Guys, a word of advice before you continue reading this story: if you want to read my story or any story with ease follow these instructions. Refer to the bar just above this paragraph and click on the icon with the four black horizontal bars above.

You will see "Full 3/4 1/2"

Click on "1/2".

Now click on the "T" icon, and then click on "Tighten".

Is that better now? :D

Wanna check out how the main character looks like, along with the other Percy Jackson characters? Check it out at my tumblr page, 'turtledynasty' with the title 'one fanfic creator'. Fanfiction doesn't allow me to show links so just copy and paste turtledynasty . tumblr . com, and remove all the spaces in between. I post only Percy Jackson stuff related to my fanfic, so check it out!

A New Warrior

Hick plopped herself down on the dewy grass, fiddling with the torchlight in her hand. She had left it switched off. There she was, sitting in the middle of the field in the dark, skipping out on the horror movie screening. She never liked horror movies, especially the gory ones.

There came the sound of shuffling feet approaching one of the "haunted" houses, perking up Hick's attention. Wait for it… she smirked, her gaze centered on the cluster of demarcated bunkhouses. A moan. A thud. A bright flash of light from the windows. "And here it comes…" she muttered, as a deafening boom filled the chilly silence, setting off a chorus of shrieks.

Silence. The dark came back as soon as the flash of light died out. Hick plucked at the grass beneath her, tearing each piece into tiny green threads. It seemed the longer she stared at the ground in this darkness, the more she saw faces staring back at her. The cool night air clung to her skin, and the crickets' rhythmic croaking and creaking was starting to lull her to sleep.

"I'm back!"

Hick turned to see her best friend, Ryan, approaching her from behind. He had two cans of soda in his grasp.

"Thanks," she replied, arms outstretched to grasp her can of soda pop as Ryan handed it to her. As soon as she caught hold of her drink, a flash of lightning lit the night sky blue before letting darkness take over again, and a huge gust of wind blew past her, knocking it off her grip.

"Hey! My hat!" Ryan exclaimed. His cap had been knocked off his head, and was flapping about in the turbulent wind, mocking his attempts to catch it. Hick hated it when this happened. A bright, angry flash of lightning streaked across the heavens, lighting up the dark night sky so much that it looked liked day for a second. A loud crack of thunder followed, so loud it hurt Hick's ears. She sighed. It had to be Zeus.

"Come on, Ryan. We should head for shelter." She grabbed onto his arm and trudged past the tall grass that was bending in the wind, towards the bunkhouses. As soon as they were sheltered from the cold wind, Hick released her grip off him. She had to do something about that stubborn old prick up in the sky.

She turned to Ryan. His blonde hair was all messed up, and he had the front of windbreaker all zipped up to block off the cold wind. His startling blue eyes met hers and he raised his brows. "What?"

Ryan wasn't going to like this. "Uh… hey! You know… I... uh... almost forgot, I've got an errand to run," she said, avoiding her friend's gaze.

"Why do you even bother lying?" sighed Ryan.

An awkward pause.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. That was all she could allow herself to say. And she took off.
"Can't you let me in on what's going on this time?"

Hick stopped in her tracks. She turned to face him. He looked puzzled, worried, frustrated. And she hated that look. "... I'll be back, I promise."

"That was what you said the last time. That is what you always say." He sounded angry. His words hit her like a rude splash of freezing water. But she can't involve him in her matters. She just can't.

Apple Valley, California, 2003.

"You are not to tell anyone what you can do, Hick. Not a soul."
"Yes, mama."
"Not a soul. You understand? Not even Ryan."
"Yes, mama."

A seven year-old Hick stepped out onto the dusty grey porch of the flat, dragging along with her a plastic bag of dirty laundry. The little girl's voluminous locks were tied into a loose, messy braid that draped over her left shoulder. Just outside the gate, a little boy with hair the colour of pale butter and kind yet mischievous blue eyes was practicing his soccer kicks against the walls. He'd do that every evening, patiently for the redheaded girl to emerge. And when she did, he'd smile and follow her wherever she went, kicking his soccer ball after her.

The present.

As soon as Hick was sure that Ryan had lost sight of her, she followed the dirt path that led to the exit of the campsite, heading towards the dark forest that surrounded the camp. The moment she set foot into the dark forest, the storm ceased and rustling trees stilled.

"I know you're here. Come on out and let's get this over and done with."

Silence.

"Oh pretty please! I have a college camp to supervise!" she called out sarcastically.

True enough, Hick saw a figure emerged from behind the trees just to her left. A storm spirit. No. Two. They were sneering at her.

She immediately knelt and touched the ground, feeling the shadows beneath her. She counted eight of them in her presence. And the presence of another. A demi-god. Shadow traveling wouldn't do her any good. It would be too taxing on her mental strength and they'll still find her anyway. It looks like she would have to put up a fight.

She looked up at the storm spirit approaching her, his eyes cackling with electricity and his smoky wings outstretched, ready for flight. He had an evil glint in his eyes. It was the same evil glint that reminded Hick of those horrid and ridiculously athletic cheerleaders back in high school, who relished in the horrendous game of dodge ball. Hick could almost smell the stench of that stuffy, sweaty gym that always filled her with dread. Man, did that hurt, she winced, recalling the painful dodgeball memories.

In a heartbeat, the storm spirit swooped Hick off the ground while she was momentarily lost in thought, gripping her by the throat as he soared up towards the dark night sky. The wind was roaring in Hick's ears and they were at a great height from the ground now. Hick rolled her eyes, feeling more annoyed than fearful as she tried to loosen the storm spirit's grip on her neck.

The storm spirit finally came to a halt. Why isn't she screaming? He frowned. Fear started creeping in and he looked at the demigod in his captive. She appeared rather sorry for him.

"I'm sorry, I can't help but radiate this scary aura when I'm under attack. I guess it's a natural defence mechanism, you know, being the daughter of Hades and all… like… a porcupine…" she trailed off. They stared at each other in silence. Hick cocked her head to one side and took a peek at how far up the storm spirit had flown. They were hovering just above a sea of wispy, grey clouds. Right. No biggy.

There came another gust of wind, blowing Hick's auburn hair in her face. "Uh… could you let me down, please? The wind up here is really strong and I don't wanna catch a cold…" she croaked, clutching at the hand that was gripping her neck. Man, she is so not enjoying this.

"Zeus sent me," the storm spirit said, his wispy white hair flowing with the wind currents. "It is my duty to send you to - "

"Camp Half-Blood, I know! Man, ease the grip on my throat! You tryna kill me?" Hick groaned. With strength so great that it took the storm spirit aback, Hick pushed herself out of her captor's grasp into the arms of the shadows that hoisted her footing, keeping her standing before her abductor. He seemed confused as to why she had not yet plummeted to her death.

"Dude, don't worry. I control the dark. It's holding me up. See, I can move around in the night sky like this," Hick explained, swooping around the storm spirit. Kind of like a Peter Pan.

The storm spirit just stared at her, a look of confusion on his face. He didn't get it. Usually, demi-gods who have not been to Camp Half-Blood as long as this one would be weak and vulnerable because of their inability to control their powers. This demi-god was an anomaly in this case. The storm spirit cleared his throat and puffed up his chest.

"I am not 'dude', as you have addressed me. My name is Flynn."

More storm spirits were arriving at the scene, about to attack, but Flynn beckoned at them frantically to stand down and they halted, confused.

"Yeah, okay whatever. Zeus and I had the same talk last month when he sent that stupid Minotaur on my birthday," Hick continued nonchalantly, unaware of what a big threat she was to them. "I'm not going to that camp. I am more than capable of taking care of myself."
"And that is why he sent me."

The storm spirits backed away from her and Hick groaned. What now? She looked over her shoulder. Seated upon a winged horse was a boy with sea-green eyes and feathery jet-black hair, looking to be about her age.

"I'm Percy. Son of Poseidon. You've become rather… notorious at Camp Half-Blood for giving the other demi-gods a rough time. So they sent me."

Hick stared at Percy, unsure of what to make of his appearance. "Yeah… okay… if you would just keep control of these storm spirits here... they were causing a ruckus with the mini typhoon they brewed earlier on. I have a group of freshmen in camp to look after and this is going to be rude but… I've got to go…"

Without further ado, Hick plunged herself into the darkness and shadow travelled into one of the dark toilets used as one of the ghost stations for the camp's night walk. There she stood, in the darkness, feeling curiously uneasy in her own element for the first time.

It was morning. Percy examined the red tag he wore around his neck.

PERSEUS JACKSON
CAMP COUNCILLOR

It was a new cover the gods had given him.

A couple of college students wearing matching tags waved at him, patted him on the back in greeting. He made his way towards the open air dining area on the stony platform, where Hick was. It wasn't too difficult to spot her from a distance. The murky greenery of the surrounding pine tree forests made her flaming red hair stand out. Seated on her right was a blonde guy, cradling between his muscled lean arms a soccer ball that has yellowed with age; and on the blonde's right was another male mortal with skin the colour of milk chocolate and a smile that Percy could tell was worn regularly. The trio seemed to be grimacing at something they were watching on the tablet hoisted up just before the blonde guy.

"Wait…Wait… What… What…" Hick sputtered, staring at the screen.
"Oh no… He's going to…" the blonde guy trailed off, his pale blue eyes wide with horror, but also with glee at Hick's distress. She buried her face into his left shoulder, much to the cheeky boy's delight. "Ryan, why are you doing this to us first thing in the morning?!"

Percy raised his brows. So the handsome blonde is Ryan.

"I think I'm gonna puke," the other boy muttered, pressing his palm to his lips.
"Oh no! Look away, José! Look away!" Hick cried, her face still buried in Ryan's shoulder.

José. Percy found his face was hilarious. Hick's distressed reaction to whatever is on the tablet was equally comical. With all the will he could muster, Percy muffled down a laughter that threatened to erupt at the seam of his lips.

"You can't! Hick, you promised you'll watch Game of Thrones if José and I watched it with you!" Ryan protested.
"There's no need to watch it, man! THERE'S NO NEED TO WATCH IT!" José screamed, inducing laughter in Hick and Ryan.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

Ryan looked up. "Oh hey, Percy! Had a good rest?"

Hick froze. Percy? It can't be. She lifted her face from Ryan's shoulder and turned. It was the demi-god who visited her last night.

"What're you doing here?" she frowned.
"Dude, he's a game master! And one of our bio-psych coursemate," said José. "We were in the same group for a research paper, remember?"
"Forgive her, she's really bad at names," Ryan spoke up, ruffling Hick's hair.

Something felt off. She was sure that bio-psych project only included her, Ryan and José. Hick squinted at what hung around Percy's neck - the same red tag she, José, Ryan and every other camp councillor wore around their necks. Yep, that's Perseus aka Percy Jackson all right. And everyone's acting as if they knew him. That could only mean one thing.

Percy smiled awkwardly at her, his right hand raised as if it cannot decide whether it should wave or ask for a high-five. "If you could just give me a moment, Hick?"

She sighed. So the gods decided to alter everyone's memories and plant Percy into the campsite as a "regular" and her fellow camp councillor. If they thought this would persuade her to go to stupid Camp Half-Blood, the gods were wrong. That poor demi-god is going to get his ass whooped like all the other previous demi-gods sent to abduct her and bring her back to Camp Half-Blood.

She got up and followed him. They were heading toward the open field Hick had sat on yesterday night.

Hick looked up at the stormy clouds above. It's not going to work, Zeus. You should send your demi-gods on some other more worthwhile mission instead of having them waste their time here. A flash of lightning lit up the sky and the thunder rumbled angrily. Hick rolled her eyes. Woo. Thunder. I want to pee in my – oomph! She had bumped into Percy's chest. He had stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

"You shouldn't anger him too much. There are people here and you don't want a storm unleashed onto them."

She glared up at the intruder. "Look, Percy. I don't want and I don't need to be part of your camp. I'm sure it's great and all, but I have people I care for here that I cannot afford to abandon."

Percy's line of vision automatically turned to the blonde guy.

"Boyfriend?" he blurted out, before he could stop himself.
"What?"

"Ryan. You and Ryan seem kind of close so I... I, uh... I just thought…" Percy trailed off. He didn't quite know where to look.

"No, it's not like that. We're best friends, me, Ryan and José. We've known each other pretty much since we were born. Our moms were on the same soccer team way back in their high school days," Hick replied, unfazed by Percy's bluntness and utterly oblivious to his nervous energy. "They're my whole life, Percy. And my mom. Especially my mom. I can't afford to run around risking my life completing missions for those stupid, useless gods who only know how to cement their asses to their stupid golden thrones. If I die because of such a stupid reason, my mom will have no one. I won't put her through what Hades had. I will never abandon her. Never. I hope you understand."

Percy looked down at his feet. He had never thought about that before. At least he had a great stepfather looking after his mom. He scratched his head of jet-black hair, feeling a little sorry for the new warrior.

"Sure I do," he finally. "But… the gods are squirming in their seats right now with each second ticking by. One way or another, they're gonna get you in Camp Half-Blood. I'm not supposed to tell you this right now, but I don't think brute strength will get you to Camp Half-Blood, so my hands are tied. You see... the Oracle of Delphi has announced the next prophecy."

Hick froze. She read about the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle never ever brings good news.

"It's got your life on the line, Hick, along with the rest of the world… and that pretty much includes your mom."

To be continued...