Poseidon Is My Daddy (Book #1 of the Daughters of Olympus Series)

The Quest Begins

   The next day, Jason, Nico and I met at the top of Half- Blood Hill to leave camp. I'd packed 4 changes of clothes, a flashlight, matches, a jacket, 3 water bottles, about $450, a laptop and my enchanted lipstick (yes that's what I'm calling it now). Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Will and Chiron came to see us off. Annabeth gave me a hug and it felt kinda awkward because I don't really hug people that much. Will wished us luck and I gave Leo a friendly sock in the arm. 'Don't light anything on fire while I'm away. Okay?' I teased. 'Yes ma'am. But don't go making out with Nico while you're gone either.' he joked and I gave him a not- so- friendly sock in the arm.  I gave Percy a hug. As he held me, he said, 'Be careful, okay? You're my only little sister.' I had to resist the urge to cry. When he let go he gave a reassuring smile. We stepped through the boundary and I was instantly in defense mode. My arms were tense, my eyes were sweeping the area and the hair on my body was standing on end. We hiked to he bottom of the hill and jumped a fence onto the road. We caught a cab to Times Square, which cost a whole lot of cash, and collected our thoughts in a pizza parlor. I whipped out my laptop and was about to research the location of Harpe, when Jason and Nico started freaking out. 'Are you insane?' Jason hissed. 'A MONSTER could track us!' Nico whisper- shouted. 'Okay. Okay. I have an aunt, not too far from here. Since the laptop is just deadweight now, I can leave it with her. But we'll have to find out where Harpe is without technology. Am I correct?' The boys nodded. We left the pizza parlor and walked to my aunt Carla's apartment.

   Aunt Carla in super into caribbean art and she told me that our family is from Turks and Caicos and that my mom was born and raised there. She said that's where my parents met and where I was born. I thought it was pretty cool that I'm an island girl.  When we got there, we buzzed in and she she looked at us with a perplexed expression. 'Aunt Carla?' I said, 'It's me. Julie? Your niece?' She broke into a smile and hugged me, but I was totally stiff. 'It's been ages! And who are these gentlemen?' 'Oh,' I'd almost forgotten. 'This is my friend Jason and this is my boyfriend Nico.' 'Oh. Come on in!' We sat in the living room; Nico on my right and Jason on my left on a couch and Aunt Carla was sitting in a chair across from us. I gave her the laptop.

     'Aunt Carla, can you keep this for a while please?' I asked. 'Of course, honey!' she took it from me and set it  on her lap. 'I love that red in your hair!' Red? I sure wasn't angry at the time. 'It's the mist.' whispered Nico. 'The what?' I whispered back. 'Tell you later.' 'So, what brings you over, hon?' asked Aunt Carla. 'We actually have a few questions.' said Jason. We waited. 'Do you know where Harpe is? The sword of Perseus?' I asked. Aunt Carla thought about it for a moment. 'No, but I can look it up.' We all held our breath as she whipped out an IPhone and did a search. 'Ah. Sword of Purseus. Kept at the Field Museum of Natural History for some reason.' We got what we needed. 'Okay, thanks aunt Carla. I'll visit again soon, I promise. Bye.' She showed us to the door. When we were outside, we discussed what we knew now. 'It's at the Field Museum of Natural history right?' said Nico. 'That's in Chicago.' said Jason. 'Which is 790 miles away.' I said groaning. 'Okay, how are we gonna get from New York to Chicago before Octavian?' 'They're most likely to have those giant eagles, which are way faster than a train going at the legal speed.' said Jason. 'Wait, how do you know that?' I asked him. 'I was in the Roman legion army before I got to Camp Half Blood.' He showed me his forearm and there were 12 horizontal lines, an eagle and the letters SPQR burned into his skin. 'Why did you leave?' I asked. 'Long story.' he said. 'Well, I suggest we take a train.' said Nico. 'Okay, let's get to the station.' said Jason. 'Oh! Wait!' I turned to Nico, 'What the heck is the mist?' 'Oh, it's like a veil that shields the eyes of mortals from all the monsters and magic that we can see. So, if you saw a hellhound, they'd probably see a poodle or something.'