Chapter 1 - Starting Your Day With Pranks

~Christine Galliardo's POV~

I was in some place I barely recognized. Instead of the familiar pure white, infinite blackness stretched at all sides but not necessarily dark. I was standing not on ground but on the surface of clear water. Circular ripples danced on the water's surface, triggered by something nonexistent. The broken mirror stood in front of me. The shards floating in a still motion.

I gingerly picked one of the shards. Its ragged edges threatening to cut my skin. I lifted it up. For a moment, the surface rippled into a blurry image. I could only make out dark blots of different colors.

"Looking for something, dear?" A familiar voice asked behind me.

I was surprised that I accidentally cut my finger and dropped the shard. Red blood mixed with flecks of gold trickled down my finger. Blood and ichor mixed into one. A sure sign that I was returning back to my godhood. Quicker than I can blink, the wound closed up and the scar disappeared. I looked up and saw three familiar faces sitting on stools in an outward semicircle facing me. Instead of floral printed dresses, they were wearing dark robes with the hoods pulled back.

One of them gave me a soft toothy smile. "Well? Aren't you going say anything to your caretakers?"

"I..." I don't know what to say. I owe then for taking care of me but at the same time, I kind of see them differently. It's hard to describe it but it was no longer the adopter-adoptee relationship.

"Clotho," Another hushed. "One shouldn't treat her as a child anymore."

"Indeed." The third nodded as she inspected a golden thread from a yarn which faintly glowed in the darkness. "Quite interesting, I must say."

Seeing the thread sent a chill on my spine. It was my lifeline. Clotho and Atropos were both weaving while Lachesis held the yarn with an amused smile.

"You have a lot of possibilities at hand, young goddess. All you have experienced now barely make up a portion of you. But which one would you truly embrace?"

"I thought you control fate itself?" I asked.

"Ah, yes." Atropos answered. "We do. But yours was an exceptional case. No god was ever born inheriting a protogenos' power. Phanes was born out of the silver egg created by Chronos and Ananke, the protogenos of fate. You inherited their blessings too, making you partially immune to our power. This what makes you unique among all gods."

Lachesis held out a length of the thread, offering it to me. I hesitantly took it. A tingling sensation crawled to my fingers. The thread glowed brighter. My life up to this very moment flashed before my eyes.

"Your decisions made you reach this far." Clotho's voice echoed as the dream began to dissolve. "Will it be the end or will it be a new beginning? That is all yours to decide. We will simply weave what you will present us."

I woke up as gallons of water poured down on me. I jerked up, sputtering and cursing in Ancient Greek. I was soaked, including the bed and the marble floor. I looked up and saw empty buckets strung up above me. Written on the buckets were the words, Property of Hermes Cabin. Please return if found. There was a big X on the second sentence on one of the buckets, probably written by someone who got into the same situation. Please bash the Stolls with this if you ever get pranked.

I smirked. Oh, I got better. I looked up at the huge statue of my dad. For a moment, its eyes flashed. I don't need some sort of dramatic sign to know Dad saw that and was probably cooking up some nasty punishment.

"Don't worry, Dad. I got this." I said, which was stupid considering the fact I was talking to a statue.

I concentrated, gathering the water from my soaked clothes and the bed, and forming a single puddle on the floor. I willed the water to crawl and slipped past the doors where my targets were snickering and laughing, unaware of my little payback. I snapped my fingers and two girly shrieks woke up the whole camp.

Jason woke up and fell from his bunk opposite to mine. He sat up groggily. "Owww!" He groaned, rubbing his head. "What in Hades?"

"Morning, sleepy head." I laughed. "I believe the Stolls have started their morning Hermes rituals and got a payback quicker than they expected." I pointed upward.

Jason looked at where I was pointing. He paled. "You got to be kidding...t-they dared?" His face crunched into a frown. "But you're dry."

I rummaged through my things and pulled a towel and a change of clothes. "Let's just say the water moved and got them." I jerked my thumb at the door. "Take a look for yourself."

He stiffly stood up and ran a hand on his messy blonde hair as he walked toward the door. He opened it and almost jumped three feet off the ground. He looked at me over his shoulder. "Uh...I don't think Hermes will approve of this." He said.

I smiled sweetly. "Oh, he won't, but Dad will. Believe me." I walked up to him and peered. "Morning, boys."

The two frozen boys looked at me at the corner of their eyes. Their faces were frozen at mid-shriek and laugh. "Hi...brrr..Chri...Christine...brr..."

Jason coughed. "Are you not going to unfreeze them?"

I smiled brightly. "Nope. Either the ice melts or the wild harpies will go after them or Dad will zap into ashes. Any of the three will be fine with me." An idea popped in my mind as I looked at the Stolls. "Jason, will you please untie the buckets and get a marker? On the other hand, Connor has already a marker. Just get the buckets."

"If you're going to do something stupid and someone asked who've done it, please don't mention me." He said and went inside to get the buckets.

I willed the ice to liquefy a bit around Connor's hand and made it shoot the marker to my hand. Jason went out, holding the buckets by the handles. I took each and wrote on them before placing it on the ground in front of the Stolls. Please help in unfreezing them. Bash them with this buckets while you're at it.

Jason whistled. Despite his statement earlier, he was grinning. "Chiron will get you for that."

"I know, bro." Then, I trudged to the bathrooms to prep up for the day.

Perhaps, I should make a short introduction about myself. My name is Christine Galliardo a.k.a Ariacalyssa. The former is my human name while the latter is my true name. I just turned seventeen two weeks ago which I celebrated walking in the eternal pit of damnation.

At this moment, I am a demigod, part-human and part-god, but in reality, I was born a goddess. My mother is Hera and my father is Zeus. My siblings? A lot. Almost all of them at my father's side. He's a top notch womanizer. How many affairs? Don't ask. That will be a looooooong list.

Why was I turned into a demigod? A long story but I was turned to accomplish a certain task. That is to stop another crazy ancient god in destroying Olympus. Guess what? He's the god of the Pit where I spent my seventeenth birthday. He helped me celebrate by trapping me in his domain, messing with my mind, and trying to kill me. Best birthday ever.

When I finally finished preparing, a crowd has already gathered outside Cabin #1. I could hear laughter and teasing from the gathered campers. Other campers were walking toward Zeus cabin to check what was the commotion all about. To be honest, I stayed in the cabin of my mother for almost all of my time in camp and a few weeks in Hermes cabin when I wasn't yet claimed. It was just now that I get to stay in my father's cabin too. It's up to me where I want to stay between the two cabins despite the fact that the information about my true identity was yet to be disclosed to the whole camp. So far, no one asked. Probably because everyone was knocked out last night after a hard battle yesterday. Last night, Dad asked me to stay in Cabin #1 to look after Jason. He got badly knocked out in yesterday's battle. At first, it was awkward. We were both used to be alone in our respective cabins. But being friends and half-siblings, we got to talk a bit, exchanging stories about the previous weeks. Of course, I made sure to leave out details that do not concern him or the camp.

As I watched the campers clamor outside the cabin, Chiron walked out of the Big House, finally noticing the commotion. Alexios landed down beside me, taking in the scene. You're so dead. He deadpanned.

The crowd parted as Chiron inspected the frozen Stolls. He immediately looked at my direction. His expression was of a teacher who was going to send you to detention in a calm manner. Definitely Chiron style.

"Yep. I'm dead." I said.

Told you. He said.

And I was off running away from a chasing centaur. A nice morning death exercise.

After getting chased, being calmly scolded with the still frozen Stolls, unfreezing them, and punching them on the gut for good measure, we finally gathered in the dining pavilion for breakfast. Today's breakfast was a feast to celebrate our victory in the previous battle. A huge buffet was laid out for each cabin table comprising with delectable dishes. The fire in the bronze brazier lit up brighter than usual. The campers were chatting and laughing in high spirits. I decided to sit down across Jason in the Zeus table.

"Did Chiron grill you?" He asked.

"Oh, he did." I answered. "He put me into cleaning duty for a week. That's the shortest time I could plead for."

"But he didn't he say you should do it with bare hands?"

I smirked. "Nope. He didn't."

From the head table, Chiron was talking to the satyrs in hushed tones. Some of them looked at me with awe, shock, fear, and whatever else you should probably feel if you are in their situation. Mr. D hasn't returned yet from Olympus. The Olympians are probably still having a meeting (argument). After a few more words, Chiron glanced briefly at my direction. I subtly moved a finger on the table, writing invisible words on the wood. Chiron seemed to understand albeit strained. Last night, we agreed not to tell the whole camp the truth. Not yet. We still have to inform the camp leaders about it later. He stomped his hoof repeatedly. The whole pavilion became quiet.

"As all we know for today, we celebrate our victory against Tartarus' forces yesterday."

The whole pavilion erupted in cheers, clapping, and banging of cups. Chiron raised his hand and everyone settled down.

"In this celebration, we will also thank the gods for their help and celebrate the return of one of your family members."

Everyone looked at me. I felt my cheeks grew hot. I sunk on my seat a bit.

"She ventured to the land of the dead and made a sacrifice to save one of her own. For so long, we believed she was dead, not realizing she was alive. For weeks, she walked on the terrible lands of Tartarus, trying to survive...to live."

He glanced at me. "But thanks to the gods, she was rescued and now, she returned to us during the time we need help the most. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be dining and celebrating now."

He looked at each of them. "My friends, my family, let us welcome the return of your fellow demigod, Christine Galliardo, daughter of Hera."

The campers cheered. I nodded thankfully. Connor and Travis stood up, waving a banner saying, GLAD YOU DIDN'T DIE! despite today's campers from a neighboring table pulled them back down. I mouthed a thanks to the camp leaders who smiled at me happily.

Chiron raised his cup. "Now, let us feast to our hearts' content!"

The campers cheered and within seconds, hands began snatching up food from the buffets. I decided to take a light breakfast as opposed to Jason. After all, the buffet prepared on our table is only for us so, there's no need to hurry. Percy trudged toward us with a plate of towering blue food and whatever favorites he has. He sat beside Jason who was scarfing on Italian pasta and barbecue. Percy leaned in as if he's going to share something confidential.

"So...here you are." Percy said in a failed detective tone. "Is it true?"

I snatched a blue pancake from his plate and took a bite of it. "It's a secret." I said, placing an index finger over my lips.

He pouted but fortunately, didn't protest about his stolen pancake. He simply snatched up a barbecue from out buffet. "I heard the Hunters are going back this afternoon."

"Aren't they here before I went down to the Underworld?" I asked.

"Yeah, but they left shortly afterwards to look for Artemis when she was exiled again. Since then, Thalia and a few of the Hunters would visit from time to time to provide support." Percy explained.

"I guessed Diana...er, Artemis sent them back to camp to prepare for final battle." Jason said.

My left eye twitched. "Is that so?"

"What's up?" Jason asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck. For some reason, I could feel my skin tingling as if electrocuted. "Well, your sister and I got into a little scuffle back then during the Capture the Flag. She totally roasted me down."

"Ooooooh! Death match." Percy exclaimed. "I wished I get to watch that."

"As if you didn't get into many fights with her." Annabeth said as she settled down beside me. Unlike Percy, she didn't bring her plate with her.

Percy smiled. "Hey, Wise Girl."

"I think Chiron is planning to hold a Capture the Flag tonight. Not that I have asked him yet. But it's a good practice for the incoming battle. We need all the preparation we could get to win this war."

"And burn all cholesterol from this feast." Percy added before gobbling up a piece of barbecue.

I ducked as a plate full of falafel sailed overhead. It landed down on Hermes cabin gently. "Maybe I should sit that one out."

"Because you're...uh...you know?" Jason asked while glancing around.

"No? I guess." I shrugged. "Your sister was there when I was claimed. We haven't talked since then and you know how bad is the blood between her and my mother."

"A smack down." Jason concluded. "You're saying a smack down might happen?"

Percy gestured with his fork. "I'll pay to see that."

"Well, the final decision will be from Chiron." Annabeth said as she stood up. "If he didn't agree, I want you to be in my group."

I raised my eyebrow. "You thought of this ahead of time."

"Just how an Athena kid is supposed to." Annabeth nodded. "Besides, I want a back-to-back win against the Hunters. Winning once is a miracle on itself. Winning twice..." She smirked. "That will totally get into Thalia's nerves." After saying that, she walked back to the Athena table.

Percy smiled. "Sweet! That's my Wise Girl."

Jason shivered. "For some reason, I don't want to get into Annabeth's bad side."

"She's Athena's daughter." I said. "And your niece at the godly side."

"Same as you." Jason nodded.

Percy squirmed out of his seat. "I should probably go back to my table. Chiron is giving that look."

I looked at Chiron's direction. True enough, he was giving that look to Percy. "I sense danger."

"Death."

Nico glanced at our direction with look that says, You called? Or was it, Shut up, morons. I couldn't tell.

"If you die Percy," I smirked teasingly. "I will have all the freedom to make blue food into red."

Percy scowled. "I will definitely see you in Capture the Flag, Galliardo." He scampered back to his own table.

"A death wish." Jason shook his head.

"It will be fine." I assured him. "I'm more worried about facing your sister right now than facing the god of the Pit at the later date."

Jason sighed. "Makes sense."

I picked up a grape from a plate hovering overhead and popped it in my mouth. "We have a meeting later and a Capture the Flag tonight. Probably best to enjoy the food until it lasts."

I should probably take that back because a few minutes after I said that. Pies and fruits began sailing overhead as a huge food fight started because of the Stolls.