Hey, so this is set about fifteen years after PJO ended.
Mina
Mina Prince was giggling lightly, aware of what she was doing, when she heard the laughter from across the room. Admittedly, it was a beautiful laughter, not the annoying obnoxious kind that makes everyone regret saying something funny. Mina knew whoever had said the humorous comment, probably a girl, was extremely proud of herself. After all, it was one thing to see Ace Menefer smile, he was always smiling, but to actually make him laugh...
Mina could only wish she could naturally laugh so beautifully, but no, she had to monitor her laugh or she would undoubtedly sound annoying. Her natural laugh was a little too low for her comfort and often ended in a high-pitched squeak, which sounded worse when combined.
She allowed her eyes to travel in Ace's general direction, only to see he was surrounded by her friends and classmates. She forced herself not to roll her eyes in annoyance. Kevin was actually talking with her, something which rarely happened and she had to seize the opportunity to snag him as her date to the next school dance. He was, after all, the most sought after guy at Lawrence Academy, the all boys brother school of her own. Well, the second most sought after boy.
Ace was number one. In fact, he was number one in everything. Captain of the soccer team, spoke three languages, and youngest ever president of the Lawrence-Lexington combined Student Council as a mere seventh-grader, though Mina was sure she was more qualified for the job. When it came to Lexington, Mina held the reins, but she worked for it. Hours were spent preparing her speech for the Lexington class presidency, not to mention her team of poster makers. She studied for hours every day for her straight As, working through both her dyslexia and her ADHD to keep up with her advanced classes. She wasn't on any sports teams, but she had secured the lead villain in the last Lawrence-Lexington stage production, and she had started and headed the Lawrence-Lexington student newsletter. Things just came easily to Ace.
She brushed her long red hair off her shoulder, showing it off for Kevin to notice. His smiled indicated he did indeed notice her beautiful locks. As did a few of the younger girls visiting from the local public school. At the end of every semester, the schools held a combined meet-and-greet to which 'outstanding' students from the near-by public schools were invited, and it was the duty of the leaders of clubs and sports teams to be there to encourage students to apply for scholarships, or even convince their parents to pay the hefty tuition. If Mina hadn't been born of the Prince family, she could have gotten in by scholarship, easily. After all the things she did for the school, she felt she deserved more recognition.
She made a mental note to organize a fund-raiser so that she'd be admitted into Lexington senior high without the need for entrance exams, as the senior high was much more rigorous than the junior high.
However, just after her hair settled onto her shoulders, she noticed a boy. He looked like he should be at the meet and greet for the senior high, not the junior high. At the youngest, he would probably be in ninth grade, too old to apply for the junior high. She figured he was lost.
"Excuse me," she said sweetly to Kevin, and she began to weave her path to the boy. His dark hair fell into his blue-grey eyes, and he had a very handsome face, though it still contained a bit of his soft youth features. She put on a bright smile as she approached. "Hi," she said brightly. "I'm Mina Prince. Anyway I can be of service to you tonight?"
"Oh, Mina, don't offer yourself so easily," Ace's voice sounded next to her and she felt him slip his arm around her shoulders. His fingers began tracing letters on the exposed skin of her upper arm. He looked at the boy. "She's actually very pricey."
Mina took great pleasure in pushing Ace away, though she knew her cheeks were turning pink. She turned back to the boy.
"I'm actually looking for someone," he said. "Ace Menefer, do you know him?"
Ace looked at the boy, a slim blonde eyebrow raised. "Do I know you?" he asked. Ace surveyed the boy up and down a few times.
"I wouldn't suspect it," the boy said. "But if you could just come with me. We have a few things to talk about."
Ace simply laughed again, his brown eyes twinkling. Mina looked away from him back at the boy. "Look, he currently has duties to fulfill to his school," she said. "So, if you're not thinking about applying here, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
The boy looked at Mina for a few moments, his eyes narrowing, before he turned around and walked out. Mina sighed and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Ace, you attract the weirdest people."
"I attract all people," Ace said, smirking at Mina. "That includes the weirdos, and the beauties." He smiled. "Now, don't you have some girls to convince to apply?"
"I'm sure you were doing a fine job all on your own," Mina said. She turned back toward where she had left Kevin, only to see that he was talking with a few boys who looked like they were athletes. She sighed. There was no use going back there as she would have nothing to say on that subject. "I'm gonna catch some air. Do something useful while I'm gone."
Ace simply chuckled again and ruffled her hair. It was something he did a lot, mostly to remind her how short she was. Mina swatted his arms away and slipped out the door. Lawrence was a prominent school in the neighborhood which attracted students from as far as an hour away because of its facilities, curriculum, and how its graduates nearly always ended up in Ivy leagues. It's halls were filled with framed works of art by previous students, all which were award winning. In between the art were pictures of famous alums. Famous athletes, successful billionaires, senators, even a few famous actors. In good lighting, it tended to make people stop every few feet to appreciate the grandness of the legacy. But Mina had been through the halls many times since she was little, as her father was an alum and was invited to all the events held in the building. As well, because all clubs and activities which involved both schools were held at Lawrence, Mina often had to walk the two blocks after Lexington let out for most of her activities.
Usually, there were at least a couple of people in the halls. Or a teacher. However, the halls were oddly empty as she strutted down, making the click-clack of her shoes echo eerily.
Mina had just walked outside, when a dark body jumped at her. She stumbled backwards, onto a bench. The boy from before stood over her, looking like an axe-murderer. He had no weapon, but his fist was quick and she barely dodged it by scrambling off the bench. She hadn't gotten more than two feet before his foot was connecting with her head. Her vision began to go black before she hit the ground. The last thing she saw was Cruz, Ace's family's personal gopher, running in their direction, looking very odd due to his leg deformities.
"Are you sure she's not an empousa?" Mina heard the boy's voice when she began to stir. She was lying on a bed in what she assumed was the Lawrence infirmary, a bag of ice where the foot had connected.
"Do you really think you could have knocked one out without a weapon?" Cruz questioned. He sounded annoyed, even a little angry. "I watched this girl grow up from the time she was two. She's no monster. I called Chiron because it's time Ace learned who he was."
"I know there was at least one empousa in that room," the boy said. "What other explanation do you have for why she followed me?"
"It's called getting air," Mina said, her voice a lot quieter than she had meant to speak. She was no meek little girl. She opened her eyes and pushed herself to the sitting position. "What the hell is an empousa?"
Cruz narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Care to field this, because you're the one that dragged her into this."
The boy rolled his blue-grey eyes, which would have been almost enchantingly beautiful if the boy hadn't been so weird. "My name is Theo Alden," he said. "I came here from Camp Half-Blood because your friend, Ace, is a demigod. I'm to bring him back with me for his own safety."
Mina blinked a few times. She turned to look at Cruz, his arms crossed, his eyes looking much older than his face, as he looked younger than he had to be. She had known him for as long as she could remember, and she couldn't remember him ever aging. "I thought Mrs. Menefer forbid you from doing drugs. I assume this is one of your junkie friends. So, how about you drop him off at the nearest rehab clinic, promise to never shoot up again, and we'll pretend this never happened."
Theo frowned. "Never mind, a mere mortal wouldn't understand."
"Mere mortal?" Mina asked. She lifted an eyebrow. "As if you're some super mortal."
"Demigod, yes, I am," Theo said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to make sure that Ace doesn't get himself killed." With that, he walked out.
Mina jumped off the bed, following. "You had better not disturb the meet-and-greet. It's extremely important to the schools."
However, they were not far down the hall when one of the possible applicants appeared at the far end of the hall. She was a pretty girl, wearing a rather cute dress, and had her hair tied up in a bow. Mina was sure she had been one of the girls who had been crowding Ace. Theo stopped in his tracks.
"I believe that you found your empousa," Cruz said, stepping up beside the boy. "You have a blade on you?"
"Just a dagger," Theo said.
The girl chuckled, ambling forward. The sound of her steps didn't match the flats she was wearing. A clomp, like a hoof, followed by a clunk of metal. "So, you figured me out," she said. She sniffed the air. "Oh, that blood smells delicious. Olympian blood, no doubt. It just smells so delectable."
"Blood?" Theo asked. Then his eyes slid to Mina, still standing behind him and Cruz a few steps. She reached up, and sure enough, she felt something a little wet where her head hurt from being kicked. She pulled her hand back, and it was definitely blood. Before Mina could react, the girl was charging at her, much too quickly for her to react. The girl changed. Her hair set on fire, and her body changed, taking on a donkey leg and a bronze leg. Cruz and Theo both stepped closer together to try to block her. She barely pushed them, but they each went flying toward the wall.
Mina was tackled to the ground. If she had thought Theo was an axe murderer earlier, it was nothing compared to this girl. Mina tried to put up a fight, but she was still dazed from earlier.
"Mina!" Cruz cried out, and he charged the girl. His chauffeur cap, which he always wore but never sat quite right on his head had fallen off. Mina couldn't decide if she should be more concerned about the girl apparently trying to kill her, or that someone she had known for ten years had a huge set of horns on his head she had never noticed. But Cruz knocked the girl off Mina. He reached into his back pocked and pulled out a pocket knife.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing, but then she felt a hand on her arm. She yelped, turning to see it was Theo. "Come on, we need to get out of here." He tugged and pulled her down the hall toward the only open exit. She nearly tripped several times.
"Mina!" She stopped and pulled her arm free from Theo's grip two halls down from where she had left Cruz and the girl when she heard Ace's voice. She looked at him. There was no way he could be a demigod.
"We can't stop," Theo said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her again.
"Hey, let her go," Ace said, but Theo paid him no heed. He kept pulling Mina down the hall, and if his initial goal was to get Ace out of the building, it was working as Ace followed.
By the time they got outside, there were storm clouds in what had been a clear night earlier. They hadn't gone more than a few steps when the girl tore out of the building, sprinted in front of them, cutting off their path.
"No where to run to, son of Athena," she said.
"Jackie?" Ace questioned, clearly seeing her in her new form. He stumbled back, falling onto the same bench Mina had earlier.
"Now, if you'd like to live, you'll leave me these two," Jackie said, snickering.
"Not likely," Theo said, pulling out a bronze colored dagger from his back pocket. "You'll have to kill me first."
Jackie smiled. "In you insist," she said. She charged. Mina couldn't help it, she screamed. And when she did, a bolt of lightning came from the gathering storm clouds, striking Jackie. Jackie was shocked right off the ground for a moment, thrown back several feet. Once again, Mina felt dizzy. Theo didn't notice as he charged Jackie and stabbed the dagger into her chest, as she was also off balance. Then, Jackie dissolved into gold dust and was blown away in the winds.
"Mina!" Ace yelled, but his voice sounded far away. She noticed the world was spinning, or was that her. She felt the sensation of falling, and then felt a pair of arms around her, holding her up as the world faded to black again.