The New Goddess - Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm not as good a writer as Rick Roirdan (even though I wish I was)

A/N: In this chapter Laura sees the God's/Goddess's throne room but I didn't describe how they looked 'cause otherwise that would've taken up most of the chapter. And I'm sorry I was taking so long to publish this chapter but I was so caught up with reading the last book of the Heroes of Olympus. Anyway, read on...

Laura's P.O.V

I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I am so tired from the huge school performance we did today and after that I did circus arts. So I was pretty much smashed by the time I actually went to bed.

When I fall asleep I have a strange dream:

I'm in some sort of throne room where there are some miss-matched thrones (the throne room looks strangely Greek. Yes I do know some Greek mythology). The first pair of thrones that I see are the two facing the doors my guess is that they were Zeus and Hera's, Zeus's is on the left and Hera's is on the right. I'll start telling you about the left side of the room first: to Zeus's right is Poseidon's throne, then it is Ares' throne, then Apollo's throne, then Hephaestus' throne and lastly Hermes' throne. And on the right side of the room: to Hera's left is Demeter's throne, then it is Athena's throne, after that it is Artemis's throne, then it is Aphrodite's throne and finally it is Dionysus' throne (it used to be Hestia's throne but she gave up her spot for Dionysus).

I look around in awe at the amazing architecture of the throne room. It's made from an amazing polished marble with gold for decoration and the ceiling looks like it's the night sky with many constellations along with one I didn't recognise it looks like a girl with a bow in her hand running across the sky.

Suddenly, there's a bright, white flash and I look away so I don't get blinded. When the light dies down I look over near Hera's throne and I see a woman, she is tall and graceful, with long hair the colour of chocolate, braided in plats with gold ribbons. She's wearing a simple white dress, but when she moves, the fabric shimmers with colours like oil on water.

"Hello Laura," she said.
"Uh, hi," I replied.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

I think for a moment.

"Yes, you're Hera, Goddess of Marriage and how do you know my name?" I say.
Hera smiles "I know a lot of things and you are correct. I am Hera."

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask.
"I brought you here because I need to talk to you,"
"About..." I insist.
"About who is coming to collect you,"
"Collect me? Why do I need collecting?"
"You need collecting because you need to be taken to Camp Half-blood," Hera replies.
"What's Camp Half-blood?" I ask, confused.
"It's were you'll be going. That is where you'll be safe," says Hera. But after she says it I feel like she should be saying something like 'duh' or 'obviously' afterwards.
"Anyway, let's not dwell on where you will be going," Hera continues. "That's only part of the reason for I am here. The other reasons are; 1: the gods decided that it was time that you prove whose side you are on- "
"Wait, what? What do you mean 'whose side I'm on'?"
"-2: you'll make some new friends and 3: you're going to enjoy the journey." Hera concludes."
"I am not going on any sort of journey." I insist.
"No, you're right. You have to go on a journey and besides, it'll be fun."
"Still... Why? I say.
"Because the Fates have decreed it."
"The who?"
"Never mind. The point is that you are destined to go on this quest." Hera says.
"Can we like, not talk about my destiny please," I plead.

Thunder rumbles over head.

"Ok, I've got to finish up. Laura, basically you're going to get picked up by a demigod and he's going to try and tell you basically everything I just told you. So, you just need to say you already know because I told you. Ok?" Hera concludes.
"Ok" I say, still a little unsure.
"Oh, and by the way that white, graffiti covered backpack of yours? It's now a little... magical."

The edges of the dream started to fade.

"You are starting to wake, you must get ready for when the demigod comes."
"Wait, what? Can you at least can you tell me his name?" I asked.
"Yes. His name is Nico – Nico di Angelo." Hera answers.

The picture of my dream starts to fade even more so now I can only see about 3 inches around Hera's face (which wasn't really something I wanted to focus on).

"You are waking. But before you do, I need to tell you this: When you arrive at Camp Half-Blood be careful of-"

I wake with jolt. "What, be careful of what?" I murmur.

I look around, my door is closed (thank goodness). So now I can have a shower, get changed and get ready for when that Nico kid comes.

2 hours pass and I've had a shower, gotten changed into a pair of denim shorts with a turquoise singlet and a navy sleeveless, buttoned blouse with a spotted pink, turquoise and blue pattern at the top of the blouse and had put most of my valuables in my backpack.

I have a feeling that I won't be coming back home for quite a while.

I pick up my backpack and I thought it would be super heavy. But when I pick it up, it's really light. I look inside and all I see is black, endless black. I put my hand inside, hoping to pull out my water bottle and when I take my hand out of the bag I have my water bottle.

"So that's what Hera meant by my bag being "magical"." I say under my breath.

After discovering the new magical quality of my backpack I decide to shove as much stuff as I can into it. I have also discovered that my backpack can magically summon others things as long as it can fit in it (width wise (it doesn't matter how long it is).
After I had finish packing basically everything in walk-in-wardrobe/bedroom, I put my backpack down near my door, brush my hair and put it into a ponytail.

As I'm turning around to pick up my bag I hear a faint 'whoosh' sound. I stand up straight ready to turn around to see 'who' or 'what' is now behind me. But whatever it is, it catches me by surprise.