Chapter I

Go to cgi/set?id=145066746 for the outfit that Katya wears.

Katya

I woke up in my room at Brooklyn House. It had plain white walls, dark wood floor, a fuzzy white rug, and furniture. Yep, furniture, the weirdest thing to have in a bedroom.

Today was my freshman orientation, I had graduated from The Brooklyn Academy for the Gifted last year. I had transferred into it mid-semester, because of some inconveniences involving the almost-end-of-the-world. Or the Red Pyramid incident as I like to call it.

If you've read the story before this one you'd know all about it. And that Brooklyn House is now a school for young magicians wanting to follow the path of the gods. I don't follow the path of the gods, I have my own kind of magic, ice. It's kind of cool because no one else in the world has it, except my mother; Khione. But at the same time it's very powerful and dangerous.

All of the initiates at Brooklyn House go to Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted, including Carter. At first he didn't want to go to a regular school—he's been homeschooled his whole life—but I may have threatened him with death if he didn't go with me.

So, Carter and I are going to Goode High School today. Since graduating from Brooklyn Academy a lot of schools wanted us to join because of our abilities. To get into Brooklyn Academy you had to be especially gifted in something, for me it was ice sculpting, Carter was an expert on Egyptology. It also helped to be related to Julius Kane, the king of all Egyptology nerds. No offense to Carter.

The thing is, Goode High is in Manhattan, so we have to wake up super early to get there. I slipped my bare feet onto the oak floor. I walked over to my closet, grabbed the white muscle tee, mom jeans, gray hoodie, and my signature black high tops. I quickly slipped them all on, and grabbed my old banjo bag.

I ran out of my room, because of course I was running late. Why would they make freshmen orientation in June? Do they expect us to remember everything they said tomorrow, let alone two months from now?

I grabbed an apple from the kitchen, dodged Shelby's stray crayons to get to the terrace.

"Carter!" I yelled. "We're going to be late! Get your a—"

"I'm coming!" He yelled from the library. I'm glad he cut me off, because I realized I would've said something I would not want some of the younger initiates to hear.

Suddenly, there was a body pummeling into me. I held the small child away from my body in order to see his face.

"Hey, Felix," I greeted the little guy.

"Good luck at your orientation, Kat!" He said smiling up at me.

"Thank you, Felix," I smiled. I loved Felix, it was hard not to smile whenever he or his penguins were around. Carter came running out onto the terrace while pulling on a cardigan over his button-up collared shirt.

I smirked. "About time." I teased.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Alright, see you Brother Bear," I ruffled Felix's hair and used the name I gave him. It was from a movie I used to watch when I was little; Brother Bear. It was my favorite, I would watch it over and over again in the living room of my dad's house.

Carter and I left for the subway, I ate my apple on the way. We walked from the subway to the school, I'm sure there was a much faster way to do this, but for now we were stuck with walking and subways.

Carter and I talked about the next Magic Problem-Solving 101 class we'd be teaching.

I was thinking giant scorpion, Carter not so much.

We walked into the school yard. We stopped before on the sidewalk. "I'm going in, you coming?" He asked back to the parking lot.

"No, I have to mentally prepare myself first," he chuckled then pecked my cheek, a habit he'd picked up on our little road trip across America. I fiddled with the ankh ring on my finger a moment before taking a deep breath and walking up the front stairs.

I tried to walk past the teacher without him noticing me, but the salt and pepper haired man in the leather jacket stuck his hand out with a friendly smile and said, "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis, but you can call me Mr. Blofis."

I forced a smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Blofis. I'm Katya Kane."

"Your cousin just passed through here. Is he the ice sculptor or the Egyptologist?"

"The Egyptologist, I'm the ice sculptor."

"And you're Julius Kane's—"

"Niece. Carter is his son."

"Talented family you are—"Someone behind me must've caught his eye, because he pulled a guy next to him.

"Percy, this is Katya Kane. She's one of our most accomplished students. Katya this is Percy Jackson."

"Katya," Percy breathed out. Then a boyish smile spread across his face.

"Hi, Percy," I smiled.

"You two know each other?" Mr. Blofis asked.

"Yeah, we go to summer camp together," Percy said in a daze. Then asked questions in rapid fire. "What are you doing here? And who was that guy kissing you cheek on the lawn? Don't you live in Brooklyn, why are you in Manhattan?"

I laughed. Paul looked totally lost. "I'm going to freshmen orientation. That was my cousin, and good friend. I do live in Brooklyn, I go to school in Manhattan. So, how do you know Percy, Mr. Blofis?" I asked quickly changing the subject and leaving Percy behind.

"His mom is my girlfriend," Paul said, recovering from Percy and I's… thing.

"Oh, so you're that Paul Blofis, I thought it was just a coincidence."

"We'd better go," Percy said. "Don't want to be late."

"You're right," Mr. Blofis checked his wristwatch. "Yep, just follow those signs."

We set out down the hallway. Percy nervously looked back. I looked back at Mr. Blofis talking to a girl with curly red hair, and tattered jeans covered in marker doodles.

I walked faster, we couldn't let her see us. "Most accomplished student?" Percy smirked down at me.

"Yeah, that's…" Percy chuckled.

"How'd you get into Brooklyn Academy?" He asked me as we walked to orientation.

"You have to be talented at something or other. I was—"

"Great at sword fighting, archery, gymnastics and leaping through the air?" He suggested.

"Would you stop interrupting me? And it was ice sculpting," I laughed, Percy smiled obviously pleased that he had annoyed me.

"I missed you," Percy said.

"I missed you, too," I looked up at him as he opened the gym doors. We walked in and attempted to sit down, but two cheerleaders blocked our way.

"Hi!" They smiled. One was blonde with cerulean blue eyes. The other was African American with dark curly hair like Medusa's (and believe me, I know what I am talking about.) Both girls had their names stitched in cursive on their uniforms, but with my dyslexia I couldn't decipher them. The only thing I can read is hieroglyphs, and Ancient Greek, really handy in modern-day America.

"Welcome to Goode," the blonde one said. I didn't even bother faking a smile like I did with Mr. Blofis. "You are so going to love it."

But as she looked us up and down, her expression said something more like, Eww, who are these losers?

She stood so close it was like she was trying to push us down the steps. "What's your name, fishes?"

"Fish?" Percy asked.

"Freshmen."

"If you are going to call us names, you might as well do it right," I said. "Fish is singular and plural?"

"I'm Percy."

"Katya," I honestly didn't care.

The girls exchanged looks.

"Oh, Percy Jackson," the blonde one said. "We've been waiting for you."

A chill went down my back. They were blocking the exit, smiling in a not-friendly-way. I my hand immediately crept to the snowflake necklace that turned into my sword

Then another voice came from inside the building. "Percy? Katya?" It was Mr. Blofis, somewhere down the hallway.

The cheerleaders backed off. Percy was so anxious to get past them he accidentally kneed one of them in the thigh.

Clang.

Her leg sounded like it was made of metal, but her leg looked completely normal. This was just another thing that made me suspicious of the "cheerleaders".

"Ow," she muttered. "Watch it, fish."

We dashed into the hall, the cheerleaders laughing behind me.

"There you are!" Paul told us. "Welcome to Goode!"

"Hey, Paul—uh, Mr. Blofis." I glanced back, but the cheerleaders had disappeared.

"Percy you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah, uh—"

Paul clapped him on the back. "Listen, I know you're nervous, but don't worry. We get a lot of kids here with ADHD and dyslexia. The teachers know how to help."

If only ADHD and dyslexia were our biggest worries. Those cheerleaders, I had a bad feeling about them.

Then I looked out down the hall, and I remembered our other little problem. The redheaded girl I'd seen talking to Mr. Blofis was just coming in the entrance.

Don't notice us, I prayed.

She noticed us, of course. Her eyes widened.

"We have to go," I told Paul and dragged Percy to the gym.

"Percy?" We were already running.

I thought we'd lost her.

A bunch of kids were heading to the gym, so me and Percy mixed in with them. Unfortunately we got separated. So now I sat across the gym from Percy, my eyes scanned the room for Carter. I found him sitting a few rows behind me.

Who is that guy, he mouthed.

A friend, I mouthed back, then turned to the front.

A marching band played a tune that was out of key. Upper classmen showcased the school uniform like a fashion show. For the girls; you had navy printed skirts, white blouses, navy bow ties, gray tights, and burgundy sweater vests. They weren't hideous, in fact they could look nice if you squinted. For the boys; you had navy pants, white oxford shirts, navy neck ties, and burgundy sweater vests. Sometimes the girl or boy could be seen with a navy blazer on.

I saw Percy run out of the room with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I stood up and followed quickly after them, but it took me a while to get to him, seeing as I had to go around the gym.

I was pushed outside with the crowd. The fire alarms had gone off, I found an isolated spot where Percy would probably come if he was running from the band room.

I looked away from the doors for a split second when Percy ran into me. We ended up laying on the grass, he was on top of me, his eyes widened but he didn't stand.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing?" Rachel asked coming out of the school, she was covered in monster dust.

Percy quickly scrambled off of me and stood up, he helped me to my feet. "Uh, nothing, just fell."

"Percy, we have to get out of here," I said. He nodded.

"I want to know more about half-bloods," Rachel insisted. "And monsters. And this stuff about the gods." She took out a sharpie and wrote a phone number on his hand. "You're going to call me and explain, okay? Now get going."

"But—"Percy started.

"I'll make up some story," Rachel said. "I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!"

She ran back toward the school, leaving me and Katya in the street.

"Call Blackjack, I don't have another way to get us to camp."

"Do we have to go to camp now? Why can't we just wait?" Percy complained.

"He'll be fine, I'll call him on the way. You can call your mom, too. Right now, we have to get to Camp Half-Blood."

So, here is the first chapter of book one. I hope you like it! So, if you do, please review! And if not, review anyway, I love all of your feedback (no mean words please, they hurt my heart.)