Aliza's PoV
'Athena!' I heard some kid shriek as an owl flew overhead. I laughed as I watched the faces of the Athena children as it flew right over them. Aphrodite might be known for having dramatic children, but I personally believe Athena's don't get enough credit in this department.
Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
The owl was making annoying owl noises as it passed over one of the Athena campers that tried to take it right out of the sky. Serves him right, grabbing at a living creature like that. Gods I hate the Athena cabin, they think they're so smart. Bullshit, I'm smarter than all of them and they still talk down to me. Stupid Mundanes. But no matter, I'll show them all one day.
Notching another arrow, I take aim at the target. I was about to let the arrow fly when the owl landed on my bow. 'Frank!' I squeaked, 'Frank it's on my bow! Frank there's an owl on my bow! Frank get it off my bow! FRANK!' I was freaking out. The last time someone who wasn't in the Athena cabin got an owl, there was note attached to it and they were never seen again!
Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!
The bird continued making irrelevant noise. It flapped its wings at me and that's when I noticed it had an envelope clutched in its feet. Oh Gods. I thought please don't end me. I un-notched the arrow and the bird jumped up onto my arm. It really was a pretty owl, snowy white with a massive wing span. But it was still an owl.
I looked at the envelope and it was addressed;
To Miss A. lightwood
Camp Half-Blood
Long Island, U.S.A.
With my hands shaking, I opened the letter, it read;
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall
Dear Miss Lightwood
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Hermoine Weasly
Deputy Headmistress
P.S. keep the owl, he doesn't have a name yet.
I pulled out the second piece of paper.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Uniform
First year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves(dragon hide or similar)
One winter coat (black with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils clothes should have name tags
Set books
All students should have a copy of each of the following
There were a lot of books, so I skipped over that. I hope they come in ancient GreekI thought.
I just sorta browsed the rest of it because my dyslexia was starting to kick in. But one thing did catch my eye. WAND!
'CHIRON!'I screamed at the top of my lungs. All of the Athena kids look over at me smirking. I sent them my wolf stare, the one Lupa taught me when Hera sent me to Rome mixed with my Alec stare, one that sent chills down even the mightiest of demons spines. They looked away pretty quick.
Chiron galloped into view, a terrified look in his eyes. I knew why too, I'm a half blood child of Hecate who was brought up by the New York Shadow Hunters, if I call for help, something is wrong.
'What is it? Are you hurt? Are you-' he broke off once he saw the owl. His face drained of colour. 'I'm okay, I'm not hurt! The owl is friendly!' Chiron looked at him like I had just told him I wanted to marry Annabeth. Not that we're against gay, or lesbians, I just REALLY hate Annabeth. 'What!?' he snapped, getting angry. 'He was a present, his name is… Chairman Hoo!' I named him on the spot, Magnus was not gonna like this.
'If you're not hurt, why did you call me?' he asked, fighting to keep calm. 'She got a letter! One written in cool green ink!' Frank cut in, and I don't think I had ever been happier to have the interrupting baby sumo wrestler on my side since Alaska.
I handed him the letter mutely. I was still in shock. I had just been invited to Hogwarts; I was a witch, like, not from Hecate, like, from my dad most likely. I was going to go to a wizard's school. Possibly. I needed to contact the Lightwoods.
Suddenly, I felt the bird bite me. 'Ow! What the heck?' the bird didn't answer, it just kinda stared at me angrily. 'What?! I gave you a perfectly acceptable name! In fact the high warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane, named his cat Chairman Meow!' the owl never changed its stare. 'I will not be bullied by a bird.' I told it firmly. It just bit me again. 'OWCH! No more biting! It's unbecoming, Chairman.' The bird just bit me again oh Jace is gonna love you. I thought sarcastically. I opened my mouth to say something else but Chiron cut in.
'Come with me.' He didn't leave room for arguing. Gods help me I thought, following Chiron. I turned around, 'Watch my bow?' I asked Frank. Chairmen got up and flew to him. 'And my owl?' Frank smiled and nodded. 'Thanks Frankie.' I waved goodbye, and ran to catch up with Chiron.
On our way up to the Big House, Annabeth stopped us. 'Chiron, what's wrong?' stupid girl. 'Nothing!' I snapped. She glared at me, and boy, if looks could kill. I shot her my Alec glare, she backed right off. That's right, bow down! I thought smugly. 'Nothing of your concern Annabeth, thank you for asking though.' Chiron said, keeping the peace as per usual. Annabeth stormed away. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I thought, glaring at her retreating figure. Gods I hate her. She thinks just because she snagged Fish Jesus she's all that. I almost giggled at Fish Jesus, I don't think I will ever be able to think of Percy without hearing Jace's arrogant proclaiming of "Son of a sea god? Does this not make your little friend some sort of Fish Jesus? Because I don't think I could be the son of a sea god and not be considered Fish Jesus!"
When we reached the Big House, Mr. D was waiting for us. He glared at Chiron and looked at me with no emotion, which was the closest you can get to a smile with him. I smiled and nodded as a greeting. 'Dionysus, we need to discuss something.' Chiron said calmly. 'Involving?' Mr. D asked in a bored tone, though his eyes flashed to me, filled with so much concern I almost cried. I was the only camper Mr. D liked, aside from his son. I was the only one that didn't have to ask if he was a God, and the first one not to call him "The Wine Dude". 'Involving Miss A. Lightwood, Camp Half-Blood, Long Island U.S.A.' Chiron said, thrusting the letter into Mr. D's hands. 'Come inside.' He said, not taking his eyes off of my letter, his tone still bored.
We walked through halls and rooms and a secret passage way I didn't even know existed until then, and in to a room that, miraculously, had one lamp in each corner turned on. The walls were a deep green colour and the floor and ceiling were black. Why are we here? I thought, fear crawling into my being. I don't think I've done anything wrong. Out of fear, I looked around for a skeleton. The one that belonged to the last Hecate kid to get an owl and letter. 'Why are we here? Why couldn't we talk in one of the other 12 rooms in this place? Is this some kind of execution!? Am I going to die?! A-are you going to kill me?! Mr. D I thought you liked me?! And Chiron?! I didn't peg you for a murderer!?' I was panting from my little rant, and Mr. D and Chiron looked incredibly hurt. I instantly felt bad, but I didn't show it. I'd been taught since I was seven how to hide my emotions. The only person who was able to see through me was Jace. My eyes welled with tears at the thought of dying without saying goodbye to Jace and the Lightwoods, my only family.
'We're not going to hurt you, Aliza, you must calm down.' I hadn't realized it, but my magic was making the light flicker like a horror movie. 'Calm down!? I feel like I'm in the first five minutes of Supernatural!' I knew I was being dramatic, and that Chiron probably wouldn't hurt me, but I was having a bad day. Mr. D had the audacity to laugh at me. I turned to look at him. I sent him my Alec/Lupa/Jace scowl. Believe it or not, he actually stopped. That's really gonna boost Jace's already massive ego should I ever tell him. I chuckled like a lunatic. 'Well, if you're not going to hurt me, WHY ARE WE HERE!?' I screeched. Mr. D and Chiron both did the three-claw-over-heart evil eye banishing thing. I rolled my purple eyes. Yes, my eyes are naturally purple.
Chiron sighed. 'We brought you here encase what we told you made your magic spike. We were wrong to have such little faith in you. We're sorry, aren't we Dionysus?' he shot a look to Mr. D 'Oh, of course. Incredibly, terribly, stupendously sorry!' Mr. D replied with enough sarcasm to put even Jace to shame. But, I still saw the regret in his eyes. I nodded to him, he nodded back solemnly. 'Okay,' I clapped. 'What do you need to tell me?' I looked at the pair of them. They started having a silent debate. After about five minutes I got impatient and turned to leave. 'Wait! Okay, we brought you here to warn you, going to Hogwarts, can be dangerous. First, we have to send you back to the Institute, to the Lightwoods-' 'And Jace' I cut Chiron off, earning a dirty look from him and a smirk from Mr. D. 'Yes, of course, and Mr. Wayland.' I cringed. I didn't like the way he said Wayland, like it was a disease. 'Second, the train to Hogwarts is in London England. Third, there's some messed up stuff at Hogwarts. Stuff, Aliza, which even you are not ready for.' Now I was angry. Never once had I ever gotten into a special school because of something I was good at, and no one, not Chiron, not even a God, could take that from me.
Taking a deep breath, I felt my eyes shirt into the creepy all black state they go into when I do magic on purpose. The creepy serial killer smile fell on my lips and I zoned out. I closed my eyes and imagined my cabin really, really hard. I felt my being shift. There was a feeling like a hook on my belly button and then a sharp tug. When I opened my eyes, I was sitting, alone, on my bunk in the Hecate cabin. I could hear Mr. D and Chiron yelling from the big house, but I didn't care. Throwing myself off my top bunk, I walked over to the mirror. It was a body mirror, a few feet taller than I was (I was only 5"2') and three times as wide. Looking in it, I frowned at my reflection. I was pale, since I spent almost seven out of twelve months of the year in New York, only going out Hunting at night. I had naturally purple eyes and unnaturally green hair, that only came to my shoulders. I had on a black three-quarter sleeve shirt and black skinny jeans. No shoes, I don't like shoes and don't wear them in the summer. I was often mistaken for a child of Hades by new campers, but after some first had experience with my magic, no one ever doubted that I was a child of Hecate. On the visible parts of me, I could see a fair deal of fading runes, and my Camp Jupiter tattoo. I growled at the memory of Hera erasing my memory. I wasn't even part of her plan at the time really; she just used me to see if she could wipe people's minds. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.
Sighing, I decided it was about time to go find Frank and Chairman. Walking down to the archery range, I heard shrieking and took a detour. Which was a good thing, considering when I got there; I saw Chairman and another owl, who I assumed was Frank, flying around, hooting and playing together. 'Chairman, Frank, get your feathery tails down here!' I called up to them. All of the kids spread like the Dead Sea for me. I smirked and walked down the make shift path. I got to the front just in time to see Frank hit the ground as a human and for Chairman to very gracefully fly down and land on my arm. 'You gonna bite me?' I asked Chairman. Hoot! Was his only reply. I heard Frank laugh next to me. 'He was just hungry. I fed him for you…' Frank trailed off. I looked up and saw Hazel looking at us, he eyes slightly squinted. She was suspicious of us. I smiled at her and turned to Frank. 'Thanks Frank, you're a good friend.' Hazel and him immediately relaxed. 'How did your meeting go?' Frank asked, throwing an arm around Hazel after she came to stand next to him. I laughed at Hazels failed attempt to hide her blush. 'That's actually something I wanted to talk to all of you about.' I said. 'Help me find Piper, Leo, Nico, Jason and Percy?' I asked, they nodded yes. I felt Chairman flap his wings, but he never took off. 'Yeah Chairmen, what's up?' I cooed, petting his wings. He snapped at me. 'Okay, okay! Jeeze! What do you need?' he just went to bite me again. 'You are vicious! And that's something, coming from me!' I exclaimed.
After arguing with Chairman some more, we all split up to look for the crew. I almost ran into Chiron and Mr. D a couple of times. I just hope the gang has enough sense not to rat me out. I thought, hiding behind a bush. After Chiron had passed, I went to find Nico. I found him near Percy's cabin. Read: stalking Percy. I walked up to him slowly and put one hand on his shoulder. He jumped about 10 cm high. He whipped around to look at me and suddenly looked really sad. 'I know.' Was all I said and he started begging me not to tell anyone about his crush on Percy. I chuckled and wrapped my arms around him. 'I promise.' I mumbled into his shoulder.
We both walked out of the bushes and I marched up to Percy's cabin door with Nico in tow. Bang! Bang! Bang! I pounded on the door. Percy opened the door and Annabeth was standing behind him, her arms around his waist. I instantly felt really bad for Nico. 'Umm, I wanted to talk to you. Frank and Hazel went to find Piper, Jason and Leo.' Only now did I realize that their faces were red and Percy's shirt was off. 'When the pair of you becomes decent enough to walk around camp, we'll be at Thalia's tree.' I spoke firmly. Percy nodded and Annabeth glared.
After Percy closed the door, I turned to Nico. 'I'm sorry, if I had known…' I trailed off. 'It's okay.' Nico mumbled. I sighed. Hoot! I heard Chairman cry. Putting my thumb and finger in my mouth, I did my best hail-a-New-York-taxi-cab-during-rush-hour whistle and thrust my arm into the air. Chairman landed on my hand and hooted happily. 'Nico this is my owl, Chairman Hoo. Chairman this is my best friend, Nico di Angelo.' I smiled at Nico, who was blushing like mad. 'Hello Pretty Bird.' Nico said softly, petting Chairman without even getting snapped at. Not fair.
Linking arms with the ghost king, I made him skip with me all the way to the archery range before I got stupid. 'YOU'RE SKIPPING WITH THE WIZARD, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD AT CAMP!' I screamed. Nico opened his mouth when Chiron came into view. Crap! Didn't think this one through. 'Go to the tallest tree you can find.' I whispered to Chairman. I turned to Nico as my owl flew off. 'Do you trust me?' I asked, he nodded. Okay. Go time! I thought. I threw my arms around Nico as my eyes shifted and the serial killer smile slipped onto my face. Thalia's tree. Thalia's tree. Thalia's tree. I felt my being shift, the hook and the sharp pull. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, we were at Thalia's tree. And, in an odd turn of events, the last ones to the tree. Except for Chairman.
I whistled another one of my best hail-a-New-York-taxi-cab-during-rush-hour whistle and thrust my arm into the air again. Chairman landed and gave me a dirty look. 'What? I told you tallest tree. Don't look at me like that!' I snapped. 'You do realize you're talking to a bird right? Just for the record.' Annabeth snarked. I rolled my eyes. 'Yeah, your Mother's symbolic bird. And you do realise he's a better conversationalist than you right? Just for the record.' I snapped back. 'Hey, you invited me here.' She defended. 'No, I invited Percy here. You're irrelevant self could have stayed in his cabin.' I growled. Nico tensed beside me.
'Uumm, you wanted to talk to us?' Leo cut in. I smiled at him. 'Right, I'm a witch.' I said, no one even blinked. 'From my Dad's side of the family.' I elaborated. Everyone's eyes widened. 'And that owl the Athena cabin was freaking out about? Was for me. It was carrying my acceptance letter. And I get to keep him! Everybody, meet Chairman Hoo!' Chairman ruffled his feathers angrily when no one but Frank, Hazel and Nico responded. 'Acceptance letter? Acceptance to where?' Piper asked. 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!' I stated proudly. Chairman hooted happily and nuzzled against me. Awwww I thought. You do love me! I stroked Chairman Hoo's wings for a few minutes.
'How did you get into a magic school?' Annabeth asked. 'Because I'm flipping fabulous, that's how.' I snapped. Everybody but Nico and Chairman Hoo gave me a dirty look. I growled low in my throat. 'I don't know! I didn't apply! I didn't even know this Hogwarts place existed until today. The Lightwoods… they never told me anything. I don't know if Jace knew, but he didn't even hint at me being a witch from my Dad.' It was then I realized just how upset that made me. They hadn't told me about my Mother either. I started to frown; the Lightwoods were very good at keeping secrets, they obviously didn't want me to know about my birth parents. They never spoke about my Mother or my Father in front of me. And they tried actively to avoid the topic of Camp when Robert and Maryse were around. And Jace, well Jace was the only one to flat out ask what being a Demigod was like. 'The Lightwoods and Jace are very good secret keepers, I don't know about this for a reason. They kept this from me because apparently it could be extremely dangerous. The Camp can't protect me in England so-' Nico cut me off. 'What do you mean "the Camp can't protect me in England", why in the world are you going to a school in ENGLAND when you have Camp and the Institute?! Why risk your life even more?!' my eyes welled with tears at Nico's harsh tone. I really am teary today. I thought. 'Because Nico, I have never been accepted into a school for something I'm good at! I'm a dyslexic violent kid with ADHD, so if this school wants me, I'm going! And no one, not you, not Chiron, not even all of the Gods can stop me!' I shouted. 'Frank where's my bow?' I snapped. Frank took my bow off his back and tossed it to me. I caught it and strapped it to my back with my arrows. Chairman riffled his feather angrily at me after he re-landed. 'Meeting adjourned.' and with that I stomped out of the woods.
I'll show them. I thought violently. I'll show all of them what a good wizard I can be. I hadn't realized Chiron was anywhere near me until it was too late. 'Aliza Lightwood! Come here, now!' Chiron yelled. I stomped over to him. 'Listen here and listen well. I. Am. Going. To. Hogwarts. Whether you like it or not.' I spit, literally, I spit at his hooves. I turned and stomped away before he could fathom what I had just done. Chairman Hoo was making more of his owl noises, digging his talons into my wrist.
I stomped like a little kid all the way back to the Hecate cabin. Inside I stomped over to the writing desk and wrote a colourfully worded letter to the Lightwoods and Jace. After I was finished, I enchanted it to yell what I had written when they opened it. I sighed, looks like I have to go find the mailbox. Typically it stayed in one place, but one of the newer Hecate campers had an unfortunate mishap. I looked over at Chairman and had an idea. 'You're a delivery owl, yes? Is that why you keep biting me? You want my answer?' Chairman hooted in what I figured was agreement. 'Well then, if you want my answer to Hogwarts, you have to deliver this letter the Lightwoods first. Alright?' Chairman's answer was extending his leg like a model. I giggled and pulled out a piece of string from my pocket. I grabbed a spare scrap of paper and scribbled a note about the bird on it and stuck it inside the envelope. I tired the whole thing onto Chairman's leg and tried to tell him where to go. He took off right after I said the New York Institute, so I figured he knew where that was.
I couldn't wait for the Lightwoods reply.