by Emery Pugh
SPOILER ALERT: The following content may reveal parts of the plot of the Percy Jackson book series. There may also be spoilers about the Heroes of Olympus book series, which is a five-book sequel to the Percy Jackson series. The Trials of Apollo series, the sequel to Heroes of Olympus, will be mentioned. It is highly recommended that you read at least the Percy Jackson series AND the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series. If you don’t mind the spoilers, then read on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
~ Chapter 1 ~
~ Percy ~
LOL, what a dope Percy Jackson is was probably what the Fates were texting to each other.
I think my life proves that there should be a limit on how many deadly situations a demigod hero should be able to endure. The Fates should give anyone who meets or surpasses the limit a break.
I’ve killed pretty much everything killable in Greek Mythology and quarreled with countless monsters and gods. It’s been a rough life, with lots of threats of destroying and incinerating me.
I have had enough adventures for more than a hundred lifetimes. And the Fates just keep pelting stuff at me. I just want to go to college with Annabeth, my girlfriend, and live a normal life. But noooooo. I had to fight more gods and monsters.
Really, it’s not fair.
Toughen up! Life is not meant to be fair, the Fates were probably laughing hysterically at me. Haha! This is so fun, making this person’s life so hard!
I finally made it to college in New Rome after an infinite amount of trials and excruciating tests. Pretty much everything I wanted was there. Bakery? Check. No monsters? Check. No deadly quests? Check (unless you consider pop quizzes deadly quests).
Everything changed when the hellhounds and the drakon arrived.
You might know that Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigod camp that I was residing in, had magical borders to keep monsters out. So how did the monsters get in? I don’t know.
“Grrrr,” a guttural noise behind me almost made me jump out of my shoes. I was alone, facing several hellhounds.
I drew Riptide, my trusty bronze sword. The hellhounds snarled at the sight of Celestial Bronze, but they did not retreat.
A massive roar in the distance shook the ground. I wheeled around, still keeping my sword facing the hellhounds. Lights from the houses switched on.
A drakon charged through our magical barrier, over the Little Tiber river. Hold on. That drakon can fly?
Another roar woke the rest of the camp. I heard screams and whispering, along with the clang of armor. The legionnaires were getting ready to fight.
I felt a sudden sharp pain in my leg. Grunting in pain, I realized how stupid I was. I had become totally oblivious to the hellhounds. I swung my sword and disintegrated the hellhound hanging onto my bleeding thigh, but it was too late. The damage was already done.
I swayed, trying to stay on my feet and somehow not pass out. The other hellhounds watched me with hungry eyes, savoring their soon-to-be meal of demigod.
“AROOOO!” The hellhounds suddenly yelped in surprise as they disintegrated. In the midst of the monster dust, my girlfriend Annabeth stood with a bronze knife.
Then I passed out.
“Come on, Seaweed Brain,” a voice said. “Wake up. We’ve got work to do.”
My vision was blurry. The only thing I saw was a blob hovering over me… a face? Pain coursed through my leg. Suddenly, I panicked, thinking this was my eternal punishment or something. Maybe I was conked out when the judges of the dead assessed me so I couldn’t tell them anything, and they rolled a dice to determine where I would go.
To my relief, my vision cleared and Annabeth was smiling down at me. I glanced at my leg and saw that it was bandaged up.
“Ow.” I winced as I tried to move my injured leg.
Annabeth rummaged in her pack and handed me a chunk of ambrosia and some nectar; the food and drink of the gods. “This should help.”
“Urgh,” I managed as I slurped down the nectar and ate the square of ambrosia in one bite. I had meant to say “thanks,” but it obviously didn’t come out as intended.
“ROARRRRR!” I instantly felt better after the ambrosia, but that’s not why I shot to my feet. The roar came from a mere fifty yards away. Windows broke from the vibration, and the ground shook.
“Percy!” Annabeth dragged me along as I was about to draw Riptide. “You’re in no condition to fight. Let’s get out of here!” I tried to protest, but Annabeth had a point. I was in no condition to fight, and I couldn’t fight the drakon alone even if I was uninjured.
Annabeth led me behind a group of Victorian mansions to an alleyway I never knew about, even though I explored what I thought was every part of the city in my free time, both with and without Annabeth.
“How –” I started.
“I found this by accident,” Annabeth cut me off. “I’ll explain later.” I had a feeling that she didn’t find it by accident, but I was too tired to press on.
“Okay… right here…” Annabeth muttered to herself as she opened a sewer grate. She turned to me after she opened it. “What are you waiting for? Hop in.”
It was smelly.
Like a typical sewer, it was dirty, grimy, and smelly. Luckily, it was dry, so I didn’t have to wade through scummy toilet water.
I tried to ask, Where are we going, and why do we have to travel through the sewer system? Unfortunately, I didn’t have the energy to walk and talk at the same time.
We walked for what seemed like hours in the twists and turns of the sewers until I finally saw a streak of daylight. I was beginning to think that we were heading to Tartarus again. I shuddered. No, I was not going back to that place, no matter what.
“Make no noise,” Annabeth cautioned.
She carefully lifted the grate with one hand, dagger in the other. After some inspection (I have no idea what she might be looking for), she pushed herself up and nodded at me to come up.
We entered a small clearing with trees and bushes all around. It was so thick with vegetation, I could see nothing beyond the first few feet of shrubs.
“Monsters are getting into the camp by this route,” Annabeth whispered, nervously glancing around. “The camp borders don’t protect underground tunnels.”
“So it’s like the Labyrinth all over again?” I asked. To my surprise, she shook her head.
“We tried collapsing the tunnel, but it’s protected by some magical force,” Annabeth said. “However, it’s not connected the main structure of the Lab –”
“Wait,” I said. “You said we. I never knew about this.”
“I meant we as in the praetors and myself.”
“Why do you always hide stuff from me?” I grumbled. “It’s just like at Camp Half-Blood. You and Chiron, hiding the prophecy –”
“Okay, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth tossed her head back.
“Okay, Wise Girl.”
“But seriously, hiding the Great Prophecy from you was for good.” Annabeth leaned in and gave me a kiss. “Hey, you lived through it. Let’s not dwell on the past.”
I didn’t respond. She had a point. I did live through it, even though I almost died at least fifty times.
“Alright,” I said. “You finally decided to show me this tunnel. But why? You could’ve just told me about it, and we wouldn’t have had to wade through toilet water. Saying ‘I found this sewer that leads to a clearing’ is much simpler.”
“It’s more than that.” Annabeth glanced around again. I wish she would just tell me what she was looking for. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” I frowned. “I feel nothing, unless you’re talking about the breeze.”
“An aura… that way.” Annabeth pointed behind us. “It’s ancient and powerful. Now do you feel it?”
I nodded. After she told me, I realized I did feel something.
“Come on.” Annabeth gripped my arm, and dragged me into the undergrowth. I sighed and stumbled after her.
For a while, we shuffled along in silence, enjoying the alone time together. It would be a nice scene around us to view if we didn’t suspect that some monster might come jumping out of the trees.
MOO!
I jumped and (accidentally) did a three-sixty. A cow was literally right behind me, no more than six feet away. I doubted it was able to sneak up on us because of supreme stealth. It was probably because my tripping and general clumsiness caused so much noise that all other sounds couldn’t be heard. I silently congratulated myself for being less stealthy than a cow.
Moo. The cow pawed (or would it be hoofed?) the ground and tentatively approached us. For precaution, I slid out Riptide, my trusty bronze sword, but didn’t uncap it. If the cow was friendly, I didn’t want to scare it away. However, being a demigod, I haven’t had much luck attracting “friendly” monsters.
I said something really stupid like, “Um, hi, cow.” I was ready to uncap Riptide at any moment.
“Percy,” Annabeth hissed. I noticed she didn’t have her weapon in hand. “Are you blind? Put away Riptide! It’s one of Apollo’s sacred cattle. Hurting it, much less killing it, would probably get you incinerated. There’s a package tied around its neck.”
“Oh.” I suddenly felt really stupid. I figured Annabeth was right.
Annabeth carefully slid out her bronze dagger. For a moment, I thought she was going to gut the cattle, despite her own advice, but instead, she cut a string I didn’t notice before around the cow’s neck. The package, which I also didn’t notice before, fell lightly to the ground. An instant later, the cattle turned around and sprinted off.
Annabeth knelt and gently picked up the package. It was a small three inch by three inch box with a rather loud and vibrant design on the outside – neon red with orange flames that actually glowed. Just like Apollo.
Instead of opening it, she just gaped at it and brushed her fingers over the package, slowly turning it in her fingers. Then I realized she was reading a note attached to the box.
“Here.” Annabeth handed me the package. The box was hotter than I expected, and I almost dropped it, which probably would’ve made Apollo mad. If a god gives you a gift, there are a couple things you should always do no matter what: one, accept the gift without complaints, and two, don’t break the gift unless intended.
A slip of paper was glued onto one side of the cube. It read: You guys gonna try and beat the Midgard Serpent? Well, you’ll need this. Do not open until the right moment. I’m sure you’ll know which moment. Good luck.
“Wow,” I said. “Longest written message ever from a god. Usually they’ll just write a few words, like that one time my dad took the trouble of writing a letter to me to write just two words.”
“Yeah,” Annabeth agreed. “But in this case, though, it doesn’t surprise me. After his trials, Apollo cares more for demigods and even regular mortals. I don’t know what sort of experiences he went through that made the most egoistic and selfish god turn into what he is now, but whatever the case, he’s changed for good.”
“Oo-kay.” I pointed to the words Midgard Serpent in Apollo’s note. “But we still need to figure out whatever the ‘Midgard Serpent’ is. We’ve met pretty much everything in Greek mythology, yet I’ve never heard of it.”
“Wait,” Annabeth said. “Turn the box around.”
I did so.
“The Midgard Serpent,” Annabeth read. “Is so very big that it can; Encircle the world.” She sighed. “One of Apollo’s haikus. If his haikus were actually good, I wouldn’t mind so much. But –”
“Yeah, I know,” I interrupted. “Everyone knows. You don’t need to explain. So… to the point. What’s the Midgard Serpent?”
Annabeth rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. “I’ve heard of it before, but I just can’t place it. I don’t remember learning about it at Camp Half-Blood.”
“That means we didn’t learn about it,” I concluded. “Because you and your fellow Athena cabin mates are the only ones to remember everything we learned in class.”
“Learning those stories of heroes is important; in fact, it can be life saving.” Annabeth glared at me like I had offended her. Perhaps I had offended her by implying that I didn’t remember everything I learned in class.
“So,” I interrupted, before she got an opportunity to go on a rant. That’s one problem about dating an Athena girl. “You don’t know what this Midgard Serpent thing is?”
“No.” Annabeth shook her head. “Do you?”
“No,” I admitted. “So let’s go find out!”
Another dumb move.
I was getting afraid that Annabeth would go on a rant, so I panicked and ran. Plus, I felt the sea nearby. At New Rome, there was no ocean nearby like at Camp Half-Blood. I rarely visited the ocean, especially with my studies in full swing, so I really needed the salt water. The fresh scent of the ocean… the waves lapping against the beach. And lastly, I’ve fought many monsters before. I didn’t need to know legend this and legend that for each and every monster.
“Percy!” Annabeth caught up to me and yanked the back of my shirt.
I tried to yell, Horse collar! That’s a foul! Instead, my shirt gagged me so all that came out was “Gah gah, urgh.”
“Percy,” Annabeth scolded. “What in Hades are you doing?”
“Gah,” I managed.
Annabeth gave me some water to relieve my gagged throat. After a few moments, I was able to speak normally. “Um… I don’t know. Well, actually, I do. I felt the sea nearby, so… I just ran.”
“So much for rational thinking,” Annabeth muttered.
I took Annabeth’s hand and walked towards the sea. She didn’t protest, so I didn’t stop walking. The plants gradually thinned as we strolled along until we reached a beach. It was completely deserted. No people. Not even an abandoned umbrella or something. Nothing.
“This is… weird,” I said. Annabeth nodded without replying. Nonetheless, we continued walking towards the water like we were regular people on a date, instead of demigods trying to find some mysterious Midgard Serpent.
“Wait.” Annabeth suddenly stopped in her tracks. “The aura… it’s so much stronger now.”
“I feel it too.” I looked back at the trees, making sure there wasn’t a giant snake looming over us. Nope. Nothing.
“Come on.” I tugged on her arm and she reluctantly followed me into the sea. “Let’s just pretend this is a normal date, okay?”
“If you insist, Seaweed Brain.” Annabeth smiled and we submerged underneath the ocean currents.
The Lighthouse 