January 4rd

Mirra's p.o.v

So, apparently, when Poseidon came to visit Percy, he had asked him to come and visit his underwater palace the week after Christmas.

He'd been gone for about four days now, and I missed him, but Annabeth comes over to see me a lot. Take today for instance.

We had a major snowstorm the night before, probably at least eight inches. Maybe more. I love the snow, and wanted to go out and play. Annabeth had been over that night when the snowstorm hit. Mommy didn't want her walking home in such bad weather, so she had insisted Annabeth stay over. The next morning, she had volunteered to take me out in the snow.

The snow was beautiful. The sun had come out, so it reflected off the heeps of white like glimmering silver. It decorated all the rooftops and cars,sprinkled over the trees and bushes like powdered sugar on a cake. The sky was a brilliant colour of aqua blue, mixed in with a lighter colour of baby blue that kinda reminded me of paints, how the two colours swirled around each other. There were a few clouds here and there, comfortably blending in with the sky as if they had always been there, and always will be there.

Annabeth and I were currently building a snowman in the park. She was trying to design it to perfection and wouldn't stop till she got it right.

"It has to be symmetrical on both sides of the face, each stick has to be exactly 50 centimetres long, the carrot must be 25 centimetres, no more, no less. The body must be in perfect order, decreasing in size by exactly 26.8% as we built down."

I had stood there, staring at her with a perplexed look on my face.

"You didn't understand any of that, did you?"

I shook my head.

Annabeth sighed and leaned up against a tree, running a hand though her golden curls, them falling perfectly back down. A smile then appeared on her face, which resulted in us bursting out in full course laughter, earning a strange look from the couple that passed by.

"Okay, so, what do you want to do next?" Annabeth asked me while fixing one of the blue buttons on her grey windbreaker.

I shrugged. "I dunno. Hot chocolate?"

Annabeth smiled. "Now tthat's an idea. Let's go!"

OoOoOoOo

Starbucks wasn't to terribly crowded, just a few highscoolers and a young married couple with there toddler son.

Annabeth and I took a table near the window. She ordered a chocolate cream mocha and I order a mint flavoured hot cocoa with a candy cane for stirring. We had gotten a tray of peppermint cookies, which we were delightfully munching on.

"Okay, Annabeth, tell me the truth" I said. "Did you really like Percy before you guys started dating?"

Annabeth blushed, but chuckled a bit. "If I tell you, you better promise not to tell him."

I nodded eagerly. Annabeth leaned in, covering the side of her face with her hand and whispering in my ear "a little bit...yeah, I did."

I smiled brightly and threw my hands up in the air. "I knew it!"

A few people in the room turned to give us dirty looks for interrupting the comfortable silence. Annabeth and I flinched, quickly taking a drink of our drinks and tried to pretend it wasn't us. We giggled at each other, only to earn a harsh "Shhhhh!" from the table beside us.

We drank for a few for minutes before I noticed Annabeth looking out the window, her eyebrows scrunched together the way they usually do when she's strategizing or plotting.

"Annabeth?" I asked.

Without tearing her gaze away from the window, she got up out of her chair. "Stay here. There's an empousa outside."

"A what?"

"Just stay here. I'll deal with it." Annabeth ran out the door, and I saw her out the window creeping up on a girl that had been sitting on the bench.

Of course, being Percy's sister has rubbed off on me, because I didn't listen to her warning and followed Annabeth outside.

Standing outside the building, I realized what an Empousa was.

In just a passing glace, the girl looked totally normal. Long straight red hair, going past her waist, a splash of pink freckles across her nose, pale skin, and a pair of dark raven black eyes covered by rounded pink glasses.

However, underneath that, her red hair was really flaming, skin an deathly white, even more so than the fallen snow. I noticed that one of her legs was that of a donkeys, and the other was mechanical. Her lips were a devilish red, a lizard like tounge cascading over two sharp fangs.

I saw her eye meet Annabeths, and the Empousa lunged. Annabeth was able to defend from the attack with her knife, but was knocked back and nearly lost her balance. Luckily, she bent back and did a cartwheel, then dropped to her knees and slashed the Empousa's donkey leg. She cried out in pain, but then it seemed her arms and legs caught completely ablaze. She threw a fireball at Annabeth, who ducked and roles out of the way. The Empousa charged, a line of fire following in her path. She aimed a punch at Annabeth, but Annabeth caught it and jumped, flipping in mid air and kicking her in the jaw. She skidded across the pavement and hit her head on a tree. Unfortunately, she jumped back up, aiming her palms and sending a hugeblast of fire to Annabeth. The fire took the shape of hands, grabbing Annabeth and tossing her high in the air. Annabeth landed hard on her back. She tried to get up, but the Empousa stepped on her cheast.

"Annabeth!"

I had to think quickly. I tried to remember anything Percy might have mentioned on Empousa but was drawing a blank.

Then I remembered something that may help.

Once when I was over at Ellies house, her brother had been watching a Vampire movie. The vampire was killed by a steak to the heart. Empousa are the same as vampires, right?

Well, I'm about to find out.

There was a fallen limb from the Apple tree by Starbucks. It had a pretty pointy tip, so I figured it would work.

I picked it up and slowly snuck up behind the Empousa. It didn't notice me as it was too focused on Annabeth. Backing up a few steps, I lunged at her, pointing the steak where I think her heart was.

I made contact, and the steak pierced her skin, the newly inflicted wound oozing green blood. She screamed and stumbled backwards, which only caused the steak to seep deeper into hwe flesh. A look of pure shock spread over her face before she disintegrated into golden dust.

Annabeth stared at me. "Holy Athena, Mirra..."

OoOoOoOo

Annabeth and I had returned to the apartment and were playing Super Mario Cards on the Wii. I was Yoshi and Annabeth was Luigi. Let's just say I was the all out world champ of this game.

While playing, a rainbow appeared in front of the tv, which flickered a few times then revealed Percys smiling face. I jumped back and hit my head on the couch. (We were sitting on the floor)

"I will never get used to that weird Iris Message thing!" I cried out dramatically.

Percy chuckled and Annabeth stood up, brushing a bit of popcorn out of her hair. (We are very dedicated gammers).

"Hey Seaweed brain." She said. "How's your dad's place?"

"Its awesome!" Percy exclaimed. "Triton showed me all around Atlantis, even some places we're not supposed to know about, dad taught me some awesome tricks with my sword, it's been five days and Amphitrite hasn't turned me into a piece of kelp yet, so that's good. I think I even saw her smiling today! Can you believe that? So, enough about me. What you guys do today?"

Annabeth and I shared a glance and burst out laughing. "Nothing, just another day."

Percy looked back and forth between us. "You guys are terrible liers."

I seriously need to upgrade more often. I've gone from once day to once a week!

Omg(s), 500 reviews. You guys are awesome! *virtual hugs you all*