CHAPTER ONE

Somewhere, Over the Bifrost

I smiled, as my daughter ran into my arms.

"Daddy!"

I swung her into the air, then brought her back down, nuzzling her nose with mine. She was absolutely adorable. Blonde hair. Green eyes. My personality. Annabeth's smarts.

"I picked some flowers for Momma," she informed me. I always knew that's how my daughter would turn out: perfect, just like Annabeth.

"She'll love them." I set her down and grabbed her hand. She smiled wide, wiping her dirty hands on the front of her red sun dress. Now, her fashion sense wasn't quite the same as Annabeth's. She was a bit more girly than my wife. "Let's go back inside."

Anyway, my name's Percy Jackson. By now, you've probably heard of me. Savior of Olympus. Defeater of Kronos. Defeater of Gaea. Most powerful demigod ever. (Okay, I'll admit it. That last one is self-proclaimed. But I do think it's true.) Honestly, I could make the list go on a while longer, but I don't really have the patience. Plus, I'd just be bragging. And I'd hate to brag. The point is, I'd had a pretty eventful life. I just wish I'd known exactly how eventful it was going to get. As we turned towards the house, a loud crash came from behind us. I pivoted quickly.

"Sophia, go inside. Now. Wait with your mom."

She bounded off, nervously. She was probably scared of the worry in my voice. I drew my ballpoint pen from my pocket and uncapped it. And, yeah, I said pen. It was a magical item. My pen instantly became a sword when I opened it. And, also yes, it's pretty awesome.

Ah, celestial bronze.

I loved the feeling. Now wasn't really the time for basking in the relaxing glow of Riptide. I scanned my surroundings. Trees, grass, a dwarf stuck in a neighbor's trash can, and a dude with elf-ears trying to pull him out. Yep. That's probably where the crash came from. I strode over.

"Uh, can I help you?"

The elf dude didn't say anything. I was used to being ignored.

"Do you need help? You don't have to be a jerk about it."

The elf sighed, and gestured to his friend, who was mumbling all sorts of curses under his breath. I pulled the dwarf out my one leg. Despite being short, he was pretty heavy.

The dwarf huffed. "Thank you, I suppose." He scanned me, as if trying to decide whether or not I was a friend. "Are you Percy Jackson?"

As I've said before, the only people who knew my name before I introduced myself were usually enemies. My eyes narrowed.

"Who's asking?"

The dwarf laughed. "He's been watching his movies!" He looked at his friend while jabbing his thumb in my direction. He straightened up tall. (well, as tall as he could). "I am Blitzen, son of Freya. Fashion expert extraordinaire. Please, call me Blitz. And this is Hearth. You may have noticed, he is deaf"

My ears turned red. I stammered. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" I trailed off.

Hearth signed something. I'm pretty sure he was saying its okay, but I wasn't sure. The name Freya stuck in my head. I didn't recognize the name.

"You said son of Freya?"

Blitz stood regally. "Indeed"

"And she is?"

Blitz was clearly offended. "The goddess of Love, beauty-"

I cut him off. "That's Aphrodite." But even as I said it, I had a sinking feeling that he wasn't talking about the Greek gods. I heard a door open behind me.

"Percy, what's going on?" I turned to see Annabeth standing defensively on the porch.

"I don't know yet. Who the Hades are you guys?" I asked.

"Hades? Good gods, Magnus wasn't lying! Would you look at that, Hearth? The Greeks do exist."

I furrowed my brow. The Greeks exist? Were they Magicians? I had this run in with Egyptians a long time ago. It had been weird, but I hadn't ever had any contact with them since then. This dwarf's 3-piece suit was really distracting. "Magnus?"

"Yes. Magnus Chase sent us. He said it's very urgent."

I sighed. Magnus Chase was Annabeth's cousin. I knew things were about to get serious. "Isn't it always. Come with me, then. You can tell us what you have to say in the house."

I led them towards Annabeth.

"Percy?" she asked.

"Say hello to Hearth and Blitz, Wise girl. Friends of your cousin."

Her stormy eyes widened. Gods, she was beautiful. And yeah, I know it's cheesy, but she gets more beautiful every day. She twisted her hair between her fingers.

"Magnus? I haven't seen him in ages!" Her expression grew worried. "That's not good, then, is it?"

Blitz smiled matter-of-factly. "You're absolutely right."

It didn't seem appropriate to smile while giving bad news, but at the same time, it didn't seem like a happy smile, so I ignored it. At least Hearth was gazing mournfully at the floor. The dwarf straightened his tie.

"Have you ever heard of Grendel?"

I blinked. Grendel? I was drawing a blank. I glanced at Annabeth. She had that look on her face where she recognized something but didn't quite know how it fit into the situation. It was a cute face. Her face scrunched up, and she bit her lip.

"Do you mean the Grendel from the tale of Beowulf?" Annabeth asked. I could almost see the steam coming from her ears as the gears inside her head cranked on. Hearth nodded at her, signing something with his hands. I really needed to learn sign language.

"Precisely the one," Blitzen confirmed, "You see, Grendel has escaped. She is wreaking havoc through the 9 realms, and we cannot seem to stop her."

This rattled my brain.

"Hold up, timeout. I need some back story. Annabeth?"
Annabeth bit her lip. Styx, that wasn't a good sign.

"Okay, Percy, you read Beowulf for college. I know you did. Well, you were supposed to. Well, actually now that I think about it, I think you ended up trying to watch the movie and fell asleep." My face reddened. "Anyway, that doesn't matter. Grendel is one of the monsters, along with his mother, that Beowulf has to fight."

Annabeth looked at Blitz. "You can't stop one monster? And why is Grendel a problem? He's a myth from the Anglo-Saxons…" She trailed off. "In the story, Grendel is said to descend from the Biblical lineage of Cain. Which can only mean, that somewhere in Christianity, a monster such as Grendel has been recorded, or written about. Maybe even similar to-to, uh, Goliath. Grendel is described as giant as well. And of course, as you know, Christianity was spread throughout Rome, Greece and other surrounding areas, so that explains how Grendel could be intertwined with the Greek Culture. That also answers my question as to why you came to us for help. But, what does that have to do with the Norse Gods? How is Grendel a problem in your Realm, or whatever you call it? Norse mythology is a Germanic…a Germanic….dammit! It stems from Germany." Annabeth was hardly ever at a loss for words, so it always frustrated her when she was. She smacked her hand on the table.

Blitz and Hearth gawked at each other, trying to process the rambling, whirlwind of information my wife just conjured.

"Uh, yes, uh, well," Blitz stammered, "I believe Grendel entered our dominion during the Invasion of Britain. During one of your human World Wars. But, Grendel has kept a low profile since then, attempting to build power."

Annabeth palmed her head. "Of course!"

"And to further answer your question. I'm sure you realize that the exact description of Grendel has always been obscure. Well, it seems that Grendel has a very dangerous power. He can adapt to any culture that he visits. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I'll try. For example, if he were to visit Greece, he can absorb the knowledge of the Culture. He virtually evolves to make himself invulnerable to the weapons and technology of the culture. He then becomes a part of the mythology, and even the land itself. It just so happened that Grendel crossed over into Norse owned land. After adapting, we were able to sense him. We were unsure of what Grendel was at first. We had never seen him, of course. We got a team of researchers on it immediately, and, as you have just discovered, the results were grim."

Now, I was even more confused. I decided to try one of my famous recaps.

"Okay, let me get this straight. If Grendel were to walk into the Underworld, He would be able to instantly know everything about it. All its secrets and everything. After that, He evolves to make himself invulnerable to anything that could try to kill him in that domain?"

Hearth made a so-so sign with his hand, which I guessed meant I was partially right. But to be fair, this was very confusing to me.

"Not instantly, necessarily. He has to take a few minutes to get a feel for the place, but you, more or less, have it down pat. Another example would be fighting warriors; He could study your fighting style for a few moments and he will be able to parry your every move. I'm sure you understand why he is so difficult to apprehend."

I guess I was glad I got it right, because I still wasn't exactly sure what I was saying. At that moment, Sophia ran in.

"Are you okay, Mommy?" She asked, her eyes matching perfectly with mine. She noticed the visitors and scooted behind my leg. I picked her up. She stared.

"Hey, Sophia, what are you doing here?"

We hadn't exactly told her all about the Greek gods and everything yet. We didn't want her scent to get too strong. But then again, she's a child of a child of Poseidon, and a child of a child of Athena. She probably had a pretty strong scent.

"I heard Mommy say 'dammit' so I thought something was wrong."

I laughed. Annabeth gave me one of her signature Don't you dare looks.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. You know you're not supposed to say that word, baby."

"Momma said it."

I shook my head jokingly at Annabeth.

"All her bad habits, she gets from you."

Annabeth "jokingly" slapped me back. Sophia giggled. I rubbed my cheek.

Blitz coughed.

"So, Sophia, why don't you meet Hearth and Blitz. They were just coming to tell us a few things."

Sophia furrowed her brow as the two dudes waved at her.

"They look like creatures from those stories." She said.

I paused and shared a look with Annabeth.

"Well, they are. They are very similar."

Blitz interrupted my teaching moment.

"Look, I hate to break up a tender family moment, but we've got important business and an impatient god who's been waiting on us." He paused before looking up at the sky. "Heimdall, we're ready!"

Before I could ask anymore questions, a rainbow shot down and engulfed us.