Official Sneak Peek of The Last Olympian from The Demigod Files. This will be chapter one for my story, even though it's not mine. It belongs to Rick Riordan. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING!

The Last Olympian

by: Rick Riordan

The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.

Up until then, I was having a great afternoon. Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving, because I wouldn't turn sixteen for another week, but my mom and my stepdad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me to this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin.

Now I know what you're probably thinking, Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah; but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.

Anyway, Rachel and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen her in anything but ratty T-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million golden drachmas.

"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me.

We parked on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic. The sea is always one of my favorite places, but today it was especially nice---glittery green and smooth as glass, like my dad was keeping it calm just for us.

My dad, by the way, is Poseidon. He can do stuff like that.

"So." Rachel smiled at me. "About the invitation."

"Oh...right." I tried to sound excited. I mean, she'd been asking me to her family's vacation house on St. Thomas for three days. I didn't get a lot of offers like that. My family's idea of a fancy vacation was a weekend in a run-down cabin on Long Island with some movie rentals and a couple of frozen pizzas, and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.

Besides, I seriously needed a vacation. This summer had been the hardest of my life. The idea of taking a break, even for a few days, was really tempting.

Still, something big was supposed to go down any day now. I was "on call" for a mission. Even worse, next week was my birthday. There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.

"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"

She had a point.

"I really want to go," I promised, "It's just--"

"The war."

I nodded. I didn't like talking about it, but Rachel knew. Unlike most mortals, she could see through the Mist---the magic veil that distorts human vision. She'd seen monsters. She'd met some of the other demigods who were fighting the Titans and their allies. She'd even been there last summer the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form; she'd earned my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.

She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad..."

Her voice faltered.

"Is he giving you a hard time? I asked.

Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies' Academy in the fall."

"The school where your mom went?"

"It's a stupid finishing school for society girls, all the way in New Hampshire. Can you see me in finishing school?"

I admitted the idea sounded pretty dumb. Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker" and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress---it was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.

She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."

"Which is why he agreed to let come with you guys on vacation?"

"Yes...but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were with us. Besides there's something I want to talk---"

She stopped abruptly.

"Something you want to talk about? I asked. "You mean...so serious we'd have to go to St. Thomas to talk about it?"

She pursed her lips. "Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple of normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."

I could tell something was still bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.

We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out here, away from all the monsters who were using me as their personal punching bag.

"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."

She nodded. "And so...hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"

"Oh..." I felt like one of Apollo's scared cows---slow, dumb and bright red. "Um..."

I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than...well, than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or wrack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.

I'm not sure what I would've done, but I was so distracted I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!

Hey, boss, a voice said in my head. Nice car!

Blackjack the pegasus was on old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put in the hood, but I didn't think Paul Blofis would be real stoked.

"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you---"

Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more complicated.

"Yo, Percy."

Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for Hephaestus, would make most monsters cry for their mommies. He was this huge African American guy with ripped muscles from working in the forges in the forges every summer. He was two years older than me, one of the camp's best armorsmiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek fire-bomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying some monsters across the country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.

Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosive bag was slung over his shoulder.

"Time?" I asked.

He nodded grimly.

A lump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning it for weeks, but I'd half-hoped it would never happen.

Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."

"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me...uh, I mean he mentioned you."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good. So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."

"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.

I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom---"

"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll tell Paul about the hood."

I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.

"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."

My last view of her, she was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky. I wondered what Rachel wanted to talk to me about, and whether I'd live long enough to find out.

"So," Beckendorf said. "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."

"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."

Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.

Oh, if you guys are worrying about my other story Love Beyond Will, is on hiatus, or in other words, hold.