~Playlist: "Control" by Halsey~

"You should be scared of me, who is in control?"

Annabeth's POV

Soldiers wearing black surround the courtroom, trapping everyone inside. The trio stands near the back. Somehow, a pathway formed, one that leads directly to Willow.

Willow snarls and pushes her hand forwards, and a black form comes from her palm. It races towards the girl in the middle, who calmly holds up her hand. The shadow is eaten by a flame produced by the girl.

"Surrender, Willow Livingston," the girl with auburn hair says.

"Never," Willow growls. "I won't have you take me."

"Then we have a problem," the girl with much darker hair says with a wicked grin. "Sam?"

The boy with messy brown hair, Sam, looks around the room quickly, as if calculating something. "Go," he then says softly.

With another grin, the black-haired girl steps forward, knives twirling. The soldiers follow her suit, and they step towards Willow and her guards. Willow bares her teeth at her in a threatening manner. The girl throws a knife at her so quickly that my eyes almost didn't see it. It catches the guard to her right in his heart, and he collapses.

"That was a warning shot," the girl says darkly. "Next time, you won't be so lucky."

"Annabeth," Percy says from behind me. I turn, and see that he somehow made it across the room. "Are you alright?"

I nod wordlessly, too confused to form words.

"What is happening?" Piper demands. "Who are these people, and why do they want Willow?"

"Like I know," Percy says. The other Elite gather around him as if moths attracted to a flame. "Now, you all need to get to safety."

"Look around you," Reyna growls, gesturing around the room. "They have us surrounded. There's no way out."

"Right," Percy says. He runs a hand through his black hair, his green eyes irritated. "Well, I've got nothing, then."

"You have to do something," Hazel says sternly.

"What can I do?" he asks.

I look up, and see that fire and darkness are weaved together in the air. Somehow, impossibly, Willow and the other girl can control them.

But it's not impossible: I know the black-haired girl. She's the one that showed me all those visions of me. In my dream, Percy could manipulate water as easily as Willow can shadows. There's a bigger force at works here, and it's no accident that I know it.

"We can't run," I say. Six sets of eyes look at me. "We have to stay, and fight."

"Fight?" Rachel echoes. "How are we going to fight? We're wearing ball gowns."

My hand goes to my back, where I tucked the dagger I received after the visions. "So?"

"We don't have anything to fight with," Reyna adds.

At the same time, Piper and I pull out our knives. We grin at each other knowingly while Percy pulls a sword out of his sheath.

"It's supposed to be for decoration," he says with a shrug, "but it works. I think."

The people who came to watch the trial are screaming, and trying to get through the locked doors. The noise of metal-on-metal is deafening, making it difficult to think.

"We have to protect them," Piper says. "The people. They're innocent."

I nod firmly in agreement. "We will. The rest of you: find weapons. If you don't know how to use it, just try your best. It's in your blood."

Hazel, Reyna, and Rachel look at me with questioning eyes, which I ignore. I lean over and saw off the bottom of my dress with my knive. It takes a bit of time, but soon, the dress falls at my knees.

A warm shadow appears at my left. "Whose side do we fight on?" Piper asks me.

"Willow has hurt us," I say to her. "She's hurt so many. If these people are trying to stop her, then we have to help them." She nods in understandment.

Before I can change my mind, I walk straight in the midst of the battle, Piper right behind me. After two seconds of walking, a flying arrow narrowly misses my head. I duck on instinct right as a sword swings over my head.

"Annabeth Chase?" a deep voice from behind me asks. I turn, and see that I already lost Piper. One of the soldiers is looking at me, and there isn't a spot on his armor that a weapon isn't. Every part of him gleams with metal.

"Yes?"

"You aren't planning on only fighting with a knife, are you?"

"That was the plan. If you want to give someone one of your many weapons, give them to the other Elite." I elbow past him, searching for the black-haired girl.

It doesn't take long to find her: she's standing on the witness stand. Her blades are flying through the air, and a pile of fallen guards shows that she knows how to use them.

The most startling thing about this girl is that there's a smile on her face as her knife strikes through the heart of a guard.

"Sam," she says to the boy fighting on her other side. "I hope you sent someone over to the princesses. They aren't going to last a second."

The other boy curses and the girl chuckles at the unexpected profanity. She slashes through another guard's armor and pushes him down. He falls next to me, letting out a ragged breath before turning towards me.

Realization flashes in his eyes as he sees who I am. With a dark smile, he grabs for me.

Without thinking, I lower the hand holding my knife. It connects with his hand, and the guard screams in pain. I pull it out, horrified at what I did.

"Isn't that one of the princesses, Es?" Sam asks from above me.

Another knife lands in his chest. It was thrown from the direction of Sam and the girl.

"That she is." I raise my head to look at them. Her green eyes are piercing as she takes in the man laying on the ground. "You got him."

"No, I think you did that."

She lets out a humorless laugh. "I like you, Chase."

"Is that why you let me remember?" I demand.

"You weren't supposed to mention that," she whispers in my ear. With a start, I realize that she must have somehow flipped from where she was standing to land next to me.

"How do you move that fast?" I ask in breathless wonder.

"Now isn't the time for that conversation," is all she says. "Do you know how to use that dagger?"

"Yes," I lie.

"Then use it, for the love of Olympus!"

"Esmerelda," Sam says. "Daphne."

The girl, Esmerelda, looks away from me. Then, she's gone, once more using her impossible speed.

A soldier falls down to the left of me, bringing me back to reality. I'm standing in the midst of the battle: I could be killed any second. I move to leave, then stop. The soldier was fighting with a sword, one that was now only a few inches away from my fingertips.

I reach for it, and my hand wraps around the hilt.

"What are you doing with that?" a voice asks from behind me.

I swing the sword as I turn around to see a startled looking Percy holding his hands up. "God, woman, don't kill me!"

"Sorry," I say sheepishly, the sword dropping out of my hands.

"Don't be. But I'd rather you use that on one of the bad guys," he says with a small grin.

"Note taken. Besides, I think I prefer the knife."

His eyes widen suddenly. "Annabeth, behind you-"

I duck and spin right as a sword connects with the spot I occupied seconds before. One of Willow's guards growls as he surges forwards. I raise my dagger, and it intercepts the blade. I push against the sword, and the man staggers backwards.

Then, Percy's on top of him. He slices through the man's shirt with us sword before stabbing downwards.

I pull him away before either of us sees what we just did.

"I've got your back," I say before turning my back towards his.

"Ditto," he replies.

I go into auto-pilot as an endless amount of Willow's men come towards me. I slash, slice, and stab wherever I can, and the men fall around Percy and I.

I can't help but be amazed at the battle skills we both unknowingly possess. Neither of us ever had a reason to pick up a sword before. But now, we wielded them as if we had trained all of our lives.

"Annabeth," Percy growls a warning.

I step away from him just as an arrow sails harmlessly between us. I take a step back, and settle back into our routine. A guard comes for me. I kick him back before bringing my hand forward. He falls after only one strike.

Then, they stop coming. No one else comes towards us. I look around, and realize that a near-silence has filled the room. All of Willow's men, every single one, is dead.

Only five people remain fighting. Sam and Daphne are battling Willow's partner, Charlotta de Rosa, while Esmerelda is using her knives against Willow's endless darkness.

"You're not as good as you used to be," Esmerelda says to the other girl. "A shame, really. Though months in a dress couldn't have helped you much. The lack of training really shows."

Willow snarls, and an arrow of darkness forms. It flies through the air, aimed straight at Esmerelda's heart.

But she isn't there anymore. Where Esmerelda once stood is a large tiger, one that roars at Willow. She pounces, and Willow rolls. She comes to a stop right in front of Percy and I, a mistake she hasn't yet realized.

Before she can back up, Percy is on her. He yanks her upwards, and points his sword to her throat.

"Give me one reason," he hisses, "that this blade shouldn't go straight through your neck."

Willow struggles, but it's in vain. I step forward, and disarm her of a single knife.

"You don't know what you're doing," she growls. "You don't know who they are, what they've done."

"No," Percy agrees. "But I do know who you are. I know what you've done, Willow Livingston. And there is not a single person in this world that would go against me killing you right now."

A brief flash of emotion flashes in her green eyes before disappearing entirely.

"Don't kill her," Esmerelda orders, now a human again.

"You don't give me orders," Percy says. A line of blood appears on Willow's throat.

She snorts. "You'll find soon, Prince, that you best take orders from me. Don't kill her-not yet, at least."

"Percy," I say softly. "Listen to her."

His arm slackens as his eyes soften. Willow takes the distaction to break free of his grip.

Esmerelda snaps her arm forward, and a whip comes seemingly out of nowhere. It wraps around the girl, and she falls.

"I wouldn't try to go anywhere," she whispers lethally to the pretty girl on the ground. "We can always find you."

Willow shudders, and it's the first time I've ever seen her afraid.

"Now," Esmerelda says to Percy and I. "You two, stay here and watch her."

"Where are you going?" I demand. If she sees fit to give us orders, then there's no reason we can't have answers.

She grins at us. "I have a traitor to kill."

Esmerelda slips away, and approaches Sam, Daphne, and Charlotta.

I glance at Percy, and see that he's looking at me as well. I reach for his hand with my own, and squeeze it tight.

"Do you know what we just did?" he asks me quietly.

"We just killed several people," I say, but the words don't sink in. They feel as if they don't apply to me, as if none of it ever happened. "We killed them."

He releases a shaky breath, but his eyes never leave my face.

A/N
Today's shout out goes to @cinnamonink for being an amazing fan. Thank you for your dedication!

What do you think of the chapter? Most importantly, what do you think about Esmeralda? This isn't your first time meeting her, but she's seen in the eyes of Annabeth.

That's all for now, but I'll hopefully update again before Christmas.