Prologue
Sitting on a low hill over-looking camp, Reyna watched the stars. It has been three days since the disappearance of Jason. The entire camp has been looking for him, but so far their search had been fruitless. Even the Mars cabin helped, which must mean that they care about him more than they want to admit.
Memories started flooding into her exhausted brain. She tried to push them away. They were too painful, without Jason around. It was here, at this very spot, when she met him for the first time. Reyna could still see him walking behind Lupa, obviously exhausted but trying not to show it. Lupa had found him crying in the Wolf House, not much older than she was. That had been twelve summers ago.
Now, he was gone. If they don't find him soon, Reyna might go crazy.
"Oh Jason, where are you?"
When he came to his senses, he found himself lying on his back. His head was throbbing and the ground felt cold against his skin. He looked down to find himself wearing an orange T-shirt and jeans. There was a watch on his wrist. A scent of grass hung in the air.
Standing up, he took in his surroundings. He seemed to be standing in the middle of a clearing. Well, at least he thought that it's a clearing. Heavy mist surrounded him and he couldn't see anything for more than twenty paces away.
Suddenly, the back of his neck tingled. Slowly, he turned around and almost jumped out of his skin. Standing in front of him, with its head held high and teeth flashing, was a wolf the size of a lioness.
Instinctively, he pulled out a pen and uncapped it. Immediately it grew until he was holding a one meter long double edge celestial bronze sword with a leather hilt, glowing in the darkness. The wolf didn't even blink. It started pacing around him.
He didn't wait for it to attack. He lugged forward and brought his sword down on top of the wolf, aiming for its shoulder, but it moved with surprising agility and dodged his attack. It jumped to one side and pounced on him before he even realized what happened. Knocked off balance, he fell heavily on the ground and hit his head on a piece of rock. Light danced in his vision.
His sword had been knocked out of his hand. He couldn't see where it was, much less reach it.
The wolf had a paw on his chest. It cocked its head and stared at him with piercing eyes, as if trying to determine whether to eat him or not.
It's a she-wolf. A female. He thought. Wait a minute, how did I know that?
There was a moment of silence as the two studied one another. Then: Who are you, child?
He couldn't believe it, but did it just ask him a question?
"My name… I am Percy Jackson."