The first week of June, the last day before Annabeth and Percy returned to camp for the summer. It was also one of the worst days of the year for them. Not just because it was the last grueling day in the mortal world; that was a given. No, this particular day turned out to be especially shitty. It began when Percy went to Annabeth's school in the city, where he came face-to-face with mutant cheerleaders.
"You nervous?" Riptide wondered as Percy stood outside the school's boundaries, against the gate. The son of Poseidon shrugged.
"Not really," he answered. "It's just a movie."
"I meant about camp."
"Oh…not really," he claimed.
"Sure," it didn't sound convinced. "Because you left with the best of intentions."
"Well, they're either gonna be shitheads, which I'm used to, or they're gonna avoid me, which I'm also used to. The only people there that matter are Silena, Beckendorf, and maybe Clarisse, on a good day. Even that's pushing it."
The gate opened, signaling that their school day was over. Not many people came out at first, with most of them going to empty out their lockers. Percy walked in to meet Annabeth inside, and he ceased talking to nothing.
"And what about blondie?" the blade wondered. "What are you gonna do if they rag on her?"
"Kick their ass, whoever does it," Percy claimed. "That's what a good boyfriend would do."
"Are you a good boyfriend?"
"I'm not gonna answer that," Percy thought as he turned into a staircase and passed by a group of preppy-looking girls. He tried to imagine Thalia wearing one of the private school's uniforms, and decided that he'd rather see Polyphemus naked than try to imagine it.
"Okay, then what if she doesn't want you to? Like what if she wants to fight her own battles?"
"Well, I…never thought about it like that."
"Of course you didn't," Riptide teased. "Besides, in your condition, I doubt you'd be able to stand up to anybody."
"What do you mean 'my condition'? I'm fully healed," Percy thought, scowling and drawing looks from the girls he passed. "I could take on anyone."
"Listen, bro…maybe you should ease into it, is all I'm saying."
"…I'll take it under advisement," Percy promised as he spotted the ponytail of blond hair streaked with gray. He approached her.
Annabeth had been eagerly awaiting the end of the day. It was the last day she'd have to deal with this stupid mortal world for at least a couple of months.
"You going home to cut yourself some more?" some other girl talked crap across the hall, in reference to the scars on Annabeth's arms and legs from her many battles. "Or are you going to visit that 'boyfriend' you claim to have?"
Annabeth took a deep breath and bit her lip as she pretended to rummage through her locker to clear it out. "Just hang in there…" she told herself that a lot.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you to look at someone when they talk to you?" the girl continued, as this was her last chance to talk tough shit the whole year. "Oh wait, that's right! She abandoned you, because you're a worthless-"
"Hey," a guy's voice entered the relatively empty hall. It was deeper than Annabeth remembered it.
"O-oh," the girl straightened her hair. "Hello. I'm, uh-"
"You're a bitch," he answered, not even hesitating. The girl, probably rightfully so, looked incredibly offended and put her hand on her hip.
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, don't get mad because it's true," the guy said, holding his hands up in mock defense. "Now run along."
The girl, not being sure what else to do, obeyed the stranger, and pounded down the hall in a huff. Annabeth closed her empty locker for the last time of the school year, and was met with those wonderful sea green eyes. "Took you long enough," she said, smiling. Percy returned with a smirk, before it quickly dropped. He raised his hand to her face, and wiped a tear from her eye. "Shit!" she tore her face away and wiped the rest herself. She didn't even feel it.
"You never said you were bullied like that at school," he said as the hall cleared completely.
Annabeth sighed and leaned against her locker. "Every demigod is made fun of at mortal schools. They just don't understand, you know?"
"Right…so, you ready for the movie?"
"Um, actually, I promised a friend I'd walk home with her," Annabeth explained. "Is that cool?"
"Ice cold," Percy claimed. "Who's the friend?"
"Her name is-"
"Hey, Annabeth!" a bubbly voice approached them from behind. "Sorry it took me so-" she stopped, and pointed at Percy, who did the same when he saw her.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" they both demanded.
"Um…" Annabeth looked from one to the other. "Do you two know each other?"
"Yes, well, sort of, it's weird," the redhead girl claimed.
"Red?" Percy wondered. "I thought you lived in the Hoover Dam area. Why are you in New York?"
"It was a school trip, idiot," Rachel claimed, face-palming. "And I told you not to call me that."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I never heard about a trip to the-"
"And you still haven't given me an explanation about when you tried to cut me in half!"
"Shshshsh…" Percy tried to quiet her down. "Not out loud…do you want the cops on me?"
"Maybe I do," Rachel crossed her arms. "Might even out when security ignored you."
"Why, you stuck up-"
"Okay, I'm sensing some hostility here," Annabeth moved between them.
"Only because she's being such a brat and accusing me of trying to kill her," Percy argued.
"Percy, Rachel isn't accusing you of anything," she eased him down.
"No, I'm definitely accusing him of that," Rachel egged him on. The two stood there staring each other down for a moment, when Rachel's glare broke, when she looked past him. "We should go."
"What? Why?" Percy questioned. Annabeth looked where Rachel was looking.
"Ew, yeah. We should," she agreed, pushing the two forward.
"What?" Percy looked behind him and saw two other girls walking toward them. "Ugh, fine."
"Stop," one of them called. "Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson."
The two froze. They weren't supposed to know Percy's name. Rachel didn't look anything more than annoyed. "What? Did you try and cut her in half too?" she questioned.
Percy turned around. "How do you know my name?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "Have we met somewhere before?"
"Careful," Riptide warned as the two girls approached. They each looked like cheerleaders, but they sported the same uniforms as Annabeth and Rachel. Granted, they had a different color tie, probably indicative of a different grade level. If Percy had to guess, he'd say they were seniors.
"You weren't supposed to get in the way," one of them claimed. Percy reached into his pocket and grabbed Riptide.
"One of their legs is metal," Rachel claimed. "The other is like donkey or something."
"Stupid mortal girl!" the other one hissed, literally. Before Percy's eyes, or perhaps he just concentrated hard enough, their appearance changed in a grotesque one, with white skin, hair that seemed like it was on fire, red eyes, and mismatched legs like Rachel described.
"Empousai," Annabeth stated. "I'm surprised I never noticed."
"Wait, you've dealt with these things before, Annabeth?" Rachel questioned. "Why did you tell me?"
"Why didn't you ever tell me that you were clear-sighted?" the daughter of Athena retorted.
"What does that mean?"
"Enough!" the Empousai charged. Percy whipped out Riptide and slashed as one approached, cutting off her arm as she passed. Annabeth was without a weapon, so she led Rachel away from the fighting, but one of the Empousai followed them.
"Damn…" Percy cut the other off from following. "You're mine."
"Psh, as if!" she mocked. "I doubt you could handle a single Stymphalian Bird!"
"I don't understand that analogy," Percy claimed, trying to inch away so he could dash after Annabeth.
"Because it wasn't an analogy," Riptide clarified.
"Not now," Percy begged as the Empousa charged. Percy side-stepped its strike, but tripped on its metal leg when she stuck it out. If he'd have been training since winter, he probably would've been able to react to it better, but instead, he sent straight onto his sweet ass. "Damn…did the monsters get faster?"
"Silly spider!" the Empousa's hair flared in an array of embers, ready to light up the building at any moment. "You really think you have the chops to beat us?"
"Shut up," Percy warned.
"You saw what happened the last time you tried, choker."
"Shut up!" Percy whipped his free hand forward and shot out a potent stream of water from nothing, shoving the bitch into the opposite wall and putting out her hair flames. Immediately, Percy's arm throbbed. He hadn't summoned water since…his fight with Polyphemus. The memory shook Percy to his core, as did the mention of Atlas and his battle with the Titan. Suddenly, Percy found it a bit hard to breathe properly.
"Careful. You're still not even close to one hundred percent yet," Riptide reminded him.
"So cranky," the Empousa didn't seem all that hurt from the attack as both stood to fight. "I think the kiddie needs a nap," she bared her fangs, slowly transforming into an even more monstrous form. The sight terrified Percy, but he still stood and raised his sword to fight.
If he'd had a shield he could play this a lot safer, but he lost the only one worth having in his fight with Atlas. Or rather, in Atlas' massacre of Percy. So, he could only play this offensively. Percy took the initiative and slashed as the Empousa, trying to out-speed it, but it twisted and compressed in ways that definitely weren't natural.
"What's wrong, Cruel Spider? Can't keep up?"
"Piss off!" Percy yelled, finally grabbing her by the hair and the stabbing into her throat. Before she perished, her hair burst into flames, burning Percy's hand slightly. "Gah! Damn…" he said, trying to summon water again to heal it. This time, though, he was unable to, perhaps because there was no more imminent danger or intense fury to direct the effort. "Where'd Annabeth go?" he said to no one as he stood and ran off in the direction she went.
xxxXXXxxx
Annabeth really didn't want things to turn out this way. She just wanted to go see a movie with her boyfriend. It would've been a nice pleasant way to spend their last day out of camp. Then they would've gone to camp, and everything would've been just hunky-dory and nothing bad would've happened ever for the rest of their lives…
Things never turn out how they're supposed to. One of these days, pointing it out is going to be less funny and more sad and pathetic.
Rachel soon took the lead, and dragged Annabeth to a dead end; the band room. Bad jokes aside, there was at least ample cover to hide as the Empousa that followed them searched for them. It wouldn't take it long, though, as monsters could smell demigods like The Tick could smell justice.
At first, the girls tried to maneuver around the monster to get to the door, but the Empousa covered its bases too well, and always kept one eye on the door. Soon, Annabeth got the creeping feeling like they wouldn't be able to leave this room, and then panic started to set in.
Her body began to shake and her breathing became irregular, even as she tried to control it. She wasn't alone this time, she told herself, but it didn't help much if at all.
As the girls tried to move behind some stands, Annabeth, in her state of fear, bumped into a few. "There you are!" the Empousa whirled around towards them. Annabeth froze. She knew she should dodge out of the way, or try and find a weapon to fight with, but she just froze. As all of the fear and pain came rushing back from when she last was at the mercy of a monster, the Empousa charged.
"Get down!" Rachel yelled, pushing Annabeth over, both of them just narrowly avoiding a gruesome death. "Annabeth, let's go, before-"
"Shut up!" the Empousa threw a music stand at her. The bitch then turned her attention to Annabeth, who was still on the ground. She gave the daughter of Athena a wicked grin and then started laughing. "Lord Kronos said you'd be the harder one to kill. But you're too stupid to move out of the way on your own! You're making this too easy!" it bared its fangs and its hair started flaming.
"Move! Move it, Annabeth!" she yelled in her head, but her arms and legs felt like lead.
"Annabeth!" they all heard Percy's voice rushing down the hall. The Empousa hissed. "Where are you?"
"Impossible!" the Empousa hissed, rearing back.
The boy's voice seemed to shake Annabeth out of her daze just long enough to make a split-second decision. She tipped over more stands and made a whole bunch of noise, so he'd come. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person who'd hear it, so they had a very small window of time to get out of here before the staff showed up.
Percy burst in and surveyed the situation. Most of the room was an absolute mess, Rachel was on one side of the room, Annabeth and the bitch were in the middle, with Annabeth on her knees.
"Gah! Fine!" the Empousa whirled around. "I will deal with you myself!"
"Hey!" a voice came from outside the door. "What's going on in there?"
The monster grinned, forming an idea in her head. Percy moved in for the kill. "Oh my God!" the monster's voice momentarily reverted to sounding human, and also sounded terrified. "What are you doing?! Please! Stop!" Percy raised his sword.
"Percy, no!" Rachel called from the other side.
The staff burst in just in time to see Percy butcher one of their students, and then the room caught on fire, as just before the Empousa died she exploded into flames. "What?!" the principal just looked confused. "What happened? Who are you?" she demanded of Percy. "What are you doing to my students?!"
Admittedly, it looked like he was going to butcher Annabeth too, from the position they were in, but Percy ignored the older woman, and grabbed Annabeth's hand. "Come on, we need to go, now!" he urged, pulling her to her feet. Slowly, the blonde shook out of her trance. Rachel met them at the door, and the three pushed past the staff, on the grounds that Annabeth needed to see the nurse, and then they dashed off. Thankfully, whatever they saw through the Mist wasn't entirely clear, meaning they could lie and make it past.
The three got off school grounds as soon as possible, as smoke billowed from the band room, and fire trucks began swarming into the school to stop it. They stopped only when they couldn't smell smoke, and then they ducked into an alleyway to rest.
"Okay…you two definitely owe me an explanation now," Rachel claimed, though it turns out that she was being ignored.
Annabeth had slid down to the ground and brought her knees up to her chest, staring straight ahead. She wondered if this was how Percy felt right after Atlas; this utter uselessness that came when she froze against an opponent. She was still shaking from the encounter. Percy kneeled down, and put a hand on her shoulder, his eyes full of concern.
"Are you okay? Are you injured in any way?" he questioned. The daughter of Athena shook her head. Percy let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank the gods, I thought that you'd…" he didn't finish, just brought her into a hug. She returned it gratefully, taking in the ocean breeze smell that his hair gave off. It always relaxed her. They stayed like that until she calmed down enough to function again.
"Hey, hello? Confused Rachel over here," the mortal girl interrupted. The two demigods separated.
"Should we tell her?" Percy questioned. "She's clear-sighted."
"But…it's not allowed," Annabeth reasoned. "We shouldn't drag her into our business."
"But the Empousai know her now, and probably all the other monsters too. She won't be safe."
Annabeth considered this. "…We should ask Chiron," she concluded. "Either he can give her some kind of veil, or he can wipe her memories, or maybe-"
"Whoa, hello, no," Rachel got between them. "I'm not having anybody mess with my head," she claimed. "Now what the hell is going on?" she repeated.
The demigods exchanged another look. "…We'll…tell you on the way to camp," Percy said.
"Actually, I need to go home first," Annabeth claimed. "I need some stuff from there."
Percy nodded. "Might as well tell your dad," he agreed, bring her to a stand. "Okay, lead the way."
xxxXXXxxx
They caught a taxi to Annabeth's little house, where her stepmom and father didn't even question the teenagers' ratty and charred clothes. Annabeth quickly told her father that she need to head to camp early.
Her father scared Percy, which was sort of normal for a boyfriend. Well, maybe scared wasn't the right word, but it was the same feeling he got when he was around Artemis, the original one. He never knew what to say or if he was messing it up.
Annabeth had a rough relationship with the man, as he was always so engrossed in his work, but they seemed to get along better after she gave him another chance around two years ago. In fact, when Annabeth told him what happened last winter, he grounded her for a month to keep her safe. Now, when she told him about the danger, he seemed uneasy at best and completely terrified at worst. "Are you sure?" he questioned. "And camp is safe this year?"
"Yeah, the borders only failed once, and we fixed it," she assured. "It'll be completely safe this summer," she lied. Sometimes it was scary how good of a liar she was. She knew that things would be more dangerous than ever, with Kronos' army growing so rapidly, and the Olympian's allies slowly turning on them, one by one…or so it seemed sometimes.
"I'll be there," Percy offered.
"You were there last winter as well, if I recall," the man returned, not sounding reassured at all. Percy flinched.
"…wow…that was a low blow," Riptide claimed.
"I can never win with this guy," Percy agreed.
"…Alright," he conceded. "Gather your things. I can call the school to smooth things over," he claimed. Annabeth nodded and left to get her stuff.
"You can?" Rachel wondered. "How?"
"Believe me, young lady, this isn't the first time I've had to cover up an instance of the supernatural."
"It isn't supernatural," Annabeth claimed as she passed with a backpack. "It's Greek."
"Hey, to us normal people, it is supernatural," Rachel claimed.
"Indeed," Annabeth's dad agreed as Annabeth returned, strapping her dagger, Oathkeeper, to her belt. She'd changed into her orange camp shirt and little jean shorts.
"I doubt those are real pockets," Riptide claimed.
"Shut up," Percy begged. "For like five minutes at least?"
"So impractical…"
"Now that was a Zoë line."
Her dad handed Percy a wad of mortal money. "That's for transportation only," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," he returned. "Only for transportation."
He gave Percy another pensive look. "Dad," Annabeth took Percy's hand. "He'll be fine. He's got me."
Another lie. As much as they'd like it, just being together meant nothing, especially with how useless both of them felt. Still, they both smiled and were sent off with Rachel.
Back to Camp Half-Blood.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! So, as you can see, there will be some changes to the story in this adaptation. Please note that I won't be going point-by-point as I have with the other books. I'm going to change things around heavily to fit better as a dramatic narrative, so just bear with me if I go out of order.
Other than that; let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review!