AN: I'm going to try and keep this as canon as possible, but there will be huge changes when it comes to HOO. I'm not sure if I'll do that part separately or I'll just make one jumbo fanfiction. This isn't your average "nicercy" or "percico" story, nor is it your average gender bender. Give it a chance? Please no flames, just constructive criticism if necessary. :) I don't own PJO or HOO, if I did, I would die happy. I kind of have to use a big chunk of the actual story in this chapter especially, but I'm not claiming it as mine, you'll recognize the bits from the books.
Nicole Di Angelo leant against the bleachers in the gym. She knew one thing for sure, she hated middle school dances already, and she had only attended one for less than twenty minutes. All the other girls, including her twin sister, were in huddles doing god knows what, whilst all the boys were playing with the balloons. She had tried repeatedly to understand girls of her age, but she was unsuccessful. She had never been one of those girls who did nothing other than gossip about movie stars, boys and fashion, whilst wearing so much make up they resembled a mountain troll. Nicole certainly hated dances more. She was never the most social person, that was her sister's job. Bianca Di Angelo was the pretty one, the one with the friends, the one who looked after Nicole. If you had seen the girls, you would never have guessed they were twins. Bianca was pretty with wavy dark brown hair that reached her waist, and eyes which were dark enough to be black. Nicole, on the other hand, was mediocre at best. She had near jet black hair which fell mid-back lankly. The only thing she kind of liked about herself was her eyes, which were a nice chocolate brown. The most both of them shared was the same olive skin tone, though Nicole was convinced hers was paler. Where they had were different in appearance they were in whole other worlds when it came to personality. Bianca was friendly and motherly whilst she was more cautious. Nicole was almost the exact opposite, she was childish and pretty much care free. She was bubbly and hyper sometimes, whilst on a bad day she could kill with just a glare.
Bianca took one look at Nicole, who was still standing on the sidelines and had started shuffling her pack of cards, and excused herself. She stalked over, and if looks could kill, Nicole would be a goner.
"Nic, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Bianca questioned angrily.
"Standing by the bleachers, admiring my new Hermes card." She stated, rather flatly.
"Do you know how embarrassing it is for me? My friends are always making fun of me because of my loser sister! You need to grow up! And this," She pointed at her sister's mythomagic cards, "This is a game for babies. For the last time, you need to stop acting like a helpless child!" Bianca continued her lecture for so long that Nicole zoned out and concentrated at the scene around them. She would have been offended by her twin calling her a loser, but she knew Bianca didn't mean it. As much as they argued, they loved each other more than anything else in the world. What small family they did have mattered, the only had each other now. Nicole and Bianca had been orphaned; at least, they assumed so.
Nicole groaned loudly when the DJ stared to play a Jesse McCartney song. Could this evening get any better?
"Just lay off it, okay?" Nicole commented and went back to ignoring her annoying sister. There were two pairs of people dancing in the whole gym. Strange. The first were two people who looked way too old to be in middle school. The guy was nothing special but the girl looked pretty awesome, like a mix between being a punk and a goth. The other pair was a blonde girl and a black haired guy who looked so awkward Nicole squirmed a little. Bianca was more irritated than usual, as she knocked the cards Nicole was still shuffling straight out of her hands. Nicole was taken aback at this; their fights never usually got the point of violence.
"That's it," Nicole said and started to pull her sisters hair, causing her green hat to fall off. The slightly evil vice principal, Dr Thorn, walked right over and grabbed them both by the top of their shirts. He snarled as he dragged them outside into the dark corridor. Bianca whimpered, which, Nicole thought, was rather typical of her. It didn't hurt that much, not to the point of pain.
"Wait here," Dr Thorn grunted, "and that's an order." Nicole was pretty scared, but she didn't show it for her sister's sake. The man stalked off, and no more than a few seconds later, the boy Nicole had seen dancing came round the corner and sighed in relief. He was carrying a bronze sword? Nicole could have sworn her eyes were playing tricks on her, where did that thing come from? The twin sisters stared at the boy in horror, both of which now feared for their lives. The boy saw their expressions and lowered the tip of his sword.
"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Yeah right, Nicole thought, says the boy with the lethal weapon. When neither of the girls replied he continued, "My name's Percy," he said calmly, "and I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe. " Nicole was busy looking at the boy, Percy, when she noticed Bianca clench her fists; Dr Thorn was emerging from the shadows.
She barely noticed what was happening. One minute Percy had been talking to them and the next he was pinned against a wall, moaning in pain.
"Yes Perseus Jackson, I know who you are," said Dr Thorn in his ridiculous accent. "Thank you for coming out of the gym, I hate middle school dances." He continued. Even if the man had just pinned a young boy against a wall, Nicole had to agree with him on that fact. Another knife or spike thing came out of nowhere and nearly impaled Bianca. Now Nicole was mad, nobody attacks her sister other than herself.
"All three 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."
~0o0~
Nicole trudged after her sister, Percy and Dr Thorn. She couldn't believe what was happening, the boy didn't seem evil, in fact, Nicole felt the strong urge to trust him. Dr Thorn had never been her favourite, as teachers went. Although he was the vice principal, he made sure to inspect each and every one of the students. The man had had an uncanny disliking for both the twins. When they were first introduced, Dr Thorn had made a point of crinkling his nose, like they both smelled awful. Nicole looked down at the uneven pathway (they had since followed Dr Thorn outside and through a long line of trees).
"Silence, you insufferable girl!" She heard the man shout.
"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Nicole almost yelled, but then her voice quivered like it always did when she knew she had said the wrong thing. Bianca always looked after Nicole in a motherly way, but when it came to protection from actual harm, that was Nicole's job. Bianca was never as fearless. Dr Thorn growled at Nicole's comment, and then said,
"Halt!"
They were standing in a clearing, to one side were more woods but to the other there was a huge cliff. What was the guy expecting us to do, jump off? Nicole had caught up to her sister now. She was seriously getting worried. What would happen? Why them? She had heard teachers threaten to send them away to horrible places before, but she had never taken them seriously. Nicole fiddled with one of her mythomagic figurines, which always seemed to calm her nerves, but for once it wasn't working. Percy nearly tripped over but Bianca caught him.
"Thanks." He muttered, as if being saved from tripping by a twelve year old was the most embarrassing thing in the world.
"What is he? How do we fight him?" Bianca whispered back. This startled Nicole, since when had Bianca wanted to fight anything?
"I'm working on it." He replied, looking back over at Nicole. She bit her lip. She had enough conmen sense to know that they weren't getting out of this.
"Stop talking!" Dr Thorn snapped at them, and started dialling on a mobile phone. "Face me!" He shouted, and the three children obeyed almost immediately.
"The package- it is ready to deliver."
Percy looked over his shoulder at the cliff. Nicole could hear sea was below it. He couldn't be thinking they would jump for it? They would die for sure. She would much rather become a slave or something. Twelve was way too young to die, she hadn't even lived a quarter of her life!
"By all means, son of Poseidon, jump! There is sea, save yourself." Dr Thorn snarled. What did he just call him? Poseidon as in the God? He was one of the coolest, and one of the rarest. But mythomagic was just a card game. It couldn't possibly be real.
"What did he call you?" Bianca asked, speaking for both of them.
"I'll explain later." He replied, with a wistful look in his eyes.
"You do have a plan, don't you?" Nicole piped up, surprised she had said anything. Percy had said he would get them somewhere safe, he had a weapon, why didn't he protect, assuming he was meant to protect them. Not that Nicole needed protecting; she could take care of him just like those guys in the alley...
Percy was still looking at the water, was he really going to try cliff diving, now of all times? Nicole didn't like to admit it, but she was scared of heights. There was no way she was going to jump off that thing.
"I would kill you before you even reached the water. You do not realise who I am, do you? He threw another thing in their general direction. "Unfortunately, you are wanted alive, if possible. If not you would be dead by now." This was just getting way too creepy for Nicole. Her teacher was a kidnapper/possible murderer.
"It's not going to work." She said, surprised by her own voice. "Who wants us? Because if you think you'll get ransom you're wrong. We don't have family. Bianca and I only have each other."
"How tragic," said Dr Thorn, mock sadly. "Do not worry little brats, you'll be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you'll have a brand new family."
"Luke. You work for Luke." Percy said, Nicole had almost forgotten he was there.
"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, looking seriously confused. "I mean…who's the General?"
Dr Thorn looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."
There was the sound a helicopter in the distance. Fantastic. Best day ever.
"Where are you taking us?" Nicole said.
"You should be honoured! You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."
"They're not dolls! They're figurines!" Nicole almost shouted. Just like her to defend mythomagic first, not to focus on the crazy vice principal, who seemed intent on kidnapping them. Nicole realized she should focus on her priorities.
"And you can take your great army and shove it up your abducting creepy ass!" Not one of Nicole's best insults, but still affective.
"Now now," Dr Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us. 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."
Half bloods? What were they? This guy is officially crazy.
"The Great what?" Percy asked.
"The Stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn smiled evilly. "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 Nicole. "He's completely nuts."
Nicole on the other hand was kind of curious, the guy belonged in a hospital or something for sure, but what did he mean? Monsters? Olympus? Places and things she wished were real.
"We have to jump off the cliff, into the sea." Percy whispered to Bianca, Nicole would have been annoyed, but now was not the time.
"Okay." Nicole agreed to her sister, "He's completely nuts too." They talked as if Percy wasn't standing within earshot. Just as he opened his mouth, presumably to argue, they were knocked over by something invisible.
"For Zeus!" Shouted the same cool looking girl Nicole had seen earlier. She was holding a spear and the most horrifying shield Nicole had ever seen. She watched the fight intently. Dr Thorn turned slightly, and there, quite obviously was a huge tail, which was now throwing missiles. Just as Nicole thought that this couldn't be any weirder, a boy jumped in front of them and started playing music on some pipes. Bianca couldn't have been watching, but Nicole stared in awe as huge vines sprouted from the ground where Dr Thorn was standing. Suddenly a blonde girl appeared out of nowhere and shouted,
"A manticore!" Nicole looked back at Dr Thorn, who had now changed into a lion thing with a human head. Nicole searched her brain, a manticore? They were real? She was so excited; if this was real would that mean that the Gods were, too?
"Who are you people?" Shouted Bianca, clearly not as amused as her sister, "And what is that?"
"A manticore?" Nicole broadcasted her thoughts out loud. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!" As soon as she said this, the blonde girl pushed both the twins into the snow bank, whilst yelling,
"Get down!" Bianca didn't need to be told twice, and Nicole did so too, to save her sister from worry. They didn't actually see the battle, but Nicole could certainly hear it. She only looked up when someone shouted,
"The hunters!" Suddenly the place was bombarded with silver arrows and moonlight. There, right in front of her eyes, emerged a bunch of girls about her age, and each was firing arrows at Dr Thorn, No, the maticore.
"Permission to kill, my lady?" Said the oldest.
"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws." Wailed the maticore.
"Not so," another girl said. This one was a little younger. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail, and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. In fact, she kind of looked like a younger version of one of Nicole's cards. She looked pretty, for sure, but her expression was stern and dangerous.
"The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." She looked at the older girl, who was wearing a circlet. "Zoë, permission granted."
The monster growled. "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!"
He lunged at Percy and the cool looking girl, but the blonde stood in the way, shouting something.
"Get back, half-blood!" the girl, Zoë, said. "Get out of the line of fire!"
But the girl leaped onto the monster's back and drove her knife into his mane. The manticore howled, turning in circles with his tail flailing as she held on. Nicole saw this out of the corner of her eye, but she was still staring at the girl with auburn hair, trying desperately to place her.
"Fire!" Zoë ordered, which brought Nicole's attention back.
"No!" Percy screamed.
But the Hunters let their arrows fly. The first caught the manticore in the neck. Another hit his chest. The manticore staggered back, wailing, "This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!"
And before anyone could react, the monster, with the blonde still on his back, leaped over the cliff and tumbled into the darkness.
"Annabeth!" He yelled. He started to run after her, but the girls stopped him.
There was the sound of gun fire, coming straight from the helicopter, which was exceptionally unnerving.
Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl with the auburn hair just looked up calmly at the helicopter.
"Mortals," she announced, "Are not allowed to witness my hunt."
Next thing Nicole knew, the helicopter was gone, and a bunch of birds flew off from that direction. Now that was cool.
The hunter walked towards them. Zoë, the older one, stopped in from of the other girl and, not even trying to hide her distaste, said shortly,
"You."
"Zoë Nightshade," The girls stared at each other, "Perfect timing, as usual."
Zoë scanned the rest of them. "Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."
"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."
"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "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."
Did everybody happen to know this one guy or... he tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of the girls held him down.
"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl said. Then it all clicked for Nicole, that face, hunters, seeming magic powers, this girl was Artemis! As in, THE Artemis. Nicole felt like fainting.
Let me go!" he demanded. "Who do you think you are?"
Nicole groaned internally, he hadn't realised.
Zoë stepped forward as if to smack him. Nicole could sense why
"No," Artemis ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoë. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."
The young girl looked up at him "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."
"Um, okay..." said Percy. He seriously was the most stupid boy alive, and Nicole had known him for less than an hour.
The boy with the pipes, on the other hand, gasped, knelt and started blubbering very incomprehensible nonsense, which sounded like,
"Thank you, Lady Artemis; you're so... so... so..."
"Get up, goat boy!" The unnamed girl snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"
"Whoa," Bianca said, Nicole had forgotten about her being there. "Hold up. Time out."
Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger all their new friends, if you could call them that. "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 looked over a Nicole, as if asking for permission. Nicole nodded. She had nothing to hide.
"Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…"
She faltered. They didn't look like they believed her.
"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."
"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade said. She had a really weird accent. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."
"An Olympian, like an athlete?" Bianca questioned. She was such an idiot sometimes, Nicole thought. She was still speechless, her parent was a God?
Everyone snorted at the comment.
"No," Zoë said. "One of the gods."
"This. Is. So. Cool!" Nicole squeaked, unable to contain her excitement. Everybody stared at her accusingly. She was too far gone with happiness to care. It was as if all her dreams were coming to life.
"No. This is not cool." Bianca interrupted her thoughts; trust her sister to be the party pooper. Not that Nicole cared; she was too busy dancing around. It was like she had just ingested a whole store of sweet
"Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"
"Nicole, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There is no such thing as Gods!"
"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." Said the girl.
"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who fell."
Everyone winced. Bianca was not the most tactful either, but that was a trait neither of the twins shared.
"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said. "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 spoke up.
"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!" Nicole raised her hand like a school kid. "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 girl, who Nicole still didn't know the name of, said.
Bianca shivered. "That explains… Nicole, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"Yeah! I totally owned them. They were no match for Nicole Di Angelo! And that bus driver, the one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real! So can I become a monster fighter now like you guys?"
"We'll see. " Percy replied, but he didn't look like he meant it. "That's why Grover has been watching you, 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. Nicole thought Bianca was going to faint right there.
"Grover, put your shoes back on," The girl said. "You're freaking her out."
"Hey, my hooves are clean!"
"Bianca," Percy said, "we came here to help you. You and Nicole need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp." It really was starting to annoy Nicole how Percy kept addressing Bianca instead of her or both of them.
"Camp?" she asked.
"Camp Half-Blood," he answered. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."
"Sweet, let's go!" said Nicole.
"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"
"There is another option," Zoë said.
"No, there isn't!" The girl said.
The girl and Zoë glared at each other. Nicole could tell there was huge tension between the two.
"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoë, 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, Nicole, come with me. I would like to speak with you."
~0o0~
"What?" Nicole raised her voice, "That's completely crazy! Don't get me wrong, you guys are cool and all, but giving up my life to hunt monsters with a bunch of whinny girls is not how I would like to spend my life, Bianca, let's go."
Artemis looked at Nicole with pity. She would have been angered by the girl's insults, but she had just found out she was a demigod and witnessed a fight with a manticore, the goddess figured the child needed some rest.
"If that is what you choose. Bianca, the decision is still yours, think on it." Bianca nodded.
"I can't believe this!" Nicole said, walking off in a huff. She needed to be away from her sister right now.
When Nicole reached the tent at the campsite, Percy and the girl were arguing. She stepped inside.
"Eww it's green!" She said almost immediately, taking one look at Percy's injury.
"Hold still," Grover told him. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out." Percy winced as he dressed the wound.
Nicole rummaged through her bag, which the Hunters had apparently packed for her, though how they'd snuck into Westover Hall unseen, she didn't know. Nicole laid out her pride and joy, her mythomagic collection.
"Figurines." Nicole muttered absent mindly as the others raised an eyebrow at her.
"Big collection," Percy stated.
Nicole grinned; she loved it when people asked about her collection. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."
"You've been playing this game a long time?"
"Just this year. Before that..." Nicole couldn't answer.
"What?" Percy asked.
"I forget. That's weird."
She felt like she should know something, but she shrugged it off, "Hey, can I see that sword you were using?"
Percy showed her the sword, and explained how it turned from a pen into a sword just by uncapping it.
"Cool! Does it ever run out of ink?" Nicole asked, like it was an honest question.
"Um, well, I don't actually write with it."
"Are you really the son of Poseidon?"
"Well, yeah."
"Are you like, awesome at surfing and stuff, then?"
Grover and Thalia were trying hard not to laugh.
"Jeez, Nicole," he replied. "I've never really tried."
"Did you fight a lot with Thalia?" Nicole asked yet again. The girl who she didn't have a name for had since introduced herself as the daughter of Zeus. Percy didn't answer, but something told Nicole that was a yes.
"If Annabeth's mother is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, then why didn't Annabeth know better than to fall off a cliff?" Nicole asked earnestly, and then realized what she had said. She tended to blurt out stuff like that, it could be blamed on her ADHD, but Nicole knew it was just a part of her personality.
"Umm, sorry?" Nicole said like she was asking a question. "Is she your girlfriend or something?" Percy looked like he wanted to murder Nicole after that question.
While she went on asking questions, Nicole got distracted by how green Percy's eyes were. He was kind of good looking, in a cute kind of way. Not that Nicole was boy mad, or that she thought about anybody like that at all. Percy, Thalia and Grover were actually kind of nice, they made Nicole forget for a little while.
Before Percy could rip Nicole's head off, he was called by none other than Zoë Nightshade. When he left Nicole continued to talk to her new made friends, and she learnt all kinds of cool stuff about demigods.
When Percy returned, after what seemed like hours, he had a sad and pitying look on his face. Nicole knew the questions were done for the day, but she wanted to see what was wrong. She left the tent, and walked into the moonlight. Bianca was sitting by the fire. Maybe Nicole could still talk her out of this.
"Hey." Nicole began, almost flatly.
"Nicole... I'm sorry."
"What did you do?" Nicole questioned accusingly.
"I.. uh.. I didn't really have another choice. I wanted to be my own person. I'm so sorry. You can still join. I have this gut feeling that I should trust these people, they're my sisters."
"Bianca? What are you talking about? Trust who? I'm your sister!"
"I pledged myself to Artemis. I'm a hunter."
Nicole felt her jaw drop. She was shivering, but not from the cold.
"You did what? Bianca! How could you?" Bianca said nothing as Nicole walked away without waiting for answer. Nicole felt betrayed. How could her sister ditch her for a bunch of loser preteen girls in matching clothing? Nicole would show Bianca how much she didn't need her. She would show her.
AN: Did you guys like that? If you did please fave, follow and review, it'll motivate me to write more! Next chapter: Nicole and the gang meet Apollo and pay a visit to Camp Half Blood!
