The rain came down hard, beating on Percy's thin T-shirt like a drum. Walking swiftly, he splashed his way across the sidewalk, hands wrist-deep into his jeans pockets. He couldn't believe it— Annabeth just abandoned him at the library, running off to get some textbook she heard someone talk about. Percy really couldn't care less. It was only eight but his eyes were already drooping. The fact that he had been snoozing on the study table in the quiet section while Annabeth attempted to get him to work out some calculus problems didn't really help.
He took out a piece of paper Annabeth wrote on, the name of someone he was supposed to meet. Percy had never heard of the person's name before, but she reminded him of a strict mother, just the way her name sounded. Supposedly, this woman had been wanting to talk to him about "fishy business." Percy though that was a joke— fishy, son of Poseidon— but then again, fishy business was indeed going on in his life, especially with Rachel's new prophecy. Shaking his head to clear his mind and repel the water droplets, Percy stuffed the paper back into his pocket.
As if to jar him from his daze, a discordant shriek, definitely not human, echoed off the buildings from around the corner. Expecting a monster, he whipped out Riptide and uncapped it, its bronze coat gleaming in the moonlight. Annabeth probably would have yelled at him to be stealthier, but he ran the rest of the sidewalk, water splashing onto his jeans, and swerved around the corner to see a boy around his age plunge something sharp into a mutilated figure that stood twice as tall as him and half as wide The inhuman screech came again and then the figure— was that a face? — stole a look at Percy and doubled over, eventually vanishing.
The boy must have had keen hearing— or Percy was just stupid enough to plop through the water like a two year old in a puddle— because he twisted to face Percy, extending a dagger. The boy had long fair hair that almost covered his startling blue eyes, but Percy could tell they were fierce. He wore a black leather jacket, but the sleeve of his raised arm pulled back a little, revealing a pattern of curving black lines. Finally realizing that Percy was a normal boy, the blond dipped his dagger and stuck his chin up.
"What did you see?" the boy demanded.
"Enough. What kind… what kind of monster was that?" Percy asked, taking a step closer to the boy, who immediately swung his dagger back up.
"You saw it," the boy eyed Percy suspiciously, "but you're obviously not a Shadowhunter."
"A Shadowhunter? I'm sorry, but that didn't look like much of a shadow to me," Percy said.
The boy scoffed. "Mundanes. But the last mundane who saw me kill…" he trailed off. As if gears turned in his head, the boy asked, "Who's your father?" and stared at Riptide.
Percy stumbled back. Was it possible? Could this guy know who Percy really was? Then again, Percy wasn't all that normal looking due to the three foot sword in his hand.
"I'm not a Shadowhunter, whatever that is. And I'm not a mundane— is that a type of monkey?"
The boy grinned, "Yep." Something told Percy that it so was not. The lightness and the I-know-something-you-don't of his tone, the slyness of his grin, the relaxation of his shoulder, and the repeated dip of the dagger signaled that maybe this wasn't such a bad guy. "Jace," he held out his unoccupied hand.
"Percy," Percy capped Riptide and shook Jace's outstretched hand. Right then, a familiar voice drifted through the wind, calling his name. Annoyed and sure of who was splashing through the sidewalk to get him, Percy retrieved his hand and slowly turned around to see Leo with his every wide grin.
"Hey, Percy!" Leo caught up to him and skidded to a stop when he saw Jace. With an upturned eyebrow, he chuckled, "Who's he, Jason number two?"
"I don't know who Jason is, but I am certainly not second," Jace said.
Leo shook his head or brown curls and opened his big mouth as if he was going to say something back, but thought better of it and turned to Percy, "Guess who I found at the music store."
"Judas Priest?" Percy said the first band name that popped into his head. Funny how it wasn't One Direction what with Piper blasting them in Percy's year all day.
"Ooh, just the opposite, actually," Leo beamed. He stepped aside to reveal another boy, about the same age as the lot of boys already there, with Leo's curly brown hair but with pale skin and better taste for clothing. Leo tugged Percy aside, away from Jace, and whispered, "Dude he's a vampire!"
Leo's excitement may have been too loud or Jace actually did have good hearing because at that word, Jace faced the coming boy and stared in disbelief. "By the Angel, Simon, you told the Mundie?"
"He's not a Mundie, Jace." Simon retaliated.
"Wait, you know him?" Percy and Leo said at the same time.
"Unfortunately," Jace and Simon replied in unison.
"Okay woah," Leo held up his hand, disturbed by the sudden unity of voices. "First off, creepy. Second, you must be Jace, right? The half-blood?" Half-blood, Percy thought. Then why did Jace use the term Shadowhunter?
Jace stiffened, and then punched Simon. "Simon, it seems you have a bigger mouth than I thought."
"It's alright," Simon waved him off as if he barely felt the punch, which should have hurt. "He's not all human either."
"A demon?" Jace glowered at Leo.
"I'm no demon!" Leo said quickly. "I'm half-god." It was Percy's turn to slap Leo. "Hey!"
"God, huh?" Jace repeated incredulously and twirled the dagger in his hands.
"I swear on the Styx."
"Sticks?" Jace looked at Leo as if nothing could be more peculiar. "Not much to swear on."
"Quit blabbering," Simon sighed. "The point is that none of us are entirely human."
Percy narrowed his eyes, "Now is that a good thing or a bad one?" His mind reeled back to Rachel's most recent prophesy. Six unique bloods, with pain survive the floods, purposely shoot the foot, or die with marks of soot.
"And Simon knows where the woman you needed to speak to lives," Leo added.
"You do?" Percy raised an eyebrow, looking at Simon.
"What woman?" Jace asked.
Simon flushed, as if he said something to Leo that he probably shouldn't have, "Well, you do too, Jace."
Percy fished out the piece of paper he was looking at just a few minutes ago, suddenly dampened by the fierce rain. The ink was smudging, but legible. He handed it to Jace, who received it and read it with creased eyebrows.
His jaw dropped. "Maryse Lightwood?"
