Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS OR ANY RICK RIODAN STUFF.
Word Count: 5,005
AN: Read. Enjoy. Review. Be happy. :)
"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building the new."
-Socrates
Chapter 1: A 180 Turn
Where Her Life Did A 180 Turn, Spun Out Of Control, Crashed, And Never Recovered
As her perfect world collasped on top of itself with a single, brutal yet beautiful touch, all she could think was how she had lost her Janus Card from the Holiday expanison deck.
Jazmine di Piante shuffled her cards, antsy.
She sat in the corner of the gym on the gum covered bleachers with her surrogate siblings, Bianca and Nico di Angelo.
Dances are so overrated, she thought as she listened to a blaring Jesse McCartney song.
She heard the older kids milling about the dance for weeks. Tons of preparations, partying supply buying, gossip about who asked who out, and most importantly, who was making the punch.
Now she was here it felt so unnatural. There was some sort of tension. She felt restless and agitated, tapping her foot and drumming her fingers. It felt like something was going to happen. Something was going to happening very soon.
Nico leaned over plucked a random card out of her pile.
"Grover taught me a trick. Wanna see?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He made a great display of brandishing the card in her face before putting his hands behind his back. After a great deal of wriggling, Nico pulled his hands back to the front, and showed his empty hands. Then, he pulled the card out of his mouth.
"Cool!" Jaz said, glad for entertainment. "How'd you do that?"
"A magician never tells his secret." he smiled, making a locking key gesture to his mouth.
She shoved him playfully.
"Unless the magician is borrowing supply from the person asking." she quipped.
"Technically," Nico said, checking the back of it. "It my card. See?"
He showed her the card. It said Nico di Angelo in small, spidery sharpie letters.
"You gave me it when you got a better Hermes card." Jaz said. "So technically, it's mine."
"But you never erased my name off. So technically, it's mine."
"You wrote it in permanent marker!" Jaz yelled. "That's not fair!"
"Too bad."
"Well, that means I get about -um, how many?- half your deck. Remember that time we did that ultimate swap because you wanted to build a new deck?"
"What?" Nico said. "But you didn't write your name on them!"
"I will soon."
Nico snatched one of her cards out of her hand. He pulled a pen out of Bianca's abandoned jacket and scribbled his name on it.
"Ha! Now this is mine!"
"That's the Neptune Roman Deluxe card Bianca gave to me for Christmas! You know hard she looked for that! It never belonged to you!"
"It belongs to me now."
Jaz lunged for the card and tried to pull it out of his hands but his grip was tight.
"It's mine!"
"No! It's mine!"
"NO! MINE! M-I-N-E!"
"Bravo, you learned how to spell!"
"You have dyslexia, too, idiot! Now give me the card!"
"No, give me!"
"Get this in your mind! IT'S. MINE."
"IT'S MI-"
One little card could only take oh-so much. Put it between two fighting ten-year-old, it's a goner.
RIIIIIP!
They fell backwards, one half of a Neptune card in their hands.
Jaz ballooned up with rage. They didn't have a lot of money to start with and Jaz remembered the way Bianca looked so proud when she found the set for her. All that digging through second-hand stores, dusty card shops, all that for Nico to rip it up.
"You-you jerk!" screamed Jaz with the best insult she could think of on the spot.
She shoved him, not enough to hurt him physically but enough to hurt his pride. Nico stumbled backward and fell onto the bleachers, slightly surprised. He got up, his face red and flushed with anger. He slapped her cards to the floor, clawing her hands in the process. Jaz step forward.
"What is going on!?"
Bianca di Angelo stood in front of them, her hands on her hips, expression stern. Three glasses of punch of laid forgotten on the bleachers.
"Um..."
"That is an excellent question Ms. Di Angelo. What is going on?"
Jaz froze and swallowed hard before she looked up to meet the multicolored eyes of her least favorite school administrator, Dr. Thorn.
"We were just playing, sir." Nico said, stepping in for her, using his best apologetic military voice.
Jaz nodded, supportive.
"Likely story." he sneered in his fancy smancy French accent. "You three in the hallway, now."
"Three?" Jaz echoed.
"Three." he confirmed.
She glanced at Bianca. Her flushed, stern face was now gone, replaced with a clammy, pale look of fear. It took an idiot not to realize she was absolutely terrified of being called out. Public humiliation is at the top of her list of fears. Being called out by a teacher was even worse. After everything Banca did for them, it seemed a little unfair for her.
"Sir, Nico and I are at fault, not Bianca. In fact, Bianca was trying to-"
Dr. Thorn cut her off. He grabbed her and Nico's hoods in one hand and yank the collar of Bianca's turtleneck in the other. He dragged them across the gym into the hallway.
"T-t-teachers are not s-suppose to t-touch students!" Bianca gasped, her hands clawing the her collar.
Jaz had a feeling it was more their sake not her own.
With a great push, Dr. Thorn shoved them into the hallway and slammed the door shut, effectively cutting them from the outside world.
He gave them a wicked grin, full of malice.
"Who says I'm a teacher?"
As Jaz's eyes did a double take, he grew taller and bulkier, a muscled body covered in orange fur ripped through the seams of his suit. A long, leathery tail whipped out of nowhere and shot a thorn a few inches near Nico's head.
They yelped in surprised. Bianca clutched Jaz's arm like if it was her lifeline.
Soon, Dr. Thorn transformed into a lethal looking lion with a tail scorpion but, sadly, he kept his snobby, twisted face. A low growl vibrated up his throat while his heterochromatic eyes stared them down. He looked at them hungrily, the way a predator looked right before it caught its prey. The way before...
Jaz felt her heart pulse crazily in her frozen body. She felt cold with shock and fear, the blood pounding in her head. Her mouth was slightly agape. She couldn't breath. Her eyes was wide. Her eyes were seeing it, seeing what was going on but her brain was refusing to registered what just happened.
Jaz saw what Dr. Thorn turned into. What he turned into. She got its card in a musky smelling trade shop three months ago. She memorized its stats two months ago. She beat Bianca in a game with it just a week ago.
Every description match. All the hints added. Everything made sense. From the odd habits to immediate dislikes, it all made sense.
Dr. Thorn was a manticore.
She forced some air into her lungs. A slow wheezing sound escaped lips. She repeated the thought.
Dr. Thorn was a manticore. Dr. Thorn was a manticore. Dr. Thorn was a manticore and he wanted to kill them.
Oh. My. Gosh.
His tail switched and raised, its deadly thorns poised to fire. To fire at them.
Jaz closed her eyes.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She heard the sound of ripping and a horrible, horrible crushing noise.
Jaz opened her eyes, ready to see some kind of afterlife but she was still standing in the dark, dusty hall of Westover Hall, perfectly, 100 percent alive.
Above her head - above each of their heads- was a thorn narrowly missing them.
"Move or speak and this time I won't miss!" Dr. Thorn hissed.
He morphed back into his human form and pressed his back against the wall, effectively blending into the gloomy walls.
It took a second for her brain to get it.
Even though 'I'm alive' was more important, the only thing Jaz could think of was how Dr. Thorn's supposedly ripped suit miraculously repaired itself.
Almost on cue, the door down the corridor burst open, and an adolescent boy sprinted up to them.
He was a good four inches taller than Bianca and roughly her age. He had a classical, kind of handsome sculpted face with a messy dark hair and bright sea green eyes. Jaz's own green eyes were similar to his but his was a different shape with a more nostalgic, wiser look, and also lacked the dark black rim around his iris that she had. His eyes also portrayed slightly scared but concerned eyes while Jaz was pretty sure hers was showing utter fear.
"My name's Percy. I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe." he said.
For a second, he looked a bit confused at why they weren't responding.
Move or speak and this time I won't miss.
Even if she had the permission, Jaz was pretty sure she couldn't speak. Her throat felt clogged as if someone stuffed a ball of hot wax down it. She was ready to scream or gag. Or maybe even both.
Out of the corner was her eye, she saw Dr. Thorn creep up behind Percy, his tail aimed at him.
"Behind y-you!" Bianca squeaked.
She was too late. Just as Percy comprehended what she just said, a thorn lodged itself into his shoulder. Bianca stifled a shriek. He doubled forward and nearly tripped. Out of nowhere, Percy produced a sword and sloppily tried to slashed Dr. Thorn but missed by far.
Dr. Thorn slammed him against the wall.
"Yes, Percy Jackson." he said in his posh French accent. "I know who you are. Thank you for coming out of the gym. I hate middle school dances."
So do I, Jaz thought.
Then, it suddenly occurred to her why she didn't just bolt down to the dance to get help while Thorn was preoccupied. The moment she took a step, a thorn impaled itself into the wall half an inch from her face. Dr. Thorn didn't even spare a glance a her. Percy tried to stab Dr. Thorn with his sword again but the only thing he managed to hit was air.
"All four of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."
...
Jaz was sure any second now her eyeslids were going to snap off from frostbites.
She heavily trudged through the snow, half processed the words being exchanged. The words swirled and swerved through her brain.
Dr. Thorn's a manticore.
The words seemed muddled and unreal. It was like one of those stupid reality T.V shows and any second now, someone was going to jump out and yell it was all a big prank.
But nothing happening.
Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."
Jaz blinked.
Son of Poseidon?
She glanced at Nico, incredulously, but he, too, had a look of bafflement on his face.
"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered, voicing their thoughts.
"I'll explain later," Percy mumbled back.
"You do have a plan, right?"
Percy looked hard in thought as if he was contemplating whether or not to do something stupid. With his eyebrows furrowed and so intense in thought, Jaz had the odd urge to tell him not to hurt himself.
"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said, much to Percy's surprise. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"
Percy scrutinized Dr. Thorn, trying to figure out what he was. His tail flickered back and forward, impatiently as his he was trying to speed up Percy's thought process.
"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."
"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico, Jaz, and I..." Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other."
Jaz's heart lurched. Sadly, that was true. Her memories were fuzzy but she never recalled any sort of parental figure in their life. She didn't exactly remember how she met Nico and Bianca -she thought it had something to do with mix-ups and neighbors, she wasn't sure- but the second they met they were stuck like glue. She remembered going to some boarding school in Washington D.C for a while, and after they had a quick trip to this sweet hotel, they moved to Westover Hall. Here they were, getting kidnapped by a mutated lunatic who thought their nonexistent parents were some sort of billionaires.
"Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."
"Luke," Percy said. "You work for Luke."
Jaz could imagine a question mark hovering her head. Luke? The only Luke she knew was the kid in her science class. That kid read sci-fi with his friends and LARPed in free time. He was pretty nice and definitely not a crazy kidnapper.
Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste when Percy said the name . "You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."
"The General?" Percy asked. Jaz couldn't help but crack a grin. He said it in a French accent.
"I mean... who's the General?" Percy corrected himself.
Thorn ignored him completely and looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."
Jaz glanced behind her and saw a glow in the distance, a searchlight over the ocean. Then, she heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.
"Where are you taking us?" Nico said.
"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."
Jaz gritted her teeth. She had a nickel every time someone insulted Mythomagic to her face, she'd be able to afford a castle bigger than Westover Hall.
This person -monster or whatever it was- wasn't worthy of knowing the stats of Athena, much less insult the game!
"It's not silly! It's a noble, respected, and brain-challenging art unlike you!" Jaz yelled as Nico said, "They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"
"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."
"The Great what?" Percy asked.
"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn said, an eerie smile creeping across his face. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"
"Okay," Bianca whispered to Percy. "He's completely nuts."
"Nuttier than all of Westover's staff member combined." Jaz mumbled under her breath.
"We have to jump into the sea," Percy told Bianca quietly. "Into the sea."
"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."
Jaz was about to make a remark to Nico about how they were doomed now their 'savior' was more deranged than their so called teachers. She never got the chance.
...
As an invisible force rammed into her, Jaz fell forward and face-planted into the snow. Coughing up something she hoped was snow, she got up, wiping the cold, white substance from her eyes. The moment she cleared the snow from her vision, she instantly wiped them again and blinked twice.
Grover, yes, the kid in Bianca's math class that Nico swore that would grow up to marry an enchilada, was playing a horrendous song on the panpipes. Somehow, plants sprouted and wavered to his music, curling its vines around Dr. Thorn.
At the same time, a goth looking girl clad in black and silver chains, twirled around Dr. Thorn, blocking his thorns with her shield and jabbed him now and then with her long, deadly spear. At one point she turned slightly, long enough for Jaz to catch a glimpse of her shield. She could of swore her heart stopped in fear. It was frightening picture of Medusa plastered on it that raised every hair on her back. She was more than relieved when the girl shifted again, obscuring the view.
Percy, once again, pulled out his bronze sword, looking more dangerous than ever.
Then, a blonde girl appeared out of thin air next to him. Jaz blinked. A girl appeared out of thin air. Not only that, she was wielding a glimmer knife.
What. In. The. World.
"A manticore!" the girl said, confirming Jaz and Nico's suspicion.
All of a sudden, the dimensions flipped. It was no longer, 'Oh my gosh. I'm going crazy. Greek Mythology lives. I'm so scared.' but rather, 'Oh my gosh. I'm not crazy! Greek Mythology lives. AWESOME!' Despite everything going on around them, Jaz felt a little giddy. That's a real live manticore. A-And if a manticore was real, other Greek things were also real. Gods, monster, heroes. Forget going to the Mythomagic convention in Trenton, she could meet a god for Christmas!
Of course, Bianca had to cut through her daydream and be serious.
"Who are you people!?" Bianca demanded. "What is that!?"
"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and-"
"-five saving throws!" Jaz butted in.
OhMyGosh. OhMyGosh. OhMyGosh. OH. MY. GOSH. Jaz thought.
Just then, the blonde girl pushed them down. Again. For the second time that day, Jaz choked on mouthful of snow.
Just as Jaz tried to get up again, Bianca pulled her back down.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
"Bianca, there's a battle between a real live monster and real live heroes! I wanna see what's going on!"
"No. Stay. Down."
There was something about Bianca's tone the made her falter. Bianca always tried to make Jaz do boring things she didn't want to, like homework and brushing her teeth, but this time, this time was serious. She sounded so firm and so confident but at the same time so scared. It doesn't really make sense but that's how Jaz perceived it. Her voice was strong and loud but yet the scared glint in her eye and panicked undertone in her voice was enough to unnerve Jaz.
Those were the reasons she stayed down.
Bianca shifted and commanded Nico to stay down. Grudgingly, Nico did the same and covered his head. They laid there on the cold ground, letting the snow seep through their coats, arms over their head, listening to the battle.
Judging from the groans, grunts, and the feet scattering and flying off the ground, the fight wasn't the going very well.
Grover and the goth girl already got knocked away. How she knew? Grover wore brown loafers and the girl wore black combat boots, and just a few seconds ago, a pair of loafers and another pair was combat boots flew off the ground and landed in a snow pile in different directions, accompanied by very loud, very audible groans.
Percy and the blonde girl -Percy favored blue sneakers while she had a pair of gray tennis shoes- were shuffling around, jabbing Dr. Thorn with their various weapons.
She could distinguish Dr. Thorn from the rest very easily. Instead of shoes he sported four huge orange paws.
A spotlight suddenly shined down on them with the sound helicopter blades.
Jaz blinked. She didn't know helicopter were mythical.
She heard someone yell a "No!" and Dr. Thorn let out sinister chuckle before saying something inaudible.
Then, a loud, clear noise echoed through the forest. The sound of a hunting horn.
...
After that, Nico had to fill her in on everything. She remembered seeing bits and pieces pf the action but not much. A bunch of silver clad girls emerged from the forest, joined in, turned the helicopter in ravens, then, Thorn jumped off the cliff with the blonde girl on his back, trying to strangle him.
Yeah.
Bianca finally let them get up -at this point, her limbs were numb from cold or sore, she didn't know- and approached the group.
The one called Zoe suddenly stopped when she saw the goth girl.
"You," she said, her nose wrinkling in distaste.
"Zoe Nightshade." the girl's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."
Zoe scanned the rest of them, her eyes seemed to x-ray through Jaz as if reading her thoughts and very being.
"Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."
Her accent was hard to place. British? Italian?
"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."
"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. His voice sounded broken and desperate. No, not just broken... Heartbroken. "You have to let us save her!"
The auburn-haired girl turned toward him. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."
Percy tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of girls held him down.
"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl said.
"Let me go!" Percy shouted, struggling against their grips. "Who do you think you are?"
Zoe stepped forward as if to slapped him.
"No," the other girl ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."
The young girl looked at him, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."
If she wasn't as shocked as him, Jaz would of laughed at his dumbfounded expression.
She felt the crushing weight of shock and giddiness numb her to the bone. She felt her heart stop for second, then powered back up, and started working harder and faster than ever before.
She always imagined Artemis as some sort of tall, cool 15 year old, not Bianca's age. But then again, she didn't expect herself to be caught in a mythological battle.
Grover looked like just had a heart attack while eating several pounds of sugar covered enchiladas. He gasped before dropping to his knees, stammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"
"Get up, goat boy!" the goth girl said, irritably. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"
"Whoa," Bianca said. Jaz suddenly realized that they were actually here in the snow, not just watching some movie. "Hold up. Time out."
Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, with some sort of scared, desperate act of connecting the dots. "Who... who are you people?"
Artemis's expression softened."It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you! Who are your parents?"
Bianca glanced nervously at Jaz and Nico. Nico was still staring at Artemis like she was the greatest thing next to Mythomagic. Which she was but still, Jaz really wanted Nico to snap out of it. The way Artemis was looked at them was like if she was implying they were...like if she was implying they were...like them.
"Our parents are dead," Bianca said, speaking up for Jaz and Nico. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."
She faltered. One look at their faces was enough to know they didn't believe a single thing that was coming out of her mouth. Not for a second.
"What?" she said, defensively. "I'm telling the truth."
"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade said. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."
"An Olympian... athlete?"
"No," Zoe said. "One of the gods."
For ten seconds -count it, it's longer than you think- it was absolutely quiet.
The girls plus Grover and Percy were feeling sympathetic for them, Bianca was shocked gods existed, and Jaz and Nico was shocked with glee gods existed.
"Cool!" said Nico.
Leave it to him to break the silence.
"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"
Nico danced his Mythomagic dance as Jaz dubbed it. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for his defences against Titans?"
"Does his army of pegas with him an extra hundred defense points!?" Jaz interjected as they both of them pelted the group with questions.
"Guys, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"
Jaz reeled back, half in hurt and half in surprise."
"Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous." the goth girl said.
"Dangerous," Bianca said, insensitively, "like how Annabeth fell."
The girl turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.
"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess stated. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."
"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy questioned.
"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."
"Oo!" Nico raised his hand, recovering very quickly from Bianca's outburst. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"
"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."
"Or they'll hunt us," the goth girl spoke up.
Bianca shivered. "That explains... Guys, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."
"He even had hooves." Jaz added.
"That's why Grover has been watching you," Percy said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."
"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"
"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves.
Jaz's jaws dropped. A satyr! All that time she's been hanging out of a person practically straight out of a Greek text-book! Grover's a satyr!
"Cool!" she squeaked.
Bianca's face turned pale -well, paler- and for a second Jaz thought she would have to rush forward to catch her when she fainted.
"Grover, put your shoes back on," the goth girl said. "You're freaking her out."
"Hey, my hooves are clean!"
"Bianca," Percy said, "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."
"Camp?" she asked.
"Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."
She could imagine it now. Her running through the forest, cutting down every monster in her path and saving everyone from evil! Jaz the Monster Slayer! Jaz the Bringer of Justice! Jaz the Hero!
"Cool!" Jaz said again.
"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.
"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"
"There is another option," Zoe said.
"No, there isn't!" the goth girl snapped.
The girls glared at each other.
"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoe, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."
"Yes, my lady."
"And, Bianca, Jaz, come with me. I would like to speak with you."
Speak with me? Jaz thought nervously, her joy shifting into anxitey in her stomach. What have I done wrong? I only met her two minutes ago.
"What about me?" Nico asked.
Artemis looked at Nico thoughtfully. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while... as a favor to me?"
Grover looked like it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. Which meant he lighted up brighter than the sun. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"
Boys.
"What do you think Artemis wants to talk to us about?" Jaz whispered to Bianca as they trailed after the goddess.
"I don't know." Bianca replied. "She doesn't seem angry with us, though."
"Gods are unpredictable."
"I know, Jaz. We'll watch each other's back, okay?"
"Of course."
Only if Jaz knew that this was the last moment of clarity with Bianca she'd ever have.