A MONSTER EATS MY COOKIE

Luke

Am I a troubled kid?

Nah.

All the trouble I get into is probably sneaking out and pranking people when I'm supposed to be doing homework.

Alright, don't let me confuse you. When I do, just smack me on the head and demand an explanation. That's what Zoë does all the time, anyway.

My name is Luke Jackson. The name might sound familiar. It should, considering I'm the only legacy that can stuff ten hot-dogs in his mouth.

Okay, fine, that's not the reason to recognize me.

My dad is Percy Jackson. If you go to a demigod school in New Rome or Camp Half-Blood, you'll learn about him when you're learning about the Second Giant war. You know, the boring stuff.

The only thing me and my dad share, are my sea-green eyes and the ability to get into trouble while doing nothing. Really, I can just walk down the street, and BAM, a pegasus lands on my head with a broken leg and I get the blame. True Story.

I look a lot like my mother, however that's it. My sister got the brains of the family.

Ah, Zoë Jackson.

She almost looks exactly like dad. Sea-green eyes, black hair? Yep, that's her. In fact, she looks a lot like auntie Thalia with her short hair. It used to be long, but she decided to cut it. Why? No idea. Not my problem.

My little sister and I get along well, but I do like to annoy her. Like the time Kiera Stoll gave me green hair dye and I put it into her shampoo. Zoë tried to drown me in a sink, but guess who can breath under water? Ah, good times.

We live in New Rome, and our house is literally on the other side of the street of the Grace household. I literally live less then a minute away from my best friend. Neat, huh?

Right, my best friend.

Leo Grace is my bestest friend in the history of best friends. Well, I don't really have one, but meh. His namesake is Leo Valdez, who got back from Ogygia about two years after Leo Grace was born. Something to do with time going in Ogygia differently. The point is, everyone thought he was dead, and he was like "YOU THOUGHT YOU'VE SEEN THE LAST OF ME HAHAHA THINK AGAIN". Alright, not exactly, but it was something like that.

Leo is a copy of his dad. He's also the only child, and sometimes when Zoë gets on my nerves, I get jealous of it. But I get over it, I wouldn't change her for a thousand denarii. Two thousand - perhaps.

Please don't tell her I said that.

Anyway, my nightmare started when me and Zo decided to visit our grandma Sally. When we were little kids, she used to bake us blue cookies. She still bakes them, though more rarely, now that she had fallen sick.

"Luke? Are you ready to get going?" my mother shouted from downstairs.

We were in Camp Half-Blood at the moment. Dad had some business with Uncle Grover to discuss, or something like that.

"I'll go find Kiera then." Chuck Hedge, one of my friends in Camp Half-Blood, said.

"You do that. I want a decent prank plan on Hades cabin when I get back."

"Are you kidding? Do you want to die?"

I ginned.

"Isn't that what makes it fun?"

"Bianca can probably murder you while doing her nails. You want to take the chances?"

Ah, Bianca Solace. Now that's a girl you don't wanna mess with.

The night she was born, her parents disappeared. No one knows where to, were they killed, or did they refused to take her in, but no one saw them again.

So, the new born legacy of Apollo got taken in by Will Solace and Nico di Angelo. Usually, they remain in New Rome, considering Bianca goes to school there, but in the summer, almost all greeks get back to Camp Half-Blood. Home is home.

Either way, I don't think she likes me very much. She's good friends with Zoë, but every time I walk in the room, she gives me a death glare that could probably put down Zoë's hellhound Bob.

"Luke?" I heard my mother again.

"Coming!" I shouted back and walked downstairs with Chuck. "Talk to Kiera for me. Pretty please?"

"Fine..." Chuck rolled his eyes. "I'll burn your shroud on your funeral."

I laughed and saw my whole family ready to go. Chuck walked off, probably to the Hermes cabin, while my dad brought Mrs. O'leary. Bob was already here, chewing on a particularly big tree branch.

"Alright." mom said. "You know the jist. We go first for safety, and you follow."

I just nodded and walked to Zo.

"So..." I started.

"Zip it." she snapped. She's probably still mad about Silena.

Silena Rodriguez, daughter of Clarisse and Chris Rodriguez. She wasn't very fond of me, but she was at peace with Zoë. Until I kinda screwed it up. Long story short, Silena is hella pissed at my sister and it's my fault.

Hm, figures.

The second our parents were out in the shadows with Mrs. O'leary, we climbed on Bob. Zoë kinda kicked me in the face, but I'm sure it was an accident.

Once we were in gran's yard, I jumped off. I hate Shadowtraveling, I really do. It feels like your whole body is being pressed through a tube and I hate it.

"Ah Luke, Zoë, look at you, you've grown so much since I last saw you!" grandma hugged us tightly.

"Hey, gran, shouldn't you be in bed?" Zoë smiled worriedly.

"Nonsense. I feel much better."

I stared at her, a bit unbelievingly. Her hair was gray, with only few dark streaks. Even though she was tortured by back pain, she had a joyful smile on her face.

"Come! I baked blue cookies."

Yep, that's where she got me. We followed her to the house, and the smell of cookies made everything better. What a time to be alive.

"So mom, where's Paul?" my dad asked.

"Went to the shop. Got short on milk." gran said, setting up a table. "Should be back soon."

They got into a conversation, and I was glad that gran didn't ask any questions of me. Lets just say that I don't want to talk about my, erm, school life.

Gods, I made so much Jackson-ish things. Once, me and Leo set the First Cohort's house on fire. We're not even in a cohort, it's just that the Valdez twins convinced us that their dung bombs weren't flammable. Liar liar dad on fire.

Suddenly the door shot open, and Paul ran in as if a drakon was on his heels.

"Oh! You-" he was terribly out of breath. "You're here. Thank god, there's- there's a thing-"

"Paul?" my mom walked to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Hey, breathe..."

"There's those demon women an epersai or-"

"Empousai?" my dad got up from his seat. "Where? And how can you tell?"

"That's the thing." Paul said, regaining his balance. "Everyone could see them. The neighborhood is in chaos, even those demons looked confused, everyone are terrified, they're taking pictures-"

Before he finished his sentence, I shot up from my seat and ran towards the door, my sister on my heels.

"Luke! Zoë!"

We ignored their shouts and ran down the street. Paul was right, the streets were chaotic, and we were running towards the place mortals were running from.

I took off my ring that had an engraved trident on it and it transformed into a sword. A mortal next to me screamed.

"They can see it?!" Zo yelled out, with a frown on her face.

Finally we reached the place. Paul was right, everyone could see them. My sword included.

"What the Hades?" I said, when Zo took out her two daggers. Very noticeable but she didn't seem to care. "Isn't the Mist supposed to make unnatural seem natural?"

Two empousai recognized us as half-bloods. They didn't seem to care that they were attracting even more curious and awed mortals. They charged at us.

I took on the right one, while Zoë shouted "Take the left one!" which ended up us falling on each other.

"Clean the wax from your ears, Kelp Face!" she yelled, while kicking one empousai in the face.

I quickly got up, and started fighting the other one. This generation's legacies' training was a mix of roman and greek. That was our big advantage because monsters weren't used to this mix.

She pinned me down, and before she bit down on my neck, I showed gran's blue cookie to her mouth and kicked her off me.

Yes, I managed to take some cookies on the way out. Sue me.

The second my sword disintegrated one empousai, Zoë pinned down the other one, her one dagger to her neck, the other one stabbed through her hand, holding her in place.

"Why can the mortals see you?!" Zoë shouted.

"I don't know!" the empousai screamed. "Once we were walking down the street the next, everyone's screaming and yelling, and then you showed up!"

"The Mist is supposed to hide your appearance. Our weapons are seen too." I told her, and we were attracting quite a crowd. We had to get out of here.

"I told you, I don't know! The Mist doesn't work-"

"The Mist has to work!" Zoë yelled at her.

"Zo, we need to go." I told my sister, and she stabbed the empousai, which disintegrated beneath her feet. I heard police sirens, and I was almost sure that there were people filming the whole thing. Mortals and their stupid toys.

I put my hand around Zo, and started leading her the other way at a fast pace.

"Hide your face, hide your face." I murmured, and when the sirens got louder, we started running.

We ran a few laps around the area, trying to lose anyone who might've tried to follow us. Eventually, we reached grandma Sally's house.

"How dare you run out on your own?!" was the phrase we were met with. I've heard it so many times from my mother, it's not even funny.

"The Mist doesn't work." Zoë said. She seemed very distressed about the whole situation. "Everyone could see the empousai and our weapons."

"The Mist can't disappear." mom said as the matter of factly. "Even Hecate, the one who controlls it, can't remove it."

"I know!" Zoë's sea-green eyes stared at her mother with a pain of not knowing. I don't know a lot of things, but I don't go to a depression for it. "It doesn't make any sense, but I saw it with my own eyes."

"So you mean" our dad started "The mortals wouldn't see me beating up a chicken with a pen, but beating up a monster with Riptide?"

"Exactly."

Suddenly, the nearby corner of the room faintly glowed, and an Iris Message opened, revealing a distressed face of Chiron.

"I apologize for disturbing you... But we've got a problem."

HEY, I'M NOT DEAD

So I started my very first PJO fanfic... Which is about the second generation. I hope you like it, review if you do!