Leo Valdez

With his arm around Calypso and his tool belt round his waist, Leo felt like nothing could go wrong. Showing up to your own funeral - is there a better entrance? He felt kind of bad for keeping his friends in the dark for this long - it was 2 months since he'd barbequed Gaia - but he knew they'd be somewhat happy to see him.

Reaching the 600th floor of the Empire State Building took forever (or at least, with Frank Sinatra in greek playing from the speakers it felt like forever) but it was all worth it. Soon he'd see Hazel, Piper, Jason and all the others from the Argo II - he'd even missed Nico a little.

"Remember Leo, let me talk first. I may have to convince the Gods not to banish me on the spot, which is more important than your surprise entrance." Calypso reminded him.

Man, that girl. Ever since washing up on Ogygia's beach and seeing her cinnamon toast hair flowing behind her, he'd been in love. When he found out she liked him back, it felt like his heart was going to explode with happiness.

So, naturally, he then found out he might die trying to kill Gaia.

The numbers above the doors were slowly going up. 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599.. ding!

The golden doors slowly slid open to reveal...

An army of demigods.

Sapphire Enwright

Sapphire's morning was going great. From the minute she woke up and realised that yes, she was still living in her terraced London flat and yes, her mum and stepdad were in fact fighting (what a surprise!) she knew today was going to be just peachy.

She traipsed downstairs, stifling a yawn. She could hear bad rap music coming from her brother's room and she could smell smoke of some sort drifting downstairs. As she walked into the kitchen, grabbed herself some cheerios and sat down at the beaten up old table, she wondered if her parents would ever stop fighting.

Probably not.

Her shoulders slumped further as she realised what day it was. Monday. Swimming day. Ugh. She hated water. The thought of submerging herself into a hostile substance was unappealing, to say the least.

She headed out of the door, not bothering to say goodbye. She doubted her parents would be able to tell the difference either way. They were too busy wrapped up in their own troubles and worries to care about their daughter (or step daughter, Sapphire thought. She couldn't forget that she had a relative out there somewhere that she'd find one day)

Walking to school was probably her favourite thing to do every day. The thought that she could escape her warring family for 6 hours was a relief, even if school came with troubles of it's own.

"Hey! Hey Saph! Wait up!" A voice behind her said. Sapphire smiled. She recognised that voice. As Jack Pacer and Lottie Magorian sprinted to catch up with her, she slowed her pace. Her friends' sprint would seem slow to a snail.

"Hey, Saph, German sausages are the WURST! Geddit?"

Sapphire snorted. She could always count on Jack to lift the mood.

"Jack, that was horrific." Yelled Sapphire's other best friend. Lottie Magorian, queen of gloom.

Her friends finally caught up with her. Jack's brown hair was all over the place after his burst of energy, and his grey eyes danced with a mischievous light. You would have thought, seeing as his last name was Pacer, that Jack would be good at sports. No. Quite the contrary, in fact. Although Jack excelled in art - top of the class, always one step ahead of everyone else - his success in other subjects was... debatable. The ADHD and dyslexia probably didn't help, but still. It was Jack's big dream to start a fashion line, and he wouldn't let anything - or one - stop him. His determination really was admirable in every subject, and although he wasn't the best at learning, he was one of the smartest people Sapphire knew.

Lottie, on the other hand...

Sapphire loved her friend, she really did. It was just that her wardrobe looked like she'd travelled back to 2006 and checked Myspace for inspiration, she changed hair colours every month, and she wrote bad poetry which she forced Sapphire and Jack to read whenever she got the chance. Still, it was kind of endearing, and whenever Sapphire got a call at 2AM, she knew Lottie would be on the other end of the line having an existential crisis, needing a calming friend. Lottie was a real rebel at school, and with her customized uniform, purple hair and heavy (like, very  heavy) eyeliner, she was the kid that even teachers were scared of.

Yep, they were a real band of misfits. Sapphire herself didn't look or act in a certain way at school, but that was it. She didn't act  at all. She liked to think she radiated an aura of mystery, but everyone else seemed to think it was an aura of weirdness. Sapphire didn't say much or do much at school, and she just had to fix you with that stony, green eyed glare to know she meant business, and you had to run.

As they were nearing the school, Sapphire snapped out of her train of thought and tried to figure out what her wierdo friends were talking about.

"OH PUN. Get it? Because it sounds like open! Oh Pun, Open! Seriously, Lottie, are you even listening?"

"No. What's a word that rhymes with end? Hm.. Tend! Ahem.. So now our relationship comes to an end/ and my broken heart I must tend. Whadda ya think? Saph? SAPH!"

"What? Oh, great. Hey guys, do you see that?" Sapphire pointed at a new bit of graffiti on the wall:

CHILDREN OF OLYMPUS BEWARE

THE KING OF EVIL WAITS IN HIS LAIR

"Weird," Said Jack. "Maybe it's talking about the sporty kids? Olympus, Olympics.. but the king of evil... whatever. It's probably just a tag."

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Sapphire, Jack and Lottie boarded the coach. It was almost the end of the day, which, in Sapphire's opinion, merited a celebration. There was just one more thing to get through, and then she would be free. Unfortunately, this last thing was her least favourite activity - Swimming. She honestly didn't see why they had to endure this twice a week. She was 16, a busy GSCE student, and she didn't have time to frolic around underwater in a skimpy swimming costume.

In her opinion, it was just a chance for the boys to show off their muscles and an opportunity to wear as little as possible for the girls. Lottie was exempt for 'medical reasons', but Sapphire highly doubted they were valid. For all she knew, Lottie just didn't want her hair dye to wash off.

They neared the pool. Sapphire was vaguely aware of the conversations around her, stupid, trivial things like which celebrity had kissed which, or who was going out with who. She didn't have time for rubbish like that. She was too busy figuring out where she was going to hide this time - the toilets or a cubicle. She didn't need any of the airheads she knew seeing her scar and making assumptions.

Walking across the car park to the pool, Sapphire heard conversations all around. It was only after she got into the changing rooms that she began to realise they were about her.

"Probably too dumb to realise.." Said one voice.

"It's quite sad, really" Said another.

"Oh well. I'm sure she'll figure out soon enough!" Replied the first voice.

Ignore, ignore. Sapphire told herself, They're just trying to piss you off.

It was the giggling that did it. The high pitched shriek of laughter that came from the blonde-headed bimbo in the right was enough to tip anyone over the edge. She felt her back and realised there was a bit of paper attached to the top of her jumper. She ripped it off and stared at it, realising that it was the most vindictive thing she'd ever read. 'This would say kick me,' the paper said, 'but I'm so fat it'd take days for the pain to get through my blubber.'

She wheeled round, possessed with a kind of fiery rage that she'd never felt before. It was a burning, all consuming feeling, but it was somewhat... comforting. Yes, that was the word. It felt great to just let go, to rant and rave a something, to let all your pent up anger out.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU RAGING BITCHES DID THIS? NONE OF YOU GET IT, DO YOU? YOU'RE JUST CONTENT TO OBSESS OVER YOURSELF FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, NEVER WORKING OR DOING ANYTHING, HAVING EVERYTHING HANDED TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATTER, JUST BECAUSE GOD MADE A MISTAKE IN LETTING YOU LIVE. I SWEAR TO GOD, IF ANY OF YOU EVER COME NEAR ME EVER  AGAIN, I WILL SLAP YOU INTO NEXT WEEK AND YOU WON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HIT YOU. YOU'RE NOTHING, YOU HEAR ME? NOTHING!"

Sapphire turned away. You shouldn't have done that, a voice in her head chided her. You shouldn't have let it all out just so you could feel the satisfaction of having a rage. I don't care. She replied, fiercer than before. They deserved it.

That's the moment a giant... thing  swooped down through the roof, screeching her name.

Jack Pacer

Jack didn't like leaving Lottie. He didn't like leaving Sapphire either. He knew, in his heart of hearts, that they were both way out of his league, but still. It was pretty cool being in the presence of 2 awesome rays of sunshine - although if he ever referred to Lottie as a 'ray of sunshine' she'd probably dropkick him.

Sapphire's frosty glare was awesome. It was like, 'Oh hey! I'm really scary but if you get to know me I might be a big ball of fluff! Or I might be monster!'. Jack dug that.

And then Lottie's emo persona was more like, 'Sup! I take myself really seriously but you know I'm a fluffball! Isn't that cool?'. Jack dug that too.

His best friends were like his arms. He couldn't live without them. Their jokes, their affection, their playful bickering... Lottie, Sapphire and Jack were practically inseparable.

Swimming was one of his favourite things. He knew he epically failed at it - he couldn't  swim a lap without having to take a break and gasp for breath at the side of the pool - but it was awesome, slipping into the water knowing that it could aid and destroy him at any time. He could comfortably spend an hour in the water.

Jack had grown up in Cornwall, and he'd only moved down to London in year nine. He'd immediately stuck out like a sore thumb - this gangly, awkward brown haired teen with braces and wide, always shocked eyes. He looked like he'd just been tasered and left on top of an electricity pylon to stick a fork in a toaster.

The only other misfits in the year had approached him, cautiously at first, and had eventually extended the golden, diamond studded hand of friendship. Since then, Jack, Lottie and Sapphire had been a package deal - if you wanted one, you got all three.

He'd been so wrapped up in his train of thought that he had put his trunks on backwards. As he righted himself, ducking behind a wall of bags, he heard a shriek of rage and a low, guttural scream.

Puzzled, Jack looked around for the source of the sound. That's when the changing room exploded and he was pinned down by a chunk of concrete the size of a car.

Lottie Magorian

It was only afterwards that she figured out everything that happened.

She remembered sitting with her teacher in the viewing stands.

She remembered the sky darkening, a great shadow falling across the ground.

And then she remembered the ceiling exploding.

Instantly, Lottie was on her feet. She knew only one thing - she had to help Jack and Sapphire. Sprinting away from the screaming swimmers, she ran to the girls changing room. Halfway there, she realised she didn't need to.

The water rose in one solid movement. Lottie looked around to find the source of the freak show, when she realised.

Sapphire Elizabeth Enwright was standing at the edge of the pool, her eyes furious, her hands raised, focusing on one thing, and one thing only.

The demon just feet away from her.

'Sapphire!' The hag crooned, 'Give up. We all know you cannot defeat me. I am an arai - even if you manage to beat me, You will feel a curse so painful you will never laugh or smile again!'

'I don't care. Don't you get it? Do what you want to me. I just want to save my friends.'

Lottie realised, with a sense of dread, that Sapphire's resolve was wavering. She was about to step in, yell even the tiniest bit of encouragement, when she heard a raspy, weary voice from close by.

'Go on Sapphire. You- You can do it. Go on.'

Jack drew another pained breath. Lottie spun around, scanning the area for her best friend.

'Down here.'

She looked down, and then screamed. From the waist down, Jack was a bloody, mangled mess. He was pinned under a chunk of concrete, and his face was whiter than snow.

Lottie fell to her knees. She had always had a knack for these things.

'Don't move. The police will be here soon. You'll be fine.'

She whipped off her scarf. For now, It could serve as a makeshift tourniquet. The left leg seemed worse. It was almost completely severed off, and blood was coming out by the litre. The right leg looked salvageable, but the left...

'Jack, what happened?'

'I think a massive rock fell on me, but I can't be sure.'

'Yeah, Ok. Stupid question. Just... stay still. I'm gonna go help Saph with.. that thing.'

'Lottie, wait!' Jack's tone was desperate, 'I need.. a bootlace, some of those woggle-swimming things and a few rocks.'

'Jack, what are you-'

'JUST DO IT, LOTTIE.' Jack commanded her this time.

'I- Fine.'

A few minutes and several woggles later, Jack had fashioned what looked like... a bow? And were those arrows?

'Lottie,' Jack's face was shiny with sweat. 'One, if I don't make it-'

'Jack, shut up. You're going to be fine.' Lottie was in tears.

'Lottie. Listen. To. Me. If I don't make it, go to Camp Jupiter. California, The Wolf House. Ask for Lupa.'

'What?'

'Do it Lottie, promise me. And two, shoot true.'

'Ok Jack. I will.'

Spinning around, Lottie realised that Sapphire desperately needed her. She was on the ground, her control over the water diminishing.

'Sapphire! I'm coming!' Lottie scrambled over the slabs of concrete, makeshift bow and arrows in one hand. 'You can do this!'

'You sure about that one Lottie? 'Cause I haven't so far!'

'Come on Saph! One final burst of energy!'

They locked eyes.

'Ok. On three. One.'

'Two,'

'THREE!'

Lottie aimed her bow , nocked an arrow and shot it with all her might. Sapphire doused the demon in a veritable ocean of water. The combined effort of two very afraid, very powerful girls was enough, and the.. thing crumbled to dust.

They both crumpled with exhaustion.

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A/N

So that's chapter one! Tell me what you think! Was it good? Need more romance? Need more blood? Need more Leo?(I know I do)

Just a few things:

I am British. That means I will be using the metric system in these chapters, but to make any Americans out there feel better:

1 metre - 3.2 Feet.

It's quite simple really.

It also means I will spell honour, colour and things like that with a U.

Finally, I'll be using Year 1, 2, 3 and so on. Somewhere along the line us Brits skipped a year or something, because:

Year 9 = 8th Grade

Year 10 = 9th Grade

Year 11 = 10th Grade.

I don't think I need to explain more.

That's all for now. See ya!

aaccio_harry_potterc