A/N: Chapter 1 is here, just like I promised. If you like (or don't like) what you see, please review and tell me what and why- I'm always looking to improve my writing skills. Let the fun continue!
Melany and Percy stumble through the last row of trees just as a loud crash echoes through the clearing. This is followed by a string of highly creative curses, and Melany sighs as she leads Percy over to a large stone pavilion. "Welcome to Wolf House." Percy looks around, an awed look on his face as he takes in the Roman architecture. "Don't look too much like a tourist." Melany jokes, and his mouth shuts with an audible click.
"You live here?"
"Sometimes." She moves towards the front of the building, and Percy follows, eyes taking in everything around the clearing with unadulterated curiosity and amazement. "It gets drafty in winter, so Catherine and I stay in a cabin a few miles away."
"Who's Catherine? One of the wolves?"
Melany laughs. "No, she's the blacksmith." They enter the building, Percy still asking questions and Melany doing her best to answer. Where are they? Northern California. How long has she lived here? As long as she can remember. What is her favorite color? Blue. Do you have any idea who I may be? Melany doesn't answer as they pass through what appears to be a large dining hall and enter a much smaller chamber. It is dimly lit, with torches in brackets high up on the walls, and a large furnace at the far end. Racks of weapons line the walls, and tools are scattered on two large worktables. A door in the corner is open, and sunlight is streaming in through it. "Catherine?" Melany calls.
"What?" the voice comes in from outside.
"Get back in here!" Melany shouts. "I have someone for you to meet!"
"Did Amazon finally bring the Imperial Gold I ordered?"
"You know those girls hate coming here. Why do you keep ordering from them?"
"'Cause it's fun to piss them off!" After this last statement, a girl much shorter than Melany appears in the doorway. Her clothes seem to be a toss-up between a high school athlete- running pants and a t-shirt- and a construction worker- tool belt, steel-toed boots, and safety glasses. Her hair is black, but color streaks through it in neon swatches to be lost in abundant curls which are, in turn, pulled back into a very complex braid. Her eyes, Percy is startled to notice, are a bright purple. She smiles at him, and he shakes off the funny feeling that seeing those eyes causes. "So, what's your name?"
"Percy."
"Nice to meet ya. I'm Catherine." They shake hands, and Percy notes the rough calluses that must be from work in the forge. He lets out a startled shout as Catherine starts feeling up and down his shirt and pants, sniffing at him.
"What are you doing!?" she looks up at him with big… blue… eyes, and Percy begins to wonder if she's even human.
"You've got a magic item with you. Where is it?""
Percy laughs nervously, slowly backing away. "You're crazy." Melany puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Melany.."
"Calm down. She may go about it in an odd way, but she's never wrong when enchantments. Don't worry- she only bites if she's really pissed off. Usually." Catherin stands up, a strange gleam in her now green eyes.
"Can you turn out your pockets? I think it's a transformation spell." More from fear that she will try to do it herself if he doesn't comply that an actual desire to do so, Percy complies, retrieving some lint, thirty-seven cents in nickels and pennies, a soda can tab, and an old-fashioned ballpoint pen. It appears to be made out of brass, and is heavier than it looks. Percy isn't sure how he didn't notice its presence sooner. Catherine looks to him for permission, and he offers her the pen. Her eyes go wide with awe, the grey orbs taking every detail of the seemingly harmless writing utensil. "This is amazing."
Percy blinks, now even more convinced that something is wrong with Catherine's mental state. "It's a pen." She smiles.
"It only looks like a pen, Percy. It's actually a deadly weapon."
"It's a pen," he repeats. "It's a pen, the both of you are crazy, and this is a horrible dream that I'm going to wake up from any minute now, because there's no way any of what has happened today is real." Melany and Catherine exchange looks before bursting into laughter.
"He thinks it's all a dream!" Catherine hoots. "Seven years of hell, and he thinks he's dreaming." Her eyes lock on Percy, now black as night, and before the other two can so much as blink, a glittering sword is being leveled at Percy's throat. "You would do well to watch your tongue. You never know what people will take offense at." She lowers the sword and looks at it critically. "Balance is good, but it's not a Roman design. Catch." She tosses it, and in a move that looks to be purely reflexive, Percy snatches it out of the air, twirling it twice before bringing it to rest at his side.
"What…"
Catherine smirks. "You may not remember, but you know how to use it." She turns and opens the door of the furnace. "Get lost- I'm busy." Percy stands open-mouthed as Catherine shovels coal into the furnace until Melany leads him away.
"Well done, kelp-for-brains." Melany says as they re-enter the main hall. "It took you less than ten minutes to piss her off. I think you set a new record." Percy stares at the sword still clenched in his right hand. The weapon has set something tingling in the back of his mid, but he can't quite place it. Then Melany's insult registers, and he turns, startled by the emotion it invokes.
"What did you just call me?" Melany snorts.
"I said that you have seaweed for brains."
The niggling feeling grows stronger, and a name works free of the mud that his memories have become. "Annabeth…"
"Who? What?"
"Annabeth called me that." Melany is now genuinely interested. It's the first thing he's been able to say about his past, small though the victory may be.
"Who's Annabeth? Your sister? Your girlfriend?"
Percy tries to remember, but the harder he thinks, the muddier it all seems to become, and a headache starts building behind his temples. "I don't know." A sharp pain lances through his skull, and he stumbles. Melany is startled, and she moves forward to support him.
"Are you ok? What happened?"
He pushes her off, feeling unreasonably mad at her for her questions, at Catherine for her behavior, and at himself for not being able to remember. "I don't know! Gods damn it. I just don't know!"
"Be watchful of whose names you use to curse, Perseus." Both of them look to the entrance of the hall, and Melany falls to one knee at the sight of a large grey wolf. "And try not to let Catherine's abilities affect you so much. Melany, you should have warned him."
Melany flinches at the rebuttal. "Yes, mother." She stands back up and faces Percy. "Percy, this is Lupa, my mother in practice if not by blood." She smiles ruefully. "You dropped in in the middle of my coming of age ceremony, so to speak." Lupa sniffs and stalks over, all muscle and sinew under a glossy coat of long, grey fur.
"You will hunt again tomorrow, Melany. For now, go prepare a place for our guest to sleep." Melany bows in deference to the command before running out of the hall, leaving Percy at the mercy of the wolves.