A/N: YAY! Let us celebrate for we have reached DOUBLE DIGITS for this story! That means we're catching up to the current number of chapters that I'd already written and posted on my dA! So before we begin, lets answer some reviews! Shall we?
I am Katie Daughter of Demeter: Why yes, this takes place during The Titan's Curse. I did say that GwF centers around most of the Percy Jackson books. :D
Jordan: A Percabeth shipper, I take it? I like the pairing but this is an OC-centric story. If you're not open to Percy/OC pairings, may I politely ask you to turn the other way, instead of pushing me to write Percabeth. It isn't a favorite of mine and I'd appreciate that you'd respect my decision. But thank you for sharing your thoughts.
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the Percy Jackson series nor any of its characters. They all rightfully belong to the series' author, Rick Riordan. I only own the OCs that you see here.
On with the story!
When the giant oak doors opened, the group of four cautiously entered the vicinity. All of them gawked at the size of the school's entry hall; the interior was just as intimidating as the exterior, only this time it was more dangerous. Various weapons of all kinds were lined up against the wall; ranging from but not limited to swords, axes, antique rifles, and many more. Seria couldn't help but feel that they had just stepped into the Hunger Games...or at least this is what she imagined while reading the book series (Thank Annabeth for finding an Ancient Greek version for her).
Thalia whistled at the sight of all the weapons. "Overkill."
Percy could only agree as he just stared wide-eyed at the blades they had displayed in one section of the wall. "Do you think they actually let the kids here use these?"
"It's a military school," Seria grumbled. "Seeing as how none of these weapons have a casing of some sort...maybe they do, maybe they don't."
"Guys, focus." Annabeth shook her head in dismay. "We need to find out where-"
Without warning, the oak doors behind them slowly began to close. Percy tried to grab one of the doors but the two giant slabs of wood slammed shut, emitting a loud bang that echoed throughout the entry hall.
"Well," Percy sighed. "Looks like we'll be staying here for a while."
They all hid their overnight packs behind one of the huge pillars in the entry hall before venturing further into the school. The hallways were dark and gloomy and just seemed to radiate the feel of danger. It made Seria feel uneasy and judging by how Percy and the others looked, she could tell she wasn't alone in that thought. Everyone slowly reached for their weapons; a fight was bound to happen, they could tell. The whole scenario would've been more tense...if it weren't for the dance music faintly being echoed further up the hallway that they were in.
"Dance music?" Annabeth looked puzzled. "Why would they being playing-"
"Sh," Thalia placed a finger on Annabeth's mouth. In the lighting, Thalia's electric blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, making her resemble a wolf hunting for its prey. "Listen."
The group fell silent as they tried to listen in on what Thalia was hearing. If she ignored the bass of the dance music, Seria could actually hear footsteps coming towards them.
"Someone's coming!" Seria hissed.
The group braced themselves to face a monster but instead, what came toward them were two adults wearing military uniforms with red trim. They both had gray hair; one was a woman with a wispy mustache and the other was a man who was clean-shaven. To be honest, Seria thought it would've been the other way around but what caught her eye was the man; he had two different colored eyes, one brownish-yellow and one blue...like an alley-cat's.
"Well," growled the woman. "What are you all doing here?"
Everyone was silent, they didn't really plan for this encounter. In fact, they were too distracted by the stories that Percy's mom kept droning on about to even plan their way to infiltrate Westover Hall.
Percy hesitated to answer."Well, ma'am-"
He didn't even get to say anything further than that before the man with the two different colored eyes cut him off. "Hah!" His yell made everyone flinch. "Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be ee-jected!"
The man had a French accent; the way he pronounced his j's was like how you would pronounce Jacque. He was freakishly tall, taller than that demigod, Noctis whom Seria had run into earlier. His face was sharp and his gaze was very intimidating but with the way he talked, his nostrils always flared which made it really hard not to look up his nose.
Before the two of them could do anything further, Thalia stepped forward and had a look on her face that could probably make any hardened veteran cry. She snapped her fingers and suddenly, a light gust of wind seemed to move through the hall. The two military clad adult's eyes widened as if they had seen some sort of ghost. "Oh but we're not visitors, sir." Seria looked at Thalia with wide eyes; when did Thalia learn how to manipulate the Mist? "We go to school here. I'm Thalia, this is Annabeth, Percy, and Seria. We're in the eighth grade, remember?"
The man narrowed his eyes at Thalia as if he wanted to attack her on the spot but he hesitated. Instead he turned to the woman. "Ms. Gottschalk," both Percy and Seria had to bite back their laughter when they heard the woman's name; Ms. Got chalk? Seriously? "Do you know these children?"
The woman looked like she'd just woken up from sleep; Ms. Gottschalk looked at everyone with a mix of recognition and confusion. "Yes, I think I do." Once again she took up a serious front. "What are you all doing outside of the dance?"
Before anyone else could answer, more footsteps echoed across the hall only these were more rushed. From the end of the hall, Grover came running towards the group. When he spotted Percy and the others a look of relief and joy enveloped his features. "You made it!" He yelled, "You- Oh..."
Grover noticed Ms. Gottschalk and the hawk-eyed man standing right in front of the group of demigods. "Ms. Gottschalk! Dr. Thorn! Um, I-"
"What is it, Mr. Underwood?" The man, whose name was apparently Dr. Thorn, looked at Grover with distaste. "What do you mean they made it? They live here."
"Uh, of course," Grover stammered. "I meant that they made the punch for the dance. It's really awesome!"
Seria held her breathe as Dr. Thorn's expression changed to something close to pure anger. She thought this quest was now over and it was all thanks to Grover. But then Ms. Gottschalk smiled dreamily, something that really doesn't fit with someone of her stature.
"Yes, the punch is indeed excellent." She looked at the group of demigods. "Now run along, all of you. You are not allowed to leave the gymnasium again!"
The whole group nodded their heads and said a multitude of "Yes ma'am"'s and "Yes sir"'s and threw a few salutes in because it seemed appropriate. Then they scattered down the hall and followed the music to the gymnasium. Seria didn't know why but as they ran off, she had a feeling Dr. Thorn was staring at them the whole time. It sent shivers running down her spine.
When they arrived in the gymnasium, Seria gaped at the sight. She'd never been to a school dance before and the gym looked pretty cool. There were colored lights hanging from the gym's ceiling, flashing various colors like red and blue throughout the room. Red and black balloons were hanged everywhere, streamers were thrown across the gymnasium, and the boom of the music could be felt in her body. The kids though didn't look so enthusiastic save for the various groups of girls; they were all grouped together wearing gaudy dresses and were completely caked with make-up. They almost reminded Seria of the girls in Aphrodite Cabin.
"Thank the gods, you guys made it." Grover smiled at the group. "Sorry, I put you guys on the spot like that."
"No problem. It's good to see you again, Grover." Percy gave the satyr a high-five while Annabeth and Thalia went in for a hug. Seria just stood awkwardly out of the little friend reunion; she didn't really know Grover all that well but the satyr did help her get back to camp when she was freed from her stone imprisonment.
"Good to see you, Grover." Seria piped up, an awkward little smile on her pale face.
"Same here," the satyr hugged the daughter of death, catching her off guard. "You enjoying camp?"
"Yeah, thanks again for bringing me back to Camp Half-Blood."
"No prob," Grover smiled; though he didn't show it, Seria knew he appreciated the thanks.
"So what's with the distress call?" Thalia asked; she eyed the group of giggling girls across with them with disgust. "And whatever we need to do here, can we make it quick?"
Grover leaned in closer to the group and said in a low voice, "I found two of them."
"Two half-bloods?"
Grover nodded.
Now Seria understood why Chiron asked her to go with Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth. Half-bloods were usually a rare occurrence and usually it was only one half-blood from one particular god every year. Having two in Westover Hall just heightened the danger meter. Demigods have a particular scent, a scent that monsters rely on to hunt and kill demigods. Now Seria understood the role Percy, Thalia, and herself were supposed to play; they were the bait. A demigod born of the Big Three has a stronger scent compared to any other demigods, stronger after they fully realize who and what they really are. With the children of the Big Three gathered together, they can easily mask the scent of the two other demigods in the school.
"A brother and a sister," Grover explained. "The girl's twelve and the brother's ten. I don't know their parentage but they're strong. I'm running out of time, guys. I need help."
"Monsters?" Percy asked.
"Yeah, one," Grover looked stressed; apparently this was a lot harder than they'd originally thought it'd be. "He already suspects that they're demigods but he hasn't really found 'em out yet. He knows what I am and every time I try to get close to the two, he's always there blocking my way." The satyr looked nervously around the gym, as if he suspects that the monster could be listening in, "I'm pretty sure he won't leave the school without finding out and tonight's the last day of the term. No way is he going to let them walk away when he still has questions to answer. Guys, I don't know what to do!"
Grover was looking at Thalia with a desperate expression and Seria knew that usually wasn't a common thing that he'd do. Usually he'd go to Percy for help and judging by the look on the sea prince's face, Percy noticed this and he didn't like it.
But then again, Seria looked to Thalia for advice; she does have more experience when it comes to fighting monsters outside of camp. She and Thalia had gotten close over the summer and had kept in touch after she decided to go with Annabeth and try going to school again. Seria had learned about Thalia's rough past and she often went to the punk looking demigod for solace in her troubles. If she was in Grover's shoes, no doubt she would've done.
Thalia nodded. "Right, so the demigods are here in the dance?"
Grover nodded again.
"Then let's dance," smirked the daughter of Zeus. "Who's the monster?"
A grim expression was on the satyr's face. "Oh, you've already met him. It's the vice principle, Dr. Thorn."
Annabeth clicked her tongue. "Knew it." Seria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course, she knew the Dr. Thorn was the monster. When was she ever wrong?
"Well this quest is starting off on a wonderful beat," Seria sighed. "Where are the demigods, Grover?"
The satyr pointed over to the side of the gym that was completely covered with bleachers. "They're over there. The di Angelo siblings, Nico and Bianca."
Sitting on the bleachers, away from the actual dance itself, were two kids who looked of Latin decent. The girl wore a floppy green cap, as if she was trying to hide her face. Looking at the little boy, anyone could tell that he was her younger brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and when they communicated they tend to use their hands often. The girl looked like she was scolding her younger brother and didn't look very comfortable in the gym. The younger brother on the other hand was shuffling some cards and didn't seem to be paying attention to a single word his sister was saying to him.
"Do they-... have you told them?" Annabeth asked; even she seemed nervous. Something wrong was going to happen, she just knew it.
Grover shook his head. "No, you know how it is. If I told them what they are, that would put them in even more danger."
"Then let's just grab 'em and go." Percy stormed towards the di Angelo siblings but Thalia grabbed his arm in the nick of time; roughly pulling the brunette back to the group. Percy looked like he was going to protest until Thalia made a jerky hand movement towards the entrance to the gym.
Everyone stared over to the double doors that acted as the entrance to the gym from the entry hall. Dr. Thorn had just entered and was already making his way towards the di Angelos. He seemed to have caught the group staring at him because he sent a wicked smile theor way and his blue eyes seemed to glow menacingly.
"I don't think your Mist trick worked, Grace." Seria mumbled, turning away from the monster's gaze. "Now what?"
"Don't look at the kids," Thalia ordered. "Obviously he now knows what we are, so we can't get too close to them. We have to wait for a chance to get them. For now, we have to pretend to mingle. Dance, socialize whatever, just make sure to throw him off their scent."
Percy narrowed his eyes."How?"
Seria let out an exasperated sigh, "Seriously Percy? Chiron must've known this was going to happen, that's why he asked me and Thalia to go with you. With children of the Big Three together, our scent is strong enough to mask the di Angelo's. That stuck-up jerk won't be able to know which is which as long as none of us of make it obvious that we're eyeing the two."
Thalia nodded her head; confirming the plan. "Now, back to the mission. Start dancing." Immediately, the daughter of Zeus grabbed Grover's hand and dragged him to the dance floor. From afar, Thalia seemed to make a comment about the music; which Seria couldn't blame her...it was sort of corny. Grover looked a little disappointed at her comment...maybe he chose it?
"Dancing?" Percy repeated. The idea didn't really seem all that appealing to him. "I don't even know how to dance."
Annabeth giggled and immediately locked arms with the sea spawn. "Don't worry, I'll teach you." Then she dragged him away too. If Cleo was here, she wouldn't have liked seeing this transpire. Seria made a mental note to tell her friend when she gets back to camp.
Thus, that left Seria on her own to mingle. The daughter of Hades looked around the gymnasium nervously; she had little choice on who to talk to. She could approach one of the guys who're playing wallflower at the side of the gym...or she could throw herself to the dogs and talk to one of the groups of giggling girls.
Seria caught sight of Thalia who was mouthing out to her, "Do something." She rolled her eyes; easier said than done.
So she decided to wander the gym, keeping in mind to avoid looking like she's walking toward the di Angelos. Seria eyed the other kids who were at the dance; she could tell most of the boys definitely didn't want to attend but probably had to because Westover Hall was a boarding school. But she had to give 'em some props; for a bunch of stuck up military kids, they knew how to decorate.
Seria must have not been paying attention to where she was going because she ran into someone. Once again, she found herself landed on her bum onto the floor.
"Oh geez, I'm so sorry!" The person she ran into stammered, immediately grabbing Seria's hand and helped her get right back onto her feet.
Seria laughed, patting away dust from her pants. "No, no. I'm sorry. I should've been paying attention to where I was going." Seria looked at the person who she had ran into.
It was a boy who looked about eleven or twelve; he had lightly tanned skin and bright brown eyes that seemed to spark with something mischievous. He had curly dark brown hair and based on his physical features, Seria would've taken him for a Latino Santa's elf.
"I'm Seria Amagi," she held out her hand to the boy. "Nice to meet you."
The boy suddenly sparked with life when Seria introduced herself; as if he'd never had someone talk to him before. "Seria Amagi? Whoa, that's such a foreign name! I'm Leo Valdez," he shook Seria's hand enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you too!"
Seria furrowed her eyebrows when Leo shook her hand; his hand was extremely warm, not the normal kind of warm... but the hot, fever-ish kind of warm.
Leo noticed her odd expression; immediately releasing his grip on her hand. "Ah, sorry," he looked down at his shoes. "Did I hurt you or anything?"
"No, no, I'm fine," Seria reassured him. Leo was giving off some weird vibes too, he wasn't normal. Seria didn't mean that in a bad way, the weird vibes she was getting was something similar to what a demigod would give off. Though it was weak, she could tell it was there. This boy may be another demigod.
Leo looked at Seria; his eyes going up and down her body, as if he was observing her. A sly grin spread across his tanned face. "You're not a student at Westover Hall, aren't you?"
A slight panic blew through Seria; how did he figure it out so fast? Then again... She looked down at what she was wearing; her grey winter jacket, a pair of faded jeans, and her usual WWI military boots. She didn't look like she was dressed for a dance.
Seria narrowed her eyes playfully at the younger boy. "Well, looks like we've got ourselves a little Sherlock Holmes here."
"Correct, my dear Watson." The duo laughed merrily as if they had been friends forever.
"I suspect that you aren't a student yourself, Leo." Seria teased; she gestured towards the clothing that he wore. "You don't look all dressed up for the dance yourself."
Leo was wearing an old leather jacket with light brown fur trim at the collar, underneath was a yellow shirt covered in what looked like oil and soot. He wore a pair of baggy jeans that had various rips and tears near his knees and some worn down sneakers. Overall, Leo looked more like a kid-sized repairman than a student of some military school.
"Yeah," Leo smiled sheepishly. "I'm sort of a run away. Y'know, for a military school, their security sucks!" He rolled his eyes. "You'd think they'd guard the place like it was the freakin' Pentagon but no, all of their guards took the day off 'cause of the dance."
"And the dance itself really isn't all that great." Seria chuckled, eyeing all of the wallflowers hanging around the sides.
"What 'bout you?"
"Huh?" Seria looked down at Leo with a puzzled expression.
Leo repeated his question. "What are you doing here if you're not a student as well? You a run away too?"
Seria frowned; there really was something about Leo that she couldn't quite put to words. Judging from his shoddy state of clothing, Leo probably had a hard life. Let alone, he's a runaway for Pete's sake. Something must've happened to him that was so bad, it compelled him to run away from it all.
"Sorry but no," it almost pained Seria to watch Leo's grin fade away so fast. "I'm actually here with a few friends. I can't tell you why, though."
"That's cool," Leo muttered. "So what? You like a spy or something? Top secret mission that would compel you to kill me if I knew?"
Seria looked down at Leo with an icy expression. "Yes."
Leo's face twisted to that of shock... until Seria cracked a smile. "I'm kidding! Geez, can't you take a joke?"
The boy laughed. "Oh you got me there! Wow," he smiled up at Seria. "Y'know I never talked to someone like this for a long time."
"Oh?" Seria frowned, "Why's that?"
"I ran away...'cause I'm different. Not the good kind...the bad kind of different." It was odd seeing someone as high-spirited like Leo lose that entire spark in just one fell swoop. "Bad things always happen to me. People don't want to be around me because they know that they'll end up getting hurt in the end."
Seria pursed her lips. "Well then screw those people."
Leo looked at her with alarm. "What?"
"Screw 'em for thinking that." Seria repeated, an angry fire burning in her eyes. "Leo, you're a nice kid. You're funny, you're so friendly...you don't deserve to live like this. But let me tell you," Seria knelt down a bit so she could be eye-level to Leo. "Things are going to get better. There's something about you that's...special. Though right now, you think of it as a bad thing, someday you'll see otherwise. Someday you'll realize what you are and what you're meant to be in the world." She gave him the most sincere smile she has ever made. "You're going to meet people like you at some point. They'll be your friends and help you, protect you...anything. They'll be like you," she poked Leo's chest lightly, "special."
Leo stared up at Seria with a mix of awe and happiness.
"But for now," Seria ruffled Leo's curly mess of hair. "Just keep smiling. A smile, though it seems like a petty little action, can actually make a huge difference in someone's life."
Leo blinked his eyed quickly like he was holding back tears and shot a big smile up at Seria. "Thanks Seria, you're...you're the nicest person I've ever met."
Seria grinned... then she noticed something through the corner of her eye. Thalia was frantically waving her hands at her, trying to get her attention. A look of panic was on the child of Zeus' face. She pointed frantically at the bleachers where the di Angelos were sitting at. When Seria looked over at the bleachers, her heart nearly stopped; the di Angelos were gone!
"Is something wrong?"
Seria looked down at Leo and gave him a guilty smile. "Sorry, Leo. I've gotta go."
"What?" Leo yelled, his eyes were already watery and he just looked totally torn apart when Seria told him that she had to leave. "So soon? I wanted to talk to you more."
"I'm sorry, Leo." Seria straightened herself and nodded at Thalia. "But my friends need me."
Though reluctant, Leo understood. "Okay, but I want you to have this. I made this during my spare time while I was out around the city."
The young boy dug around in his jacket's pocket and took out a beautiful bronze figurine of a female warrior. It looked so real, that Seria thought Leo had it professionally made. The girl had a fierce look on her face and had a sword raised high, shield connected to her arm. She wore battle armor that Seria recognized as being Greek. Seria could hardly believe that Leo had made this.
The fifteen year-old demigod gently took the figurine and looked at Leo in shock. "Are you sure you want me to have this?"
Leo nodded. "That way you won't forget me! Good luck Seria...and thanks."
Seria smiled softly at the boy and gently leaned in and gave him a quick chaste kiss on the cheek. As she pulled away, Seria bit back a laugh. "Leo?"
"Y-yeah?" The boy stammered, his cheeks were a bright shade of red.
"You're hair's smoking," Seria smirked and then she turned and ran off; following Thalia out of the gymnasium with the figurine tucked safely inside her backpack.
Did you enjoy the cameo? ;) See you in the next chapter, my lovelies! Arriverderci!
