Author's note: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan does. Heck, the only things I own are my Original Characters. Also, there might be a bit of slash at some chapters.
New York City.
The city of dreams, hopes. Where travelers (and their stocks) go to once they have proven their worth in other places, and are ready to take on anything that could happen. It is here that one tale ended, a summer ago. And now, a new tale begins anew, its threads slowly being spun by the Fates.
It was 12:50 A.M. The average after-effects of reading at the local library began to settle on Annabeth as she stumbled outside of the building. She couldn't help it, though. That was the kind of party she had in mind. Words and phrases, intermingling with one another. As she was pondering on the angle bisector of the Empire State Building's perpendicularity to Broadway, a painful screech echoed off an alleyway that lay behind her, it's screech reaching into a painful crescendo. How anyone could not her that, even at 1:00 in the morning, Annabeth had no idea.
Unsheathing her bronze dagger, Annabeth donned her Yankees cap, causing her form to ripple and vanish. Sneaking towards the alleyway with the sound of droplets unnerving her, she found a lady, most likely in her late thirties, clutching a bundle of pale yellow cloth in her arms. Before her were at least half a dozen of dracaenae carrying spears and weighted nets, their sickly green skin gleaming hauntingly.
Sprinting and causing several of the dracaenae to wonder what was causing the sound of footsteps, Annabeth slashed at the first row that was closing in on the mother and child. Taking advantage of this, Annabeth spun even more, hacking and dissolving more monsters to dust before tucking her cap in her bag. It's useless now,she though tactically to herself, they'll form a defensive formation if I stay invisible.
"Th-thank you", the mother mutter to Annabeth "we'll just stay put and hope we don't get eaten."
Promising to the mother that nothing bad would happen to them, Annabeth prepared to attack before the battalion parted in half, revealing a much larger dracaena with dual swords pulsating with green energy, making Annabeth's eyes hurt. She's the commander. Gotta be careful.
"Ssssooo, not just one demigod, but two, eh? Thisssss will be a good ceremony." It announced, raising her swords in the air. Slithering its way towards Annabeth, it cut the place where she would've been, had she not rolled and ducked to avoid it. Countering with a jab, she aimed for a chink in her armor. But then, a weighted net entwined itself around her foot, obviously thrown from one of the dracaena's comrades. The net made it a difficult task to move, and Annabeth couldn't cut it with her knife. While praying to Athena that a swarm of owls might peck the commander into pieces, she heard a sound that was akin to a gunshot. No, it was a gunshot, because where the commander dracaena was earlier, there was only a pile of dust.
Startled, Anabeth raised her eyes and more dracaenae were turning to dust. Some looked like they were slashed and cut with a sword, while others looked like they were shot at with a shotgun. After Annabeth heard one more gunshot, the last three of the dracaenae were gone. Suddenly put on edge, she backed up towards the mother and child, and stood up, in an attempt to protect them.
"Whoever you are, come out and show yourself!" She yelled, her voice shaking with determination.
Two singsong voices rang out of the alleyway, "Don't worry, we won't hurt anyone. We're here to help, right?"