He was gone

I'd looked everywhere for my brother, Jason Grace, and I couldn't find him. I know that he's only a toddler, and he could have crawled off, but not that far. I have a really bad feeling that I'm never going to see him again.


One year later I met him. The boy of my dreams. Literally. I was only ten, but I knew that he was the one for me. It was him or no-one.

I ran into the old warehouse that I had been staying in since I escaped my home, while looking behind me for the monsters I had seen. I knew monsters couldn't be real; but then why did they always chase me? I crouched down on the ground behind a stack of crates, and activated the wristband that my father had given me. I never knew my father, but on my ninth birthday, my mom gave me this band as a gift from him. I'd found out shortly after that if I hit it in the right place, it could turn into a shiny shield. Now I know this might sound ridiculous, but it's true! It seemed to push back the monsters. Sometimes it scared me a little. The shield had a fierce design – it looked Greek. I called it Aegis. The shield has the head of Medusa carved into the bronze, and even though it won't turn you to stone, it's so horrible; most people will panic and run from the sight of it.

I froze as if I had looked into Medusa's eyes when I heard a noise. Monsters could never get in here. I was sure of that. I had gone so far as to try and taunt them over the boundary line I had hastily drawn, but some kind of magic always held them back. So what was that noise? I drew the sleek bronze knife that I always carried around with me and snuck towards the creator of the noise. I hid behind a wooden beam and saw that it was a boy, not two years older than me. I almost dropped my weapon in surprise. I had not seen another human since I had left home. He was tall, with sandy-blond hair, and a slightly upturned nose. He was handsome, and looked as if he smiled a lot – but he wasn't right now. He was perching on the edge of a box, a sword across his knees. He was glancing around anxiously. It was as if he could see the monsters too.

I stepped out from behind the beam and he jumped up, sword at the ready. I held my hands up in peace, when I realised I was still holding my knife. I slid it back into its sheaf and he visibly relaxed. He put his sword on the ground and then stepped towards me curiously. He mumbled to himself.

"Demigod obviously, but of who? Must be strong – drew boundary line. Poseidon?" I shook my head. If I had imagined myself with a Greek God as my father, I had always wanted it to be Zeus. I spoke up.

"I don't like water. But I like air. Look what I can do!" I held up my hand and he stared as I made sparks jump across it.

"But-how?" he was stumped. I offered him some help.

"Zeus? Well, if I had a Greek God as a dad! Wouldn't that be cool?" he cocked his head to the side, evaluating me. I suddenly felt self-conscious. I hadn't brushed my jet-black hair in weeks, and my face was covered with dirt. The one thing I liked about my appearance was my bright blue eye. I held out my hand to break the uncomfortable silence. "I'm Thalia. And you are?" I let the question hang. I still had a million others to ask him, but I was trying not to overwhelm him.

"Luke. Son of Hermes. I think." he winked at me and shook my hand. We sat back down on the box and he explained things to me without my having to ask. Apparently I'm a demigod, Daughter of Zeus. I almost didn't want to believe him, but I could tell that he was telling the truth. I knew all about the Greek Gods, thanks to my mom forcing me to take an extra class about them in school. Surprisingly, I actually found them quite interesting.

Monsters were apparently real too, and the boundary line was only kept there by my father's power – none of my own. My father had really been there for me when I needed him. We talked about our adventures, and why we had left home. He nodded sadly when he heard about my mom. He told me about his problems with his mother, and how she was mad. I entirely sympathised with him. He'd been on the run for 3 years, which felt like an age compared to my one.

He told me all about a camp for demigods to train, and I instantly perked up. He even suggested that we made plans to get there. He said it was in New York, and my mood dropped. How were we going to get from the outskirts of Los Angeles to New York? It was across the other side of the country, and neither of us had any money. My gut plummeted.

"Shall we discuss this in the morning?" he suggested. I glanced at my wrist, where the watch now was. We had been talking for hours, and the sun had been down for almost as long.

"Sure." I said. I stood up and stretched, not realising how cramped I had been. I climbed up the stairs to the small loft where I had made my room. It was sparse, but it was all mine. All it had in it was and old, tattered blanket and roll mat, a sleeping bag, spare clothes and a camping stove. I also had a tent but I didn't use that at the moment. The bag I used to carry all of this was almost half my weight, but I had spent most of the journey here on the train, with only a couple of hours walking. I do most of my scouting with only a bottle of water nowadays. I picked up the photo frame that was lying next to my bed. It was a photo of my mom, Jason and I shortly before he disappeared. I placed it back down and turned to see Luke standing at the doorway.

"You can come in here if you want. There's plenty of space." I backed up my point with a gesture of my arm. He nodded a thanks and laid down his belongings on the floor. He had even less then me – no roll mat or blanket and no stove. I offered to share mine and we cooked in silence. As we crawled into our sleeping bags, I asked him my last question. "Luke, what are we going to do?" my eyes were closed and I could only see darkness.

"I don't know, but I know that I'll always stick with you, Thals."


Thanks for reading my first fanfic! Please review and tell me what you like and don't like - but not mean comments please :)