The Shape-Shifter

Chapter 1

Percy, Grover and Annabeth sat, eating their lunch in silence. Grover was the first one to break the silence and say something.

"Something needs to happen," he said. They looked at him, anticipating an explanation.

"I mean in the camp. It's been months since we did our last quest and now we've just been sitting around, doing nothing, waiting for something to happen."

They had finished their lunch and were dumping the best parts of the food into the sacrifice fire. As Percy finished there came a blood curdling scream from the edge of the protection boarder. Percy dropped his plate and rushed toward the sound, ballpoint pen already in hand. When Grover and Annabeth caught up to him, he said "you got your something alright. Let's hope we're not too late.

When they reached the boundary line, they came across three giants, ripping up trees and flipping boulders. They were 15 feet tall, very hairy and had large feet. They all wore dirty pieces of fabric that were torn and clumsily repaired. One of them was holding a struggling female half blood in its large fist. The girl had shoulder length, black hair, as dark as the Underworld itself. Even from a distance Percy could see the her eyes were a sea blue colour that contained such ferocity as she fought. Grover gasped. Percy glanced over at his friend.

"Don't worry," he reassured him, though with a troubled expression, "we're safe inside the camp, unfortunately we can't do anything for her."

"Oh, that's not what I'm worried about."

Percy looked confused but turned just as a group of campers and visiting hunters had gathered behind them. Quiet murmurs were heard throughout the crowd. "Who is she?" "She's doomed." "Are we going to help her?" "Against three giants? We don't have a chance."

The few whispers continued but everyone gasped as the giant dangled her by her ankle, above of his open mouth.

Everyone watched in awe as she was lowered slowly towards her fate. Just as she was close enough to touch his yellowed teeth, she drew a sword out of what seemed to be thin air, and dropped it down the giant's throat.

The giant dropped the girl and went down on all fours coughing and sputtering like a cat coughing up a hair ball. It collapsed, went still and disintegrated into golden dust, as all monsters do when killed. The group of bystanders gaped at the large pile in awe, then glanced at the girl. She had risen to her feet just as the second giant charged at her, furious, with the third following. She drew a long black dagger from the sheath in her belt and threw it at the oncoming giant. It hit it directly under the chin, in the middle of the throat. The giant collapsed, tripping the third as it clawed at the dagger, attempting to remove it, until it disintegrated, just as the first. The girl turned and was walking towards a frayed brown bag and bow where, they had been dropped as she was attacked. The third giant had recovered and was again, running towards her in long strides. Suddenly and without warning, lightning struck the giant with a bright flash. It crumbled to the ground as golden dust. The group stared and the girl with disbelief as thunder rolled over head and echoed through the camp.