Disclaimer: I do not even look like Rick Riordan, so I can't be him, now can I?
Tonight and tomorrow were going to be amazing, I thought as I was walking over to my best friend Nico Di Angelo's house. Well, best friend aside from my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. Best guy friend, I guess, next to Grover Underwood, and─ Ugh, forget it. I have a ton of guy friends.
It wasn't only me who was going over though. All of my other closest guy friends and I (Pollux McGraw, Will Solace and Grover Underwood) were heading over there too. Before I get into too much detail, I am going to let you in on a little secret.
You've heard of at least some of the myths of Greek Mythology, right? Well, all the heroes, monsters, warriors and gods, still exist.
If you think I'm crazy, you are most probably mortal. Not a single drop of any gods' blood runs through your veins, and not a single monster will ever come after you.
But if you see yourself within these pages─ if you feel something stirring inside─ stop reading, like, right there and then. Just do it. It's only a matter of time before the monsters come and get you too, and the more you know about yourself, the stronger your scent will become.
However, if you don't see yourself in these pages─ that's great! You have the ability to read this without a problem. But many people, a lot more than you think, are like the people that you will meet here. But for now, let's continue the story, shall we?
Hi, my name is Perseus Jackson; Percy for short, and Percy because I don't want to be made fun of. Although there was a reason my mother named me this. Perseus was one of the only Greek heroes who got a happy ending, while all of the others were killed in horrible, nasty ways. Five years ago, when I fought in a tragic war with the losses of many of my friends, I was having a pretty difficult life. But it was only after when my life started coming together again, starting from where my girlfriend, Annabeth, and I started dating. I was surprised Athena actually let us date. Well actually, her words were among the lines of "I'll let you date her as long as she's happy. If you do anything bad to her, I will blow you to dust and send you to Tartarus…" Okay, maybe she didn't say that, but that's what I was thinking she would probably say… Anyway, I was able to make more friends, and as I made more, I kept on feeling more and more complete. I guess my life really came together again when my first daughter was born, but that was almost two years after the time I am talking about now, so let's get back into that.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so I was heading over to Nico's house. Every third Friday of every month we would meet and talk at one of the group member's houses. The last time we had our meeting was at my house and now it was his house. You're probably wondering what we talk about when we have these meetings, but you'll find out soon. As I was walking over to his house, I ran into Grover, a friend of mine ever since I was twelve. It's been so long ever since we first met. I mean, I was twenty two now. That was ten years ago. At least, ten years for me. It would have been years for Grover, seeing as he ages twice as slow as the average human. He's forty seven now, but he looks as if he is from among the ages of twenty one to twenty four. Grover, by the way, is half goat, half man. A satyr. Yes, that's correct. A satyr is a mythical creature from Greek mythology, even though the things in the myths aren't just stories to explain lightning and the seasons. Realology, if you will.
"Hey Perce!" He said. Although I did not like the fact that his nickname for me was pronounced Purse, while he gets a better nickname─
"Hey G-Man!" As he trotted over on his cloven hooves, we started up a conversation, and about two minutes into it, we had remembered what the focus of tonight was. Going to Nico's house.
The good thing was, it was only a fifteen minute walk from my house to his. The bad thing was, Grover and I were already late.
We showed up at 9:13pm (I only know this because I looked at the clock wondering how late we were), and we were suppose to show up at 9:05pm. 8 minutes late.
"Well it's about time!" Nico said, sarcastically. Nico has silky black hair, olive colored skin and a light shade of green eyes. He was 18 years old, and the youngest person here, and he can be a bit edgy sometimes. He is, after all, a son of Hades, God of the Underworld and the Dead─ on that happy note, he's also my cousin, for I am a son of Poseidon, God of the Seas, horses and earthquakes.
"What took you so long?" Will growled. Will has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, so I assumed that must have been the form his Olympian parent took when he fell in love with Will's mother. Apollo, is his Olympian god parent. Will is 22 years old, like me, and we have been great friends ever since he healed Annabeth from a dangerous wound, which she took in order to protect me. She and I hadn't been dating at the time, but she was still my best friend, and I was so grateful he was such a good healer.
"We've been waiting for, like, ever!" Pollux complained. Well, I thought. He was in a better mood than I thought he would be. You see, Pollux's dad is Dionysus, the god of wine and grapes, and ever since he turned age 21, he's been drinking alcohol a whole lot, so I figured he'd probably be drunk. I see it as sort of unfair though. He has the power to get wasted, and then be able to not have a headache when you wake up, AND has the power to avoid having the results of being drunk. Anyway, aside from Grover, who really doesn't count seeing as he ages twice as slow as the average human, Pollux is the oldest at the age of 25.
"Sorry I'm late." I muttered.
"Whatever." Nico said, still annoyed with the fact that he and them had to wait. He could be so impatient sometimes─ or it could be his ADHD─ but if it's just because he's impatient, then he definitely gets it from his father. And yes, all of us have dyslexia and ADHD, one of the many signs of being a demigod, or half-blood.
Demigods can have dyslexia and ADHD, or only one of them, but we only get that as a result of being related to the Olympians. We're dyslexic because our brains are hard-wired for Ancient Greek, not English.
And the ADHD, well, the AD part is because we see too much, not too little. There is this thing called the Mist, and it veils mortal eyes from seeing things as they really are. Demigods, however, can see through the veil, and even though it can trick you sometimes, it helps keep ourselves alive.
I think the only monster who mortals that can't see through the mist (because some of them are born with the ability to see through it clearly), is Medusa, because what else could she look like and then turn you to stone? But yeah, you either don't see the thing the mist covers your eyes from at all, or you see it as something different.
At childhood, a lot of children can see through the mist, and that's why they tell their parents crazy stuff and their parents don't believe them. But it later starts to cover your eyes again, and that's how you become more wise and "detailed" about your surroundings as you age, unless you're one of the few mortals who can see through the mist.
The AD part also helps us pay attention to every detail of a battle, but that's more of what the HD part does.
The HD part is our Battle reflexes. They keep us alive in fights, and considering demigods don't live very long, I consider myself blessed to have the ADHD.
So we talked for a little bit and later got into the main highlight of what tonight's meeting was about: proposing.
After the second war between the titans and the gods, a lot of us were trying to make ourselves happy again as so many of us were grieving over the losses of our fellow camp members, although some of us managed to survive. A prophecy was once predicted about a demigod of one of the big three gods would be a savior of Olympus. I - ended up being that demigod. The gods tried preventing the prophecy from coming true by swearing not to have any more children, but Zeus broke that oath when he fell in love with a beautiful actress, who happened to be an alcoholic. I'm surprised Dionysus didn't fall in love with her. At least it would've been legal, seeing as Zeus wouldn't have to break the oath.
Anyway, in a year's time, the woman bore a daughter, a girl named Thalia Grace. She was once turned into a pine tree by Zeus, when she and two other kids, Annabeth Chase (my girlfriend), and Luke Castellan (a boy who was once my friend, betrayed me and the Camp, and ended up being the hero of the war), were chased over the boundary line of the camp, and Thalia said she would fight off all the monsters behind them. She fought and fought and fought, but she was outnumbered.
Before dying, Zeus turned her into a pine tree, which gave off a magic boundary that didn't allow monsters or mortals into the camp. When I was 13 years old, 6 years after Thalia had been turned into a pine tree, the tree was poisoned, and so was the camp. Monsters were getting in with ease, and so I went on a quest along with some other people to find and retrieve the Golden Fleece, which was able to heal the tree. However, the fleece worked its magic to well, because Kronos, who still hadn't completely raised yet, gave himself another chance to screw up the prophecy. The fleece rendered Thalia alive again, but Thalia stopped herself from becoming the hero of the prophecy by joining the Hunters of Artemis, who are those who swear to be a maiden forever and join Artemis on her hunts. She broke the oath though, and ended up dating Nico.
Nico is a special case. He was born before the oath was made. 'How is he only 18' you ask? Well, he was born before World War II, and the oath hadn't been made yet. Hitler, a demigod son of Hades, was the cause of the war, and that was the second reason the Big Three swore not to have anymore demigod children. So Hades threw him into the Lotus Hotel and Casino, an awesome place in Las Vegas you'll never want to leave. I'm serious! I was trapped in there on my first quest ever to retrieve both Zeus' master lightning bolt and my mother, Sally Jackson. I had been in there for five days, though it felt like a few hours. Nico, and his sister Bianca, who is now dead (don't mention that stuff to Nico), were trapped in there for seventy years, and it felt like only months.
I too, was the result of a god's mistake. Although I am definitely happy Poseidon is my dad. It can help me a whole lot in life.
Anyway, you're probably wondering about the camp I was mentioning earlier. Well, there is this place called Camp Half-Blood, and it's the place where demigods learn to train and survive in the mortal world in case they ever have to fight for their life. They have sword arenas, dining pavilions and even cabins, one dedicated to each god or goddess. Originally, there were only twelve, but after the war, when my friends and I were given gifts, I was originally offered immortality, however I wanted a normal life and rejected them. I did however get a gift. I held them to an oath that they had to claim their demigod children by the time they turn thirteen years of age. The minor gods were to do the same, and even they and Hades got cabins at camp.
Anyway, back to what I was talking about before I got into this.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so everyone was disappointed and stuff so a lot more people at camp started dating, and it was also very interesting because after the second defeat of Kronos, less monsters were showing up and demigods seemed to be living longer.
The very night after the Titan war, Annabeth and I had become boyfriend and girlfriend. We kissed at the dining pavilion, until nosey campers showed up and thought it would be a wonderful idea to dump us in the water. But hey─ I'm the son of Poseidon, that doesn't matter to me, considering I can make an air bubble for us (more like Annabeth), to have the capability to breathe underwater, we can stay perfectly dry, and stay there for a long time. It was the best, and I mean the best, underwater kiss of all time. No, it wasn't it a kiss, it was more of a make out session.
Pollux didn't date a girl until two years after the Titan war. She was a daughter of Aphrodite and her name was Hayley Walsh. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, was slim and if I do say so myself, pretty - definitely pretty. Don't tell Annabeth I said that! Annabeth's really smart, being a daughter of Athena, and those grey eyes of hers that she inherits from her mother can form the evilest death glare in the world. And, she can get back at me - easily.
Nico and Thalia started dating three years after the Titan war, only because she was locked in her fifteen year old body and they figured they might as well wait until they were the same exact age. Once she broke her oath, they started dating. They seemed so happy together, I was really happy for them.
Will's girlfriend is named Katie. Katie Gardner. She's a daughter of Demeter, and she inherits her bossiness directly from the Olympian goddess herself. For a while, Katie dated Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin, but they broke up tragically when Travis continued pulling off needless pranks. Well hey Katie, he can't help it, he's a son of Hermes.
So all of us came here to have our annual meeting again, and after a while, we started talking about the fact that all of us were proposing tomorrow. Some of the girls know about our meetings, so we're are planning on proposing at the same time so that way, nobody will suspect anything if one of them get's proposed to and the next one shortly after.
We all had different plans, and we came to agreement that we would all propose in the evening. However, we were all taking them to different places. The idea was to keep out of contact with each other.
Nico was taking Thalia to this restaurant I didn't really ever pay attention to, but Thalia loved it. It had a gothic, antique theme so it wasn't much of a place I would take anyone for a date unless they were a gothic chick like her. Nico enjoys it too, being a son of Hades. He loves the color black.
Pollux found a coupon in a magazine for this free shopping spree in Europe, and well, let's just say Aphrodite might have helped him win a little bit. Hayley, being an Aphrodite girl, is obsessed with make-up, clothes and all of that kind of stuff, though she's still a good fighter, and knows when not to be too much of a girly girl.
Katie, being the demigod daughter of Demeter, loves gardening, taking walks in forests and things like that, and so Will is taking her, too, on a spree, but it's basically a thing for gardeners. You can buy anything you want in the garden, you can spend $1,500 and so Katie is going to be really psyched when she hears she's going to this.
Grover is dating a tree-nymph named Juniper. She can't stray too far from the forest, so he's just taking her for a walk in the forest - pretty simple and nice.
I mean, don't think we didn't already plan this out. We asked the girls if they could free some space up for June 13th and they were happy to oblige.
Now, for Annabeth, I found this ad in the newspaper for an Architectural Tour of New York, and I knew she would love it! She's wanted to be an architect all of her life (and is currently the new Architect of Olympus, which is what her gift was after the Titan war), and after that we're going for an evening walk on the beach. The next time I looked at the clock it was an hour and a half after I had walked in the door.
We all wanted to see the rings our friends had bought for their girlfriends. To the surprise of Grover and Will, they both bought the same exact rings. The band was a vine, or a twig of some sort, but it was practically natural construction. It had an emerald in the middle, and so that was kind of interesting.
However, Nico, Pollux and I were a bit craftier. We hired Jake Mason, a demigod son of Hephaestus to make us rings, because we wanted them to be perfect. Grover and Will wanted their rings to be perfect as well, they just didn't think about hiring someone for a ring to be made. Nico's ring for Thalia was pretty much all black and red, with the tiniest hint of electric blue, just like her eyes. Pollux's ring for Hayley was Red and White, and had a pinkish looking diamond. Mine had an owl gemstone on it and it had sea green emeralds spiraling among the band. Then I looked at the time again: An hour and thirty five minutes had passed.
We made arrangements with Nico to sleepover, and I know that might sound childish, we still act like we're about sixteen.
I conked out the second my head hit the pillow, knowing I was going to have a dream tonight.
You see, demigod dreams are different than regular ones. Most of the time, they're nightmares, but sometimes they aren't. And they aren't just dreams. They always mean something. So mine made me pretty happy…
The first image in my dream was the cabins at Camp Half-Blood, looking as normal as ever. Then, Pollux, Nico, Will and I all walked out of our separate cabins, while Grover walked into the woods nearby and stood in front of a small Juniper tree. Suddenly, the tree shifted and melted into a dryad.
Juniper, I thought.
As if on cue, Annabeth, Hayley, Thalia and Katie all opened the doors to their cabins and took a step out. They were all looking so beautiful, but Annabeth I had to say looked best. They all started walking over to their corresponding boyfriend.
I wondered what was going to happen.
Then, as if in a movie, the image was a split screen between all the girls. From left to right it went: Annabeth, Thalia, Katie, Hayley, Juniper…
As if rehearsed, all the girls, at the same time said
"Yes!" The split screen broke and all of the girls attacked us with bear hugs and kisses, as if they wanted us to ask them the question that corresponds to their answer. All the girls cried tears of joy, while Juniper cried tears of chlorophyll… and joy!
Although I was still sleeping, I could sense a smile spreading upon my face.
