Before I begin, I just want to make a few things clear. Jimmy and Joanna are monsters, but they are not like the ones from Percy Jackson. They can still turn into dust if killed by a weapon made from Celestial Bronze except for Jimmy, who is half human. Also, the events of "Titan's Curse," happened in real life in my story. Anyway, just wanted to put that out there. Enjoy!
Jimmy
The assignment was simple: make a short film about an event that happened involving ancient Greece. Sounds fun and simple, right? Here's the problem.
First, Joanna and I didn't have any money to make anything good. Second, we didn't have enough actors. Sure, we could do a two-person video, but Joanna kept saying how it wouldn't be good enough and she has very high standards. Last but not least, we didn't have a good enough camera. All we had was our "Lends," a camera disguised as a scouter from "Dragon Ball Z," but it wasn't exactly made to shoot movies. Also, it was two years old and was a little beat up.
Joanna and I were in my dorm room one day trying to think of what we could do for the project. Joanna was lying on the bed and I was sitting at my desk with my head down.
"Maybe we could…" I said. "No, no."
"What if…" Joanna began. "No, not enough actors."
We stayed there for another few minutes, pondering what to do next, when Joanna slammed her fist onto my nightstand.
"You know what? Screw it!" She shouted, getting up. "It's hopeless! The assignment is due in a day and we haven't even gotten past square one!"
"Well we just need to think outside the box." I said, turning to Joanna.
"We've been thinking outside the box for three hours! There's no way we can come up with an idea in time."
That's when I thought of something… time…
"Wait a minute… in time… time… time travel, of course!" I stood up out of pure excitement. "We could travel back in time to when a famous event happened, like… um…" That's when I saw a copy of the book, "Percy Jackson: Titan's Curse," on my bookshelf. I ran to it, pulled it out, and showed it to Joanna.
"This! We could go back in time to 2007 and view the events from this book!"
Joanna's frown quickly turned into a smile as she grabbed my shoulders. "Yes!" She said. "It could be a documentary of what happened! We'll ace History class for sure!"
X
"So… you two want to time travel, eh?" Ginger asked, crossing her arms and smiling.
Ginger was one of my friends who went to Joanna and I's high school. I knew she had already finished her project with her best friend, Kasi, so she had more than enough time to send us to 2007. How can she do this, you ask? It's simple… she's a witch.
"Yeah." I replied. "We have this amazing idea for the project, plus we need more time to finalize everything."
"Seven years of it?"
"No. We just need you to send us back, and after about a month we should have it done, so just send us back after that."
Ginger looked at us for a minute. She looked from me to Joanna, then back to me again. "You two aren't kidding, are you?" She asked being serious for once. "You realize how much trouble you could get in? Even I wouldn't do this."
This was a rarity. Ginger was always the type of person that always joked around no matter what, but for her to act serious… this was something else.
"We promise we won't screw anything too serious up, okay?" Joanna said, rolling her eyes.
"Promise on the river Styx?"
"Ginger!"
"Fine. Just give me a minute." She said, jokingly.
Ginger walked over to her bookshelf and took out one of her spell books titled, "The Idiot's Guide to Magic: Volume 2." Ginger was good at magic, believe me, but she specialized in conjuring. Anything else required a little more work. She'd probably end up sending us to 2007, but with each other's heads or something, but at this point, I'd take the chance. Besides, I've been through much worse than that.
Ginger opened the book and flipped through the pages until she found the index. Once she found it, she found the page the spell was on and turned to it.
"Ah, here it is." She turned to us and readied her wand. "You two ready?"
Previous to the visit, we had brought along a few important items: the "Lends," sunglasses to hide Joanna's blood red eyes, some heavy jackets and jeans, and Joanna's scythe, packed into a disc she keeps on her back.
"Ready as we'll ever be." Joanna said, crossing her arms. "Now can you please cast the spell?"
"Sure! But this is the first time I've ever done it."
"Wait, what?"
"Faciamus, iterum est timewarp!" Ginger chanted as she pointed her wand at Joanna and I.
In an instant, we were enveloped in a bright, holographic, yellow clock. The hands of the clock moved counter clockwise very fast and vanished. Once it did, Joanna and I weren't in Ginger's dorm anymore.
X
Joanna and I appeared in front of a large building surrounded by a snowy field on a cliff overlooking a large basin of water. The building itself was about three stories tall with old features that looked worn. There was no doubt that this was Westover Hall.
"Wow. Ginger actually did it." Joanna said, looking over the landscape. "Thank god she got us here in one piece."
"Yeah, witches are so O.P." I said as I put on the "Lends."
"Well… not exactly." Joanna said, looking me over.
"What do you…" I was cut off as I saw what she was talking about. I have no idea how, but somehow my body had gone back in time as well. I was a middle schooler again.
"Oh my god!" Joanna shouted. "You look so cute! You're like a mini you."
"Yeah. Look who's talking, 'Rasins.'" I retorted.
"Rasins?" Joanna asked. "What are you…" That's when Joanna looked down to see her beautiful teenage body reduced to the body of a tween.
"Holy crap!" She shouted. "How did this happen?"
"It must be a side-effect of the magic. Maybe it'll wear off when we go back."
"For Ginger's sake, I hope so." Joanna said, getting into position. "I'm gonna kick her ass when we get back!"
"Whatever, let's just do this. According to the clock on this thing, they should be here in half an hour. Might as well start."
Joanna nodded. "Fine."
"By the way, how did our clothes shrink?" I asked.
Joanna shrugged. I pressed a button on the "Lends" and pointed at Joanna.
"Good evening, West Coast Academy. My name is Joanna Nightingale, and with me is my partner, James McClure." I waved in front of the "Lends." "For our project, we will be shooting a documentary about Percy Jackson, the hero of the demigods. Before we start, we need to-"
"Oh! Wait!" I said, interrupting. "Maybe we can do one of those things where you wave to yourself while the video goes on."
"Jimmy! What the Dante? That's gonna be on the video."
"Don't worry, we can just edit it out later." I reassured her.
"Oh, and do you know an editor?"
"Well, I could find one."
"You know what? Give me the camera." Joanna said, trying to grab the camera. Suddenly, a struggle followed. She tried to grab the camera while I tried to keep it away from her.
"Give me the camera!"
"Stop! You're gonna break it!"
"I said give it!"
Just then, the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway was heard. Joanna and I stopped fighting and looked in the direction of the noise.
"What was that?" I asked.
We ran to the corner of the big house and looked around the corner. In the driveway was a blue car driving away and walking away from it was Percy, Anabeth, and Thalia.
Joanna's eyes widened. "What the? I thought you said they'd be here in half an hour."
I checked the "Lends'" clock feature. "They were. Ginger must have sent us back too early."
"Damnit. We'll do the intro later, come on." Joanna said, leading me out of the corner as the blue car drove out of sight. By now, Percy and his friends were already inside, so we could move behind them freely. Joanna put on her sunglasses to hide her eyes as she opened the large, wooden door.
As soon as she opened it, she ducked back out of sight.
"Get down." She whispered loudly. "They're talking to that manticore guy."
"That's the guy with the multi-colored eyes and the French accent, right?" I asked.
"Yeah." Joanna said, peeking through the crack of the door.
"Nice." I said as I looked through the crack as well. I pressed the record button on the "Lends" and it recorded the scene just as Grover met everyone else. While the scene was going on, I decided to talk to Joanna for a while.
"By the way, how goes the job hunt?" I asked.
Joanna shrugged. "Eh, sucks. Just lost my job at KFC."
"Jesus, that's like… what? Seven? In a month?"
"Yeah, fast food's not really my style."
"Still, you're getting more jobs than most Americans find in a year."
"Yeah, humans are so picky." She noticed I had the "Lends" on record again. "For Chromius' sake, stop talking over the tape."
"Actually, this one you're going to be talking over."
Joanna rolled her eyes and looked back through the crack. "Okay, they're gone."
Joanna opened the door and we stepped inside. The hall was lined with multiple weapons from almost every time period from broadswords to machineguns. The hall itself looked like something out of a vampire movie, gothic features and all.
"Jesus, it's like an armory in here." I said, observing the material.
Joanna looked through the other hallways, and then returned to me. "Okay, this seems like a good place. Point the camera at me."
I did as she asked and she began talking.
"I am standing at where it all began. Percy Jackson has just walked through these halls on his way to rescue Nico and Bianca DeAngelo, unaware of their true fate. Meanwhile, the maniacal, Dr. Thorn is plotting to capture Nico and Bianca to use for the titan, Kronos and his army, although why they chose kids to fight in a war, is totally beyond me."
"It's because of the-" I began.
"I know why they're so young, okay?" Joanna shouted. "I was saying that to be funny."
"Nice job at that, by the way."
"Oh shut up."
"Hey! You two!" Called a voice from down the hall.
We turned to see an angry Dr. Thorn walking toward us. He was a tallish man with eyes that were blue and brown with a curly mustache and a heavy French accent.
"Just what do you two sink you are doing?" He asked sounding French.
Joanna and I hadn't prepared for this. We had no idea we would even interact with people such as him. Just for doing this, I was breaking at least three different laws. I would have to deal with rules later. For now, I had to improvise.
"Oh, us?" I asked as Joanna quickly put on her sunglasses. I could still see her eyes, but it wasn't obvious that they were red. "We're chaperones for the dance."
Dr. Thorn looked at us for a minute like we were crazy. He could have been reading our energy levels since he was a monster too, but we had to stay silent and let fate play its course.
"Really?" He asked. "Aren't you a little young to be chaperones?"
"Yes. Yes we are." I said as Joanna laughed.
Dr. Thorn looked at Joanna with a stern look. "What is so funny, girl?"
"Oh, nothing." Joanna said as she barely contained her laughter.
"Nosing?" Dr. Thorn asked. "It better be nosing. Because if it is not nosing, zat would be very bad."
Suddenly, Joanna burst out laughing. Her laughter rang throughout the halls and echoed.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'" She said, cracking up. "His accent's killing me!"
I looked from Joanna to Dr. Thorn, who looked like he was about to explode from anger.
"How dare you insult me!" He shouted. "I am an esteemed member of zis academy and you vill treat me as such!"
"I am so sorry about my friend." I said, stepping in. "It's just that she's never seen a French guy before, and your accent—"
"ENOUGH!" He shouted making Joanna stop laughing. "I don't know who you two are, but I am calling the police!"
As soon as he mentioned the authorities, Joanna hit Dr. Thorn on the side of his neck. He cringed a little, and then fell to the ground, limp.
I stared at the vice principal in awe and fear. "What did you do that for? We could have easily-"
"You wanna pass History, or not?" Joanna asked as she jabbed a finger into my chest. I could tell that she was scared too, but was trying to cover up her emotions with anger. I decided not to linger and nodded.
We ran out of the main hall as fast as we could and toward the gymnasium.
X
Joanna and I had reached the gymnasium and were welcomed by the typical middle school dance: dim lights, kids dancing, and of course…
"Jessy McCartney?" Joanna complained. "What is this? 2004?"
"What? It's kinda catchy."
Joanna hit me up side the head.
"Ow! Kidding!"
I looked through the dance floor as the song changed and spotted Percy and Anabeth dancing with each other.
"Okay, there they are." I said pointing to them.
Joanna looked in that direction and nodded. "Wait, where are the other two?"
"Who?"
"Grover and Thalia. They should be here too." Joanna said as she continued to scan the area. Soon, she saw them running over to Percy and Anabeth as if they were scared of something. "Oh, wait. There they are."
We watched as they reached Percy and Anabeth. They looked like they had just spotted Dr. Thorn or something, but to my surprise, Percy looked toward us instead.
My heart stopped for a moment when something came to mind. "Crap… you think they know we're here?"
"If they do, they won't do anything about it. They have more important things to be worrying about."
"Joanna, I'm pretty sure they'd be worried of two additional monsters running around."
Joanna looked at me and smiled. "Please. They're only here to save Bianca and Nico from Dr. Tho-" Joanna's smile faded when she looked in Nico and Bianca's direction. "Where'd they go?"
I looked at where Nico and Bianca were sitting on the bleachers, but they were nowhere to be found. Also, the doors on the opposite end of the gym were left wide open.
"Oh, Percy must have-" That's when I saw Percy still in the middle of the dance floor talking to his friends. He had not noticed Nico and Bianca being kidnapped. At this point, I was sure they knew about us, because Percy was supposed to run after Dr. Thorn and them.
We had screwed up the timeline.
"Oh no." I said as Joanna and I ran out through the door behind us. "Come on! We can't let him get away!"
I ran ahead of Joanna as I sprinted down the hall. I could see the door to the main hall, but I didn't slow down. As soon as it was in range, I leapt into the air and kicked the door making it shatter into a thousand shards. I landed in the middle of the main hall, crouched on the ground. Almost immediately after that, Joanna walked through the doorframe with her scythe out.
"You know you could have just opened that, right?"
I shrugged. "Eh, looked cool."
I looked over at the main door in front of the main hall. Nico and Bianca were there, huddled against it and looking at us as if we were monsters. Well… we were monsters, but you know what I mean.
I put my hands up, showing I was unarmed and slowly walked toward them.
"Hey, it's okay. We're friends. You're going to be okay."
Their emotion didn't change. They were still shivering.
"My name is Jimmy and this is Joanna. Don't worry, we're unarmed." I leaned toward Joanna. "Joanna, put down the scythe."
Joanna looked at me like I was crazy. "Um… no?"
"You wanna pass History, or not?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Joanna opened her mouth to retaliate, but nothing came out. She pursed her lips and scowled at me as she tossed her scythe aside, which landed with a "clang."
I turned to the children again and smiled. "Just relax, okay? You don't have to be-"
"UH!" Joanna cried as she was struck in the head by an unknown source. She fell to the ground.
"What the?" I asked just before the same thing happened to me. I lost consciousness as Dr. Thorn walked past us toward Nico and Bianca.
X
Joanna
I woke to the sound of a familiar French accent followed by a few slaps to my face.
"Wake up, vampire." Dr. Thorn said as he slapped me again. He backed away as I sat up and noticed my sunglasses were off. As soon as I noticed him, I tried to lunge at him, but a knife hit the ground next to me.
"Zat was a warning, my dear." Thorn said in his French accent. "Any movement, and you'll find out how accurate I can throw."
I looked at him for a minute and noticed he was holding my scythe, "Dante." I boiled with anger, but I didn't show it. I hate it when people touch my scythe. As much as I wanted to punch his face in, I had to restrain myself. I sat down and gave him a look of extreme fury.
"Much better."
"Hey!" Called Jimmy. He was sitting next to me with Nico and Bianca next to him. "Let us go, Thorn. You have no idea who you're dealing with."
Thorn smirked and looked at Jimmy. "My good man, I am not afraid of a vampire and… whatever you are."
Bianca looked at Jimmy and I, confused. "Wait, what's he talking about?"
"Not now, Bianca." Jimmy said. "Mommy and daddy are talking."
Bianca's eyes widened. "How do you-"
"We'll explain later." I whispered to her.
"Enough of ze talk." Thorn said, pointing my scythe at Jimmy. "You two and ze demigods vill come with me and join me in ze general's army."
"Tell you what," Jimmy said, looking from the scythe to Thorn. "How about you take that scythe out of my face, then go jump off that cliff over there? Because regardless you are going over that thing."
Thorn scowled. "Watch your tone, boy. It is unwise to argue with a creature of my stature."
"Right back at ya, bitch."
Without warning, a knife shot out from behind Thorn and was buried in Jimmy's chest. He gasped when it hit, then fell over bleeding out.
Bianca and Nico stared at Jimmy in horror. I covered Nico's eyes when the knife hit, so he didn't see the actual death, but he did hear Bianca scream.
"Pity." Thorn said as he looked down at Jimmy's body. "He would have been an excellent addition. As for the rest of you, your ride is almost here." Thorn looked out toward the ocean. "Von't be long now."
I looked at my scythe in his hand. I knew it would be suicide, but I knew I had to do something. I lunged at Thorn and tried to grab my scythe. Unfortunately, he saw me coming and dodged my attack. I rolled in the snow and faced him.
"A bold move, but futile." Thorn said as he shot a volley of knives at me. I used my speed to dodge the projectiles with ease. It was easy considering I can run up to two hundred miles per hour.
As soon as I cleared the knives, I grabbed Nico and Bianca and carried them to a safe location. As soon as they were out of the way, I ran toward Thorn and prepared to strike him. Unfortunately, he saw me coming too. He raised my scythe and struck my head with the back of the blade. I flopped onto my back, grunting. I tried to get back up, but Thorn pointed my scythe at my throat.
"You see, vampire? I am not afraid of your kind for I am more than a match for you."
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? What about him?" I asked as I nodded to where Jimmy's body was.
Thorn laughed. "But I already killed him." Thorn's voice trailed off as he looked at the bloodstain in the snow where Jimmy's body used to be.
"Wait, but where did-"
"Bonjour, Monami." Jimmy said as he appeared behind Thorn.
Thorn whipped around and tried to stab Jimmy with my scythe, but Jimmy caught his hand and twisted it so that he dropped my scythe. Then Jimmy let go of his hand and using his full strength, punched him in the face, sending Thorn across the field, almost making him hit the school. He landed on the ground, making a dirt trail as he slid.
Jimmy bent down and grabbed my scythe. He walked over to me, held it out, and I took it.
"Thanks." I said spinning the weapon a little, knowing it was back in its master's hands.
"Don't mention it." Jimmy replied.
Just then, a large figure lunged from where Dr. Thorn fell and landed ten feet in front of Jimmy and I.
The creature looked like a cross between a lion and a scorpion with an armored tail and a lion's body. The only thing was that the tail was covered with what looked like throwing knives; also the creature was seven feet tall.
"Zere is no escape, vampire and friend." Thorn said in a deeper, rougher voice. "I vill be taking ze children, and you two shall die here. Any last vords?"
I was going to say something snappy like, "Right back at ya, bitch!" Or, "Yeah… scythe." Then maybe slash him in the face or something, but before I could do anything like that, the manticore's eye spontaneously burst as if something had stabbed it. Thorn cried out in pain as he swung his tail in front of him. In a second, Jimmy was knocked over, but not from the monster's tail. Instead, there was a blonde, dazed girl next to Jimmy, who looked as though she were hit by a truck.
The demigods were here.
I looked as Thalia, daughter of Zues, rushed in, stabbing the manticore with her spear. The manticore roared and threw a volley of knives at her, which she blocked with her shield.
The manticore was keeping the four of them at bay with its knives, which gave me the perfect opportunity to do what we vampires do best… suck. Blood, that is.
I charged the manticore and lunged at its back. It was so busy with the demigods, that it didn't see me, although when I landed, he was more than aware I was there. I bit his back, but he bucked me off a few seconds later. I landed on my feat and wiped my mouth, which was dripping with monster blood. The manticore prepared to strike me, but unfortunately for him, I was no ordinary vampire, and I had absorbed enough energy to do this.
"CRYPTIC CANON!" I shouted. An energy bolt the size of a yoga ball shot out from my fist as I punched the air and struck the ground in front of him. The blast knocked back the beast a few feet and knocked him over.
Dr. Thorn tried to get up, but he was only met by Jimmy, who was ready to punch him in the face, which he did. Thorn didn't go flying this time, but the blow was enough for him to stumble a little. After a few of these punches, Jimmy tried to perform a heavy blow, but Thorn was quick enough to stab Jimmy in his gut. Jimmy cried out in pain as he was lifted into the air. Thorn tried to throw him, but Jimmy had grabbed onto his tail and refused to let go.
Thorn swung Jimmy back and forth, but Jimmy still hung on. After a while, Jimmy began applying pressure. He slowly built it up until he managed to crack open Thorn's exo-skeleton. Blood oozed from the cracks. Thorn enraged.
"Zat's it!" He cried out as he swung Jimmy into me, sending us into the other demigods. "I have had enough of zis aggression!"
Just as he said that, a helicopter came into sight over the cliff line. It was black, large, and armed to the teeth with military gear.
"Perfect timing." Thorn said, smirking. "I vould love to stay and chat, but I must take my leave. And as insurance…"
Thorn swiped his tail to his left and managed to grab a helpless Bianca, who was trying to sneak away from the fight with her brother.
Nico looked up at her sister. "Bianca! Let her go!"
"Fat chance." Thorn said as he turned toward the copter. "Now be gone."
Just then, Anabeth got up from under Jimmy's head and charged at Thorn. When she reached him, she somehow managed to drive her knife into Thorn's back, making him cry out in pain.
Fortunately, he released Bianca, who I caught in mid-air, but Anabeth was not so lucky. Percy and his friends could only watch as she was pulled off the cliff and into the sea.
Percy stood up and ran for the cliff. He didn't reach the edge, however, because of the helicopter's machineguns. Percy was knocked off his feet, but Jimmy jumped in front of him in time to save him from the bullets. They hit Jimmy, but it didn't affect him in the slightest.
While the helicopter was busy with them, I pointed my scythe at the flying machine, pressed a button, and the blade shot out of the base like a grappling hook. The blade wrapped around the blades of the helicopter, and all it took was one pull to take them off. The helicopter spiraled out of control and crashed into the cliff below.
At this point, Jimmy looked like a bloody piece of Swiss cheese with tattered clothes. He sighed as he regenerated the wounds, but he was tired from the fight. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. I began to say something, but immediately regretted touching his bloodstained shirt.
"Um… good job." I said, wiping the blood on a non-bloody part of his shirt.
Jimmy nodded. "Uh." Was all he managed to say.
So… the demigods knew we were here, so might as well introduce ourselves, then get out. I turned to them and smiled.
"Hey, thanks for your help. We're-"
I was interrupted by the butt of Percy's sword connecting with the back of my head. I fell to the ground again.
Jimmy looked at me only to meet the same fate. "Uh… lotta knock outs in this chapter…" He said as he hit the ground.
Well, that's Chapter 1! Feel free to favorite, follow, and review. Also, if you're wondering where the huntresses are, they're in the next chapter, of course. Thanks for reading!
