Percy's day had been rough already. Early in the morning, around five, Hera dragged her out of bed for training with Apollo, which was usually just Percy playing guitar or singing to plants, and then she had gym class, where the biggest kid in the sophomore class, Herald Martinez, (Herry for short), slammed her in the face with a dodgeball.
Jay walked into the gym at the end of Herry's class to see a girl sitting on the floor, Herry was kneeling next to her muttering something that sounded like an apology.
"Herry! Hey, what'd you do?" He teased as the girl glanced over at Jay, she was holding her t-shirt up to her nose, soaking up a red liquid that could only be blood.
"I kind of hit her in the face with a dodgeball, uh, Percy, this is my friend Jay," the teen said with a small chuckle. Percy just studied Jay.
"Well, uh, hi, Jay... thanks for the bloody nose, Herry, see you around," the green haired girl muttered as she stood up and walked to the locker room.
Herry sighed, "man, I kind of liked her…"
"Well, maybe it's not totally hopeless," Jay offered, "change fast, then offer to walk her to class?"
The brown haired boy agreed and dashed to the boys locker room to ditch his sweaty gym uniform; his sandy-haired counterpart followed a little slower, considering his own class started in just a few minutes.
When Jay exited the locker room, he saw Herry walking away from the gym with Percy, who was now wearing a black tank top and shorts as well as a significant amount of jewelry.
"Way to go Herry," Jay muttered as Theresa popped out of the locker room in her white shirt and blue athletic shorts; it was the standard gym uniform for all the students at New Olympia High School.
"Hey," the ginger greeted as she approached Jay with a light smile, "what's new?"
"Herry managed to flirt with some success, I think," Jay replied with a shrug, "other than that, nothing, you?"
"Same, so was she pretty?"
"What?" Jay looked confused for a second, "oh, Percy, I guess so, why?"
Theresa pouted a little then lined up for the warm up routine, pulling Jay along with her as the coaches announced that the day's game would be dodgeball.
Two hallways down, Herry finally said goodbye to Percy and headed to his own class as Percy sat in her chair at the back of the Physics lab, still holding a paper towel up to her nose.
"Alright everyone, sit down. Today we're doing a worksheet as a class!" The teacher, a tall but frail and wrinkled old lady, called in the quietest voice ever.
Per usual, the class didn't pay much attention, Percy included as she whipped through the worksheet on her own, finishing all twenty questions in the first few seconds of class.
As spitballs, pencils, and even a calculator were launched across the room, Percy put her pencil to a different use and focused on her drawings.
Today's was a group of monsters from the last nightmare she'd dealt with.
The group of Minotaurs were breaking through a pile of rubble, and somehow, Percy's once talentless scribbles, made the picture strikingly unique and if anyone was being honest, well drawn.
"Stupid nightmare," Percy muttered to herself as she looked up at the clock.
With only three minutes to go until the bell rang, the gray-eyed girl handed in her worksheet to the teacher and caught a pencil before it could hit the woman in the face.
"Oh my, thank you Priscilla," she said with a smile, "sometimes I think you're the only one who takes this class seriously."
Percy just smiled politely at the sound of her full name, "anytime Mrs. G, see you tomorrow."
As the teacher ordered the students back to their seats, Percy walked out the door and headed to her third class of the day, Trigonometry.
Unlike most of the students in her classes, Priscilla Lightwell was ahead of the game. In New York, she'd been ahead of the curve by an entire year, and despite only being sixteen, she had her full driver's license, was a junior in high school, and now, was totally friendless in the foreign city of New Olympia.
At first, she'd been excited when her grandmother talked about an all expenses paid boarding school in Canada, then she actually went there, and well, she discovered more about her father's mysterious heritage than she'd ever wanted to.
"Hey, skipping out?" Called a familiar voice.
Herry studied the girl he'd almost concussed in gym class as she stopped staring at her shoes and looked up at him.
To anyone who didn't know Percy, she looked like your average, rather punk, teenager with lip piercings, ear piercings, ear gauges, and hair dyed a vibrant, minty green.
"Beating the bell," she replied with a small smile.
"Same, what class do you have next?"
"Trigonometry," Percy replied.
"Really? I thought you were a sophomore."
"Nah, skipped a year back in New York," Percy explained, "so, I mean, I'm still only sixteen, but…"
Herry just smiled and played with the strap of his backpack.
"I take it you're too brainiac to skip class then?"
Percy laughed, "as if, what'd you have in mind?"
Herry grinned, "ever been on the roof?"
The roof was a dismal gray color and the autumn breeze was less than warm as it skirted across Percy's bare arms, to anyone without an imagination, it wasn't an ideal spot to hang out, but for two sixteen year olds ditching class, it was the perfect hiding place to avoid Zeus.
"So, how was Physics?" Herry asked as he nervously reached out and plucked a spitball from Percy's hair.
"Hell," she replied, "how was Geometry?"
"Boring as ever, and Odie wouldn't help me with my test."
Percy laughed, "because you're supposed to do those yourself."
Herry just shrugged and put the thought aside and pulled a small speaker and iPod out of his bag, "you like rock and roll?"
The green haired girl grinned, "do I ever, wait, hm… Metallica?"
Herry nodded, "Sixx A.M.?"
Percy grinned too, "man, now I just have to hope the kids at my dorm feel the same way."
"Dorm?"
"Yeah, I transferred here a week ago, and my dorm adviser has me in a temporary setup until she can have my room ready. Stuff happened and I had to come a week early, she wasn't ready."
Herry paused as something clicked about Athena mentioning surprises, work, and a new kid, "So… where's your dorm at? I can't imagine the school has many, and well, I'm in the Brownstone, so…"
"Brownstone?" Percy turned to face Herry a bit as he leaned back and hit play on the iPod.
"Yeah, it's only a block away, you can see it from here."
Percy smirked, "well, I guess now I know that the dorms are coed, I'm supposed to move in tomorrow night, you're Herry huh? Athena kind of made you seem a little dumber."
"Wait… you're the new kid she's been talking about?" Herry sat up and hit pause on the AC/DC song, his chocolate gaze now fixed on Percy as she glanced over at him.
"The one and only, I've been staying in the janitor's closet," she waved her hand in the air as if it weren't the weirdest sentence she'd spoken that day.
"Really? How come we haven't seen you during training?"
"Great question, maybe we could surprise Hera, go to training together."
Herry agreed and they decided to meet outside the closet after classes let out before spending the next hour chilling out on the roof.
As the final bell rang, students poured out of classrooms, except for one boy in a distinct purple and yellow sweater.
Jay was studying the sheet that Hera had given him the day before. He was supposed to have the tactic memorized and he wanted to pour over it one more time.
"Jay the bell rang, and I have a meeting to get to," the surly male teacher pointed out as he stood by the door. Jay apologized quickly and grabbed his things before heading down the hall towards the janitor's closet. Theresa was waiting, and surprisingly, so was Herry and Percy.
"Uh, Herry, we need to get going, so uh, sorry Percy, but…"
"Ugh," Percy muttered, "you are so bad at lying, here I thought the fearless leader was a little more practiced."
Jay looked stunned as Percy removed her very own sundial pendant, though it was silver instead of bronze, and inserted it into the lock, popping the door open with a small whoosh of air.
Herry grinned, "that's right, I met the new girl first."
"New girl?" Theresa didn't like the sound of that and followed close behind the others as the opened the portal to the school, was she being replaced for the incident at the beach? Could she be replaced in the prophecy like that?
As soon as they arrived, Hera was standing in the teens' path, "children, welcome back… What… Percy? I distinctly told you to wait until I introduced you to the others," Hera insisted.
"Sorry," the green haired girl mumbled as she stepped past Hera, "is Apollo here yet?"
"He's in his chambers, yes… but you are not getting away with this rule breaking so easily."
Hera looked colder than usual, and Jay couldn't believe his mentor had such a frigid personality, maybe it was because she spent so much time doting on the teens, maybe it was because he was close to her, regardless, Jay felt a little less than comfortable seeing this new side to Hera.
"Miss Hera, relax, it's not like the rest of us haven't broken the rules, besides, we were going to meet her eventually, right?" Herry pointed out.
The old goddess just grumbled and glared at Percy before beckoning for Jay to follow her to her chambers so they could train.
Hours passed, and Percy spent most of her time practicing her guitar and sketching as Apollo recited various poems and tales. The god of the arts didn't seem very interested in teaching the descendant of Perseus much of anything.
"Apollo… not to offend you or anything, but… if I'm descended from Perseus, son of Zeus, why isn't he teaching me?"
Apollo laughed, "he's the king of the gods, and a hard working janitor! Don't you think he's just a little too busy for that? Besides, he'd have you working on boring stuff, instead, we get to play music!"
Percy gave up on asking any further questions and played an E minor chord in place of E major, changing the effect the music had on the plant she was supposedly healing. As soon as the melancholy sound hit the little flower, it drooped over.
"What that wasn't right," Apollo noted, "see, this is why we practice."
Percy sighed and set her instrument down, "whatever. I'm going to go do some laps or something."
There was something bugging Theresa about the new girl. She seemed too shut off, too… powerful to be a part of the team, at least that's what she sensed. Not to mention the prophecy only called for seven, and if she wasn't being replaced (Persephone calmed those fears quite fast), then what was an eighth hero's place in New Olympia?
She soon found out as Ares lined the group up for a training session.
"Today, we test your battle skills with capture the flag, unfortunately it will be… Percy? What's the Guardian of Olympus doing here?" Ares sounded... happy, proud of this girl, and it confused the seven heroes very much as they'd never received anything but harsh, strict training from the god of war.
"Thought I'd do laps or something," called the familiar voice as everyone turned to see who Ares was addressing.
"How about capture the flag, we need an eighth player."
Percy shrugged and tightened her shoe laces as she stood at the end of the line next to Odie, who, to everyone's surprise, was at least an inch taller than she was.
"Alright, Jay, Percy, you two are captains."
Percy moved to stand beside Jay and when Ares gave her first pick, surprised everyone.
"Glasses," she called, pointing at a very confused Odie.
"Me?" The boy had never been picked first, second, or even third, so Odie was very excited when Percy nodded and jabbed her thumb behind her implying that he should line up.
Jay picked Theresa, so Percy picked Herry. Jay then selected Atlanta, so Percy picked Archie and studied her crew, leaving Neil to Jay's team, "cool, so, got any good strategies or did I pick the descendant of Odysseus wrong?"
Odie grinned, "not at all, here's the plan."
The plan was nearly flawless, and the team got ready to play, facing down their opponents with devilish grins.
Unfortunately for Percy, Jay's team had Neil's luck and won anyway.
Ares looked pleased enough, and let the group go five minutes early, much to the seven's surprise and delight. Hera soon entered the room and called Percy over.
The girl obeyed and stood attentively as Hera studied her sweaty figure.
"Seeing as the introductions have already been made and Athena is completed in her task, you are to go to the Brownstone and officially move in tonight. Your things are packed and already in Herry's truck."
Percy laughed and offered Hera an impish grin, "that eager to get rid of me? Alright, thanks Miss Hera."
Hera didn't change her cold gaze as she watched the source of her contempt for Zeus walk towards the showers. Unfortunately, Hera had literally packed everything Percy owned, so she could only try to remove the sweat from her body as Atlanta and Theresa changed into clean clothing.
"Uh, you aren't going to change?" Theresa asked.
"Hera packed for me and apparently took my spare clothes too, I'll change when we get to the Brownstone," came Percy's calm reply.
Atlanta sighed, "good luck getting a shower when we get there, Neil will probably take it first."
"Isn't he showering now?"
The two redheads just laughed and shook their heads.
"Trust me, it'll be a race to get there," Atlanta warned.
Percy shrugged and followed the girls to the closet again before that the boys had left without them.
When the trio of girls arrived at the Brownstone, having walked the three blocks, a tall woman with dark, violet hair and a sword in her hands stopped Percy in her tracks.
"Priscilla?" She greeted warily.
"I go by Percy, but yeah, that's me," the girl replied with a flat kind of indifference, "want a blood sample to prove it?"
Behind Athena, someone snickered and the goddess smiled, then let Percy through before grabbing Neil's collar and holding him back, "get it while you can," the goddess winked at the mint-haired girl.
Percy grinned and when Neil screamed in protest, the girl dashed up the stairs to find the bathroom.
Safely in possession of the shower, Percy locked the door behind her, dropped her bag, and stripped.
The shower didn't take horribly long, and when Percy was clean (and shaved) she dried off and got dressed in a pair of gray shorts and a purple tank top.
As soon as she exited the bathroom, her bleach blonde housemate dashed into the room, squealing about sweat and complexions.
Percy just chuckled and noticed a half open door across the hall from her spot outside the bathroom. As she peeked inside, she saw Archie sitting on his bed with his gold brace sitting on the desk as he read a book.
Making a mental note of his habits, Percy continued towards the end of the hall and knocked on the very last door.
Failing to gain a response, she turned the knob and pushed the door open to see a plain looking bedroom much bigger than the one she'd lived in back in New York. There was a twin size bed with a gray comforter to match the walls, a dresser, desk, full length mirror on the wall, and a closet, all of which were very empty except for some bare hangers.
"Home sweet hell," the girl murmured before setting her bag down on her bed. As soon as she did, Athena appeared in the doorway behind her.
"I see you found your room alright," the goddess noted kindly, "are you bringing the rest of your stuff tomorrow?"
Percy frowned, "there is no 'rest' that's it."
The motherly goddess looked a little miffed as Percy finally turned around to face her, "so, house rules?"
"Don't get blood on the carpet, fighting between ten pm and seven am must be taken to the park where you won't wake us or the neighbors, and breakfast is served at seven on weekdays, eight on weekends, you miss it, you make it yourself, the same goes for dinner which is six o'clock regardless of the day. Other than that, don't kill each other, and if I ask for help with the chores, you'd better do it."
Percy nodded as the goddess glanced back at the small duffel bag containing the extent of the girl's belongings, "in that regard, dinner is in half an hour."
Again, Percy gave a curt nod and a small, "thanks," before closing her door and dumping her bag onto her bed.
As a child with limited space to herself and a small budget, Percy had learned quickly how to pack a bag with as much as she could, and how to keep things at a minimum, so when fourteen shirts, six pairs of jeans, four pairs of denim shorts, two pairs of athletic shorts, and two weeks worth of bras, socks, and underwear (ranging from sports bras and boxers to lacy lingerie) fell from her bag, the teen saw nothing impressive.
"This shouldn't take too long," she muttered, and of course, she was right. The pants soon occupied one drawer of the dresser, the shorts another, the underwear and socks a third, and with the abundance of empty hangars found in the closet, the shirts were soon hanging up as well.
Just as she tossed her sneakers on the closet floor beside the empty duffel bag, Jay knocked on the door, pushing it open slightly.
"Uh, hey, Percy, dinner's ready," he called kindly.
"Thanks," she muttered quietly as she followed Jay to the kitchen. Everyone except Neil was sitting at the table, and there were only two empty chairs, so Percy picked the one separated from the group and sat down.
Dinner went alright, a basket of hamburger buns, a dish of sloppy-joe, a dish of fries, and pitchers of soda and water were all passed around for an hour (for which Neil was absent) and when it was over Athena assigned Jay and Archie to clean up.
Percy wasn't really sure of what to do, so she stood up to head to her room, only for Odie to invite her to join the rest of the group for a card game in the living room.
"Uh, sure," the girl agreed with a tired smile. Not long into the game, Jay and Archie had joined in, and the gray-eyed newbie was grinning from ear to ear while kicking butt.
"What's this called again?" Herry asked as he studied the cards in front of him.
"It's called Cards Against Humanity," Percy replied, "played it at tons of parties, basically consider it an outlet for every racist, sexist, insulting thought you've ever had."
"Yeah, well, you're disturbingly good at this game," Neil noted as he appeared in the living room, "Did I miss dinner?"
"There's leftovers in the fridge," Jay said before selecting a card to win his judging round. Theresa grinned and swiped the black card off the coffee table with a triumphant grin before drawing another black card for the next round.
After a few more rounds, Percy's phone went off and she excused herself from the round to answer it.
"Hello?" Percy called as she stepped into the kitchen, sidestepping Neil who was ready to join the game.
"Percy, I need a favor," cooed a sickly sweet voice from the other end of the line.
"Nona, I'm not even in the same country as you, what can I possibly do?"
"Its' just… you're at boarding school, so I was hoping you wouldn't mind me selling your furniture so I could turn your room into a closet, I'm running out of room for my things."
Percy bit back an angry protest and sighed, "and what about when I come home to visit?"
"Oh, you're doing that?" She sounded genuinely surprised.
"Just… whatever Nona, it's your apartment," Percy ended the call and in a fit of anger whipped the communication device at the wall, effectively smashing it beyond repair.
"What was that?" Jay called into the room.
"Nothing important," Percy replied as she walked over to pick up the pieces. Without regret, she tossed them into the trashcan and pushed past Jay, "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me."
Jay contemplated following Percy and trying to get some information out of her, but instead, he peered into the mostly empty trash bag to see pieces of smashed electronics and a gum wrapper.
"Hey Odie!" The blonde leader called the tech genius into the room and showed him the pieces, "think we could replace it? You know, as a welcome gift for her. She might warm up to us a little better."
Odie agreed and the two boys returned to the game.
"Hey," Atlanta called, "what happened to Percy?"
"She went to her room, guess that phone call put her in a bad mood," Jay answered as he glanced at the stairs.
Theresa followed his gaze then frowned as she tried to figure out what kind of a call could leave the newest member of their group in such down spirits.
"Maybe one of us should go talk to her," Archie pointed out.
Atlanta agreed, then volunteered herself to go upstairs.
Everyone in the room wished her luck and Jay accompanied the spiky-haired hunter as she ascended the stairs.
At the last door on the left, Percy's room, they were met with a door open by a slight crack and the sound of shallow breathing.
"Percy? Is everything okay?" Jay called as he pushed on the door gently.
"Anything we can help with?"
Percy was at the door in an instant, shaking her head, "no, I'm alright, just… tired. I'll see you in the morning, alright?"
Jay nodded and when Percy met his gaze, she struggled to not cry.
Unlike his mentor, Jay's gaze held only compassion and a brotherly kind of concern Percy hadn't seen since her biological brother, Malcolm died the year before.
"Sleep well, and if you need to talk, my door is always open," Jay assured her.
After a rough and defensive goodnight from Percy, Atlanta decided to head to bed as well, shaken up by the new addition; Jay returned to the game alone.
"Uh, everything okay?" Theresa asked as Jay slumped into the couch beside her.
"Who knows," he groaned as Neil was awarded with his sixth card since joining the game.
The game didn't last too long after that and when everyone called it a night, Percy's bedroom light still glowed beneath her door, leaving the six still awake heroes to wonder what their newest sister had in store for them.