Chapter 01
The world outside was still dark. Blinking the lingering sleep from my eyes, I rolled over and cut the alarm. The red digital numbers said it was half past four in the morning. I lingered on my bed for a few more minutes trying to remember my dream. All I could remember was a shadowy threat of an unseen monster that was chasing me. Letting out a heavy sigh, I rolled out of bed to get dressed in my running clothes.
Ever since the end of Summer, I'd been having more and more nightmares. It probably had something to do with a former Head Counselor attempting to murder me. When I first met him, he presented himself as the cool older brother I never had. He was in charge of the biggest cabin at Camp Half Blood, and looked after everyone. He even lent me his own magic item for my quest.
So imagine my surprise when it turned out that he'd been the one to steal the lightning bolt all along. What's more? He'd tried to frame me for the crime! I was supposed to die holding the bag. When that plan failed, he lured me into the woods and revealed his true intentions, before making a personal attempt on my life. In the end, I survived and he escaped.
And he was still out there, somewhere. I shook that thought from my head as I finished tying up my shoelaces. Since I'd been waking up so early, I'd taken to having a morning run to clear my mind.
The upside to everything that happened is that I finally got to live with my mom, who I had thought to be dead for the last six years, and my twin brother that I hadn't seen in the same amount of time. Mom's husband... ex-husband... Gabe Ugliano had been arrested for a combination of insurance fraud and human trafficking. I had a hunch one or more of the gods might have been behind that story, but I wasn't going to question it. Thankfully, I only ever truly interacted with the man one time - and even that was one time too many - when he'd come to repair the appliances in Uncle Joe's restaurant. We'd had to close shop and air the place out for almost a month afterward just to get rid of the lingering odor he had left behind.
The man was lower than a cockroach and deserved every ounce of suffering life could throw his way until he reached the Fields of Punishment in the afterlife. Why the hate? Well, it turns out one of his favorite pastimes was taking out his aggression physically on either Percy or, when Percy wasn't around (which was often, since he went to boarding schools), our mom. In any case, he was gone, and mom received a huge paycheck in the form of a cash settlement that let her pay out her current lease and sign up for a new place in a better neighborhood.
Our new apartment was located in Lower Manhattan not far from the Village and, as luck would have it, roughly the same distance to Central Park as Uncle Joe's place had been - making my early morning run just as convenient. Keeping quiet so as to not wake my mom or brother, I made my way out of the apartment - making sure to lock the door behind me. Better neighbors or no, a locked door keeps honest people honest.
Even in the early morning, the city was still alive with the sounds of people and traffic. Tuning out the world around me, I completed the roughly three mile run to the park without incident, taking a few minutes to appreciate the glow of the sunrise peeking through the buildings before setting off back for home. Normally, I'd take a detour to the Empire State Building and ride the elevator up to the six-hundredth floor for a coffee, but today was my birthday, and mom had made it clear that she'd made plans to celebrate.
Instead, I stopped by Central Perk - a coffehouse on the corner not far from home - and ordered a hot coffee and scone. Despite my usual aversion to all things wet, there was something truly magical about a piping hot cup of coffee in the morning. There was an assortment of open tables scattered throughout, but the most defining feature of the place was a large, four-seater orange couch. No cookies for guessing where I chose to sit and enjoy my purchase.
After drinking my coffee, I wrapped the scone in a to-go bag and headed straight back home. I opened the front door to see my mom sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hands.
"Oh!" She jumped slightly as I walked inside, obviously surprised. "I thought you were still in bed."
"Nah," I shook my head. "I took my morning run."
"And stopped by for coffee on your way back, I see," she smirked, indicating the scone that I'd saved.
"Yup," I grinned. "And I brought this back for you."
"Thank you, sweetheart," mom smiled, kissing the top of my head before exxageratedly wrinkling her nose at me.
"Well, go get cleaned up," she said. "I'm about to start making breakfast."
"Can I help?" I asked, hopefully.
"I might be persuaded if you can get cleaned and dressed before I finish this scone."
"Alright, I'm going," I grinned back, heading to my room.
I cannot over state how much I appreciated that my new bedroom was set up similar to the way it was when I was living with Uncle Joe - which made sense considering almost all of the furniture came from that room when I moved in here. A wall poster map of Themyscira hung over my bed and the replica Stygian bird automaton that I had purchased from Olympus last December was picking at a pile of small gears and bolts on my desk.
"Hey!" I said, sharply. "No, that isn't for you."
I shooed the metal bird back to its perch and threw an oil rag over the loose parts. During the quest to retrieve Lord Zeus' stolen Lightning Bolt this past summer, my friends and I had been attacked by a swarm of mechanical spiders in a water park. Apparently one had found its way back with us - though I wasn't entirely sure how it had gotten across multiple state lines and through various outfit changes unnoticed. With nothing better to do in the lead up to the new school year, I'd decided that fixing it up would make for an interesting project.
So far, it had proven to be less entertaining and more frustrating than anticipated. I still had a long way to go with learning enchanting. I had briefly entertained the idea of just calling Jo - a former Hunter of Artemis and daughter of Hecate who had given me a solid foundation in practical magic application and theory - and asking, but I really wanted to try to figure it out on my own.
Next to the mechanical spider on my desk was an old, battered green leather diary as well as a few pages of notes that I'd scribbled out while reading through it. It had been among the things Luke had left behind after fleeing the camp. I'd taken it, hoping to get some further insight into whatever it was he was planning. I immediately regretted doing so once I'd started reading.
The beginning of the book was filled with pages and pages of neat, cramped handwriting that detailed vivid premonitions the writer had had - followed by descriptions of the countless demigods he'd lured to into his home and the various ways they had all been killed while trying to escape. It read like a serial killer's confession, and I'd had a seriously hard time sleeping after reading those parts. Eventually, though, the neat script gave way to a shakier hand as the previous owner passed the diary along to Luke. The last word written by the previous owner was 'Promise'.
Stripping out of my running clothes, I grabbed the container of alcohol wipes sitting on my desk. I mentioned my aversion to all things wet earlier? Yeah, that extends to things like baths. Thanks to my demigod powers of fire, I am physically harmed by extended exposure to water. I glanced in the mirror to see where to start and was almost blinded by a flash of brilliant pink light. When the spots in my vision cleared, I saw that not only was I completely clean, but I suddenly had perfectly applied makeup on my face.
"Thanks, Nonna," I said, offering a small prayer of gratitude to my grandmother, Aphrodite (yes, the goddess of love and beauty tips was my grandmother. Specifically, she was my mom's mom. Long story.) and received the emotion of a warm hug in response.
With arguably the hardest part of my task done, I spent another moment in front of the mirror altering my hair to be more suitable for going out later. I still had no idea where we were going, so I had to trust my own best judgement. Eventually, I settled on a cute pixie cut that was short on the back and sides of the head and slightly longer on the top, with very short bangs. With a grin, I shifted my natural black hair color to a dark, midnight blue and added a few 'twinkling' spots of white.
With my hair out of the way, I got to work picking out a suitable outfit. I may not be a fashionista like the other girls (and some of the boys) in Cabin Ten, but between spending a summer in close quarters with a group of fashion obsessed teenagers and living with an elder son of Aphrodite, some things are bound to rub off on a girl. I pulled on a dark blue tank top with sequins that matched my hair, and a pair of baggy cargo pants. Thanks to the quick blessing, the outfit subtly adjusted itself to fit as if it was tailored specifically for me.
Sparing one last look in the mirror, and finding myself satisfied that I looked presentable, I went back into the living room to see Percy awake and sitting at the table. He was wearing a pair of sturdy blue jeans and an unzipped loose hooded jacket over his orange camp half blood t-shirt. Predictably, he'd seemingly put as little effort into his appearance as possible - was it any wonder he'd still not been claimed by our grandmother? Still, his hair was at least combed, so there was that.
"Hey," I greeted. "You're wearing your camp shirt?"
"It was clean," he shrugged. "You look... Nice."
"Thanks," I smiled. "So, do you have any idea where we're going later? Some birthday tradition, perhaps?"
"Nope," he shook his head. "It's actually kind of a first for me, you know? Back with Gabe we never really went anywhere. He claimed we didn't have the money to waste..."
I frowned, glad the man was gone from his and mom's lives.
"Well, thankfully he's no longer around," mom said, echoing my thoughts as she walked into the kitchen. "And we're going to be doing a lot of things we could never do when he was. While I wanted to wait and surprise you, Penelope, I suppose I could let you know before the curiosity kills you. We're going to Russo's Kitchen."
