Chapter One

"The Past Catches Up"

You know what?

Being a half-blood isn't what it's all cracked up to be.

I mean, sure, you go on quests. You go on adventures. You battle monsters. All mystical, mysterious fun.

But that, all that, comes with a price.

My name is Lily Rose, and I didn't even know that I was a half-blood, if it weren't for that thing at school that kick-started a chain of events that led to the discovery of my past, my true bloodline.

I live in the suburbs of New York—Westchester. I go to a private school, and stuff.

We live in a mansion—I guess you would call it that—just nearby. And by we, I mean me, Nana, my dad (though he seems to spend more time at work than at home), and the maids.

Nana is my father's mother. She practically raised me. Whenever I asked her why I was named Lily Rose, all she'd do was shrug and say, "Because your mother willed it."

Nana was the one who told me about flowers.

They grow in the gigantic greenhouse in my house, side by side. We have tall towering ones in bold shades of red and purple, as well as tiny cream-coloured buds.

And I love flowers.

I love them. I really do. I love all flowers. Actually, I love all plants, but mostly I love flowers.

For some strange reason, no plant has ever shrivelled under my touch. All plants seem to thrive under my green thumb.

Whenever Nana saw this, she would smile. "Just like your mother," she'd say. "That was what brought her and your father together. When she...was not here anymore, he had this greenhouse constructed just for her, in her memory."

And whenever Nana said this, I would smile and nod. Pretend that I think that my dad is kind and loving. Because he's not. To me, he is not my dad. He is Archibald Waldorf and he is a ruthless businessman. He barely talks to me.

But whenever I brought up my father's niceness, or lack of niceness, Nana would shake her head and say, "He just misses your mother. You look so much like her."

And I guess I do.

Nana may be old, but she is still beautiful. Her hair is still blond and her eyes are still blue-gray, like a cloudy sky.

But I look nothing like her, or my father. I have long, wavy hair that's brown, like freshly turned soil, that reaches the middle of my back. My skin isn't tanned like my father's, it's pale and snowy white. Plus, my eyes are green. Not sea green or blue-green, but green like a plant's gently furled leaf.

Nana always remarked how beautiful I was and how much I resembled my mother. "She was a goddess," she'd say. And then she'd marvel at my apparent gift of being able to memorize almost all the flowers of the world, including their characteristics and their scientific names.

"Your mother would be proud," Nana would say.

But Archibald Waldorf did not treat me like how Nana treated me. He treated me like a pet. A pet he sent to private school every day.

And I guess Nana sensed this. It was pretty obvious that he kind of resented me, especially since he had a string of girlfriends and stuff.

When I was younger, to comfort me she'd tell stories of Greek mythology. At night, I would lay in bed and know that I was a half-blood, who battled battles. I didn't know how right I would be.

I had just slid my lunch tray beside Mark's, my best friend. (Mark, just in case you're wondering, is mortal).

It was the last day of school right before spring break. That day, everything was normal. And by everything, I mean everything. I got up at 6:30 am sharp, brushed my teeth, changed into my uniform, inhaled my breakfast, met with Mark, and rushed off to school.

The rest of the things that happened in between the morning and lunch break were pretty uneventful, too. Same boring classes with teachers. Same A pluses.

The only thing unusual, I guess, would be the fact that Mark seemed kind of flushed and nervous (and you're going to find out why exactly he was like that later) and my other best friend, Leaf (I'm not kidding—that's really his name, and you'll find out what he really is later) was limping around on his crutches, sniffing the air, and mumbling, "I smell monsters. Oh, no. Oh, no."

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "What's wrong?" I asked Mark.

He gulped. "Um, um, um, nothing."

"There has to be something," I pressed.

He looked down at his lap, like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Somehow I thought randomly that Mark was kind of cute, okay, hot, in a geeky way, with curly brown hair and glasses. "Why don't you ask Leaf what's his problem?"

"Because Leaf is always acting weird," I replied, "whereas you are usually quite ordinary. So tell me, what's up?"

He shrugged. Then he met my eyes. "Well," he said, "I'm like the only guy in school who doesn't have a girlfriend yet, so..."

I glanced at him incredulously. It wasn't at all for Mark to act like this. "That's what you're worried about? Sheesh, Mark. Just ask a girl out or something."

He wouldn't meet my eyes anymore. "Well," he said. "I was thinking if...you know."

"What?" I answered, stabbing a cherry tomato in my organic salad with my fork. I may go to a private school that has lunch by a chef that used to be in the White House, but sometimes his food is a little too rich for me.

"Well," he hesitated. "Will you...will you...will you..."

And that's when all hell—excuse the term, but it is true—broke loose.

I heard someone scream, "FIRE!"

I suddenly got to my feet, alert. I looked around, expecting to see things ablaze. But I didn't see any fire. What I saw was much weirder.

It was a horse.

And not just any horse, either. This was a gigantic horse that seemed to shine, its pelt glittering under the school cafeteria's harsh fluorescent lights.

Meanwhile, Mark was tugging on my arm. "Lily Rose. Lily Rose. We have to go now," he hissed.

But I seemed entranced by the horse. I don't know why, exactly. I felt...what, a sort of feeling that it was staring right at me.

Mark was still pulling at my mandatory gray pullover sweater, which I wore over my white blouse, red tie, and knee-length red plaid skirt. "Lily Rose. The fire is spreading."

But I didn't budge. I was only vaguely aware of Leaf beside me, hobbling in his crutches, saying, "Thirteen. It used to be twelve, but Lily Rose is thirteen."

Now, kids everywhere were screaming bloody murder. The cafeteria was in shambles. Tables had been turned over, and some were throwing their lunches at the horse.

The horse that was beautiful and shining but had a wild look in her eyes. It was a girl, I was sure. A mare.

"Lily Rose, Lily Rose, come with me, come with me," Leaf muttered. He threw his crutches down and took of his shoes. I barely registered the fact that he had hooves there. I guess I was too preoccupied with the horse. "Lily Rose, you know Greek mythology, right? Good. Good. You do. I know you do because your grandmother told you about it, right?" Pause. "Okay, okay, Lily Rose. That horse—" in the corner of my eye I sort of made out him pointing—"is one of The Mares of Thrace. Otherwise known as The Mares of Diomedes. Surely you've heard of them. There are four, but for now, I think only one has escaped. I don't smell any more monsters." Another pause, and I felt tugging on my arm. "L. R.! L. R.! Seriously. They are very wild horses. Even one horse is dangerous. Since you are an inexperienced demigod..." Suddenly he grabbed me and rushed me out the cafe. "Go hide in the janitor's closet! Now! I've already sent out an emergency call to some demigods at Camp Half-Blood. I'll come back for you, to take you there. Okay? Okay?" Before I knew it, I was in the hall, hurtled by Leaf, and the next moment, I was in a small, musty room, where my only companions seemed to be a mop, a bucket of soapy water, and various other cleaning supplies.

I don't know how long I sat there, dazed. The horse must've had some hypnotic spell. But when I finally came to my senses and after telling myself "You will not be hypnotized. You will be normal. You shall not get distracted. No,", I rushed outside the janitor's closet.

I looked down at myself. My uniform was still pretty clean. I guess I just smelled like the soap the janitor used to scrub.

And then for some reason, I found myself rushing to the cafeteria.

When I got there, all the tables and chairs were upturned. Spaghetti was splattered onto the floor. Spinach-and-cheese ravioli was stuck to the ceiling. Several organic salads like the one I had were sprinkled around. Bits of tiramisu, chocolate fudge, and strawberry milk were sloshed onto the walls, as well as what looked like Minestrone. Leaf, Mark, all the other kids and teacher's that should've been there were gone. All I saw was nothingness. Just a messy cafeteria.

But that's impossible, I thought to myself. Surely there would be some sort of...

Suddenly, somehow, my eyes adjusted. I can't quite describe how, only that it seemed like everything was clear, then blurry, then clear again, and then something just materialized on the spot. There was the horse again. Beautiful, shining.

As well as two kids about my age, one of them with a knife poised at the horse, ready to kill it.

"STOP!" I shouted without thinking.

The two kids looked up in surprise. And I swear, the horse did, too, despite the fact that it was tied up.

One of the kids (they were a girl and boy) stepped forward. The girl. "What's this?" she said. Her big eyes narrowed at me.

"A girl?" the boy answered sarcastically. "Obviously. Don't you know how a girl looks like? Don't you see a girl in the mirror every day? Well, I guess, with a face like that, you don't—"

"Shut up, Kyle," the girl snapped at him. "And kill the horse."

"Geez, Keira, I was just kidding," the boy replied, the exact same time I screamed, "NO!"

The girl—Keira—took a step forward, kind of dazed and a bit oblivious, like she didn't care that her shoe wouldn't come down on a soggy meatball. "A mortal girl," she murmured curiously. "And she can see us?"

"Must be one of the clear-sighted ones," Kyle said. "Like Ariadne. Or that Rachel Elizabeth back at camp."

"You can't kill that...horse," I said, feeling...weird. I mean, you would too, if you were in my situation, right?

Looking slightly taken aback, Kyle and Keira seemed to become silent, giving me a good opportunity to take a good look at them.

They were obviously siblings. Kyle and Keira both resembled each other. While Kyle was tall and Keira seemed to be of average height, they both had the same golden hair and flawless skin. And Keira had blue eyes, but Kyle's were gold—liquid gold. Lion eyes. They both wore orange shirts with some writing on it that I couldn't quite make out, jeans, and sneakers.

"Because...because..." I mumbled.

Kyle looked at me with his burning eyes. "This," he said, lecturing me not without some air of superiority, "is Lampon, a wild mare that will trample everything in her path. Do you still want her to stay alive?" His eyes fell to the ID I wore around my neck, tucked into the collar of my blouse. "Lily Rose Waldorf, do you think this—" he gestured at the creature "—deserves to live?"

The spell was immediately broken. Lampon. Of course. The shining one. One of the Mares of Thrace. Just like in Greek mythology.

But then, without warning, Kyle plunged his dagger into Lampon. I screamed.

"And this," Kyle said, "is Celestial bronze. It will kill almost every monster, and—"

"KYLE!" Keira cried. "She's a mortal!" Her eyes were fixed right at mine, horrified and flabbergasted and somewhat in awe.

"No, she's not. Can't you see? She can see us. The look in her eyes..."

"Of course I'm mortal," I insisted. "Everyone is. Including you, I'm sure..."

Kyle snorted. "You have no idea how wrong you are. Look, we should—"

"Not take her back to camp," Keira hissed. "Kyle, seriously, if another mortal girl..."

"I told you, she's not mortal, she's—"

"That's it," I said when I saw that Lampon had dissolved into some sort of yellow dust. "I'm calling the police."

Keira gave me a look, and whether it was sadness or pity or something else, I couldn't tell. "They're already here."

In my daze, I realized that everyone must've evacuated. Well.

And it was exactly that moment when the cops burst into the room.

"Officer," I said, but his eyes were already scanning the room.

"No one here in the cafeteria but a student!" he grumbled into his walkie-talkie. Then the cop focused on me. "What are you doing here?"

"I..." I stuttered again, looking behind me. Keira was still looking at me with some sort of sympathy, and Kyle looked aggravatingly smug.

Why could I see them? I thought. And why can't the cops see them, too? Come to think of it, I don't think anyone but Leaf saw the mare. "I got scared," I finally replied.

The cop looked at me. "Well," he said, "we've already found out that the fire was caused by a faulty wire. Now let's get you out of here." Another guard then came in and escorted me out.

When I looked back, even just for a second, Keira and Kyle were gone.