Chapter One

There are some pretty horrible places to sleep and I've slept in just about all of them, the place I was in last night though, took the cake. In the dumpster residing in a shady alley in the middle of Manhattan, wonderful. It was dirty, obviously, and disgusting, even more obvious, but the worst bit was that it wasn't even comfortable. But where are my manners?

My name is Alexander Sylvester, I'm 15 years old, and I've been on the run since I was seven years old. I know what you're thinking, how in the name of Hades have I been able to survive on my own for that long? Well the answer to that is simple, I'm a demigod. I swear I'm telling the truth, the Greek gods are, in fact, real and do still exist. But I'm not here to teach history, I'm here to tell you my story. Even though the fact that I'm a demigod means I'm constantly attacked by monsters it still helps me survive. I'm able to bend mortals to my will and can stay sustained for much longer than the average human. In fact, the only reason I was sitting in that dumpster last night was because some mortal was able to break my hold over the Mist and I was subsequently kicked out of his hotel.

The whole monster problem is a quick fix though. From the time I was first attacked by one I could tell that I had some serious skill when it came to fighting, not trying to sound egotistical or anything, it's true. Most monsters end up running away screaming about how my "smell is to strong" and how fighting me "wouldn't be worth it". Now the smell thing is pretty insulting, I mean there were times where I had to go a couple weeks without taking a shower, it wasn't my fault. What it does tell me though is that whichever god is my parent must be really powerful. That's why right now I'm on my way to Camp Half-Blood. I want to learn who my godly parent is...the safety and security is just an added bonus.

I carefully climbed out of the dumpster and was greeted by the chilly, morning air. Seriously, it was the middle of July and somehow New York still found ways to be cold. I flipped the hood of my black hoodie up over my head and wiped some crumbs off my blue jeans. As if I wasn't filthy enough most of the time, now it looked like I went dumpster diving for a living. Well actually, I kind of do. I shook that thought out of my head, stupid ADHD, and glanced down at my bright green shoes. I quickly retied the loose left lace and made my way out of the alley. Once I exited the alley I was immediately greeted with a bronze sword and a hiss.

"Good morning sweetie," Susan hissed at me, "Long time, no see."

"Right back at you Susan," I responded coldly, despite the sword point at my throat, "Why don't you slither back to your hole before I'm forced to kill you."

Her grating, reptilian laugh rang through the air, "Really Alex, you should have learned when to surrender by now."

"Something tells me he won't," a new, male, voice softly spoke from my right, "He seems a lot like me."

The dracaena brought her sword around with lightning speed, barely blocking a swipe at her head.

"You!" she yelled out in anger, "I will see your body slowly boil in Tartarus. You and your little campers are not allowed to have this demigod, Kronos would never stand a chance."

"Good to hear," the dark haired, green-eyed teen responded, "We could use all the help we can get."

I bent the shadows and pulled my blood red sword out of its depths. When the other demigod saw this his eyes widened a little.

"How the Hades did you just do that," he asked wonderingly.

"Help me kill this bitch and I might just tell you," I quickly responded as Susan drew a second celestial bronze sword.

"Gladly," he replied as he took a jab at her stomach which was easily blocked.

I brought my sword down in an overhead arch, trying to use the other teen's jab as a distraction but Susan's right hand brought up her other sword and knocked mine back.

Her laugh pierced the air again. "Come on you two," she cried out, "Is this really all that the two best demigods of your age have? You're all so weak."

The other demigod and I met eyes and we instantly knew what to do. Working in tandem like it was choreographed we twirled, stabbed, and jabbed, using one anothers' swords as shields and working off each others' strikes like we'd been fighting together for years. Susan didn't stand a chance. After just a minute of fighting we had her on her back on the ground, her hands above her head.

"Please just end it quickly son of Poseidon," she cried out, "Don't let this demon do it though."

A son of Poseidon? No wonder she said he was one of the strongest demigods alive. The son of Poseidon glanced at me like the thought of a dracaena calling me a demon was the weirdest thing ever before he drove his sword through her throat, transforming her into a pile of dust. We stood there for a second just staring at the dust before he turned to me, sword still in hand.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Put your sword away and I'll think about telling you," I responded, my dark red sword still in my hand.

"We'll do it on three."

"Fair enough."

He counted out, "One, two, three."

On three he reached up and touched his sword point before it collapsed into what looked like a bronze, ballpoint pen. I simply dropped mine and the shadows sucked it into their abyss. Yet again the son of Poseidon's eyes widened.

"I've never seen anything like that before," he said, "Not from someone who doesn't know their godly parent at least."

I shrugged as if it didn't matter before sticking out my hand. "My name's Alex Sylvester."

The black haired boy took my hand before saying, "And I'm Percy Jackson, nice to meet you."