AN: Hey again! I am not sure whether I should continue this story. Until I get at least 15 reviews, I may stall this story, so advertise my story and get other people to read and review it, so I don't stop this story! Gosh, that was depressing. This chapter will make up for the disheartening AN, so read and review! Another thing, this story is set after Blood of Olympus, which is the fifth book in the Heroes of Olympus. Leo, Piper and Jason, Hazel and Frank aren't in this story, just to eliminate earlier confusions. Let's go! And another thing, I didn't mention it in the last AN, but the three swords of power that need to be found are guarded by fierce monsters. Now lets go!

Chapter 9:

Annabeth's point of view

"We're so dead." I trembled at the noise. It was a BOOM! that filled you with fear, played games with you, consumed you, and turned you to ashes. I hadn't felt this kind of fear since I fell in Tartarus with Percy in the war with Gaea earlier this year. I still hadn't fully recovered. But that's another thing. I saw Reanne's face was confused, like Destiny's.

"You guys, I hope that ain't what I think it is," Nico said, clasping and unclasping his hands, the thing he does when he's nervous.

"Yup," Percy agreed. His hand clasped mine, and I shuddered.

"The Chimaera," I whispered.

"The most deadly of all the Greek monsters, far deadlier than Hydra, the Minotaur and the Nemean Lion." Percy shook a little at the mention of the Minotaur. I had forgotten that he had fought the Minotaur when he first arrived, all those years back.

"So how do we fight it?" Reanne questioned. The BOOM! of the fire escaping out of Chimaera's three heads could be heard close now. Percy uncapped Riptide, and Reanne brushed her delicate fingers over Aquarius. Aquarius grew into the 48 inch sword it was, and it waved precariously. Nico brought out Stygian, and Destiny unsheathed Myst, her sword that was made in the magical fires of Hecate. My knives, that I had recently named Thanasima, Greek for deadly. Percy inched towards the building, and peeked around the corner. Immediately, Chimaera spotted him, and Percy was locked in a deadly battle. I rushed up to the monster, and ducked beneath it's massive, towering heads and started slashing at the underbelly of the monster with my knives. Chimaera howled with pain and rage, and started thrashing about, trying to eliminate the source of its pain: me. I ducked and moved, a technique I had mastered in my early years of camp.

"Okay Annabeth, you got this," I whispered to myself. "Slash, move, duck, slash, move, duck..." I repeated the sequence in my head, until the underbelly was criss-crossed with knife-marks. I hid behind one of Chimaera's tree-trunk legs, and out of the corner of my eye, I witnessed one of the most horrifying things ever, worse than Tartarus. Percy was lying on the floor, unconscious, Riptide laying yards away. Reanne's eyes kept glancing over to Percy, lying unprotected on the ground, and Nico was trying to get to Percy, but he was locked in battle with Chimaera's snake head. Reanne was fighting with the goat head, and Destiny was trying to hack of Chimaera's legs. She succeeded, and the Chimaera growled in pain. Nico won the battle, and the snake head thrashed in pain. Chimaera took a step back, and howled. It let out a series of grunts and growls, and disappeared in a puff of violet smoke. Nico turned pale at what the Chimaera had grunted, and he staggered.

"Percy!" I screamed and ran over to him. He had a deep gash on one cheek, and his rib cage was smashed to bits. Reanne sat down next to me, and shook her head sadly.

"Not good," Nico said. Destiny didn't say anything, she just took out to ambrosia squares and popped them in Percy's mouth. She then unscrewed a carton of nectar, and tipped it over Percy's wounds. One, single drop of glittery gold liquid fell onto his skin, and the wounds cleared up and disappeared as if they had never been there. I felt multiple tears stream down my cheeks. Percy stirred, but didn't wake up.

Percy's point of view

The last thing I remembered was one of Chimaera's talons swipe along my cheek, and it's head sink into my ribs in a brutal head butt. I fell onto the ground, and darkness consumed me. After a while, I felt a presence near me. I sat up, and looked around. A imperious goddess was seated on a throne of glass, stars decorated on the silver legs.

"Percy, we meet again," she drawled, and my fists clenched. It was Nyx, the Goddess of Night. I hadn't forgotten what she had done to me. My teeth clenched, and my fingers reached automatically into my pocket for Riptide.

"Don't fight me, demigod!" Nyx snarled. "I am here in your dreams because I need to tell you something." I knew that the Goddess could kill me whenever she wanted, so she wouldn't have hesitated. I withdrew my hands form my pocket, but sat down at edge, itching to have my reassuring friend safely in my hands.

"Well done fighting the Chimaera," Nyx commented. "Couldn't have dealt with it better." I clenched and un clenched my fists.

"Get to the point Nyx," I said with gritted teeth. She laughed lightly, dismissing my remark with a haughty wave of her hand.

"Okay, then, you seem desperate to see your friends. You see, before you fell unconscious, the Chimaera said something to you. He said, that the swords are guarded by monsters, and you must defeat the monsters to obtain the sword. So be careful, because the monsters that are guarding won't be easy to defeat! Not like the Chimaera; he only attacked you to prove a point." I thought things over, as Nyx watched me with her dark eyes.

"That's all. Dismissed," Nyx said, sounding much like my beloved (yeah, right) Mrs Dodds. She waved her hand, and darkness once again filled my mind, but this time, it didn't last for long. My eyes flickered, and opened, and I saw Annabeth's tearful face.

"Percy!" I opened my arms to hug her, but was greeted instead with a cruelly sharp knife held to my throat.

"Seaweed Brain, if you dare play this game again, I will not hesitate to skin you," Annabeth said, murder in her eyes. I chuckled lightly, not sure if it was a joke or not. Annabeth put her knives away, and then hugged me harder than a python.

"Don't ever leave me again, Seaweed Brain," she said tearfully. I hugged her back, relishing her soft hair in my fingers.

"Percy! Sorry to cut your reunion, but we need to leave!" Nico cried. I stood up, and listened.

"The sword Earthen is in Pennsylvania, in a abandoned quarry. This should be easy!" I shook my head. "No guys, when I was out, Nyx visited me. She said all the swords are guarded by monsters, and that they are harder to defeat than Chimaera, and see how much it took out of us to fight that overgrown rat!" Destiny laughed, and gave me a friendly hug. Nico fist pumped me, and Reanne slapped me playfully on the shoulder.

"It's settled!" I cried, facing the sunset. "To Pennsylvania; to find the legendary Earthen, one of the swords of power!"

AN: Hope that was a good chapter! I just looked at some of my early photos, and I saw one of me when I was eight, and I was trying to crack an egg open with scissors. Ho hum! Well, that's okay for now! Read and review!