So...Chapter 2! I'm gonna keep this short so you can get on with reading. Hope you guys enjoyed the first Chapter. This Chapter will have a little more action in it and some more will be revealed about James' past, hope you guys enjoy this Chapter, don't forget to review. It really means a lot.

Peace :D

My bags were packed.

We were ready.

I took one last look at my house. Even though I had been abused, and my life for 6 years had been horrible. I was sad to see the back of it. It was still my home, even if it did have bad memories.

"You OK James?" Annabeth asked. She had taken her hair band out and was now wearing her hair down. She looked even more beautiful.

"Yeah" I said. "Let's go"

We began walking. Even though I hid it well the fact that I had just incapacitated my own mother had left an effect on me. An effect that tells me I need to keep my temper under control. See, ever since Thalia died my temper had been really short. I mean, I would flip at the smallest of things and it got me into trouble a lot, and by a lot, I mean getting kicked out of three schools a lot.

Annabeth and I both knew that it was a good two days walk and neither of us could drive. We had enough food and water to last us a few day so we would be OK.

We walked in silence. Dwelling on the events that had just happened. Reuniting with Annabeth, the fight with my mum. Leaving to go to Camp Half-Blood.

"Why were you at my school?" I asked.

Annabeth looked up quickly after I had broken the silence.

"I needed to get away" She said. "A lot of stuff happened at camp and I needed time to myself. So I signed up for a school at complete random. Meeting you again I guess was luck"

"Well" I said. "I guess if you hadn't I wouldn't be going back. What happened at camp that made you want to leave?"

She paused and looked at the ground. Her facial expression changing almost as soon as the question had escaped my lips.

She sighed. "Luke betrayed the gods"

The words hit me like a knife.

"Y-you mean Luke Castellan?" I said hastily. I knew the answer before she said it, and it hurt. Luke was my best friend before the night of Thalia's death. I never knew what became of him after.

"James I'm sorry" She said. "I know Luke was your friend, but he stole your father's Master Bolt and tried to blame Poseidon. He tried to start a war to get back at his dad."

Lightning struck. I turned around and struck the side of a house, sending blue electricity flowing through it. Saying I was angry was an understatement. I was absolutely furious.

"I'm going to kill him" I said. "When I see him I swear i'm going to rip his-"

"James" Annabeth interrupted. I looked up, so engrossed in my own rage I had forgotten she was there. "Luke's dead"

"Good" I said. The fact that Luke was once my best friend was now erased from my mind. All I cared about now was that if somehow he was still alive, I was going to personally rip his head from his body.

"I can't believe my sister used to have a crush on that son of a fury!" I said in rage. My head was rested against the wall of the house I had just struck. Inside I could hear the anger of a man who now obviously had to get off of his fat ass and do something, and the nagging of his wife or girlfriend.

"Thalia had a crush on Luke?" She said. I nodded, however in my blind rage I could have sworn she had said 'too' at the end of her sentence. Although I wasn't so sure. I knew full well that Annabeth has, and never would have, a crush on anyone. Even though it saddened me.

We reached the beginning of a large woods. Indicating we were fairly close.

"Were still two days walk away" Annabeth said. "But it's a straight run from here"

I stopped. Puzzled.

"I don't remember the way" I said. "My mind is blank"

"It's the mist." Said Annabeth. You've spent so much time in the mortal world that the mist protecting the camps location thinks you are mortal"

"But that's crazy!" I said. "I'm the son of Zeus and the mist doesn't recognise me?"

She shrugged. "It's the mist" She said. "It's one of the most unpredictable things in the world, but don't worry. Once you hang with me long enough it will acknowledge you as a demigod and lift"

I nodded. We reached a clearing in the woods. It wasn't all that big. But it had enough space to enable Annabeth and I to sleep for the night.

"We should stop here" Annabeth said. "It's starting to get dark"

"Yeah" I said. "Did you bring sleeping bags then?"

She nodded and reached into her bag and pulled them out. I looked at the bag, stunned. It was far too small to keep the sleeping bags in it. Annabeth noticed me looking at it funny and chuckled, I looked up.

"It's the bag of Hermes" She said. "It's bottomless and can hold anything and everything"

"Man" I said. "I've really missed the world of being a demigod"

Annabeth laughed and placed down the sleeping bags.

"You get some sleep" I said. "I'll keep watch for the night"

"James no" She said. "You need sleep as well"

"I'm not in the mood to sleep" I said. "You sleep. You need it more than I do. I'll wake you if there's any problem"

She sighed. She then perked her head up as if she was going to object again and try to argue. But today had been non stop walking and she was drained. So she just nodded and led down.

I sat down and pulled out my book. It was an ancient Greek book of course. I couldn't read English books because my brain was hard wired for Ancient Greek. Mortals called it dyslexia. I called it being the son of Zeus.

At some point during my watch I must have dozed off because all of a sudden I found myself in a woods. Exactly like the one we were camping in actually. Except for a few differences. It was the middle of the night. I was with Annabeth, Thalia, Grover and Luke, and I was 10 years old.

"How far away are we Grover?" Thalia said. "My legs are tired". It was funny. Even in my dreams Thalia was exactly how I remembered her. Bossy, always complaining.

"Just a little more" The satyr replied. "Around-"

He was cut off by a sound I knew all too well. An ear-splitting roar. We all turned. I knew what we were turning to see. I wanted to turn around and scream at all of them to run. To run and not look back. But I was powerless. In my dreams I acted exactly as my 10 year old self did. My 16 year old self could do nothing.

"CYCLOPS!" I screamed.

Too Late I thought. I could see the arrow already. It flew through the air as if in slow motion towards me. It was almost like I could see the air ripping as the arrow tore through it.

Here it comes I thought In less than two seconds I will wake up, screaming to a thunder storm.

The arrow struck it's destination. My side. It pierced through like a knife through warm butter and I fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Something was wrong.

I wasn't waking up.

"James!" Thalia shouted. "Luke help me!"

Thalia and Luke hoisted me up on their shoulders and proceeded to carry me through the dense forest. The thought of Luke touching me made me sick. The face that in 5 years time he would betray everyone here made me want to hit him and leave him to the Cyclops. But I know I couldn't. My 10 year old self was completely oblivious to the destruction and pain Luke would cause in the future.

"I can walk" I said. "I can walk"

Luke and Thalia let me go and I began speed-limping to keep up with Grover, Annabeth, Thalia and Luke. The Cyclops was getting closer.

"James come on!" Annabeth shouted. "It's getting closer!"

Now my 16 year old self didn't see her the same as my 10 year old self did. See my 10 year old self found her incredibly attractive, as my 16 year old self did with the 16 year old Annabeth.

I counted down from 5. I knew what was coming.

5

"There it is!" Grover shouted. "Just a little farther!"

4

"Thalia help James!" Annabeth shouted as I began to fall back. The end was nigh.

3

"James come on man!" Luke encouraged. "You can make it, come on!"

2

"James-" Annabeth started. The dreaded hand closed around my waist.

1

"NO!" Annabeth and Thalia screamed at the same time. The Cyclops' hand tightened. It lifted me off the ground and with a sickening crunch it crushed my legs and threw me to the floor. This time, however, I felt all of it. All of the pain. All of the suffering.

Still...I did not wake up.

I looked up, still awake to watch Thalia step forward to fight the Cyclops. Dagger in hand she ran at it. I wanted to scream at her to run. To save herself and that I was still alive. I couldn't, my vocal cords had been damaged in the attack and the wound in my side hurt so much it put me in agony to even breath.

I watched the Cyclops as it grabbed Thalia around the waist. The only difference between her death and mine? Thalia had to look into the monster's eye as it killed her.

She was thrown down to the ground with such force I could hear the snap from over 100 metres away.

I screamed at that point. With the last ounce of strength in my body I screamed. I forgot I was in a dream. To me this was real. I roared at the monster that had just murdered my sister. Screamed to Olympus to help Thalia, to save her life. But no help came.

Thunder struck. Lightning struck. I was falling. Falling away into a dark abyss known as death. I hoped I would go to Elyssium. The Underworld would be far too terrifying.

The world went black. I heard someone calling my name, no, shouting my name. It was a far distance off, however It was getting closer. My head and shoulders began to shake, as hands appeared on my shoulders and a face materialised in front of mine.

I woke up.

"James!" Annabeth shouted. "James! Thank Zeus your awake!"

She lead back with a sigh of relief. She was sweating heavily and her make-up was running down her face. She had been crying.

Around us a few trees were on fire. The sky was dark and it looked as if lightning had struck everywhere around me.

"Wh-What happened?" I stammered. Still shaken up from the nightmare.

"You were screaming in your sleep" Annabeth said. "I was trying to wake you up but it just wasn't happening. Then the lightning started."

I sat straight up. I looked Annabeth all over to check for wounds.

"I didn't hit you did I?" I said, genuinely worried.

"No, no" She said. "I'm fine"

I sighed with relief this time. I looked back on the night terror I had just experienced. It seemed so real this time. As in I felt all pain that I did that night, and that wasn't just physical pain.

"You wanna talk about it?" Annabeth asked. "I mean, if you don't then-"

"No I want to" I interrupted. "I need to"

She nodded. I sighed. I was about to get off my chest what I should have done a long time ago.

"The nightmares are always about that night" I began. "Always, the same start, the same end. But today...today was different. It went on for longer. I experienced the night again. Along with all of the pain. Annabeth, I felt pain in my dream"

She sat there, eyes wide. But ushered me to go on.

"I watched Thalia die again" I said. "I never usually get that far, but tonight I did and It felt like I was there again, like it was back to when we were ten"

"James this is serious" Annabeth said. "We need to get youto Chiron and Mr D. They're the only ones that can-"

She was cut off by a deafening roar. Her eyes went wide, and I turned slowly. I knew only one creature that made a roar like that, and due to the nightmare I knew it all too well.

"CYCLOPS!" Annabeth shouted.

"Go!" I shouted. "Run! I'm right behind you!"

We both stood up and ran. I was guessing it was in the direction of Camp Half Blood but I wasn't sure so I was following Annabeth.

We ran for what seemed like hours, with consistent roars coming from behind us. The monster was catching up.

"We're not going to make it!" Annabeth shouted. "It's going to kill us, Just like it did Thalia!"

I had a flashback to the night, Thalia dying, me being completely and utterly powerless to do anything to save her.

"I'm not letting that happen again" I said calmly.

I stopped and turned to face the Cyclops. I had anger in my eyes. But in my gut I was screaming in fear. To be perfectly honest, these things terrified me, I mean, one nearly killed me once. But I pushed the feeling aside. This thing was not going to hurt Annabeth.

I felt electricity crackle at my finger tips. Lightning struck above my head and thunder sounded loudly.

"James!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't do this, don't put yourself at risk"

Too late I thought.

The Cyclops charged. I reached out to send a bolt of electricity towards the Cyclops and to send it tumbling backwards.

Nothing happened. I stared at my hand shocked, then looked up. The Cyclops connected and I was thrown back into a tree, dazing me.

Your time in the mortal world has weakened you, son. A voice said in my head.

"Shut up Dad" I said, standing up.

The Cyclops had now turned on Annabeth and was ready to swipe her. She rolled out of the way and pulled out a small bronze dagger.

I ran and jumped onto the monster's back whilst it was turned away,

If I can't shoot electric at it I thought I'll just have to send it through it manually.

I felt electric course through my veins and into my fingertips again. Whilst in the process of the Cyclops bucking to throw me off, I placed my hands solidly on its back and sent electricity through its body. It jolted upwards, shook a little then began to fall. I jumped back and landed on my feet. What I didn't realise was it was about to fall on Annabeth.

"Annabeth!" I shouted. Now, if I was a normal human being. With normal parents and a normal life. I would first of all not be fighting a Cyclops. Second of all, I moved with incredible speed and pushed Annabeth out of the way of the falling abomination.

She was moved just as the Cyclops collapsed. I stood their, panting, exhausted, and worried. Cyclops' don't just walk out of nowhere, find two demigods and say 'oh look, two demigods, I'm going to eat them' No, this was planned. But by who? That was a mystery.

"Are you OK?" I asked Annabeth, holding out my hand to help her up. She took it, but as I pulled her up she threw her arms around me.

"You saved my life!" She said. "I-I could have died!"

"What's with all this hugging?" I asked. She quickly realised what was happening and let go, her cheeks going a dark shade of crimson in the process.

"You've changed" I said. "What happened to the Annabeth who didn't take anything from anyone? Who if I so much as looked at her funny she would rip out my jugular?"

"I'm still here" She said. "Although, ripping out your jugular would be too messy, I would probably just break your collar bone"

We laughed at the small joke between us. Then the happiness turned to seriousness. We looked up and stared at the monster lying on the ground.

"Is it dead?" Annabeth asked.

"No" I replied. "Just unconscious. My powers have weakened"

"What? How?" She said.

"Too much time in the mortal world" I decided to change the subject. "What was a Cyclops doing in the woods?"

"Well it's not the first time"

"No but last time it was summoned by Hades, maybe the same again?"

"Why would Hades want us dead? We've done nothing wrong"

Then it hit me.

"I cheated death" I said. "I should have died on Half Blood Hill that night but I didn't, because I needed to make sure Thalia was OK"

"But James-" Annabeth started.

"I know I know, she died, sort of. But Hades obviously wants me dead because of that night."

"How did he find us? As far as he knows your still living in the mortal world?"

I was on fire today. I knew nearly everything.

"My nightmare" I said. "My nightmare caused a lightning storm. That must have attracted Hades to our presence"

"We need to go then" Annabeth said. "If Hades is aware then we need to get to Camp Half-Blood, it's the only safe place for us now"

"How far away are we?" I asked.

"Still another Days walk" Annabeth said. "We need to hurry"

So with that we began walking. We walked with speed, we walked with silence. Our only goal was Camp Half-Blood.

Through the night we walked. Again, in complete and utter silence. Until Annabeth stopped to catch her breath.

"We need to stop" I said. "This is exhausting"

"We can't" Annabeth replied. Panting. "We're in danger"

"Still" I said. "We need to stop to have a rest, you need to stop and have a rest"

She was worn out, and looked as if she wanted to argue. Almost like she did the previous night. But again, she nodded and sat down.

"Here" I said, passing her a bottle of water, it was the last one. But regardless, she needed it more than I did.

"This is the last bottle" She said, staring at it in my hand. Then she pushed it away. "You need it more than I do"

"You're very argumentative today?" I questioned. "Are you sure your OK?"

She sighed. Indicating in fact everything was not OK.

"No, it's just" She looked up into my eyes. I looked back at her grey orbs. I always thought Annabeth had beautiful eyes. Regardless of the colour. She went to say something and then shook her head. "Nothing" She said with a sad look. Then, taking the bottle of water she quickly disposed of the contents.

I found myself admiring Annabeth. She was wearing an orange t-shirt with the number '22' on it in white. Along with athletic shorts and converse trainers. Her long blonde hair fell over her face like silk curtains and covered part of her left eye. She had beautiful grey eyes. Which sat on a Petit face.

Her head turned slowly and I moved my head towards the direction we were moving. I wasn't sure or not if she caught me staring but I could have sworn she carried on staring after I had looked away. But I couldn't be too sure.

You see, ever since I was 10 I had had a crush on Annabeth. Which literally stayed as a crush. Not only were we pretty much best friends but I knew full well she had a crush on Luke. Now though? I wasn't so sure. But I didn't want to say anything that would ruin our friendship.

"James?" Annabeth said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Have you caught up on your strength?" I asked.

"Yeah i'm feeling much better now" She replied. "Let's go, I hate it out here when it's dark"

So again, we walked in silence. I wanted to tell her how I feel about her so much it hurt, but I knew I couldn't, I knew it would ruin everything that today had been worth.

After another two hours of walking I stopped, my heart stopped, my breathing stopped. We were standing in the place where we were attacked by the Cyclops when we were ten. Memories came flooding back. That night. The screams. It made my head hurt. I think it was impacting on Annabeth as well because she stopped and put her hand to her forehead.

Walking down the pathway I had multiple flashbacks. The one in which Thalia dying being the most common. Until we reached the end of the path.

"James" Annabeth said quietly. "You may want to look away"

"Wh-" I began, but was cut short.

In front of me stood an extremely large Oak tree. At least 30 feet high. I was admiring it for a while, until I looked at the base. I knew who it was, she was covered in bark and the look of terror on her face was still there.

Thalia.

I walked solemnly up to her body and fell to my knees. I started to cry. I couldn't keep in the tears any more, like I had done for the last six years. I ran my hand across her bark-encrusted face. I was balling like a baby now, I felt Annabeth kneel at my side and put her arm around me.

"This is how your father saved her" Annabeth said gloomy.

"I should have been stronger" I said between tears. "This didn't have to happen"

My body began to feel weak as the world around me began to spin. The feel of Annabeth's hand on my shoulder was no longer there as I felt my head hit the floor. The last thing I remember was Annabeth calling my name, and a large, unidentifiable figure approaching from behind her. I wanted to scream out. But I lost all energy.

Darkness.

Fairly long Chapter, I hope you enjoyed, if you did-why not give it a follow? I will be updating up to two times a week, maybe three if I have the time. Thanks again for reading everyone, next Chapter will be less action, more speech-based. You have been warned. Follow to be the first to know!

Peace :D