As the goddess of wisdom and battle, my mom had much more important things to do than pull her daughter out of school. So I was a bit worried when they paged me to the office of Fitzgerald Middle, along with my friends Alyson and Olivia. I knew it could only be one thing: demigod stuff. See, I am a half-blood; half-human and half Greek god. Or, in my case, goddess. My mother is Athena, goddess of wisdom, battle, and crafts. Ally and Olivia are demigoddesses too. Ally is the daughter of Hades, god of the Underworld. Olivia is the daughter of Poseidon, god of the sea. There's an oath that the "Big Three" - Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades - made after World War II that technically means Ally and Olivia shouldn't be alive. They agreed not to have any more kids. But Ally was really born millions of years ago: she just is reborn every time she dies. Same with Olivia. It makes them powerful, but not able to be manipulated with the prophecy and Kronos and all that.
"Cassie DeGregorio, Alyson Ferguson, and Olivia Mallet, would you come to the 6th-grade office please?"
We looked at each other with a little fear in our eyes. If we were all three called together, then it was important. Slowly, we got out of our seats and made our way from the science lab to the front office. Had there been an attack? Had Olympus been taken over? Was someone we knew dead? I thought of my half-sister Annabeth, Olivia's half-brother Percy, Ally's half-brother Nico. Were they in trouble?
When we got to the office, I saw someone I immediately recognized. I knew the curly brown hair, the shape of the face, the alertness in the eyes; I saw them every morning when I looked in the mirror. The only difference was that her eyes were a piercing gray, while mine were my father's green. This was my mother. Athena, the goddess of wisdom. "Hello, Cassie," she greeted me warmly. For the sake of the secretaries, she didn't say anything about why she was there. "I'll be taking them now," she informed them. "Is that okay?"
"Sure," they replied. They didn't really care. We got into my mom's car, or what I thought was her car; a Prius Hybrid. She said nothing until Ally prompted, "Why are we here?" Ally was straight and to the point, always.
"I need your help," she told us. Whoa. The goddess of wisdom needed our help? If Athena was seeking out Ally and Olivia and I...had things really gotten this bad? She continued, "I would do this myself, but I'm busy. I can't...well, Chiron will explain everything."
Chiron? She was taking us to camp? We lived in Florida. How would we get to New York? As if answering my question, Athena drove down an old, abandoned alleyway and stopped. She looked around. "Good," she remarked, "no Cyclopes. They like these areas. I'll call him now." Whoever she was calling, she didn't take out a phone. She lifted her hand and said in Ancient Greek, "Stop, Chariot of Damnation!"
Calling the Gray Sisters Taxi? Did she always have to be so cryptic? I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. She saw my expression and smiled. "So much like me, Cassie," she crooned. "You'll know in good time." Suddenly, a plane came soaring out of the sky. It landed, somehow, right beside us. I couldn't see the cockpit, but I had a feeling that there were three women in the front, fighting over who got their eye. We embarked on the plane, a little confounded. My mom wasn't usually like this. Usually, she would tell people things. Unless...well, unless it was something awful. Something we shouldn't know. I trembled with fear. Ally saw me shiver, just a bit, and leaned over and whispered, "Feathers!"
We have these little inside jokes. All best friends have them, you know. If you've read Breaking Dawn, you know what we mean by feathers. I wished I had it with me on the flight. It was two hours of boredom mixed with terror. I had no idea, no clue as to what this could be. We made some idle small talk on the plane, just middle-school-girl stuff, but that didn't last long. The plane was a small one, with only one class: coach. We didn't even get to order beverages. I'd flown plenty of times before, but that was on commercial planes, where you were surrounded by crying babies and old men on laptops. This was a new aura, and I preferred the old one. My dad loved traveling, so we flew a lot. He said travel was the greatest teacher. I sometimes thought that was why Athena fell in love with him. My "normal" family flew with me - my stepmom, my dad and my sister. Annie was nine years old. Technically, I had two sisters. But one had died at birth. When my mom gave birth to me, my stepmom was six months along. So Athena kept me on Mount Olympus for two and a half months. Then my half-sister, Meagan, was born. She died instantly, and was replaced by me. The Mist covered this whole thing up; the nurses just thought I had gone into cardiac arrest.
Well, anyways. We soon landed, right outside the camp boundaries. My mom went up to the cockpit and handed the pilots a stack of golden drachmas, and thanked them in Ancient Greek. As we crossed the boundary, Chiron wheeled himself out to meet us. "Cassie," he greeted me. "Alyson. Olivia." I wondered how he knew our names: none of us had ever been to camp. I had to stay with my "real" family, since my stepmom didn't know anything about my other life, and neither did my dad really. The same with Ally, since she'd been born to a different family than her original one. Olivia...well, I didn't know that much about Olivia. I'd only met her recently, whereas Ally and I had gone to elementary school together. I did know, however, that Olivia hadn't been to camp. "Athena has told me about you," he read my mind. "She wanted you to consult the Oracle. You see, demigods, you are going on a quest."
Ally, Olivia and I looked at each other. A quest? We had little to no formal training between us. We were powerful, true, but...a quest? Chiron kept going, oblivious to our little wordless communication. "In any contest, any challenge, there is always a victory. As there will be in this war. The fate of this war rests in the hands of one immortal: Nike, goddess of victory."
Ally burst out laughing. "You mean the shoe company?" She turned her sneaker to one side, displaying the curved check mark that was the symbol of Nike. I punched her on the shoulder.
"Stupid," I scoffed. "Nike is the goddess of victory. The shoe company was named after her."
Chiron nodded. "Are you quite finished?" he demanded. We nodded meekly. "Your quest is to find Nike."
The daughter of Athena said something exceedingly profound like, "Okay..."
Chiron adjusted his hooves in the wheelchair. "My dear Cassady," he lectured, "surely you would know where to find her?"
If he thought I knew...but wait. It couldn't be that obvious, could it? "In a Nike shoe store?" I .
Chiron nodded. "This one will be very helpful," he remarked to my mom. I felt like saying, Hello? I'm standing right here, but he was complimenting me, so I let him finish. "Not exactly. Do you remember who Nike's father was, in the myths?"
I thought for a second. I knew a lot of Greek myths, considering my heritage and all that, but Nike's father kind of drew a blank in my mind. "Um...Kronos?" I supposed, knowing I was almost certainly
He shook his head. "No. Styx, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and Pallas, the son of Crius and Eurybia, were her parents. Styx has recently retreated to the Underworld, where she lives as the guardian of the River Styx."
Ally huffed. "And those are who, exactly? And they are going to help us how, exactly?"
I nudged Ally, trying to get her to shut up. But you can't shut up Ally. Chiron gave her a stern glance. "You must journey to the Underworld, young half-bloods, and find Styx. She will help you, I am certain. She was devout to our cause in the first war, and I am sure she will do likewise in this one. Once you find Nike, you must convince her to our cause."
I looked to Ally and Olivia. They shrugged. "Sure," I agreed.
Chiron looked to Athena, seeming to say what'd I tell you? "Okay," he instructed. "Now you must consult the Oracle."
