AN: Hello again. So, in this chapter and the next, the featured demigod was created by person127. In the next couple of chapters, we are going to see Percy and Thalia break into Police HQ, so that's pretty exciting. Anyway, thank you person127, and I hope that everyone enjoys the chapter.

Chapter 14: Zaria (The Heist – Part 1)

Tuesday morning rolled around, and I got up quickly. The previous night, I had taken off the bandages and gone to bed early. The result of sleeping all weekend and last night renewed my energy. I was back in shape and not as miserably tired as I had been recently. After showering and changing, I went into the kitchen and popped some bread in the toaster, replaying the plan. Last night, Thalia and I had talked about it, and decided that police HQ probably had a locker room where we could find extra uniforms. All we had to do was get back to the locker rooms, which probably weren't civilian access. Hopefully Malcolm would have a more thought out plan (he was a son of Athena, after all) when he arrived this afternoon.

Thalia came in a few minutes later wearing all black. Thalia wore a lot of black, but usually she didn't wear black exclusively. I figured that she was probably in a bad mood, and I wondered again what she wasn't telling me. I shook my head as I spread blueberry jam on my toast and went to sit at the kitchen table.

Thalia noticed. "What are you shaking your head at?" she asked.

"Nothing," I lied. "Just uh... thinking about my dream."

"What was it about?" Thalia asked.

I cleared my throat. "I uh… died," I lied. "I had died, and Nico had come to DOA Recording Studios to talk to me."

"Morbid stuff," Thalia commented as she sat across from me with a bowl of cereal.

Truth was, I hadn't had a dream, but I didn't want Thalia to know that I had been shaking my head at whatever her problem was. I wanted to know; I wanted to help. Then again, it was Thalia's problem, and she would have to deal with it. Besides, I reminded myself, I've been keeping my dreams about Kronos a secret. That train of thought brought to mind the phone call I'd had with Annabeth the previous afternoon. She was relieved to hear that I had woken up finally. We talked for a while, but she had to go to dinner, so we said goodbye. It had happened again. As we were about to end the call, Annabeth started to say something, hesitated, then said bye and hung up. She was keeping something from me too. Thalia had told me not to worry about it, that she knew what Annabeth wasn't telling me, but I couldn't help but worry about it. Was Annabeth unhappy? Was she thinking of breaking up with me? Lost in these thoughts, I didn't hear Thalia speaking until she waved her hand in front of my face.

I looked up. "Huh?"

"Clear the seaweed out of your ears," Thalia said sarcastically. "I was saying that if we have to save anyone today, we're going to have to bring them back here until we get my spear back."

"Oh," I said. "Right, I agree." I glanced at the clock on the oven. "We should probably get going. I'll drive."

Just like that, we were in the car and on the way to school. We spent most of the time speculating about what we were going to have to do tonight, and thinking of anything we might need to bring with us, just in case. When we pulled into the parking lot, we stopped. We couldn't have the students at Goode hearing that we were going to rob police headquarters.

We took our usual seats in the back of homeroom and watched the other kids file in. I spotted Ethan. He didn't look so great. One of his arms was in a sling, and his nose was bent crookedly. On top of that, he just looked depressed. Having a homicidal maniac attack your house could do that to a guy. He sat near the front, which was weird. "Ethan doesn't look too great," I commented. "I wondered what happened to his arm and nose."

"That was me," Thalia growled. "And he's lucky that there are others around, or those injuries would not be the only ones he's sporting."

I raised an eyebrow. I decided to risk it. "You're not telling me something. Something happened at the party with you and Ethan. What was it?"

"Please, Percy," Thalia said, turning to me, "just drop it, okay?"

"But-"

"I said drop it!" Thalia snapped.

I shut my mouth. It had been a bad idea to ask her about it. We sat in silence for a few minutes as more of our classmates filed in. Then, over the intercom, the announcements started. A voice came on, but it wasn't Helen's. It was the lady who did the announcements last year who always sounded like she was on the verge of having a stroke.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "Today is Tuesday, September twenty-second. A reminder to everyone that today in your gym class you will be running the mile." Several groans filled the room at that, including mine, but then I turned to Thalia as the lady started talking about Marching Band practice being cancelled.

"Why do you think that Helen isn't doing the announcements?" I asked.

Thalia shook her head, looking mystified. "I don't know Percy. Hopefully it's because we hurt her so bad that she decided to take the week off."

"Wouldn't that be great," I said. "Maybe she just decided to give up altogether."

"That would be amazing, but I doubt that she would give up while Echidna is still the principal." I sighed. As the announcements finished up, people started gathering their bags and books. The bell rang, and Thalia and I stood up, heading for the door. Thalia turned to me before she went off in the direction of her first class. "Even if Helen is taking the day, or the week, or whatever off, keep your eyes open. Obviously it's ideal if we don't have to save anyone today, but with our luck…"

I nodded, then trekked off, ready to go about my day.

I stood outside on the track in my gym clothes. Freshmen and Sophomores had gym together, and we also got the worst times in the day for gym class: early in the morning, right after lunch, or the last period of the day. And so, there I was, about to run the mile in my last class of the day. I glanced around at the faces around me. Normally the Freshmen/Sophomore gym classes were separated by gender (like the girls would do one thing and the guys would do something else), but not on mile day. As such, I was seeing the other half of my gym class for the first time this year. One girl in particular surprised me. She was a Freshman (Freshwoman?) with curly redish brown hair and purple eyes. At first, I thought she might be that Andromeda girl in disguise again, but then one of the gym teachers doing roll call said, "Zaria!" to which this girl said, "Here."

Zaria? The name rang a bell, but I couldn't place it. I reached into my gym shorts where the list of demigods was, but before I could pull it out, the whistle was blown, and I started running. I hated the mile. I was never that great a runner. I was fine over short distances, and if something was chasing me, my adrenaline carried me, but this, the mile? Well it was just torture.

I think that the Zaria girl lapped me once, but the mile was too long for me to really pay much attention. I crossed the finish line at the seven minute mark, a new personal best, then went to the locker room to shower off and change. Afterwards, I waited outside the locker rooms, where I consulted the list of demigods. Sure enough, I found Zaria. She was the daughter of Aurora, goddess of the sunrise, apparently. Luckily, the school day was almost over. If she wasn't attacked in the next fifteen minutes, she could live a few more days not knowing the truth about herself. After a few minutes, Zaria came out of the girls locker room. She wore a very bright orange t-shirt, and jeans, which ended in a pair of very tall boots. A dark hoodie was slung over her arm.

I glanced at her quickly, and our eyes locked for a brief instant. Suddenly, I was full of energy, having recovered all the energy I lost running the mile. Interesting…

Zaria came up to me. "Why do you keep looking at me?" she asked. "I saw you look over at me out on the track, too. You some kind of creeper or something?"

"No," I said, defensively, standing up. "I just uh…" I was thrown by the fact that she was as tall as I was, and lost my train of thought.

"It's fine," she said, chuckling. "I was kidding. Your name is Percy right? You're Mr. Blofis's step-son?"

"Yeah," I answered with a nod.

"I'm Zaria," she said. "So, wanna tell me why you kept looking at me? Do you have a crush on me or something?"

"No," I assured her, "nothing like that. I have a girlfriend. No you just… reminded me of someone." That last part was half true. She did look a little like Andromeda. I didn't mention the whole demigod thing. No sense telling her before it was necessary.

She nodded, leaning up against the wall. "Fair enough. So, Percy, I have a question for you."

"Okay…"

"When you first met your step-father… did you call him Mr. Blowfish behind his back?"

I burst out laughing. "Yes," I said. "How did you know?"

She shrugged, chuckling a little. "You seem a lot like me, I guess. And that's what I call him when he's not around."

The bell rang, signalling that students could go to their lockers, and that there were five minutes before school officially ended.

Students started bustling around. "Well I'll see you later," Zaria said, heading off with a couple of her friends. I waved, then headed for my locker. Thalia met me there.

"What was your time on the mile?" she asked.

"Seven minutes," I said, some pride in my voice. "The best time I've ever gotten on the mile."

"Really?" Thalia asked. "That's the best time you've ever gotten? I got five minutes and fifteen seconds, and that's slow for me."

"Well maybe you should join the track team next semester," I said irritably.

"Hopefully we'll be done with this by then," Thalia said, "and I won't need to be here next semester."

The bell rang again, signalling that it was 2:30 and that school was over. Thalia and I headed off towards the front door, trying to hurry. Malcolm said he'd be at my house at three, and we didn't want to be late. Unfortunately, as we passed by the auditorium, we heard a scream. We both turned slowly towards the stage door. Apparently most people thought that it was a drama club rehearsal, but I wasn't so sure. I recognized the voice that screamed, after all. It was Zaria.

I sighed. "We should probably check it out."

Thalia nodded. "Malcolm will be upset that we're late, but if someone's in trouble, we need to help."

We ducked in the stage door, and went out onto the stage. Zaria was backed up against the back wall, dodging slashes from the claws of a massive lion.

"Really?! The Nemean Lion! Come on!" I exclaimed, but Thalia and I dashed out, getting between Zaria and the Lion. I brandished Riptide, and the Lion backed away. Thalia held out a knife that she must have stashed inside her sleeve.

"Hey, Percy," Zaria said. "Um… thanks for coming, but… what's going on?"

"You know her?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah," I said, not taking my eyes off the Lion, who, for now, was staying back. "She's in my gym class. Thalia, this is Zaria, she's the daughter of Aurora. Zaria, meet Thalia, my cousin."

The Lion took that moment to charge. Thalia grabbed Zaria, and dove aside. I lashed Riptide out in an arc, catching the Lion's swipe. I stabbed at his mouth, but he was keeping it clamped shut. We parried back and forth for a bit, until Thalia came in, catching the Lion's attention. The three of us fought like that for a few minutes.

"No offense, Thalia," I said as I parried a swipe from the Lion's paw, "but you're not doing any good with that knife. Get out your Hunter's bow. I'll get him to open his mouth."

"I can't," Thalia said.

"What do you mean you can't?" I asked. "Just do it!"

"I can't!" Thalia spat. Our argument had, unfortunately, distracted Thalia. The Lion caught her with a swipe, and she went flying, landing on the opposite side of the stage, her knife clattering out of her grip. I tried to block the Lion from her, but he sent me tumbling backwards with the back of his paw. I hit the table that the drama club was using for props on one of the bruises from my fight with Helen. Pain stunned me, and I fell down. I looked up. The Nemean Lion stood over Thalia now, opening his mouth to eat her. Just then, I saw Zaria dashing in, holding Thalia's knife. She dove on top of Thalia and stuck the knife in the Lion's open mouth.

It roared in pain, dissolving, leaving behind his glittering golden pelt. I regained the ability to move and stood, shaking. Zaria was helping Thalia get to her feet. "Thanks," Thalia said. "You saved me, kid."

"No problem," Zaria said. "Just, you know, scared half to death by a massive lion who wasn't getting hurt by your guys' weapons. Speaking of which, what the hell is going on?"

"It's a bit of a story," I said.

"And we're going to have to explain on the way," Thalia said. "We're going to be late as is. Malcolm already doesn't want to do this. I can't imagine us being late will improve his mood at all."

I nodded. "Zaria, I know we just met, but you need to come with Thalia and me."

She looked between us for a few minutes and sighed. "Alright. Someone needs to save you two if another one of those lions attacks, anyway."

I picked up the Nemean Lion skin. "Here," I said, handing it to Zaria. "It's yours, you defeated it."

As she held it, it transformed into a golden jacket. She slung it over her shoulder. "Thanks, I guess?"

"Keep the knife too," Thalia said. "But, come on, we really have to go."

We dashed out to the car as fast as we could. I jumped in the driver's seat, Thalia leaped in the passenger's side, and Zaria climbed in the back. As we pulled out of the parking lot and into busy traffic, Thalia and I started explaining about gods and monsters and half-bloods to Zaria. She listened intently, asking questions from time to time.

"I'm not saying that I believe all of it," she said as we pulled onto our street, "but it does explain some of the things I've noticed that no one else ever seemed to." She paused. "One last question, you guys keep talking about someone named Malcolm. Who is Malcolm?"

"He's another half-blood," Thalia said. "He's helping us out with something tonight, which is why you're staying at Percy's house until we're done. Then he'll take you to Camp. He has to head back there tonight anyway."

"What's he helping you with?" Zaria asked as we parked.

Thalia and I glanced at each other. I turned the ignition off. "Well…" I started. "Thalia's spear was lost, and we have reason to believe that it's in the evidence locker at police headquarters. He's going to help us break in and steal it."

"Wait," Zaria said, "you two are going to break into police headquarters?"

"Yes," Thalia said.

"I can help," Zaria said.

"Thanks," I said, "but I don't think we really need any help. We're all set."

"No," Zaria said. "I have to go. My dad is in charge of the homicide unit. I need to tell him where I'm disappearing to and tell him about all this weird stuff with gods."

"That's probably not a good idea," Thalia said, getting out of the car. I followed suit, Zaria right behind us.

"Listen, the evidence locker is in the no civilian access area. You two will never get past the lobby. It'll be full of officers. But if I tell them I'm going in to see my father, and that you two are a couple of my friends, then I can get you in. Then you just say that you need to go to the bathroom and sneak off. You can get your spear, and I can talk to my dad."

We had been walking up the stairs this entire time. At that point, we were at the door to our apartment. "I don't know," I said. "It seems like it might be kind of dangerous."

I opened the door. Malcolm was sitting on the couch wearing all black. His blond hair was neatly combed, and he was drinking lemonade. My mom sat in the chair across from him. They were chatting. Malcolm looked up at us.

"Ah," he said, "look who decided to show up." He glanced at a watch he had on his wrist. "Half an hour late, you two."

"Well," mom said, "I'll leave you kids to whatever you're up to."

"Thank you for the hospitality," Malcolm said respectfully. Mom smiled at him, then went off to the study, probably to work on her novel. "And who is this?" Malcolm asked, glancing at Zaria.

"I'm Zaria," she said. "I know about your plan, and I can help." She explained her idea to Malcolm who nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes," he said. "I like it."

"You can't agree to letting her help," Thalia said. "She's just discovered who she is! It's too dangerous."

"If you'll remember," Malcolm said, "I thought this whole thing was too dangerous, but you two roped me in. I think that miss Zaria here holds the key to our success. I am a son of Athena, after all. I'm the one who comes up with the brilliant plans, I'm the one who's going to hack into the security, and I say that Zaria helps out."

Thalia and I looked at each other, sighed, then said, "Fine."

"Good," Malcolm said, clapping his hands together. He pulled a backpack out from behind the couch, setting it on the coffee table. "Let's get down to business."