The next day, I was transferred to the big house, where Chiron first gave me a guided tour of Hera's cabin, which was not fitted out to accommodate anyone, of course, because it was honorary in nature, no bed, no bathroom; nothing but a statue of Queen Hera surrounded by a slender white column. The statue represented the goddess seated on her throne draped in golden garb, the statue was not white like the ones I'd seen in museums, I'd heard that Greek statues like the one built by sculptor Phidias were originally colored but I'd never seen one in real life. I could have believed it was human.
The only problem was that Hera's eyes seemed to be following me.
There was a bronze brazier at this foot, who tended it? No idea, it was always supposed to be empty. A stone falcon was on her shoulder, (I wondered since this was one of Zeus' symbols, could he suddenly strike me with it, as with laser beams, my sweet pessimistic thought). Hera held in her hands a cane surmounted by a lotus flower. Her hair was braided. She was smiling like: Mommy is the deity here, so she's always right and you must always listen to her, or I'll crush you with my stick.
The cabin looked like a magnificent tomb, if you ask me, not a vacation spot. I had only one advantage as the daughter of Hera - I had nothing to share with anyone, I chose my own activities, but in return I was miserable, everyone avoided me like a newly discovered disease, no one wanted to approach the daughter of the most vengeful goddess of Olympus, famous for hating the demigods.
My presence meant two things to everyone, firstly Hera goddess of marriage had broken her vows by giving birth to me and secondly Zeus would stop at nothing to eliminate me he'd send me every monster in creation, logically I was the adulterous child of his wife who had sworn eternal fidelity to him, we'd all have done the same.
Everyone avoided me except one person, Percy. We were experiencing much the same thing, rejected by the others all at once. No one from cabin eleven wanted to take us on after the events of Capture the Flag, so fencing lessons were down to Percy, Luke and me. He said we'd need training more than ever and went so far as to push us to our limits.
Annabeth was still tutoring us in ancient Greek, but she was obviously distracted, looking at Percy with an angry expression whenever he spoke to her, which I found very unpleasant, although he hadn't done anything to her that I knew of. Then, when we'd finished, she'd start mumbling things like, "Quest… Poseidon?Dirty rotten…Got to make a plan…"
Even the Ares no longer approached me, despite the furious looks they were giving me. I'll tell you right now, I'd have preferred them and me to fight, it's not cool to be ignored, but luckily for me Percy, Grover and Luke were there.
One morning, Chiron woke me up.
"Kassandra," he began, "Mr. D wishes to see you."
Great. Had my celestial stepfather instructed him to eliminate me?
"Why?"
"All will be explained to you in due course. In the meantime, come, Percy will be here too."
He left my temporary room, I dressed and looked out of the window at the sky, the rain seemed to be coming or worse, I was pretty sure Luke had once explained to me that bad weather only came if we decided it, but here someone had decided it for us.
I stepped out of the big house and found myself facing Mr.D and Chiron as well as Percy and Grover.
"As I said to the other one, don't expect me to bow because her most annoying majesty is your mother."
Lightning flashed through the clouds. And the thunder shook the tiles of the house. My whole body shook with fear.
"Blah blah blah," grumbled Mr. D.
Chiron pretended to be interested in the card game, Grover cowered against the railing, his hooves dancing back and forth.
"If I had my way," said Dionysus, "I'd make all your molecules erupt in flames.. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with it. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."
"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," adds Chiron.
"Nonsense," says Dionysus. "The children wouldn't feel a , I've agreed to restrain myself. Instead, I'm thinking of turning them into animals and sending them back to their parents, the girl into a peacock and the boy into a dolphin."
"Mr. D...," Chiron warned.
"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus stood up, and the invisible players' cards fell to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy and girl are still there when I get back, I'll turn them into an Atlantic beaked whale and a multicolored bird heading for India. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, Kassandra Knight, if you're at all smart, you'll see that this is a much more sensible choice than Chiron feels you must do."
Dionysus took a playing card, twisted it and turned it into a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.
He snapped his fingers.
The air seemed to bend and twist around him. He became a hologram, then a breeze, then disappeared, leaving behind only the smell of freshly pressed grapes.
Chiron smiled at us, but he looked tired and tense.
"Sit down Percy, Kassandra, you too grover."
We did.
"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"
"He scared me," he said, "If Kassi hadn't shot him, I'd be dead."
"You and kassi will meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."
"Done…with what?"
"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"
Percy glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.
"'Um, sir," Percy said, "you haven't told me what it is yet.
Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."
Thunder rumbled through the valley. Storm clouds now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, sky and sea were boiling together
"Poseidon and Zeus," Percy said. "They're fighting over something precious..."
"It's because something important has been stolen, isn't it?" I dropped.
Chiron and Grover exchanged glances. Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"
"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and sky fighting. Then Percy and I talked to Annabeth, and she'd heard something about a theft. And the Cyclops who attacked me said something like 'give back what you stole' or something."
"And I had dreams," Percy added.
"I knew it," said Grover.
"Hush, satyr," ordered Chiron.
"But it's their quests! (Grover's eyes were bright with excitement.) "It must be It must be!"
"Only the Oracle can determine. Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you're right. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They're fighting over a stolen object of value. To be precise: a lightning bolt."
We laughed nervously.
"A what?" Percy asked.
"Don't take it lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about a tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."
"Oh."
"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, now getting annoyed. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclops for the war against the Titans. The lightning bolt that sheered the top of Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which has enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."
"And it's missing?"
"Stolen," says Chiron.
"By who?"
"By whom," corrects Chiron. Once a professor, always a professor. "By both of you."
"At least" - Chiron raised his hand - "that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon argued. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea has always liked you best', 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters', et cetera. Afterwards, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room right under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power. Directly - it's forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus thinks your father convinced a human hero to take it.
"But I didn't-" Percy tried to say. "Patience and listen, child," said Chiron. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The Cyclopes' forges are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon had used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon and Hera openly claimed you as their children. You were both in New York over winter break. Either of you could easily have sneaked into Olympus. Zeus thinks he's found his thieves."
"Stop, why me, I'm not related to Poseidon, Zeus shouldn't accuse me."
"You're the first sign of Hera's infidelity which would seem to have altered the judgment of the King of Olympus and let's note that you've known Poseidon's son for many years, and Zeus knows that an alliance between Poseidon and Hera to dethrone him could do great damage.
"You're talking about the golden net episode," I declared.
"Yes, well done Kassandra, question thirty-eight on your exam."
"What?" said Percy, he looked at me as if demanding an explanation.
"To summarize Hera, Poseidon, Apollo and a few other gods made a plan to overthrow Zeus because he was a bad ruler so they tricked him, until he became a better ruler."
"And you remembered that from our exam."
"Yes, Percy, I did."
"But I've never set foot on Olympus! Zeus is crazy!" he declared.
"Completely crazy, yes." i outbid.
Chiron and Grover looked worriedly up at the sky. The storm clouds weren't sparing us at all, as they tried to cover us.
"'Er Percy, Kassi... ?" Said Grover. "We don't use the c-word to describe the lord of the sky."
"Then which one?" I asked.
"Perhaps paranoid," suggested Chiron.
"But we're just kids!" Percy defended.
"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother and wife were plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted that he'd broken the sacred oath he took after World War II and your wife revealed that she'd cheated on you with another man, that they'd fathered new mortal heroes who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"
"But Kassi and I didn't do anything. Poseidon my father and Hera they didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did they? Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers agree that flying is not Poseidon's style. But the sea god is too proud to try and convince Zeus. Zeus demanded that Poseidon return the bolt before the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first , ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief on the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But the arrival of the two of you has inflamed Zeus' temper. Now neither god wants to back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"
"Bad?" He suggested.
"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization transformed into a battlefield so large it will make the Trojan War look like a water balloon fight."
"A disaster," I pressed.
"And you, Percy Jackson, Kassandra Knight would be the first to feel the wrath of Zeus."
It started to rain. The volleyball players stopped their game and stared up at the sky in stunned silence. I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.
"So we have to find Zeus' stupid Lightning Bolt at Olympus."
"What better peace offering," Chiron declared, "than to have Hera's daughter and Poseidon's son return Zeus's property?"
"If Poseidon or Hera don't have it, where's the thing?" Percy asked.
"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago...well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially undertake the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle.
"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand? "
"Because if I did, you'd be too scared to accept the challenge."
Percy swallowed. "Good reason."
"You agree then?"
I met Percy's gaze, then we looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly. Easy for him. We were the ones Zeus wanted to kill.
"All right," said Percy. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."
"Then it's time to consult the Oracle," said Chiron. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more." Percy headed for the attic, it lasted a few minutes, but it felt like hours I was there hoping he'd come back to me sane. Eventually he came back down.
"Well?" Chiron asked urgently.
Percy collapsed into a chair and said "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."
Grover sat forward, chewing enthusiastically on the remains of a Diet Coke can.
"That's great!"
"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron insisted. "This is important."
Percy seemed reluctant, but he spoke up.
"She... she said that four would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."
"I knew it," said Grover.
Chiron didn't look satisfied.
"Anything else?"
"No," he said. "That's about it."
Chiron studied his face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meaning. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth isn't always clear until events come to pass."
I'd known Percy for years, I knew when he was telling the truth, I knew when he was lying, like once when he swore to me he wasn't dealing in candy, and in the end I found some under his pillow. Now he was hiding an important detail. I didn't want to insist just yet; I knew he was upset.
"Okay, "he said, impatient to change the subject. "So, where should we go? Who is this god in the west?"
"Ah, think about it, Percy," said Chiron. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who will come out on top?"
"'Somebody else wants to take over?" he surmised.
"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would become powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him to take an oath not to have any more children, an oath that both of them have now broken.
"Hades," I say.
Chiron nods. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."
A piece of aluminum escaped Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh...what?"
"A fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. The Furies obey only one lord: Hades."
"Yes, but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protests. "Especially if he found out Percy is Poseidon's son."
"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. " Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the must have a spy here. He must suspect that Poseidon will try to use Percy or Kassi to clear his name. Hades would be very I love to kill these young half-bloods before they can undertake the quest."
"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods out to kill us."
"But a quest to..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year.
I laughed, "Grover, weren't you just now crossing your fingers that we'd accept the quest?"
"Yes, but the underworld is no place for a Satyr, cold, dark, no sun."
"'Hades sent an minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would accuse Poseidon. I don't pretend to fully understand the motivations of the Lord of the Dead, or why he chose this moment to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy and Kassandra must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt and reveal the truth."
A strange fire burned in my stomach.
The strangest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was hatred. The desire for revenge. Hades was trying to accuse me and Percy of a theft we hadn't committed. And because of that, the gods had exacted their vengeance on my uncle and Sally Jackson.
I was ready to take it.
Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips. The poor guy needed to finish a quest with me or Percy so he could get his researcher's permit, whatever that was, but how could we ask him to do that quest.
"Look, if we know it's Hades," I said to Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods?"
"Yeah," said Percy. "Zeus or Poseidon could come down to the Underworld and break heads."
"Suspecting and knowing aren't the same thing," says Chiron. "Besides, even if the other gods suspected Hades - and I imagine Poseidon does - they couldn't get the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories, except by invitation. This is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they are bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always act through humans?
"You're telling me I'm being used that's right, you heard Percy have fulfilled the will of the gods too cool" I said sarcastically.
"I'm saying it's no accident that Hera and Poseidon have claimed you and Percy now. It's a very risky gamble, but they're in a desperate situation. They need you."
My mother needed me.
This thought swirled in my mind, my mother needed me, as a little girl I'd prayed for a long time to find my mother, the one my father kept telling me about the merits of, but never anything, I didn't know at the time what I was supposed to feel anger, hatred, joy. It was all a blur.
I looked at Chiron "you knew I was Hera's daughter and Percy Poseidon's son all along haven't you"
"I had my suspicions, As I said, I've spoken to the Oracle too. Determining Percy was much easier but you Kassandra are a real surprise, when I consulted the oracle I thought she was lying. "
"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed to go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."
"Check," said Chiron.
"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe.
And bring it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days' time."
"That's about right."
I looked at Grover, who swallowed the ace of hearts.
"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year? He asked weakly.
"You don't have to go," Percy told him. "I can't ask that of you."
"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just like I said satyrs and underground places... well..."
He took a deep breath, then stood up, brushing the shredded maps and bits of aluminum off his T-shirt.
"You saved my life, Percy. If... if you're serious about wanting me to along, I won't let you or Kassi down."
"All the way, G-man. Percy turned to Chiron. "So, where are we going? The Oracle just said to go west."
"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."
"Where?
Chiron looked surprised. "I thought it was pretty obvious. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."
"Exactly where I was headed so we're getting on a plane and going there."
No !" Grover yelled. "Kassi, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?
"Lots of times actually." I said, which was true. I'd been going from place to place on our private jet for as long as I could remember.
"This time is different Kassi, think about it," Chiron said. "You're Hera's daughter. Your mother's husband is Zeus, Lord of Heaven. You'd be in Zeus' domain. You'd never come down alive. The same goes for you, Percy"
Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder rumbled.
"Okay," Percy said, "I'll travel overland then."
"That's right," says Chiron. "Basically two companions can accompany you, but this time the oracle says four. Grover is one of them, the other is Kassandra but one has already volunteered, if you accept her help."
"Gee," said Percy, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"
The air shimmered behind Chiron. Annabeth came into view, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.
"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she declared. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you want to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from ruining it."
"Not a chance I'm here." I told him. "And I think I've saved Percy enough trouble. I'm the best at avoiding trouble."
Annabeth just shrugged and I rolled my eyes.
"If you say so yourself," Percy said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"
Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?
"A quartet," said Percy. "That'll work."
"Excellent," said Chiron. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the Manhattan bus station. After that, you're on your own."
Lightning and rain fell on the meadows, which were never supposed to have severe weather.
"No time to waste," said Chiron. "I think you should all get packing."