Annabeth Chase the Triwizard Champion

Prologue

Annabeth could confidently say that on her top ten list of things she wasn't expecting, getting a quest at the end of summer was definitely number one.

What she was expecting was to finish packing up her stuff, go through the final day of camp's summer activities, go swimming in the lake with Percy, and grab her stuff and wait by Thalia's tree for her father to pick her up.

What she wasn't expecting was to be called to the big house half-way through arts and crafts, where she was hammering an owl insignia into her breastplate.

Annabeth walked up the steps onto the big house porch. She didn't know what this was about, but she was sure she hadn't done anything wrong, and last she checked, Percy and Piper hadn't destroyed anything major, so her being called to the big house could only mean one thing; something happened.

As Annabeth neared the front door, she could tell something was off. There was a presence inside, something powerful, and it felt different from Mr. D. so there was another god inside. Maybe Mr. D was there, too, but there was someone else too.

Steeling herself for whatever madness was about to occur, Annabeth opened the door and walked inside.

She was right; there was a goddess inside, sitting on the couch and warily sipping from a coffee mug. She was pale as paper, with long platinum blond hair tied into a high ponytail. She was wearing a sleeveless black gown that seemed to flow from her shoulders like water. Mist clung to the bottom of her skirt. By her feet rested a black lab and curling around her shoulder was what looked like a ferret.

Chiron sat across from her in his wheelchair, holding his own mug and looking stressed.

Mr. D. was absent as expected, though the room smelled like wine and grapevines clung to every surface.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, looking up.

The goddess looked up too, setting her mug aside on the coffee table. Her eyes were dark as ink, swirling with something... more. Judging by that, the mist swirling around her, and the dog and what she now recognized as the polecat who had followed Hazel around the Argo II, the one who farted all the time, Annabeth knew who this was.

"Hecate," Annabeth said warily. Whatever a goddess was doing here, it couldn't be good.

"Hello," Hecate said.

"What's going on?"

"I have a quest for you."

Ah. No preamble at all. Also, what?

"Excuse me?"

"Annabeth," Chiron said again. "This quest is different. It requires you to go to a different— ah, special, school."

"Percy has more experience with that than I do."

"Not that kind of special school," Hecate snapped. "It is a magical school. For magical people."

"So, camp half-blood but in school form."

"No!" the goddess yelled. She stood up, her skirts poofing around her. Annebeth tensed. Her hand found the hilt of her dagger. "This is a school I helped create, for a race of people I created, and it is in peril."

Annabeth internally raised an eyebrow at the goddess's temper, but she could tell Hecate was passionate about this school. Also, she was pretty sure she would be incinerated if she made another comment in bad taste. But what was she supposed to do? She just had a quest shoved in her face, and she had no idea what it was about.

"This school has thrived for centuries, and now it is at risk!"

Chiron could probably tell that this wasn't helping to convince Annabeth, because he jumped in, leaning forward in his chair.