Chapter 1

"It happened again. Brodie just IM'd me. The demigod just up and disappeared. Eight months there, and all of a sudden he's gone without a trace." A satyr reported from the doorway.

Chiron sighed. He'd been getting reports like this for a while, but it had only become serious recently, when the number of missing demigods skyrocketed. Satyrs had been spotting them all over, and keeping an eye on the demigods, when they started disappearing.

Chiron turned to the demigod listening outside the door. The demigod flushed. "So sorry Chiron, I was just curious and-" Chiron stopped him. "Did you hear all that?" He shifted, hesitated, then nodded. "Aiden, I've got a little task for you. I need you to go into the field. Catch demigods on the streets before monsters do, and get them to camp." Aiden nodded, turning to leave. "Oh, and Aiden?" He turned. "Do try not to get lost." Aiden grinned, and left.

Lily's POV

You know, when your whole life is a lie and it's all crumbling beneath you, you realize a few more things about yourself. Like being able to cause earthquakes or fires with pure will, or sticking up for what you believe, even if it hurts. And this is how we all figured these things out, right from the start. Well my start at least. There's about three others after this. Swag, I guess.

I was in school, writing an essay that I was making a bit too long for what was asked (although, there was no limit to how long it was as long as it doesn't take too long to read,) when the door exploded. You think I'm joking? No. I'm completely serious. Hallucinating? That's what I thought- that is, until the doorknob nailed me in the face. Yeah, I passed out. That's what happens when you get hit in the face.

I woke up in some rubble of what used to be my classroom. I saw some tall person sniffing around and decided it was a good time to stay passed out. Hey, you see a psycho-terrorist, you try not to exist. It's what you do. I cursed my semi-near-sighted-ness and closed my eyes.

Then the tall guy walked closer, still for some reason sniffing, and I did my best to keep still. It stopped at my feet and my heart was beating like a snare drum in a marching band. I gripped the pencil I had been using, and by some miracle, it was still deadly-sharp.

I peeked through my eyelids, and saw that the tall guy had only one eye. I jerked up and aimed my pencil straight at its eye. It hit its target, and I raced down the hallway (what was left of it,) and thought, he could've at least had the decency to, like, not have blown up the hallway. It made things much harder; having to climb over rubble.

I got out of the school, and sprinted down the street. I ran through my check list for dangerous situations. Step 1: Get away from the scene of the crime. Step 2: Go get your parents. Okay, time for Step 2 then.

Before I knew it, I was back in my apartment. "Mom? Dad? They let us out of school early." No answer. I walked down to my bedroom and plopped onto my bed. What had even happened? Some sort of terrorist attack? An alien invasion?

I heard a loud noise in the kitchen. "Mom? Dad, is that you?" I casually grabbed the pocket knife from my dresser. Don't judge, I was on edge. I slowly crept out to the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was my parents. "Lily, what are you doing here?"

"They let us out early, Mom." My parents looked at me skeptically. "That's not what she meant, Pumpkin." I stared at my father in confusion. Suddenly, my parents' forms contorted, turning into gruesome creatures. My mother's tame red curls transformed into glowing flames, her teeth grew into sharp fangs. My father's eyes melted into one, and he grew taller than anatomically possible.

My hand subconsciously crept to my back pocket, where my knife was. I kept my eyes on both of them for a millisecond, then turned and practically flew out of the apartment, my parents screeching after me.

I was running faster than ever before, my mind working on overdrive to carry me through streets and alleys. However, I had underestimated my ability to navigate seamlessly. I was in a dead end. I spun around, hoping to get out before my parents- or whatever they were- caught up. Too late. I was cornered.

I backed up slowly, trying to stay away from them. My ex-father leaned in close to my face. "Congratulations, Lily. You just got yourself killed." He raised his huge fists but I was faster. My knife was in his gut before he even knew what was happening. His eyes widened, his form crumbling away in the breeze. "You'll regret that, Lil..." He was gone.

What was once my mother stepped forward. "You're going to pay for that." She opened her jaw as if to bite me, but a golden blade jutted through her stomach. Within a second my mother was gone, a teenage boy around my age in her place. "You okay?" I nodded breathlessly. My life was a lie.

"I know a place for kids like you. It's totally safe. It's not far from here, come on, I can take you." I raised my eyebrow. "Okay, you may have just saved my life, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know you." He grinned at me. "Well, then. My name's Aiden Bennett. Now you do. But I don't know you, so..." I huffed. "It's Lily. Lily Wright."

He beamed. "Well, know we know each other, so, shall we?" Aiden offered his arm. I pursed my lips. "Fine. I've got nowhere else to go anyways."