?" She blanched at the thought of using rifles.

"Julia, do you have smoke bombs," she asked, turning to the woman. Julia nodded.

"In the basement," she replied.

"We can use them to disorientate the Fouke Monster," said Annabeth. "Can you and Maggie be in charge of them?"

"Of course," said Julia, and now, only Hades, Elias, and Annabeth were left.

She smiled at them. "You guys can help me close off the area and get the remaining sheep somewhere safe."

The three of them went outside toward the pens. As the cool night air caressed her face, Annabeth sighed, shoulders drooping.

Maggie hadn't had a chance to protest against being involved in this...hunt, would probably be the best word for it. There was not part of them that was willing to work with smoke bombs or any sort of weapon, really, toward the goal of capturing a 'monster'. Especially one that had only really harmed a few animals after having had their natural home unnaturally reshaped.

They stood off to the side and shook their head. "You're on your own with the smoke bombs," they said to Julia. "I won't participate in this."

"Party pooper," Kazimir said before following Frank out to the barn. "And yeah, Frank. I can shoot."

He had guns of his own, too, obviously. But rifles were fine, he supposed. If Annabeth thought they were.

He walked out of the house and followed Frank. Things seemed to be okay, so far, but Kazimir knew by now that things were going to go wrong sooner or later. He didn't know if things would hit the fan as quickly they did in his dream or if it would take a minute, but the whole walk to the barn, he was very alert.

Frank showed him inside, pointing out where the ropes were. Kazimir only nodded and started piling them on his arms. He wondered if Frank's family was real, or if again, this was all a hypothetical dream.

He decided to treat it like a real situation for the time being.

"Where's the cage?" he asked as he shrugged all of the rope over his shoulder. He didn't leave any for Frank to carry, and his hands and forearms were still free. He didn't mind being used as muscle to move things. It was the simplest thing he could do.

Frank pointed to a cage half-covered by a tarp in the corner of the barn. Kazimir hummed. Bear-cage. He should've figured it would be huge.

"We might need to both drag that out," he admitted. "I can take most of the weight, of course."

Frank nodded, pulling the tarp off with one arm. "Help me clear the way."

"Alright," Kazimir said, moving some barrels and hay bales to the side.

Now that Hades was alone with Elias and Annabeth, he was finally able to voice his suspicions.

He followed Annabeth over to the pens. This was slightly familiar to him. The Underworld didn't exactly have a problem with things like wolves, but he was familiar with how the situations could be handled. Annabeth seemed to be taking a less traditional approach.

And the approach that he preferred.

"What's your plan?" he asked, glancing over at her. "You don't want to harm the Fouke Monster, do you?"

Elias was feeling a bit on edge about the monster thing, but as he followed Annabeth and Hades outside again, the cold night air nipped his skin and distracted him from the situation at hand here. That, and the sheep.

Yeah. He could definitely herd sheep.

As the three of them surrounded the pens, Elias leaned over and stared at the grazing and sleeping animals.

"So, what are we doing now? Protecting the sheep?" he asked after Hades spoke.

Annabeth kicked a loose rock out of the way.

"Yeah, protecting the sheep," she quiety answered Elias, "but don't spook them."

Finding a couple of tall sticks, she gave one to him. "Use this to keep them without wandering off. Without hitting them, of course." Clicking her tongue, Annabeth patted a sheep with her free hand, gently guiding it toward the far end of the pasture.

It would be so easy to get into the rhythm of herding the animals, but Annabeth felt Hades's eyes on her, and his question still hung in the air. In that moment, she felt her frustration reach a boiling point.

"I-I-I don't know!" she cried, startling the sheep closest to her. Great. The one thing she didn't want happening. "I-I can't...I have to...Oh, I don't know!"

In the distance, she saw Maggie, Julia, and the men walking toward them. Annabeth covered her eyes and shook her head, trying to unscramble her thoughts.

"This is my job!" she said as her eyes blurred. "This is what I have to do everytime I get a call. And it's so much pressure, and it's all on me! I have to identify the monster, and ask all these questions, and see horrible things. And then, I have to kill it. Kill it. These people depend on me to help them, and I-I-"

She wiped tears off her cheeks. "I'm scared. I'm scared of facing the monster head on. And... there's a part of me that doesn't want to kill it, because, it's acting like any normal animal when its home is destroyed. To take its life, I-I can't... And I hate acting like a coward, but I...I'm only sixteen."

Annabeth laughed in disgust. "But, that's hardly an excuse."

Kazimir and Frank finally dragged the bear-cage out of the barn and pulled it towards the pens, but Frank seemed to give up halfway due to a pain acting up in his arm. Kazimir pulled it the rest of the way, assuming it didn't matter if some grass and dirt were rustled by the cage being pulled across it.

As he let go of the cage bars and dropped the ropes around him with a sigh, he saw Annabeth with Elias and Hades by the sheep pens, and... well... she looked like she was having a hard time. She was crying.

He walked up slowly, only catching the latter half of what she said.

"Annabeth, we're not going to let you do this alone. And no kid should have to do all of this by themselves."

He reached out and planted his hand firmly on her shoulder.

"We're doing this together."

And if she couldn't take the monster's life, he would gladly do it for her to save everyone else.

It was strangely satisfying to be herding sheep. Maybe in another universe (because that totally existed since other worlds existed, right?), Elias would be a sheep farmer. Wouldn't that be nice.

As Elias was herding the sheep to safety at the other side of the pasture, he could hear Annabeth getting more and more frantic with her responses. He stared down at the sheep beside him, and the sheep looked back at him with a tilted head like she was saying, 'Go on, then. Help your friend. I'm just a wee little sheep.'

Elias briskly walked over by himself just in time to see Annabeth sob as Kaz came over and comforted her. She was doing a good job of staying calm and collected the entire time he had known her, so this sudden outburst was unexpected.

He could empathize, though. Even though she had been a bit cold with him lately, Elias still wanted to help. It must have been terrifying for her to be a monster hunter -- that was, someone who killed innocent creatures. Innocent beings. Unnecessary violence.

Elias could understand that, and he wanted to let her know that she wasn't alone. Coming around on the other side from Kaz, he set his arm around her shoulder into a casual hug.

"Yeah, like Kaz said," he said with a soft smile. "The universe put us together for some reason. We can do this together. Plus, you're really, really smart. Maybe there's a way to solve this without violence. Right, guys?"

He looked around at everyone for affirmation. They were such a strange group of people, but hey, they could totally do this.

Maggie, it seemed, had been relegated without their consent to a task that they were now obligated to do regardless of their own thoughts on the matter. As they watched Annabeth break down from afar, they contemplated just leaving. If Annabeth was so immature that she couldn't handle this hunt after presumably years of experience - most hunters of her sort grew up in the trade, it wasn't the kind of thing a lot of people picked up as a hobby - then she'd likely fail without the assistance of everyone here, exactly as she'd planned. Maggie doubted she had redundancies in place, especially on such short notice.

So if Maggie left, the 'monster' who hadn't done much more than defend their land and harm a few sheep would likely survive. The people here would likely get hurt, but Maggie couldn't muster up the energy to care. They were the aggressors, after all. The family on the farm hadn't even attempted to reach a peace with the creature before calling to have them killed.

That did it.

Maggie put down the smoke bombs they'd helped carry despite their earlier declaration and turned their back on the group, walking away from the farm without a word.