A/N: Hey guys, there seemed to be a really great reaction to the last chapter so I cranked this one out in a couple hours! Thank you to the followers, favoriters and reviewers as well :)
"Update more?" -Falconfighter1427. Wish granted!
"getting good!" -brookeyy14. Thank you :)
2012 CE, Smithsonian, Washington D.C.
Annabeth was pissed, like really pissed. Travis had been missing for two months at this point. He disappeared from his cabin in the middle of the night, none of his cabin mates saw or heard anything, it just made no sense.
Monsters were too dumb to kidnap someone and the titans had been locked back in tartarus; or were currently occupying an oak tree in central park. Her mind wandered again to the thought that maybe he was dead or gone forever. Before she could dwell too much on that somebody tapped her shoulder.
"Hey, Annabeth, we're almost there" Connor mentioned as the Butch piloted the chariot down towards the domed building. The pegasi swooped down and their hooves clopped onto the pavement as the chariot landed.
"He better be here" Annabeth half-whispered to himself. Connor nodded to her right,
"When I see him, I'll kill him" Connor replied, only partially joking. A
"Alright, well, there will be plenty of time for killing soon, so let's get going." Butch grumbled as he jumped out of the chariot. He handed one of the pegasi a sugar cube which it eagerly snapped up. "Good boy" He said and patted its head before announcing "Lets go!" And began to walk toward the greek columns of the marbled building.
Annabeth and Connor started to walk behind Butch. A loud scream suddenly emanated from the building, a few moments later people started rushing out of the front doors. All three demigods looked at each other and nodded before sprinting towards the small crowd leaving the building.
Annabeth reached the doors first and pushing her way through the people leaving the building she made it into the threshold and jumped over the security barricade. The guards were busy ushering people out so they paid her no mind.
She stooped for a moment and drew her bronze dagger out of the hidden scabbard in her boot. She stood back up and scanned the massive antichamber making eye contact with a short curly haired kid who then drew her eyes towards the rest of the room where a satyr and another kid were being plagued by vaporous forms. Butch and Connor came up behind her and saw what she was seeing. "Well, it looks like we found at least somebody useful" Connor said snidely eyeing the blonde male who had ran to retrieve his spear and was thrusting it with no avail at the ghost things.
Next to him the satyr was wildly swinging his club while the two other people there, the short one and the one with dark hair were watching in stunned silence. Annabeth started to run towards the the action with Connor and Butch right behind her. She pulled her dagger behind her head and let it loose at one of the forms harassing the small group, it spun through the air and passed right through one of the smaller clouds which hissed and spun around, now aware of the new arrivals.
The three of them came to a collective realization, their weapons couldn't kill these things. Great, Annabeth thought but ran to retrieve her dagger, ducking under one of the vapors as it tried to whack her, she slid over and grabbed it before rejoining the fight which had now begun in earnest. Butch, Connor, the blonde, and the saytr seemed to be holding the monsters at bay, for now.
But then there was the small problem that they couldn't kill them. She looked around the cluttered, and now pretty messy museum. Looking for anything they could use to defeat the monsters. A short xiphos in a display case drew her attention. It looked like celestial bronze from its luster but that was no different than the weapons they were using now. For whatever reason she was still drawn to the sword.
She ran over and shattered the display case with the butt of her dagger. Grabbing the sword she spun around and ran back towards the group who were slowly being beaten back into a corner. The demigods would stab the clouds which would recoil for a moment but then continue their relentless assault.
As she got closer to the monsters the sword grabbed her attention again, a weak ethereal sea green and silver glow wrapped around the blade, it shone even stronger as she got closer to the fight. The three demigods noticed her arrival and began to fight more aggressively, the dark haired girl was trying to talk to them for whatever reason, one of the spirits stopped for a moment then shook its wispy head and continued its attack. Annabeth finally reached the rest of her party.
"Nice of you to join us!" Connor yelled to her before jumping back to avoid a swipe from a murderous cloud. Annabeth just nodded in response before thrusting the xiphos through the torso of one of the clouds harassing the blonde. She saw the sword enter the vaporous form before the sword flashed with silvery green light and her vision went black.
She was falling for who knows how long, she vaguely remembered this sensation from one of her dreams earlier. And like the one before a loud thump alerted her to arrival to wherever she was. Soft grass tickled her neck and beautiful rays of sun shone through the sky.
She was broken from her reverie by a plume of dirt flying into the air 50 feet to her right accompanied by smoke and a loud thump. She shot to her feet and looked around, on a hill in front of her dozens of men armed with muskets sat behind the earthen walls of a redoubt. Another plume of dirt flew up not far from the first one with another thundering clap of cannon.
She spun around and looked to the left of the hill she was situated on to see more men crouched behind a rail fence in mismatched uniforms. Two officers paced without fear of the cannon behind the earthworks and the fence.
Smoke rose from at town to her right and 300 yards beyond the fence boats containing red uniformed men in red uniforms and tall hats were landing and dropping off hundreds of men who were forming line at the bottom of the hill. Beyond them several large sailing ships in the harbor had their broadsides turned towards the hill and each flash of a black dot on a ship was accompanied by a cloud of dirt and smoke on the hill.
The thunder of cannon was deafening but the men occupying the hill didn't seem to mind. She jogged down to the stone wall and stood several feet behind the officers still walking behind their troops. The red lines of men at the bottom of the hill had started their march up the hill and were advancing steadily.
The men that had swords were carrying sabres, except for one, she looked at the hilt of the sword on one of the officers hip, and realized that it was the same one she had been carrying not minutes before. His jet black hair shifted in the wind as he looked at the quickly advancing red lines which outnumbered them greatly.
An unbroken line of what Annabeth assumed to be british soldiers advanced to the positions on the hill to her right and straight towards them.
As the soldiers approached closer and closer to their position the shelling slowed to a stop. The black haired officer barked out a series of commands and four hundred men stood up and leaned their muskets on the fence towards the advancing british.
The silence was palpable as the red dressed soldiers continued their steady march. A single shot rang out from what must have been the colonists position rang out and a cloud of smoke rose from a man's musket.
The first line of soldiers suddenly kneeled and raised their muskets. The crackle of musket fire pierced the silence but the the puffs of dirt that rose up in front of the fence indicated they were still out of range. The yells from the british officers echoed towards Annabeth and the line moved forwards once more.
"1st New Hampshire! We will hold this position until we have nothing left to shoot" The black haired yelled to his men,
"You will not fire until the regulars pass that stake" The other officer announced, motioning to a stake about 100 yards from their lines.
A couple more tense minutes passed before the first line of regulars marching three deep crossed in front of the stake. Immediately the sound of hundreds of muskets discharging up and down the line slammed into Annabeth's eardrums.
Dozens of british soldiers fell but the drum roll continued and they marched a few yards further before once again the first rank dropped to their knees and the rank behind them trained their muskets on the colonists the command echoed from british lines and instantaneously the air was filled with smoke once more and several colonists were thrown back from the fence with red stains quickly spreading across their clothing.
The officers stood as steady as ever and after more exchanges of musket balls the british retreated. They returned again and again with more british and colonists falling victim to the projectiles that would tear their flesh and tear their soul from this world. The third time the british advanced the powder stained hands and faces of the men behind the fence were looking more and hopeless as more and more of them reached into the leather pouch on their belt to find they were out of cartridge.
Colonists started ramming nails down their barrels and reaching for their fallen friends cartridges. The moans and screams of the wounded permeated the air and the two officers continued to direct the musket fire with deadly efficiency. "Present, aim, fire, reload" Announced the officers what seemed like endless times.
The british this time were not retreating. The lines drew closer and closer and it soon became clear the only option for the regiments were to fend them off in hand to hand combat. As the british line drew closer and closer and the crackle of fire decreased from the colonists by the minute the order went out. "First New Hampshire, Bayonets!"
The colonists reached into their belts and socketed the daggers onto the ends of their muskets. The british line drew ever closer under withering fire. Through the smoke Annabeth could see the line had stopped and was now fixing bayonets as well. The British line advanced at the double quick towards the fence with the weary colonists behind it. The black haired officer drew his sword and for a moment the moon shone through the smoke and the sword glowed with a silvery light.
"First New Hampshire, Hold your ground!" the officer ordered as the british regulars reached the fence and hopped over it into the waiting bayonets of the colonial troops. The black haired officer spun around and looked straight at her, as if he was the only one aware of her presence, before he jumped into the fray sword flashing in the sunlight as it gracefully dismembered countless british soldiers.
Annabeth's vision started to go black around the edges and before she knew it she was back on the cold marble floor of the smithsonian with puddles of water all around her. The rest of the group looked more at the sword that was laying beside her in shock than at her.
"Well thanks Beth" Butch stammered while looking at the receding glow of the sword.
"Ugh, what just happened" She managed before putting her head back down onto the floor.
"Shouldn't you tell us?" Connor questioned. "I mean you were the one that was holding the weapon that made a mini shockwave and turned all of those things into little puddles"
"I wish I knew" She groaned before finally getting to her feet.
"So uh, who the hell are you people?" Leo asked breaking the stunned silence from the three of the random people who were here with the satyr.
"It'll take a while to explain" Annabeth informed him, "You want to take a ride in a flying chariot and I'll tell you on the way?" Leo needed no further incentive.
"Woah woah woah, first off, who are you people, where are you taking us, and what the heck were those things?" The dark haired girl shot off. The blonde behind her nodded in agreement.
"I'll explain it on the ride" Annabeth sighed, "If you really want to stay here with this mess, be my guest, I'm sure the police will be very understanding"
"Oh fine, I guess we don't really have a choice" The girl concluded, "Lead the way"
"Damn right cupcake" The satyr grunted before slinging his club over shoulder and walking towards the exit.
A/N: Hey guys, hopefully you liked that little dream Annabeth had! There will be more Perseus next chapter, I promise. Bonus points to whoever can guess what battle that was.
I may have gotten a little carried away with this chapter. I think it's over 2,000 words. Either way let me know if you prefer longer or shorter chapters in the reviews. Thanks again for reading!