CHAPTER 1

"Brain Stew. It's a freaking Green Day classic, come one sushi-for-brains get with the times." Thalia smirked as she shoved him playfully.

Percy dangled his feet off the side of the building and chewed on a licorice stick. "We just have different tastes in music, I grew up on a little bit of everything. My favorite song when I was a kid, Ms. Jackson by Outkast."

Thalia smirked and held up an imaginary microphone to her mouth. "I'm sorry Ms. Jackson! Oh, I am for real!"

Percy stole the mike and hopped on the ledge. "I never meant to make your daughter cry!"

"I apologize a trillion times!" Thalia broke out into laughter and slapped Percy behind his left calf with enough force to send him sprawling down the side of a building.

"Hey!" Percy laughed and regained his footing. "If I fall, you're going to catch me!"

"That's a big no." Thalia laughed and pulled him off the buildings edge. "Nobody has you playing on skyscrapers!"

"But I'd have you here to save me. I know you can fly." Percy smirked and sat down on the rooftop admiring the nighttime sky above New York. "You just need to push yourself. Find out the hard way. I figure that's how Jason learned."

Thalia sat beside him and stole a licorice stick from his jeans pocket. "I'm not jumping off any buildings anytime soon, Jackson. I like to keep my feet on solid ground, thank you very much."

"It's not like you would die, right?" Percy commented as he straightened her crooked silver tiara. "You can only die in battle, otherwise you're immortal. Or do I have it wrong?"

"I dunno." Thalia shrugged her shoulders. "I can still get hurt outside of battles. Just the other day an arrow exploded in front of my face and I spent hours pulling a hundred little splinters out of my skin, so I don't think I'd survive a very high fall."

Percy smirked. "I suppose that ruins my plans of teaching you how to fly, I was just about to toss you right off this building."

Thalia laughed and then scowled. "No you were not!"

Percy stood up and pulled her to her feet with a mishchievous smile. "Bet?"

Thalia backed away from him and smiled. "Stay away from me, fish face!"

He rushed forward and swooped her off her feet like she was his newlywed bride. "Come on, Thalia!"

She struggled against his grip and slapped him across the face a couple times as he neared the edge of the building.

"No! Percy! Let me go!" Thalia laughed. "I'm serious!"

Her face turned deathly pale as he hopped on the ledge of the twenty story building that overlooked a good portion of the bright city of Manhattan. "Shit. Percy! Put me down! I'm serious…"

Percy's grip on her thighs and shoulders tightened with a comforting strength to them. "Calm down, Thalia. You'll be alright, trust me."

"You're freaking crazy!" Thalia wanted to scream but it seemed like her throat sank to the pit of her stomach. "Please, Percy, I'm freaking out right now!"

She wanted to struggle against his grip and start panicking but she figured if she did, one wrong move would send them sprawling down the straight shot.

Percy held her tight and looked her in the eyes. "Not to sound all cheesy and all, but do you trust me?"

Thalia wanted to scream, No! You're brains a fucking sack of cheeseballs! Of course I don't!

Instead she nodded and buried her face in his chest. If only her hunters could see her now. Thalia was usually the one that set the example for every fearless leader to look up to but now she wasn't even afraid to admit that she was terrified.

Percy looked down at the sidewalk and walked straight off the ledge. The wind whipped through his black hair and crawled up his black leather jacket sending shivers over his skin. He was pretty confident they weren't going to die.

Percy laughed like a madman and yelled past the howling wind as he held onto a screaming Thalia. "It's time to start flying, Thalia!"

She still hid her face in his chest and screamed loudly. "I HATE YOU!"

As the ground got closer, Percy was still pretty confident that Thalia would save them. He was pretty sure he seen something on Animal Planet about baby chicks jumping out of trees and learning to fly...or was it a dream? "We're getting close!"

Thalia still screamed like a woman in a horror movie being chased by a masked serial killer. Suddenly, Percy began to feel a little resistance pushing against them as they fell. Their descent began to slow down as if they were suddenly coming to a halt midair. Thalia didn't stop screaming.

"Thalia!" Percy laughed as he and her were floating twenty feet above the concrete pavement below. "You did it!"

Thalia was still pounding her fist on his shoulder and screaming like they were falling.

Percy felt like he was in zero gravity. He did a little roll mid air and the winds shifted them until he was directly beneath Thalia and she was on top of him. Directly below a couple of New Yorkers spotted them floating above, but they quickly continued doing their own thing as if a couple of young adults defying gravity was an everyday thing.

Thalia began to lose her voice. The screaming began to get quieter and quieter but she refused to open her eyes.

"Thalia? Pinecone Face?" Percy called, he was still hugging her tightly. "You know we're flying right?"

Thalia peaked her eyes out from his pecs and looked around. "I hate you so much, Percy."

"But we're flying." He whispered and loosened his group on the girl.

She didn't dare let him go, she hugged him tightly as if he was the one keeping them afloat and not the other way around.

"Don't let me go, Percy…Please." She whispered and held on to him.

"I'm not the daughter of Zeus." Percy wrapped his arms around her looked her in the eyes. "I'm only the anchor here. You're saving me right now."

Those electric blue eyes never looked so vulnerable then they did in this very moment. She grabbed his jacket and pulled him up towards her lips. A soft electric shock sparked as his lips met hers. The duo were literally flying right now, but now it felt like their spirits had left their very bodies. Until suddenly they were.

Thalia didn't even know how she was controlling the winds right now, but when she finally lost control of her powers she didn't know how to reign them back in. They dropped twenty feet and nearly landed on an innocent passerby.

Percy had almost forgotten where he was. He willed the fire hydrant two feet to the right to explode and guided the waters directly underneath them. The rushing water felt like a mattress made of pure cotton as they bounced on the surface. Before he ever walked off the edge of the building he felt the strong underground water pressure rushing in the ground just waiting to be released. He believed Thalia would fly, but the fire hydrant was a much needed back up plan. If it hadn't been there, he would have never done anything so reckless and stupid.

Thalia landed directly next to Percy and he willed the water to slowly drain away leaving the two of them laying on the sidewalk completely soaked in water as people walked over them like they weren't even there.

"You knew there was a fire hydrant there, huh?" She asked her cheeks flustered and her lips trembled.

Percy turned his head and looked her in the eyes, she didn't break the eye contact. "But I knew you could do it. You just needed a push."

Thalia smiled. "About that kiss…"