The Lost Heroine (Heroes of Olympus/Kane Chronicles crossover) [2016]

Chapter 6: Sadie

PERCY LED ME, LEO, CALYPSO, HAZEL, AND PIPER toward a square area of cobblestone with a shed off to the side. He approached the shed and opened the door, revealing rows and rows of weapons.

"This is the weapons shed," Percy said, and again I resisted the urge to call him Captain Obvious. "Every demigod needs to carry a weapon to defend themselves from monsters. You might be a demigod, so you'd better carry one just in case. You have to choose one that's right for you, kind of like shoes."

"You aren't carrying a weapon," I noticed.

"Yes, I am. It's just in disguise." Percy showed me a ballpoint pen clipped to his jeans.

"It's a pen," I pointed out. "What kind of weapon is that?"

"Stand back," he warned. He took off the cap of the pen, and it instantly changed into a bronze sword. "This is Anaklusmos, or Riptide in English.

"Okay, that's bloody brilliant," I admitted. Then I turned to the others. "What about yours?"

Piper stepped forward. "This is a parazonium dagger," she said, pulling out a bronze knife from a sheath on her belt. "It's called Katoptris, or looking glass."

Hazel gestured to the sword at her side. "This is a spatha," she said. "It's Roman."

"You're Roman, right?" I remembered. She nodded.

Calypso showed me the dagger hanging from her belt. "This is a Greek dagger. It's Celestial bronze."

"Annabeth used a bronze dagger too," Percy said. "Then..." His face darkened. "She lost it. Let's leave it at that."

Leo nodded. "I made her a new one." He reached his hand into his tool belt and pulled out a tin of breath mints. "Sticks!" he muttered. At least, that's what it sounded like. I later learned that it was Styx, a river in the Underworld. He reached in again and pulled out the dagger he'd been working on. It looked a lot bigger than the pocket it had come from.

"What kind of weapon do you use, then?" I asked him.

"Fire," he replied. "And machines. Anything, really. I make stuff on the spot." He reached into the tool belt and pulled out a huge hammer that was definitely way too big to fit in the pocket.

"That's brilliant," I said.

"Yeah, it is." Leo grinned.

"So, do you want to try out a weapon?" Percy said, capping his sword/pen.

"Sure," I replied. Percy handed me a gold sword. It was a lot bigger than Hazel's but smaller than Percy's, and it was really heavy. I shook my head. "I don't like it."

"Not a good fit," Percy agreed. Next I tried a spear that I could barely hold. I almost decapitated myself before Percy took it away. "No way," we said simultaneously.

Finally Percy picked up something small from the ground. "I wonder," he said. "This thing has confused me. There's a symbol on it that I don't understand... but maybe you know it. Here, try." He handed me a black bracelet with gold spikes.

I slipped it on. "Cool!" I said, twisting it on my wrist. I noticed a symbol on one side. It looked like an angel, but just glancing at it gave me shivers, as if I was supposed to remember something I didn't.

Instinctively, I reached for the pendant around my neck. The symbols matched perfectly. "Percy, look." I beckoned to him, and showed him the matching symbols.

"Huh," Percy said. "Push the symbol."

I tapped the symbol and the wristband began to warp, elongating in my hand until I was holding a gold and black sword. The blade was bronze. The hilt had intricate gold and black patterns snaking around the handle. On the hilt was the same angel symbol.

The blade was engraved with symbols that I could somehow understand: words like strike, block, and protect. They didn't seem to be English words, though. The meanings simply popped into my brain.

"That fits!" Percy said. "Do you like the way it feels?"

"Yeah," I answered. "It feels brilliant, actually."

"Are you British?" Leo asked.

I thought. "I'm not sure," I admitted. "Maybe I lived there for a while, then I moved to America. I dunno."

"You definitely have a slight British accent," Percy said thoughtfully.

I shrugged. "Can I try out my new sword?"

"Yeah, sure. After we find Jason and the others," Piper offered. "I'll show you how to use it."

"Brilliant!"

Percy looked pained. "We should really start looking for Annabeth."

I immediately felt bad for the guy. "Percy's right," I decided. "Annabeth first. Swords later."