***This story takes place about four months after the end of Blood of Olympus. Next chapters will be up soon (and will be much longer than the Prologue). Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: All characters, weapons, and creatures belong to Rick Riordan; I'm just borrowing them and making their lives difficult.***
Prologue: Friday, December 16
Five days until December 21st, the winter solstice.
"The winter solstice…is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things…stir."
—Chiron, The Lost Hero, pg. 126
Percy Jackson was in trouble. Like world-about-to-end trouble. It was an experience he'd had way too often.
He sprinted down the street, slipping a little in the new-fallen snow, the first of the season. He cursed as he spotted the clock on a nearby building. He had to get to Annabeth in time. If he was late—no, don't think about it. He had to make it.
Percy whipped around the final corner. Relief flooded him as he saw Annabeth standing halfway down the block at the bottom of the steps that led to her dorm, wearing a coat, scarf, and woolly hat. She smirked as he ran up to her and doubled over, gasping for breath.
"Forget something?" She held out a neatly stapled stack of papers.
"You're the best," Percy wheezed. Running in the cold made his lungs burn almost as bad as the sulfurous air of Tartarus. Nope, stop, not thinking about last night's nightmare. Taking a deep breath, Percy straightened up. He took his paper from Annabeth's hand and pulled his girlfriend in for a kiss. Her lips were warm, a nice contrast to the icy wind on his cheeks.
"I tweaked your conclusion and fixed a couple of grammar issues," Annabeth said when she pulled away. "If you don't get at least a B, I'm going to have a talk with your teacher."
"Well, it's Paul, so you can discuss it at dinner tonight," Percy said. "You're still coming over, right?"
"Of course." Annabeth kissed him again, lightly, then gave him a small push. "Now get out of here or you're going to be late. And next time, don't forget your term paper at my dorm when it's worth twenty percent of your grade!"
"Thirty percent," Percy called over his shoulder, already jogging back down the street. "I owe you one!"
"Yeah, you do!"
"Dinner next week! Someplace nice, I promise!"
Percy gave a final wave and took off sprinting again, determined to make it to Goode High School in time for first period English.