CLANDESTINE: THE GIRL'S SCLANETINDE WEAPON

NCHAPTER I

I was staring at my face in the mirror. The same long one like my brother. Just that I was a girl. Then slowly my gaze went up to my hair, quite short it was, highlighted at the summit of my spiked hair. I liked it a lot.

Have to color it red, blue and white…the event for which I have been waiting is coming…

I washed my face and came out of the restroom of my flat. I threw my identity card on my desk. It read my name and the name's designation-

HERMES EXPRESS

NAME: Kristen castellan

HOT SEAT: asst. to the god

SIGNED: hermes

I looked out of the window, no sign of any over-sized customers (meaning monsters), so I detached my knuckles made of celestial bronze from my belt and secured it under my pillow. The darkness outside my window protects the dumb-witted monsters from seeing. So, no danger, till the break of the day, that means a good sleep…

Till a bad dream invades you….

I was in a place which I have never known. But it was some place I would like party in before I die. It was like a throne room of some palace…so I guessed it had to be the 'Olympus'. There were so many big seats, in front of which I seemed like bug. I couldn't make out the purpose of the scene when a light emerged from the doorway. It called out my name and I recognized the voice as my brother's.

"luke…." My voice trailed off as my throat choked out of grief. "why can't I see you properly?" as my question's answer the light cleared revealing my brother. There he was as before, the same face, the same smile which was only meant for me. He was dressed like a warrior. But something in his body freaked me out. There was a dagger poked at the side of his torso. Maybe that's how he went away from me forever.

"Kristen, you are quite stronger than I was." He said

All I could manage was a smile.

" I want you to do me a favor." He spoke very softly, which was so not like luke.

"I'm all ears , luke."

"There is a friend of mine in danger and I want you to help her."

" who?" I was totally surprised by this.

"Annabeth Chase." He said with no special expression. And these 2 words were like bile in my mouth.

"luke , are you out of your mind? You want to help that kid out? Seriously ?"

" yes. Kristen, please. I betrayed her more than once. I don't want to see her die. I want you to rescue her and help her to close the doors of death."

"luke, if you had wanted me to jump off from the empire state building , I would have done it happily….hmm…conditions apply! But, sorry I can't do THIS."

" Kristen, please…I'm really sorry for abandoning you. But don't you feel anger for the titan, the people who did THIS to your brother, don't you want to take revenge?"

" luke, but revenge is totally not my subject, I have had enough of getting angry. I'm fed up of that."

" god! Fine, if not revenge…maybe you can AVENGE me! Defeat gaia. Help anna."

" avenge…that's a new concept, I'll try it out. But where is this girl exactly?"

" shame on you Kristen, being a daughter of hermes, you asking the locations. Find it out yourself. And thanks for trying out the new concept."

" why don't you come every day in my dream?"

" you have to rush now. There is very less time." He said pushing me and paying deaf ears to my request.

I woke up with a start with the sunlight blazing on my face. Man…what was it?

So, now I had big work to do. Rescue a girl, help her close the doors of death and also help her defeat gaia the so called 'mother earth' , as if it were a piece-of-cake-job…great.

CHAPTER II

I was in my office quite stunned to take in all the facts. I was struggling to find a way to start it. There are millions of demigods out in the world…..how would I know where Annabeth Chase was? Then a sudden crazy idea invaded my mind.

I booted up my PC and ran the 'HERMES EXPRESS' app. Then I searched for the details of the gifts transferred from ATHENA to her daughters. After a long time I got Annabeth's sword's ID.( actually, its dangerous for the demigods to use cell phones, so its impossible to trace them, so we the postal company of gods trace demigods with the help of the presence of their sword. We have an ID for every weapon the demigods use. With which we find them.)

I entered her ID in my gps:HE (hermes express). and after some time some details pooped up which freaked the guts out of me.

SEARCH: Annabeth Chase

RESULT: found!

LOCATION: Tartarus, the underworld

GOD IN CHARGE: Hades

What the hell was she doing there? Maybe she reached the underworld for her so called quest, but Tartarus was impossible to go….until you die. No she was not dead because my brother knew it….i had to act fast. Then I tried Percy's ID which I had by-heart! The results popped:

SEARCH: Percy Jackson

RESULT: found

LOCATION: Tartarus, the underworld

GOD IN CHARGE: Hades

oh! My god! He is struck with her! But I cant go just like that to Tartarus! I had to reach them by some other way. Then I remembered, Percy and Annabeth didn't go alone. They had set out with their friends. But I didn't know who they were. But I had a way to find it.

I called my P.A. She was in her early forties, very active, pleasant, like my best friend and she was the only one who knew me very well. She answered in the second ring.

" yes kris, how may I help you?"

"Mrs. Marly, will you please forward me the article on camp half blood's recent quest?"

"ah….you mean the one named 'ARGO II' ?"

"I guess so…."

" sure, in a few seconds."

"thank you." And I hung up.

A few seconds later an article flashed on my screen.

As I went through it, I got a list of names. One among them was an easy reach. I typed 'Katoptris' and got its ID. Then after a few minutes I got positive results,

SEARCH: Piper Mclean

RESULT: found

LOCATION: one hour away from old Rome.

GOD IN CHARGE: Zeus

Zeus? that can only mean they are flying. Flying…I love it!

Then without delay, I flung my bag around and went towards my P.A's room.

"mrs. Marly, you'll have to take my place for some days, because I'm leaving this place to kick Gaia's rear."

With those last words I left for my flat.

I packed my things in my infinity storage bag( it was gifted by my dad on my birthday) and wore Oscar the flying sneakers and set to accomplish my mission.

CHAPTER III

It took me a whole day to reach the place. And in the dark, finally I could make out a figure of a ship between the clouds. As i drew slowly near them expecting for the worse and only armed with bronze knuckles, a bag, a flying sneaker …..and a bad attitude, I could see flames flying out in the air, almost burning my face. I guessed they found my presence. And all I could do was shout to say I was their ally. I did so-

"HEY…DON'T BURN ME ALIVE, else I'll have to hit you hard with my bronze knuckles, dudes!" then I realized I had chosen the words badly. More fire blazed in the sky. Then out of nowhere a hard thing hit me on my head blacking me out.

When I opened my eyes I saw several pairs of eyes staring at me. A guy with blonde hair came forward, who must be leading them, asked-

" who are you? Are you with Octavian?" his voice was demanding.

" who is this guy? I don't even know him." I shouted back.

" then who are you?" he demanded

" you are asking me? Dude you don't know me?" I asked him quite surprised.

"Are you so famous?" he spat.

" dude, seriously don't you watch t.v. I was all on the media two years ago! I'm quite famous!" till the time a new character appeared, he was a satyr!

" HEY! What is this kid doing here?" the satyr yelled. It was clear that he knew me. I took my chance and started-

" hello dude, your friends don't seem to recognize me!"

"oh! Never mind these bunch. How come you are here?" he seemed to be glad to meet me.

"coach! You know her?" asked the blonde guy to the satyr.

The satyr was their coach!?

"Jason grace, my goodness, you don't know this demigod? She is the one who scared the Swiss bank manager under gun point and asked him a loan of $20! She was the breaking news of the month 2 years back!" he yelled with excitement.

"WHAT?" everyone chorused again. Then the things were settled down a bit with the help of the satyr and everyone believed I was not there to kill them. Then they introduced themselves-

The girl with pretty hair and a beautiful face was called Piper Mclean, the daughter of Aphrodite and the actor Mclean. The blonde one was called Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Then an old fashioned girl called Hazel Levesque. A guy who was like a teddy was Frank Zhang. And the last a very cool easy-go guy with curly hair was Leo Valdez. WOW! He was really awesome.

"okay now, who are you?" asked Leo. I gave them a smile and started-

'as to your surprise I'm Luke's sister- Kristen castellan." I said with a lot of pride blazing in my eyes.

"I have never seen you in camp half blood" exclaimed piper.

" neither in camp Jupiter." Added frank, who had talked for the first time.

" dudes, really, I'm so not interested in these fighting and stuff. I work with my dad, in HERMES EXPRESS." I said .

"HERMES EXPRESS? you are a daughter of Hermes. And you work with him?" shrilled the coach.

"yup, you know I'm really cool…cooler…than you all. You people are so duh! Fighting for these stupid gods without any gain or purpose, sacrificing your asses for nothing! great!" I said with a mocking grin and then looked up to see a lot of angry faces.

Oh god! No one can separate me and arrogance! I did the same mistake again!

"off course, Luke's sister after all. I was preparing for the worst." Commented piper rolling her eyes.

" so, you are here on the behalf of Gaia?" asked an angry Jason.

" people, look I'm here because my brother asked me to help you. I guess you guys will never ever believe me if you don't know anything about me. I'll elaborate my history."

Then I started from the beginning-

" I'm Luke's younger sister, about whom he never mentioned to anyone. I was born when Luke was five. My mom brought me up till I was 12, then, left me alone when she died out of craziness. And I started stealing things to extend my life span. Luke visited me at times. And I asked him to take me with him to the camp. But he said that the camp was not a place for me. And in short while Luke was going to have the Olympus under his control, which made no sense to me as I didn't know any bullshit about the Greek. But before anything could happen, Percy came in between and killed Luke. The only person who was my only world was gone. Mean while I managed to find a friend named hale, son of Hecate. We strolled around together. Once we were tired of fighting monsters and looting, we thought of doing something different and interesting. Then we came up with the idea 'publicity stunt'.

That's how I was on the media. Then we planned big 'looting the bank'. we succeeded in looting 1.5 million dollars. Now don't ask how, because that's whole big story. Then after getting half the share, hale left me. And I was abandoned for the third time. Then, anger rose inside me, which made me track down my stupid father. Then after a long struggle, after showing the evidence of my worth ( those were the successful records of my loots and travels), he agreed to take me as his assistant. From then I'm working with him. Until two days back Luke came in my dream and asked me to help you guys." I finally ended. "Any questions?"

" You were angry on being left alone. Then why didn't you try anything like your brother?" asked piper.

"Hmm….like taking revenge or something? No, revenge is not my subject. It's a total loss of time, resources, relationships and emotions. In the last you gain nothing. My stupid brother planned of taking revenge and all he gained was getting himself killed. He was strong from the outside but too fragile from in."

"Come on guys, this poor kid can't explain anything more. Let's believe her." Agreed Leo.

"All right fine. You can come with us." Said Jason, as if giving me permission. If he made me any more angry, I was sure going to steal that cool ship and run away!

"Okay, now let me have my things back." I ordered to Jason.

After things were done, I was offered Annabeth's room but I declined it. Then I met a guy called Nico, who was not there before. He was a child of Hades. After that they all dozed off, except me and Leo. Leo was navigating the ship and I was out in the deck enjoying the wind. I looked at my watch, which was half an hour before mid-night. After a while Leo came out sweating badly.

"hi, there!" I said.

"hi!...how did you reach us. How did you track out our place?" Leo asked. Then I explained him our tech. he seemed really fascinated.

"if at all we are alive after this quest, I'll surely once visit your place." He commented.

"you are welcomed by me with lots of pleasure…..but I'm not sure about my dad!" I laughed.

"hmm….. when you were being questioned, I went through your stuff. You have a special bag it seems! Even I have one, but a tool bag."

"yup! I call it 'the infinity storage bag'. But the only difference between yours and mine is, my bag can even steal things which I like or need!" and this definitely freaked him out!

"oh my! You really are a daughter of Hermes." He said laughing. " by the way, why have you colored your hair like this, then your dress, your attitude, makes me feel as if you have jumped out from 'green day's' makeup room!"

I smiled wildly and replied, "yah! Actually, I like this, you know totally different and rebellious and funky and cooooool…..!" and I did a yo! " and by the way, I like you. You seem a lot cool. Join my team buddy" and we did a hi-five.

After a long silence I asked him about the doors of death. And he told me the whole story of the quest, about his story ( only a bit) and Festus.

It'll be a lot challenging.

We both headed towards the controls, he explained some basic stuffs to me. Just then his radar started blinking, something was coming. Festus reported it to be a monster. Jumping catfish! I can't fight a monster. I'm totally tired. Or I can act like an injured one! That's a good idea!

Just then Leo wailed the warning alarm. And every one came dashing out from their rooms, looking really funny! Piper and hazel came out with their storm blown like hair. Whichever thing was approaching us came into view. It seemed like a Cyclopes. It wore a shirt which said 'Cyclopes, recycle the props!'. This quote seemed familiar including the face. But how can a Cyclopes fly? The face, the quote and the flying Cyclopes…..something familiar…..and the alarm from my watch snapped me out to reality which read 12 in the midnight. Then I saw everybody running around with their weapons to attack. And the thing landed in our ship itself. Poseidon's pants! It was- "WEASLY!" I SHOUTED OUT OF EXCITEMENT. "Guys stop attacking, he is my friend. He has come to meet me I suppose!" fortunately hazel heard me and helped me stop everyone.

"Wesley!" I shouted and launched myself on him. He hugged me tightly. The look on everyone's face made laugh hard. But certainly, a demigod hugging a 12feet Cyclopes was something not very obvious!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Wesley half growled.

It was my birthday today? I never remembered!

" This is a gift for you Kris." He said offering me a package. And without hesitating I ripped it open. Inside a bubble wrap there was something shinning. When I removed the wrap…..Zeus' bolt!it was a double sided dagger!a weapon for …me?! I threw myself on Wesley again.

"thank you soooooooo much!" I yelled dangling 4 meters from the base. Obviously people won't appreciate me for hugging him again. But I didn't care. Then he said he wanted to talk to me personally. And hazel led them all in.

"hmm…..Wesley, can Leo stay with us?" I requested.

"No..never!" he freaked out.!" He is one more likely to copy your weapon."

"Fine." I agreed half-heartedly. Once the place was clear he started.

"Kris, I made this specially for you. This is not a simple dagger. On this side the blade is made of celestial bronze and the other on is made of imperial gold…which is not quite normal. This side is hollow, filled with certain liquid, about which I'll reveal nothing. When the gold blade is pushed into any surface (only for monsters) the tip is pushed inside," he said slightly pushing the tip. " and the liquid reaches the blood and the thing's mind is hazed completely for three hours or so. This can help in any way. It depends on you." He ended with a smile.

WOW! NOW THAT WAS SOMETHING!

"Marvelous, Wesley you are the genius!" I appreciated him. "And it seems you are using my gift very well." I said pointing to his flying shoes….gigantic flying shoes!

"Yah…and for sorry bothering your friends. I gotta go I guess. All the best. I'll be waiting for you." With those words he flew away. And I went inside.

"What was that?" exclaimed Jason.

" I said you, he is my friend, and for the question 'how?', its none of your business."

I snapped. Oh! Not again. I can't stop being arrogant with him. But it is fun!

He gave me a disgusting look and went to his room. Everyone quietly followed him. Jason asked Leo from inside to get some sleep.

" No thanks, man. I'm all right for keeping an eye out for some more hours." Leo shouted and went over to Festus. That guy seemed to understand drakon language! Amazing! I went over to him.

" What is so special about your weapon that your friend wanted to talk in private?" Leo asked. I had an urge to say it to him, but …..i…..didn't promise on the river Styx! With that I told Leo everything. Instantly he became Wesley's fan. Leo was so cool. He strongly reminded me of hale…..my best friend. I took my i-pod, played a song and started examining my dagger….

" Kristen, what are you going to call your weapon?" Leo asked suddenly. And I said the single word that instantly popped in my mind

" Clandestine."

"wow! that's cool." He commented raising an eyebrow.

I didn't know when, I gradually fell asleep in the deck itself.

When I opened my eyes, bright sunlight blazed into my eyes, causing them to pain. When I was able to open them clearly I could see Leo talking to Festus. Then I noticed my i-pod lying neatly on my side along with the dagger which was wrapped safely by the bubble wrap. I clearly knew I never did that before I slept. Then I looked at Leo…..he winked at me smiling and went over to his controls.

After getting ready and having breakfast we all sat together to plan our strategy to close the doors of death.

"Our next step is to reach one of the doors in Greece." Explained Jason.

" But, Jason, how will we manage, if there are monsters out there guarding the door?" asked a concerned piper. She was looking dashing that day, I admired her beauty.

" Now that is what I'm worried about." agreed Jason.

" Can we call Dionysus, for help?" suggested frank.

" He won't come this time. Don't you remember, we had to give him a whole ship of six million dollars and many as a Tribute? But we don't have anything to offer him this time." answered hazel. Her voice was so nice.

Six million dollars! I could have bought an island!

"If at all the monsters disintegrated, we could have managed but-

I cut Jason's dialogue " I got an idea." I almost freaked them out.

" What is it?" Leo asked eagerly.

" But, this is gonna sound a lot weird but we are left with no choice." I said with a sheepish smile.

" Let's hear it." Said Jason.

Dude I was not waiting for your bloody permission!

" I have got some friends out there…..who are monsters."

Everyone took some time to process the last word.

" MONSTERS ?" chorused everybody.

" Girl, what are you exactly? You first hug a Cyclopes and then say your friends are monsters!" yelled Jason, at me. That irritated me completely and I replied with an evil tone-

"I can't help if you can't manage to have friends but I have. And that's none of your issues."

" Guys, seriously! You have stop accusing each other." Shouted poor piper. Jason tried to protest but piper silenced him with her killing look.

" Did I really hear the thing I just heard?" came the voice of hedge from inside, then his image appeared. "you have monster friends?"

"Yo!" I relied.

"But how?" asked frank.

"Look….. whatever I wear or have is completely branded like my clothes are from lee and Levi's, my cologne is of Gucci and the shoes I wear are from air Jordan. And I even own 3 bungalows, a club. And from where do you think these money come from?" I asked them.

" People, it seems, we can break into Kristen's locker and offer all of it to Dionysus and he is gonna help us lifelong!" commented Leo and made frank and hazel smile. I smiled and started another story.

"My dad has a brand of clothing and accessories of his own, apart from HERMES EXPRESS. And what I do is, I steal some of his merchandise and do some alterations according to interest ( like changing quotes as per order. Or jumbo sized …etc) and I sell those to the monsters in triple the price. And I never cared from where they get the money till I'm paid well. And eventually they got interested in me and we guys are all friends. Moreover they have sworn on river Styx that they'll always protect me. So we can call help." My work did really shake them up.

" Hermes shouldcretainly be feeling proud of you!" commented Jason with a sour face. And I ignored. I was sure gonna slice him soon.

"But how many can we get?" put in hazel.

"About 300 of them." I replied coolly.

"What the-" exclaimed Leo. "Girl, what are you?"

"Never mind it Leo, it's quite complicated and by the way save your shocks, you are going to get more of them." I smiled.

"Then why are we waiting for?" exclaimed piper. "let's go get some monsters then!"

"Sure babes, but I'm gonna take the satyr with me." I Put in.

"Oohooo…..!" I heard the satyr.

I and hedge wore the flying shoes and me with clandestine and he with his club got ready to hunt down my monsters.

"GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL" we chorused the Pokémon theme song and blasted off.