Hi, guys! Well, here's your present: the first chapter of Percy Jackson and the Lost Hero! If you're new to this fanfic and somewhat interested go and check out the fanfic preceeding this one: Children of Olympus: Poseidon's Daughter.
Now, I've already warned you guys that, since I've never done this before, Percy's POV is gonna be OOC. I admit that, and I might've taken some of Rick's ideas, including the title. BUT I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!
So, the prologue will be in Alice's POV, and maybe the ending, and the rest will be mostly Percy's. Here's the full summary:
Percy Jackson is swept away into the 'myths' of Ancient Greece, discovering he is the son of Poseidon. But when he arrives at Camp Half-Blood, he finds out his only sister, Alice, has been missing for three days, and everyone's so depressed, they don't know what happened to her, or Percy's captured best friend. It's up to Percy and his friends to save them, even if it means sneaking out of camp and being hunted down like animals. Can he do it?
PROLOGUE:
My feet made no sound as I jumped from roof to pavement. There was no noise at all, simply silence. My feet quickened as I ducked into an alley, breathing hard. The urgency of escape was indescribable.
Footsteps. They were as light as air, barely audible in the already silent night. But I heard them. And they were following me.
My arrows hit nothing as they flew, my pursuers oblivious to their existence. The moon shone brightly, though I knew my mistress was not watching. I wished she was. I wished she would rescue me.
The footsteps suddenly came more rapidly, urgently, impatiently. My arrows, again, hit nothing in the dark. My hair fanned out as I turned.
The sound of metal against leather cut through the quiet as I drew my sword, ready to face my attackers. A flash of red, a bark, a whinny. My sword snapped in two.
For the first time in years, centuries, I screamed.
1/
"Percy!" my mother yelled. "Get up or you're going to be late!"
I groaned. "Five more minutes!" Before Mom could scold me again, a loud crash made me jump.
"No, Samantha, don't touch that! Watch out!" Another crash. "Samantha!"
The door burst open with a bang that would've put a cannon blast to shame. "PERCY! PERCY! PERCY!"
I grunted as my little stepsister Sam leapt onto my chest, bouncing up and down. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
"Samantha!" I yelled. "Get out!"
She smacked me on the head with her little fist. "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!" She bounced out the door, screaming, "WAFFLES! MAMA I WANT WAFFLES!"
I groaned again, but got up. By the time I got to the kitchen, my stepdad was rushing out the door and Mom was trying to get Sam to calm down.
"Percy, good. I thought you'd never get up," Mom said, sounding relieved. She pushed an aluminum foil bundle in my hands. "Now, go, before you miss the bus."
I grumbled, but went out the door to catch the bus.
"He's drooling," Kate Callampoti's voice revolved around my ears. [Fact check: Callampoti is corn in Greek. Nudge, nudge.]
"Percy. Percy, dude, wake up." Dominic Parsons' words echoed in my head.
"What…?"
"Wake up! What's up with you today?" Dominic waved his hand over my face, his image blurred.
I swatted it away. "No, Mom," I mumbled. "Sleep…is more important than ponies…" The left side of my head stung as Kate slapped me left to right. I sat up with a start, blinking.
"What the—?" I glared at her. "What was that for?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "You were asleep in your toxic mashed potatoes, Percy. What was I going to do?"
I scowled, wiping the mush off my face. I looked down. "Are they trying to poison us?"
A musical laugh drew my attention. Even before I looked I knew who it was; Caterina Lopez.
I couldn't help it. Caterina's presence was just…intoxicating, I guess. Her thick black hair fell to the middle of her back and her dark eyes shone. The cheerleading uniform she was wearing molded to her body and…
"…hang out sometime?" Caterina was saying.
I mentally slapped myself. "Sure," I said, grinning.
"I really think you should stay away from her," Kate sniffed as Caterina walked away.
"What? Who?" Dominic said, coming out of his trance.
Kate rolled her eyes (she loves doing that to us). "Caterina Lopez."
I should've noticed how Dominic stiffened at the name, like he knew something we didn't, but all I saw was his "Oh, you mean she's super hot?" and his cocky grin. I laughed. Kate punched him in the shoulder.
Suddenly the bell rang, startling me. What? I've only been asleep for ten minutes…right?
"Crap," Kate said. "We've got five minutes." We dumped our uneaten, poisonous cafeteria food in the trash and started for the door, only to have Dominic stop us with one arm.
He glared hard at the curved figure standing in the doorway. "Leave them be, Caterina. They have nothing to do with this battle."
I was startled to see Caterina Lopez coming out of the shadows, a glint that could only be described as evil in her eyes. "Please," she spat, her beautiful face twisting with hate. "They have everything to do with this war."
"'War'?" Kate murmured.
Dominic ignored her. "Don't you dare try," he told Caterina. "I'll send you straight back to Tartarus if you even touch one of these kids."
"Kids?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
Caterina frowned. "That may be, Dominic, but you know I'll always come back." She shifted into a weird crouch, baring her teeth.
Dominic scowled. "Not here, Caterina, not now."
She hissed, and changed. She turned white, like the blood had been drained from her veins. Her hair burst into flame. Her teeth turned to fangs. Her eyes went from black to crimson. Her legs were the weirdest part: the left one was a furry thing with a hoof and the other was a bronze copy of a human's.
"Styx!" Dominic yelled, something I'd never heard him say. "Why can't you just leave them alone!" He pulled a bronze sword out of nowhere, engraved with the letter H.
The Caterina-monster snarled at the sight of the sword…and charged. Dominic shoved me and Kate out of the way and stabbed at Caterina with his sword. She dodged it with difficulty, her fire-for-hair spitting and her eyes glowing.
"They are mine!" she screamed.
Dominic said nothing. She threw out her arm, and something to my left exploded into flames. Dominic somehow picked up a table and threw it at her. While she was pinned underneath, he skidded over to the fire, threw something inside, and shouted, "Anne Grey, Camp Half-Blood!" He whirled back around to take a fighting stance.
Caterina crawled out from under the table. Her red eyes focused on the distracted Dominic, who was shouting frantically at someone, but switched to me. She leapt toward us. Kate screamed.
I don't exactly remember what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was holding a flagpole that was protruding from Caterina's stomach.
"Oh my god!" Kate screamed.
"Gods!" Dominic yelled from the fire.
Caterina stared at the flagpole in her torso. So did I. With a screech of anger, she threw me to the ground. My head cracked against the tiles and everything went dark.
I blinked. I was dreaming. I was pretty sure of that. I was sitting in front of a campfire, in a tent. There seemed to be no one else but me.
Aren't you going to say hello?
"Oh my god!" I squealed like a total girl and scooted as far away from the fire as possible.
The voice laughed. Gods, it corrected. I stared across from the fire hard, trying to see who was there. All I could make out was the illuminated outline of a face and the glinting of something, but I could tell it was a girl.
I suppose you are wondering why I brought you here. The girl sighed. Caterina has taken your friend to Tartarus with her. You have to go get him.
She leaned into the firelight, showing me her face for the first time. She was pretty, with long brown hair and green eyes like the sea. Those eyes reminded me of something…
Me too. Her eyes grew sad. They will explain everything. They won't know what happened to me, so you'll have to find out.
"Why can't you just tell me?" I said, bewildered.
She shook her head. I'm sorry, brother, but I can only escape their grip for a few moments. They'll drag me back soon. All I have time to say is that you have to come save me. Oh, and don't make him angry please. I've been watching him, and it seems he's taking it a bit hard.
"Taking what hard?" I asked, a little slow on what she was getting at.
She looked at me funny. Haven't you been listening, Percy?
"How do you know my name?"
Her tone turned amused. How could I not? You are my—
I felt something trying to pull me out of the tent, cutting her off. The firelight grew harsher, brighter. The girl lost her grip on her cool, business-like behavior; suddenly she went hysterical, jumping to her feet.
No! she screamed, fear glinting in her eyes. No, please! Don't leave me here! Please! Save me! She screamed the words over and over, like they were the only things she could say. Please! Save me! Save me! PERCY, SAVE ME!
There was one last shattering scream and a flash of blinding light as I was pulled back into consciousness. Kate was screaming in my ear, holding my head in her lap.
"Wha—? Kate, shut up!" I said, shooting to my feet. She shut up. "How—how long was I out?" I put a hand on my forehead.
Kate had quickly regained her regal manner, like she always does, but now she looked confused. "Only a minute or two."
"What happened?"
Her expression became even more puzzled. "Caterina, she, well, she kind of exploded into dust, and when I could see again, she and Dominic were gone."
Another explosion. We dived for cover, but we were both showered with white powder anyway. We looked up. Two...winged horses landed in front of us. I know, I know, but we'd seen Caterina Lopez turn into a monster so by this point we were ready to believe anything. Or, I was at least.
One of the riders, a guy, jumped off his horse-thing and ran toward us. He grabbed me. "Where is she?" he demanded anxiously.
"Who?" Kate said, bewildered.
He scowled. A girl came up behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Peter, please."
Peter?
The girl turned to us. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Her expression was grim. "Where is your Seeker?"
I blinked. "My what?"
"Your Seeker," she repeated. "Where is Dominic Parsons?"
My eyebrows scrunched together. "Caterina—"
"What!" the girl exclaimed, totally interrupting me. "Caterina was here?" She looked at the boy. "That means—"
"I know," he growled.
The girl, her eyes worried, glanced back at us. "Come on," she said. "It's time you went home." She pulled Kate over to one of the horses and pushed her onto it.
The guy, Peter, helped me onto his own horse. He clicked his tongue, and the horse flew through the giant hole in the ceiling. After about five minutes we reached a small, deserted highway.
We all dismounted. Peter patted his horse's back, and both of them flew over the hill. The girl forced a smile at me and held out her hand. "I'm Madyson," she said. "Madyson Grace."
"Percy Jackson," I said.
"I know."
"Come on, already," Peter said, walking up the hill.
"Where are we going?" I asked Madyson.
"Home," she said. "Where else?"
"But this isn't where I live," I said, confused.
"It is now."
I just stared at her. She was grim again. We stopped at the crest of the hill, just behind a huge pine tree, staring down at the bare, grayish field below us. I wrinkled my nose, thinking, Gross. Then Madyson pulled me past the tree.
I gasped. The deadened field turned into a huge valley, with emerald trees, glittering streams, and a few structures dotted here and there. It was amazing. We all trudged down the hill, me and Kate gaping at everything as we went.
I got a lot of weird reactions as I followed Madyson through the valley. The kids would glance at me once, then do a double-take, letting whatever what was in their hands drop as they stared at me with weird expressions. One girl even burst into tears and ran out of sight, covering her face with her hands. Another guy dropped a burning coal on his friend's bare foot and the kid didn't even look down. A few girls in dresses peeked out from the trees to stare at me as well, their big eyes growing larger as I walked.
Kate hurried to fall in step beside me. "What's with these people?" she said.
I shrugged. "I have no idea."
Madyson seemed to notice the stares and rushed us along, casting strange glances back at the kids. She pushed me right into a run-down farmhouse, which looked kinda gross to me from the outside. I was so wrong.
To my left, an open living room with couches and armchairs and a cozy fire. To my right, a huge kitchen gleaming with cabinets. At the far wall, a spiral staircase leading to a mysterious door. I wondered absently what was behind it.
I spotted a girl sitting by the fireplace, so close to the flames she should have caught on fire. But she was solemnly prodding the hearth with a long stick, unharmed.
She glanced up at me as I passed and I almost had a heart attack, I was so surprised. Her eyes were glowing bright red. They widened when she saw me, but she quickly controlled her expression and returned her attention to the fire.
"Hey, Maddy." A girl no older than six or seven walked by, wielding a huge bronze sword.
"Hi, Lily," Madyson replied, not even fazed while I gaped.
"Madyson?" a girl called. We all turned to look at the girl who'd spoken. She was pretty, with curly blonde hair and big gray eyes. The eyes fastened on me, and, like everyone else's, they got bigger.
"Will you please take our new cousin to his room?" Madyson asked, her voice strained.
The girl nodded. Her glance was like saying, You'd better run if you wanna keep up with me, kid.
I was right; she headed for the stairs so fast I had to sprint after her. She stopped suddenly and whirled around, her gray eyes probing. "I'm Annabeth," she said. "Annabeth Chase." But her eyes were following the guy Peter instead of me, a little worried. "Who're you?"
I caught the strange note of importance behind the question, but I ignored it and said, "Percy Jackson."
She raised an eyebrow. "Percy?" she repeated. "Percy like Percival?"
I almost frowned. I got that a lot. "No, Percy like Perseus."
Her expression was unreadable. Wordlessly she turned back around to head up the stairs. I followed. I was just thinking about why people were staring so much when she stopped so abruptly I ran into her.
"Annabeth." We both turned to look at that guy Peter standing behind us. "Can you be our new cousin's guide?" But his tone didn't sound friendly.
Annabeth nodded.
"What's his problem?" I remarked as soon as he left.
She stared after him, lost in thought. "It's because you remind him of his mission," she murmured. "I don't blame him. You're her spitting image."
"Who?"
She looked down, realizing what she'd said. "Nobody," she said. "Uh, go ahead and unpack. I'm in the room with the owl on it if you need me." She turned to go, but I lurched forward to grab her arm. She whirled on me, her eyes flashing.
"Can you please just tell me what's going on?" I begged. "I have no idea what I'm even doing here."
Her face softened a little. "I almost forgot." She frowned. "You ever heard of the Greek gods?"
It seemed like a totally random question, but I said, "Yeah, sure."
"Wanna know what their biggest mistake is?"
I laughed nervously. "You talk like they're real."
But Annabeth was dead serious. "Us. They love to marry mortals and have kids with them. We're demigods."
I blinked at her.
"Don't even try to deny it," she said. "It all adds up. You've moved around a lot, right? Expelled almost all the time. Your mom struggling to keep you both up."
I stared. "How do you—?"
"It's happened to all of us," she told me. "It's all because of our Olympian parents." She stood straighter, a little proud. "My mother is Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. See? This is her mark." She pulled up her shirt sleeve to show me a perfect black barn owl on her arm. "Your father is Poseidon, god of the sea. You have a trident, right?"
My head whirled.
"Anne!" A cry from the downstairs.
Annabeth ran to the railing, though it wasn't her name. "What's going on?"
A boy skidded to a stop to talk to her. "A monster just showed up over at the north end of the boundary line," he called hurriedly. "No one knows what it is, and all the Athena kids are all in the woods somewhere."
"No they're not," Annabeth said, and she ran down the steps.
I ran after her. After tripping over the lip of the doorway and running through the valley, we reached a huge Coliseum-looking thing. Next thing I knew, Andromeda was shoving a bundle of something at me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Armor."
"What!"
"Just put it on!"
I did, tying the leather straps together with difficulty. It was heavy and bulky. I realized Annabeth was pushing a razor-sharp sword into my hands. My fingers wrapped around the leather grip with ease. It felt normal, holding that sword, but I didn't get a chance to think it over.
"Hurry up!" Annabeth ran off again. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled so shrilly I thought my ears would split. Two winged horses immediately landed in front of her. She mounted one with ease and with a single, "Hiya!" she was gone.
Without thinking I did the same. The horse-thing took off from the ground, flying with big black wings. I laughed out loud at the sensation. Normally I was scared to death of flying—on anything.
What is funny, lord?
I almost fell off the horse. You can talk! I almost shouted.
The horse seemed a little insulted. I can talk to you, lord. You are a son of the Sea God, are you not?
Um…yeah…I said, still unsure. Do you know what's going on? All I heard is a monster is here.
Yes. Elizia probably got spooked, Clytemnestra said with a sour note. Usually she eats something, though luckily it hasn't been any of the campers—yet. Let's just hope she has devoured the monster this time.
I glanced at the scene below. I doubt it. Land. She did as I said. I jumped off her back and froze at what I saw.
A lion the size of a tractor was in a vicious fight with a blue dragon. The lion would leap at the dragon and the dragon would coil around in a huge blue mass, avoiding each strike, but the lion never seemed to give up.
"Move!" Annabeth hissed, suddenly appearing next to me.
"What is that?" I said.
She paused for a second. "It's the Nemean lion," she said. "We have to kill it."
"How?" I said, but she was already gone, pulling her helmet low over her face and wielding her sword.
I ran too—but in the opposite direction. I snuck up behind the giant monster as quietly as possible, raising my sword above my head. I chopped with all my might, hacking at the base of its tail. My blade sparked off the gold fur with a loud clang; the lion whirled on me, screeching and opening its huge pink maw to swallow me. I swung my sword again. It leaped at me, landing on my chest.
Something inside me cracked loudly. Pain exploded through my chest. I ground my teeth, staring up in horror as the lion prepared to devour me. Another clang.
The lion turned. I looked up. A boy was standing on its back, trying to stab it in the neck. Screeching shrilly, it threw him down the hill.
"Percy!" I turned my head to see Annabeth standing off to the side, her sword bent in half and her armor smoking, like someone had set her on fire. "You have to stab it in the mouth!"
"What!"
"Stab it in the mouth! That's how Heracles killed it!"
Heracles. Heracles. Oh! Hercules. I grabbed the hilt of my sword, ignoring the pain in my chest, and stabbed straight up, right into the lion's mouth.
It wailed in pain, the sword going straight down its throat. It screamed once more, then exploded into gold dust. My adrenaline left. My vision blurred. Something soft fluttered down on me, smelling like dirty fur.
Someone pulled the thing away. I saw two faces floating above mine; a girl, and a dragon. The dragon leaned close, staring at me with its huge yellow eyes.
The girl patted the dragon's scaly skin. "I know," she said, her voice echoing for some reason. "I know."
"Percy, can you hear me?" Annabeth's face came into view, drifting in and out of focus. She held up her hand. "How many fingers?"
"Seventy-one," I groaned, then I passed out.
I sat up so fast, I knocked down the lamp on my bedside table. It smashed on the ground.
The girl at my side whirled around.
"I have to—I have to—" I tried to get up, but the girl pushed me down.
"Stay, Percy," she told me. "Or you'll ruin my work. Hannah!"
"Coming!" Another girl. She handed the first one a container, then stared at me with wide eyes.
"Hannah!"
"Sorry, sorry!" the girl scurried away.
The first girl began pulling away the bandages strapped around my chest. "Styx," she muttered. "You almost re-fractured your L-2 rib." She opened the container, scooped some weird-looking silver stuff on a Popsicle stick, then started spreading it on my chest. "So, who do you have to save?"
I jerked so hard, the Popsicle stick scratched me. "What?"
She laughed. "You talk in your sleep." She was looking at a computer screen, touching it with her clean fingers now and then. I realized it was an advanced-tech thing, with a touch screen.
"Your vitals are normal." She grabbed a thing that looked like a square tennis racket, holding it over my chest and staring at the computer. "Your ribs have almost healed. That's good, considering we just dunked you in seawater an hour ago."
"But what about—?"
She laughed again. "Percy, you just killed the Nemean lion. You need to rest, okay?"
"Okay?" It came out like a question. I spotted Annabeth Chase in the chair by the bed, dozing. "What's she doing here?"
"Who?" The girl glanced at her. "Oh, she's your guide. She can't leave you until you get the hang of things here. I'm Miranda Bowman by the way. Daughter of Apollo."
"What, is that like a title here or something?" I said.
She smiled. "No, but I am the head healer. I've been training my sister Hannah to be my assistant. She gets a little over-excited sometimes."
"Right. Of course she does. What's that?" I pointed at something gold at the foot of my bed.
Miranda glanced over. "That's the lion's pelt. I wouldn't go showing it off, though, Parker Larcener will have it in her collection the first five minutes she sees it."
"Who?"
Miranda smiled again. "Parker Larcener. She's a master thief. I heard she once stole the Hope diamond from the Smithsonian Museum Complex in broad daylight without anyone seeing her. She's a little crazy. I had to go on a Seeker mission with her once; she jumped off a building."
"What? Was she okay?" I said, a little alarmed.
"Hm? Oh, she was fine," Miranda said nonchalantly. "She had her harness on."
This place was insane.
"You look just like her—except you're a guy," Miranda said, jarring me.
"Who?" I said.
Miranda glanced at me with an alarmed look on her face, like she'd just let something slip and she knew it. "Nobody."
What was with these people?
"Well, you're good to go," Miranda said suddenly. "Looks like that seawater patched you up."
"Um…thanks?"
She grinned. "Just sleep, 'kay?"
Didn't have to tell me twice.
I woke with a start.
The room was dark. I slipped out of bed, clutching my sore chest.
"Where are you going?" The hoarse voice startled me. I turned to see a girl with what looked like third-degree burns on one of the beds, watching me with hard dark eyes.
"No idea," I said, wincing at the pain in my chest.
She frowned. "I'm Ophelia Warring."
"Percy Jackson. Um…what happened?" I said timidly.
"Oh, one of the drakons set me on fire," the girl said. "I can't remember too well, but I think it was Elizia. I guess my dad set her on me."
"Who's your dad?" I said, amazed that a parent could do that.
"Ares. Who's yours?" She eyed me cautiously.
"Poseidon, I guess."
Ophelia snorted. "Great. Like I need another Poseidon kid." She leaned forward suddenly. "Damn. You look just like her." She grimaced. "You'd better run if you wanna eavesdrop on their meeting."
I gave her a funny look before ducking out the door. I was so focused on not breaking anything as I went down the hall that I smacked into a hard surface.
Stifling a groan and rubbing my face, I backed up to see a stone door. It didn't have a doorknob and was engraved with a weird symbol I didn't bother to look at. I turned away.
To my left was your average wooden wall, nothing special about it. But then I heard the voices.
"Don't you know what this means? He could lead us to her. We could…"
I was just putting my ear to the wood when the wall fell away; I crashed to the floor, skidding a couple feet and knocking over a vase.
The voices stopped.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," someone said. "Probably just Parker."
I cursed silently, getting to my feet. Another stone door, engraved with twelve different symbols. I put my hand on the door, trying to listen again, but the stone grew warm against my palm and slid aside.
I found myself in a large room, with a circular table in the center surrounded by twelve chairs...and lots of kids.
It was deathly silent. "Well, well, well," said one of the kids, a big girl with a huge sword. "Look what the cat dragged in."
"Stop it, Joan," another girl scolded. She came forward and helped me to the table. She had the same hair and eyes as Andromeda Guiles, I noticed. The girl put me in the only empty chair, the grandest, I observed. In front of me was a golden trident on the table.
"Well?" Joan demanded. "What do you know, kid?"
I blinked at her.
"Please," another girl said. "What would he know? He's a newbie."
"Stop fighting, will you?" a guy said, rolling his eyes. "Who cares?"
"We all do! We all miss her," said the Andromeda-look-alike. "And I know you do too, Brian, so don't even try to lie."
"Whatever," Brian said, but he didn't seem so secure.
The girl turned to me. "I'm Anne Grey, daughter of Athena. Welcome to the Council."
Joan rolled her eyes. "Let's get on with it, shall we? I'm Joan DeWitt, daughter of Ares," she said to me. "Don't mess with me, punk."
I was just about to retort with something real smart when another kid said, "Lay off, Joan. The kid needs some time to think."
So to give me more to think about, they introduced themselves to me. Tyler Bryce, Brian Bush, Zoë Perish, Mariah Evans, Peter Montgomery, James and Elizabeth Bentley, Elijah Andrews, Travis and Connor Stoll.
"I think he should know the truth," Elizabeth Bentley said suddenly. "We should tell him."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," James, who looked a lot like her, said. "You'll just start crying again."
She flushed. "Shut up."
"I agree," Anne Grey said. "It's only a matter of time before he sees her picture and realizes how alike they look."
"Who?" I said for the millionth time.
"Your sister," they said in unison. "Alice."
*gasp* Oh, you guys totally knew that was coming. Just wait until you see the rest of it! So, the Council has taken over as 'directors' in Alice's absence, and the whole camp's taking the blow of her disappearance pretty hard.
I'll probably get flamed for having Andromeda as a character, but I just thought that name would be better. Do you think I should keep her? I do, I mean, everybody knows about Perseus and Andromeda, so... Go check out the poll in my profile, and vote!
Remember: review, review, review! Even 1 makes happy! Mwah, I love you guys!
Kisses! -Alice
