A/N The chapters are getting shorter. The plot of the story was starting to fall apart, so it's time to wrap it up with this one. Only one more chapter after this one.
Don't worry. The sequel will be much better ;)
Annabeth POV
The last thing you expect to come home to from a romantic date of hellhound fighting, is an empousa fight.
"CAN WE GET A LITTLE HELP HERE?!" Connor yelled from the living room. The four non-demigods ducked into the hall as the rest of us pulled out our weapons.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Katie growled. Thalia, Nico, and Connor all stood in the center of the living room surrounding an empousa in a track suit. She turned to face us, and I gasped.
"But we killed you this morning!" Travis cried. She cackled and turned on us.
"My patron has released me, now you shall pay!" And with that welcoming opening statement, she lunged at us. A stupid move, considering all of the weapons pointed at her. Unfortunately for us, she'd learned a few things from before, and managed to block all of our strikes at her.
"You're all fools," She said silkily, "Soon enough you will all perish, I'm doing you a favor. Let me kill you quickly, and painfully." She cooed. Immediately all the males in the room let their weapons fall to their sides.
"Oh great, now she flirts with all our boyfriends." Silena grumbled, "Oh well, bye bye!" She said, and with a final stab she got the empousa in the chest, turning her to dust. The guys snapped out of it.
"What just happened?" Percy asked, his voice raising up an octave, "She was supposed to die earlier!" He wined and poked at a couple of scratches she'd managed to get in before Silena killed her.
"Go get the nectar," I sighed repetitively, "Thalia, what happened? And where's Rachel?"
"She's hiding in the bathroom." Thalia said, and winced as she staunched the blood flow from her leg, "At this rate we'll be out of nectar by next week!" Clarisse came into the living room holding a bottle of nectar and some ambrosia squares.
"Eat up, everyone." As we all munched on the godly food, I pondered what had just happened.
"That's impossible! She can't have reformed that quickly!"
"She mentioned a patron," Nico said, "Maybe she had help."
"Not many people are that powerful," This was getting much too serious.
"Listen, I'm gonna take Trinity home, ok?" Hayden said, "We'll see you guys Monday." We all muttered goodbyes as the couple left.
"It's a long ways from Tartarus to Manhattan. I don't understand how she reformed so quickly." Chris said, "I worked with the bad side for a while," he winced, "They don't have anyone that powerful anymore."
"Something's happening." I said grimly, "And whatever it is, it's worse than Kronos rising."
"We really need to talk to Chiron." Percy said. I reached over and slipped my hand into his.
"I'm going to Olympus tomorrow to check up on construction, I'll talk to one of the gods then." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'm going to bed. If we're going to be fighting more monsters, I need my battle rest." Clarisse said.
"Lets hope we live through the night." Connor muttered, earning a slap from… everyone.
"I don't think you understand what you're doing…" Stupid mortal…
"Ma'am, I've worked here for many, many years." He argued, "And I know how to follow orders. You are not allowed up."
"Obviously you're mistaken because I was up there just last week to discuss the renovations with my mother. My mother, Athena." The security guard at the Empire State Building crossed his arms.
"Miss Chase, I'm sorry. The doors are closed, and I've been given strict instructions not to open them again. Nobody is allowed up. That means you half-bloods too." I glared at him.
"I have a meeting for today to check up on the rebuilding. When the Olympians come to you and ask why I wasn't up there, you better tell them the truth." I said coldly before turning on my heel and walking out. What was going on? All these monsters come after us, the empousa reforming, and now Olympus was closed! I had to call Chiron. Fast.
Since Percy had decided to skip this Olympus meeting and stay home (away from the wrath of my mother), I didn't have his all-powerful control over water. So I had to settle for some good old-fashioned fountain mist.
In a nearby park I found a fountain far enough away from all the mortals that I could make a quick call.
"O Iris, please accept my offering. Chiron at Camp Half-Blood!" The rainbow shimmered and Chiron appeared in the center.
"Chiron!" I called. The old centaur turned around, holding his bow. Oops, caught him in the middle of archery.
"Annabeth, dear!" He turned for just a moment to the class I'd interrupted, "Class dismissed," he called quickly, to the delight of some of the year-rounders.
"Sorry to interrupt," I apologized, but he just shook his head.
"Always a pleasure, my dear." He said, "Now what can I do for you?"
"Chiron, it's a mess!" I cried out, "Of course there were going to be a ton of monsters after us, but this is just crazy! Just this weekend, we got attacked by hellhounds and anempousa! And not just that, I'm not allowed to go up to Olympus!" As I'd expected, he didn't look surprised. Chiron almost never looked surprised.
"Things are changing, Annabeth." He sighed, "I can't tell you everything just yet." That's certainly a new development.
"But Chiron, you tell me everything. What is it? I can handle it!" The old man just looked at me.
"Annabeth, all I can tell you is that Olympus is closed. Mr. D is gone, and we haven't been able to talk to any of the Olympians since… well, since Apollo came to heal you. Even Ms. Dare just IM'd me to tell me that her connection with the God of Prophecies was cut." I tucked some hair behind my ear.
"I have a bad feeling, Chiron. Something's about to happen. If it's something that can make the Olympians hide like this, then I doubt all of us should be so far from camp." Chiron rubbed his chin in thought.
"Your break begins in about a week, yes? Come to Camp then, we'll discuss things when you get here." His face was grim, and showed his age. I bit my lip.
"Are you sure we shouldn't leave earlier? Things are dangerous, I can feel it." HE shook his head.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure nothing will escalate within the next week. Enjoy your time at school while you can. I'll see all of you in a week." He said. Before I could say goodbye, he had cut the connection.
"What do you mean Olympus is closed?" Percy asked for the thousandth time.
"I mean it's closed. After hours, locked up, nobody allowed in or out, Willy Wonka's chocolate factory…" He frowned at me.
"I'm serious Annabeth."
"And I'm not?" Tensions were rising between all of us, and it was easy to tell.
"Easy, easy." Thalia said, "We'll get nowhere if we started fighting among each other. I think Chiron's right, and we just need to lay low for the next week until we can get to camp and sort things out." I rubbed my temples, feeling a migraine coming on.
"And I thought that this year we just might be able to have a little peace." I looked up at the ceiling, "IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!" I yelled. A muffled voice answered me.
"Stop making so much noise before I call the cops!" There was a pause of silence… then everyone burst out laughing.
It's nice to know that even in the middle of a crisis, we can find a way to laugh.
It felt really weird to just go back to school the next day. It was so… surreal. There was something big brewing out there in the world of Greek non-mythology and here we were… sitting in math class.
To make matters even worse, Calypso had slowly been regaining her courage. She had enough courage to bump me in the hallways and make all the papers fall out of my hands. She had the courage to attempt to curse at me in Greek (though she usually ended up giving me a compliment) and she had the courage to start making googly eyes at—not just my boyfriend—but all of our boyfriends just to irritate us. At this point, I'm over that mortal girl. We've got bigger things to worry about.
"Oh Percy!" None of us even flinched. She wasn't worth it, "My mom's jetting to a fashion show in Milan over break. Do you want to come with us?" Di immortals…
"Goodbye Calypso." He sighed, and continued walking with the rest of us down the hall.
"Percy wait!"
Yeah, we didn't wait. Besides, it was the last day before winter break. Tomorrow, we'd be heading to Camp again.