Annabeth POV

Man, Patrick was so cute! I know that I'll have to break it to Percy soon, but still...

It's him! Hades!

Percy POV

For the record, I officially hate my little brother.

I can see your face right now-twisted up in shock. I bet that this is what's running through your head: "Oh my gosh! There's no way that's the Savior of Olympus! What happened to him? Eeep!"

...Okay, maybe not exactly. But anyway! Explaining time. Ever since Patrick Beech, my brother, and Caroline Lite, Thalia's sister (she quit the hunters) got to camp, things went completely downhill for Thalia and I. All that I need is my friends, and Patrick and Caroline figured that out pretty dang fast. They dropped a few lies there, scattered a couple rumors here, and what do you know? Thalia and I didn't save Olympus- we were a couple of idiots that got lucky. Pfft.

So, as I'm sure that you can imagine, when I broke Patrick's nose after I caught him making out with my girlfriend, that was the last straw. One whisper to Drew, and it was all over. Thalia and I were disowned and banished from camp. As we passed the property line together and I absentmindedly said goodbye to a whining Peleus, one thought settled into my brain.

Those jerks will pay.

Thalia POV

Nobody from my past is here. The gods severed all communications with us. Jason and Luke are dead, while Annabeth is much, much, worse. But I have Percy, and he will never leave me. That's for sure.

Percy POV

A week ago, we left Long Island. We're somewhere near Philadelphia, and we're almost dead. I guess that we never thought of the scent that two highly trained children of the Big Three would emit. Now, we're being stalked by a monster army that would make Kronos's run for mama. Joy.

Anyway, neither Thalia or I had any weapons. After our parents disintegrated all connections with us and we were kicked out of camp, they were all removed. With my Curse of Achilles gone, scratches covered both of our bodies and the monsters were getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, a hellhound leaped out of the shadows that the sunset had created. Thalia's eyes widened, and she pushed me out of the way. I wanted to turn away, or at least try to help, but my body made be watch as my last friend attempted to protect herself from what had been chasing us for days. Then, the unexplainable happened.

The hellhound burst into golden dust, sprinkling Thalia with monster guts. A man, skin aglow with stars blanketed by blackness, stood in its place.

Instinctively, I reached for Riptide, but it wasn't there. Instead, I sidled in front of Thalia in a defensive martial arts position.

The strange man laughed.

"Relax," he assured, "I'm just here to ask you, Perseus, and Miss Thalia here something."

Nodding hesitantly, I lowered by defense slightly. Ever since the Medusa incident, I was wary of people who knew my name.

"My name is Chaos." the man said. "Does that ring a bell?"

I cocked my head to the side, confused. Thalia, however, had obviously been paying attention in Anna- no. In her ex-friend's history class. She gasped audibly.

"You mean, the Chaos?" she breathed. "Creator of the universe?"

"Yup!" Chaos stated cheerily. "That's me!"

"So," I asked uneasily, "what is it that you wanted to ask us, Lord Chaos?"

"Oh, no formalities please," Chaos requested. "Just Chaos will be fine. Anyway, since my sister Nyx is on the rise, I decided that I should begin a group of assassins to protect the universe from evil. If you join, you'll be the most powerful being in existence-maybe even including Nyx and I, after a long period of time. So, do you except?"

I glanced at Thalia, and we made a silent agreement. I'm sure that I spoke for the both of us when I said:

"We have nothing to lose."