Warning: Contains abuse, self-harm, swearing, monsters, secret societies, death, memory loss, Hecate, twins, and a whole lot of stuff that PJO forgot to mention.

Sam

12 Years Old

My senses faded in slowly. First came the smell.

Like earthworms and rocks. Underlying that, the faint aroma of death. It was a dangerous place. And then the scent melted into feel of my surroundings.

It was cold. Very cold. The air was tense and chilled, everything holding it's breath, waiting for an anticlimax, the flat line of a still heart in a hospital bed. The floor was uneven and freezing, unfriendly like the atmosphere. My hearing came back. In the distance, there were echos. Heated whispers a few feet away resonated loudly. One, a guy and the other belonging to a girl.

The girl was whisper-yelling, "We could've killed her, is that not serious enough? Contact anyone but him, freak!"

The guy replied in what he probably thought was a soothing voice, "Calm down. She'll be fine ."

"Oh, sure! Calm down! Easy for you to say, you're used to death, aren't you? No fucking biggie!" The girl was close to sounding hysterical.

The guy was silent. I was busy wondering who these people were. They hardly sounded older than myself.

Her voice dripping with guilt, she said,"That was.. really rude, I'm sorry."

"No, no. You're right. I'm a weirdo. Death is normal for me. People die in my life. But you know, it's not my fault I was born, okay? I didn't ask my parents to have sex or whatever and it's a little too late to-"

"Okay! I get it, and I'm sorry. I don't want you to stop existing, then I'd be a friendless loser."

"Uhm.. I'm just gonna take that as a compliment. Well, I apologize that we almost killed that - thing over there."

Thing? Thing? I wondered how bad they thought I was. I mean, the fact that the one guy nicknamed freak thought I was worse than him... Well. It wasn't a good sign.

I didn't notice when my sight came back. It was so dark, already. But I found I could finally move my numb fingers, so automatically, I glanced down and saw... Well, I didn't really see. It was more like.. I could sense it, as well as seeing the outline. But there was barely any light.

I tried to move the rest of my body. Nothing else worked, besides my fingers and my neck. I put them to use. As the boy and girl were discussing whatever, I pushed my head up and surveyed the blackness. Up ahead was a light signifying an exit. Everything else was nearly invisible to my eyes. I could only sense where they were. The boy and the girl, they were somewhere to my left, closer to the light at the end of the tunnel than I was and blocking my way out. It felt like were in a cave. Yes, that was it. A cave. The echoes, the temperature, the rough floor. It all made sense, now. This was a cave.

The guy said loudly, "-But what makes him think she's so powerful? She didn't even fight back."

I could practically feel the girl rolling her eyes."Freak, she was unconscious, of course she didn't fight back - she couldn't."

"Well if she's so powerful, would she have fallen unconscious?" He retorted.

"...You're so... Oh, my gods. Nevermind."

For a second, I thought I heard her wrong. Nobody actually says gods right?

"You get distracted easily." Ironically, his comment didn't have anything to do with their current conversation.

"You do too." Replied the girl smoothly.

"I have an excuse. ADHD, fool! Remember?"

"We all have ADHD, freak. Stop whining. And on that note.. how are we going to get back?"

"Hmmm…" Cautiously, the so-called freak said, "... We could contact Chiron."

Immediately the girl scoffed. "I didn't want to iris message him five minutes ago, and I still don't. Even if we did, then what? He already hates me. Now that we've failed... I mean, what's going to stop him from throwing me out?"

My feet twitched. I shifted my leg to a more comfortable position. The rest of my body was pins and needles, refusing to wake up.

"C'mon, Gill... he doesn't... hate you." So much for comforting.

There was a growl, and when her voice came out, it sounded extremely agitated, "Freak, just - just please! I couldn't - I'd die out there, Chiron's right! I just! I can't do anything!" I hear a thud in which I assume she is sitting down, in frustration."Please, don't... don't tell him."

"...It was a stupid quest. And I won't tell him. Besides, haha. He's got, like. Other stuff to worry about right? I don't know why he can stand Mr. D yet he glares at you like you're a devil spawn… We didn't fail yet, anyway, we've got the girl and a possible labyrinth entrance. We'll be fine."

"Right. We stick to the shadows… Thanks, freak."

I tuned out the rest of their conversation, concluding that whatever chemical soaked cloth freak boy held over my mouth was affecting my already fragile sanity.

I mean, what kind of name is Chiron? And we all have ADHD? Quest, die, ohmygods, unconscious, fight back, powerful powerful powerful, we could've killed her. And what was with that girl, her always calling that guy a freak? And he was okay with it? And why am I not afraid? So many questions.

I must be going crazy. Wait. Crazier.

Suddenly, I could feel my whole body. And it was hurting. There was pain, in my legs, and in my head. I was too weak to walk too much.

I groaned as quietly as I could and pushed myself into sitting position, but it still hurt like a bitch. I was still really weak, too. Freak boy and the girl were still absorbed in conversation. In my pocket was an emergency pocket knife I had for such an occasion (What? Paranoia will save your life one day). Using it, I felt around the floor and came into contact with something: a bag. I snatched it and slung it over my shoulder. Then, with a burst of painful energy, I slid myself against the rough cave wall and pushed myself up onto my feet. For a second, my head felt weightless and I swayed.

But something in me told me, push on. Keep going. You know. The usual creepy voice that tells me to follow people.

So I did keep going. Though, not in a well thought out way, like I usually am. I was usually so anal about going over plans, especially escape plans (yes, too many times I've had places to escape). No, instead of thinking, I just started limping in one direction, silently, unnoticed. Just like always.

The wrong direction.

Away from the entrance.

Into the dark.

Gillian

13 years old

I'd failed.

Again.

What's new?

But this was the worst. Because in the process, I'd probably killed a girl. A girl nearly my age.

Freak clapped me on the shoulder, maybe trying to lighten the mood and said, "Hey! First killing!"

I gave him a look, and he shrank back. I felt kind of bad, but not enough to say I was sorry. He should've known a joke like that was just stupid.

You might be wondering, what's with Freak? His name, right? Weird.

That's exactly what he is, though. A freak. An undercover agent who happens to be like ninety-something years old, but with the attitude and body of a sixteen year old boy.

See, he's a son of Hades. Since he's unusual around here, people don't normally like him. He gravitates death and mourning. Just being around him was like being sucked into a shadow. I heard he was an outlaw, even among his now non-existant brothers. Too jokey. Not serious enough, not sad. I found it refreshing, but I guess for them... Not so much.

I'm not really sure what Freak's real name is. He refuses to go by anything besides what he says. So, no last name, no nothing.

Last year, he was in my homeroom, looking like he'd been held back a few years. It was kinda funny sometimes, when attendance came around.

"Gillian McAevin.

Frank Waters.

Carl Smith.

Uh..Freak.

Caroline Mathers.

Sarah Jones."

Like I said, he was weird.

He told me, at some point in his life, when he was maybe fourteen, his dad and another god ("I don't remember his face," Freak once explained.) asked if he'd like a special job. Being a younger Freak, he was not wary. He was not hesitant. No, he accepted right away and was shoved into a life of really, really slow aging, and if he ages four years in one century, he ages half that the next. Seriously.

He had some kind of protection spell over him, something that'll keep the other gods from finding out about him. And when I said it seems shadows cling to his being? They actually do.

One of the perks of being a "Kind of but not really immortal Son of Hades"flower.

His job was to be a guardian, like me. You'd think being part of our society for so long, he'd be an Alpha, but his title was and always has been Omega. That's just what he likes.

His hair was jet black and cut so that it wasn't long, but it wasn't short. It was spiky and stuck out in awkward places, yet it suited him. Freak's eyes were kind of scary. Big and chocolate brown. Layered over pale skin, they stuck out, pulling you in. To be honest, if he didn't have the whole aura of death around him, he'd be hot.

"Look, he won't kill you, I swear," insisted Freak. I rolled my eyes at him. Chiron may not kill me for losing a super-powerful demigod, but he'd come pretty damn close with that face of his.

That's when I made up my mind.

"I'm not going back, Freak."

His eyes widened.

"Shit, no. You've got to, though!"

I smirk. "You can go, but I'm tired of this. I need to prove myself. I'm going to find her."

I could see panic rising in his eyes as he said, "Gillian, even if that's not the labyrinth, you can still get lost and die. It's just stupid and impulsive. And that's coming from me. Don't do it."

My smile fell to the floor and shattered to a million pieces.

I whispered to Freak, "I have to. I have to."

"No, please -"

"You don't get it, do you? There's nothing left for me at camp." Okay maybe that was a little dramatic, but hey, in the heat of the moment, you can't just not say something earth-shattering.

"How can you -"

But before he could say more, I made the stupidest decision of my life. I ran away into the darkness, and followed the instincts I was taught to trust as a Guardian. I used my speed and ran after Samantha McAevin, already deep in the labryinth. Motherfucking newbie demigods.