The streets of Manhattan were bustling as usual, and Thalia was beginning to feel claustrophobic. It was also making it considerably harder to find somewhere for her, Luke, and Annabeth to crash for the next couple nights. You would think it would be easy, what with all the different areas and such. Surely there would be a good amount of alleys they could hide out in. But, no, there really weren't that many places for them to stay. Most buildings in Manhattan were close-knit, so the alleys in between made a pretty tight squeeze. And the ones that were big enough, well, a lot of them were filled with garbage.

Finally, they found a somewhat suitable alley and decided to set up camp. Annabeth unpacked some food and supplies, Luke tried moving some things around to make more room, and Thalia started clearing a few things out of the alley. She was about to grab a cardboard box to toss into a dumpster when it sneezed. Confused, she took a step back.

"Guys?" she called. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Luke asked. Annabeth tilted her head as if to ask the same question, a quizzical look on her face.

Thalia shrugged. "Nevermind, I guess." She was about to grab the box again when a boy jumped out welding some metal object Thalia would later identify as an aluminum baseball bat. Thankful for her quick reflexes, Thalia dodged and grabbed the bat mid swing, throwing it across the alley before he could grab it back.

The boy backed up against the wall, his eyes narrowed and his stance defensive. Annabeth and Luke came over to see what was going on.

"Stay away from me, monsters," the boy growled. He was wearing a ratty blue shirt and beat up fleece pajama pants. On his feet were a pair of worn out sneakers. He looked about Annabeth's age, with black hair that seemed like it hadn't been brushed for days. His face, and whole body for that matter, was dirty and littered with scars, some fresher than others. His green eyes made his glare look more intense.

Thalia crouched down to be eye level with him. "Hey kid, we're not gonna hurt you," she told him. "We're just like you. We fight monsters too," she added, remembering what Luke had said to Annabeth.

"Really?" he asked skeptically, the slightest bit of hopefulness hiding in his tone.

"Yeah. I'm Thalia, and this is Luke and Annabeth." She gestured to them respectively.

"I'm Percy," the boy said. Thalia smiled.

"Nice to meet ya Percy. Where's your family?"

Percy looked down. "My mom's dead. Smelly Gabe killed her."

Thalia frowned. She knew what it was like to have someone you loved taken away from you. "I'm sorry to hear that, Percy. Do you wanna join us in our monster fighting?"

Percy smiled a little, nodding his head. Thalia could tell he was trying to hide his excitement.

Luke crouched down next to Thalia. "Hey Bud," he said. "We're going to be your family now, just you and us, okay?"

Percy smiled wider. "Okay."

"Hey Annie," Thalia said. "Come say hi."

Annabeth stood next to Thalia. "Don't call me 'Annie,'" she huffed. She turned to Percy, giving him a once-over. "Hi."

"Hi," he said back.

"Well," Luke cut in, "I'm going to go on a supply run. Hey Percy, you want to come with me?"

Percy let the last of his guard down and smiled, jumping up and down. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"

"C'mon then." Luke held his hand out and Percy grabbed it. The two started walking out of the alley, leaving Thalia alone with Annabeth.

"Why does he have to come with us?" she asked. "I like it when it's just you, me, and Luke."

"Don't worry, Annabeth," Thalia assured her. "It'll be the same as it's always been, we just have one more person to join the fun now. Plus, don't you think it's wise to have an extra person helping us out?"

"I guess so," Annabeth answered, still frowning slightly. "But more of us will attract more monsters."

"We can't just leave him by himself, Anne."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Thalia gave her a hug and they finished setting up, then sat against the wall together until Percy and Luke came back.

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that ending is really rushed because I was getting lazy. This is my first fanfic on here. (It's far from the first I've ever written, though. I have a ton in my Google Drive and some up on my Wattpad.) I appreciate anyone who will read. Thanks for reading this far!