Chapter One - Preparations

The sound of laughter drifting up from the street below was at odds with the terror I felt as I ran through the cramped, dark house. My companions and I had been on our way to Camp Half Blood when we got completely lost. By the time we made it to the city, night had fallen and we'd decided to rest until sunrise. I don't remember whose bright idea it had been to crash in the abandoned mansion (which probably meant it was mine) - who could have known that a group of Cyclopes had moved in?

Spider webs caught on my face and in my hair as I turned a corner. I didn't even flinch. Compared to what was behind me, a couple of daddy long legs were nothing to be afraid of. Of course, Annabeth wouldn't agree. Sparing a quick glance behind me, I saw the hall was empty. Maybe I'd given them the slip? I let out a shaky breath and turned back around, bumping into a large, heavy mass of solid muscle. A meaty hand clamped over my mouth before I could scream, and the last thing I saw before the world went dark was a single large, red eye.

"...when I eventually came to, Annabeth had somehow already killed the monsters and freed me, Luke and Grover," the dark-haired girl said, leaning against the wall next to my bedroom window.

"Sounds like a bad time," I said. "Can you actually see anything out there?"

"Of course not," she sighed, not turning around. "It's not real. Nothing here is."

Even though her back was turned, I could still make out the dark eyeliner around her sky blue eyes, and trail of freckles across her nose in the reflection of the dark window. The girl was called Thalia, and she was supposed to be dead. Instead, it seemed she was living rent free inside my head for some reason.

"I am," I said, defensively. "And I'm pretty sure you are. Dreams are only reflections of your knowledge and experiences. I didn't know any of what you told me."

"You read Luke's diary," she argued. "You're smart, even if you don't always act like it. You could have cobbled that story together from a combination of the journal entries, your own experiences and a healthy dose of overactive imagination."

"Hey, careful bringing up the "I" word," I grinned. "Last time, you lost your clothes for almost a month."

"I will hurt you," she warned, turning around to level me with her best glare.

"Hey, you got them back," I said, my grin fading as a persistent buzzing started to make itself known. "Well, I guess it's time for me to wake up. Thanks for..."

I woke up with a groan even as the alarm clock continued to shout at me to get out of bed.

"I'm awake," I grumbled. "I'm awake. You can shut up, now."

"Took you long enough," the alarm seemed to squawk, letting out one last drawn out beep before finally falling silent.

"I am not awake enough for this..." I groused.

I know what you're probably thinking. Wow, she has one of those super fancy high tech voice activated alarm clocks I never heard about. Where did she get that? The truth is, it's just a basic five dollar alarm clock that I bought at Radio Shack. Nothing fancy or extra special about it. So how did it talk to me? Good question. As far as I can tell, it's something to do with who my dad is.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. My name is Penelope Jackson, and my dad's a god. No, not that God. My dad is Hephaestus, Greek god of fire, innovation and technology. It's thanks to him that I can shoot fireballs out of my hands and hear my alarm clock make snide remarks when I'm trying to wake up. But hey, at least I'm not a daughter of Zeus. His domain is the sky and apparently his kids can understand birds. I do not need to know what goes through a pigeon's mind before they bomb someone.

I remained wrapped in the comforting warmth of my blanket for a few more minutes, weighing the pros and cons of going back to sleep, before reluctantly sitting up with a yawn. Any other morning, I'd be looking forward to a nice run to properly wake myself up - possibly followed by a coffee and pastry. This morning, however, I had to skip the run altogether so I could be ready for the drive upstate to my new school. Wishing I could put it off even longer, but knowing better, I finally got up and started taking care of my morning rituals.

As soon as I stepped out of my room, I saw that my brother Percy was also leaving his room. He paused when he saw me, and I could tell he knew I was heading for the same obvious destination as he was. The bathroom lay between our rooms on the opposite side of the hall. He was taller, and had the greater stride, but I was quicker on my feet. He was still half blinking the sleep from his eyes when I darted forward.

By strange quirk of divine parentage, my twin brother was also my half brother. His father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the oceans. Where I can control fire, he can control water - though not to the same level of mastery as I have. It makes sense, considering he grew up sheltered from the godly side of our heritage. But that is precisely why I didn't feel worried about retaliation when I ducked into the bathroom ahead of him and closed the door in his face.

"Penny!" he shouted, banging his fist on the door. "Come on, I have to pee!"

"You can control your water better than I can," I called back. "Consider it practical training."

"Penny"

Any further complaints were drowned out as I turned on the sink faucet. As soon as I finished my business, I opened the door and was promptly pulled out as he pushed his way inside. I shrugged my shoulders and went back to my room to properly get ready for the day ahead.

I sat down in front of the mirror over my dresser and took a few minutes to style my hair. My mom had talked me out of going with my customary blue as she felt it would be better to keep a natural color to make a better first impression - a notion my twin brother backed up. Eventually I settled on a jet black pixie bob. Worst case, I could always do something else with it tomorrow. Once I was finished with my hair, a quick prayer to Aphrodite was enough to leave me fresh and clean. We'd never actually spoken, but she'd claimed me last summer at the same time my father did and had routinely renewed her makeover blessing whenever I asked.

After that, I stripped out of my bed clothes and got dressed in the outfit I'd set out before going to bed last night - a blue silk tunic top, low waist jeans, a pair of sturdy boots and finally a cropped sweater to pull it all together. The temperature outside was starting to drop, and while that didn't bother me as much thanks to my higher than average body temperature, I'd still stand out if I didn't make at least a token effort to cover up. Thank Olympus the school didn't have an actual uniform. Once satisfied with my appearance, I stepped out of my room to find my mom sitting at the breakfast table nursing a steaming mug of hot coffee.

"Morning," I greeted, grabbing my box of Panchondros Cereal and a bowl off the counter. Short as I am, I appreciated not having to reach so far overhead to get into the cabinet. "Do I have time to eat something before we have to go?"

"Of course, sweetheart," mom said. "Your brother's still getting ready, but there's still plenty of time."

Thanks to my efforts in saving the world this last Summer, my godly aunt had secured a sponsorship deal for me with the Olympus equivalent of Special K. Rather than bran, it was made from whole grain rice, quinoa, wheat, oats, barley, mixed fruits and yogurt all sweetened with honey. In exchange for putting my smiling face on the front of their box, they provided me with a years' supply of cereal and a monthly stipend of a hundred drachma in payment. Apparently having a hero endorse your product was good for sales.

"You know, I could totally get to school faster on my bike," I said, sitting down to eat.

"Absolutely not," mom said, shaking her head. "I don't care how safe you claim it is, you're still just thirteen years old. Maybe in a year or two, and only when supervised. Honestly, I don't know what he was thinking when he gave you that."

"Probably that I could handle it since I rode the real deal already."

"Not this year," mom said, firmly.

"Fine," I sighed, taking a bite. It really was tasty - and not just because I was being paid to say so.

By the time I finished my cereal, Percy had come out of his room having made a half-hearted attempt to tame his hair. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with a shark on it, blue jean cargo pants and white trimmed blue skater shoes. He was also wearing the shark tooth necklace that he'd gotten from his dad a few days after our birthday.

"I thought you were going to wear one of the outfits uncle Joe got you," I said.

"The pants are from him," Percy pointed out, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard.

"Well, at least you're not wearing your camp shirt," I grinned, then noticed him reaching for my cereal. "Hey, hands off the goods. You've got your own where I can't reach it."

"No fighting, you two," mom chimed in. "Percy, you know you should ask first."

"Sorry," he said. "May I have some of your cereal?"

"Pull down the box of Lucky Charms for me, and you've got yourself a deal."

"Okay!"

"Hurry up and eat," mom said. "Your backpacks are by the door. Penny, why does yours look empty?"

She was, of course, referring to my blue nylon backpack that had once been the sheathe for Lord Zeus' Master Bolt. Like a certain other similarly blue container, my backpack was much bigger on the inside than you might expect.

"It's a magical bag," I said. "It's got an expanded interior. I'm not sure how big it is inside, but I can shove everything I need into it without an issue, and I can pull it out by putting my hand inside and thinking about what I want."

"That is stupidly cool," Percy said, sounding a little jealous.

"Yeah, well, you have that magic sword," I pointed out. "It turns into a pen for easy carrying and concealment, plus it comes back to your pocket if you ever drop it."

"And," mom added. "You are to leave..."

"Leave it in my pocket at all times unless there's a monster and I can't run away," Percy recited.

"Right. Same applies to you, Penny. I know you stashed that sword of yours into your bag. I'm not going to tell you that you can't keep it on you, but I am trusting you to be responsible with it. I don't want to hear from the administration office that my children were dismembering their classmates on the first day of school."

"Got it," I said, grinning. "We'll wait until the second day for that call."

"Oh, you!"