Chapter 1:

'Arianna?' Minos said as he walked into his beloved niece's room, 'Why aren't you in the dining hall with everyone else?' he asked, squinting slightly as the rays of the fresh sun shone brightly in his eyes. Arianna sighed, letting her long curly brown hair dangle in front of her face while her green eyes swept across the scene that the balcony gave her.

'I am not hungry.' Was all she said, not looking at the man who had raised her since she was young.

The king sighed, and walked out of Arianna's grand room.

When Arianna was young, no later than 10 winters, her father, King Minos of Atlantis' brother, rode away to war in a village near Helios, and he was never seen again. She had never known her mother, for she had died in childbirth. Since her father's untimely death, King Minos had taken Arianna to Atlantis, where she had been given a home in the palace, and all the protection she needed. The King had cared for her like he would his own daughter, Ariadne.

Apart from her dark past, Arianna had grown up to be a beautiful woman. She had the Greek tan and chocolate coloured hair, which was long and gorgeous, flowing past her shoulders and ending in curls at her waist. Her eyes were a pastel green colour, and they were full of life, successfully hiding her sadness. Her smile lit up a whole room, but for the past few days, it had been hidden by a blank look and no sparkle in her eye was shown. Sometimes life can be dull when you're living in a palace. No adventures or anything exciting ever happened… just responsibilities, responsibilities and more responsibilities. Little did she know that this year would be different… a lot different, and all because of one new arrival in Atlantis.

'THEA! What did you do with my papers?!' Pythagoras yelled at the balcony. A head popped down from the roof, letting a rich brown coloured plait fall down. 'Me? What did I do?' Thea innocently said, her just visible shoulders shrugging. Pythagoras sighed, and gestured for her to get off the roof and hand him back his papers. Thea's troed to keep a straight face but the corners of her mouth twitched a little as she complied. Once Pythagoras had his papers back, he hunched over a little table in the middle of the small wooden room, ruling up some triangles. Thea laughed. 'You and your triangles…' She muttered, but he paid her no notice, instead asking, 'When will Hercules be back?' Thea laughed again, her plait swaying and her dark blue eyes sparkling. 'Anytime he wishes, I guess.' Thea simply said and with that, she walked off into another room. Pythagoras chuckled, shaking his head as he did so. He was soon serious again as he focused on his triangles.

At least half an hour had passed, when something landed on the roof, causing a lot of dust to fall onto his neatly ruled paper. He frowned, for the thing had started to move. Someone was on the roof! Then, as suddenly as it had started, the noise stopped. Pythagoras decided to not worry about it, and he went back to his paper. But Thea, as curious as she was, crept out of the room she was in to seek out the cause of the ruckus.

She went over to the balcony, intending to jump onto the roof to check the noise, but instead she found a hand on the sill. Just a hand. She frowned a little and looked over the balcony. Oh, no, it wasn't just a hand. Someone was attached to it.

Thea decided not to leave the man hanging and she grabbed his hand to help lift him up. She struggled to help him up (mind you Thea isn't the strongest person in Atlantis) until Pythagoras had to come and help.

Once they finally managed to pull the man into the house, hand and all, the most awkward thing happened. He landed on top of Thea.

There was an awkward silence until the man hugged Thea, while still on the ground, yelling 'Thank you! Thank you!' He seemed almost out of breath. He was… a bit different. He had brown hair and eyes, muscles, and altogether he was a little bit charming. Just a little bit.

'What exactly were you doing out there?' Pythagoras asked him, as he helped Thea up. Before he could answer, however, there was a knock at the door.

'Luke! Quit lazing about, we have a runner!' one of the guards told another. The other, Luke, looked up, curious as to who would run like that. His stormy grey eyes narrowed, trying to hear any noise. 'Well? Come on, we need to check houses!' the other guard told him exasperatedly. Luke quickly got up from his seat, and nodded his head, his sandy coloured hair jiggling about a little. Without another word, the two joined up with another two, and they went to the first house.

'Open up!' one of the guards yelled as he banged his fist against the door rather roughly. Luke rolled his eyes. Yeah, like that'll get them to open up.

When no one answered, the guard knocked again 'Open up! Open up in the name of King Minos!' Then the door opened.

There stood a scrawny looking person, with copper coloured hair and a pale complexion. He was wearing a blue tunic with brown pants and he was one of those people that looked really smart, like a genius. 'Who is it you are looking for?' He asked as he was shoved aside when the other guards entered his home. Luke just stood at the doorway, not wanting to be rude.

The other guards started trashing his home, searching for the runaway. At another doorway, stood a girl, with dark brown hair that was plaited down her back and deep blue eyes. Luke's own eyes widened. He knew exactly who that was. All the guards insulted her, saying that she was a good for nothing street rat. Luke didn't think she looked that bad.

'As you can see, there is no one else here!' the scrawny man said, and one of the guards nodded to the others. As they were leaving, the one that nodded turned up his table, with all his possessions so that they were lying on the floor.

When the door was shut, Luke turned to them. 'Was that really necessary?' He asked, and the others laughed. The one that turned the table smiled a grin that was full of gold teeth. 'It's always necessary to add that finishing touch, lad.' He laughed and the others continued walking down the stairs. Luke sighed. His job could be a real nuisance sometimes.