The Art of Misdirection

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson

Cover Photo is by Viria

Percy rubbed his shoulders, in an attempt to warm his shoulders up. It was august 18th, 2003, and it was Percy's birthday. Usually on a child's birthday the parent would throw a party for the little tyke, invite friends, get presents, and overall just have a good time. Well for Percy, "having a good time" is something that Percy does rarely. It wasn't that his parents were bad no they were the best parents ever and if they were alive then Percy thought that they would undoubtedly be the best parents to ever grace the earth. But unfortunately for Percy his parents had died when he was 5 which was 5 years ago, now at the age of 10 he was on the streets, fighting everyday just to stay alive. To get money Percy did street magic and he was very good at it, he didn't know how or why but he just was. His fingers moved fast and his sleight of hand was perfect. Many people asked him how he did it but he couldn't explain it, the best explanation he could give was that he misdirected their attention. He called it ability because he continually developed it since he was 5. See Percy's ability wasn't just given to him, no, he worked for it. Every day since he was five he observed people, what reactions would they hold if he did something, or how they would act if they were angry, happy, or sad, you could say he was very observant. Well I guess that's what you get for looking at people for half of your life. If that wasn't enough Percy has a very low presence, most of the time the public wouldn't even notice him, he could literally go in a store, take something, and leave without anyone having a clue where he was.

Today wasn't a usually day for Percy, sure it was his birthday but something was off, he could feel it in his bones. Suddenly Percy saw something that he hadn't seen before, it was a group of three children holding, weapons? Why were there 3 kids in the forest at night? Well he was there but he was different. There was a girl his age, a girl that looked to be a few years older and a blonde haired boy that looked the oldest out of them all. Percy watched them closely, they obviously looked scared, even at 20 metres difference he could still see it in their eyes, he then observed their posture and he could see the fatigue.

'They've been running, and they're scared, this means that someone or something is chasing them. Someone or something that makes the kids feels fear.'

Percy walked closer to them and saw the boy hold his sword up defensively, Percy took a step back, astonished.

'How could he notice me so quickly?'

"Run away Annabeth and Thalia, its coming."

'It's?'

Percy swivelled his head when he felt a hot breath down his spine, once he did a full 180 he came saw a huge bull, humanoid thing. Percy's breathe quickened and his heart beat hard.

'What the hell is this?'

The Minotaur walked closer and closer to Percy but walked right past him, as if he wasn't there. Percy slowly turned to see the huge monster running full pace at the lone blonde demigod. Percy had to think fast, he needed to save this person. Percy analysed the monster and deducted that it was similar to a bull. At that speed the bull couldn't change its direction Percy thought, this was going to be a piece of cake.

Luke:

Uh Oh, was the first thought that came to his mind when he saw the huge bull run at him full pelt, he knew what this monster was though and he knew that it had trouble turning while charging so he was going to try and use it to his advantage. Luke bent his knees, readying himself to jump right as the bull closed in on him. 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1, jump! This plan would've worked if it wasn't for the huge size of the bull, even though he didn't take the full blunt force of the Minotaur, his leg had been unlucky and had been clipped by the hand of the Minotaur.

"Hey, ugly face!"

Luke snapped his head upwards to see a smaller kid, probably at the age of 10 or so, what was he doing here? And why didn't I notice him? The Minotaur suddenly turned around and started charging at the smaller boy. Luke knew the boy was doomed, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see the bloodbath that the Minotaur was going to leave. A crunch later and Luke opened his eyes; the Minotaur had run into a tree and was stuck. Luke chocked back sob, the young child was killed because of those damn Gods, if only they got of their stupid thrones and helped out once in a while.

"Huh I guess you missed."

Luke snapped his head up to see the boy standing beside the Minotaur, a smirk playing on his lips.

'How? Impossible!'

Luke lay down exhausted and surprised, how could this boy dodge something that fast? Suddenly Luke found himself cheering for the little boy in his head. Luke lay his head down and gave a little chuckle, this kid was something else. Luke looked up again and saw that the boy was gone. Luke looked around frantically, and so did the Minotaur, which was one horn down. Luke looked towards the tree to find the horn of the Minotaur gone.

"Hey, can I borrow this?"

Luke sat up quickly and turned around, already in a defensive position, but found out this his sword wasn't in his hand. He could've sworn that it was there before. When Luke turned to the boy he was surprised that he was playing around with his sword.

'How on Olympus did he get my sword without noticing, it was in my hands for Hades sake!'

"S-Sure."

"Thanks!" The boy said, a huge smile playing on his lips.

A roar brought Luke's attention back to the Minotaur, after a second of observation he turned back to tell the boy that he should run, to only find and empty space. Luke looked back at the Monster to only find gold dust splattered everywhere. A horn and his sword lay in the middle of the dust.

"Luke!" Luke turned just in time to see two girls run up to him and hug him, hard.

"Are you okay Luke?" Thalia said to Luke.

"Yea I'm fine." Luke said, gradually getting back up on his feet.

"What happened here? Did you kill the monster? How did you do it? Why-"

"Slow down Annabeth, I didn't kill the monster, some boy did it."

"Well where is he?" Thalia asked, looking around the clearing.

"I don't know but I'm sure he is one of us. "

Luke started to walk towards his sword and when he got there, he saw words written in the dirt.

"Thankyou for the word, use this to remember me." Luke read out loud.

Luke picked up the Minotaur horn and inspected it. He felt the smooth side and the sharp tip. A small smile crept up to Luke's face. Where ever this kid was Luke prayed to all of the gods that he was safe.