August 24 8:00 a.m. Olympus
"Are you sure?" Poseidon demanded. The god paced back and forth in front of the others that were gathered before him.
"When am I not?" Apollo asked with a raised eyebrow. He may have lost his oracle, but when it came to something as important as the next great prophecy, it always finds a way.
"But you lost your oracle," Artemis said as she and Apollo stood before their father and uncle.
"So there has been another great prophecy?" Athena demanded as she stormed into the throne room. Her eyes told everyone that she was beyond mad that she had not been told about this.
"I thought that this was going to be a closed meeting?" Zeus asked clearly upset that his children were barging in.
"Not when it comes to my daughter," Athena roared. She had been trying to make it up to Annabeth for sending her on the quest. She hadn't meant for Annabeth to almost get killed trying to find the Athena Parthenos
"Oh sure, you show your love by sending her on a quest that almost killed her," Poseidon muttered under his breath as he stopped his pacing.
"What do you say?" she demanded as she whirled around to face him.
"You claim to love Annabeth and care about her safety, yet you sent her on a quest that almost killed her and my son," Poseidon roared furiously.
"You have no right to judge me, you only claimed your son for your own purposes," Athena snarled. "You didn't even care about him until he was accused of stealing Zeus's thunderbolt."
"You-" Poseidon shouted.
"Enough!" Zeus demanded silencing Poseidon and Athena. He was not in the mood for another Athena Poseidon battle in the throne room. "Yes there is a new great prophecy," Zeus said as he faced Athena.
"Is it about my daughter?" Athena demanded.
"I have a feeling that it is about all of them and more," Artemis said as she looked around the room.
"Then bring them together and protect them," Poseidon demanded as he looked around the room, meeting each one of their faces. He again went back to pacing around the room.
"You know as well as I do that we can't just send them to a camp and that be the end of it. They will leave, and then we will have the same problem," Athena said as she started worrying about her daughter. This would be her third great prophecy that she would have to live through.
"Then send them to the same high school and watch them," Apollo said as he sat on his throne. He had delivered his message and now he was bored. Apollo sat on his throne twiddling his thumbs, wishing that he could escape the throne room. To take his mind off the boredom, he pulled out his IPod.
"What?" Athena demanded. She didn't appreciate Apollo acting bored about a prophecy that would change their children's lives, again.
"Have Hera do one of her tricks and just send them to Goode with Jackson," Apollo said as he scrolled through his IPod not caring about the looks he was getting. After his whole fiasco last year, he could survive anything the gods threw at him.
"Hermes!" Zeus ordered. He may not have cared what happened to the other demigods, but he didn't want to lose his youngest children. He waited as Hermes appeared in the throne room. "Summon the other gods."
2:29 p.m
"Uhhhhh!" Percy said as he hit his head on his desk for the fourth time in the last 40 minutes. 'Will this day ever end?' Percy asked himself. It was the second to last period of the day. Not only was it the last period of the day, but there was a back to school assembly that took the place of the last period.
Percy was bored out of his mind. As he sat there bored, he started thinking about all of his friends. He hadn't been able to talk to any of his friends for the last few days. He wanted to know how everyone was doing as they were getting ready for the school year to begin. Even Annabeth had been too busy to really talk. "Come on!" Percy muttered at the clock. For once in his life, a thought raced a crossed his mind, maybe Kronos's powers of time weren't all bad. But as soon as the idea popped into his head, he stamped it out.
"Mr. Jackson!" the teacher shouted, effectively cutting off Percy's distracted thoughts. "You may be a senior this year, but doesn't mean you cannot pay attention in my class."
"Sorry Mr. Rattliff," Percy muttered as he looked back up the board. As Percy was studying the board, the bell, signifying that the class was over, rang out. "Finally," Percy said as he stood up, gathered his notebook and pencil, and ran out of the room with his stuff.
"A word Mr. Jackson," Mr. Rattliff said as Percy was almost out of the classroom.
"Yes sir?" Percy asked as he walked, defeated, back into the classroom and faced his teacher.
Mr. Rattliff waited while everyone else filed out of his room. "I expect you to pay attention in my class," Mr. Rattliff said as he narrowed his eyes at his student. He knew that Percy was amazing in Greek and Roman mythology, so he expected Percy to pay attention.
"Yes sir," Percy said. He was itching to get out of there and get to the assembly. The assembly may have been boring, but it was better than sitting there in class or talking to a teacher.
"I want a three page paper on why Poseidon and Athena hate each other," Mr. Rattliff said. That was the thing, Mr. Rattliff taught Ancient Greek and Roman culture. Not only did he teach it, he was strict and started teaching on the first of school. "And it's due by the end on the week.
"But sir, it's the first day of the school year!" Percy exclaimed. Not only was it the first day of the school year, it was a Wednesday, there was swim practice after school, and he wanted to Iris message his friends.
"Then you should have plenty of time to complete it," Mr. Rattliff said as looked up at Percy from where he was sitting at his desk.
"But-" Percy tried to argue.
"Would you rather it be due tomorrow instead?" Rattliff asked.
"No sir," Percy mumbled as he walked out of the classroom. Percy walked towards his locker. "Great," Percy mumbled as he put his stuff in his locker and got his backpack to take to the assembly so that way he could leave as soon as it was over. Percy put his stuff in his locker as slowly as possible. He wanted to kill time so that way he wouldn't have to watch the assembly for so long. Percy took his time as he walked towards the gym that the assembly was in. When he got to the gym doors, he noticed that the assembly was going and there wasn't a place that he could sneak in and sit down. So instead he quietly listened as to what was going on inside the room.
"Now that all the welcome backs are done, we have some exciting news. This year Goode has been selected to take part in an exchange program!" the principal said as she stood up in front of the whole student body. The principal, Mrs. Martin, waited as the students started talking to each other. She waited a few seconds before continuing. "This year Goode has decided that we wanted you all to make friends from all over the country. We have decided to take apart in an exchange program that has brought 20 students to Goode High from all over America and some are even from right here in New York."
Percy looked curiously at the stage from outside the gym. He was curious to say the least at who these knew students were. Would he be lying if he was hoping that at least one of the students were one of his friends. No, he was praying to every god or goddess, that didn't hate him, that at least one of his friends were going to be coming here.
"Hades!" Zeus bellowed at his brother as he noticed that he wasn't there yet.
"What?" Hades demanded as he appeared in the throne room of Olympus.
"It is time," Zeus said as he paced around the room in front of the other god's.
"What if I refuse?" Hades challenged. Hermes had told him to come to Olympus that morning. After arriving and being told what was happening, Hades had stormed off. He was not going to let his son be dragged back into another war.
"We have all agreed that for our children's safety that they must be brought together," Poseidon said as he faced two brothers.
"I can protect my son and daughter just fine!" Hades said angrily.
"No, they are going to be together to be able to protect one another," Zeus said as he thought of his two children.
"Then send them to one of the camps, keep them here in Olympus! You cannot expect them to be safe in the in the mortal world," Hades said.
"I have to agree with Hades," Athena said as she stood up. "Having that many demigods in one high school will attract too many monsters to them."
"Enough!" Zeus commanded. "As much as I am not pleased to send them close to Poseidon's son, there is nowhere else we can send them."
"Send them to a camp!" Hades raised his voice.
"They will leave and be in danger again," Zeus said.
"Why are you so concerned?" Demeter challenged.
"We owe them," Zeus said quietly not looking at anyone else in the room.
"What was that?" Artemis asked.
"We owe them," Zeus said a little louder.
"We more than owe them," Poseidon muttered.
"Fine," Hades muttered, he clearly wasn't happy about this arrangement.
"Now let's meet your new classmates for the year!" Mrs. Martin said excitedly. "When I call you names please come up on stage," Mrs. Martin told the new students. "From a school in California we have Hazel Levesque, Jason Grace, and Frank Zhang."
Percy was outside of them gym trying to hold in his excitement. When they had said Hazel's name he was super excited. His excitement had only grown as each name was called. Three of his friends were going to be going to high school with him.
"From an all-girls academy in Maine, we have a former student that has come back, Rachel Dare. Also from the same academy Cara Stanley. From a school in Iowa we have Michael Stone. Then from an all-boys school in Nevada, Caleb Robertson. Then from Kansas we have Aaron Sample. From Florida we have Rose Johnson. From Minnesota, we have Thalia Grace. From Hawaii, we have Danielle Tracy. Now we have quite a few students that are from right here in New York. We have Will Solace, Nico di Angelo, Chris Rodriguez, Clarisse La Rue, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Grover Underwood, Calypso Smith, and last we have Annabeth Chase."
"YES!" came the most ecstatic yell from Percy as he jumped around the hallway. All of his friends were going to be going to school with him.
For the most part no one was paying attention to the new kids being introduced. A few of them would lazily gaze up at the stage and make a comment to their friends. 'He's hot.' 'They should be in our group.' 'Not worth our time.' That was until Piper's name had been called. As soon as Mrs. Martin as called Piper to the stage the whole place started murmuring about her. Then everyone nearly jumped out of their seats with fright when they heard Percy start to cheer.
Percy was already excited when he had heard Jason and the others from Camp Jupiter were going to be going to school with him. His excitement grew when he heard that students from New York were going to be there. He had been counting all the new students as they were named. At number 19 Percy was really praying to his father that it was going to be Annabeth. As soon as Mrs. Martin had said Annabeth's name, Percy couldn't contain his excitement as he screamed for joy.
Everyone on stage immediately focused on the door in the back of the gym where they could see Percy jumping around in joy. Everyone who knew Annabeth and Percy immediately looked at Annabeth with different expressions on their face. Some had smiles on their faces, others had smirks.
Annabeth sighed and shook her head at her boyfriend. 'Of course he would be this excited,' she thought to herself as she watched Percy jump around like a lunatic. Annabeth glanced to the side hoping that everyone else wasn't focused on her boyfriend. Which it was true to a point. They were all looking at her instead.
Next thing they heard was their favorite strict teacher. (Note sarcasm) "Mr. Jackson detention!"
"What?" Percy asked confused as he immediately stopped jumping.
"Detention until the end of the week or your paper is now five pages," Mr. Rattliff said as he walked by Percy.
Everyone in the gym tried to hold back their giggles. That was one thing that they could all count on was Mr. Rattliff making someone's life miserable. Most were glad it wasn't them, others were giggling that it was Percy Jackson. A few of the popular girls were giggling and hoping that this didn't mess with Percy's ability to be able to swim at the next swim meet. After all, they only went to see Percy. Most of Percy's teammates groaned that their star swimmer wouldn't be able to make practice for a week. Because if Percy didn't serve detention, then he would be in the library working on his paper.
Clarisse snickered as she sent a look to Annabeth.
Annabeth just stared Percy as he hung his head.
Percy would have been more upset, except that his friends and girlfriend were inside the gym. He hung his head so that way Mr. Rattliff wouldn't come back and up the assignment. Percy remembered the first he was in trouble and Mr. Rattliff upped the assignment because he thought that Percy hadn't learned his lesson and wasn't humble enough.
"Oh there is the bell," Mrs. Martin said as the bell rang. "You are all dismissed," she shouted to the students no longer paying attention. "As for you 20, please stop by my office either in a little bit or tomorrow morning before classes start."
As they were dismissed, the 14 headed off to one side of the stage to be able to talk and wait for Percy.
"How did you guys all get here?" Percy asked as he ran to his friends. He was only halfway across the gym when he asked his question. As he ran up the stage steps he had passed Danielle on the stairs. She had given him a once over then winked at him before Percy ever realized what was going on.
"Nice going by the way," Clarisse laughed as Percy joined them.
Percy shrugged it off, he didn't care at the moment what Clarisse said to him. Percy's attention was immediately captivated by Annabeth.
"Well we're all together again!" Leo shouted enthusiastically.
"Sure," Percy said.
"This is your school?" Hazel asked as she looked around the gym.
"Yeah," Percy said.
"Look a meteor!" Chris shouted as he pointed up at the ceiling and pretended to cower in fear.
"Yep," Percy said. He wasn't paying any attention to them. The only thing he was paying attention to Annabeth.
"Oh kiss already so you will pay attention!" Leo said as he noticed Percy not paying attention to them and only to Annabeth.
At the comment both Percy and Annabeth blushed. They hadn't realized that they had been staring at each other the whole time. Percy didn't wait another second after that as he kissed his girlfriend.
'Gods I missed her,' Percy thought to himself as his lips found hers.
Annabeth thought the same thing as she melted into Percy as they kissed.
"Ahem," Mrs. Martin said from where she stood on the stage gaining everyone's attention. "Mr. Jackson, I expect you to show them the rules not break them. I would normally give you detention for PDA, but since you already have it. Do not let me catch you again."
"Yes ma'am," Percy said as he let out a sigh of relief. He had forgotten that she was still up on stage with them.
"Seeing how you all know each other, I'll let Mr. Jackson be your guide and tell you all the rules. Classes start at 8:20 tomorrow morning," she said as she walked off the stage. "Oh Mr. Jackson, no more rule breaking."
"Yes ma'am," Percy said with a smile as he watched the principal leave.
"Is everyone here so strict?" Hazel asked as she watched the principal leave. This would be her first time going to classes after so many years.
"No," Percy said. "Most of the time you can get away with PDA in front of Mrs. Martin, but since it was the first day of school and you're new she wants to seem that way."
"That's good, because I don't want to get detention for being hyper," Leo said as he glanced at Percy.
"Ha ha," Percy said. "That was Mr. Rattlif, he would have us all chained to our desks so we don't do anything if he could. But you guys never answered my question. What are you all doing here?"
Everyone was baffled as they tried to remember why they came to Goode.
"To be honest, I woke up this morning in my academy dorm, then I don't remember anything until the assembly," Rachel said nervously.
"We were all at Camp Jupiter, and that's the last thing I remember. I was talking with Piper," Jason said as he looked at the others from Camp Jupiter.
"Hazel and I were talking," Frank said as he looked around the group.
"Last thing I remember Clarisse and I were training," Chris said as he looked at Percy.
"Bunker nine with Leo and Calypso, talking with Jason," Piper said.
"I was in my cabin talking with one of my siblings," Annabeth said as she tried to remember past that.
"Gods?" Piper whispered.
"Wouldn't put it past them," Nico huffed.
"Come on let's get out of here and talk," Grover said as he looked around nervously.
The other's nodded their heads in agreement. The last thing that they wanted was other students finding out their secrets. Not only that, they were all powerful demigods, any monster is the vicinity was sure to take notice. As a group, they walked out of the school together.
"Guys where are we staying?" Frank asked as he looked around at everyone. Everyone, except for Percy, was baffled. Sure they could stay at Camp Half-Blood, but it was too far of a drive for school.
"Ah, good question. If you will all follow me you will find out," said a voice behind them.
"Dad?" Percy chocked out as he and everyone turned to face Poseidon.
"Yes," Poseidon said as he stood beside one of two black ten passenger vans.
"What are you doing here?" Percy asked surprised.
"I'll explain once we arrive at where you all will be staying," Poseidon said as he walked towards the driver side to drive one of the vans.
"Dad?" Will asked confused as he watched his dad lean against the other van.
Apollo smiled at Will and then headed towards the driver seat.
"Where are we going?" Percy asked as he slid into the passenger seat of the van.
"No, hello dad? No, how are you?" Poseidon asked as he started up the van.
"You know how to drive?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I know how to drive," Poseidon said as he rolled his eyes at his son.
"Sorry," Percy muttered.
"So where are we going?" Frank asked as he, Hazel, and Annabeth slid into the seats right behind Percy and his dad.
"To a place to that you all will be staying at," Poseidon said as Grover, Clarisse, and Chris climbed into the van and shut the doors.
"So dad," Will said as he shut the door to the to the passenger side, "Sun chariot?"
"I'm surprised that you would think that I would bring it," Apollo said as a smirk graced his lips. Apollo watched as the rest of the demigods climbed into his van.
"Where are we going?" Jason asked as he and Piper buckled their seat belts.
"You'll see," Apollo said as he followed Poseidon's van.
"A house," Leo said as he got of Apollo's van when they had stopped moving.
Apollo rolled his eyes as he led his group towards the front door where Poseidon was waiting with his group with a few other gods.
"Welcome to your home for the year," Aphrodite gushed as she opened up the door to the white, two story house.
"A house," Leo said again.
"Not just any house," Hephaestus scolded.
"He's right," Athena said as she walked towards the group that had just entered the house. "The house and the area around it are enchanted just like the barriers at either camp. Each of you have your own room. Outback is a training field, a stable, and a forge."
"Why are you all doing this?" Annabeth demanded before anyone else asked before anyone else could talk.
At this, none of the gods said anything. In fact they chose not to meet any of the demigod's eyes. They all became interested in the floor, ceiling, or each other.
"Well?" Annabeth demanded. She knew something was off. All the gods were doing something together, and it was for them.
"Hey is anyone going to answer her question?" Percy demanded as he looked directly at his father.
"Good you're all here! You told them," Hermes said as he walked into the room from appearing in the kitchen.
"What are you talking about? Told us what?" Jason demanded.
"Umm," Hermes said as he tried to make his leave.
"Told us what?" Chris demanded of his father.
"Look at that, I have more messages to deliver," Hermes said as he tried to run out of the room.
"Tell them," Poseidon ordered.
Everyone turned and looked at the different gods in the room expecting answer.
"There might be another prophecy about you all," Apollo mumbled loud enough for everyone to barely hear.