Chapter 1

Sapphire

Sapphire was never one to be asked to fight for her sake and her friends but that's what life gives her. Before she would have done anything to leave class but she regretted that wish. Max, Adrian and her were out in the hallway finishing a project, the hallway was completely empty which made her as worried as the losing sport team because the hallway always had wandering kids that either skip classes or needed to take a walk to calm down. Sapphire was holding a piece of clay so she could make a small figurine, she was thinking about making some sort of forest animal like an owl or a bear or even-

"Wow Sapphire, you can hangout with these losers but you can't even say hi to me."

Standing in between the doorway in front of them was Vincent, listening to the name would give you an image in your head like some rich kid that's really tall and is wearing a suit but this will shock you a bit, he looks like some sort of nice-mean punk teen. He wore a black punk jacket with a plain white shirt, dark blue jeans and complete with black high tops. His hair has a punk-nice guy swing to it. One-quarter of his hair is shaved with some picture no one can figure out, the rest of it was either sticking up or swept down.

"Go away Vincent, we have work to finish, plus, don't you have work to be done or are your 'followers' doing it for you again?" Adrian spatted out. Adrian has something against Vincent, we all didn't like him but it was like Adrian and Vincent are trying to get under each other skin.

"Watch your mouth King, you might have the girl now but you have already been warned, you remember don't you?" A smirk spread across his oddly pale face. "Sapphire, come with me for a bit. I need to talk to you in private."

Sapphire narrowed her eyes, she didn't trust him one bit, but she was itching to find out what he meant by 'you got the girl' and he might tell her what he and Adrian hold a grudge on.

Max spoke up. "Hey, don't worry about missing work Sapphire. You know we'll get the work done, we're almost finished anyway." Sapphire nodded and left the group, forgetting to get her best friend's approval.

They started their walk at the west wing of the school, up at the stairs.

"Sapphire, I know you don't trust me and don't like me," Sapphire wanted to snap a 'was it that easy that even you could tell?', but she didn't open her mouth when she had a chance. "And that you want to know what the heck is going on between me and Adrian. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She was stunned, was she that easy to read? "You see, Adrian has been keeping a secret." He went in front of her when they reached the top of the stairs. "He is loyal to have this secret still kept from you and Maximus." She was starting to wonder what he meant but all that led to is listening to him. "You've been very quiet, is there something you'd like to say?"

"Ummm, it's just you've seem so serious and it's very, umm, how do I say this, awkward?" Sapphire didn't expect a question so, she was not ready to say something. She heard footsteps slowly creeping behind her. The footsteps stopped abruptly. Vincent and her peered over the edge of the railing, only to see three unfamiliar faces.

The first person was a girl, about sixteen-seventeen, tall with blonde tied up curly hair, her perfect tan skin matched with grey eyes. She was wearing an orange shirt with greek acronyms C.H.B, with a few tattered knee shorts showing her thighs. Dangling from her neck was a necklace with eleven beads that Sapphire couldn't make out, her hand showed two rings, one a beautiful owl, the other a simple grey leaf. A red high top accommodated the outfit perfectly.

Next to the girl was a boy about the same age as the girl. With his hair a bit blackish, the front sticking up, he had pretty much a flawless skin. Although he had some cuts and bruises here and there. He had a sea like green eyes. Compared with the girl they had the exact same clothing except he had six beads on his necklace and black high tops.

The third person had the same shirt as the other two (Maybe they went to the same place and got these shirts or something), he hid most of his curly brown hair in a yellow, black, and red beanie. His skin tan was flawless with deep brown eyes. He was wearing baggy jeans and red shoes, instead of a beaded necklace he wore a pan flutes around his neck.

They were followed by Adrian and Max, the boys shook their heads as a response, they had no idea for who the three people were as well.

The girl spoke in a calm voice but her eyes spoke with full sense of deadliness. "You have to get away from him and come with us. I know you don't trust us and know us, but you have to for now."

When Sapphire turned around to run down the stair, Vincent moved in a flash and was already in front of her.

"Oh come on Annabeth, let the girl stay with me. You know how I treat girls." His skin turned a pure white, he bared his new grown fangs he never had, suddenly mismatch legs started to appear. The left, brown and hairy with a hoof instead of a foot, the right was human but made of bronze.

The green eyed boy yelled. "It just had to be an empousa! How do you even know him Annabeth?"

Annabeth replied. "Seriously 'Seaweed Brain', not now! Where is your sword?" The guy called 'Seaweed Brain' was fumbling to pull out a very small object from his pocket: a ballpoint pen. The beanie hat guy was saying baaa baaa the whole time and cowered behind Annabeth. 'Seaweed Brain' took off the cap from his pen and a three feet, glowing, bronze sword was in his hand instead. Vincent hissed and quickly wrapped his arm around Sapphire, making her unable to move her upper-body and bared his fangs near her neck.

"If you want her alive put the sword away and surrender." The green eyed boy somehow turned his sword back to a pen and dropped it on the ground. A sense of dread spread across their faces. Luckily, Sapphire still holding that piece of clay in her hand, she suddenly had an idea, breaking the clay in half. Vincent, isn't that bright so he didn't have her legs in a lock so she kicked him in the donkey knee, he bounded back and winced in pain. Sapphire shoved him to the ground, covered his eyes with the clay.

"Hey 'Seaweed Brain'! Get the sword and give it to me!" Sapphire shouted at him. 'Seaweed Brain' grabbed the pen, tossing it to Sapphire, from there she uncapped it and stabbed the empousa in the chest. With a piercing screech of pain the monster bursted into golden dust and disappeared, standing up Sapphire took small steps behind her and collapsed on her knees cupping her ear with her hands. Her head ached from the odd sound surrounding her. Adrian raced up the stair to support Sapphire, pulling her up trying to get her to stand.

"Look, I know how it feels when you kill your first monster. It's cool and all but you feel horrible, monsters basically live forever. They come back and get their revenge either on you or a new hero." 'Seaweed Brain' tried to comfort her but it wasn't killing the monster, she could sense other monsters around the area. One was in the school, another was out on the street waiting, you get the idea.

"Outside, street, hallway, school, monsters."

Sapphire looked up and the five stared at her like she spoke in a foreign language. She cleared her voice. "There are monsters here, one is in this hallway, another is outside on the street, just standing there." She felt like an idiot, saying words that made no sense but, it seemed like the unfamiliar understood exactly what she felt. They probably made the same mistake or they had the same experiences as her. Either way, she didn't want to speak up any longer.

"Come with us for now. You all seem very strong and capable of taking care of yourselfs but you need to know about this place." The beanie guy said. He looked at her the whole entire time he said the sentences but she knew he meant all three of them.