The New Generation--Chapter 12: DOA Recording Studios

     The taxi lurched. Leia gasped, grabbing Silena's arm as she was hurled sideways. The Grey Sisters screamed in unison and started panicking.

     "What just happened?" Festus shouted, untangling himself from Sammy and Bianca's limbs. 

     "Heck if I know!" Silena yelled back, shoving Leia's hand off. "This was Leia's idea!" Giving her a withering look, Silena grabbed her backpack.

     "Empousa!" One of the Grey Sisters screamed, arms flailing. 

     "Dangerous!" Yelled another, kicking her legs.

     "Nasty!" Shouted the third, pummeling the seat.

     All three of them, squished in the front seat, were giving Leia a migraine. But if what they were saying was true...

     "You boys, stay away," she said to Sammy and Festus. "Empousai like to lure men to their deaths. Me, Bianca, and Silena will keep them busy."

     "What are you going to do against twelve empousai?" Asked Festus, breathing hard. He looked like he was going to cower in fear, but he managed to sling his backpack over his shoulder.

     "Good question," Leia replied, looking out the window. "Let's find out!" She flung open the door and leaped out, uncapping her pen.

     Silena and Bianca reluctantly followed, trying to put fierce looks on their faces. "Get back!" Silena shouted, brandishing her knife. "We've got, uh, weapons!"

     The three girls faced a dozen empousa who were baring their fangs and snarling. Judging by the looks on their faces, they weren't intimidated by Silena. 

     "I am Kelli!" The lead empousai growled, advancing on mismatched legs. Leia barely had time to register the donkey leg and the bronze one, but she forced a grin.

     "So!" she exclaimed. "I've heard a lot about you."

     This was true. According to her father's stories, Kelli had made her first appearance at Goode High School, disguised as a cheerleader. Leia's father had gotten help from a mortal girl, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. The second time he had met Kelli was in the Labyrinth (the original one, crafted by Daedalus), and Leia's mother had aided him then. Even in Tartarus, Kelli had hounded her parents, and a Titan had dropped in (literally) to help. Now Leia had two barely trained friends wielding weapons they didn't have much experience with using.

     When in doubt, talk, she thought. 

     "How long have you been back from Tartarus?" she asked. Kelli's ferocious look changed to one of disgust.

     "Oh, not very long. I've been hunting you since I reformed!" The empousa said. Leia gulped. If this monster was that determined...

     "How nice! I suppose I'm that amazing, huh?" She tried for a winning smile. Silena glanced at her, knife ready, like, Anytime now. Leia knew that eventually, Kelli would get bored of talking and move in for the kill--which would be extremely bad, since Leia wasn't that much of a fighter.

     "Indeed, demigod. Your father was one of my victims! I would've killed him at that cursed high school, the Labyrinth, and Tartarus as well! If not for that annoying mortal girl and that daughter of Athena and the Titan..." Kelli bared her fangs once, then shrugged. "But I am here to kill you now. If your father and mother cannot be killed, you can!"

     "But, uh, what about us?" Silena said. "I'm not feeling the love. Neither is Bianca." 

     "You get plenty of love, being the granddaughter of Aphrodite!" Snarled Kelli. "And the granddaughter of Hades... I saw your father in Tartarus as well, but I held back. I knew my real treasures were coming soon!"

     "Wait!" Leia cried, stepping forward to meet Kelli. "I, uh, have to let you know something. I bring news from... Porphyrion!"

     "Impossible!" Kelli shouted. "Porphyrion is trapped in Tartarus. You have not journeyed down there. You do not know what message he brings!"

     "But he has brought a message!" Leia's mind worked furiously, trying to come up with a plan. Behind Kelli, the other eleven empousa clopped unevenly back and forth, waiting for their leader's cue to rip her apart.

     "Porphyrion says he will rise from Tartarus and destory Camp Half-Blood, this time without any of the gods or titans' help!"

     "Lies!"

     "Deceivers!"

     "Do not listen!"

     The empousai snarled accusations at Leia, making it hard to focus. But she kept on talking. "I'm not lying. When he comes, he'll want to destroy his enemies again! But he'll be very angry with you if you attack us. He wants me, too!"

     Kelli frowned. "Why haven't I felt his presence? Surely I would've seen him trying to reform in Tartarus! Surely he would've let me know as well!"

     Leia gulped. "Well, see, he thought most of the monsters interfered with Gaea's plan last time. And he doesn't want to risk that again."

     "How do you know this? Have you been frisking around in his thoughts?"

     She tried not to wince. Her word choice had been faulty, and likely she was leading her friends into a trap. Silena turned around like she was going to cough, but through her fake hacking she was glaring at Leia. 

     "Ah, but he has told me all of that. He visited me in a dream."

     "And why would he visit you, daughter of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?"

     Leia closed her eyes and breathed slowly. Then she opened them and glared at Kelli, summoning courage. "Because I'm worthy of his message--worthy enough to defeat you."

     She lunged, drawing her sword in one movement and bringing it down. Kelli, even though Leia's father had spoken of her agility, wasn't quick enough and wailed as the blade hit her arm. As she limped away, pulling the sword from her biceps, she snarled, "Nice try, Leia Jackson. But you cannot defeat me that easily. You are nothing!"

     Her last sentence stung Leia like a bee. She had tried hard not to believe she was nothing, but after hearing her parents' stories, she felt so small. Weak. And hearing it from a monster she was attempting to fight made her feel even more incapable.

     "She might be nothing," growled Silena, coming up behind her. "But together, we aren't."

     Silena and Bianca attacked, not waiting for Leia's command. Two empousa screamed as their weapons cut through, and they exploded into golden powder.

     "Gross!" Silena screamed as the powder landed on her, but she blinked through the shower of gold and struck at another empousa. On the other side of Leia, Bianca leaped at Kelli, but the monster just swatted her away. The granddaughter of Hades landed somewhere on Leia's right.

     This brought Leia to her senses. Fraught with rage, she charged Kelli and slashed with a hoarse cry. Just as her blade touched Kelli's chest, the empousa went up in flames, and a column of fire shot a wave of heat into Leia's face.

     Silena was bringing down monsters left and right, but Leia didn't really notice. She was busy scything down another, then whipping around and stabbing yet another. Later, her friends told her that she had defeated the other ten in a few seconds.

     When Leia was finished, she was coated in powder and a bit of blood where an empousa had managed to scratch her. But other than that, she was barely wounded. Silena looked okay, but she was favoring on foot; when she tried to walk on the other her face grimaced in pain.

     Then Leia remembered Bianca. She raced over to Bianca's side and sighed in relief. Her friend was still alive, but unconscious. She picked Bianca up by the arms and dragged her over to the Grey Sisters' taxi with the help of Silena, which was thankfully still there.

     As they loaded Bianca into the smoky taxi, Sammy tilted his head to look at Leia. "That's a nasty wound," he remarked.

     On the back of her friend's head, there was a long cut. From a rock, Leia guessed. "You got ambrosia?"

     Sammy shrugged. "Yeah. Have some." 

     Leia force-fed Bianca the ambrosia, then swallowed a little bit to heal her cut. "So... still heading towards DOA."

     Festus grinned, next to Silena. "Yeah! Those ladies up there--Anger, Wasp, and Tempest--tried to drive away, but Sammy held them and said that he was going to hack them down if they didn't stay. That got them right!"

     Smiling, Leia leaned back in her seat. "Thanks."

     "No problem."

     They drove on in silence, Festus occasionally making some comment, and soon DOA Recording Studios was in sight. The Gray Sisters drove up next to the door and immediately peeled away when the five friends got off.

     "Underworld," said Silena. "Here we come."