Never-ending Trouble

A/N: I just can't seem to make my chapters longer! I'm trying, though :) Thank you for all the reviews, and I would love to reply to some of the people who don't have accounts. Also, after this chapter is put on FF, I am going to try to reply to all reviews. So, leave a comment or critique! Also, even if I don't reply, I read all reviews. I will try to update once every month, at the least. It's been so long since I started this story...most of my inspiration is gone. I will try to keep it as exciting as possible, but most likely it won't be a long story. I will finish it though.

Sorry for the long author's note...

Annabeth looked grim as finished sending an Iris message to Chiron, at a fountain in a deserted corner of a park.

"Chiron says that the only thing we can do is to defeat their alliances, and make it virtually impossible for them to team up again."

"That's gonna be very hard." said Nudge. "We don't know where their leaders are, how they're doing this,-" Max put a hand over Nudge's mouth to stop her before she started.

Hermione looked uncertain. "Nudge is right though. We don't know where to start."

"But it's not like we can't do anything." Percy objected.

"We can think about leaders." Annabeth suggested.

"Okay. Um...the Death Eaters. I guess a very high person, who was close to Voldemort, the dark lord we told you about, would be it." Ginny contributed.

"Erasers would have a scientist or a high ranking one for a leader." Iggy said.

"Monsters don't have a leader. A powerful one could rule them, however." Percy said.

"Which gets us back to square one." Iggy grumbled.

"...Honestly, I'm not sure whose still alive. After the war, it was very unorganized. Most of the Death Eaters were captured, but some escaped."

Annabeth considered this new information. "The monsters are not powerful enough to transfer their power on their own. Kronos could have helped, but seeing as he's as dead as a Titan can get... Gaea, Mother Earth, has been restless, though I don't think she's done anything."

Hermione thought for a moment. "Considering that we wiped out almost all the Death Eaters, I don't think they would have the power. Besides, somebody would have figured out by now if there was powerful magic going on."

"The Erasers or the School are definitely not strong enough to do something like that.

Hermione tapped her chin slightly. "Okay, so they must have some kind of power source. I'm thinking that if we destroy it, we can get everything normal again."

Annabeth smiled at Hermione. "That's what I was thinking. But what is their power source? We should probably go to a library and search up mythology books."

"That reminds me!" Hermione pulled open the small bag around her neck. Then, to everyone but the wizards' amazement, she put her hand in.

"What...I'm not even gonna ask." Fang said.

Hermione pulled out three books. "These might have information on a power source they could have used."

"Let's get to the library!" Everybody, save for two people, groaned.

An hour later, they came out, triumphant.

"Finally!" said Fang, over-dramatically. "I thought I would never see light again!"

"Stop over-reacting." said Annabeth, swatting him. "It was only an hour."

They sat at a picnic table, and Annabeth and Hermione started to compare notes.

"Okay, everyone." Hermione started. "We know that the Death Eaters are using some kind of emerald to store their powers in. We know that if we crush this stone somehow, their powers will escape."

"And," Annabeth continued, "The monsters probably have stored a hair, scale, etc. of each of their kind. Likewise, the Erasers have most likely stored a

fur or tooth in this stone. So when these things mix, the power is transferred."

"Oookay, so our plan is to crush the emerald?" Nudge asked.

"We have to find it first." Hermione answered. "But yes, that's the plan."

"So we find this stone, fight the bad guys, and smash it?" Max asked.

"You make it sound simpler than it is. But yes." It was Annabeth who answered this time.

Percy fidgeted impatiently as he waited behind a building.

"Are you sure they were coming here?" he asked Annabeth, also crouched beside him, though she had her invisibility cap on.

"Yes, Seaweed brain, shut up." Annabeth whispered.

Then he saw the telkhines. He braced himself- then jumped out right in front of the telkhines.

They were stunned for just a moment, but that was all Percy needed.

He whipped out Riptide and slashed at the telkhines' faces. He saw Annabeth give her cap to Max, who had a tracking devices in her hand.

Even though Percy couldn't see her, he knew Max was slipping the tracking devices on the monsters. He hoped he could keep the monsters busy enough so that they wouldn't notice the devices being put on them.

His hopes faded as the bigger of the two monsters reared up and slammed his paw/flipper backwards- right into where Max should be.

"Ow!" came a cry.

Immediately the monster turned around and started swiping at where Max should have been. The cap fell off her head, and Percy could see she was bruised.

She was in a horrible position. She couldn't fly away, and the telkhine was hitting her too much for her to fight back.

He was brought back to reality when the other telkhine swiped at his face. He scowled when he saw it had made a long gash down his arm.

A shouted word- "Confundo!"- and a flash of light hit the bigger telkhine. It stopped bruising Max for a moment, confused, but in that time Max punched it in the face- and sent it running the way it came.

The smaller telkhine paused, then followed its leader. "Stop it!" Percy yelled. "We can ask get information out of it!"

Immediately another word- "Stupefy!"- and the telkhine was stunned. Then Hermione said, " Impedimenta!" and the monster was completely frozen.

Harry took out a vial and poured the contents into the monster's mouth. "Truth potion." He explained. "Now ask it anything."

Annabeth stepped in front of it and started to interrogate it. "Is it true you are using an emerald to combine your powers?"

The telkhine made an ugly face, but the words still escaped. "Yes."

"Why didn't you use other powers in this battle?"

"We have not yet mastered them."

"Why are you combining powers?"

"Because we have failed to capture our enemies countless times. We believe that if we combine our powers, us monsters can finally crush Camp Half-Blood, the Death Eaters will destroy Harry Potter and his friends, and the school will capture the mutants and not lose them- again." the telkhine finished, and the listeners finally understood.

"Where is this emerald?" Annabeth continued her interrogation.

"Death Valley, California. At the School."

Max sucked in a breath. "Of course! They knew we would never willingly return there, and you guys wouldn't take us there."

Annabeth nodded. "That makes sense. Is that all we need to know?"

"I think so. We can probably let it go now." replied Max.

Harry took the spells off and the monster ran away.

"We probably need to go there as fast as possible. If we get there before they have mastered each each other's powers, then we'll be able to stop them with less trouble." Hermione said.

"Yes," said Ginny, "but how will we get there? California is all the way across the country! We could apparate, but I don't think we can get us all there."

"Well, we could always "borrow" a car. Max suggested with a grin.

R&R, and if you have ideas for this story, please tell me, 'cause I am running out!