Exciting new chapter for you here!
Although I think there are not very many who are reading this story, I hope those who do enjoy it :)
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Chapter fifteen: Reality Check
~Pen's POV~

The morning was amazing. Annabeth, Piper, and Penelope had breakfast and coffee at Starbucks, and Pen couldn't believe how good it tasted.
All around them, people were sitting staring at laptops like the one Annabeth had, immersed in whatever they were tipping into the machines.
Then, they'd decided to stroll down the avenue, Piper and Annabeth pointing out famous sites for her, or Annabeth telling the other two of the Great Battle of Manhattan, when she and Percy Jackson had defeated the evil titan Kronos.
Penelope couldn't help but shiver at the story, and think about what she might one day be telling people about the quest they were about to go on.
"Muffins!" Piper suddenly cried, and Penelope jumped.
Sure enough, there was a little shop just to their right, and the most delicious scent was wafting through the open doors into the street.
They each got a muffin, and Penelope savoured every bit of hers, the chocolate exploding in her mouth.
Soon they were walking past clothes shops, and Pen, blushing slightly, asked Annabeth and Piper if they could maybe go buy some things for her to wear.
"Sure" Piper grinned, and Penelope bit back a remark on how her friend's inner Aphrodite was showing.
"Why?" Annabeth asked.
"I don't have any of my own." Penelope murmured, embarrassed.
"Oh gods, Pen, I'm so sorry! Of course we can go buy some!" and with that Annabeth grabbed her hand and pulled her into the nearest shop, a little overenthusiastic.
In the end, Penelope bought two bags full of clothing, nothing too fancy, but rather stuff that fit well and wouldn't get in the way during a fight.
In the shop Penelope had noticed a girl, maybe a few years older than they, staring at them in line for the cashier.
She had had bright red hair and dark eyes, that sparkled in a menacing way.
But she didn't look like a monster or anything, so Penelope decided to ignore her. There were bound to be people like Drew out here in the real world, as well.
The rest of the morning passed quickly and soon they were sitting in an Italian restaurant and had ordered three huge pizzas.
When Penelope's arrived, she took a moment to simply stare at it, and see if it brought up any memories. So far, nothing in town had, and the pizza, despite it's whole round glory, sadly didn't remind her of anything either.
Half an hour later, just as they were walking down a side street to get to some library Annabeth wanted to visit, an IM appeared before them.
After a few seconds, Jason's head came into focus, grinning at them "Hey Pipes, hey you two"

he smiled.
"Jason!" Piper grinned, pushing her hair back. "What's up?"
"How come you three get to go on a trip and I'm stuck here with Mr Moody?" Jason whined comically. He gestured behind him, where they could just make out Leo, working on the Argo II, a fuming expression on his face.
"Sulking is he?" Annabeth laughed and Jason nodded.
"Terrible. Didn't know he had the ability to be anything other than totally annoying all the time, but he hasn't said anything for ages." Jason whispered, glancing behind him to make sure Leo wasn't listening. "You know, except how horrible you three are"
They all laughed, told Jason when they were planing to come back, and said goodbye.
"Take care" the blonde haired boy replied, and the IM disappeared.
"That's very unlike Leo", Piper commented, as they continued walking down the narrow alley.
Annabeth nodded and both of them looked at Penelope.
"What?" she said, trying to sound casual, but she had a feeling she knew what her friends were getting at.
"Leo's different with you around." Annabeth said, her eyes shining knowingly.
"Is he?" Penelope answered, off-handedly, trying to hide the nervous flutter she got in her stomach. It couldn't be true what the others were implying anyway...
"Er, guys?" Piper said suddenly, stopping dead. "Weren't we walking down a street?"
"Yes why?" Annabeth answered, her eyes on the map in her hands.
"Because this a dead end."
"Wait, what?"
Both Penelope and Annabeth looked up, and saw the brick wall in front of them, blocking their way.
"That's odd." Penelope said, the nervous feeling inside her strengthening.
"That wasn't here before." Annabeth said, a dark look entering her eyes. "We'd better get out of here."
"Too late for that, girlsss." a voice suddenly hissed behind them.
They all wheeled around, and Penelope recognized the girl from the shop. Only her face was transforming, becoming old and wrinkled and half rotten, her mouth filled with sharp teeth, and her body grew until it towered over them. Only the eyes were as black as before.
"RUN!" Annabeth yelled, but the creature was blocking their way, and the wall stood behind them.
They were trapped.
The demon laughed, and pulled spikes out of her greasy red hair. They spikes were celestial bronze, but they were dripping with a dark green slime, that Penelope bet was poisonous.
Her heart was beating fast, adrenaline pumping through her body. Although she was scared, a weird determination filled her at that moment.
She had made Piper and Annabeth come with her, and she wouldn't let them die because of that.
A glance at the other two showed her that they'd already gotten out their weapons, which made her realise that she didn't have one. None of the ones at camp had been fitting, but now even an unbalanced sword seemed like a treat. Yet she didn't have one.
With a roar, the demon threw a handful of her spikes at them, which they managed to avoid.
Piper darted behind the creature and tried to stab it, but it was too quick. With a swipe of its arm, Piper was sent flailing backwards through the air, landing hard on her back, a few yards away.
"Hey, stupid!" Annabeth yelled, and the demon turned its attention on her. What was she doing? Penelope thought desperately, as Annabeth backed into a corner. Then, her friend shot her a meaningful look and Penelope understood.
The spikes were still scattered everywhere, and with a wrench, she tugged one out of the ground.
Thankfully, its slime seemed to have evaporated and although it was short, at least it was a weapon.
Now, Penelope concentrated on getting behind the demon, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Piper get back up, and run over to Annabeth.
She managed to take the demon by surprise, and stabbed it in the side with Katoptris, and as the creature wailed in pain, Piper grabbed Annabeth and all of them ran, as fast as they could, back up the alley.
But when they reached its end, the creature was already there, baring down upon them.
"Piper, duck!" Annabeth cried, as it flung one of its sharp spikes at the daughter of Aphrodite, who only just managed to dodge it.
"You cannot defeat me, demigods. I am Mormo, and I am all powerful" it said, its horrible voice sending chills up Penelope's back. She couldn't remember what kind of mythical creature Mormo was, but at that moment it hardly mattered.
Again, Annabeth was trying to get at Mormo from behind, but it was as if the demon could see out of the back of her head. She simply cackled and easily avoided Annabeth's assault.
"Foolish girl" she growled all of a sudden, swiping at Penelope, who had picked up one of the spikes again and was now aiming it.
The arm of the demon caught her right across the middle, and she fell backwards landing hard on her shoulder, the spike flying out of her reach.
"You are a missstake. You need to be disspossed" Mormo hissed, advancing on Penelope, whose mind had gone completely blank. Think she told herself. The only thing to do was try to get Mormo's attention, so that the other two could either kill her or run to safety.
"What do you mean, I'm a mistake?" Penelope tried to keep her voice strong and sure.

"You were never supposed to-"
but then Mormo's face contorted, and she yowled in pain, whirling around. With her back turned, Penelope could see the bronze knife sticking out of it, but it didn't seem like Annabeth's dagger was doing a lot of harm.
Mormo simply yelled enraged, and made a claw like gesture with her right hand.
For one bewildered moment, Penelope thought she was making the ancient sign for warding off evil, but then purple flames sprung to life in the demon's hand. They grew, until they resembled a blazing ball of purple light, which Mormo now flung at Annabeth, who was standing with her back against a house front.
In a moment of horrible clarity, Penelope realised that her friend would have no time to dodge the deathly purple ball of power, and so she did the only thing that seemed to make sense: she dove straight in front of Annabeth, intercepting the flames with her own body.
"Penelope!" she heard Piper scream, and the next moment everything turned purple, as the flames engulfed her body.
But strangely, they didn't hurt, quite the opposite actually.
The purple fire made Penelope feel more powerful, as if she'd just drunken a whole jug of nectar. Despite their situation, she grinned, letting the flames continue to dance around her, obscuring her from the others.
Mormo was laughing, and the other girls were yelling desperately.
And then, just at the right moment, Penelope channelled the flames on her body into her hands and sent them, with all her might, shooting straight at the demons face, which had barely time to register it's approaching death, before it exploded in a shower of dust.
The silence that followed was so absolute, that it made Penelope uneasy.
She could now see the two girls, standing next to each other, staring at her with dumbfounded expressions.
"How did you..." Piper said, weakly.
Penelope shrugged, which sent a stab of sharp pain through her shoulder. She was unable to explain what had just happened.
Thankfully, they had a daughter of Athena with them, and as always, Annabeth didn't fail to answer the question.
"It's a blessing of her mother." she told the others, her voice awed and what sounded like intimidated at the same time.
"Those were magical flames, and extremely powerful ones. They should have killed you..." Annabeth's face was now unreadable. "...but you just made them your own. Your mother must have given you the power to wield them, and that's extremely rare."
What was it in Annabeth's voice that made Penelope feel like she'd done something wrong?
Hadn't she just saved them by using those flames? Why did it sound like a crime then?
"But I don't understand" Annabeth continued, now troubled.
"What?" Piper asked.
"That creature, she called herself Mormo. But according to the legends, Mormo was Hecate's companion. She would never be allowed to harm a child of her mistress. Unless..." and now Annabeth trailed off, glancing at Penelope with something like pity in her eyes.
"Unless what?" Piper asked again, looking from one to the other.
But Penelope didn't need Annabeth to explain. She understood what her friend was trying to say.
It made her feel sick.
"Unless" she explained to Piper, averting her gaze "Unless her mistress ordered her to. Unless my mother wants me dead."