Here goes the second chapter. I have few already written, just wanted to see how the story did before I posted them. So far, it seems you guys like it, which is awesome. Some of the reviews told me I had inaccuracies in the characters with respect to canon. Just to clear up, the characters will be similar but obviously not the same, people change over the years. Anyway, enjoy!

'STOP! Right there is perfect. Can you guys finish that up for me? It's almost done, it's just the final touches to the side of the structure.'

The workers moving the massive marble statue nodded, keeping their eyes focused on their work, and waved Annabeth off. The blonde swivelled on her heel and started walking down the narrow path that had been created to set up the statue. It was a brand new one in front of the temple of Ares, so it had to be placed perfectly.

As she walked, strands of her long blonde hair flew around her, but she paid them no mind, now marching down the main road of the mountain. She was wearing a simple camp tshirt and jeans, but people looked at her with clear respect and admiration. At 27 years old, Annabeth Chase was tall and athletic, but still conserving her womanly curves and generous bust. She carried herself with a dignity very similar to her mother's, and her grey eyes were stormy and dark, as they had been since the war with Gaia. It had been a long time since anyone had seen them sparkle like they used to.

She responded to praise along the street with curt nods, quickly making her way to the elevators. Normally, she was slightly friendlier, but her mood was not the best. After around 30 seconds of excruciating elevator music, she reached the building lobby, and the doorman tipped his head in acknowledgement. She decided to wait for her ride outside; she wasn't really in the mood for snobby rich old guys ogling her. Stepping out onto Fifth Avenue, the wind hit her directly, making her hair fly around again, but she didn't mind. Waiting with her back against the building wall, she stared sadly at the passing cars.

Everything about New York reminded her of him, and kept the spark of hope, however dim, going in her chest. She had to believe Percy was alive somehow. Nico and his father had looked everywhere, and there was no sign of Percy's soul. 'He's alive. My seaweed brain is too stubborn to die'.

Suddenly, she was shaken out of her thoughts by a flap of wings and a thud on the pavement. She jumped slightly, her lips soon drawing up into a smile as she looked at the new arrival. The black pegasus neighed softly, nudging Annabeth with his nose, and she laughed quietly. She had always liked this horse.

'Hey buddy', she said as she stroked Blackjack's mane. 'Thanks for coming to pick me up on short notice'.

Annabeth cast a look at some of the passing mortals as she mounted the pegasus, and she wondered what they saw. A car that had driven up onto the side walk? An enormous dog? She didn't really care. They took off and soon they were whizzing along the streets of New York, with Blackjack flying low and weaving between the buildings. After a particularly sharp turn, he pulled up and gained altitude. Tucking in his massive wings slightly, they flew forwards like a bullet, leaving the sounds of the busy metropolis behind. Soon after, Half-Blood Hill appeared in the distance, the lone pine standing tall beside the equally massive Athena Parthenos. They sight of her mother reminded her of how close she had gotten to her in the last few years. The goddess had listened to her problems, given her advice… she had acted like an actual mom, which was something Annabeth had never really had.

They flew over Half-Blood Hill and landed with an almighty thud in front of the Big House. A few people looked on, especially the younger campers. By now, the generation of campers from the battle with Gaia were by far the oldest in camp. Not all of them had survived, though. Malcom, her second-in-command, had been killed in a battle three years ago. Jake Mason as well. Some had left camp to set up their own lives in the mortal world.

'Annabeth, my dear', called Chiron from the porch. 'I hope you had a safe journey. Will you be staying?'

Annabeth smiled at her old teacher. 'Yeah, I think I will. There's less work on Olympus now, and I think it'll be good for me. Has Leo gotten here yet?'

Chiron looked unsure. 'I've been told he has, but you can never know with that boy. If he is here, he'll still be around the docks.'

She thanked him, and set off at a brisk pace. People reacted much more naturally here than in Olympus when they saw her, many smiling and waving. She stopped to talk to Clarisse and a few others for a second, who were all glad she had managed to separate herself from her work. It was only some of the youngest campers who had been raised on stories of the wars who looked at her in awe.

Walking through the maze of cabins, she remembered the original U-shape with twelve cabins. That wouldn't even have housed a tenth of the campers they had now. Seven new wings of cabins had been added, to the point where you could hardly spot the original twelve. There were almost 500 campers now, and the camp was the strongest it had ever been.

Leaving the cabins behind, she slowed her walk a little, taking in the soft ocean breeze that hit you when you got closer to the beach. At the far right of the beach, close to the start of the woods, were the docks. They had been constructed from wood, a massive L-shape with pillars reaching all the way down to the sea floor. From the main shape, many singular rows of wooden planks were extended, all facing away from the open sea. This was the home of the navy, which consisted of over 100 ships, some simple wooden triremes and some with more and more modifications. However, docked on the outer part of the main L-shape, were the crown jewels of the fleet, the Argo III, IV and V. Each was larger than the next, all of their hulls coated in thick layers of celestial bronze. They were behemoths, with dozens of ballistae lining the sides, and many other nasty surprises inside. Like the Argo II, they could all fly, but were each more competent in every way than their predecessor.

After taking a moment to admire them, her eyes zeroed on the newest arrival on the docks. A small orange speedboat had been docked close to the beach, and Annabeth could see two figures moving around in it, picking up various bags and what looked like a pair of very sharp axes. She grinned and jogged towards them, waving and calling out. She was met with a loud whooping sound.

'We back, baby!' yelled Leo at the top of his voice.

The daughter of Athena couldn't suppress the laugh. You could always count on Valdez to brighten the mood. The son of Hephaestus had grown slightly over the years, but Annabeth was still taller than him. He had eventually built up some muscle, so he didn't look like a scrawny kid anymore, but his elfish features were still untouched. At his side, Calypso was as beautiful as ever. She and Annabeth got on well nowadays, and she had never seen Leo happier.

'Hey guys', said Annabeth. 'Had a nice ride?'

'A daughter of Athena to welcome us on our arrival', said Leo as he hugged Annabeth. 'What an honour.'

Annabeth smirked and hugged Calypso too, and they started walking along the wooden dock. Leo and Calypso had come back about a week after Gaia's death, on the back of the newly reformed Festus, who now resided at camp. The couple had lived at camp for some time, then in a flat in Manhattan, but had finally settled down in New Haven, Connecticut, just across the Sound. After the war, Leo had been offered partial immortality, being the one who killed Gaia. As Calypso had kept her immortality even after leaving Ogygia, he had accepted, and they had been together ever since. They had a nice house in New Haven, and Leo had finally started Valdez Repairs, a dream of his for a long time. Even though they led a normal life, they often came to camp in their boat, and Leo was still acting counsellor for the Hephaestus cabin. Every single member of the cabin had refused to take his place when he announced he wouldn't be staying at camp full-time.

The trio slowly walked up from the beach, heading for the Hepaestus cabin, although it could barely be called a cabin anymore. More like a mansion. It had been expanded countless times, with many different wings being added, one especially designed for Leo and Calypso. It was the same case for many of the cabins, such as the Athena and Ares cabin. The Hermes cabin, however, outstripped them all, as it was almost double the size of any of the others. Cabin Three had remained untouched.

They were walking up the steps of the house when a young boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, came running up to them. He stopped, his hands on his knees and panting heavily. They all looked at him expectantly, and he shot them an apologetic look.

'We need you guys in the rec room', he managed. 'Chiron has called an emergency meeting.'

—

There were around 40 cabins now, which meant the same number of cabin counsellors. Sure, some of the cabins were honorary, like Hera or Artemis, but the demigods still struggled to fit in the small room. The ones who had gotten to the meeting first sat around the pingpong table, while the rest sat on cushions on the floor or stood near the table. Two seats were set, however, for Chiron at the head, and Annabeth at his right. The daughter of Athena tapped her feet against the legs of the table in annoyance. Clovis was missing, probably asleep again.

'Let's just start without him', Clarisse huffed. 'We'll go kick his ass later.'

At that moment, the doors burst open to let in the drowsy son of Hypnos, who still had dishevelled hair and drool in the corner of his mouth.

'Sorry people, you caught me-'

'Sleeping', said Chiron as he rose from his chair, all conversation coming to a halt as the demigods saw his serious expression. 'Sit down, Clovis. This is an important matter.'

Every eye was now fixed on the old centaur. Even Annabeth was slightly worried; it was not often she saw Chiron get this serious at a counsellor meeting, not in peacetime anyway.

'There have been reports from nature spirits of unusual activity in the earth in the area around Phoenix.' Some gasps were heard at this, but Chiron dismissed them. 'This is not Gaia. That threat is past.'

Annabeth opened her eyes wide. 'The city.'

Chiron nodded, but most of the room looked confused. 'Excuse me, what the hell city are we talking about? Phoenix?' Clarisse asked.

'No', responded Chiron. 'There is a large city underground, dug out beneath the mortal city and the surrounding area. It is teeming with monsters, and it would be very bad news if they decided to come to the surface.'

Leo looked up at Annabeth. 'So you think these disturbances-'

'Could be caused by a large movement of their troops, yes. If they are planning an invasion, it'll be hard to defend the city.'

The whole room shuffled their chairs, but Clarisse leant forward and looked at Annabeth. 'Okay. Monsters underground. What do we do about it?'

Annabeth looked at Chiron, who nodded for her to take the lead. 'It's not just Phoenix that worries me. If they are coming to the surface, they have been organised, and they only listen to beings much more powerful than themselves.'

Katie Gardener tapped the table nervously. 'Some traitor god? Titans?', she asked in a low voice.

'We can say nothing for sure, so let's not assume', said Annabeth. 'But this is how it started last time. All I'm saying is we should intervene to some degree. If it is a simple uprising, then fine. However, if it is a first move by a returning enemy, then we start with an advantage.'

The room nodded in agreement, and Leo spoke up. 'I think you're right, but Arizona isn't exactly close, and the Argo's aren't in flying conditions since the last mission. It'll be an easy repair, but not in time to reach Denver before monsters come storming out in all their disgusting glory.'

Annabeth had been expecting that, so she wasn't too disappointed. The ships had taken some major hits in a battle against troublesome mountain gods some time ago, and it had only been because of Leo's excellent craftsmanship that they had not fallen apart.

She saw the whole room looking at her, and took a deep breath. 'We will contact Camp Jupiter and let them know. They are slightly closer, and will probably be able to spare some troops for Phoenix. I'll call Thalia and the hunters as well. We'll take the pegasi.' She looked at Lucy, the head counsellor for Hermes, who was in charge of looking after the pegasi. 'How many can we have ready for tomorrow?'

The girl looked penasative for a second, then responded. 'About forty-five, I think.'

'Um. Kay. I'll go, and we'll take the best warriors. Clarisse, you're in charge of selecting them. Everybody needs to be ready by tomorrow morning, flying horses included.'

Years ago, this blatant way of ordering people around would have caused some grumbling, now Annabeth's voice carried across the room with authority. Even Clarisse nodded at the task she had been given, and started herding everybody out of the room. Chiron was sitting down in his wheelchair, a gleaming look of pride in his eyes. He had seen his student grow from a scared eight-year old girl to a fearless leader to rival her mother. The meetings usually went like this, with Annabeth taking control after Chiron had introduced the issue at hand. The old centaur would be lying if he didn't say he thought about Annabeth as official leader of Camp Half-Blood someday.

—

Annabeth walked out of the meeting last, directing some of the younger consolers to follow Clarisse towards the arena for the selection. She chatted with Katie as they walked back to the cabins, and continued down the path alone once they passed the Demeter cabin. She passed the cabins and the arena, where Clarisse had taken on her drill sergeant voice. Eventually, she reached the beach, her feet dragging in the white sand. It was a bright sunny day, and mist from the waves was visible in the air. She waited patiently until an especially big one broke, and quickly tossed a drachma into the fleeting rainbow.

'O, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Thalia Grace.'

The mist rippled, and formed into an image, and she could see Thalia walking calmly through a forest, slicing her knives mindlessly through the air. She was dressed in full hunter gear, with her bow strapped to her back and her silver circlet on her head. She looked like a fifteen year-old girl, but Annabeth knew the daughter of Zeus was a fearsome fighter.

'THALIA!' Annabeth yelled suddenly, laughing as the other girl jumped a metre in the air.

Thalia recovered for a second, and pointed a knife at Annabeth's form. 'You do that again, I swear I'll hang up on you. I don't care if you're calling to tell me the world is ending.'

Annabeth laughed again, and Thalia finally smiled at her long-time friend.

'So, what's up?'

She told her everything that had happened, and all they had talked about at the meeting, as well as their plans to defend Phoenix. Thalia's face was serious very quickly, and she listened intently as Annabeth spoke.

Once Annabeth had caught her up to speed, Thalia looked pretty troubled. 'You can count on us. We're just east of Albuquerque right now, so we'll get there in no time. Who else did you invite to the party?'

''We still have to hear from Camp Jupiter, but around forty pegasi riders from here. The Argo's aren't fixed yet.'

Thalia clicked her tongue. 'Damn. Those old bastards sure can throw rocks. I think you're right, by the way. This doesn't seem like a simple monster uprising. They don't plan attacks on their own. Someone has to be giving them orders.'

Annabeth crossed her arms, clearly troubled. 'I've been thinking about that. I don't think it's any minor god. They have been treated better than ever lately. It could be one of the other titans, but I don't see how they could have risen from Tartarus with the Doors closed.' As soon as she said this, a shadow passed over her face, and she fell silent.

'Annabeth?' Thalia had a look of concern on her face. 'Listen to me. If he's still in there, then I will personally jump in and drag his seaweed ass out. But for now, we need to focus on Phoenix.'

'Yeah, yeah, you're right.'

The daughter of Zeus ended the call there, going off to tell her hunters about their next mission. It was going to be a long run from Albuquerque to Phoenix. Hunters, much like centaurs, had the ability to warp space slightly as they ran at full speed, so they could cover large distances very fast. Annabeth estimated in would them maybe 7 hours for the fifty-strong group to get to Phoenix.

The next morning

Annabeth had been up for the last hour. She had gotten ready in five minutes, had a fast breakfast and she was off to check the pegasi. They were well fed and rested, prepared to make the long flight to Phoenix. The fifty demigods that had been chosen arrived at the stable area around 7:00 a.m, Clarisse at their lead. Amongst them she could see Travis Stoll, a grim expression on his face. Connor had died three years ago, ripped apart by giants, and it was still strange to not see them together. There was a bunch of Ares campers present, as well as quite a lot of Annabeth's siblings. Katie Gardener brought up the group, her curved sword strapped to her back.

Annabeth clapped her hands together. 'Right, people. You have been chosen for this mission because it is extremely dangerous, and you are the best fighters we have. Once in Denver, we'll meet up with the Romans and the Hunters of Artemis, and assess the threat for ourselves. In the air, we stay close together, arrowhead formation. Anyone see anything, tell the group, but do not stray off formation to fight it. Understood?'

A mumbling of agreement was heard, and the daughter of Athena turned to mount her pegasus. She had wanted to take Blackjack, but she didn't want him getting hurt, so she had selected a brown horse called Axel. She leapt onto his back, fastening the straps on her backpack and making sure her knife was secure on her waist. Soon, they were off, the fifty horses flying in formation, with Annabeth at the lead. Clarisse was at her right, riding a huge grey stallion, and Travis at her left, his eyes fixed forward. Hills and countryside rolled beneath them, sometimes the occasional town, but they soon whizzed away. After a while, they gained altitude to fly over a city, which Annabeth had to guess was Indianapolis. They saw a couple of stray gryphons, but they were rapidly brought down by the Apollo campers, who looked all too happy to show off their skills in front of the majority of the Ares cabin.

Eventually, the city of Phoenix rolled into view. The group came to a halt in midair, Annabeth looking intently at the ground for the Hunter's camp. Suddenly, she saw a shadow flying towards them, and tensed for a second, but then relaxed, recognising the creature as one of the eagles of New Rome.

'Don't shoot!' She called out, raising a hand at the sounds of bowstrings being drawn. 'We're supposed to follow it.'

They followed the great bird for some time, and it led them away from the city, into the surrounding countryside. After a while, the camp came into view, the silver tents of the hunters next to the Roman barracks. The Romans had already dug deep trenches around their buildings, and were well on their way to completing their walls, watchtowers included. Their ability as builders never ceased to amaze her. They landed close to the hunter's camp, where a crowd had already started gathering to welcome the new arrivals.

A man stepped out from the mass of people, clad in armour with a golden sword at his belt. He had a square jaw and intense brown eyes, and was around 23. She recognised him from her visits to New Rome. This was Larry, Centurion of the Third Cohort.

'Annabeth', he said gruffly. 'Good to see you. All of you.'

'Hey Larry', she said in a tired voice, still looking at the crowd for a particular face. 'Glad you could come. How many of you are there?'

'The Senate decided we couldn't spare too many soldiers, so it's me and one hundred and fifty legionnaires. Jason wanted to come, but he has a tricky situation in Rome.'

Now, before Gaia's fall, one hundred and fifty soldiers would have comprised a huge chunk of the legion, but they had increased in size massively. With Jason working as pontifex maximus, almost every demigod that was born was claimed, even from the most lesser known minor gods. The legion now had upwards of 3000 members, and looked to grow even more.

Annabeth smiled at the younger man. 'Great. Thanks for making the trip up here. We'll get settled in, then we'll talk strategy.'

Larry nodded at them, then dispersed the crowd to create some space for the tired Greeks. Most had dismounted their pegasi already, and a group of ten had started to set up tents in the space they had been given. Annabeth stroked Axel's mane, then sent him off to rest. She then started towards the Hunter's camp. There was someone she needed to see.

Suddenly, she was tackled from the side, and the wind was sucked right out her lungs by the force of the blow. She turned and instinctively flipped her assailant over her shoulder, but before she knew it there was a silver knife at her throat. Annabeth glowered into Thalia's eyes for a second, then the pair started laughing. She enveloped the daughter of Zeus in a hug, resting her chin on top on her spiky black hair.

'I swear you get shorter every time I see you, Pinecone Face.'

Thalia scowled at her. 'Just because I have the body of a fifteen year-old girl doesn't mean I can't hand your ass to you on a platter.'

They both laughed, and Annabeth noticed over Thalia's shoulder that a group of alarmed hunters were taking their hands off the hilt of their knives. They had obviously been ready to protect their lieutenant, and Annabeth was sure there was a group of battle ready Greeks on the other side.

Thalia raised her arms. 'Just a prank, people! Please don't kill each other!'

Both groups relaxed, and Annabeth caught Phoebe glowering at the Greeks, her target most probably Travis Stoll. Or any other male, for that matter. When both sides relaxed, Thalia started leading Annabeth towards the woods.

'I was about to go talk to our nature spirit informant. I think she lives in a creek just down there', she said, pointing in a direction towards the trees. 'Care to join me?'

They walked together through the woods, which were alive with the sounds of birds chirping and all other sorts of small animals. The sun broke through the canopy, shining on different spots of the forest floor.

'So how come you set up camp so far from Phoenix?' Asked Annabeth.

Thalia raised her eyebrows. 'It's not that far. About 20 miles right now.'

'That's way off the city', said Annabeth with a frown.

Thalia nodded. 'Yeah, just convinces me more this isn't just some random thing. Anyway, Lizzie said the disturbances came from around here.'

'Lizzie?'

Thalia jumped over a fallen log. 'The nature spirit. We made friends with lots of them over the country, they can be really useful to warn us of upcoming problems.'

They walked for a while longer, Annabeth telling her about the latest stuff that had happened at camp. When she told her Leo and Calypso were thinking about getting married, she smiled.

'Way to go. Who would have thought that boy would go from hopelessly hitting on me to getting a girl like that?'

Annabeth laughed, and they kept talking about all the places Thalia had been hunting in recently, and all the dangerous monsters they had brought down. Eventually, they reached a small river, maybe a couple of metres across, filled with crystal clear water. Thalia stopped at the bank, looking around, but there was no one waiting for them. Suddenly, the water took on a more reddish tinge, darkening by the second. Annabeth opened her eyes wide, looking at the daughter on Zeus in worry. They ran up the river, calling desperately for the nymph.

They ran about twenty metres up the bank, and Annabeth looked behind a rock, gasping suddenly at the horrid site. Laying on the opposite bank, with her legs in the water and her back against a nearby rock, was Lizze. Her throat had been slashed from ear to ear, and she had been stabbed multiple times in the chest. Also, a section of her abdomen was completely missing, where it looked like something had torn it out. The ground around her was drenched in her blood, slowly being washed away into her own river.

—

'They have been warned, milord. That disgusting fairy managed to warn the demigods.'

A voice boomed across the dark room. 'You killed her, I presume?'

The creature who spoke first looked skittish, but managed to steel his nerves and stand up straight. 'Yes milord. But they now have a considerable force, composed of their best fighters.'

A deafening sound was heard, like someone smashing a heavy object. 'We should have killed them all a long time ago!' He bellowed, his voice seething with anger. Then he huffed and looked at the creature. 'No matter, the plan will go on. They are expecting us, and if they managed to defeat the force that shall come from the earth, it will be with heavy losses. Now go! Prepare!'

'Yes milord!' Said the other creature, bowing and scuttling away.

The man with the booming voice stood up in the empty room, walking slowly with his fists clenched. He was massive, almost twice as tall as a man, and dressed in full battle armour and a long cape draping his shoulders. An enormous sword was strapped across his back.

'I shall do what you could not, brother', he said, speaking to the darkness of the room. 'I swear to you, my blade shall one day be drenched in the blood of the king of the gods.'

Oh yeah baby. Bid bad villain at the end. Also i've decided in this story to give the chapters names instead of just ch1 and ch2. What do you think about that? saty posted for the next chapter!