Chapter Text
The sun rose over the skyline of New York, bringing with it another day. Clary slowly opened her eyes and lay in bed, not wanting to get up.
Just one more week, Clary, her conscience whispered to her.Just one more week, and then you can sleep in all you want.
Groaning, she got up and sat at the edge of her bed. It was going to be a long day.
Later, she found herself in front of her locker, rummaging through her belongings while Simon stood near her, talking with George and Jordan, two of his friends. With a sigh of defeat, Clary slammed the locker close.
"Uh.. Clary, you okay ?" asked Simon. Both he and Jordan were looking at her.
"My parker pen ! I can't find it and I swear I left it here in the locker..." Clary opened the locker again and stared at it's contents.
"Hey, Clarissa !"
Clary turned just in time to see something flying at her and caught it in her hands. The thrower was a boy called Kit.
"Sorry, I had to borrow it for something," Kit said, smiling in an apologetic manner. Clary looked at him incredulously.
"But- but this was in my locker ! How did you get into my locker ?!"
Instead of answering, Kit left, grinning over his shoulder as he walked away. Clary stared after him with her incredulous expression still plastered on her face.
"I guess I'll see you later, Clary. Me and Jordan have swimming, first period today." Simon said, breaking Clary out of her reverie.
Clary nodded and headed to her own first period, which was literature with a girl she knew well - Tessa. The two of them also had swimming together after lunch. She didn't particularly care for swimming classes which they had twice a week. Partly because half of the girls spent the class swooning after the swimming coach because they thought he was a dreamboat, which Clary found annoying. Tessa, like her, thought it was annoying, too.
School was dull as usual that day until lunch break, when there was a PSA. A very interesting one at that. It listed five names - Clary, Simon, Tessa, Kit and George. Apparently they had to report to the Arithmetic teacher, Professor Scorpius in his classroom after classes ended.
Clary spent the remaining day wondering what it meant and why he wanted to meet her. Nothing else interesting happened until the end of the last class, Botany when a guy called Grover stopped her just before she left and said,
"Look, Clary. Once your session with Professor Scorpius is done, you along with those other five students must come to the east side of the school, where Coach Jackson and I will be waiting for you. Please don't forget this, Clary - this is very, very, important. We will explain to you all later."
Clary nodded. There was no way she could forget this. Partly because of how strange this request was, partly because of the look in his eyes as he said it. Promising him that she would do as he said, she left for Professor Scorpius's classroom.
The others were seated in the classroom by the time she arrived. Apologizing to Professor Scorpius, Clary sat down beside Simon.
The Professor's eyes travelled from one face to another from under his glasses. He slowly walked to the door, which Clary had left open and closed it. She heard a clicking sound, and part of her realized that he'd locked the door.
"Er, Professor ?" asked Tessa, raising her hand, “Can you tell us why you've called us here ?"
"Oh, of course, Godlings. Of course.." he turned away from the door and stood by his table, tracing something on the table and muttering under his breath. Clary wondering what he meant by 'Godlings'. She felt like she heard it somewhere before, but couldn't remember where.
Clary was pulled back to reality by a crash and a scream. In front of the room was a strange creature, with the head of a man, body of a lion and a scorpion tail. Professor Scorpius himself was nowhere to be seen. She looked around in alarm and saw Tessa, her eyes wide, hands over her mouth. It was she who had screamed.
Clary saw Kit grab a chair and hold it up in a defensive position and did the same. She was so shocked, she could hardly speak.
The creature was pacing the front of the room, eyeing them as if they were prey and snarling. Then it lunged, right at Simon.
"NO !!" Clary screamed, blocking him and holding up the chair. The chair smashed, leaving her with only a chair leg. Added to that was the fact that she was now trapped under the weight of this creature. She heard the sound of wood breaking, and a cry of "Do something !" from George. Clary felt a sharp pain in her leg, and on pure instinct, drove the chair leg she held into the creature's throat.
It screamed, and by now Clary could feel her vision fading. Somewhere, a window smashed. A flash of bronze was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.
*****
Clary opened her eyes and saw a familiar face hovering above her. He had messy, black hair, sea green eyes, and his usually amiable face was now serious.
"Oh, good. You're awake." said Coach Jackson, her swimming coach.
Simon came up beside her, sitting down and squeezing her hand.
"Are you okay ?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." Clary said. She wasn't actually fine. Her head was pounding.
"You both did well. The manticore was badly injured by the time I came there." He said, looking between Clary and someone else in the van.
"Manticore ?" She mouthed to Simon. He nodded and leaned in close to her.
"Apparently that creature was a Manticore. Like the one from Greek Mythology. Sounds crazy, I know, but Percy said-"
"Okay, okay. You said you'd explain everything to us once she woke up. Start now." Someone demanded, interrupting Simon. Clary recognized the voice as Kit’s.
"Of course." Coach Jackson replied, while Simon helped Clary into a sitting position. They were in the back of a van. Grover and Jordan were in the front with someone else who was driving.
Coach Jackson looked at each of them - at Clary, Simon, Tessa, Kit, and George. For a moment it was silent in the back of the van. Clary could hear Jordan talking to Grover.
"It's my fault." Jordan was saying. "I should've been more careful."
"It's okay, Jordan." Grover reasured him. "You did well enough. It could have been worse." He spoke as if from experience.
And then, without preamble, Coach Jackson said, "Here's the first thing you must know. All the myths, the legends, tales of Gods and Goddesses, all the stories are true. Gods from various mythologies still exist. Sometimes, they come to the mortal world and have kids with mortals. They're called Demigods, or Half-bloods."
"Wait, Coach. So are you saying-" George faltered, unable to continue the sentence. Coach Jackson nodded at him.
"Yes. All of you are half-bloods. Children of mortals and Greek Gods. Also," he added, waving a hand in dissmissal, "please call me Percy. 'Coach Jackson' makes me feel old."
"Okay, Coach- I mean, Percy, how are we supposed to believe that what you're saying is true ?"
"I am the son of Poseidon, God of the seas." He said. "And therefore, I am capable of controlling water. Want a demonstration ?"
Kit shook his head. Clary knew how he felt. Something about Percy's voice made her believe him. Maybe it was because of how confident he had sounded when he talked.
"Okay, so we know that you're a Demigod. What's the guarantee that we're Demigods ?" Tessa asked. Percy was about to reply when the van came to a stop. He grinned.
"Come on, let's find out." He said, and opened the van door. Everyone got outside except for Grover, and the mysterious driver who was driving the van to God-knows-where. Clary had to take a second look at Jordan when he got down.
"Jordan ?" Simon said, looking as if he saw something really strange, which he did, "Your legs..."
"Oh, yes." Jordan replied, looking slightly sheepish. His legs were covered in thick, dark hair, and there were hooves in the place where his feet should've been. "You see, I'm a satyr."
"Okay, this day is getting too weird. First we're attacked by a random monster, then I find out that one of my friends is half donkey."
Jordan looked offended by this statement.
"I'm half goat, George. Don't you know what a satyr is ?" He said incredulously. They were interrupted by Percy before George could say anything else.
"Listen up, gang. See that tree there ?" He said, pointing at a pine tree a few feet away from them. "Go on, try to cross it. If you can, you're a Demigod. But if you can't, you're a mortal and we'll leave you alone, got it ?"
Kit squinted his eyes at the tree, then walked towards it. He crossed the tree, then froze. Clary frowned for a moment, and followed him. Once she reached Kit's side, she froze. Behind her, she could hear the footsteps of the others as they approached.
In the valley below her was what looked like a summer camp, and it was beautiful. There were about twenty cabins arranged in the shape of the Greek letter Omega. There was also a dining pavilion, a lake, an auditorium, a climbing wall and a large blue house. Behind the house were fields of strawberries. There was also a forest to one side, and Clary could see the ocean from where she stood. She turned to Percy, as did the others, and saw that he was smiling.
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." he said.
