DisclaimerI don't own PJO or HoO characters or this story. I am just retelling the story. This whole story is from Luke's P.O.V.Chapter 1

MY NAME IS LUKE.

Honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with this diary. My life is pretty crazy. But I promised the old man I would try. After what happened today . . . well, I owe him

My hands are shaking as I sit here on guard duty. I can't get the horrible images out of my head. I've got a few hours until the girls wake up. Maybe if I write down the story, I'll be able to put it behind me.

I should probably start with the magic goat.

For three days, Thalia and I had been following the goat across Virginia. I wasn't sure why. To me, the goat didn't look like anything special, but Thailia was more agitated than I'd ever seen her before. She was convinced the goat was some sort of sign from her dad, Zeus.

Yeah, her dad is a Greek god. So is mine. We're demigods. If you think that sounds cool, think again. Demigods are monster magnets. All those ancient Greek nasties like Furies and harpies and gorgons still exist, and they can sense heroes like us from miles away. Because of that, Thalia and I spend all our time running for our lives. Our superpowerful parents don't even talk to us, much less help us. Why? If I tried to explain that, I'd fill up this whole diary, so I'm going to move on.

Anyway, this goat would pop up at random times, always in the distance. Whenever we tried to catch up to it, the goat would vanish and appear farther away, as if it was leading us somewhere.

Me, I would've left it alone. Thalia wouldn't explain why she thought it was important, but she and I had been adventuring together long enough that I'd learned to trust her judgment. So we followed the goat.

Early in the morning, we made it into Richmond. We trudged across a narrow bridge over a lazy green river, past wooded parks and Civil War cemeteries. As we got closer to the center of town, we navigated through sleepy neighborhoods of red brick town houses wedged close together, with white-columned porches and tiny gardens.

I imagined all the normal families living in those cozy houses. I wondered what it would be like to have a home, to know where my next meal was coming from, and not have to worry about getting eaten by monsters everyday. I'd run away when I was only nine which was five long years ago. I barely remembered what it was like to sleep in a real bed.