A/N: Hey everybody! It's been another two long weeks and here is chapter 2! We didn't quite manage to beat the 8 reviews from the prologue, I only got six last time! But I have 18 people on alert, so if everybody on alert took the time to tell me how much or if this story had improved, then we would beat the review count for the prologue and chapter 1 combined! So let's aim for that, alright?

Thanks to Minx The Shadow Thief for betaing this chapter for me, she has done a great job :)

And thanks to: Veronique Ruthven, percabethfanlover, Drew1969, lightningkid333, Daughter-Of-Poseidon-16 and Giripatnam for reviewing!

You all made my day!

See you guys on the eighth with chapter 3!

Eldest28

P.S: I will have my copy of SoN by then, I've already pre-ordered it :)

My sword hit the thing's bronze leg as she leapt towards me. The resulting clang was a lot louder than I expected, and the ringing in my ears momentarily disoriented me. I barely noticed as she wheeled around and bared her teeth at me, hissing, and I quickly raised the sword again, fighting to keep any traces of panic off my face.

"You're not getting off so easy, demi-god!" she spat, flames flickering around her face.

She jumped again, and her sharp nails raked along the blade of my sword, which I was sure would leave a scratch, but when I glanced down, the sword remained perfect, and unmarred. I didn't have too much to ponder that, as her eyes like coals were still glaring murderously at me.

"You can't win, demi-god! Your father's sword won't save you now!" she sneered at me, looking like a spoilt kid whose parent had told her she couldn't have a certain Barbie doll.

"You so sure about that?" I taunted, probably stupidly as she shifted subtly. As soon as I saw that, my brain seemed to go into overdrive, strategies and plans rushing into my mind, from no apparent source.

She glowered, and crouched down at me. My brain processed the information faster than I would have thought was possible, and I could see in my minds-eye how I was going to take her down. She sprang, and I feinted, aiming for her shoulder, before disengaging from her outstretched nails as she attempted to parry the sword on the seemingly indestructible surface that were her fingernails. As I disengaged I lunged forward, stabbing her through her heart which she had left temporarily unprotected.

As the blow struck her, she began to disintegrate, like sand in the wind. I started in shock as her body turned into yellow dust, the image of her murderous face with glaring eyes seared into my memory.

Had that really just happened? Had a strange girl-like thing just disintegrated like a sandcastle in the wind because I'd hit her with a pen that had turned into a sword?

I needed to put the sword away. There was some sort of rule here about dangerous weapons, and swords that could make monsters turn to dust were definitely classified as dangerous weapons.

Tentatively I touched the cap to the pen and watched in relief as it shrank back to a plain black ballpoint pen. That wouldn't cause any alarm if anybody saw it.

I was still staring at the dust in the pool when Mrs. Walters came in.

"Astraea," she gasped in alarm, her face disturbed as she looked around the room. "What did you do?"

I shook my head slowly. I still wasn't sure myself. "I don't know, Mrs. Walters, but I'll clean it up."

"Yes you will," she said sternly, the shock still not leaving her face. "I have no problem with you coming down here, but you are not to make a mess!"

"I know," I said, still somewhat dazed about the whole thing, trying to decide if it was a hallucination or not.

She walked back into the pool's office and I sighed to myself before grabbing the pool net and trying to scoop as much as possible out.

I made it to breakfast just in time, after cleaning the pool as best I could. The dust had seemed to evaporate after a while, but I still had to shower and change into my uniform. Pete was waiting at our usual table, frowning slightly, and he seemed to be… sniffing the air? I wasn't sure. As I came closer, his scowl deepened into great furrows on her forehead.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, his scowl lightening up somewhat as he saw the look on my face.

"I think I'm hallucinating," I said weakly. It was more logical than the alternative… Girls didn't have flaming hair- nor did they have miss-matching legs.

Pete's eyes widened, almost as if he had been expecting this.

"Yeah?" he bleated, almost nervously. "What'd you see?"

I shook my head. I already thought I was crazy enough; I didn't need another person to confirm it.

Pete looked somewhat annoyed at my answer. Why was he so concerned about my fragile mental state?

"Astraea," he said urgently. "What did you see?"

I frowned. I really didn't want to tell him, especially now he was being almost rude.

"Nothing of importance," I retorted, before focusing on the cereal that he had gotten for me before I arrived.

I could tell Pete wasn't happy with me, but he didn't push it further and settled with just attempting to glare holes in the table.

I was sitting in English later, my one class without Pete with my head resting on one hand while I attempted to read the text. The words were floating off the page, letters mixing up their order as they floated, and it was beginning to give me a headache, as well as just frustrating me further.

I gave up after another five minutes of struggling to read, and put my hand up.

"Yes Astraea?" asked my teacher, Mr. Underwood, a calm and caring expression in his eyes.

"Can I go out for some air, Sir?" I asked, as my head began to pound in earnest. "I've got a headache."

"Sure," he said, looking at me sympathy. "Come up here so I can write you a hall pass."

I grabbed the black ballpoint pen from my pencil-case and shoved it in my pocket, just in case, before standing up and making my way to the front of the room.

"Are you okay?" asked Mr. Underwood as he filled out a green slip for me.

"Yeah," I said. "Fine."

Of course I wasn't, but Mr. Underwood didn't need to know that, nor did he need to hear about my crap day.

Mr. Underwood didn't look convinced, but he handed me the slip anyway and I quickly left the classroom, walking out into the corridor and making my way to the outside of the school.

It seemed to take forever, but finally I was stood outside of the school buildings, near the large, wrought iron front gates. My eyes were straying towards a comfortable looking park-bench that was in the middle of a tiny green park across the road.

It looked so inviting, like you could just sit there and think out your problems in peace. But I wasn't supposed to leave the school grounds, and all its concrete glory.

Aw, heck, I thought to myself, staring at the green grass of the small park that contrasted with the drab white around me. I'm only going to be there for a few minutes anyway, I reasoned.

So I walked straight through the school gates to go sit on the park bench, hoping that nobody could see me from the school. As soon I was at the bench I slumped down on it, placing my head in my hands. The fresh air helped clear my headache, and I started to feel better.

As I slowly relaxed, I started to wonder about Pete's reaction to my telling him I had hallucinated. It had been strange, and utterly unlike Pete to be so rude, and annoyed when I didn't tell him something. My thoughts lingered on that topic for a little while before I figured I should probably head back towards the school and my English class. I was just about to move when I heard a girl's voice calling out.

"Annabeth?" she sounded shocked, but I couldn't figure out who she was talking to. The whole side street was deserted, apart from me. I heard some low mumbling, like a group of girls were having a group discussion at normal volume some space away.

"Hey, Annabeth!" called the voice again, sounding closer this time. I looked up and around to try and find who she was talking too. I got a glimpse of blue eyes, black hair and a silver bow as I stood up, thinking I should be getting back to school.

"Wait!" called the girl, as I stood up and she came closer. I took another look back and saw that she was glowing faintly. That didn't look human. She took another step towards me, and I bolted, trying to put as much space between the girl and me. She reminded me way too much of the thing from this morning for me to stick around.

Any thought of school flew out of my head as I tore my way along roads and side streets, hearing many footsteps following me. I ran until I was panting form the effort, but I wasn't ready to give in. My pursuers were gaining on me, and I didn't think there was any way I was going to be able to get away.

Suddenly a hand grabbed the neck of my jumper, and I screamed before pulling out the pen and uncapping it, watching as the bronze sword exploded from the black plastic.

"Whoa!" yelled the girl who had my jacket and she let go. I got a better look at her as she turned around, she had a silver band sitting around her head, and I could see the freckles splattered across her nose. Her eyes were a more shocking blue than I had originally thought.

"You're not Annabeth," she said, staring at my face.

"Funny," I said, rolling my eyes. "I hadn't noticed."

She ignored my sarcasm, and her eyes then moved to the sword in my hand, narrowing as they did so.

"You have stolen from the gods," she stated coldly, looking up to glare at me.

"What damn gods!" I yelled. The sky thundered as I did so, but I kept going. "First I'm told I'm a daughter of a god, now I've stolen from one! What do you mean?"

A smaller girl stepped forward, one with no band around her head.

"Thalia… is that Anaklusmos?"

I started at the name Thalia, as it was my middle name. I shook it off quickly though, I needed to focus on the girls in front of me.

"Look," I said, attempting to be calm. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about. And what the hell is 'Anaklusmos'?"

The girl named Thalia stepped forward, scrutinizing my face.

"You look like a daughter of Athena," she said slowly. "But your eyes are wrong… I haven't seen those eyes in years…"

"Athena…" I said slowly. "Like, the Greek goddess?"

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly, ignoring my question.

"Astraea Jackson?"

It came out sounding like a question, which was not my intention. Her eyes widened as my name registered.

"J-J-Jackson?" she stuttered out. The girls behind her started whispering softly too each other.

I nodded, confused. Why was my last name so important? Did she know my mother or father? I opened my mouth to ask, but Thalia was already speaking again.

"We must talk to our lady," said Thalia, trying to sound calm, but I could hear the edge to her voice.

"Your lady?" I asked, not really expecting an answer, so I was completely surprised to get an answer.

"The Lady Artemis," said Thalia quickly. "Goddess of the Hunt. I am her lieutenant."

"What's with all the Greek stuff?" I asked, completely confused. "You do know that they're all just myths, right?"

The response to my statement was shocking. Frowns appeared on all of the girl's faces, and several hissed. Thalia just rolled her eyes and motioned towards the group of girls to be quiet.

"That's what you think," said Thalia condescendingly. "I assure you, they are all still alive and well."

"Prove it," I said boldly, staring at her intently.

"Oh for the love of Zeus…" she muttered under her breath. The sky thundered in response. "Oh get over it!" she yelled to the clouds, and I began to seriously wonder about her sanity.

"You have dyslexia," she started. I began to flush, what did my dyslexia have to do with anything. "The words just fly right off the page, don't they?"

I nodded my assent mutely. How was this relevant at all?

"Probably diagnosed with ADHD as well, you can never be still?"

Was she just trying to embarrass me? How did she know this? And why wouldn't she shut up about it?

"What's that got to do with it?" I asked. "And how do you know?"

She smiled, while all the girls with her sighed, as if it what she was about to say was something they had all heard before.

"I know because it happens to all of us," she said still smiling smugly. "And it's got to do with it because you're not fully mortal. Your dyslexia? Your mind's hardwired for ancient Greek. Your ADHD? It's your battle reflexes."

I was now gaping at her openly. I didn't even try to hide it.

"That's insane," I said. "It's just not humanely possible."

"Ah," she said. "But I told you you're not fully human."

"Then what am I?" I asked, my brain still not grasping what she was saying.

"You're a demi-god," she stated calmly. "Or a half-blood."

I wish I could say I took the news well. That I said 'cool' and went off to do whatever it is that demi-gods do. Instead, I started laughing hysterically.

The girls all rolled their eyes at me.

"That's funny," I gasped out between giggles. "Absolutely hilarious. And, how, exactly, do you know this?"

"Your last name's Jackson?" she asked, ignoring my laughing fit. I nodded.

"Yeah," I said. I'd already told her that, was she not listening?

"Well then," she said, smiling faintly as if she wasn't sure whether she should be or not. "I believe I know your father."

My laughter died abruptly.

A/N: C'mon guys, lets read and review alright? We're aiming for a PB!