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Theo

Theo suddenly realised he was charging at some ancient Greek monsters with no weapon. How stupid could he be? His only defence was his loud yell, and that wasn't going to be any use – he had no chance of killing these hags with just his voice. The first hag was literally on top of him as he rolled to the side. The second and third had got behind him and were slashing their talons through his shirt, and Theo suddenly felt a sharp wave of severe pain as one of the hag's talons ripped through a layer of skin, causing a thin line of blood to pour out.

The Furies cackled. 'What chance do you have against us, boy?' the first hissed delightfully. 'We're going to kill you, so why not give yourself up? You're only delaying your death, you know.'

'Never!' Theo spat. He felt a quick burst of strength in his tired out muscles, and made a grab for the nearest hag, and strangled it. Hag One and Hag Two got complacent for a second, and stared at their sister as she disintegrated into thick yellow dust. A second was all Theo needed. Grabbing the basketball by his head, he raised it over himself and threw it at Hag Two. It landed right on top of her, squashing her. She too disintegrated. Hag One looked around her, a little less confident than before. Lashing her burning whip, she flew at Theo, who had leapt to his feet. He tried to grab her as she got near, but she slashed her whip across his face before he could. Theo fell, clutching his face in pain.

'You may have got rid of my sisters, Theseus, but you'll never send me to Tartarus!' Hag One hissed. 'You will be dead long before that.'

Tartarus? Gods, Theo hadn't thought of that.

'Yes, boy,' Hag One laughed, sensing his new wave of panic. 'We monsters will never die. You just send us to Tartarus and, while it may take us many centuries, we will reform and return to kill all demigods.' Theo's head was spinning now. Too much information in one go, and the blood from his back's cut was pouring even faster and thicker now.

'Okay,' he tried to say, his words slurring together. 'That may be the case, but I will get rid of you for now.' He stumbled to his feet and flung his arms wildly around trying to smack her down. His face burning, with new blisters popping up, Theo desperately made another snatch at the hag and missed.

He collapsed on the cold wood floor and could feel blood and sweat mingling on his back and the pain continually flaring with every movement. 'Give up, boy, and give yourself to me,' Hag One insisted. 'I will speak with my master and ensure you get a decent stay in the Underworld. After all, it will be permanent. So, finish your silly little hero act and let me kill you.' The hag clearly thought that being kind, in her way, would encourage him to give up.

'No,' he whispered, and heaved himself up again. Suddenly, Theo had an urge. He lifted his hand to the sky and positioned it over his head. Not knowing what would happen, he got a shock when lightning crackled overhead and a huge fork blasted through the roof and through Hag One. The Fury didn't even have time to look up before it hit her and she disintegrated. Tired out, sweaty and in pain, Theo collapsed on the floor and blacked out.

Next time he woke up, Theo found himself lying in some grass, in the shade of a large, old oak tree. The sun was shining, and the blue sky was cloudless. He thought he was alone, until a girl's voice said to his right, 'Thank the gods! You're awake.' He recognised the voice, but couldn't place it. He tried to move his neck, but it was stiff and ached with every tiny movement, as did all his other joints. His back flared with pain as he leaned up against the oak. He was unable to stand or move anywhere, and felt stupidly helpless. He noticed that he was wearing a fresh new shirt, grey in colour. Weird, since he didn't own a grey shirt and didn't think he was wearing one when he last remembered anything. What had happened? All he remembered was some flying bat hags with burning whips who'd come and attacked him. He remembered them disintegrating into thick yellow dust, and how he'd unleashed a mean fork of lightning. How? Was it all a dream? His whole body hurt, and flared with pain, so he guessed not. Lifting his shirt cautiously with sore fingers, he saw that his chest had been wound up in thick bandages that went all the way round his middle. The girl's voice piped up again: 'Don't do that! You'll only hurt yourself more and make the aches and pains worse!' She came into focus above him, holding a damp cloth and a few squares of what looked like fudge. She pressed the cloth to his hot forehead, the coolness of damp spreading through him and held the fudge squares to his mouth, and fed him them one at a time. 'You can't eat more of those than this,' she said. 'You'll die otherwise.' Cheerful, Theo thought.

He immediately felt better. The fudge didn't taste like fudge; it tasted like his mom's comforting apple pie. How was that possible? 'What is it?' he managed to croak.

'Ambrosia,' the girl said calmly, pushing his hair back from his face and patting his forehead with the cloth. 'Food of the gods.'

'Food of the gods?'

'Yes, Greek gods. Now, hush, and get some more rest, you'll need it.'

'Wait, why?'

'For the long journey that awaits you, of course. Now, no more questions sleep!' The girl waved her hand over Theo's face and he immediately felt his eyelids grow heavy and begin to close. Within seconds, he was in a deep sleep.

His sleep might've been deep, but that didn't mean he didn't have dreams. And the dream he had was weird. He dreamt he was sitting in a large, empty cabin, staring up at this really creepy statue of the Greek lord of the sky, Zeus. Theo didn't know how he knew that, he just did. The statue was so foreboding it made Theo's dream-self break out in a sweat and panic. He tried to move, to get out of the statue's glare, but it seemed his feet were glued to the stone floor. The statue was so badly made that Theo thought it made the sky lord look a bit like a hippie, one of those strange guys with headbands, long hair and flowery clothes that go around trying to promote peace in the world. It really freaked him out but he couldn't get out the line of sight of the statue. What was this place? Why was his dream-self there? He didn't know why, but he knew he had to find this place.

Suddenly, there was a rumble of thunder, and a fork of lightning slammed into the statue, and went through the statue's body. The statue shifted and Theo wanted to scream as he realised it had been brought to life. Zeus stared down at Theo, and lines around his eyes creased as he frowned, his expression grim, but also curious. 'Boy,' he said, his voice a low rumble, that still echoed around the empty cabin. He fixed Theo with a steely glare. 'Boy, why are you not yet here?'

'W-what?'

'This place. Why are you not here yet?' Theo shook his head, clueless as to what the statue was talking about. Fear had given way to pure confusion. 'I expected you to be here.' Zeus was silent for a moment, thinking quietly. 'You need to get here quickly; else you will be in more danger. I know of the Furies who attacked you. I, the lord of the sky, am told all that happens in my realm.'

Theo's throat had a lump in it. 'What danger am I in?'

But Zeus continued as if Theo had never spoken. 'I will give you three more days to journey here, boy. After that, I cannot, and will not, protect you. It is good to start to learn to defend yourself early, and then once you get here, you will be trained as a proper hero.' He smiled, but the gesture was gone as quickly as it had come. 'I am most interested to see what sort of hero you become, my boy.'

'Wait! What is this place? What do you mean proper hero? What about my boy? What are you talking about?'

'Careful how you address me boy.' Zeus looked stern. 'The girl knows, my boy, ask her.' Then, the lightning struck the statue once more, and it went utterly still, as it has been before. The cabin went black and Theo woke up.

He sat upright against the oak. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around for the girl. He saw her, by a river he hadn't noticed earlier, washing her face and collecting water in a wooden bucket. She came back, and smiled at him when she saw he was awake. 'Good morning, Theo,' she said. Dipping her hand in the water she wiped his face. Her touch was gentle and the water was cool and refreshing.

'How do you know my name?' he asked her, realising he had never told her it.

The girl smiled, almost like she was amused at the question. 'Your memory seems to have been affected by the attack of the Furies, perhaps?' Theo frowned, not sure what she was talking about. He didn't think his memory had been affected. Sure, he recognised the voice but not the face. Who could it be that he should remember…?

'That doesn't answer my question,' he noted, and she grinned cheekily. 'I have another one. Who are you?'

'Your short-term memory is affected,' the girl annoyingly said, refusing to get to the point of the questions. 'But perhaps not your long-term?'

Theo gritted his teeth. 'Would you please just answer my questions rather than spouting all this weird memory stuff?'

'Oh, but Theo, you already know the answers to your questions,' she said, slyly smiling at him. 'Don't you remember me? I'm Izzy.'

OK. Too many weird things had happened to Theo in the last forty-eight hours that discovering that the girl who had been caring for him the past day was the same girl who had suggested he skived off the morning before at the school. He just accepted it, but had loads of questions. 'How did you find me? How do you know about the weird hag bat-winged things that attacked me?'

'Furies,' she corrected. 'The three demon sisters, loyal servants to Hades, Greek Lord of the Dead.'

'Okay, the Furies then.' Theo took a deep breath. 'If you saw them as well, and know what they are…'

'I never saw them, Theo,' Izzy said quietly. 'I just knew they were what had attacked you from your wounds. I have tended to many heroes before you who have come up against those demon sisters.' There was that word again: hero. How could he have anything to do with that?

'We're not mortal, are we?' he asked slowly, and panic rose in him when she shook her head. He forced it to back down with a deep breath.

'We are half-bloods, Theo,' Izzy said calmly, aware he was finding this out for the first time. 'Or demigods, is our actual name.'

'Demi…' Theo thought for a second. 'Whoa, does that mean…?'

'Yes, Theo. We are children of the Greek gods. We are half-god.' She gulped down some water from the bucket between them. 'There is a special camp for children like us – Camp Half-Blood. It moves around with the Western Civilisation and the gods. Recently, it has been in America, but just a decade ago, it moved back to England, and is now on the banks of the Thames in London, not far from Big Ben, where the modern Mount Olympus hovers.'

Theo took a long time digesting this, but Izzy seemed anxious he understood before she continued. 'So where are we now?'

'Forest of Dean,' Izzy replied. 'Come on, we must hurry on our journey. We must go just north, and then west.' She grabbed the bucket. 'Can you stand? You must be able to walk.' When she saw him struggling, she rushed over and gave him some of the bucket's weight to hold. She slipped her arm round his waist, steadying him. 'If this is how we must move, so be it, but we must go now, are we to get you there by two days' sunset.'

They'd been walking for about three hours in silence, Theo thinking about his life. Suddenly everything strange in his life made sense. His feet were painfully sore, but his mind was too full to think about that. His father must be a Greek God, as his mum was mortal. Then something struck him. His dream. The hippie Zeus statue. Suddenly his dream made sense, and he got a strange taste in his mouth. He had an idea about his dad, but decided not to share it with Izzy. Not quite yet.

They stopped in Gloucester and camped near the docks. Theo felt sick and got a searing pain in his back, like the cut was reopening. It went on like this all night, like he wasn't supposed to be near water and was being punished for being there. Izzy passed out almost as soon as they'd made camp and eaten some fried fish for supper. She had seemed exhausted all the time they were walking. Theo had a feeling she'd stayed awake all night, both nights he'd been injured, so she could keep an eye on him and keep watch out for any strangers or, Theo hated to think about it, monsters. He had a guilty feeling in his stomach all night as he contended with the, at first, seemingly unexplainable pain.

It had taken a good few hours for Theo to cope with the pain enough that he could sleep. And, when he did eventually fall asleep, his dreams were anything but peaceful. He was back in the cabin, and this time, the Zeus statue was already awake and waiting for him. 'Ah, there you are, my boy,' he rumbled. 'You are on your way, I see.'

'Of course, sir,' Theo got up the courage to say. 'I know what I am now, too.'

Zeus said nothing in reply. He gripped the lightning bolt that was at his side. 'Do you know what this is, child?' he asked.

Theo stared at it. 'A lightning bolt?'

'Right, but it is also my master bolt, the most powerful bolt ever.' Impressive, Theo thought, but he didn't say. 'Many people have tried to steal this. The last was forty years back, in America. It turned out that my father, the Titan Kronos, was trying to rise, and used demigod son of Hermes Luke Castellan to take it from me. However, Ares then found it, and never gave it back until Perseus Jackson fought him for it and won.' Zeus grimaced as he spoke, opening a painful memory. 'Now, my son, Apollo. His sun chariot has been taken, and we fear it was by someone more powerful than Kronos. Worse than that, yet, my shield, Aegis, has also been stolen. My weapons are those of great power, child, and they can turn the world upside down.' Zeus looked down at Theo for the first time, and Theo could have sworn it was a pleading, imploring look. 'The world will remain in complete darkness until the sun chariot is recovered. You will not know day from night. The thief has taken Aegis to stop anyone from taking the chariot back. Aegis has the power of Medusa, and all demigods and monsters alike, will recoil from it, and find it hard to cope with.' Medusa, Medusa, Theo knew her story.

'Wasn't she the one who got turned into a gorgon and now her eyes have the power to turn people to stone?'

'Correct, child.' Zeus took a deep breath, and the stone rumbled under Theo's feet. 'She was destroyed in the quest for my lightning bolt, but we fear she, and many other terrible monsters, are finally returning.'

'What can I, as one child, one demigod, do?' Theo implored of the god.

'Alone? Nothing. However, together with others? Now you can do something.'

'I have to get a team?'

'Right. Get here, to camp, and everything will become clearer. When you arrive, ask to see Chiron, and explain these dreams. He will understand. Seek to find my daughter, a Hunter of Artemis. She carries a shield copy of Aegis, and will help you.' Zeus hefted his bolt in his hand and aimed the point at Theo's head. 'Now, my boy, wake!'

A blast of lightning blinded him, and he sat bolt upright on the cold concrete. Izzy was already awake, frying the last of the fish she had caught last night. 'You okay?' she asked, her eyes fixed on the fire.

'Just weird dreams, that's all.' Theo took a fish and munched on it. Izzy tore her eyes from the fire to stare at him as he ate. 'What?'

'Strange dreams, Theo, that's normal for a demigod, but not always good.' She took a fish of her own and waved her hand at him. 'Tell me.'

'Tell you what?'

'Your dream, silly. It is nearly always a warning or a helpful sign, a demigod dream, so it's useful to share it.'

'Oh, right.' Theo swallowed the last of his fish and threw the bones on the dying fire. He took a swig of water and then told Izzy everything, including the dream before last night's.

'This is not good. Can't be, not again,' Izzy muttered after Theo had finished.

'What is it?'

'You said Lord Zeus spoke to you in both dreams?'

'Yes.'

'He kept calling you 'my boy'?'

'Right again.'

'You were in a stormy cabin?'

'Yep. A cabin sacred to Zeus, I guess.'

'No, no. This is only going to make things worse.' Izzy looked really panicked, and Theo had no idea why. She leapt to her feet, snapped her fingers and the camp unmade itself, folding up neatly into a little kit bag, one Theo might've used for PE. Izzy shouldered the kit bag and looked worriedly at Theo, grabbing him to make him stand. 'Come on. We have to keep moving.' Her forehead had worry lines creased upon it, far too deep for her age. Theo was still clueless as to why Izzy was so worried, but he thought it would be best not to ask.

They walked for about two hours before the first monster found them. 'Shush,' Izzy muttered, putting a hand on his arm.

'What?'

'Monster,' she hissed through gritted teeth. 'Make no noise and follow me. The more noise we make, the more the monster will know exactly where we are.' Izzy literally dragged him to hide behind a large bush.

'Will this hide us?'

'From sight, yes. Smell? No.' Izzy grimaced. 'Their sight isn't good, but smell is. This will only hide us for a few minutes.' She pulled a knife out her pocket, a small, yet sharp and deadly-looking, blade. 'Prepare to fight.'

'I don't have a weapon,' Theo pointed out. 'I fought the Furies with available resources.' Izzy smacked herself silently in the head.

'Of course.' She reached into the kit bag on her shoulder and pulled out a spear.

'Whoa. Where'd that come from?' Theo asked, sure he hadn't seen it before. He'd obviously said it too loud because Izzy kicked him sharply in the shin and hissed at him to shut up.

She touched the edge of the spear's tip and it shrank into a ball point pen. Then she pulled off the lid and the nib stretched until it transformed into a gleaming bronze sword. She then touched the bottom and the spear appeared. 'Here.' She thrust the spear-pen-sword into Theo's hand. 'You have a weapon now.' Theo stared at it, awestruck. He glimpsed a name engraved in Ancient Greek and he automatically understood it: Riptide. 'I'll explain later,' Izzy hissed when Theo turned to her with his mouth open, question on the tip of his tongue. 'The monster's upon us. Come.'

Suddenly, the ground shook with heavy footsteps, and there was a loud, very audible sniff as the monster tried to smell his prey. The bush was ripped away and Theo found himself staring at a huge, hairy tummy button.

The monster was well over ten feet tall, with bull horns the size of Theo's arms jutting out on either side of his head. He wore nothing but a dirty loincloth that looked like a nappy, which would've been funny if they hadn't been in a life or death situation. There was coarse, dark brown hair that began at the tummy button, Theo's eye level, and got thicker as it climbed to his shoulders, where it covered his ugly face. The nose was a cow's snout that looked so bashed in like someone had recently smashed a shield into it. The monster was sniffing thickly, like he was struggling to breathe. Good, Theo thought. He got to his feet, Riptide in his hands, but Izzy had rushed past, brandishing her bronze knife before he'd even taken a step. The hands and feet were paws, with sharp claws on the end of each finger and toe. Theo got the feeling this monster could easily tear him to shreds within two seconds if he didn't move fast, so he rolled quickly to one side as the monster roared fiercely and swiped at him. Izzy was stabbing the best she could at the monster, and it was bleeding golden blood. 'Theo!' she shrieked. 'Tease it forward! Get it to charge! When it charges, it can't stop.'

'Come on, Beef-Brain!' he yelled. 'I'm over here, stupid. It's me you want!' He turned and ran towards Tower Bridge and could hear the monster roar and turned back just in time to see the monster lower his head and pace the ground, ready to charge. Theo turned round and ran.

The monster slammed into the bridge, and the poles and wire got tangled in his horns. Theo leapt onto the bridge, and while the monster was trying to detangle himself, raised Riptide and stabbed down. The monster turned into the thick yellow dust like the Furies and disappeared. Theo collapsed on the bridge, exhausted, until Izzy found him and hoisted him up. 'What…what was that?'

Izzy set her expression. 'The Minotaur. The last demigod who had to deal with him was Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. The fact he came after you is not good at all.'

'Are we close?' Theo noticed Izzy's blade dripping with gold blood. 'What's that?'

'Ichor. Blood of the gods.' Izzy wiped it on her combat jacket. 'We're close. An hour more at most.' She paused and wouldn't meet his eyes. 'That's why the Minotaur came after you now, and not earlier.' She sheathed her blade and Theo touched Riptide's blade tip and it shrank back into a pen, which he slipped in his pocket. Izzy must've sensed his movement as she stopped, without turning round, and said: 'That blade; it's a cursed blade. But it was also the great Percy Jackson's blade. He did great things with that blade.' Then, she carried on walking as if she had said nothing.

Half an hour later, a hill came into view, and Theo smelled the scent of strawberries. Izzy turned. 'Here we are. Half-Blood Hill.' She paused and smiled as a small figure could just be seen climbing over the hill. 'Ah, Kelpie. There he is. Come on, Theo, let's go meet him.' Izzy led the way to the hill, and when they got within a few steps, the figure turned into a…goat boy, was the only way Theo could describe him. From the waist up, he was a normal human boy with a bad case of acne and a wispy beard with curly blonde hair. He was wearing a bright red cap positioned sideways on his head, covering two lumps, one on each side of his head. What could they be? Theo wondered.

From the waist down, his legs were covered in goat hair and he had...hooves for feet. He wore a pair of shorts that only just reached his knees, and a 'NATURE NEEDS A HOME' shirt, like he was supporting Greenpeace or something like that. He grinned when he saw Izzy and hugged her. 'Izzy! It's been too long!'

'Only six months, Kelpie!' she laughed joyfully. 'I would've stayed here if you hadn't gone and got yourself injured!'

The goat-boy hung his head. 'Yeah, sorry about that. What was I thinking running to a nymph like that? I knew she'd turn into a tree when I got close enough.' He rubbed his forehead like a huge bump had just shrunk from there. Izzy shoved his shoulder playfully.

'Hey, what're friends for?' she grinned, and he mirrored her expression gratefully. Theo just stood at Izzy's side, waiting for introductions. He coughed, and Izzy turned to him, rolling her eyes. 'Oh, Kelpie?' she said, 'this is Theo. Theo; this is Kelpie, the satyr.' Kelpie eyed him suspiciously.

'Do you like nature?' he asked timidly.

Theo shrugged. 'I recycle.' Kelpie's face broke into a big grin.

'That's good enough for me,' he smiled and held out his hand. 'Nice to meet you.'

Theo shook the outstretched hand. 'Likewise.' Kelpie eyed Izzy's kit bag.

'Don't happen to have an aluminium can or apple core in there, do you?' he asked quietly. Izzy grinned and took out an old rotten apple. Kelpie grabbed it and began munching, and turned back towards Half-Blood Hill.

He gestured for Theo and Izzy to follow him. 'Come on. Chiron will want to see you.' The three of them crossed the magical borders into camp and made haste for the Big House.

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