Chapter Twelve

"Hey, come back!" I yelled at the mysterious young girl. "It's dangerous!" But she already left. I made a difficult choice. "You guys stay here. I'm going to go outside and see what's going on."

"No! Annabeth, it's too dangerous. It's probably just a car crash. The police will be there," Thalia exclaimed. But I didn't listen to her. I got up, but Thalia grabbed me by the back of my shirt, clenching her hand into a fist.

"Thalia," I turned around. "I've seen what happened. It wasn't a car crash. If I let that girl go outside and she gets hurt, or DIE, I won't be able to forgive myself. You have to let me go. It's my fault that Percy left. If she doesn't make it, I don't know what I will do. Please." I squeaked when I said please. Tears were forming in my eyes. Reluctantly, Thalia let go.

"Fine, but I'm going too." She gave me a determined smile. "If you are going to do this, then, so am I." My tears cleared. I gave her a soft smile. Then, we turned to the boys. They looked at us questionably, then, seemed to get what was going on here.

"Me too." Nico stood up with a smirk on his face. Then, Jason stood.

"Yeah. Me too!" He also had a smirk, but it turned into a goofy grin. Then, we heard a voice so familiar.

"Don't forget about me." I turned. Percy was standing in front of us. In front of me. He was so close, I could feel his breathing on my nose and lips. I couldn't help, but blush.

"PERCY!" Thalia, Nico, and Jason all yelled in unison. Thalia then turned mad and started yelling at Percy about how stupid he was for leaving them. Nico and Jason just said that they were worried and how slow time was without him. Percy tried to make up excuses for Thalia. It was really funny to watch. I started laughing. I hugged my stomach and bent down, laughing, with my eyes closed. They all looked t me weird.

"What?" Percy asked. It took my a couple of seconds to calm down. Then, I looked back up at them.

"It's just that you guys feel like my family now. I feel great." My answer was true. It was pure. Then, I heard screaming. I had just remembered that something bad was going on outside. I ran out the doors with everyone else. We all looked down fifth street and found people screaming past us and in the different direction. When everyone cleared enough for me to see, my heart dropped. The girl that ran out was fighting something. She had a three feet long sword in her hand and it looked like celestial bronze. There were hammers on the sword, with other pictures of weapons. She was also holding up a shield, one with a wrench and screwdriver on it. Then, I realized what that something was. It was the same thing that was following us.

"Her." Percy gritted his teeth. His eyes were furrowed towards his nose. We all looked at him.

"You know that thing?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. I met her yesterday when she attacked me. It's an empousa." He held up his arm. There was a scar on his arm, no longer than five inches. It looked red, but I knew it could've been worse. We all stared at the empousa. It had hair, literally burning, with dangerous red eyes and snow white skin. The longer I looked, the madder I got. I didn't know the reason, but a second later, I found myself running next to the girl and helping her fight the empousa.

I slashed with my knife. It cut a small scar on her right arm. She yelped in pain. Yellow powder started to spill out of her wound. With a swipe of her arm, my dagger went flying into the streets. I was about to get it when I heard a loud yell. I could see that the girl was injured. Her left shoulder was cut and bled through her gray hoodie. She was kneeling, holding her sword in her right hand, blocking the monsters moves as it tries to claw her. I didn't have time to get my dagger. I needed to create a diversion.

"Hey, donkey legs!" That got her attention. Her face was angry. I could tell that the donkey legs were a bad feature to have. It must feel bad.

She ran towards me, ready to kill me. I stood there, defenseless. All of a sudden, a sword came across the front of me and blocked the empousa from killing me. It backed off. Percy had his sword with him. He stepped in front of me. Then, he whispered, "I told Thalia, Nico, and Jason to go up to my apartment building. They're safe there. They also brought along the young girl and now, I'm going to save you."

"Percy, than-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence. Th empousa was lunging towards us. Percy dodged it without hesitation. Me? I wasn't so lucky. The empousa's claw The empousa still looked ready to rip our heads of, but then, smiled. All of a second, she started to laugh.

"What's so funny." Percy snarled. She kept laughing. Percy is still protecting me. Then, the empousa finally spoke.

"Why, Percy Jackson? Why are you protecting her. You've only known her for a few years and haven't seen each other in a long time. Why are you risking your life to save her?" I felt myself blush madly. I could tell that Percy was too, but he was able to still keep that same stern face. "Well, Percy Jackson? Why?" I took this into consideration. Why did Percy protect me? Why was he doing this for me? He might kill himself protecting me.

"Percy," I squeaked. I didn't want him hurt. I can't see anyone hurt. "Percy, it's fine."

"No, Annabeth. I don't care what this thing says. I won't leave your side." He sounded desperate.

"Percy Jackson. Why? Do you like her? Is that why?" Percy didn't answer. "Why don't you come here. I can make everything better for you." Percy's face was suddenly vacant. He lowered his sword.

"Percy. Are you okay, Percy? Percy?" I started to get worried. "Percy? PERCY!"

"I'm sorry, Annabeth," he whispered.

"What?"

"I'm sorry." he started to walk forward.

"Percy, please no." He kept walking. "PERCY! PLEASE, NO!" I screamed as hard as I can. I grabbed his arm, but he wouldn't budge. I started to cry. Then, I stopped. My tears slowly ran down my cheek. I looked down at my shoes, slouching. When I looked up I saw Percy stand next to the empousa. He still had the vacant look on his face. His sword is still in his hand.

Fifth street was vacant. Everyone that use to be bustling around, was now gone. The world seemed to stop. No human moved. All I could hear was the sound of the empousa's laughter.

By the way, the girl isn't anyone from the Percy Jackson series. I just made her up. You'll meet her in a little while...