You don’t need to know much, but you better listen. Any day now there’s going to be trouble and we need your help. The worlds on the line here, so don’t mess this up.
No pressure.
We are all in danger right now. Our only hope is that this recording finds you. I don’t want it in bad hands. It tells our story from begin to end. If it falls into our enemies’ hands then mortals would cease to exist.
Again, no pressure.
First things first. We’re at base. Once you finish all of the recordings, you’ll know what base is. Don’t bother listening for it until the last tape, because we wouldn’t mention it before then.
Again, the world is riding on your shoulders.
Carter’s telling me that I’m a mad person for recording something like this but I have to. You need to know our story. And the best time to start is the day that I died.
~
I don’t know if you know this but waking up to people discussing your funeral plans is a really, really bad start to a day. Waiting 24 hours to discuss it? Nope, not an option.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was a girl sitting at the edge of my bed looking down at me as if she couldn’t believe that I was dead – erm, alive. The girl had short, blonde hair that just barely reached her shoulders. With pale skin and serious blue eyes she looked pretty athletic. She definitely did not look like someone who I wanted to get in a fight with. Her school uniform (a pure black kilt with a white shirt and black tie) was rumpled like she had slept in it.
“She’s alive!” she yelped, jumping in surprise. The two men that stood at the edge of my vision stopped arguing about which flowers to put on my coffin long enough to look over. One man – a tall black African American dude – cleared his throat. “Well then, Miss Storms how are you feeling?”
The girl looked like she wanted to strangle him. She clenched her fist. “Her name is Ally.” She said through her teeth.
Ally?
“That’s my name?” my voice came out raspy like I hadn’t spoken in a while. Everyone looked at me and I cleared my throat. “Ally? That’s my name?” My voice had a slight British accent, but not thick like I was from there.
The girls jaw dropped. She flopped down at the foot of my bed and started to cry into her hands. The two men looked surprised but not at me – they were looking at the girl. Apparently they were not used to seeing her cry.
The African dude came over to me. “How much do you remember?” he demanded.
Remember? This guy looked like he was expecting so oral report on my life which I basically could sum up in a few seconds – the last two minutes. “What do you remember?” he demanded again and I gave a shaky laugh.
“My name is Ally. Ally Storms apparently.”
He narrowed his eyes at me like I was a troublemaker. “That’s it?” his voice hissed like a snake.
“I’ve only been awake for about two minutes, dude, nothing to worry about.”
He glared at me. “Give it a day. Tomorrow you go back to lessons.”
Yep, that’s it. No Hey, take it easy since you just passed out and don’t remember a thing.
Just...go back to lessons.
That’s how my first few minutes went. I wish I could say that it got better.
***
After those few minutes I basically passed out for the next few hours. The only highlight was the nurse telling me to sit still.
Around 8 o’clock the next morning, the girl came back around. She was in a fresh uniform complete with a backpack and a new uniform for me but she looked like she had been crying. She handed it over to me and told me to get changed. When I came back from the loo I took in my surroundings. I had been in a hospital room for the past few days with white walls – white everything actually. The only color in the room was the girl.
“Ready? My names Zoë by the way.” she asked. She seemed more confident now and either she was a really good actor or they had time to replace her with her twin while I was gone. Hey it was a possibility – my legs still felt stiff so I was walking at about a rate of a mile per hour.
We were about to walk out the door, when I noticed the mirror.
And then I got my first look at myself.
At first I didn’t know what to think. I had startling purple eyes like I was analyzing someone, and long curly caramel hair. I had a light color olive skin with rosy lips.
But my beauty only lasted so far – right where my shoulder met my neck, there was a bunch of scars, all going in the same direction.
They were claw marks.
My breath caught as I stared at them. Something about them – something about those claws that marred my skin, wasn’t right.
Zoë turned around and saw me looking at the scars with a look that even I could describe. “You remember where you got that?” she asked me.
“No,” I said honestly.
She shifted the straps on her backpack. “Well...you got attacked by a Sphinx.”
“A Sphinx?” I asked. Okay call me crazy, but as far as I was concerned Sphinxes were a myth. Then again my memory wasn’t all that great.
She shifted from foot to foot. “It was an Egyptian Sphinx to be exact. Come on I’ll explain in gym.”

I can’t tell you what exactly what the gym looked like because as soon as Zoë opened the doors I got hit by a lot of other students. All I saw before that were walls that were lined with battle axes, swords, lances, and a lot of other things I couldn’t name.
I was absolutely sure that my mind was messing with me.
Every person besides Zoë dragged me to the middle of the gym asking me questions.
“How many monsters did you slay?”
“How many what?” I asked.
“Did you meet any gods?”
“Excuse me?” I didn’t know if I should be offended or not.
“Did you learn any new moves?”
“Hey can you teach me some awesome new lance moves?”
Finally Zoë got me away from everyone. “Ally, I’d like you to meet the coach.” She stepped away but all I could see was a cat.
The cat looked at me, not blinking. Then before my eyes, she turned into a tall, agile looking lady with brown hair in a tight ponytail. Her bright yellow eyes started unnervingly at me. “I trust you adventure went well, Miss Alison?”
Zoë stepped forward and saved me from what would have been a totally embarrassing moment. “Miss Grant....Ally,” she swallowed hard. “Ally doesn’t remember anything.” She finished in a whisper.
Everyone went quite. Even Miss Grant seemed stunned. “I presume....well um....how about...uh.... Zoë you should tell her all about us. You can go up stairs.”
Zoë made a weird sign to the lady (it looked totally rude to me but the lady just smiled).
Zoë motioned for me to follow her. “Come on. Carter, you should come to.”
A guy who looked my around my age, stepped out of the crowd and nodded. “Sure Zoë. Let’s go.”
~
When we finished climbing the stairs, my first thought was Wow. These guys sure know what the word sweet means.
My second thought was Gee, we’re here let’s go back now.
My third? I figured something about myself. I’m scared of heights. Deathly scared.
I forced myself to walk outside and once I got away from the doorway I found the wind biting at my back. I hadn’t thought to bring a jacket out.
“Oh,” Carter said sheepishly once he saw me. “Sorry I forgot to put up the defences.”
He tapped a stone on the step and instantly I felt warmer. Strength cursed through me. I felt like right now I could do anything.
“So,” Zoë said walking towards me. “Let’s talk.”

Zoë pretty much freaked me out with the whole ‘let’s talk’ deal. I mean, seriously? That’s Zoë’s problem – sometimes she can be way to serious [Ouch that’s my shoulder!].
Zoë walked to the railing that lined the roof. It was nothing special, just metal with black paint coming off. Behind it I got my first look of the outside since I had woken. We were in the city. Tall buildings rose into a bright blue sky and somewhere in the back of my mind, told me that we were in Chicago. “So um.....gods are alive. Greek gods, Roman gods, Egyptian gods, are the main ones, but there’s a lot more. They fight over the main throne all the time.” She said.
I swallowed and leaned back against the wall leading down the stairs and crossed her arms. “Okay.”
Zoë looked really confused as she turned and studied my face, as if to see if I was joking. “You mean you believe us?”
I shrugged my shoulders as I tried not to think about the, like, bazillion, story drop five feet away from me. “Sure why not? I don’t have any proof against it.”
“Okay than. Well um...so like if a certain number of people believe in something then it becomes real. And um...” Zoë hesitated.
“And....” I prompted.
“And so monsters are also real.”
I tried not to look fazed, but inside I was freaking out.
“The reason you lost your memory,” Carter put in. “Was because you went on an adventure. You got attacked.”
“By what?” I asked. My heart started to beat faster.
“That’s the thing. We don’t know. You’re the secret keeper at this school, so you know how to keep one. You got sent on a mission – by Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods mind you – and you made it about to Illinois before we found you. And by then you had already been knocked out.” Carter finished.
“So what goes on at this school?”
“What do you mean?” Zoë asked.
“I mean like the fact that my coach can turn into a cat, everyone keeps talking about swords fighting, and I am completely lost!”
“Well this school is a place for all of the god’s children. Although some people come here because their city’s trouble maker and they can work for the gods.” Zoë told her.
“When you turn fourteen you chose a patron god. Usually if you’re a child of a god, then your patron god would be your parent.” Carter said. “Like my patron god would be Hermes because he’s my dad. And Zoë’s patron would be the Egyptian goddess Neith, because that’s her mom.”
“What’s Neith the goddess of again?” I asked even though I had no clue who she was to begin with.
Zoë stood up straighter. “Neith is the goddess of weaving among many other things. No one worships her anymore though.” She finished the last part with a little sigh. “Shame,”
“Anyways,” Carter continued. “We’re about to turn fourteen. I’m on October 17th, yours is on November 4th, and Zoë’s is on November 7th. At the end of the month you turn fourteen you go to Mount Olympus and you chose your patron god. Then you go to their school.”
“Their school?”
“Yeah. Their school is basically where you learn their trade or whatever. You stay there until you’re seventeen.” Zoë told her. “During that time you can do a lot. Sometimes you get sent on adventures, track down monsters for them, become the secret keeper, or a Light.”
“What’s a secret keeper and a Light?”
Carter replied that time. “A secret keeper is someone who people come to. Problems, need help, extra sword help, anything. You were the secret keeper here. You would never give up a secret. When I first came here I actually broke your finger but you still wouldn’t tell me a secret.” Carter was turning red. “anyways, a Light is like a helper or something. They talk with the god or goddess, secret keeper, other school’s Lights, and solve any problems. A Light is always a student because otherwise, I mean, who comes to a teacher with a problem?”
“Okay.....” For the first time, I didn’t bother to hide my feelings. I was scared. This was becoming way too overwhelming. “Did I ever mention who I was choosing as my patron?”
Zoë looked away, but she replied in an almost dreamy voice. “You were going to choose Artemis, I think. You rarely mentioned it.”
I stayed in that position, leaning against the wall, so long that it felt like I was frozen. “Okay, let’s go.”
For a moment both of them looked confused. “Go where?”
“Gym. I’m not going to bother waiting for my memory to come back and I’m not going to dwell on this. Why bother? If I forgot all this then I probably forgot how to use a sword. I’m behind. Let’s go.” I felt fierce standing there; like nothing stood in my way.
Zoë took a deep breath. “One last thing. This was yours.” She held out a silver charm bracelet and I took it. “It was a gift from the Egyptian goddesses. The charms hold weapons. One is a sword, another is a knife, and one is a shield. It’s yours. They gave it to you after you saved them from a Sphinx. Hathor, the goddess of beauty, was the one who decided that you needed a gift.”
I slipped it on my left wrist. For some reason, I felt more... powerful with it on. Also more...at peace. “Let’s go,” I told them.
Zoë and Carter started towards the door when I stopped them. “Guys?”
“Yeah?” They said in union.
“Can you not call me Ally or Allison? It doesn’t feel like me.”
Zoë and Carter exchanged a look that plainly said, Okkkkkkkay. “What do you want us to call you then?” Zoë asked.
I thought about it for a moment. “Thalia,” I said finally. “Call me Thalia.”

Don’t ask me why I chose the name Thalia. It just...fit. I felt like someone had told me that I should choose it. I know that sounds weird, but it felt like that. I had felt my hair blow back a centimetre, like a ghost had been there and whispered it in my ear. Totally normal. Besides the fact that, well, I hadn’t heard the name before. Ever – I think. It wasn’t even a common one. Like I said, totally normal.
Zoë motioned for me to follow her to the back. For the first time, I got my first good view of the gym. There was a climbing wall – like no harnesses, bunch of rocks falling down, and every once in a while it would collapse. But the top – the top was the reason you tried.
Zoë saw me looking. “That part at the top,” she told me. “That’s an illusion. Everyone sees something different. We call it the Trick.”
To me, it glowed with a silver and gold light. Green meadows, with perfect hills rose. A sun was setting, and mountains towered in the back. But most important, there were people. Zoë and Carter were there... but so were some other people. A woman with light brown hair that reached to the middle of her back was there. She was standing with a man who had salt-and-pepper hair. Before them were three girls and one boy. The boy and one of the girls were toddlers, but obviously twins. They both had curly blonde hair. A girl with black hair and smooth features was there and she was laughing. I could tell that she was my age. I was right next to her laughing along. The last girl had light brown hair like her mother. She was smiling, but it was clear that she was smart.
All of them looked at me smiling. They wanted the real Thalia to join them. I took a step forward then hesitated. The edges were blurring, and the image was faint like it was fading; behind it was pure gray rocks scattered over the top.
It was a fake.
“Why is it shimmering?” I asked Zoë. Zoë glanced at me.
“What do you mean?” she asked. She sounded truthful.
“The image. It’s faint. I can see behind it.”
She gave me a new look like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to laugh or be scared. “Al – I mean, Thalia that image is created by the Greek god Iris, the goddess of rainbows. No one – and I mean no one – can see through her illusions. Are you okay?”
I was seeing things I wasn’t supposed to. I was seeing through a goddess’s power. “Yep, I’m fine.” I lied.
Zoë gave me one, final, weird look as if she knew I was lying but dropped it then pulled me over to a closet. She opened to door and said, “Ta da!”
She flung the doors open revealing a spiral stair case leading down. She led me down the stairs and opened another set of doors. Behind it laid every piece of equipment for battle, practicing, or cutting someone’s head off [that’s Zoë in the background telling me that I’ve probably grossed everyone out by now. Thanks for your trust, Zo.]
Battle axes lined the right wall along with bows, arrows, swords, if it goes in battle, then it’s there. Along the left wall was every type of shield that you could imagine – round, square, rectangle – it was all there.
And straight ahead was the battle armour.
I don’t know what you think when I say ‘battle armour’ but whatever it is, you aren’t thinking what I’m thinking. It wasn’t your classical silver I’m-going-to-die-from-a-heat-stroke-armour but this-is-wicked-awesome-armour armour. There was some a brown jacket that somehow I knew was bullet proof, and a pink armour that seemed to blend in with whatever the wearer was wearing.
But what really caught my eye was some silver armour, that looked light weight and it flickered. Sometimes it was regular armour but other times it looked like a coat, jeans, and a snow cap.
Zoë saw what I was staring at. “Don’t even think about it,” she told me warily. “That armour is sacred to Artemis. You put it on you’ll burst into a thousand pieces if you aren’t one of Artemis’s followers.”
My gaze drifted over to a golden spear. I took a step forward and reached out, but before I could touch it Zoë told me, “Don’t even think about it. Zeus’s followers. You don’t want to know what will happen if you touch that thing.”
I put my hand in my pocket.
“Great,” I muttered. “Anything in here that isn’t going to cause my death when I put it on?”
Zoë sighed. “Yeah.” She picked up a black sports jacket with thin white stripes along the arms and a hood. The zipper was a bright silver circle and it seemed as if it was almost radiating light. “You tended to use this the most. So much in fact, that the coach gave it to you as your twelfth birthday present. Miss Grant charmed it so it would turn into one of your charms on your bracelet.” She nodded towards my left wrist. “It was made by Apollo. It yours.” She tossed it to me and I slipped it on. Surprisingly, it was light weight, but warm like there was a personal heater inside. “The jacket covers your whole body, by the way. No one is quite sure how...” she seemed lost in thought. “Anyways let’s go duel.”
~
I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant by ‘duel’ at first but I soon learned that, for me, it was just a fancy way of saying ‘humiliated’.
When Zoë led me out onto one of the mats, my first thought was, Okay, she’s going to show me how to do this.
Obviously, that wasn’t the plan.
Before I had even gotten my whatever-that-thingy-was out she had a sword at my throat. Let me tell you first hand, that sitting there, it might seem really awesome that I’m in a school for freaks – erm, I mean people-of-peoples-names-that-I-can’t-remember but it isn’t fun having a sword pointed at your throat.
Zoë looked surprised. “You don’t even have your sword out?” she asked me. “Wow you must have hit your head hard.”
Okayyyyyy. Add that to the list of things that Ally could do and I couldn’t – sword fighting.
Zoë looked at me and sighed. “Just pull the charm of and rub it... I think.”
That wasn’t exactly reassuring, but it was all I had to go on. I pulled at one of the charms and it came off easily as if it was butter. I rubbed my thumb over the surface of the charm and it grew into a light weight sword in my hands. The hilt had leather wrapped around it, which was worn so it must have been used a lot. The rest of the blade was silver, nothing special.
Except for – and I’m not making this up – a slight shimmer around it like it was bending the air or something.
Before I knew it, Zoë was attacking me again. I blocked about three hits before she managed to get to me.
But even I knew that I was doing it wrong.
First of all, I was just swinging it around like a maniac, kind of freaked out, and trying not to die. Second, I was holding it with both hands. Third....well I was trying to run away. And I would have succeeded too, if I just hadn’t tripped over my own feet and managed to fall on the ground, narrowly avoiding making myself a shish-ka-bob.
Zoë offered me a hand and Carter came over. He frowned when he saw me on the ground. “You all right?” he asked me. He sounded concerned.
But then again, my temper was running thin. “Yeah,” I lied.

My head hurt (along with every other part of my body) as Zoë led me to our next class. I had spent a few more minutes trying to fight before Zoë gave up and showed me a few moves. I thought I had progressed pretty well in half an hour but Zoë’s (and everyone else’s) look told me otherwise. Ally was so much better. They told me without words. And you’re not. You’re not her.
I didn’t know what to think.