The seven were running across the meadow. Not in a poetic and beautiful way because they were, as usual, running for their lives. Leo scanned his surroundings. It was an incredible landscape: the sun was setting in the distance, the vast green prairie met its end at the bottom of the high hills in the horizon, and the fresh winter air brushed Leo's face in the wind. It looked very much like a postcard. Well it actually was a postcard: fifty feet away from them laid the Stonehenge. Yes, the real one.
Leo would've enjoyed a lot more the view if there weren't an army of two hundred monsters running after them. Harpies, minor titans, telekines, dwarfs, Cyclops and other creatures Leo couldn't even name were tracking them, surrounding them and they only had a couple of minutes to get to safety in the Stonehenge. Annabeth had explained earlier how such an ancient place could be a source of protection for well-intentioned demigods. Or at least she thought so, but in that moment, it better be true.
The big deal? A tiny little black box called Pandora's box that contained the most horrible evil this world had seen. One would expect that after you defeat Gaia herself the gods would leave you alone but oh no- they had other plans for them. The Olympians had sent the crew to England, to find Pandora's box at the British Museum before their enemies, who could use it to get rid of them and take over the world, and bring it back to Mount Olympus in Manhattan. Piece of cake. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones after the box so they'd been running, hiding and fighting ever since they found it, about a week ago.
Leo looked at his friends. No matter how exhausted they were, they seemed to have just enough strength to keep going. Jason was taking the lead, holding Pandora's box with one hand and drawing Gladius, his Imperial gold sword with the other. Apart from a long scratch in his left cheek, he looked fine. Then there was Percy, also drawing his sword Riptide and holding his girlfriend Annabeth's hand, who went right behind him and seemed at the verge of collapsing at any second. Right next to Leo, there was Frank. Frank had been shot an arrow to his right arm, making him unable to use his bow. He was bleeding badly, the colour already drained off his face but guarding his back he had Hazel and Piper, ready to help him if he happened to pass out or something.
Forty feet. They were getting close. Hold on, Leo, you got this he told himself.
Twenty feet. Frank cried out in pain. The monsters roared in the distance.
Ten feet. An arrow cut the air right next to Annabeth's head and she jumped closer to Percy.
Five. Four. Three. Two.
The passed by the closest menhir and the seven collapsed on the floor. They dragged themselves to nearby rocks to rest against them and catch their breaths.
"Annabeth" Jason said, heavily breathing "Please tell me it's working"
Annabeth looked at the monsters with concern and Leo followed her gaze just to know the answer before she could speak it: the monsters were not stopping. Not even slowing down.
"I'm sorry, I-I thought-"
Percy squished her hand "It's not your fault. You did great"
No one felt like correcting him but their chances weren't exactly looking good. Leo did some calculations and concluded they had about ninety seconds before their enemies reached them. He eyed Hazel and she smiled shyly at him. If he was going to die, he thought, at least he had his friend at his side.
"So…" Piper muttered "what now?"
Leo stared at his feet, thinking of how easy life would've been if he were born a normal boy "Well, we wait for them and defend ourselves as we can"
"Leo's right" Jason stood up with difficulty "Protect Pandora's box at any cost"
Slowly and one by one, the demigods stood and closed circle like they always did in moments of distress. They drew their weapons around Jason who held the box in the middle. Leo took a hammer from his tool belt just to not feel empty-handed and prepared for the attack.
"Ah! A good ol' encounter with death. Nothing better to keep the adrenaline running" He said.
The monsters were closer and closer. Suddenly, Leo felt like the temperature had dropped ten degrees (which for December was saying very cold).
"Oh give me that" Leo heard a feminine voice say from behind but he was too slow to turn around in time.
Before any of them could do anything a black figure passed through them and took Pandora's box from Jason's hands. The person turned for a second just to check on his expression. A girl, about their age, fairly skinny, carried the box with one hand and a megaphone with the other, wearing a black cap to hide her hair, a simple black t-shirt and some black shorts. Being the middle of the English winter and wearing those clothes, Leo figured she was either insane or she knew exactly what she was doing.
She hopped on a horizontal menhir and faced the monsters. Jason took a step forward ready to jump over her but Annabeth put a hand on his chest "Jason, no!"
They all looked at her to find a wide smile on her face. Although Leo didn't understand why, if the smartest person in the group could find a reason to smile, it was good news. The girl put her megaphone up and closed her eyes trying to gain some courage, Leo thought, because that's what he did when he needed to do something insanely dangerous. Or stupid. Or both. He caught the glim of a black sword resting on her back which she didn't draw, so she was not planning on attacking. That's when he realized none of them had checked if she was on their side or not, but apparently, it was obvious. She finally opened her eyes.
"Hello Stonehenge! Who takes Pandora's box takes the Universe! But, bad news everyone!" She took off her cap, threw it away and a long curtain of caramel coloured wavy hair fell over her shoulders. Her voice echoed in the meadow "Cause guess who! HA!" To Leo's surprise, the monsters roared in…fear? They stopped dead, thirty feet away, noisier than ever, screaming, yelling, stomping. Although the girl had her back to the demigods, he could almost see a smirk on her face "Except, you lot, you're all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I. AM. TALKING" she shouted with authority. Silence fell among the monster army "Now the question of the hour is who's got Pandora's box? Answer: I do. Next question! Who's coming to take it from me?" She raised the box so that it was at plain sigh "COME ON! Look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn Oh! And something else I don't have: Anything. To. Lose. So if you're just waiting out there with your silly little weapons and you've got any plans on taking Pandora's box tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you and then, AND THEN…do the smart thing: Let somebody else try first" She extended her arms wide open on a clear bring it on way and Leo couldn't help but smile like Annabeth.
He glared at the monsters. They were absolutely shocked, like confronting an old enemy that had kicked their booties and left a wide mark on them. And then, they did the unbelievable: they turned around and started silently marching away, like they had forgotten why they had come to that place for starters.
The girl turned around and threw her megaphone at the ground. Then she got off the rock and marched towards the seven.
"EXCUSE ME" Jason stepped forward "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HADES DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"