Chapter 2: Got Magic?

The door to our apartment closed behind me as I stepped inside. Mom was back in the bedroom, writing her novel. Paul went back to get her so that I could explain why I had been sent to the principal's office to both of them. I left my backpack by the door, and pulled off my sneakers, then I sat on the sofa and waited. I had to decide what to say. I already knew that it would have to be the truth, but how to phrase it would be the challenge. See, I didn't want my mom too worried about me. She'd been worried, almost too much, by the events of just a couple of weeks ago. And now I was in danger again, along with many other kids.

Paul and my mom stepped out into the living room. Paul sat in the chair across from me, and mom sat at the other end of the couch. Mom spoke first. "Percy, Paul tells me that you got in trouble at school today. What happened?" Her voice wasn't angry, just disappointed, which was somehow even worse.

I sighed. "Paul, Mom, what I'm about to tell you is hard, and hard to believe. But I swear on the river Styx that I'm not making this up." Thunder rumbled in the distance. "Remember back to my first summer knowing who I really was? The summer I was blamed for stealing the Master Bolt?"

"When I was imprisoned by Hades?"

I nodded. Paul cleared his throat. "Um… hang on. Did you just say you were imprisoned by Hades?"

Mom nodded. "Yes, dear. But I don't remember any of it. I was in a kind of trance. It was like I was asleep."

"Anyway," I continued. "On the way out west to confront Hades, Annabeth, Grover, and I travelled through St. Louis. We had a train layover to wait for, so we decided to go see the arch."

"Hang on," Paul interrupted. "What does this have to do with getting sent to the principal's office?"

"I'm getting there," I said. "Well, anyway, At the arch I ran into the mother of all monsters, literally. You know, Echidna. And she had the Chimera with her. Well… there was a bit of a fight, and we exploded the side of the arch."

"I seem to remember something about that… must've been… four years ago," Paul muttered.

"That would be right," I said. Paul was great, and I could understand his interjections, but really, Mom was a way better audience for a story. She was just looking at me, waiting for me to continue. "Anyway, I was forced to leap into the river and escape. I haven't seen Echidna since then. That is… until today."

"What do you mean?" asked Mom, always knowing the right time to intervene.

"The new principal, it's her, Echidna. I ended up in the principal's office today so that she could threaten me and Thalia."

"The new girl?" Paul asked.

"New to you," I said. "But I've known Thalia for a long time. She was at the battle against Kronos a couple weeks ago. Mom knows her too."

"Why is Thalia at Goode?" Mom asked. "Isn't she Artemis's Lieutenant?"

"Yes," I said, "but she's taking a leave of absence to help out Camp Half-Blood. You see, there are 50 half-bloods at Goode. We have to get them out before Echidna can kill them. Or us," I added as an afterthought.

Mom frowned, looking worried but she looked at Paul and nodded. "Okay Percy, we believe you," Mom said.

We sat there in silence. Paul and Mom went into the kitchen to get dinner ready. I sighed. I needed to tell Annabeth about this, she'd know what Thalia and I should do. I picked up the wireless phone set and walked back into my bedroom. I dialed the number I had had memorized for years; Annabeth's cell phone number.

After a couple of rings, she picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey Annabeth, it's me."

"Me who?" Annabeth joked.

"Not funny."

She laughed. I really wished we could be face to face right now, but today wasn't a great day. "So what's up Seaweed Brain? Miss me so much you couldn't bear to go a day without me?"

I sighed. "If it was only that, all my problems would be solved." Then I quickly added, "But I do miss you!" I could practically see Annabeth rolling her eyes. "Anyway, Annabeth, I've got to tell you some bad news. You remember my fight with Echidna?" I basically told her everthing that had happened today. It was all news to her. Apparently she didn't know Thalia would be coming either. And when I told her about the weird girl, Helen, she muttered something I couldn't really make out very well. "So yeah," I concluded. "That just about sums it up."

"Hmm," Annabeth said. "Interesting. The girl, Helen. From your description she sounds like a girl who was in the Hermes cabin way back when. She left camp shortly before you arrived. If I remember right, she was our age. I don't know what she's up to, but it can't be good. As for Echidna's boss, I really don't know Percy. Whoever they are, they must be a god or a titan or something."

"That's what I thought. But who could it be?"

"I don't know, that's what's unsettling for me. I hate not knowing."

"I noticed," I murmured.

She pretended she didn't hear me. "I just can't think of a likely god or titan to fill the role. All the gods that were on Kronos's side got pardoned. The other titans went back into hiding. I can't think of any titans that would do it."

"Right. Well thanks Annabeth. See you Saturday?"

"What do you think Seaweed Brain?"

I smiled. "See you then."

"Okay... and Percy?"

"What?"

Annabeth hesitated. Usually she was great with her words, but right now she seemed to be struggling. "Never mind. I'll see you Saturday."

"What is it?"

"Bye," Annabeth said, and she hung up. That was weird. I hoped nothing was wrong. I contemplated calling her back, but if it had been something serious, she would've told me.

"Percy!" my mom called. "Dinner's ready!"

I sighed and put down the phone. What had Annabeth wanted to talk to me about?

I arrived at school the next morning, feeling worse than I had last night. I stumbled to my locker and dropped off a few things, then went off to homeroom, planning to go to sleep as soon as I got in there. Thalia had other plans.

"Seaweed Brain!"

"What?" I groaned. Thalia had just rudely awakened me from my morning nap.

"Wake up! We have stuff we need to go over." I forced myself alert. Thalia was sitting at the desk next to mine, holding a piece of paper in her hand. "I have the list of names of demigods in the school. As I said yesterday, we'll have to be careful. We can't pull them all out at once. We might have to wait until some monster's attack them."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous for them?" I asked.

Thalia grunted. "Well of course it is, but it's also the only way for us to get them out of here without having to face Echidna and the Chimera. I know it sounds crazy, but if we pull them out too quickly, then Echidna will just go after us directly, instead of taking her time to slowly figure out who the half-bloods are. This is the best option we have. For them, and for us. Now, I was also thinking-"

But Thalia couldn't tell me what she was thinking, because just then, Helen came on with the announcements. "Hello! It's Wednesday! YAY!" Everyone cheered. I got that feeling again, like I wanted to cheer too. Who was this girl? "Alright, a few announcements. Today's lunch is hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. Mmmm, sounds good. All tryouts for sports are today, afterschool. Alright, that's all. Have a terrific Tuesday!"

Thalia glared at the speaker in the ceiling. "Who is she?"

"I don't know," I said. "Annabeth said that someone who matches Helen's description used to go to camp before I arrived. She was in the Hermes cabin, but I doubt that's because she was Hermes's daughter. She was probably unclaimed. I don't know who she's daughter of, but she is definitely a demigod."

Thalia thought about that. "So, an unclaimed daughter of someone was crammed in the Hermes cabin, and left shortly before you arrived. She's alive still, somehow... I know! She was probably part of Kronos's demigod army. That's how she survived for those years. Now though... hmm... Well, she's working for Echidna now-"

"Or Echidna is working for her," I interrupted.

"-and Echidna is working for someone mysterious. We don't know for sure who it is. It's probably a Titan sympathizer, but who?"

I shrugged. "None of the minor gods, they've all returned back to Olympus, they're with the gods now."

"Yeah, I remember, part of your gift: All the minor gods getting respect and full pardons."

"Right," I said. "So it can't be any of them."

"We don't know that for sure, there could still be a really angry minor god out there, we just don't know of one that might betray the gods at this point."

"Anyway, what about one of the other Titans, you know, the ones that got away."

"Oceanus has been found, and sent to a prison underneath the ice cap. Prometheus has also been found, and returned to his previous punishment. Hyperion is trapped in that tree still."

"What about that ram dude? What's his name? Krios! What about him?"

"Krios? I don't know. From talking to Artemis, I get the sense that he's been taken care of, but she's awfully vague about it. It's almost like the gods are trying to hide something…"

"Maybe they never caught him?" I suggested.

"Maybe…" Thalia didn't sound convinced. "But… I mean, well… Wouldn't they want a quest of demigods to take care of him? Krios isn't one of the more powerful Titans, and the gods tend to use demigods for whatever they don't feel like doing."

"True," I said. "But… I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that he must be involved somehow."

Thalia shrugged. "I'll try to think of some other options." Then, homeroom ended. Thalia turned to me as we got up to leave. "Take the list Percy. I've got another copy with me. If you find any of these kids, tell me immediately. I'll do the same if I find any. Meet me afterschool outside the locker rooms. We've got more to talk about, but I've got tryouts to go to."

"Really? What sport?"

Thalia grinned wickedly. "Boxing."

I snorted. Yep, that's Thalia all right. I was glad to see that she was starting to fit in, though. It was only the second day, and already Thalia was starting to get involved. For never having been to high school before, that was pretty good. Even though she was only here on a cover mission, it still felt like she was almost a normal high schooler. Almost.

I pretty much aced everything in the try out for the swim team. I went to the locker room and changed, quickly. There were some guys on the boxing team talking about how a girl had joined, and kicked all of their butts. I laughed inwardly. Thalia certainly was capable.

After I had changed, I walked outside the locker room and waited for Thalia. What did she want to talk to me about? I sat down with my back against the wall. I started daydreaming, and I dozed off.

"Well, well," a voice said. I started. I rubbed my eyes. I thought that it would be Thalia, but it wasn't. It was that Helen girl. Today she wore jeans and a black shirt with "Got Magic?" written on it in white letters. "If it isn't Perseus Jackson."

"What do you want?" I asked, curious. I didn't know who she was, or what she was up to, but it seemed important to find out, even in my slightly groggy state.

"Me? I want to know why Mrs. E didn't kill you yesterday. So inconsiderate of her, always leaving me to clean up her messes."

"What are you talking about?" I was beginning to be awake enough to realize that this was soon to become a fight. "Who are you?"

Helen smirked. "Helen, demigod daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic. One of Kronos's head demigods in the war."

"What do you want?" I asked again. "I mean, besides killing me."

"Revenge," she told me. "I hate the gods, especially my mother. Kronos should have won! But you, you interfered! If it hadn't been for you, Kronos would have won, despite what happened on Mt. Othrys." That line confused me. I'd been told it had crumbled after Kronos fell, but what she had said made it sound like it had been destroyed independently of him. "But that doesn't matter," Helen continued. "My new master will do what Kronos couldn't. He will rise up and defeat the gods, despite his recent fallback. Then, he will install me as the new goddess of Magic."

"And who is your new master?" I asked.

"Spoilers," Helen said with a wink. "I will say this. Though it looked like he'd been defeated, he is rising again, far more quickly than Kronos would've dreamed possible."

That proceeded to confuse me further. Who was this Titan/god/monster? I felt something else too, though. Something unexpected. I felt anger, but it wasn't normal anger. I wasn't angry at her for being evil, or for fighting against the gods. I just felt anger. Anger I was sure was not my own.

"Hey Percy," came a voice. Thalia was approaching from the direction of the girl's locker room. "Get up off the floor." She pulled out her mace canister and expanded it into her spear.

"Thalia Grace," said Helen with a mock bow. "I've heard all about you. Luke talked about you a lot. Daughter of Zeus, one of the most powerful demigods alive today, and immortal lieutenant of Artemis. It's an honor."

"Wish I could say the same," Thalia said. "But I've never heard of you."

"Don't mind me," I said, "just hanging out here on the floor."

Helen drew her sword, which I'd not seen hanging on her hip before. "Well then, Jackson, I suggest you get up. Let's see how my powers match up against the famous Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace."

She swung her sword at me. I rolled away just in time to see Thalia stab at Helen with her spear. Helen deflected it quickly with her sword, but then had to spin around to intercept me as I drew Riptide and entered the battle. With a flurry of slashes and stabs, hacks and blocks, Helen proved she was an equal match for Thalia and I combined. That worried me. She was good. Really good. And me? My sword fighting skills had become a bit rusty. I hadn't had opponents that were really good at sword fighting since… well, since Luke.

Thalia must've been thinking along the same lines as me, because she decided it was a good time to activate her secret weapon: her shield Aegis. The face of Medusa sprung up on her wrist. Helen flinched, which Thalia used as an opportunity to bash her in the face with her shield.

Helen straggered backwards. I ran up to slash her, but my blade passed through empty air. The sound of Helen's laughter came from behind us. We spun around. Helen had teleported away to take a breather. What she did next was very much a jedi-esque move: she thrust out her hand, and we flew backwards and smashed into the wall. Then she snapped her fingers, and fire sprung up around us. She laughed. "Now my fire will consume you!"

My retort: "You wish!"

But honestly, I didn't know what to do. Me being Poseidon's son would protect me for a while, but not forever. And what about Thalia? Then I saw that we were standing in front of the door to the girls' locker room. I concentrated on the water that was surely in there, the sinks, the toilets, the showers. I felt a tug in my gut. The fire loomed closer. Thalia and I backed up until we were right against the door. And then... there was an explosion of water from the girls' locker room. The fire, Helen, Thalia, and everything else were doused with water. I was filled with energy. I swung at Helen. I felt her trying to disappear (the water covering her had somehow given me that information). I couldn't let that happen. I concentrated, and used the water to block her teleportation. She was caught off guard, and was merely able to only deflect my blade. I cut a gash across her arm.

I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm.

Where did that flashback come from? Helen used my distraction to her advantage and attacked. Her blade glanced off my stomach, and I stumbled backwards. Helen smiled. "Well, well Jackson, an admirable first test. You pass. But there will be many more to come. Mark my words Jackson, one day you will fail."

There was a huge puff of smoke, and she disappeared. Thalia and I exchanged nervous glances. "That was-"

"Not good," Thalia finished. "We'd better get out of here before we're caught and blamed for the water damage. I nodded in agreement. We left the school in a hurry.

That night I had a dream. I was in the ruins of the Titan's fortress on Mt. Othrys. A holographic image of Helen stood in front of a dark shape. In the background I could see and hear Atlas struggling with the sky.

The image of Helen started to speak, and I immediately snapped my attention to her. "Jackson was quite formidable, my lord. But he won't be a problem once Echidna and I finish our work."

The dark shape grunted. "Yes, I am sure he is. He did defeat our lord Kronos. But, surely he is not worse than Garce." The shape snarled. "Grace will pay for humiliating me. But, no matter, your counterpart will handle Grace."

A look of disgust crossed Helen's face. "Of course, my lord."

"I know of your hatred for her, but Andromeda is a useful ally. Ah, I am tired, and I must save my energy for my continuing restoration."

"Yes, of course, my lord," Helen said. "Anything I should tell Echidna?"

"Tell her that she doesn't get free reign until after you've handled the Jackson problem."

Helen nodded, and the hologram disappeared. The dark shape spoke again. "Jackson, I sense your presence. I cannot see yet, as my eyes have yet to regenerate, but I thought I should address you, alone. Sleep well tonight, because you won't have many more nights of good sleep. I know the truth about you, Jackson. The one that you don't even know. But enough, I grow weary. Sweet dreams, Jackson."