Chapter 1

I yawned and stretched across my bed, feeling my limbs pop as I do so. The light teemed through the cracks of my window, forcing me to clamp my eyes shut and release a low groan. An enticing scent reached my nose, drawing me up from the bed, and I throw on my clothes. I had on my favorite gray tank top and jean jacket and a pair of yoga pants. I quickly ran my hands through my auburn colored hair and threw it up into a loose ponytail before sprinting downstairs.

There stood my adoptive mother, Hestia, who smiled at me warmly. "Good morning Artemis. I made pancakes. Can you check if Apollo is awake yet?"

I nodded and drew in a deep breath. "APOLLO! Get your ass down here!"

Hestia shook her head as she put some pancakes on a plate with a spatula. "I meant that you should go up to his room and politely tell him to come downstairs for breakfast."

I shrugged and went upstairs to his room. There was no way that I could disobey Hestia. I loved her way too much. My father and mother both abandoned Apollo and me when we were young; and Hestia took us in because she was our aunt. She's a kind, warm, and loving mother, who, by the way, gives the best advice.

I knocked on Apollo's door, waiting for him to open up. Boys, always too lazy to get up early enough to not be late to their first day of school. "Apollo. Wake up. Mom's made us pancakes. Wouldn't want to miss that, would we?"

I could literally hear Apollo shoot up from his bed and fumble into his clothes. I snickered when I heard him bump his head against something and yelp, "OW!" After only one minute, Apollo was at the table, fully clothed and ready to go to school. I stared at him, marveling at the fact that only pancakes could force him up from a deep sleep like that. Well, they were Hestia's pancakes. Her cooking could do wonders.

After we both had inhaled our pancakes, we kissed our mother good-bye and walked outside. I swung my backpack onto my back and sat in the passenger's seat of Apollo's and my car. Hestia couldn't afford to buy us both our own separate cars, so we had to share. "Alright then little sis. You ready for senior year?"

I rolled my eyes before answering, "Not anymore ready than anyone else on God's green earth."

Apollo frowned. "You don't so happy. Maybe a haiku may lighten your spirits up." I groaned in protest. Ever since we had a unit in poetry in AP Lit/Comp, he would make a haiku about nearly everything. "Senior year is great. It marks the end of high school. Apollo is fab."

I blinked owlishly at him. "That sucked."

"Wow, tough crowd." Apollo said, pouting. He then focused on the road, not bothering to make any more of those tortuous haikus. Not even his friends liked them. I had no idea why he continued to make them in the first place. The trees and houses went by us, blending into one picture of smeared colors and streaks of green. I looked towards my brother, shaking my head at his appearance. His bright blond hair was spiked up again (I can't believe that was 'in style'!) and his ice blue eyes were still trained on the street. I sighed and tapped my foot on the ground out of boredom.

I went to Olympus High School, where "Balance and Excellence is Achieved." Or so the motto says. But basically, in order to get in, you've got to have some special talent. And you have to be good at it. And I mean really good at it. Apollo got in because of his expertise in the medical field. He completed AP Biology in the seventh grade.

I got into the school because of my exceptional talent in archery. I was a National Archer Finalist; only to lose to a man named Chiron. But, heck, I was like, eleven at that time, and he was pretty much ancient. Don't blame me.

Apollo parked and we got out. The campus was still empty, because we always get there earlier than necessary. It's always hectic in the locker rooms; especially on the first day of school. I went to the front office and greeted the woman at the desk. "Artemis Olympia," I told the lady my name. She nodded and rummaged through her files. She pulled out a thin sheet of paper containing the schedule that I constructed over the summer and my locker number with its combination.

I ran to my locker, throwing my textbooks and backpack inside. I kept my schedule sheet, though. I walked to my fist period classroom and dropped off my stuff at a random desk. Because it's so hard to get into my school, there was only about six hundred students in the whole school. Because of this, we had more privileges than most high schools.

When I came out of the room, it seemed like teenagers popped out of nowhere. A whole stream of my classmates flowed in and out of the hallways, knocking into each other cluelessly. I tried to navigate my way through the sea of high school kids, but it was nearly impossible. I sighed and leaned against the wall, hoping that my best friend could come along and save me.

A boy my age weaved through the people like water, asking them to show him to the office. He was failing miserably until he reached me. "Hey," he said breathlessly. I raised my eyebrow. He had disheveled black hair and luminous sea green eyes. He was tall, maybe a little over six feet and had a very nice build. He was probably a football player. I could tell he was new by the uneasy look in his eyes. Oh, and by the name tag that read: Perseus Jackson. They only gave those out to the new students. "Can you show me to the front office?"

I scrunched up my nose. I wasn't particularly fond of the male species, but he did ask for help. "Sure," I said, and gestured for him to follow me. We passed through the throngs of people and walked to the front office, occasionally bumping into a person I'd never talked to. He saw the front office, and rushed ahead of me, just to open the door. I rolled my eyes at his lame attempt to be a gentleman.

"Heya Gladys," I said to the lady at the desk. I jabbed a thumb at Perseus Jackson. "This boy here's new. Maybe you can give him his schedule and locker number?"

Gladys, the lady who had given me my schedule earlier, had a brittle smile plastered to her face as she said, "Of course. Name, please?"

"Perseus Jackson," the guy said, his hands in the pocket of his jeans, giving him a more "cool" look as they like to say it. "I moved from Montauk."

I looked at him quizzically. He was probably the first person I'd ever seen from Long Island that didn't have an accent. Gladys handed him his papers and turned towards me. "Ms. Olympia," she said, "From what I see, you two have four classes together. Perhaps you could show him around?" I bit back a groan. Do I really have to be around this boy all day?

I shook my head even when I answered, "Sure, Gladys." Her smile stretched even farther across her middle-aged face and I snatched the paper from Perseus's hands. I confirmed that our schedule was very similar. "Follow me," I said, and walked to his locker. I showed him how to open it and told him how to open his locker. I got him the textbooks he needed for first period and walked him to the classroom. We went inside and he set his stuff down in the front row.

"We've never properly introduced ourselves," Perseus said, outstretching an arm. "My name's Percy, nice to meet you."

"Artemis," I said with a neutral expression and I shook his hand. My fingers unintentionally lingered on his and I had to pull my hand away. "Welcome to Olympus High School where—"

"—'Balance and Excellence is Achieved," Perseus finished for me. "I know, I know. My mom was always talking to me about how great this school was. She's always talked about the 'true meaning of the motto.'"

"What's your talent?" I asked curiously. No offense to him, but he seemed kind of plain.

"Athletics," Perseus said. "Broke a world record for the fastest 12-year-old sprint. Then I was the star quarterback in my previous high school years."

"Figures," I mumbled under my breath when I glanced at his muscles that showed through his shirt. "Any other sports you play? How about your favorite school subject?"

"Um…I swim, I can play tennis, cross-country, basketball, baseball, rugby, soccer, and—" I interrupted him with, "Maybe you should say your favorite school subjects instead."

Perseus blushed at that and rubbed the back of his neck. "O-oh…well…I'm not so good in that area. Actually, I'm really bad. It's a miracle I got into such a highly respected school like this. And I always get into trouble one way or another. But my favorite subject's probably history. What about you? How did you get in?"

"Archery." I stated simply before the bell rang, and the classroom door burst open with a loud BANG. Students flooded in and sat down, separating Percy and me. After a few moments of intense chatter, the teacher walked—err—rolled into the classroom. He was middle-aged; with muddy brown hair and a beard. And then he said happily, "WELCOME TO LATIN IV!"

The children jumped at how enthusiastic he was, and then laughed loudly when they saw his face. The man exuded a kind of energy that made you excited to learn and just made you plain and simply happy. "As I was saying," the man said, adjusting his jacket, "Welcome to Latin IV. If you were not here for Latin I, II, and III, I highly suggest you either get a tutor or ask a friend for help on your homework assignments. I suggest option one. My name is Chiron Brunner, at your service." He turned to the whiteboard.

"Now, if anybody could tell me how to fully conjugate a third conjugation verb in the subjunctive mood?"

oOo
"Where were you this morning? And who is this?" Aphrodite, my best friend, asked.

Even though we were complete opposites, I loved Aphrodite like she was the sister I never had. We grew up together, and although we were very different, we balanced each other out. Without her, I would've still been wearing loose gray jeans and an extra-large t-shirt. She was the prettiest girl you could ever see. She seemed different to everyone around her. What they thought was what beauty looked like, that would be what she looked like to them.

Perseus was standing behind me, still holding his textbooks for second period. "This is Perseus Jackson."

"Just Percy," he added, smiling his crooked smile. I stared at him, as if saying, Don't do that again, please. Aphrodite eyed him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Well, aren't you a hottie. I thought you weren't interested in relationships, Arty."

My face blanched within a matter of milliseconds. "I'm not interested, Aphrodite. I'm showing Percy around the school because Gladys told me to."

Aphrodite seemed to completely ignore me and turned to Percy. "So, you look new. Where are you from? How are you liking the school so far?"

"I like it," Perseus said, "And I moved here from Montauk. My mom thought it might be more helpful to be closer to her publishing party. So…how'd you get in?"

"With sheer willpower and talent," Aphrodite fibbed.

I rolled my eyes and answered him for her. "She got in because she apparently designed her own fashion line. She's even produced her own best-selling brand of make-up. If that counts as a talent."

Since I was more on the less girly side, I disagreed with some of Aphrodite's ideas of what talent is and what she considered "hobbies." But I didn't push her too much; she was still my friend, and I needed to accept her for who she was. Percy nodded. "Sounds cool."

I grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him away from my best friend. "Bye, 'Dite! We gotta go to calculus!"

Aphrodite waved and walked away, swinging her hips intentionally to keep Percy's eyes on her. I cleared my throat and elbowed him in the gut. I winced when my elbow made contact with his rock-hard abdomen. "What was that for?" Percy yelped, jumping back almost comically.

"Control your hormones please!" I mused, and shoved the calculus door open. I settled down at a front row seat and glared at Percy when he tried to sit with me. So he set down his stuff near a blond guy I recognized as Jason. Jason won the student government elections in the years before and was the star of the debate club. Reyna was similar to him, but she wasn't as successful due to her cold demeanor. Not only was Jason successful in the field of politics, he did well in athletics as well. He was the captain of the football team.

They began talking right away, and I rolled my eyes. Our teacher, Athena Chase, entered. She was a tall woman with thinning black hair and a mouth that was twisted in a way that made you think she'd just tasted something sour. Her grey eyes made her appear as if she was calculating multiple things at once, as if she was finding multiple ways to give you a detention. "Welcome to Calculus," she said slowly. "In my classroom, there is no talking, and absolutely, positively, no fun."

No one could tell if she was joking or not.

"Let's start with some simple algebra two problems. Do you all know how to graph quadratic functions?"

There was a chorus of "yes," except for one voice that replied with, "No." I looked towards Percy, whose face was tinted red with embarrassment. Athena stared at him in disbelief. "What is your name?"

"Percy Jackson, ma'am."

"Lord Zeus Mr. Jackson, this is senior year, and you do not know how to graph something as simple as a quadratic function?" She looked offended. Athena always looked offended when a child lacked any education. Percy shook his head. Athena sighed. "Talk to me after class please. You'll just have to mindlessly copy Mr. Grace's notes."

I narrowed my eyes at the teacher. Even if he was a boy, what she just said to him was plain rude. So the lesson went on, and I listened intently, taking good notes. Athena kept glancing towards me, seemingly

impressed by my answers to each problem. She dismissed us early, and I rushed to get out. I know it was discourteous to leave Percy behind, but I was about ready to shake him off anyway.

I opened my locker and grabbed my things for music. I was the only pianist in the whole school, so the teacher, Mr. Kustov, was very adamant that I come to every recital and every after school lesson. I refused of course, but I was still his favorite student. We spent the whole day talking about tempo and key signatures. I was thankful when it ended so I could go to lunch.

I had only a few friends, but I was very close to them. But I was far from lonely. Everyone in the school recognized me, and was able to have a conversation with me. My friends included Aphrodite, Annabeth, and Hecate. They all were very different from me, but we still got along pretty well.

Annabeth was a blonde with frizzy hair and sharp grey eyes. And you guessed it right, she was the daughter of Athena, my oh-so-lovely calculus teacher. Annabeth's the smartest kid around, she got accepted into Harvard when she was only sixteen due to her AP advancements. So whenever I needed help with homework, I went to her.

Hecate was the loner out of the group. She was beautiful, but was so pale that she appeared dead. Her long black hair was always tied into a high ponytail. I'd heard teasing rumors that she wore her hair like that even in bed. She liked to sit in corners by herself, doing homework. Very rarely would she sit with us.

And well, you know Aphrodite.

I walked into the lunch line, grabbing one of those cheap Styrofoam plates and thrusting it in front of the lunch lady. She glanced at me disapprovingly and plopped stale mashed potatoes on my plate. And then she scooped up some sticky lasagna and it landed on my plate with a squish. I stared at the abomination on my plate. Ah, school lunch food. It never ceases to amaze you.

I sat down at the usual table where we sit down. Hecate settled down next to me. She took one look at her food, got up, and threw away the meal. She sat back down again. I did not laugh, as it would be awkward. Hestia did not have a sense of humor, and never, not in the ten years that I had known her, had I ever heard her laugh. I saw her smile at her brother's graduation, but nothing more.

"How was your day?" I asked Hecate, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

"Fantastic," she answered sarcastically. "Absolutely fantastic."

"Doesn't sound like it," I replied, "You sound more like all you did today was recount the number of books in the school library."

Hecate groaned and crossed her arms over her chest as if to warm herself. I found it kind of weird because the cafeteria was probably eighty degrees fahrenheit. "No, but pretty close. Ms. Chase gave us the knowledge speech again."

At this I felt a lot of sympathy for her. For most of her classes, Athena Chase would explain the importance and the impact on history wisdom and knowledge possessed. It was extremely boring, it was like listening to a lawn mower for a whole hour. It was loud, annoying, and, sometimes, unnecessary. I had been lucky that year because Ms. Chase did not give us "the speech."

And unfortunately, Annabeth gives us the same talk every year, too.

Speaking of Annabeth, she sat down right after Hecate's comment. "Hi guys!" she said, grinning. "How was your day? I found it absolutely—"

"Fascinating?" I guessed with a raised brow.

Annabeth nodded enthusiastically causing a few strands of hair fall from her ponytail. You see, Annabeth's not normally all bubbly and cheerful so I asked, "What's got you all up in the clouds?"

"A boy," Annabeth said, holding her books closer to her boobs. I rolled my eyes and made a sound that sounded like, ewwww. Only Hecate had similar-ish views about boys to my own. Annabeth and Aphrodite loved them. Like, they actually dated them, and kissed them and…

I shivered at the thought.

"What boy?" I inquired, my eyebrow still raised. Annabeth sighed at my question and looked to the sky, her normally shrewd and sharp gray eyes turning a soft shade of an ashen blue.

"Oh, just some boy in my P.E. class."

She sighed as if she was in a movie and her role was to act like some foolish lovesick girl. She was achieving every element of that role very well.

"Mhmm," I responded, not really keeping all my focus on her. I looked over the crowd for Aphrodite, wondering if she would sit with us. Aphrodite was the most popular female socialite in the whole school, so she had many different pools of friends. All of them were "popular" except for us, and the only reason why she really sat with us in the first place is because we've know each other since we were children. Long story short, she didn't sit with us all the time.

Hecate sighed. "Shut up, will you?" She looked straight at Annabeth. The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out, so she closed it. And then she said, "At least Aphrodite would relate with me."

I shrugged. It was true. I sometimes felt bad for Annabeth because we were her only friends and she did have an interest in the male species; but when she tried to talk about them both Hecate and I shut her down.

"What were we saying about me? Was it that I am positively fantastic and fabulous?" Aphrodite popped up from behind me, holding her lunch. "No," I replied, "We were saying that you are positively spastastic and pompous."

Hecate's mouth twitched.

Aphrodite feigned hurt. "Well then." She placed a hand on her heart. "I am truly wounded."

"Annabeth likes a boy," I stated with a bored tone. Aphrodite's face lit up about two-thousand watts at my words. "Oh really? Who is it, my dear, who is it?"

Annabeth blushed. "Umm…his name is Percy…Percy Jackson."

"Oh!" Aphrodite said, recognition floating in her eyes. "That's the boy Artemis introduced to me!"

A flash of jealousy and hurt shone in Annabeth's eyes. "Oh…um, I guess I don't need to describe him for you."

"Nope!" Aphrodite said, all excited. "You have quite the taste, Annabeth! That boy is a hunk of meat!"

Annabeth laughed. "Yes, I guess he is."

I scrunched my nose up. I had just shown that "hunk of meat" around school, and it was kind of gross hearing them describing him the way they were doing. I felt a slight ache of guilt wash over me once I realized that I had left him behind to eat by himself.

And then he sat down right next to Annabeth. "Hey Arty," he greeted me, grinning widely.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. It seemed like whoever I thought of would magically appear. Annabeth blushed deeply at their close proximity and tried to hide her face with her hands. "Percy," I said back. "Why don't you go eat with Jason? You're giving my friend here a heart attack." I gestured towards Annabeth, who was nearly hyperventilating.

Percy raised an eyebrow at her, but just shrugged it off. "I thought I'd sit here because I know you the most out of everyone here."

I shrugged back, mimicking his actions. "I still prefer it if you go sit with Jason, Perseus."

He looked at me as if to ask, Are you sure?

I nodded and waved at him to go. Annabeth let out a big breath as soon as he left. "Oh me lord," she said, her usual precise grammar going down the drain. "Oh me lord, he was so hot."

"I think it's my," I corrected her, "And I don't think 'hot' is a good word to describe Percy. Plus, he's got weird stalker-ish tendencies."

"Looks like Percy's in love," Aphrodite mused, twirling her hair. I didn't really want to know if she was saying he was in love with Annabeth or me. Cause that's just gross.