A/N: this is all Percy's POV, the next will be Alec's or maybe someone else from TMI, don't know yet.

Percy's POV

Mum wasn't upset like I expected- just sad, when I walked in she glanced up at me while laying out the dishes and just smiled. "Monsters?"

I gave her a hug, my hands where free since I'd dropped the cat in the living room, and assisted her with laying out the dishes. "Just one, a Cyclops."

My mum sighed and went to check what she was cooking, her shoulders were hunched, as if she was carrying the weight of the sky- and trust me, I know from experience how that feels like. Ever since I lost my memories, went missing and nearly died defeating Gaea my mum has been on edge, now she looks at me like she can see the date of my death and it's not that far off.

"Mum, I know you're worried about me."

"Percy, it's nothing just me being paranoid," my mum said while expertly flipping what I could now see were burgers, despite the fact that I was in the middle of a serious conversation, my stomach grumbled with hunger- the cookies were delicious but not substantial.

"Mum, where's Annabeth or Paul?" I asked, surprised to notice she was the only one at home.

"Paul should be coming home soon, he went to pick Annabeth from the airport but she Iris messaged him saying she had been delayed by a monster attack and had missed her flight. She'll be taking the one that lands tomorrow."

Typical, I couldn't help feeling disappointed, sometimes being a demigod was so inconvenient; I knew Annabeth would be fine unless the monster was part spider, but I had a feeling she was over her arachnophobia. "Oh, well what's for dinner?"

"Pizza, burgers and fries, today is junk food holiday." Mum smiled. I may have already told you this- but my mum is the best person in the world. She's beautiful inside and out, with eyes that sparkled and changed colour in the light. She was going a bit grey at the temples but she was too vibrant a person to be old, she often wore her long hair loose and she's sacrificed a lot for me, including spending years of her life with smelly Gabe when I was younger to cover up my demigod smell. If she didn't end up in Elysium after she's gone, a thought I dreaded but then again knowing my luck she'd probably outlive me, then Hades and I would have serious problems.

"Couldn't make it blue?" I teased

She set the burgers on a plate having decided they were done. "Some things can't be made blue but I can colour the burger bread with some food dye."

I grimaced. "I'll pass and you must know you're the only mum who'd let her growing son eat this much junk food."

"But unlike other mums, I don't have to worry about fat, you'll just burn off the calories anyway and you need the energy."

I wasn't going to argue, I was too used to junk food, at camp you could order anything you liked all you had to do was imagine it, but it wasn't a problem because demigods need meat to carry out our job description- what is our job description you might ask, nothing much, just...killing monsters before they kill us and going on quests for ungrateful gods. You know the usual.

Soon the food was done. Mum outdid herself, everything looked delicious, now if I could only taste it but mum was adamant that we wait for Paul.

"Meow, meow."

My mum startled at the sound, her hand going to her heart. "What was that?"

"The cat," I mumbled, more like gurgled because my mouth was filled with orange juice- mum believed anything else would just ruin my appetite.

"We don't have a cat." She looked confused.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I rescued a cat that was about to be eaten by a Cyclops."

"Meow, meow."

The confusion in her eyes cleared. "Is it a stray? And why does it keep meowing?"

"I'm looking for the owner first thing tomorrow, it was getting dark I couldn't it leave there by itself to get eaten by another monster, that'd totally defeat the point of saving it. It's probably hungry, I'll feed it milk."

"I'll do it."Mum was already moving towards the fridge when the doorbell rang. "It's probably Paul, maybe he forgot his keys. Percy-"

"On it," I said, already out of my seat.

I was a little surprised to find a stranger at the door but the feeling quickly transformed into alarm when I took in his outfit and the weird tattoos that decorated his arms. He was dressed head to toe in black and his stance was combatant, he reminded me a little of Frank when he had finally grown into himself, but really, they looked nothing alike. This guy was tall, he looked to be a few years older than me and his expression was surly- like an older, toned version of Nico, son of Hades. Although he could easily have been a son of Ares, but my instincts told me he wasn't a demigod.

"Hello, my name is Alexander Lightwood and I'm here for the cat."

I blinked in surprise, I expected him to say something more along the lines of- I'm here to kill you or I've been sent by Ares to teach you a lesson in manners, punk.

"Are you the owner?" I asked eyeing him suspiciously, maybe the cat was special, a powerful instrument like my old friend Ophiotaurus or as I'd named him Bessie- I didn't realise he was not a she or that he already had a name. Whoever killed Ophiotaurus and sacrificed his entrails would have the power to destroy the gods and really Bessie was just as harmless as he looked. If you weren't scared of monsters that were half cow, half goat, that is.

"No. My friend-," he blushed when he said this, making me suspect the person was more than a friend, "owns it. We've been searching all over for Chairman Meow."

Oh. So that's what the collar said.

"Why didn't he come get the cat himself and how did you know the cat was here?"

"Magnus is different and he hates it when people stare at him." I wanted to know what he meant by different but felt it'd be rude to ask. "Can I see Chairman Meow?"

Against my better judgement I invited him inside, I still had Riptide in my pocket, if he turned out to be an enemy I'll just slice him. What if he was just an average evil mortal, a killer or a thief? Humans could be monsters too but I sensed no threat from this guy, presently at least. And he knew stuff about the cat, so he couldn't have been making it up.

When I came into the living room Chairman Meow was hungrily licking at a bowl of milk, which made me wonder just what Alexander and his 'friend' did to the cat. "He seems very hungry," I commented.

"His owner can be pretty negligent," said Alec, staring at the cat in relief. Chairman Meow noticing Alexander left the bowl of milk to rub its body at his feet. Traitor. Alexander scooped the cat up and rubbed it fondly behind the ears.

"Is it Paul?" mum yelled from the kitchen.

"No, it's the owner of the cat."

"Oh."

Alexander looked more than a little uncomfortable sitting down on the patterned sofa, in fact he kept looking around so much I wouldn't be surprised if he had ADHD."Cool tattoos," I said conversationally.

"What tattoos?" he looked confused, so I gestured to the tats on his arm.

"They have their uses," he replied cryptically. He stood up with the cat. "C'mon Chairman Meow, we better get going, Magnus is waiting for us." At the name 'Magnus' the cat hissed. "I know, he's sorry. He'll never take advice from Woolsey Scott again."

The conversation was very odd; I started to wonder whether he could talk to cats the way I could talk to horses. "You understand him?"

"Not normally but right now there's only one thing he could be hissing about." Again I was tempted to ask what exactly that thing was but I didn't want to be impolite. "Why didn't you call the number on the tag when you found him?" Alec asked sounding put off.

My ADHD had distracted me but I now remembered that he never answered me when I'd asked how he knew where to find his cat. "How did you know where to find him?" I countered.

"I asked people on the streets and was lucky enough to find an old lady who had seen a boy carrying a black cat to this apartment." His excuse was plausible but it didn't feel like the truth. "Why didn't you call the number on the tag or were you just planning to keep the cat?" Alexander sounded angry, his sky blue eyes pinning me down.

I held up my hand, jeez what was with this guy. "No, I was planning to find his owner tomorrow." Even though I felt slightly embarrassed admitting it, I felt this Alexander guy should know so he didn't go around accusing people, "also I have dyslexia so I couldn't read a name as weird as your 'friend's' and I don't own a cell phone."

Alexander had the grace to look shamefaced, he stammered an apology, he's eyes sincere when they met mine.

"It's cool, you didn't know." he might have said something more but we were distracted by the ringing of the door bell, a second later my mum answered it.

"Hello. Can I help you?" I could hear my mum's voice through the opened living room door.

"We're looking for our friend, Alec. He came for a cat?" the voice was deep and had a slightly British accent mixed with something else- an accent Alexander or should I say Alec also had, but it wasn't as strong- and probably belonged to someone my age.

"We were wondering if he's here. We're sorry to bother you." The voice definitely belonged to a girl and the accent was one hundred percent New Yorker.

"Friends of yours?"

Alec looked pained. "I should probably go deal with Jace before he says something stupid." From the way Alec said it I could tell Jace said something stupid often. "It was nice to meet you er..."

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

Alec just nodded, picked up Chairman Meow and went to meet with his friends who were waiting in the corridors. Curious, I followed.

"Seriously, couldn't you guys have waited outside?" Alec said angrily, I couldn't see who he was talking too because his shoulders were blocking them but I did catch a glimpse of golden blonde and bright red hair. My mum stood awkwardly by the side, seeing me she made a gesture that I translated to 'I will be in the kitchen if you need me', and walked off.

"Magnus was starting to get worried. Geez, what was the worst that could happen? You get pepper sprayed by an old lady. Ouch, Clary you have sharp elbows."

"And your jokes need work," the female responded jokingly.

"Clary, that hurts and Alec stop scowling so much, or facelifts wouldn't be enough." Jace was proving to be almost as bad as Leo- and trust me, Leo was bad. I was actually surprised to discover that Leo was a son of Hephaestus; he would have made the Hermes cabin proud.

"Let's just go," Alec responded churlishly.

I debated with myself, follow them or stay at home and eat dinner? I was too curious, plus I'd not totally erased the possibility that they could be cat-nappers or cat burglars or whatever it's called. So I waited for them to walk out of the building, watched them- from the small window in the kitchen, mum didn't ask questions, meet up with a pale teenager who leaned against a street lamp.

"Mum, I'm going out," I yelled, grabbing my jacket and walking out the door before I could change my mind.

Sorry if this chapter was a bit anticlimactic, but really what would you expect? I mean they're both trying to keep a secret and it's not like Percy or Alec will be overcome with the sudden need to blab. Don't worry when Percy follows them and overhears a secret conversation well... all bets are off.

Loved it? Hated it? Characters felt OC ? Please tell me, I don't mind justified criticism.

"-".willingwriter