CHAPTER 1

Despair. I was sinking into a well of despair. Every awful thing that had happened to in my life, every lonely moment I had lived through, all the sorrow and despair I had ever felt flashed before my eyes. I felt like there was absolutely no point of my life. And, at the same time, every good feeling, every happy memory was being sucked out of me. I glanced up as I heard a soft swish, but it was more out of habit than interest. The monster – or at least that's what I thought it was – still stood there, not moving at all. It made rasping sounds as it breathed as though trying to suck up all the oxygen there was.

A slight breeze made the bottom of its tattered black robe flutter open slightly. It struck me odd that even beneath the robes, I couldn't see anything else, just more black. Darkness… The anguish overwhelmed me again, and I sagged against the brick wall behind me and slid to the ground, still staring at the thing. I was freezing cold; it felt like the temperature had dropped 20 degrees at least. I shivered. The creature seemed to give off iciness.

It didn't move even slightly, didn't make any sign of hostility or give any indication of attacking us. But it didn't need to. Just the awful being's presence was enough to make me want to put a gun at my head and pull the trigger. Or, since a gun was unavailable, I would use Percy's sword. Percy. I glanced over in his direction and saw that he too was slumped against the wall, his head in his hands, his will to live gone. Somehow, I don't even know how it was possible, seeing Percy like that made me feel even worse. My gaze returned to the tall figure robed in black.

The creature had a human-like shape and it was approximately three meters high. It was covered from head to toe in a dark hooded cloak of long, ripped cloth. The creature's face had nothing but a large hole where the mouth should be. It was the foulest, most disturbing thing I had ever seen; and that was saying a lot. Looking at the monster made me wish for death. And who knows what I might have done, if a loud cry hadn't snapped me out of the stupor I was in?

"Expecto Patronum!"

Surprised, I tore my gaze from the monster in time to see something explode out of what seemed like thin air. I blinked in astonishment and tried to figure out what the creature was. It was silvery and it seemed ethereal, magical. A silvery, ethereal, magical… cat? What? It seemed to radiate silver light. It was coming toward the other creature; and it seemed to have an immediate effect on it. The monster began to shuffle uneasily and back away. I had no idea why, but I could guess. If the monster was a creature of darkness, then this animal was pure light. In a few seconds, the monster had completely melted into the darkness. The shimmering cat also faded when the monster had disappeared.

For a few seconds, I stared at the spot where the monster had been standing, unable to believe that it was really gone. Feeling physically and emotionally drained, I put my head between my knees and tried to steady my breathing.

"Why," a voice from above me demanded imperiously, "on earth was a Dementor after you two?"

I looked up wearily, too tired to feel suspicious, and saw a slim girl standing in front of me with a hand on her hip. She seemed to be addressing me, but I had no idea what she was talking about. The girl spoke with a strong British accent, so, really, I didn't even know if I'd heard her right.

"A what? A Demento?" I asked, glancing at Percy. He was staring at the girl, the expression on his face perplexed.

"A Dementor," the girl sighed, as though it was so obvious and we were stupid for not realizing it.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," I answered, wishing this girl would just go away. I felt like I could sleep for a century.

"What?" she gave me a calculating look, and I stared back at her.

"Well," she said, sounding unsure, "I suppose you might be Muggles after all. But that doesn't make sense then…"

"Wait, what are Muggles?" Percy spoke for the first time.

"Muggles? Oh, humans," she answered, still lost in thought.

"Wait," I said, realizing suddenly. "Yeah, well, you're right about that. We aren't human – or at least, not fully human."

"Annabeth," Percy said sharply, but I looked at him and tried to tell him with my eyes that I knew what I was doing. This girl was clearly not human either.

"So what – I mean, who are you?" she asked, confused.

Ahem. Yea, about that… Now how do you explain to someone that you're the daughter of an old and powerful goddess, who's only a legend to most people? Oh, I might as well.

"My name is Annabeth, and I am the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom; and this is Percy, son of Poseidon, god of the sea," I said, then took a deep breath and watched her reaction.

"Poseidon? Athena? Those mythical Greek gods?"

"Well, yes," I replied, hesitantly. Except for the mythical part.

"You mean like in Hercules, that Disney movie?" she scoffed.

"Uh, no," I answered, "Not exactly. We're demigods."

She laughed.

What was this girl's problem, anyway? "Well, what are you then?" I challenged.

"I'm a witch," she said confidently.

"Like in the Wizard of Oz, that classic?" I managed to ask, but I really was surprised. I mean, wizards and witches weren't real, right? But then, I thought, that's exactly what she must be thinking, and decided that she just might be telling the truth.

She gave me a dirty look.

"What's your name?" Percy asked.

"Lily. Lily Luna Potter," she said, but she pronounced Potter like Po-tter; like it was a name of significance or something.

"Why are you here? Aren't you British?" I asked. Yeah, it sounded rude, but I really didn't like this girl. ANd she had a really wierd name. I mean , Lily Luna?

"That's none of your business. Oh, and you're welcome," she said snidely.

"Excuse me? What; you were expecting me to thank you or something?" I asked her, "For what?"

"Saving your life, to begin with," she answered, and Percy and I both stared at her. "Who do you think made that Patronus?"

"You're the one who made that animal that killed the… uh… the… Dementor?" I asked, astonished.

"Yes." She tossed her long black hair back from her face and looked down at me, arrogantly. "It's a very complex spell by the way. The only person younger than me who ever managed it was my dad; Harry Potter."

"I didn't ask," I replied, rolling my eyes, but I couldn't help but ask; "How does that work by the way?"

"The Patronus?"

"Yea," I replied.

Lily narrowed her eyes, probably wondering whether she should share that information with me or not. "Well," she began. She probably thought the chance to show off was too good to miss. "A Dementor is a Dark creature, one of the foulest to live in the world. Dementors feed off human happiness, so they cause depression and despair to anyone near them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims an empty shell, with no soul. It is a state worse – much worse – than the most horrible death you could imagine," Lily shuddered and took a deep breath before she continued.

I was revolted, and yet fascinated. She continued; "One of the few ways to protect yourself from Dementors is by using the difficult Patronus Charm to fend them off. The charm basically summons a Patronus, the magical sign of good will and happiness, providing protection against the Dementors' influence. The more powerful the witch or wizard is, the more powerful the patronus is, naturally. Only when summoned by an experienced wizard will the Patronus take the form of an animal significant in some way to the person."

Me and Percy were listening raptly. She had our whole attention. Clearly relishing the spotlight, she continued dramatically. "Like me, for example. I love cats; so my Patronus is a cat. The stronger Patronuses chase down Dementors and force them to flee the area. Which is what I did. A weak Patronus only slows a Dementor down."

"Oh, wow," Percy said.

"And, thanks to the two of you, my mum is now going to kill me," she said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Oh, oops, sorry. She doesn't like it when you save people's lives?" Percy asked.

"No, stupid," she said rolling her eyes, "We're not supposed to use magic in the Muggle world."

"Oh, I see…"

"But something doesn't make sense. Dementors are technically extinct; they were all destroyed. And they haven't been sighted since the destruction of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. And now suddenly they're attacking a pair of demigods? That's strange."

"Why?" Percy asked. "You said they feed off happiness and hope and stuff; so maybe they weren't really destroyed completely, and now they've come back to… to… uh… to take revenge!"

"No," Lily said thoughtfully, "Dementors aren't intelligent or organized enough to do something like that. Most likely, they're taking orders from someone else, someone or something powerful enough to get the Dementors to do its bidding. And I'm guessing someone or something that doesn't like the two of you very much."

I shrugged, and Percy said, "Huh. I can think of at least ten people who don't like me very much – off the top of my head."

"I'm not very loved either," I added, and Lily gave me a look that clearly said, 'I can see why.' The idiot.

"But what did you guys think the Dementor was? Like, it's not every day you get attacked by a monster," she asked suddenly.

"Uh… You see," Percy answered, "It kinda is."

"Explain," she demanded.

"Annabeth?" he looked at me, "You know I'm useless at explanations."

"Okay…" I sighed, and then began to talk. "You know those old stories about Greek gods and stuff? Like Zeus, and Athena, and Hades?"

"Well, yeah," Lily nodded cautiously. "We learnt about them in Muggle Studies last year. But aren't they like just legends to explain stuff? Before, you know, science?"

"No. They're real, and alive. And see, the thing is, they kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods. Kids like me and Percy." I paused to let that sink in then I continued.

"A long time ago, a prophecy was made, and it warned about a half-blood child of the Big Three – Zeus, Hades, or Poseidon – the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. So Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."

"Why?" she asked.
"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it. And the entire fate of the Gods and Mont Olympus would rest on his shoulders. This was too much of a burden for any hero to carry, and besides, too much was at stake. So the three of them decided not to have any kids with mortal women."

"I see," Lily nodded. "But they broke the pact, didn't they?"

"Yes. Well, at least Zeus and Poseidon did. Zeus had a girl named Thalia, and Percy is Poseidon's son," I clarified. "But Thalia chose to become a Hunter of Artemis the day before her sixteenth birthday; and when you become a Hunter, you become immortal, unless you fall in battle. Anyway, Thalia joined Artemis and her Hunters, so she would never become sixteen. So now, Percy's the only one who the prophecy could be about; meaning he has more than his fair share of enemies; monsters and god – oh, and Dementors and who knows what else? So, that means that a good amount of time we spend being hunted or chased by monsters and the like."

"Oh, what a horrible life!" she said, probably trying to sound sympathetic, but it came out more sarcastic than sympathetic.

"Hey, we were both considering suicide a couple of minutes ago. Don't refresh the memory," Percy said, grinning, at the same time as I snapped indignantly;

"We get used to it! And besides, we train for that kind of stuff!"

I shot Percy a withering look. "And I was not considering suicide!" Okay, I was, but no one needed to know that.

Lily looked intrigued. "You train?"

"Yes," I answered, glad to rub something in her face. "There's this place where we're taught, well, how do I say this… we're taught the skills of survival. Like sword fighting, and archery, and riding, and things like that. There are some who stay there only for the summer; and there are the year-rounders, who stay there all year long. It's the safest place on Earth for us demigods. It's called Camp Half-Blood."

"We have something like that too, in the wizarding world. But it's a school, not a camp. It's called Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Percy suppressed a smile. "Nice name."

"What, you have a – wait a second, what did you say your camp was called?" she asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy replied.

"Seriously?" she said, suddenly looking excited. "It can't be a coincidence…"

"What?" I asked.

"I've been looking for that place; Camp Half-Blood, right? Yea, I've been looking for weeks. But it's not anywhere on the maps, and everybody I ask just stares at me like I'm out of my mind! But you guys know where it is?"

"Well, yea, but, uh, why exactly are you acting like you won the jackpot or something?" Percy asked.

"Because, that's why I came here in the first place!" she said, then added after seeing the perplexed looks on our faces; "Well, I'd better explain."

"Okay. For a while now, Dark creatures back home have been stirring; waking up. Things that haven't been around since Voldemort was killed. The incident today with the Dementor was only one of many strange happenings. My father and the Ministry have been investigating, but they couldn't find out much; other than that something bad was going to happen to a place called Camp Half-Blood. It didn't sound like a Muggle town or city, but we assumed it to be, because it wasn't anywhere in the magical world."

"Kronos! It has to be," he said and I nodded grimly. Who else could it be? The Titan Lord, who had been chopped up into a million pieces after the Olympians won the battle against the Titans, was coming back. Since he was immortal, the Olympians weren't able to kill and had tossed him into Tartarus to stay there forever. But slowly, with the help of Luke, our old enemy, he was gaining strength and power once again, his pieces coming back together.

"Who?" Lily asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I hastily explained. As I talked, a couple of street lights flickered on, and I could see the girl more clearly. She was petite, probably a couple of inches shorter than me, with long super straight strawberry blonde hair that was almost red, and intelligent bright blue eyes. I have to admit; Lily was pretty, but I really hoped Percy didn't think so – I mean, not that I cared or anything.

"Oh, that's bad," she whistled, when I finished my explanation.

"Yea, pretty bad," Percy agreed. "I think it's just about as –

A loud whistle suddenly pierced the quiet of the night. "What was that?" I asked, feeling for my dagger.

Percy instinctively uncapped Riptide, and it immediately grew into a three foot long celestial bronze sword, shining in the dark. In the same moment, Lily drew her wand and whirled around. There was nothing. We all let out a breath, but stayed frozen, listening intently for any sound.

"Nice sword, half-blood," Lily said finally, breaking the silence.

Percy grinned. "Nice stick, witch," he replied.

"Yea, could kill your sword anyday," she said, smirking.

"Really? I wouldn't be two sure about that. This sword is made out of celestial bronze."

"This wand is made out holly and phoenix feather," she answered.

"Oh, good. I think it would be easy enough to slice in half, wouldn't it?"

"Excuse me? Using this wand, I can kill you in a dozen different ways before you get close enough to touch it!" she countered.

I was only partially listening to them. That whistle had sounded familiar, for some strange reason. Not like a bird call or something, but like a person's whistle. Unsettled, I turned to Percy and Lily.

"Something was strange about that whistle," I said, "I'm going to go have a look around, okay?"

"Why?" Percy asked, "It's probably nothing, Annabeth. A bird, maybe."

"No, I'll be right back."