The Moon and the Stars || Heroes of Olympus

Chapter 1

Months of preparation had led to this moment. The army of giants was dead, and there was only one thing standing in the way of peace.

The bronze dragon soared though the sky, then dived and snatched the dark haired girl in its claws. She had once been a source of light and life within the camp, but had fallen from grace.  The great dragon shot into the sky to end the fight, once and for all. 

Three more followed close behind, fast as lightning. A silver storm circled around the dragon and flames licked at the girl clutched in the dragon's claws. 

Finally, a fiery comet flew skyward from the hill crowned by the ivory and gold statue, and the sky exploded in a sphere of fire.

-Ω-

Our story begins on what seemed like a normal day at the Wilderness School "where the kids are the animals", headed off to the Grand Canyon for an "educational" field trip.

At the exact moment I pulled out my book, Coach Hedge, who was leading the trip, decided it was time to give us a lecture. I glanced around the bus, my eyes narrowing as I spotted some strange blond guy sitting next to Piper.

I studied him carefully, trying to figure out who he was. His hair was short, he had electric blue eyes and was wearing a purple shirt, jeans, a black windbreaker and a clear look of confusion on his face. Didn't ring any bells.

I scanned the bus looking to see if anybody else had notice the strange dude, but only Coach Hedge seemed to think he was out of place. He was scowling at him as though he knew this blond guy wasn't supposed to be there.

"Stand up, Coach Hedge!" Someone near the front of the bus called out.

"I heard that!" Coach paused for a second and I followed his gaze. He was still scowling at the guy. I kinda hoped he would confront Blondie and demand to know what he was doing on our bus. Blondie clearly disagreed. His eyes were wide with confusion.

I turned back to face Coach Hedge, who dropped his gaze and cleared his throat. "We'll arrive at the Grand Canyon in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. If any one of you precious little cupcakes cause trouble on this trip, I will send you back to campus the hard way."

"As if that's going to happen." My only "friend" in this dump, Taylor, whispered in my ear.

"I wouldn't put it past Hedge," I said. "You know what he's like."

Taylor hummed in response. I was going to ask her if she knew who Blondie was, but Coach Hedge interrupted me again. This time, because he decided Leo was behaving suspiciously.

"Leo Valdez! You got a problem back there?"

Leo winked at Blondie. What's he done this time? Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted with matches or sharp objects. He was also the reason I was 95% sure I liked guys.

"Sorry, Coach!" He called. "I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone please?"

Coach unclipped his megaphone and continued giving directions, but his voice sounded like Darth Vader's. I couldn't contain my laughter.

Being a stubborn old goat, Coach tried again. This time, the megaphone blared "The cow says moo!"

The whole class laughed harder.

Coach was not having any of it. He slammed down the megaphone and yelled, "Valdez!"

"You know, I hate to say it, but I don't think I could do that." I said. "I mean, I could get a hold of the megaphone easily enough, but I've not got the technical skill to make it sound different. I wonder how he did that."