CHAPTER 1: THE LESSON

200 years after the Giant War.

"Let's try that advanced disarming move again, shall we?" my trainer, Theo, said.

"Can we get some water first?" I asked half annoyed.

"Fine. You get 90 seconds, starting now!"

Okay. So now that I have some time, let me introduce myself. Hello! I'm Juliet Castellan, demigod daughter of Hermes. I'm also the head counselor of the Hermes cabin and one of the most skilled demigods with a sword in Camp Half-Blood. (Always try your best to not upset me, otherwise you'll get to feel the cool sensation of a sharp blade against your neck.) But everyone thinks I'm weird because I was born and half-raised in London, England. Everyone says that Western Civilization is only in the U.S., which makes me an unusual demigod.

Let me give you a couple tips though. If you want to be popular, go hang out with the immortally awesome Percy Jackson! But if you don't want to be cool, hang out with me, Juliet Castellan, and my friends.

Another tip, if you think you think being a demigod is cool, think again. There are practically two options for how a demigod can live their life. The first option is being a popular demigod. The good part about that is that you're favored by the gods, which always a good thing if you're too naive to know, and you get many quests, which are always a ton of fun. The downside of it is that your life is always put in danger. Take Percy Jackson for instance. He was only 12 years old when he got his quest after about 5 days of training! But then again he almost died over 2 dozen times, making Annabeth, his immortal wife, freak out.

The other option is being unpopular like me. People like me will never be remembered unless the tables somehow turn, although that is very unlikely. We will barely be known by gods except for maybe our parents, and even that has a small possibility. But the up-side to this option is that our lives are normally ever put in danger, rather than when we're in a war or battle.

Now that I'm done with my introductions, I have to get back to training. If I don't go back, I'll probably have to do some sort of embarrassing act later on.

"Ready Jules?" asked Theo. (Jules is my nickname that only Theo is allowed to use. Don't ask why.) "Not really but I'm more refreshed if that's what you're asking," I replied.

"How do you always know what I mean?"

"Because I know you really well."

"How do you know me so well?"

"Because I'm a stalker."

"Really?"

"Nope. Just trying to mess with you."

"Okay. Enough with the chit chat. Let's get back to sword-fighting. Want to do the advanced disarming move now?" he asked me and it was his turn to be annoyed. "Fine," I replied, "I should probably try it before dinner."

We went into a spar like we usually do. Our ritual is that Theo teaches me the new move and I practice it once or twice with him or a straw dummy. Then we start a spar and we fight until one of us uses the new move and that person wins.

Theo threw an easy strike which I easily parried. Then he feinted a strike but I saw the move coming and blocked the actual strike and was able to use the new move. This meant that I was the winner in the end.

"Nice job Jules! Maybe I'll have to go harder next time."

"Sure thing, Theo. I totally can't tell that you are breathing heavy because you just had to try really hard."

"You really are a stalker."

"Hey!" I yelled back offended.

And right when he was going to insult me again, Chiron blew the conch shell, signaling dinner time.

"To be continued Jules!"

"Right back at you."

We gathered our stuff and raced back to the cabins. Little did we know that dinner that night would be very memorable for a couple people. And one of those people would be me.

Due to my sword-fighting lesson, the Hermes cabin was second to last, but still before the Apollo cabin in which Theo is the head counselor. My best friend Alex, the Hermes' cabin's second-in-command, was walking next to me quietly. She finally broke the silence and said, "How are things between you and Theo?" with Herme's signature mischievous grin.

Annoyed, I said, "There's nothing going on between us Alex. He's just my sword-fighting trainer."

"And your best freind. So if you don't have any extra special feelings for him, why are you so much happier when you're around him?"

"Shut up. I'm not like that at all. You must be hallucinating."

"Really? Well, if you want him, you better get him now 'cause I overheard the Aphrodite girls talking about him and how they're going to steal him from a certain daughter of Hermes sitting next to me."

"You really think I care about Aphrodite girls?"

"Nope. But you do care about Theo."

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Girls! Calm down! If you keep yelling like this, the whole camp will know what you're arguing about!" a voice in my line suddenly yelled.

We turned around to see who said that and immediately noticed a triumphant smile on one of the youngest campers, Justin. Everybody started to give him high-fives and congratulating him until I gave him a glare.

"We'll discuss about why little Justin is being congratulated at the table, understood?"

Everybody nodded and was pretty silent until we had our food at the Hermes table. Right when I was about to ask the cabin what happened in the line, there were fourteen blinding lights. When everybody opened their eyes again, they saw the 14 Olympians in all their glory.

The first one to come out of their awe was Chiron, the immortal hero trainer. He asked, "What can we do for you, my Lords and Ladies?"

While Chiron was speaking, I saw Hermes- no Dad- give me a warm, mischievous smile that always got us Hermes kids branded as trouble makers. (The majority of us are but a few of us aren't.) I also thought I saw something in his eyes that gave me some sort of warning, but I shook it off.

Finally, Zeus, after his usual dramatic pause, said, "We need to speak to a couple of your campers about different things." He said that looking at Percy.

"Of course. Who do you need?"

"Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Theo Lite, son of Apollo, Bianca McLoy, daughter of Hades (A.N.: she was named after the Bianca that died), and Juliet Castellan, daughter of Hermes."

The moment he said my name, I was in total shock. I was just one of those demigods that the gods took no interest in. I didn't even know they knew I existed! But then, I got nervous. There were two very powerful demigods called along with two not-so-powerful demigods. If I had to go on a quest, would I accept or would I back down like the chicken I am?

I was also a bit curious. Why would all the Olympians come down just to get four demigods? If they needed one or two, they would usually send Hermes. But four and the whole Olympian council? I wonder what was so important.

I thought all those things in one second and the next second I'm in the Throne Room of Olympus. I looked in awe. The only words to describe it was amazing and beautiful. I looked to Theo who looked in about as much awe as I was. Then to Bianca, who was trying to hide her feeling but I could tell she was in awe too but trying to act normal. And finally to Percy, who looked annoyed. He was the first to speak.

"What do you need now?"

I was shocked by his statement. But then again, he is known for getting right to the point and not being very respectful to the gods.

"Well, we should start at the beginning." said Zeus. "You all know of the primordial, creations of Chaos?" We all nodded. "Well, turns out that you are not demigods but demi-primordials."