Chapter Thirteen

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.

I just stood there. Five feet away were Percy and the empousa. It was laughing. Hard and loud. I clenched my fists. She was like any other bully I had ever had.

I lowered my head so my blonde hair fell over my eyes. I didn't want to see anything. Suddenly, I moved. I ran towards the empousa, blocking all her slashes and attempts to kill me. I was very focused. I could feel my eyes sharpen. I attacked and the next second, I see sandy powder flowing from her wound. I knew that Percy was too close for me to kill her. I backed up, avoiding an attack.

"You rotten daughter of Athena. I should have killed you when I had first seen you on the bus. And your weak, pathetic, worthless friends!" she screamed. I could feel anger build up inside of me.

"Don't you dare call me an my friends weak, pathetic, and worthless! They are worth everything to me!" After I said that, Percy grabbed onto his sword tighter and stabbed the empousa in the stomach. There was an ear splitting noise. I was pretty sure that you could hear it all the way from California. More of that sandy powder came pouring out of her stomach. Then, she exploded into dust. The wind carried her in my direction. As it passed through me, I could still hear the faint laughter of it's terrible voice. Thalia, Nico, Jason, and what seemed like Percy's mom and step father, all ran down from the apartment to see what happened.

"ANNABETH! Are you alright?" Thalia ran over to me and gave me a huge hug.

"Tha-li-a! Can't...breathe," I say in between breaths.

"Sorry. We were just so worried about you. You scared me, you know."

"Don't worry. I'm fine." I turn to Percy. His mom and step dad embraced him in a big hug. They had wide smiles. I walked over to them when me and Thalia were done talking.

"Um...thanks Percy. For, you know...for not going against me." I gave him a small grin. He smiled back at me.

"I worried you, didn't I. Percy, PERCY PLEASE!" he imitated me. I punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get for worrying me, Seaweedbrain." He put on a pouting face while rubbing the arm I punched. I started to laugh. So did everyone else.

When we were all done laughing, Percy's mom asked "Who wants to go inside to eat some blue cookies?" Everyone raised their hands up high. Nico, Jason, Thalia, and Percy ran up the stairs to the apartment with Paul. Mrs. Blofis and I were the ones left behind. I was really tired. I have to get use to it.

"Annabeth?" I turned around and saw that Mrs. Jackson was calling me.

"Yes, Mrs. Blofis?"

"Oh, you don't need to call me Mrs. Blofis. It makes me sound old. Just call me Sally."

"Oh, okay. Yes, Sally?" Her face had a big grin on it. I looked at her skeptically.

"It's just that I haven't seen you in a long time. Come here." I walked over to her and she gave me a big hug. I was surprised at first, but it was like hugging my dad. "Percy hasn't seen you in a very long time. He misses you and everyone else. He's been bugging me about going back to camp. Do you want to go with him? I know that it is so sudden, but I know that Thalia, Nico, and Jason are going too. It would be really cool. I know that you only have a few days left before you have to go back to San Francisco, but I know you'll have the time of your life. You'll see old friends like Connor, Travis, Silena, Beckendorf, Lee, Michael, and Malcolm. He's your half-brother by the way."

I gave her a warm smile. I knew my answer right away. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yeah, I'll go." She started to jump up and down.

"Thank you. This will excite Percy!"

"Oh, I' not doing it for Percy. I'm, ah, doing it for mom. My real mom. Ah, Athena." Man, I started to sound like such an idiot. I really wish that I could just disappear right now.

"It's alright, Annabeth. It's okay to be all nervous. I talked to Percy about it and he was as red as a tomato!" She laughed making me feel better.

"Thank you Mrs-ah, Sally." I smiled at her, knowing that she has become one of my friends, even though there is a long age gap between us.

After we were done talking, we had all already arrived at the apartment. Percy, Nico, Jason, and Thalia were stuffing their faces with cookies. The mysterious girl was just sitting there, with a melancholy look on her face.

"Hey, who are you?" I asked. She looked up at me. Her eyes were really dark. She was all scratched up and hurt, but I could tell that it would have looked a lot worse if she hadn't been fixed up. Suddenly, she spoke.

"My name is Althea. Althea Chance. I'm the daughter of...Hephaestus, god of fire and industry." She gave me a quick and lopsided smile almost like Percy's. Even though her eyes were sharp, I could tell that they were kind and trusting. "I was just walking around town when I encountered that empousa on the subway. Thanks to you guys, I got away just fine. Thank you."

"You're welcome." I walked over to where Percy and the others were. "Hey guys. That girl over there is actually a half-blood!" They all look at me. Nico was the first to speak.

"So, who is she the daughter of?"

"Hephaestus."

"Oh, cool. That's probably why she was able to fix herself up so quickly,"Percy stated.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm going to camp with you guys!" They all started to spit or choke.

"That's awesome, Annabeth! I can't wait for you to meet everyone! Do you remember Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckondorf, Travis and Connor Stoll, Katie Gardner, Will Solace, Michael Yew, Lee Fletcher, and Clarrise La Rue from camp a few years ago?" Thalia asked, hugging me. I nodded, no t able to talk with her death grip."Well, they are all there this year!" I had a huge smile on my face. They have been my friends for a really long time and I haven't got anytime to see them. Now is a great time.

"Are you serious!" Percy yelled. I knew that he didn't like Clarrise. She was from the Ares cabin as far as I can remember. He broke her spear and soaked her with toilet water. It was so funny! But, not for her. She would probably kill him.

"It's fine, Percy." I turned towards Althea. "Are you coming, too?" She thought about the offer. Then, she nodded her head. "Yes," she said with total confidence.

"All right. I have to go to Thalia's and we can go." We all went downstairs.

"Oh, I forgot. I have to run an errand real quick. I'll see you at camp!" Althea yelled, running off. Everyone but Sally and Mr. Blofis went down to the subway. Percy had already packed his bag.

"Now, don't do anything rash, okay?" Sally warned Percy before leaving.

"I got it, mom. You don't have to worry. I got them right with me." He gestured to all of us. We all smiled.

"Okay." We all started to walk down the stairs. "Oh, Annabeth?" I turned around while everyone else was going down.

"Yes?"

"Please take care of Percy for me. I have almost lost him so many times." She almost lost Percy many times? Wow. It must be hard being the parent of a half-blood.

""Okay, I swear on the River Styx." The sky rumbled, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"Thank you," she mouthed when I was already down the stairs.

"You're welcome."

"What are you doing, Annabeth?" Percy looked at me quizzically.

"It's nothing. Okay, let's go!"

Sorry I haven't been posting. I got a really bad cold and on top of that, I have midterms. Luckily, they ended today, so I'M BACK! I'm also going to do a new story some time soon, so watch out for that! Mada Mada Dane~Ryoma Echizen