CHAPTER ONE

Helena spent most of her time at Camp Half-Blood. Her mother was constantly busy working as a psychiatrist, and so thought her daughter would be better off with her father at the camp. They Iris-Messaged constantly, but it wasn't the same.

Her mother dropped her off at Camp Half-Blood when she was 6, and from that time, she learned how to defend herself with the help of Chiron and her father. Her and Dionysus didn't get along very well when she first met him, and she was bitter over the fact that he abandoned her mother, but they sorted things out.

So, she got to live her life different than most demi-gods, getting to know her godly parent more than her mortal one. She wasn't complaining of course, her father was cool. He taught her how to control her powers so she wouldn't cause every person who touched her temporary insanity. It was a bitch to get under control, but she did it.

There were three of them in the Dionysus cabin. Her and her two brothers, Castor and Pollux. They didn't look like Dionysus and Helena. They were blonde and chubby cheeked, unlike Helena who had her father's dark hair, and her mother's brown eyes and high cheekbones.

Most people in the camp didn't get along well with Helena, because she was very blunt, and sort of pessimistic. Her closest friend was practically her polar opposite. His name was Kyros, and he was a son of Apollo, blonde haired, blue eyed and practically glowing. Of course, spending time with Kyros meant seeing his siblings a lot, and she favoured Lee and Will over the rest really.

She got along quite well with the daughter of wisdom, Annabeth Chase, and the daughter of Ares, Clarisse. Her and Clarisse were similar, which was probably why they got along so well. Both with a love for weapons, and being brutally honest. Clarisse would often seek out Helena's power to inflict insanity on quests and for taking revenge on people that pissed her off.

Luke was another good friend of hers and she met him when he got to camp soon after she did, and they learnt sword fighting together, both just as good as the other. Castor and Pollux were younger than her, so when Luke came along, he felt like an older brother.

Her last friend would be Grover, the satyr. She knew him from when she was very young, so they had a good bond. Helena had several acquaintances around the camp, from Charles in the Hephaestus cabin, to the Stoll brothers in the Hermes cabin, to Silena in the Aphrodite cabin.

The day she met the next two people who would slowly worm their way into her heart started off like every other day. She woke up late, and only because one of her brothers shoved her out of bed – they took turns – and after breakfast, she trained.

Helena fought with two swords. They were called Xiphos. A Greek sword, gifted to her by Artemis. The moon goddess wanted Helena to join her Hunters, but, Helena denied the offer. She was still an honorary member, and had one of their trademark silver parka's in her closet.

She was training with her swords, and a blindfold over her eyes, swinging at targets, when someone called her name. She stopped and flipped the blindfold down, leaving it hanging from her neck. Then, she turned to face whoever called her while slotting the swords into their holsters that were slung across her back.

"Beth." She greeted. The blonde daughter of Athena was walking towards her.

"Morning, Lena."

"What's up?" She untied the blindfold and stuck it in her pocket, running a hand through her short black hair.

"Grover's back." Annabeth smiled. "He brought two boys with him. I think one of them is the one."

"From the prophecy? How come?" Helena asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she followed her friend out of the training area and towards where Chiron and her father were sat at a cards table.

"He killed the Minotaur, for starters." Annabeth retorted, leaning against the railing of the porch. "Grover should be bringing them both here."

And as if on cue, Grover walked over with two boys. One with dark black hair and sea green eyes, and the other one with curly brown hair and brown eyes. "Which one killed the Minotaur?"

"The one with black hair." Annabeth whispered. "The other kid killed an empousai."

"Impressive for someone without training. Both of them." Helena nodded, slightly surprised. Just then, the trio of boys had arrived close enough for them to hear the boy with black hair call out.

"Mr. Brunner!"

Chiron turned around with a beam. "Ah good, Percy, Mateo." He offered them chairs.

Dionysus looked up and sighed. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

Helena smirked. "Just once I'd like to see my father give a damn about a demigod that isn't his kid." She said to Annabeth under her breath. The blonde girl giggled quietly.

"Uh, thanks?" The brown haired boy said, tilting his head with a confused look on his face.

"Annabeth?" Chiron called and she stepped forward, Helena moved with her and stood next to her father, who didn't look surprised to see her here. "Annabeth nursed you back to health, Percy." He said to the boy with black hair. It was safe to assume that Mateo was the brunet then. "Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on their bunks. Cabin 11."

"Sure, Chiron." Annabeth said. "You drool when you sleep." She said to Percy before sprinting in the direction of the other cabins. Helena snorted.

"Helena. You're here as well." Chiron smiled.

"Well, you know me Chiron, never one to pass up an opportunity to see some newbies." She smiled sarcastically.

"Boys, this is Helena." Helena waved.

"Welcome. Good to see you back Grover." She flashed a genuine smile towards the satyr. "It wasn't the same without you."

"I missed you too, Lena." Grover replied.

"So, you, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?" Percy asked.

"Not Mr. Brunner. I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"Okay." Percy nodded.

"Does Mr. D stand for anything?" Mateo asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason." Dionysus said and Helena hid a grin at his dramatic-ness. He wasn't the god of theatre for nothing.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." He flashed him a sheepish look.

"I must say, I'm glad to see you both alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time." Chiron said. "My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. we have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to.. ah, take a leave of absence."

"You came to Yancy to teach us?" Percy asked after a pause.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure at first. We contacted both of your mothers to let them know we were keeping an eye out for the pair of you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover, are you placing or not?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, sir!" Grover sat down.

"Helena?" Her father asked.

"Not today. I'll watch." She replied.

Then, he turned to Percy and Mateo. "You do know how to play pinochle?"

"I'm afraid not." Mateo replied.

"I'm afraid not, sir." Dionysus corrected and Helena rolled her eyes, making a face behind her father and causing Mateo to smile faintly.

"Sir." Percy repeated.

"Well, it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."

"I'm sure the boy can learn." Chiron said.

"Please. What is this place? What are we doing here? Mr. Brun – Chiron – why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach us?" Percy asked.

"I asked the same question." Dionysus snorted and dealt the cards out. Grover flinched every time a card landed on his pile so Helena went to stand behind him and quietly help him with the game.

"Did any of your mothers tell you anything?" Chiron asked.

Mateo shook his head, confused. "She said, she told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her." Percy explained.

"Typical. That's how they usually get killed. Young men, are you bidding or not?" Dionysus asked.

"What?" Mateo raised his eyebrows and Dionysus explained bidding to them, and when he did, they bid.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell. I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient." Chiron frowned.

"Speaking of it, Chiron, we might need to change it up a little. It's not honest enough." Helena commented.

Chiron ignored her and turned to the two boys. "You know Grover is a satyr." He pointed at the horn in the box. "You know you killed a Minotaur, Percy, and you killed an empousai, Mateo. No small feats. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods – the forces you call the Greek gods – are very much like."

They both stared at everyone in shock. Helena merely shrugged and gave them a helpless look. Her father stood shouting as he tallied up his points and Grover ate his Diet Coke can.

"Wait. You're telling us there's such a thing as God." Percy's mouth was open slightly while Mateo looked thoughtful.

"Well, now. God – capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical." Chiron said.

"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about – "

"Ah, gods, plural, as in great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."

"Smaller!" And Helena laughed at his incredulous exclamation.

"Yes. Quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."

"Zeus." Percy recalled. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them." And there was the thunder.

"Yeah, but maybe don't throw those names around like that, yeah?" Helena winced.

"But they're stories. They're myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science." Percy cried out and Helena cast a look at Mateo, who had taken a seat on the ground, apparently tired of standing and was merely watching the conversation with a smirk.

"Science." Dionysus scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson, what people will think of your "science" two thousand years from now? Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals – they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."

Helena was getting tired of this pointless conversation and she was getting thirsty, and her swords were a bit heavy. "Be right back." She said to Grover before walking to the Dionysus cabin and dropping her swords off and grabbing a cold bottle of water from the mini fridge beside her bed and then making her way back to the Big House.

She came back just in time to hear her father tell Percy that his father was Zeus. "You're Dionysus." Percy breathed out in shock.

"The god of wine." Mateo muttered under his breath.

"Well, not just wine." Helena chimed in, getting looks of surprise at her sudden reappearance. "That's one of the lame ones really." She shrugged when her father gave her an unimpressed look.

"You're a god." Percy raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, child."

"A god. You."

Helena winced as her father's eyes gained a purplish fire and Percy stumbled back, suddenly pale. The younger girl sighed and lost herself in her powers as well, working on pulling Percy from her father's vision. He gasped when he was out and his eyes were wide in shock.

"You're getting good." Dionysus commented to Helena, who let a small smile come over her face as she bowed her head in thanks before turning to Percy.

"I did say he wasn't just the god of wine. Perhaps that refreshed your memory. Insanity is something else he has control over."

"How did you – "

"I'm the daughter of Dionysus. I can cause and control insanity." Helena rolled her eyes.

"Daughter?" Percy whipped his head back and forth between Dionysus and Helena.

"Yes. Dionysus is my father."

"So, you're a demigod?" Mateo spoke up, a curious look on his face.

"Exactly." Helena nodded.

"I'm tired." Dionysus said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment." Her father stood.

Helena sighed. "Go easy on him, Dad. Please."

"We'll see." He growled before marching off with Grover in tow.

"Will Grover be okay?" Percy asked Chiron.

The centaur nodded. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been... ah, grounded."

"My father can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed back into Olympus." Helena explained, sipping her water, leaned against the railing of the porch.

"Mount Olympus." Percy clarified.

"There's a palace there?" Mateo asked.

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, just as the gods do." Chiron said.

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like... in America?" Percy asked. Mateo stood from where he was sat on the ground and went to stand beside Helena, flashing her a smile. She nodded in return.

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West." Chiron nodded.

"The what?"

"Come now, Percy. What you call "Western civilization". Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possible fade, not unless all of Western civilizations were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know – or as I hope you know, since you passed my course – the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps – Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on – but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they died." Helena almost laughed at that.

"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forgive the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not – and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either, America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

Who are you, Chiron? Who... who am I?"

"Who are you, well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it?" Chiron shifted his weight. "But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. Both of you. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be toasted marshmallows at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore them."

And then he stood and revealed his true form as a centaur. Mateo almost tripped but he caught the railing and stopped himself, casting a nervous look at Helena to see if she noticed. She didn't. Percy simply stared at Chiron in awe and shock.

"What a relief. I'd been cooped up in there for so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come on, let's meet the other campers."