A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating in a SUPER long time. Check the AN at the bottom of the page to see why…

Anyway, numero cinco! Enjoy!

Annabeth

Olympe High School was full of demigods on the Monday that term started. I was expecting it to be less full, but it actually seemed more crowded than ever.

And the face that stood out of the crowd most was Percy.

I found myself waving and smiling at him more than anyone else…

"Alright, class," Ms. Monners, our Arithmetic teacher, started handing out worksheets. "This worksheet will be one of the most important for the beginning of term. Results will be posted outside my room tomorrow, and the people with the highest grades will tutor the people with the lower grades after school."

"Get out your textbooks and read page fifty-four," our Ancient Greek teacher, an old man, started writing on the chalkboard. "Then I want an essay completed on the common grammar mistakes of the modern era. Of Ancient Greek, of course." He cackled like that was the funniest thing in the world.

"Please write me an essay about the things that are most important to you, and how you embrace your godly side, to be handed in tomorrow." Ms. Heer peered at us from behind her large spectacles.

"Alright, cupcakes, hustle up! Today, we're going to be fighting a large…um…what's it called again?...oh yes, yes, a dracanae. Then I'm going to partner you up, and you are going to fight each other to the death! Then you go through this obstacle course, and do it all over again!" Coach Hedge swung his baseball bat around and around, glaring menacingly at us.

Lunch was the most exciting, because when me, Luke, Thalia, Percy, and some of our other friends joined us at the table, an announcement was made on the stage.

"This Friday, a dance will be held to lighten up the start of term. Entrance is free, but it is a masquerade dance, so you must dress formally and must be wearing a mask. Partners are required"- groans erupted from around the lunch room –"and it lasts from nine to eleven. Check the poster outside of the main office for more details."

"A dance?" Luke furrowed his eyebrows.

"With partners?" Thalia banged her head on the table.

Most of our friends probably already knew who they were going to go with. Jason and Piper, Frank and Hazel. Leo seemed to be warming up (A/N: see what I did there?!) to a new student named Calypso.

But what were me, Luke, and Thalia to do?

After school, I decided to sit by the lake to work on some homework. I needed some alone time to…think.

A train leaves the station at 6:00 p.m. traveling west at 80mi/h . On a parallel track , a second train leaves the station 3 hours later traveling west at 100 mi/h . At what time will the second train catch up with the first?

Trains…trains came and went.

Leaves the station at 6:00 p.m….

Would I have to catch a train before it left?

Traveling west at 80mi/h…

Literally or figuratively?

On a parallel track…

Stupid parallelism.

"Hey, Annabeth!"

I twisted around to see Percy, making his way towards the lake. I smiled, tucked my homework into my bag, and stood up.

Percy slowed to a walk. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Homework. You?"

"Anything besides homework."

I rolled my eyes.

Percy cleared his throat. "So, um, I guess Thalia's not too keen on the prospect of the dance."

"She just doesn't want a partner."

"Right. So, um, I-"

A loud clang came from the school. A flock of birds flew away in fright.

"What the-"

We hurried off in that direction. The clang had sounded suspiciously like the noise the Taraxippus had made in the park a few nights ago.

Inside, nothing seemed to have happened. But as we turned a few hallways, we found that the door to a girls' bathroom was wide open. An out of order sign fluttered on it.

I walked up to it and peeked inside. My eyes might as well have popped out of my face.

A large hole, taking up the whole bathroom, glared up at me.

Percy's jaw dropped.

Slowly, I tried to lower myself into the hole, but ended up falling inside. Percy jumped in after me.

We landed in some sort of basement-like structure, and it was filled with all sorts of weird contraptions. The walls were metal and the room was lit up with fluorescents, and we quickly ducked under a metal table, because footsteps were coming closer.

"…personally think, Kira, that it would be much easier to do it the night of the school dance."

"Honestly, you only do what's convenient for yourself. How am I supposed to go a week, pretending to be some stupid Ms. Heer, without biting anybody?!"

"It's what Krios would want, Kira. During the night of the dance, you take the seven demigods that Krios asked for, bite all seven, then we take them with us bam! No more coming back to this stupid school."

Bite? Percy mouthed.

"But what if they catch onto us before then?"

"Then we kill them, duh."

Percy shook me violently. "I think it would be a great time to go now, Annabeth."

I nodded.

We slowly creeped out from under our hiding place, and started back towards the large hole in the ceiling, where a large rope was dangling, when Percy tripped on a large piece of metal-

"SOMEONE'S HERE!"

"SHH! SOMEONE'S GOING TO HEAR, KIRA!"

"YOU SHH! IT'S TIME FOR ME TO KILL!"

"Come on," Percy stood impatiently on the ground as I climbed up.

I hurriedly made it to the top, and when Percy did, too, we made a mad dash out of the girls' bathroom and back out of the school.

"So…let me get this straight. Some vampire lady and her henchmen want to take seven demigods from the school to bite them and take them to Krios? This Friday?" Luke slurped up his smoothie.

We were at the Jumbo Juice Hut, talking things over. Right after we had safely made it out, I had called Thalia and she and Luke had met us as quickly as possible in this smoothie shop.

"Pretty much," Percy fiddled with his straw. "So, how are we going to stop them?"

"Stop Krios?" Thalia snorted. "You're nuts."

"Well, maybe not Krios," I reasoned, "But at least his workers at this school."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Luke frowned.

"Well, first we have to alert some of our friends."

"Like who?"

"Um, I don't know, only a few. How about…Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Frank, Hazel, and Nico?"

"And you call that just a few?" Thalia chuckled.

"And then what?" Percy ignored Thalia.

"And then we find a way to make it into the dance on Friday and stop whoever wants the seven demigods."

"A.K.A. the vampire lady," Thalia said.

"And what do we do until then? It's only Monday," Luke seemed to be thinking things over.

"We find out as much as we can about Ms. Heer and keep our eyes open for any suspicious behavior. Oh, and find a partner for the dance."

Thalia banged her head on the table again.

"Aw, Thalia, don't hurt the innocent table!" Percy teased.

"Should we tell some teachers?" Luke asked.

"No," I said. "It's too dangerous. We have no idea what other teachers are involved."

"This is awesome!" Thalia said, quickly slipping out of her funk about the dance. "We should make a team name for ourselves. How about: Thalia and-"

"No," Luke said loudly.

"Fine, then how about, Thal-"

"No."

"Tha-"

"No!"

"T-"

"NO!

"We can call ourselves The Seven, for now, because I have a sneaking feeling that a few of us are going to be part of the group Krios is after." I pushed back my chair and stood up. "So, see you guys tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I guess," Luke stood up, along with Thalia and Percy.

We started to head out, when Thalia said, "Wait!"

We all turned towards her.

She cleared her throat. "We're part of a rebel group now. We need to have a cool walk we do every time we walk out the door."

We walked-

No.

We swaggered out the door.

A/N: Hope you liked that chapter! Also, I can't post another chapter until I get a total of 12 reviews! It defies my moral code! So please either show your friends this story, or something something smart and useful something something. I might be starting other stories in the meantime, so be sure to check those out when they come! Bie!