Sorry it's been awhile, I didn't fall off the edge of the planet, I've just been WAY busy. But I haven't given up on this story, my friend and I just tend to write SERIOUSLY out of order. (: So there should be more updates coming.

I don't own PJO.

Anna's POV

Evangeline Peck is amazing. I'm just gonna throw that out there. The next time she wants to borrow my Pegasus, I'll let her, no questions asked.

"So, Mr. Melano, huh? I'm guessing he didn't have that knife at your neck because you failed a math quiz." She said all this while looking at me inquisitively, a slight smirk on her face.

"Well, I did fail the math quiz. But I don't think that was why he was upset."

Percy and I exchange a look and tell her the whole story, or as much as we can figure out of it.

She sighed. "So that's why you're covered in blood. Why is it you're always covered in blood, Anna?"

I make a face at her and suddenly realize something.

"Wait, isn't the school in lockdown? Why aren't you in class?"

"Well, I may or may not have snuck out of class. Well, I didn't exactly sneak, because everyone saw me, but… all you have to know is that I did get out, and it's a good thing too, or you guys would be dead. Thank the gods I'm always around to save your unlucky butts."

"Let's try not to inflate your ego anymore, Wise Girl." I grin at her suddenly, so glad to see her again. "I missed you, Evie. I'm glad you're back."

She wasn't ever gone, not in the sense of the word, but she wasn't exactly with us either.

She smiles back. "I'm glad to be back, Fishstick. Now, I do believe our friend Margie is having a little issue?"

Hades' teeth. I guess I had almost forgotten about Margie's problem.

I glanced at Evie, who was cleaning off her knife with the edge of her shirt, and back to our vice principal.

Percy was the first to speak up.

"I know that no one really wants to say this, but, um, we didn't murder him, right? I mean, it's a little strange how he hasn't disappeared yet."

"I think we're okay. I've seen a couple of really strong monsters that take forever to return to Tartarus. Maybe he's just taking his time."

"Alright…" I say slowly. I had a strange feeling about this. It didn't quite feel right to me. "We should probably find a way to message Chiron first, though, before we help Margie. She'll be okay for a few minutes."

We all agreed, knowing that Margie was more than capable of handling a couple of monsters on her own. Of course, no one voiced the other side of that argument; there might be more than a couple monsters waiting for us. And that would be not very good for us right now.

You see, I can fight fine, but I'm not exactly in the best condition to fight. I got… injured over the summer, and I'm still recovering. Chiron wanted everything to be as normal as possible for us, which was why he sent everyone here while we recovered. I say 'we' because Margie was hurt too. Chiron said that for a while he was worried we were going to die. That tells you right there how epic our adventures are.

But basically, we were still healing, and I'm not sure how many monsters we could handle. I had a pretty bad limp. I can run, but it hurts like Hades. I'm left handed, and unfortunately, that hand was not fully functional at the moment, as proved by the bandages on 4 of my fingers. My left arm also had several deep cuts that had never really closed up, and chose to bleed at extremely inconvenient times.

I looked up at Percy, about to ask if he had any drachmas with him to send an Iris-Message, when something in the shadows behind him caught my eye.

"DUCK!" I screamed right as the knife hurtled through the air where his head had been. I hit the floor just in time to hear Evie answer with, "Duck, goose."

That was one of our infamous inside jokes from this one time that Margie apparently didn't understand that 'duck' meant she had to hit the floor IMMEDIATELY. I'm still not sure her hair has grown back all the way.

My right hand flew to my left wrist, where I keep my bracelet. I pressed the blue-green stone that was set into the middle of the metal band, and it sprang into a three-foot celestial bronze sword. The blade glowed with light, and the dracaenae that had tried to attack was dead before she knew what was happening.

"Thanks," Percy said, looking back at where the monster had been in slight shock. I was surprised too. Normally we would hear something like that before it was so close. We must've been too distracted.

"Guys, we have a problem." I turned to Evie's shaky voice and almost did a double take.

Mr. Melano's. Body. Was. Gone.

Not like, I-Just-Evaporated-To-Tartarus, gone, this was, Hey-A-Monster-Attacked-Those-Kids-So-I'll-Make-My-Getaway-While-They're-Distracted, gone. As in, I could see his bloody footprints leading a path down the hall.

With one confirmative glance, we sprinted down the hall in the direction of those footsteps like our life depended on it. Which it very well might've.

We took the stairs two at a time, and just as I jumped the last five, I heard very familiar voice scream, "ANNA! EVIE!"

Very nice timing, Miss di Mio. I found myself grinning in spite of the situation we were in.

"Why, hello there." I looked at the pale, dark-haired girl next to Margie. They even looked like sisters. "So, you're Bianca, I presume? Oh, and Nico."

"Yesss…" Bianca answered, looking at Margie uncertainly. Nico just stared at me. I wasn't sure why, until I realized that I must be covered in blood.

"It's okay, Bianca. This is my best friend, and cousin, Anna Jackson. She can help us. And you've met Evie."

Evie smiled at Bianca in a way that was a little frightening.

"And I'm Percy. No need to introduce me, Marge. You sure do know how to make someone feel like a third wheel," my brother said sarcastically.

"And this is Percy Jackson, Anna's brother. They're twins."

"I see," Bianca said, sounded confused and incredibly overwhelmed.

"They're also demigods, pretty powerful demigods."

I threw her a look. "You already told her?"

"She deserves to know." She glared back at me equally fiercely.

I sigh. "It would be safer if she didn't. Especially right now."

"I know, I know. But I had to." And with that she began explaining everything that happened to her.

"…but I think we lost them, and…Hey, are you guys okay? Anna, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Well, they're two reasons for that. One, I just lost a ton of blood. Two, we killed Mr. Melano already. How is he chasing you?"

"Wait, you KILLED him?" She looks shocked, appreciative, and confused all at once. It's pretty amusing.

"Well, actually I killed him, thank you very much. But he was a monster, and a bad one at that. He had a knife at Anna's neck, and I wasn't about to ask him to politely let her go." Evie was getting defensive again.

"A knife at your neck?" Margie turns to me questioningly and examines the small cut the knife left. Then she seemed to notice how I was covered in drying blood. "Oh my gods. What happened to you guys?"

We fill her in briefly on what happened to us, right to the point where we realized Mr. Melano had escaped.

A look of horror dawned on Margie's face. And, trust me, if a daughter of Hades looks horrified, you are not going to like what you hear.

"So… you took the knife out after you killed him?" She asked faintly.

"Yeah, what'd you expect me to do? This is a school for troubled children. Most of the people here are barely trusted with anything sharper than a crayon. I really couldn't sneak in that many knives, and I wasn't going to waste this one."

"Well, my dad told me about these monsters, special monsters, very rare. They're immortal, and very hard to kill. They usually appear in human form, but have superhuman abilities, which would explain how Mr. Melano got from the top floor to Dr. Thorn so quickly. If you do manage to kill one, you have to leave the weapon in them. Otherwise, they're fine. It's like they've never been hurt."

"So, basically we went to all that trouble, and Mr. Melano is good as new?" I hoped against hope she wouldn't say-

"Yes."

The universe is conspiring against me.

Because Margie didn't say yes. Mr. Melano's voice came from behind us.

"I see you children have found each other."

"And I hear you're obsessively gathering demigods like a freaky collector on Ebay," I reply.

He merely smirks and says, "I'd watch your mouth, daughter of Poseidon. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve."

And, with that said, he vanishes. Like, from thin air. Now you see him, now you don't.

Freaking fantastic.

"Okay guys, we might have to split up-," the words barely come out of Margie's mouth as the windows lighting this stretch of hallway shatter, letting in rain and-

Holy Zeus.

Sky spirits. Demons. Empousa. Dracaenae. To get a clearer picture, I'll just say this: Imagine every monster I hate with a burning passion. Now have them all burst through a window, giving us seriously painful cuts from the flying glass.

And there you have it.

In less a second everything is reduced to panic. Fire is everywhere, and all around me I see sharp teeth and claws and fangs. And when I said fire, I really meant Greek fire. One of the most dangerous substances in the world.

Why is it always me?

Bianca ducks and narrowly avoids being hit by a flying chair. She's screaming something about Nico…Crap. Margie explained to Bianca about demigods, but she never got the chance to tell Nico. He was a demigod as well, and was in danger too. I glance around, looking, but I can't find him anywhere. Poor kid must've freaked out and ran. Although, I'm pretty sure I would prefer to be where ever he was rather than in the middle of this mess.

I slice off the head of a very angry empousa and make my way to Margie.

"We-" Duck. "Have to-" Stab. "Evacuate-" Roll. "The mortals-" Jump. "And find-" Block. "Nico." And the very annoying demon was sent back to Tartarus.

Somehow she understood me while I tried to keep the monsters at bay. This is why we're such great friends.

"What do you mean, 'find Nico?' He's right… Hades. Can you find him? Do you think-" She broke off as she slide forward to avoid a flying knife. "You could take care of the mortals, too?" She glanced back at me.

"I'll try. If you can take this fight to the roof, I think I can get them out."

We have a system to our madness. Margie's our bait, Evie's our strategist, Percy's the one we turn to when we need backup, and I am the one that is constantly told to 'take care of the civilians', or 'protect the mortals'. That's because I'm the only one in our group who can manipulate the Mist. My old friend Thalia taught me, before she left to be with the Hunters. She tried teaching Percy, but he never got the hang of it.

I continue fighting with them, but remain towards the back, waiting for my chance. I had a plan. A good plan. Okay, maybe not good. Decent. Mediocre. But it was the best option we had.

For once, something goes right. The monsters start pushing us up towards the stairs, which is much easier than making us push them up. There were too many. Some flew, some slithered, and some bit. I had a gross bite mark on my arm from a demon that must've been part snake. I'm pretty sure it was poisonous too, because it burned. For a split second there was nothing coming straight at me. I glanced around, and saw-

"MARGIE! BEHIND YOU!"

That's right. Mr. I'm Invincible AND Invisible Melano was back.

He grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her away, up to the door that led to the roof. I was a flight of stairs away, and I could see a sky spirit about to go all kamikaze on me, so I seriously couldn't help. But I couldn't watch her get dragged away.

And then Margie did the most epic thing EVER. I could tell her hand was hurt, but she reached up anyways and sliced her knife through her hair, releasing herself from his grip. It looked like something out of an action movie. And her new hairdo wasn't even very uneven. Talk about a multi-tasker. I almost laughed.

Almost.

But then a dracaenae knocked my full weight onto my injured leg, the one with the limp, and I fell. This was a determined monster. It's face had been cut up and it was looking all misshapen, but it was still fighting. Must be expecting a nice half-blood or two for dinner. Unfortunately, it had also knocked my sword out of my hand, and kicked it quickly out of reach. I tried to reach for it with my right hand, but it stepped forward and put its weight on my flipping hand.

"OH MY GODS, that was my good hand!" I think I'm more angry than anything else, which is good, because my body doesn't completely register the pain of my multiple broken bones. So, neither of my hands were completely functional. No need to freak out. It's all good.

I force the automatic panic away and focus on a knife I see lying on the floor, 15 feet away. When I say 'focus' I mean all of my energy was going into it. I was already exhausted from fighting, and injured. It would be a miracle for me to pull this off.

And, right as the dracaenae leaned forward to rearrange my face, the knife came soaring through the air and planted itself right in her back.

"YES!"

I didn't even bother to cover up my joy.

You see, my best friend, who recently passed away and shall not be mentioned at this time, was a telepath. I, on the other hand, have telekinesis. It started out pretty simply when I was 4. Everything within a 5 foot radius that was metal would come flying at me. Mom wouldn't let me in the kitchen after a close accident with a very large steak knife. My friend-not-to-be-mentioned started calling me 'The Human Magnet.' I learned how to control it, and now, if I have enough energy, under the right circumstances, I can move almost anything with my mind. Sometimes, when I'm mad, things kind of… shatter. I try not to shatter people though. That would be bad. And messy.

My mom is really interested in these talents. She calls them 'gifts from God', which makes me wonder… are they gifts from the gods? I've thought about it once or twice. Margie has a gift too. She can see people's auras and sense their moods. It's pretty helpful when we first met people.

I realize that the stairwell is eerily silent. Then I see that the fight has moved to the roof, like I hoped. I limp down the stairs, noticing for the first time how badly my injured leg hurts. And I can't use the railing due to my hands. I'm forced to go at a frustratingly slow speed. Just as I'm trying not to slip in a large pool of blood, I hear a REALLY LOUD shriek. I try to ignore what's happening to my friends, but fail. I'm so worried. Why were so many monsters here, for maybe six demigods? It's so strange…

I take advantage of the empty halls, running as fast as I can without shrieking in pain. Here we are. First floor boy's bathroom.

Gods, this is sooo awkward.

I carefully pushed open the door and called, "Nico?"

I heard his voice from the corner. "Hello?" It was suspicious, frightened, and hopeful.

"It's just me, don't worry. I won't hurt you." I walk over to where he's sitting on the ground.

"What's going on?" He whispered. "Why did our vice principal hurt you like that?"

"Listen, it's a long story, and we don't have much time, but I'll try my best to explain. You know Greek mythology? Gods, goddesses, monsters, all of that?"

He nods.

"They're all really. And sometimes gods have kids with mortals, and those kids are demigods, half-mortal, half-god."

"You're a demigod." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. Margie, Percy, Evie, and I are all half-bloods. And we think you and your sister might be too."

"I'm a demigod? So, like, do I get superpowers or something?"

I grimace. "Not exactly. But monsters find us really easy."

"So the monsters out there are Greek monsters?"

"Yes. They can smell us. I'm a child of the Big Three, the most powerful gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. I'm the daughter of Poseidon, and because of this, monsters might target me more. So we probably shouldn't stay in one place too long."

He took the hint and we quickly strode out the door.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Monster stepped on it. It'll be fine though, it doesn't hurt that bad."

He looked at the broken, twisted form my hand was in and back at me incredulously.

"After a while you get a high pain tolerance." I answer his unspoken question.

"Now, how opposed are you to breaking school rules?"

…

In the next ten minutes the school had been completely evacuated. I could say exactly how it worked, but let me just tell everyone this: Do not pull the fire alarm while the school is in lockdown. Panic will ensue.

There was general confusion at the fire alarm going off, but due to the smoky smell coming from the stairwell from the fight, I guess the school administration decided to meet whatever mass murderer was in the hallway rather than waiting to burn.

I was able to erase all the confusion from the mortals' minds about the destruction. Manipulating the Mist that powerfully that many times was draining. As soon as everyone was out, Nico and I were at the door to the roof.

I handed him a drachma and grabbed a gardening hose that supposed to be for the rooftop garden. I instructed him on how to send an Iris-Message and tell him to tell Chiron exactly what's happened, and that we may need backup.

Someone had barred the door from the other side, but this was the type of situation that really made me appreciate telekinesis. In seconds that plank of wood was flying from the door handle and smacking a guarding monster in the face. As amusing and cartoon-ish as this was, I had to stop. My energy was super low, dangerously low.

I say this because I have a really high metabolism. So high that I can eat twice as much as your average person and still remain at the same weight. I burn off calories much faster than I can replace them. My blood sugar's a problem too. Assuming we all got out of this alive, we were so stopping at Starbucks and McDonald's.

The other side of the door is not a pretty sight. All my friends are being held captive by monsters. I don't see anyone with a weapon still on them, and Percy's will probably return to him too late to be of use.

We. Are. Screwed.

And then I see the most terrifying sight. Margie is being held right by the edge of the building. If she was pushed…

I'm not even going to finish that thought.

And who was holding her? That's right, say it with me:

MELONHEAD MELANO.

I see that look in her eyes as I meet her gaze, and start saying some useless crap about letting my friends go. Right as he's distracted, she twists out of his grip. She almost gets away. She's so close. And then he kicks her, right on her ankle.

When we got hurt over the summer, Margie broke that ankle. It had just healed. So, judging by her suddenly deathly pale face, he had just knocked the bone out of place. He grabbed her, and she couldn't run.

I feel like crying. I'm surrounded, I feel like I'm going to pass out from blood lose or low blood sugar, my right hand is in fragments, and Margie just got hurt.

"Now, Miss Jackson, just come quietly and there will be no problems for your friends. No one needs to be hurt, Andromeda."

"Anna, NO. Don't you dare-" He covers her mouth.

At her words, I'm thrown back 2 months in the past. In a similarly hopeless situation, with another hurt friend. Elaine… NO. Not now. I will not think of that.

Margie is twisting and struggling.

Mr. No-One-Needs-To-Be-Hurt turns to Dr. Thorn.

"Is this one disposable?"

"If necessary."

And I scream as he effortlessly picks up Margie and throws her over the top of the building.

…..

It's a reflex, really, jumping to save her. Part insanity, part daredevil.

But here's the thing. Margie's headed straight for the lake. If I get there first I can cushion her fall. Because, falling from this high up and landing on water is like smashing into concrete.

But not for the daughter of Poseidon.

I will myself to go faster and just meet her. I grab her a split second before we hit the water. My aching body feels amazing as I break the surface of the lake. I make sure there's an air bubble around us and swim to the surface.

We both make it out of the water and onto the grass, panting from exertion. The sun's really bright. But wasn't it storming?...

And then the world turns to dark and the only thing I'm able to do before I give into it is reach for Margie's hand.

Because I don't plan on letting her go.