" Cora, is this seat taken?" I looked up from my sandwich. A girl I had never seen before was standing impatiently before me. How did she know my name?
"Um. No." I said. "Are you new to Franklin Middle?" The girl gave me a confused look.
"Earth to Cora, hon, I'm in all of your class. Remember?"
"What? No... " I said. The girl just rolled her eyes. Was I supposed to know her? I was pretty sure I had known everyone in the whole grade. But this girl…
"Cora musta gotten a concussion." My friend, Ben joked.
"No, I didn't." I protested.
"Whatever." The girl said, sliding into the seat next to me. "Ben, do you want to go see the new Godzilla movie with me after school?"
Ben grinned. "Sure." He said.
"What's your name?" I asked her.
She said, "Cora, are you sure you didn't get a concussion? My name is Amber." I was pretty sure there was no one named Amber in the entire school, but I thought they would think I was crazy if I said anything else.
After school, I decided to go see the Godzilla movie. I figured I could watch it with Ben but then I remembered he was watching it with the girl, Amber. But I decided to go anyways. I left a note for Mom and rode my bike to the AMC Theater.
When I finally found a seat, I noticed that Amber and Ben were sitting one row below me. The movie was ok and the popcorn was amazing. Just then, as the movie was about to end, I saw Amber and Ben lean in for a kiss. Yuck. I turned away. But then, I smelled smoke. Amber's red hair was burning. I did the first thing that popped in my head- I grabbed my soda and dumped it on Amber's head, hoping it would quench the flames. It didn't. Amber just turned around angrily. I suddenly realized she smelled like horses. The smell I remembered from my cousin's ranch in Texas.
"What the F***!" Amber screamed in rage, her hair burning brighter than ever. "Back off, Cora daughter of Demeter, he's mine." She hissed. She stood up. Daughter of what? Suddenly I heard a strange clunking noise. I looked down and saw that one of Amber's legs was made out of bronze. And the other one...the other one was a donkey leg!
"Cora?" Ben said, bewildered. "What are you doing here?" Amber suddenly leaned in. I thought she was going to try to kiss Ben again. Ben cried out in pain. A gash had opened up where Amber's lips touched. I realized she had bitten him. Blood trickled down his face. Amber was lapping up the blood in relish. I screamed.
"Vampire!" I shrieked. I hurled my popcorn at her and tried to pull her away from Ben but she grabbed me and threw me against my seat. My head connected with the chair leg. I noticed that no one else was paying attention to what was going on.
"Try empousa, hon." Amber smiled, her lips covered in blood.
"You...you...have a donkey leg…" Was all I could stammer out. Amber let out a high pitched wail.
"Don't make fun Cora, dear. At least my face is prettier than yours." She snarled. Suddenly, a knife appeared in her chest and she started to disintegrate. I closed my eyes and held my head. Was I imagining this whole day? I hoped this was a nightmare. When I opened my swollen eye, I saw a pile of sand and a limb body. A hand reached out and pulled me up. A lady, probably in college, was helping me up. In her hand was a knife coated in yellow dust. Her eyes were a distinct stormy gray. Beside her stood a young man with black hair and sea green eyes.
"Uh. Thanks." I said. The lady nodded. The dude, probably her boyfriend, said, "Annabeth, we have to get her to camp. The empousa called her a daughter of Demeter!"