As we walked up to the hull of the boat, wet and weary, I said to Annabeth, "We should probably find some place to spend the night." She didn't respond, although I knew she was thinking of the same thing. I looked around. There was no one to be seen. Instantly, I knew something was wrong. Something wasn't right. Something, or someone was watching me. Why would a boat be right at the spot where we needed? That wasn't possible, unless, of course... My arch-enemy, Luke Castellan, had laid a trap for me and Annabeth. He always wanted something from me, whether it was something for himself, or something that would save his master, Kronos.
I nudged Annabeth,who was almost unconscious. After all, we hadn't slept for days. I shook her by the shoulders to wake her up.
"Annabeth! Wake up!" 
"What?"
"We need to get out of here." This seemed to get her attention, as she opened her eyes slightly and looked at me.
"What's wrong?"
"It's a trap. Luke must have laid it. He knew we were coming," I said. It had to be. Why would a boat be right at the spot where we needed it?
"Not now!" Annabeth said with an annoyed look on her face. "We can't go right now. I'm too sleepy. We'll leave tomorrow." Although I hated to admit it, she was right. We had nowhere to go at this time of the night. And I was too tired to walk again. Besides, it could easily be a coincidence that the boat had been at the edge of Long Island. Couldn't it?
"Let's spend the night here. But be careful. I feel something's not right." With that warning, we started to look for a suitable place to sleep.

Just then, a strong smell struck me. I could tell that Annabeth could smell it too because she froze in her tracks and glanced at me uneasily. It was a strong, unpleasant smell, and it reminded me of...monsters. Yes, monsters. They were everywhere.
"Don't look behind you!" I whispered to Annabeth. She nodded weakly, as if she couldn't be bothered trying to escape. The strange smell was coming from behind. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see something green, slimy and huge. It was moving. And it was coming for me. I staggered back, completely clueless on what to do. A monster? At this time of night? Before I could do anything, the monster pounced on me, covering me with slime and a mucous-like substance. I screamed. Before I knew it, Annabeth was struggling in its huge, green wrath, wriggling in his humongous, evil hands. And I was in its other. WHAT WERE WE GOING TO DO NOW?

I realised that the dragon was slowly bringing me to its mouth. I could just see the inside of its mouth, dripping with saliva. As it prepared to gulp me, I felt a lump in my throat. My stomach was in knots. I felt sick all over. What if we didn't make it? I would never be able to escape this horrid place, and go back home. I would never feel the familiar glow of my mom, rubbing her soft hands through my jet black hair. I decided that the only way to escape was to kill the dragon, or at least loosen its grip on us. I could gather all my might and punch it in the face, but I doubted that would work. How could I, a mere boy, save lives by killing a dragon ten times my height? That wouldn't work. No, no. I would have to think of something more clever, more sneaky. I could see the tip of the dragon's tongue now. It was bringing me up in slow motion, as though it wanted me to see what was in its mouth. It was doing the same with Annabeth.
As we got closer, I shouted out to her, "Any ideas?"
"Not this time, Percy!", she shouted back, her voice a frantic mixup of sarcasm and fear. I decided to go with plan B, which was to do something that I had been told by Annabeth to only do during emergency. This was an emergency, wasn't it? I hoped so, as I took out a precious sword that could only be used by heroes, Anaklusmos. Annabeth had told me that it had a long, tragic history. It was made of celestial bronze, a material which could only harm monsters and demigods. It would pass through mortals harmlessly. Although I never knew the reason, I supposed that it was because at the time the sword was created, humans were not seen as a potential threat. As I prepared to pierce the monster's tongue, I hesitated. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Wake up, Percy, I told myself. You can't just let yourself and another person die. That would be like committing suicide. I regained my aplomb, feeling a lot more confident than I was a second ago. I, Percy Jackson, would defeat a dragon and return home as a warrior. I, Percy Jackson, would not give up in the hardest of times, and would persevere through to the end.
I looked at Annabeth. She was extremely pale, the wind blowing her hair into her face. I knew we didn't have much time before the monster finally took us for good.

I braced myself for the upcoming torture and... sliced my sword right through its tongue. Blood poured out, covering me and Annabeth with oozing, slimy green liquid. I slashed again and again, until the monster's grip on us loosened and we fell onto the deck of the ship. I looked up at the dragon, but there was nothing. The monster had disintegrated into ashes, as though it had been burned. I looked at Annabeth, who was smiling. She embraced me, and I fell into her arms readily, tired and exhausted. When we parted, she said, "Percy, you are a real hero."