Annabeth woke up to the screams of chaos. She quickly pulled her black "got wisdom?" brush through her messy blond hair, pulling it into a pony. She brushed her perfectly straight teeth, put on her orange "Camp Half-Blood" tee-shirt and slightly worn out jeans, and Nike sneakers (not the Nike brand you get at foot locker). She raced outside, to find the camp in total destruction.
"What's going on?" she quickly asked a red headed Hephaestus camper.
'We're under attack," she said without looking up from her swords making. "Empousa, Hellhounds, skeletons, everything. They just popped out of nowhere"
"Has Chiron been informed yet?" Annabeth questioned as fiery flames danced on top of cabin roofs tops. Annabeth quickly did the math in her head. If they continue the destruction at the work pace that their going at, let's see, speed times distance, the whole camp will be burnt down within 3 hours! That's not very long.
"Look behind you."
Annabeth quickly turned around to find herself looking at Chiron shooting an arrow at an empousa. The empousa only had time to let out a horrifying scream before disinigraing into a pile of yellow powder.
"Are all the campers aware?" asked Annabeth
"Yeah they're aware," the camper replied to Annabeth." But, you should explain to the Aphrodite cabin that trying to convince the empousa that a little blush would really bring out their red, fiery eyes, is NOT helping the situation here"
"Did you tell… the Hunters?" Annabeth said. She had to bite her tongue. She was going to ask Did you tell Percy? but ever since Hera had taken him to the Roman camp, her smart, Athenian mind hasn't been able to grasp on the fact that just not going to be around and that deep, sad feeling in her stomach made her want to cry more than ever.
"Hunters? Why do we need them? We can take care of ourselves," said the camper.
"Right, sorry. What about-"
"Look, Annabeth," the Hephaestus girl interrupted. "We're still trying to recover from Kronos a few years back. We're low on campers, low on satyrs, and low on tools. Heck we're low on just about anything. I don't mean to be rude, but I need to make tools, not chit-chat. Just take out your dagger and kick some monster butt!"
Annabeth grinned sheepishly.
"Of course, sorry. I'll just go. Keep up the good work." She walked over to Chiron, who had just shot another empousa. He was sweating like crazy, wearing his usual "My other car is a centaur" tee-shirt. Another skeleton was creeping up behind him. Annabeth quickly unsheathed he dagger and charged the skeleton. With a quick blow to the spine, he clattered into a heap of bones. Chiron turned around, startled.
"Thank you, Annabeth. I've got it under control here now. Do you need something?" Chiron asked.
"Just wanted to see where and how I can help," she stated.
Chiron looked around at the camp. Everywhere was under attack, but was under control. He spotted the big house, where some empousa were attacking. His eyes grew wide.
"Get them!" he ordered. "Whatever you do, don't let them destroy the house. You know we have… valuables in there."
Annabeth instantly understood. She turned and sprinted towards the house.
…
Annabeth had been doing the same thing for the past 20 minutes.
Slash, duck, roll, turn, slash, duck, roll, turn
She had killed over thirty empousa, and had only one left. She was obviously senior empousa. She reminded her of Kelli, the empousa she and Percy had fought a while ago. No hero had "bested me in over a thousand years" as Kelli had said. Well, at least that's what Percy said. But, they had destroyed her together, just as she deserved.
Just as Annabeth began feel tired and light headed, the empousa made a fatal mistake. Looking to slash Annabeth's hand, she hit her sword against Annabeth's dagger, causing the monster to drop the blade, giving Annabeth the opportunity to per her dagger and the empousa neck.
"Who sent you?" Annabeth demanded.
The empousa refused to speak.
"I said, WHO SENT YOU?" Annabeth screamed.
"I'll-gasp-never-gasp-TELL!" the empousa screamed back.
"Tell me!"
The empousa looked away, not responding to Annabeth's question.
"I'll count to three; there will not be a four or five. If you don't answer by three, you'll get to spend a little bit of time with the rest of your little empousa buddies in Tartarus! Do you understand?"
The empousa looked at Annabeth with red, pleading eyes.
"One"
Silence
"Two"
Still, no response.
"Last chance!"
Once again, nothing.
"THREE!"
Just as Annabeth pulled back her dagger to strike, the empousa screamed.
"WAIT!" the empousa shrieked. Her fangs had blood on them. "It was the Romans! I swear! They sent us!"
Annabeth faltered, accidently giving the filthy beast a chance to turn into a group of flickering flames.
"The Romans" she mumbled. Sweat and dirt streaming from her face. Her blond hair falling out of her pony tail, flying through the wind, and surrounding her tan face.
"What do they want?"