A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: Not sure why I was asked to update this after so many years since I last posted it but here we go.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Men in Black

POV: Percy

"Morning, Percy." Thalia greeted me when I stepped through the entrance of the school. I glanced over to find her sitting on the railing of a small, elevated, platform that led to the school assembly room.

"Morning." I responded as she jumped the four feet to the ground and fell instep next to me. "You seen Nico and Annabeth this morning?"

She shook her head as her expression turned sour.

"What's eating you?" I demanded as we rounded a corner to head to home room.

"The new girl, Annabeth." Thalia said, hesitantly.

"What about her?" I asked.

"You're in hiding, Percy." Thalia said, as if it should be obvious. "People are afraid of what you can do so you have to hide."

"Your point?" I asked, not getting what any of this had to do with Annabeth.

Thalia stuck her hand out in front of me to stop me in my tracks. She then glanced around, like she was looking for eavesdroppers and pulled me over to a group of lockers before glaring at me.

"No one who knows you have powers knows where you are." Thalia told me in a frustrated tone. "Then this girl who can read minds drops out of the blue and immediately becomes buddy buddy with you." She shook her head and sighed. "This is way too weird to be a coincidence."

"You think she's here just for me?" I asked her. "Why? What's the point of tracking me down? If she exposes me then she'll be exposing her self as well 'cuz she told us about her powers. So why come after me?"

Thalia shrugged, a puzzled look on her face.

"I don't know." She admitted. "Just promise me you'll be careful around her."

I nodded.

"Sure." I told her. "But I don't think she's here for me. I can't see a reason for her to go through the trouble of tracking me down."

With that out of the way I followed her to our home room where we entered to business as usual.

Steven was making an ass out of himself by picking on kids as everyone ells gravitated to their clicks and tried to ignore the jerk. In the seats in the back-left corner of the room was Nico and Annabeth. They seemed to be getting along ok, which further solidified in my mind that this was not some grand plot but Thalia looked suspicious of the two.

"Morning." I greeted as I sat down in the desk in front of Nico and caddy corner to Annabeth.

"Morning." Annabeth greeted as Nico gave me a nod. She reached out and tapped my wrist before tutting at me. "The history paper is due tomorrow, you shouldn't procrastinate like that."

I scowled at her.

"Keep out of my head, unless it's important." I told her as she shrugged.

"It WAS important." She said. "I needed to check what our schedule is today."

"Sure, you did." Thalia said sarcastically. "Because he couldn't have just told you that. What were you really digging for?"

Before Annabeth could say anything, the Teacher cleared her through.

"Class," She began. "We have a surprise assembly today to discuss religious diversity in the Auditorium."

"Just great." Thalia grumbled as Nico and I groaned.

"So, leave your things here and follow me." The teacher told us as we all stood up and began to walk to the auditorium."

"What's this about?" Annabeth asked us. "Surprise visit? How could this be a surprise?"

"I don't know." I said as Nico shrugged.

"Why don't you just read the teachers mind and find out." Thalia grumbled.

"Knock it off, will ya?" I told Thalia. "Not every one is out to hurt people."

" 'Scuze me for looking after my friend." Thalia shot back as we entered the Auditorium's side entrance.

Sitting on the stage was a priest in an all-black suit with a white thing under the collar.

We were then led down the rows of chairs to the last row and seated as the rest of the school poured in and took their seats.

"We need to get out of here." Annabeth whispered to me, sounding panicked. "We need to leave now."

Normally I would be all down for ditching a boring assembly but her reaction was throwing me off.

"Why?" I asked her, now confused.

"We need to leave before it's too late." She told me.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Thalia demanded from her other side.

"Good morning." The priest began, cutting off all conversation.

I zoned out for most of it but Annabeth looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. She was pail white and her nails were digging into her armrests.

"And so," The priest concluded after about an hour. "That is why myself and several fathers of my church will pull all of you aside on at a time to answer any questions you may have about what our faith is."

Well I tell you, after an hour of sitting there the auditorium emptied in record time.

"Gods, that was boring." Nico groaned as we exited and headed to our next class.

"Percy, we need to leave." Annabeth told me.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Thalia snapped at Annabeth. "You know him for a day and now you want him to skip school 'cuz some priest gave a speech?"

"I didn't come here by accident," Annabeth began. "I just thought I had more time."

"I knew it!" Thalia cried out, stepping in front of Annabeth so she couldn't continue walking. "You're here to take Percy away!"

"Yes," Annabeth began. "But I'm trying to…."

"No." Nico cut in. "You want him, you'll have to go through us."

I was dumb founded. She was trying to kidnap me?

Annabeth was staring at Nico with an eyebrow raised. Then she casually reached out and tapped Nico's hand. Before he could Blink he was on the floor, eyes wide in shock.

"If I wanted to take him by force I would all ready be gone." She said coolly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure we weren't seen. "That Priest was….."

"What are you children doing out here?"

We all turned to find the principal and two teachers approaching us.

"You're supposed to be in class." He said, gripping my shoulder and leading me down the hall.

A short time later we were entering the English room and I noticed three Priests at the front of the class, talking about how "You are all lucky to be the first class selected to speak with me and my colleagues." And what not.

I glanced at Annabeth who looked horrified as the principal practically forced her into her desk.

'What is going on with her?' I thought as I took my seat in the desk next to her and Thalia sat down in the desk on my other side. Nico was the last in the door but he quickly sat down in front of me.

"Ah," The Priest at the front of the room said with a smile. "A few young souls who tried to skip class. Perhaps they will benefit if we talk with them first."

The man was clearly the leader of the three of them. he had black hair which was showing signs of greying on the sides and a box jaw. His glasses made him look intelligent but cold, like he alone held the secrets to life and all who didn't know what he knew are beneath him.

He started to walk between the rows of desks and stopped between him and Annabeth as one of his colleagues followed him.

"I think you should go first young lady." He spoke to Annabeth as she went from pail white to almost blue.

The priest reached out to her.

"Don't be afraid miss." He told her. "We only want to talk."

The second his hand touched her arm his eyes widened and he dropped like a rock.

Before I could react, the other priest rushed forward to help his fallen colleague. Only he didn't bend down to help the man like I thought he would. Instead he pulled a silver rod out of his sleeve and japed the blunt mettle into Annabeth's arm.

She shirked in pain as a zap of electricity could be heard. A moment later she was convulsing on the floor.

The priest standing over her smiled as the head priest dude stood up and pulled out a metal bar of his own.

"Get away from her!" I screamed a I reached out with my power and threw them both into the wall two rows of desks over.

As they hit the wall I felt something round and cold pressed to my back before my body began to convulse painfully.

"Percy," I heard Annabeth croak out, sounding desperate.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her make a feeble attempt to push her self into a sitting position but I was more concerned with the third priest standing over me.

"Ah!" Came a fierce cry as Thalia stood up and tackled the man towering over me.

Taken by surprise the man fell as Thalia punched him repeatedly. By this point Nico was on his feat and trying to help me us as Annabeth stood, shakily, to her feet.

"We need to go." She said in a hoarse voice. "Now."

I glanced at the door only to see the principle jump out of our way. He wasn't foolish enough to try and stop a kid who threw two grown men against a wall without touching them.

So, we all ran out the door and down the hall. I was still shaky but I could feel myself recovering quickly.

"Where do we go?" Thalia asked as we ran.

"Don't care." Nico panted as he tried to keep up. "So long as there's no Shockey-poky sticks."

"We need to get out of the school." Annabeth told us.

Just before w rounded the corner two security guards stepped out, ready to stop us. Annabeth grabbed one and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. The other was moving to grab her from behind when I used my power to throw him down the hall we just came from.

"You two are scary some times," Nico said. "You know, that right?"

"Keep moving!" I shouted as I noticed the guard Annabeth a rebooted was getting back up.

We took off, running as fast as we could. We didn't stop running till we hit central park.

"Explain." Thalia said as she clutched her side and Nico all but collapsed on his face.

We were in the middle of the park and I was sure no one was following us.

"They call themselves the right hand." Annabeth told us, as she gasped for air. "Bunch of nutcases that think people like me and Percy are 'an abomination of God's children' and they made it their mission to wipe out anyone like us."

"What?" I asked, thinking I couldn't have heard her right.

She patted the back of my neck as I was doubled over, breathing hard.

"You heard me right." She told me. "They want to kill us but they usually use more tact then today. They try and keep our existence hidden."

"But now that we were attacked in public the cops will stop them." Thalia said, sounding hopeful.

"Don't hold your breath." Annabeth told us. "Whoever is funding them has deep pockets and knows how to do a cover up. On the bright side they won't send the cops after us. Too many questions when we're killed rather then arrested."

"So, what now?" I asked her. "What do we do now?"

"We?" She asked me, raising an eyebrow. "We do nothing. You go and get your mother and get as far away from here as possible. Change you named any try to stay hidden as long as you can." She turned to Nico and Thalia. "The same goes to you two. Now that you know about us they can't afford to let you live."

"What about you?" I asked her.

"I've been hunting these bastards for a year now." She said. "I'll be fine. You worry about yourself."

"Hunting them?" Thalia asked. "If you hunt them then why were you so scared in there?"

Annabeth stared at the ground.

"I didn't realize how badly they wanted you dead, Percy." She said. "For an undiscovered Evo they usually send one low level hunter but to send three of them, and Markus, well let's just say I hope you're a good fighter because I doubt you can out run them for long."

"What?" I asked. "Evo? Markus? What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"An 'Evo' is and 'Evolved Person'." Annabeth said. "They think our existence is heresy so they'll stop at nothing to kill us. They send out hunters to track us down and eliminate us. I caught word that they found an Evo in goody high school so I came to find you and get you out before they came." She paused. "I never expected them to send Markus. He's their head hunter. His name is a good as a curse to Evos. With him on your tail you need to pull a vanishing act or learn to fight. You won't be able to lose him for more then a month at a time. More likely a day or two. I'm sorry but I can't afford that kind of heat right now."

"So that's it?" Thalia demanded. "You go through all this trouble and now your ditching us?"

"Hey, I never signed up to be a baby sitter for a bunch of Normys." Annabeth said. "I saved your asses. What you do from here is up to you."

"You won't even help a little bit?" Nico asked.

"I'll help you all get back to your homes so you can pack but I work alone." Annabeth said. "So from there you can do it yourself."

"I saved your life!" I cried out in outrage.

"And why do you think I'm still talking to you?" Annabeth demanded. "If you didn't get those two hunters off me I'd probably be dead. On the off chance that I survived I would have said 'Screw this kid, I'm out of here' and left you three behind." She paused again. "It's not a fair world but it's the one we live in. Move fast, travel light, and don't get too attached to anything or they will catch you and they will kill you." She shook her head. "Like I said, I'll get you guys home. Where do you live?"

"I'm an orphan." Nico said. "Nothing worth going back for."

"My mother is institutionalized so I don't think I can go for her, can I?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth shook her head.

"Not if you want to live." She told Thalia. "That just leaves Percy."

I nodded.

"Follow me." I told her as I walked off towards my apartment.

"Wait!" Annabeth exclaimed. "We can't just go there. If they found you then they must know who you are. It could be an ambush."

She tossed me a small flip phone. "Use that to call her and break your cell phone the first chancy you get so they can't track you."

"And why is that one safe?" Thalia asked.

"It's a burner phone." Annabeth replied. "I use it once or twice and then junk it."

"How do you afford that?" Nico asked.

"Not telling." Annabeth replied curtly.

I flipped open the phone and dialed my mom's apartment.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Mom, there are men after me." I told her. "We have to skip town, now."

"I'm really not interested in a new T.V. Provider." She said in response.

"What are you talking about?" I exclaimed. "Mom, there are dangerous men after me!"

"No, I'm very sure I'm satisfied with my current T.V. Provider." She said again as I heard something through the phone that sounded like someone talking.

"Who's that with you?" I asked her. When there was no response I started to get worried. "Mom?"

"Hello, Percy." Came the voice of Markus. "So nice of you to check in on your dear old mother."

"Leave her alone!" I screamed into the phone. "I swear if you hurt her I'll track you down and I'll…."

"You'll what?" Markus asked in a sarcastic tone. "Kill me? I've been hunting Evos like you for years. What makes you so different? Is it miss Chase? Do you think she'll help you? She doesn't care for you. She'll leave you the first chance she gets. Come to me now and I'll let your mother go."

"Don't do it Percy!" I could hear my mother screaming in the background. "Percy, stay away! Stay a….."

She was cut off by a loud bang.

"Oooppps." Markus said in an innocent voice. "Guns can be such tricky things."

"You bastard!" I screamed into the phone. "I'll find you! You mark my words! I will make you pay for this!"

"I'm counting on it." He said before hanging up.

"RRRAAAHHH!" I screamed as I pitched the phone into a boulder and watched it shatter. "Fucking bastard!"

"Calm down." Thalia said in a nervous way. "Your levitating rocks and stuff."

"He killed her!" I screamed. "He killed my mom!"

"Who?" Nico asked.

"Who do you think?" I demanded. "Markus. Markus killed my mother!"

A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: Thank you all for the reviews and reviving this story. After so long without updating I was afraid no one would read it so I thought it was a dead story. Now that there are more reviews the story can continue. By the way, this is the same story plan I had when I first wrote it, only updated for the times. So if you would like to read more please poste a review.