XX

PERCY

I was staring out the window when my pocket started to vibrate. I reached for my phone. Annabeth.

"Hello?"

"Percy! You need to hurry! They're making another troop, but they don't trust me anymore! They won't tell me anything, you have to hurry," Annabeth rambled.

"They don't know where we are," I replied calmly. I mean, surely it'd be pretty difficult to track us down, right?

"You don't understand. The gods are helping them."

"Crap."

"Exactly. So, you need to move. Quick!" Annabeth urged before she gasped and hung the phone up. This isn't good. They would catch us in no time with the gods on their side.

"Panda, we've got to hurry. They're sending another troop after us," I said and she wore the same expression I had. "The gods are helping." Her eyes opened wide.

"Crap," she said, as she casted a quick glance outside. Nico moaned as he massaged his forehead with his hand. "We'll be there in the next thirty minutes," she said. "We'll be dropped off in the town right next to the town of the museum. We can get there in no time," she soothed, though I knew she was forcing her confidence. She chewed on her lip as she stared outside and Nico was fidgeting with the hilt of his sword. I leaned back and closed my eyes. These thirty minutes would be the longest I've ever experienced.

Things are getting tougher. And to make it worse, I knew Panda was keeping something from me. I would ask, but she'd push me away. And the more I asked, the more guarded she'd get. If only I could read minds!

We spent the next thirty minutes becoming hyperactive in our seats. Panda's legs were shaking non-stop, Nico was spinning a few bones over his hands like you'd do with those little metal balls, except they were levitating. When the train finally came to a halt, we almost flew out of our seats as we burst out of the train.

"So, we gonna run there?" Nico asked, as we left the station.

"Nope," Panda answered as she scanned the streets. She spotted something and gestured for us to follow as she headed to a small blue car parked in an almost empty parking lot. She reached into her shirt and pulled out a small metal stick and began to break into the car. After several minutes, the door popped open and then she went to start the car as me and Nico piled inside.

"You know, if you're going to hijack a car, get a better one next time," Nico commented as Panda slid in.

"Why don't you do it next time," she said, as she threw the car into drive.

"Least I get the backseat to myself," he commented as he stretched sideways. Panda rolled her eyes as she pulled out of the parking lot.

About fifteen minutes into the drive, I could already hear Nico snoring.

"So…" I said.

"Yeah?" Panda said, as she turned the blinker on and turned onto the highway.

"Sup." Panda laughed, but then her face slowly fell as if she had thought of something that made her sad. "You okay?" I asked. She forced a laugh and grabbed my hand, but said nothing. She was starting to act a little weird, like she was watching someone die and she couldn't do anything about it. And I knew what that felt like. I looked out the window, and I could see, so clearly it was like I was there again, the scene of Beckendorf's death play out across the window.

She took an exit off the highway which left us on a scraggly road with houses cluttering the entire right side. Some were decent, some needed lots of help and most looked abandoned. I had the music blaring, which Panda had actually let me play, even though she didn't enjoy my preference in music.

"Why are you slowing down?" Nico asked from the back, as he stared out the window.

"I'm not…" Panda said, as she stared at the dashboard. The car jerked a few times as Panda pulled it over on the other side of the road, away from the houses. The car stopped and steam billowed out from under the hood. Panda sighed and let her head fall onto the steering wheel.

"I'll see what's wrong," she said, as she slid out of the car. Nico and I stepped out and sat on the curb, while Panda had her head stuck under the hood.

"Well, this is fun," Nico said, as he rested his chin on his knees.

"Yeah, we should do this more often," I joked, as I nudged him with my shoulder. Nico puffed.

"Any luck?" I called over to Panda. She answered, but it was all muffled. I rested my cheek on my palm and looked at the houses. Some people were standing outside their houses, keeping a hawk's eye on us, which was kind of disturbing. I was turning to look at Panda to make sure the hood hadn't fallen on her yet when I caught a small flash of light in one of the houses.

It appeared in the house right in front of where I sat. I figured it was probably sunlight shining off the window. I stood up, when I heard a terrified scream. I spun around, expecting to see Nico and Panda up and alert, but they were calm as can be. Okay, it's probably just me… I turned back to Panda when the scream echoed again, scraping my ears. My breathing grew heavy as I scanned my surroundings.

"Dude, you all right?" Nico asked, as he stood up.

"I-I-I- I think I heard something," I said. Nico's eyebrows creased. Suddenly, a small girl appeared at the window of the house, banging it furiously, her hair in a tangled mess and in a dirty white pajama dress.

"Help! Help! Help me!" she screamed. I didn't need to be told twice. I bolted across the street, with a startled yell from Nico. I ran up the balcony steps and kicked the door, which flew off easily because of rusted hinges. I stepped inside, as Nico and Panda came up behind me.

"Percy, what the hell are you doing?!" Panda yelled, as she grabbed my shoulder. I looked around, but the house was empty. There was no girl in need of help.

"I heard something," I said defensively, as I looked around.

"Percy, there was nothing! Let's get out of here before-" Panda was cut off as the door, that should've been broken on the floor, flew into place and locked itself.

"Shit," she breathed, as she took a step back.

"Just great!" Nico complained. "We walked into a haunted house!"

"Something like that," a woman's voice said behind us. I spun around to see a short woman with shoulder length brown hair and red eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked as I saw Nico grab his sword and Panda touched her necklace from the corner of my eye. The woman smiled. She stepped out of her shadow and instead of wearing the stereotypical white dress, she wore leather pants with a leather tank top and leather knee-high boots. She had tattoos up and down her arms, with thick black bracelets.

"I don't think that's really important," she said, walking to a broken wooden chair. She sat down, crossed her legs and the chair transformed from a rotten wooden chair into cold steel with skulls at the foot of its legs. "What's important is that you've caused some trouble," she said, as she turned her red gaze on Panda. She stood up and the chair turned back to its original form and stood in front of Panda.

"You know, Zeus had lots of family members," she said, as she started walking around Panda. Panda had a mixture of fear, anger and regret crossing her eyes.

"And some people have… anger issues," she said, as she touched Panda's hair. Panda pulled away. I stepped forward, but the woman lifted her hand, and sent me flying across the room. I slammed against the wall and slumped down, feeling something wet drip through my hair.

"Percy!" Panda yelled, as she turned and swung at the woman. The woman caught her arm, but Panda kicked back, making the woman's knee double and then Panda spun around and maneuvered her in a lock. The woman laughed.

"Oh dear, you have no idea who I am!" she yelled, as she disappeared in a column of smoke and reappeared on the other side of the room, making Panda fall to her knees. The woman kicked and sent Panda flying against the locked door. Nico ran forward with his sword up. She raised her hand to grab it, but at the last second, Nico kicked her in the stomach, catching her by surprise. She stumbled back, as I jumped up and ran to Nico's side. Panda stood up, and slashed with Planaxis which was glowing black.

The middle tip of her trident cut the woman's back and she hissed as a spiked ball on a chain melted into her hand.

"I bet you don't want us to know who you are, 'cause if you get your ass kicked, no one could know it was you," Panda said, as she backed up into Nico and me. The woman straightened up.

"I have no shame," she replied. "But… whatever tickles your fancy. I'm Eris. Goddess of chaos," she said, as she bared her teeth and lunged. We all ducked, as she flew over us. The chain changed into a whip. She through it forward and wrapped it around Planaxis. She tugged and pulled Planaxis right out of Panda's hands. The whip cracked, and Planaxis was embedded in the wall behind Eris. A hole on the floor besides her opened up and a group of skeletons popped up, armed and at the ready. Eris cackled.

"The more the merrier!" she screamed, as the whip changed into a club and she swung at the first skeleton, which turned to dust at first impact. I grabbed Riptide and swung at her arm, slicing it almost the whole way through before she pulled back. In her moment of temporary pain, a skeleton jumped onto her back, bringing her to her knees. She grunted in annoyance as more skeletons jumped on top, until there was nothing but a writhing mass of bones and torn army clothes.

When I thought the skeletons would subdue her, there was a loud war cry and the skeletons all burst into ashes as Eris jumped up, the tips of her hair burning with red fire.

"Nice trick, son of Hades," she spat. "But I've got something better!" A machine gun appeared in her hands and we all ducked as bullets flew through the air. Panda hid behind a ripped red couch, but Eris saw her.

"Oh Pandora!" Eris sang, as she positioned the gun at the couch. "I'VE GOT A PRESENT FOR YOU!" she yelled, as she shot at the couch.

"No!" Nico yelled, as he came up behind her. Eris swung and smacked Nico across the ribs with the machine gun, making him crumple to the floor. Taking my chance, I jumped up and slashed at the back of her leg, making golden ichor flow down her priceless leather pants.

"You twirp!" she screamed, as she spun around. I ducked before she could nail me with the gun. A slid behind her and kicked her in the back; with the weight of the machine gun, she stumbled forward, but caught herself before she fell.

"All right! If that's how you want to play!" she yelled, as the gun morphed into a silver sword, engraved with curses across the length of the blade. I took a step back. I freaked for a microsecond when I realized I could take her. I took on Ares, though back then I had water… I readied myself as Nico slowly stood up behind Eris, rubbing his sore spot.

"Let's roll," I said. Eris cracked a smile and struck downwards towards my head. I blocked her strike and kicked her in the stomach as hard as I possibly could. She stumbled back, into Nico, who was ready. She slammed into him and instantly turned on him. With a deep breath, Nico served a hard right hook. Her head snapped back, and she struck Nico across the face with her forearm, knocking him against the floor with a painful grunt.

I took a step forward to help, when she threw two daggers at me, which pinned me to the wall. I couldn't move without ripping my shirt, which wasn't really a big deal. As I struggled to unpin myself, Eris walked towards the couch.

"Oh daughter of Poseidon…" she sang, as she grabbed the couch and flung upward. It crashed through the wall and rolled onto the lawn, revealing an empty space with a small pool of blood. My heart froze. Where was Panda?

Eris gasped and looked around the room.

"Where are you?!" she hissed, as she looked around angrily.

"RIGHT HERE!" Panda yelled as she came up behind Eris and cut her arm with the Hines Dagger. Eris screamed in agony. That little blade caused more pain than any other weapon. Panda stood back, clutching her chest, the slight crease of her eyebrows betraying her pain.

"That wasn't nice," Eris said, as she swung her fist, striking Panda across the face, making her slide across the floor, dropping the dagger. I jumped forward, my shirt tearing to pieces and ran forward and smacked her head with the butt of my sword. She stumbled forward, but then spun and grabbed my neck. I couldn't breathe well and I felt like she was crushing my windpipe.

"You're cute," she said, getting closer to my face. "I think I'm gonna keep you," she said, before she licked my cheek and chucked me across the room. I slammed against the wall, as Nico jumped forward. Eris was prepared. She disarmed him and kicked him, making him slam against the wall. Eris rolled her eyes, as she walked over to the wounded Panda and stood over her. She squatted and pushed Panda's hair out of her face.

"You're almost as good as I am, you know, causing chaos," she said, tilting her head. "Too bad it was my father you killed, otherwise, you could've become my right hand man," she said. "Too bad," she repeated, as her sword melted into a small dagger and she raised it above Panda, who was lying on the floor helplessly.

I tried to get up, but my knees buckled and I fell hard on my hands. Then, Nico stood up and tapped Eris on the shoulder. She stood up and turned on him, but she stopped cold and her eyes opened wide.

"You should've thought twice before you messed with her," he whispered, as Eris fell to the floor, ichor flowing out a wound in her stomach. With an agonizing scream, she melted into gold and disappeared. Nico dropped the dagger, the Hines Blood dagger, he had used to kill Eris and knelt next to Panda. I limped towards them, trying to ignore the pain that was shooting up my leg and sat next to her.

"Thanks," she whispered, before she convulsed and fell into labored breathing. I looked down and saw blood flowing down her hipbone from a nasty bullet hole. My blood ran cold. I instinctively put my hands on the wound and she moaned in pain, but didn't move.

"I'll get ambrosia," Nico said, as he sprinted out of the house.

"I never thought I'd get shot," Panda breathed. "Stabbed, beaten, poisoned, thrown off of trains, flying arrows, metal birds, sure. But getting shot? Wasn't really on my list," she rasped.

"Shut up," I said and Panda snickered. She wrapped her fingers around my wrist.

"Whatever happens, I want you to know I love you," she whispered, before she closed her eyes.

Sorry I took so long, I was on Spring Break :P Hope this came out well, let me know what you think!