So, welcome to Chapter 3. *confetti*

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I only own Charlotte, Adam, Miss Neena and the other OCs.

REVELATIONS

…

Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed.

- Bob Riley

…

That night, Leo could not sleep.

He lay in his bed, staring up at the dull, gray ceiling above with wide eyes.

The face in the dirt seemed to haunt his dreams.

"Leo…"

He wasn't sure if he was imagining or not, but Leo swore that he could hear the voice calling his name in the darkness. The shadows seemed to shift and stir in every corner, keeping him alert and awake.

Leo turned over and pulled the covers closer around his body. A cold breeze blew in from his open window, which only gave the room an eerier feel. The whispers in the darkness seemed to drown out the various sounds of New York City.

Her voice spoke out above the others.

"Leo…"

There it was again. A shiver went up Leo's spine as he pulled the covers up to his chin. His eyes scanned the shadows, but found nothing, which only made it creepier. Leo, afraid, pulled the covers over his head.

This was crazy. Part of Leo wished he that was just being paranoid, that all of this was a figment of his imagination. But it wasn't. None of it was. The woman in the dirt, the face in the fire…they were all real. There was no getting out of it. He didn't know at first, but he was in as much danger as he was terrified.

Another cold breeze blew in, but he didn't feel it. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the voices. After a long while of shivering in the darkness, he finally fell asleep.

Leo opened his eyes.

Daylight poured in through his bedroom window, and he could see particles of dust dancing in the sunlight. He groggily sat up, and ran a hand through his curly, dark hair.

There were no more voices; the room sounded unnervingly quiet, but Leo took that as a good thing.

He scratched his head as he glanced around the room. Everything was as it should've been.

He stretched before getting out of bed, not bothering to make it up. He stumbled out of his room and into the hallway, and made his way to the bathroom door at the end of the hall. Leo turned the knob.

The bathroom door was locked. Leo cursed and knocked on the door.

"Give me a minute," came the voice of Adam from the opposite side. Leo could hear the sound of water running on the other side of the door, and the voice of Adam made Leo give a sigh of relief.

Adam and Miss Neena must've came home later the night before, when Leo was asleep, or probably earlier that morning. To be honest, Leo didn't care when. They were here now, and it made him feel a lot safer than he had felt before.

"Adam, can you hurry up and shave your invisible beard?" Leo asked impatiently, giving the door a little kick. Hey, just because they made him feel safer didn't mean he would be any nicer. Leo heard a low growl on the other side.

"Just because of that, you have to wait five more minutes." Came Adam's muffled and irritated reply.

Leo groaned in protest. "No fair!"

He really had to use the bathroom. Leo doubted Miss Neena would let him use hers (she had explained to him a few days before that applying her make-up was an "8-step process" that required "much precision" and "no interruptions"). He hopped around in circles, waiting for Adam to hurry up and open the stupid door.

Right when Leo was about to give up, the door swung open.

"No more invisible beard jokes." Leo heard Adam say as he rushed into the bathroom. He locked the door behind him.

Half an hour later, Leo headed downstairs, fully dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Once in the living room, Leo glanced at the table by the front door. There was no broken flowerpot or dirt on the floor, as if yesterday's little incident had never happened. Either someone had cleaned it up last night, or…Leo didn't stick around to think about it. He headed straight to the kitchen.

Leo found Miss Neena still in her nightgown and bunny slippers, hovering over the stove, and was surprised to see un-employed Adam wearing an employee-looking suit, and his dark, blond hair combed back like a businessman's.

Leo raised an eyebrow as he walked over and sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's going on?" Leo asked Adam as he leaned back in his chair. Adam put down the newspaper he was holding in one hand and reached up to fix his collar. He took a sip from the cup of coffee in his hand.

"I'm going into town today," Adam replied curtly. Oooh, thought Leo. He even sounded official. "I have a job interview at Red Lobster on 8th street." Leo's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"So you're going to be a waiter now?" asked Leo, a smile dangerously tugging at the corner of his mouth. "That's an upgrade. Didn't you used to be a janitor or something – "

"Leo," hissed Miss Neena. She took her attention off of the eggs she was cooking and spun around to glare at him. "Mind your manners, boy. Adam hasn't had a job in five years. Be grateful; now he can finally support his own sorry butt and move out – "

"MOM," Adam said rather loudly. Leo smirked.

"We've been over this," Adam said through clenched teeth. He took a minute to calm down. Then Adam cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. He stood, still holding his mug of coffee.

"I'll be on my way," he said. Adam regarded them with cold blue eyes, and then headed for the door.

Adam left the room, and Leo heard him open the apartment door, step out into the hallway, and close the door behind him.

When Adam was gone, Leo turned to face Miss Neena.

"You think he's going to get the job?" he asked.

"Nah," answered Miss Neena thoughtfully. "He'll probably just end up getting lost on his way there and head back home." She told him. "It happened twice before."

Leo watched thoughtfully as Miss Neena poured two cups of coffee, his mind elsewhere. Then she shuffled over to the table and handed Leo a mug. He took the hot mug in his hands, and waved away the napkin Neena offered him. She sat down on the chair opposite him, and stirred her drink.

There was a long silence as Leo sipped his coffee.

"So, how was school yesterday?" Miss Neena asked nonchalantly as Leo downed his daily amount of caffeine. The events of the day before rushed back to him, and he nearly choked on his cup of Joe.

Crap. He had been trying to forget about yesterday (mainly Dirt-Face), but Miss Neena just had to come and ruin it.

"It was…" Leo wiped his mouth with his sleeve and tried to come up with the right response. "Interesting. What'd you do all day?" he asked, trying to change the subject. Discussing his nightmare didn't sound like a good idea to him.

Miss Neena's glassy eyes sparkled, as if she'd been waiting for him to ask that very question all her life.

"I spent the day with the gals from North Street," she began. "You know, the ones you met on Tuesday?" Leo took another swig from his mug, vaguely remembering a bunch of old ladies pinching his cheeks and crooning about how tall he was getting (even though they did not know him at all). Leo shivered at the thought. He nodded.

"Well," Neena continued on, "We spent a day in town. We went to the craft store on Crofton, and hit Burger King on the way back." Miss Neena rambled on. Leo continued to drink his coffee, not really listening to what she was saying.

Leo was thinking of Piper and Charlotte. He wondered how they were doing. Leo didn't usually get to talk to a lot of girls, so he considered it a step up on the social scale. He didn't see Charlotte most of yesterday, so he figured he'd see her today in The Great and Powerful Oz's class, and maybe catch her at lunch. He stared straight ahead, his thoughts racing as Miss Neena babbled on about how her day had gone.

"- brunch today," Leo heard Miss Neena croon when he had tuned back in. He had no clue what she was talking about.

"They invited you, too, but you have school…" Miss Neena suddenly stopped, her eyes widening. Leo blinked, confused.

"Oh Lord," she said suddenly, interrupting Leo's thoughts. "I'm late!" She quickly sprang to her feet. Leo's eyes widened in surprised.

"I got to go!" cried Miss Neena as she sprang out of her chair. Leo hastily stood after her.

"What?" asked Leo in confusion. "What's going – "

"The brunch!" She said as she disappeared into the living room, walking much faster than the average old lady.

"I'm going to be late!" Leo heard Miss Neena cry in alarm from the other room. She came back wearing a jacket and a scarf, and had Leo's backpack and a hat in hand. She thrust his bag at him, and Leo grunted.

"Here, I packed your lunch" she muttered as she tossed Leo the backpack. Miss Neena hastily zipped up her jacket. She pulled her blonde, curly wig of hair into a bun before pulling on her green hat, and it didn't fit right, so she kind of looked like she wearing a fluorescent, green melon on her head. She threw her scarf over her neck as she head towards the front door.

"Don't be late for school!" Leo heard her call as the door swung open. Then he heard it slam behind her.

Miss Neena was gone. Leo took another long sip from his coffee and enjoyed the silence before his mind registered what had just happened.

'Don't be late for school!' Miss Neena had told him.

Leo glanced at the watch on his wrist, and then choked on his coffee. Double crap. He only had ten minutes to get to school on time.

Leo quickly shouldered his bag and dashed out of the apartment down the hallway, hoping the teachers would cut him some slack and let him off on the second day.

Five minutes later, Leo approached the main entrance of Westfield Prep. He avoided the handful of students hanging around, and barely had time to observe the statue of the guy holding the world in all its splendor as he raced up the front steps, hurrying to get to class.

He threw open the front doors of the school and headed down the crowded hallway to his destination. He passed a bunch of unfamiliar faces as he made his way to his locker.

Leo didn't stop at his locker yesterday (he didn't see the need to). His locker was located in the freshman-sophomore hall, on the East side of the school. Miss Neena had gotten him his number and combination (#236, 35-13-8), but Leo had trouble getting it open. He tried it once, but the door was jammed. He tried again, but he had gotten the combination wrong. He had to do it a couple more times before the locker door finally swung open.

Leo grumbled complaints about his locker as he unzipped his backpack and dumped some stuff into his locker, including a bunch of notebooks and a few screwdrivers. Then he zipped it back up, closed the locker door, and shouldered it once again before heading back down the hall.

When Leo walked into The Great and Powerful Oz's classroom, all eyes were on him. He must've been at that locker longer than he thought.

Leo figured that he was interrupting something from the way the class was staring at him. Mr. Osborne, who wore a pair of jeans with a tweed jacket that made him look like a college professor, stopped what he was saying and spun around to face him. Leo was surprised to find that Mr. Oz didn't look irritated at all.

"Well, hello, good morning. Please take a seat." Mr. Osborne said warmly.

The only seat left was one in the front row. Leo quickly walked over to the desk and sat down, trying to avoid the many stares.

Mr. Oz aptly continued on with what he was saying:

" - I have your agendas here. It's protocol for all teachers in the county to hand these out. I'm not saying you have to use them, but you can if you want to. I'll start passing them out." Mr. Osborne headed over to his desk.

Someone tapped Leo on his shoulder, and he spun around, surprised, to see Charlotte. She was wearing jeans, a pair of expensive-looking boots, and a furry vest. Her long, straight, blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

She waved a little wave. Leo waved back.

Mr. Osborne began passing out the agendas. Leo quickly turned around, because it was only a matter of time until the teacher got to him.

Mr. Osborne reached Leo's desk and handed him his agenda.

The agendas were nothing special. They were just little planners used to organize homework and stuff. Everyone's agendas were identical; on the cover were pictures of famous historical figures, like George Washington, Harriet Tubman, and other people like that. There were a couple of famous supers, too. On the inside was the name of their school, and as Leo flipped the pages of the book, smiling teenage faces stared up at him. Leo closed the agenda, scowling. He was glad that he didn't have to use it, because he wasn't planning too (yes, that was a pun).

For the rest of the class, everyone filled in their agendas with their personal information. Leo scribbled in his "Name", "Grade", "School", "Phone number", etc. in the agenda as he was told. Mr. Osborne kept droning on about The County and the wise guy who came up with the idea of agendas in the first place. Leo tuned him out, leaned on his fist, and got ready to take a long nap.

Right when he was about to nod off, the bell rang.

The sophomores all got up from their seats and began to head out. Leo stood, stretched, and then stuffed his planner in his bag and shouldered it. Then he joined the other students heading out of the classroom.

Leo had just gotten into the hallway when someone yanked his wrist and pulled him back.

Startled, confused, and sure that he was about to get mugged, Leo spun around to see Charlotte.

"Um, hey," he said, confused as to why a pretty girl like Charlotte was pulling him aside. "What's going on?"

Charlotte took her backpack off of her shoulders and held it in her hands. She began to unzip the front.

"Give me a sec," she muttered. With her free hand, Charlotte pulled Leo aside by the water fountain. He awkwardly stood by, wondering why she had pulled him aside in the first place.

Leo's ADHD got the best of him, and he began to watch as the students of Westfield busily made their way down the hallway. He caught a glance of Piper, and she saw him, too. She smiled at him, and Leo started to wave in return when Jason came out of nowhere and started talking to her. When Piper looked away, Leo deflated a little bit. Geez, Jason was everywhere. It'd be hard to talk to talk to Beauty Queen without him on their backs.

Leo lost interest in Piper and Jason and turned back to Charlotte.

She was still reaching in her backpack for something. When she pulled her hand out, she was holding an envelope. Charlotte held it out to him.

"I'm throwing a party tomorrow night," she said, excitement in her eyes. Leo looked up at Charlotte, surprised, and hesitantly took the envelope from her hand, beginning to examine the invitation. It had a big, pink satin bow tied around it, and had the words "For Leo," on the back in Charlotte's big handwriting. Charlotte watched him with eager eyes as he looked it over.

Leo had never been invited to a party before. Moving around from foster home to foster home kind of eliminated the whole "friends" - um, he meant "party" - thing. Leo wasn't quite sure if he would fit in at the party or not.

"I think it'd be really awesome if you came…" Charlotte trailed off.

Leo didn't know what else to do, so he just opened the envelope.

Inside was a white card with the words "Your Invited!" printed in big, pink letters that he could actually understand. He opened the card, but the rest was in cursive, so he couldn't really make it out.

"Um…" Leo started to say, and Charlotte caught his drift.

She smacked her forehead.

"Fail. I forgot that you're dyslexic." Charlotte plucked the card from his hands and began to read aloud.

"It says: 'You're invited to Charlotte May Bruce's party on August 24, at 10893 Greenhouse Way. The party will begin at 8 p.m. and end at 11 p.m." Charlotte finished. She looked up at him with her sparkling, blue eyes.

"So…you coming?" she asked hopefully, rocking back and forth on her heels.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Leo Valdez was not a party person (well, he was, but sitting in a room full of people he didn't know? Not his kind of party). Why was Charlotte asking him, anyway?

"I don't know…" he said uneasily as he continued to rub the back of his neck.

"Please?"

"Well…"

"Oh, come on. Everyone who's anyone's going. You have to come," Charlotte looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Leo looked at her skeptically, and Charlotte rolled her eyes again, huffing this time.

"Do you seriously want to be 'that guy' who didn't go to 'the party of the century'?" she asked. Charlotte had a point, Leo thought. Even though Leo didn't give a hoot when it came to popularity, he didn't want to feel left out.

He especially hated those next-day conversations, where everyone would talk about the party and nothing else. Leo didn't want to be "that guy" who had no idea what they were talking about.

He caved in.

"Fine," he told Charlotte in defeat. "When is it again?"

"Tomorrow night," she said happily. Charlotte's luminous, crystal-blue eyes were shining with excitement. "Be there at seven!" She was about to say something else when the bell rang. Charlotte eyes went wide, and she grabbed Leo's wrist and glanced at his watch.

"Oh, gosh, I got to go. I'm late for Biology. Bye!" Then Leo watched as she darted down the hallway, and Charlotte May Bruce disappeared into the crowd.

"Well," Leo muttered under his breath as he slipped the invitation into his back pocket. "That was fun."

Leo glanced at his watch. He didn't have much time to get to class, so he quickly pulled out his schedule from his backpack and checked to see what his next class was. Lucky for him, it was Math, which Leo could tolerate. He ran down the crowded hallway.

Leo made it to Geometry with five minutes to spare. It was easy. Every problem on the page seemed to solve itself in Leo's head. He was barely making an effort.

Next was Art class. All Leo had to do was show the teacher some of his designs and he got an A plus.

The rest of the morning went by in a breeze. He had History right after Art, and then it was lunchtime.

Leo didn't really have a great time at lunch yesterday (there were no more seats left, so he just got his lunch and went off exploring the school), so when he walked into the cafeteria, he was determined to find Piper. He hadn't seen her since earlier that morning.

The cafeteria at Westfield Prep was nothing special: just a big room full of round tables, teenagers, and a couple of vending machines. The room was practically buzzing with conversation. There was a long line leading into the school kitchen (that's where people got their school lunches from). Leo watched as students pulled chairs from vacant tables up to other tables to sit by their friends. There were only a few chairs left, so Leo dodged a bunch of students and hurried over to an empty table with a fair amount of chairs. He quickly sat down.

As Leo got settled down at his table, he noticed Charlotte walking around the cafeteria with a bunch of invitations in hand. It looked like she was inviting everybody, because she handed one to every person she passed. Leo noticed a couple of girls with invites chatting at the table next to him. He picked up on their conversation:

"OMG, I can't wait till Charlotte's party!" said one girl.

"Omigosh, me either!" chirped another girl excitedly. "I heard that Dylan's going! I'm so asking him to dance!"

The two girls squealed excitedly, which is when Leo tuned out. He unzipped the front of his backpack and looked inside for the lunch Miss Neena had said she had packed for him.

He pulled out a brown paper bag, and inside was a PB&J sandwich, a brownie in a Ziploc bag, a Caprisun, and a bag of chips. Leo opened the bag of Salt n' Vinegar and watched the many teenagers go about their business.

"Hey," said a familiar voice behind Leo, pulling him out of his thoughts. Leo turned around to see Piper holding a tray.

"Can I sit here?" she asked. Leo gulped down the chips in his mouth and nodded.

"Sure, not like anyone else was going to."

Piper rolled her eyes and sat down at the vacant seat next to him. She set her tray on the table.

Piper put down her bag and got settled down.

"So..." she began as she ripped open a packet of mayonnaise and poured it on her custom-made cafeteria veggie burger, "How was your official first day at Westfield Prep?" she asked, going for her pack of ketchup. "I didn't get to ask you yesterday after school."

Piper dressed like any other normal teenage girl. She wore a dark, long-sleeved tee and under a blue ski jacket, and a pair of washed out jeans with leather boots. She wore her long, brown hair all out today.

Leo chewed on a bit of his sandwich before answering her question. Piper took a large bite out of her burger.

"It was surprisingly okay," Leo mused as Piper chewed on her burger. "It didn't go half as badly as I thought it would. I didn't get jumped or anything, isn't that amazing?" Leo said in mock disbelief. Piper snorted as she continued to chow down on her burger.

"We don't jump people at Westfield," she said in between a mouthful. "We mug them. There's a difference."

Leo snorted. "I stand corrected."

He ate a few more chips and watched as Piper took another bite of her sandwich. "How was your day yesterday?" Leo asked in return.

Piper swallowed. She was about to answer him when someone called over to them.

"Hey!" Leo and Piper looked up.

It was Jason.

Jason wore a plain black shirt, a pair of jeans, and a jacket. He came over to their table holding a tray, all smiles, and paused at the chair next to Piper, looking at Leo.

"Can I sit here?" he asked. Leo shrugged. He didn't see the harm in letting Jason sit at their table.

"Sure. Make yourself comfortable."

Jason rested his tray down on the table and sat down.

He settled down, and the next few minutes were kind of awkward. Leo watched kids make their way around the room, and tried to avoid conversation by shoving food down his throat. Apparently, Piper was trying the same approach, because she took another huge bite from her burger. Jason took the bun off of his and started squirting on mustard.

Jason kicked off the conversation: "So, Leo, did you get an invite to Charlotte's party?"

There was something in Jason's tone that Leo couldn't place. Leo noticed Jason eyeing him suspiciously from across the table.

Leo took a sip from his soda before answering, "I did, actually. She gave me one this morning."

Just to show off, Leo slid it out from his back pocket and held it up for the two of them to see. Jason took a bite of his burger, and Piper just watched the interaction from the sidelines. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Did you get an invite, Jason?" asked Leo with an innocent grin. Jason returned the gesture, pulling out his invitation.

"Yup," he said, popping the "p". Jason held it out for them to see, but then regarded his invite with distaste. He tossed the invitation onto the table.

"I'm not going." said Jason with a dark look. Piper nearly choked on her burger.

"What? Why aren't you going?" she asked with what seemed to be alarm. Leo saw that as his turn to watch them interact. He ate more chips and observed the two with great interest.

"Don't you know how many mo – " Piper choked a little on her sandwich, " – people are going to be there? You have to go!" Piper was practically pleading with him now. Jason looked down in his lap, playing with his thumbs.

"I promised Reyna that I'd go to the movies with her and the guys," said Jason quietly. Leo had no idea who Reyna was, but he still listened anyway.

"Sorry."

Leo watched as Piper sunk back in her chair, upset. When the three of them got quiet, Leo heard the buzz of the many conversations going on in the background, but it wasn't silent for long.

Apparently, someone else wanted to join the party.

"Piper! Jason!" someone called from across the cafeteria. Jason and Piper turned to look at someone. Leo turned, too, but he didn't know who they were looking at until this girl came over to their table. Leo sunk down in his chair, this day getting more and more awkward.

"Hey, Annabeth!" said Piper happily as the girl pulled a chair up to their table. Annabeth didn't have a tray like the other two, just a little cup of French fries. She sat down next to Jason and eyed Leo suspiciously, like, Who's he?

Piper noticed Annabeth's gaze. "This is Leo," she told Annabeth. Leo sized her up as Annabeth did the same, "He's new here, a friend of mine," she said. Annabeth regarded Leo with startling gray eyes.

She smiled at him, but the grin didn't reach her stormy eyes. "Nice to meet you, Leo. I'm Annabeth Chase."

Leo gave her a little salute and a smile, her gaze making him feel uncomfortable.

Annabeth Chase was the kind of girl that struck Leo as intimidating. She had long, curly blonde hair to go with those gray eyes of hers. She didn't wear anything interesting, just a gray cardigan and a pair of cargo pants and sneakers, and had a messenger bag strapped around her torso.

Piper went on to tell Leo that Annabeth was a junior at Westfield Prep. She explained to him about how she was "super smart" and how she got straight A's and honor awards and all that stuff. Leo didn't really listen to the rest. The only thing he paid full attention to was Annabeth's endless staring. She wouldn't take her eyes off of him. Usually, a girl staring at you was counted as a good thing, but this was downright weird.

Leo was wondering how long she could keep it up without blinking before he noticed that the three of them were looking at him expectantly.

"Huh?" he asked. He didn't quite catch the question.

Annabeth looked at him, her face clear of emotion. "I asked if you were going to the party tomorrow," Annabeth paused to take a sip of her drink. "Are you?"

"Jason's not going," Piper announced. Annabeth's gaze shifted from Leo to Jason.

"What? Why aren't you going?" she asked in confusion.

"It's Reyna," Jason complained. "She wants me to go see a movie with her and her friends. I told her I had plans, but – " Jason sighed overdramatically. "I can't let her down. Not like last time."

Jason, Piper, and Annabeth all shivered, probably thinking about "last time". Leo watched the three with interest. Frankly, he didn't want to know.

Leo leaned back in his chair. "I'm going." He said to answer Annabeth's question. "Charlotte convinced me to. Did you get an invite?"

Annabeth opened her messenger bag and slipped out an invitation.

"Yeah," she replied as she held it up for him to see. "I'm going. I hope Charlotte doesn't mind a few more people, cause I plan on bringing some." Annabeth's eye's glazed over and seemed to fix on the wall behind him. She dreamily stared into space.

"I hope she won't mind Percy coming…" Leo heard Annabeth mutter as Piper rolled her eyes. Then, to Leo's confusion, Piper reached over and plucked a French fry out of Annabeth's cup. Annabeth continued to stare into space, unfazed.

Piper stuffed the fry into her mouth before leaning over to Leo and whispering, "Percy is Annabeth's boyfriend. He goes to Goode, on the Upper East Side. Say his name, and she'll go into daydream-mode," Piper jerked her thumb at Annabeth, who still appeared to be in La-la-land. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Your friends are weird," he whispered back, regarding Annabeth and Jason with wary eyes.

"Looks like you guys have something in common, then." Piper said smoothly. "You guys should get along swimmingly." Leo cracked a smile.

The bell rang, and everyone in the cafeteria quickly got to their feet. Leo stood, pushing his chair in as the students of Westfield pushed their way past him to the exit.

Leo pulled out his schedule. His next class was P.E.

"Aw, man," Leo groaned at his schedule in protest. "Seriously?"

Annabeth stood and grabbed her nearly empty cup of fries. She walked over to Leo and peered over his shoulder at his schedule.

"You'll have to hurry," she told him, popping a fry into her mouth. Leo turned to look at her. "The gym teacher can be a pain sometimes. She doesn't tolerate tardiness," Annabeth said with a small smirk as she pushed passed Leo and made her way out of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, man," said Jason, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You should get going. I heard she's extra mean this year." He sounded like he was happy to say it.

Piper patted Leo sympathetically. "Good luck," she said before she joined her two friends and headed out.

Leo shook his head as the three of them walked out of the cafeteria, talking and laughing and smiling. They were weird, but in a good way. As Leo headed off to gym class, he decided that he would have to look for them tomorrow.

Gym was horrible. He got there two minutes late, and the teacher made him drop and do fifty. Leo's arms were going to be sore for a week.

The rest of the day went by. Leo caught Charlotte right before school ended, and they walked out together. Then they went their separate ways, and Leo headed for home.

Leo opened the door to the apartment.

"I'm home!" he yelled into the house, and, unlike yesterday, Adam poked his head out from the living room doorway.

"Hey," said Adam. Leo dropped his backpack in its spot by the front door and headed over to where Adam was."How was school?"

Leo made his way past Adam into the living room. He plopped himself down on the couch, which made a loud, rubbery sound. Adam walked over and sat down on the armchair to Leo's right.

Leo grabbed the remote from the floor and clicked on the TV.

It was the news. Some guy had robbed a bank. Leo lost interest and turned to Adam.

"I got invited to a party," said Leo matter-of-factly. He pulled the now crumpled invitation out of his pocket and tossed it to Adam so he could see.

"It's from this girl named Charlotte I met yesterday. She's nice. She smells like apples," said Leo as he turned up the volume on the television. Adam's eyebrows shot up.

"I'm impressed," said Adam. "Not bad for your second day."

Leo snorted and turned his head back to Adam.

"How'd your interview go?" Leo asked. A shadow passed over Adam's face, and he didn't look so happy. Leo didn't need an answer. He turned back to the TV, where the news went to commercial break.

"You got lost, didn't you?" said Leo after a while with a smirk on his face. Adam grumbled something under his breath and left the room in a hurry.

Leo let out a little laugh before changing the channel to see what else was on. He heard the front door open and from the hallway. Then it slammed shut. Miss Neena wandered into the living room shortly after.

"Well," she said, dropping her bag on the armchair to Leo's left. She stuffed her keys into her purse and looked up at Leo. Then she let out a loud, long, un-lady-like burp.

"I give you a ten," said Leo as he surfed the channels.

"'Scuse me," she said with that Southern accent of hers. Then her hand went down to her stomach.

"Good Lord," she said, exasperated. "That was the longest brunch I've ever been to. I never want to eat that much food ever again." She dropped down on the couch next to him.

Leo turned back to the news. The commercial break was over, and footage of downtown was displayed on the screen. According to the reporter, there had been a break-in at some jewelry store, and there had been a fight. There was no major wreckage like last time, but Leo could see broken glass and rubble lying on the street. Leo listened in to what the reporter was saying:

" – local store owner Greta Frayer has some words to say on the incident."

The screen flashed to the face of a scared looking African-American woman.

"The things just swooped down from the sky and blasted out the front window," said the witness with wide eyes. "They were huge with black, inky skin and pointed teeth. I thought the store owner was dead for sure, but before the monsters could leave, Team Alpha showed up," the woman took a breath before continuing on.

"They had a standoff down by the end of the avenue, right where that huge pile of rubble is," she said, motioning to somewhere behind her. The camera zoomed in to where a ton of debris sat on the concrete. Yellow police tape roped off the area.

"Hydro took down two of them over there." She pointed to another spot. "Diamond and Morphman got five over there," she said. "Then Mage and Aero took on four. Masteria, their leader, led the whole thing, and they defeated them all. But then the weirdest thing happened, and the ground opened up, and at least twenty more came up out of the ground – "

Leo eagerly leaned in to hear what she had to say next, but the news reporter cut her off.

"News team 5 caught Team Alpha leader Masteria right before she left the scene."

The scene changed to the face of Masteria.

The leader of Team Alpha stood tall, proud and composed. She wore a gray spandex suit that was decorated with intricate designs, and a mask that hid everything but her eyes, probably to hide her true identity (supers did that sometimes; not everyone appreciated their powers). Leo listened in to hear what she had to say.

"My team and I managed to drive off the Lamiae, but they won't be gone for long." She said in a regal tone, addressing one of the many reporters on the scene. Her voice sounded strangely familiar, but Leo couldn't place a name. He leaned forward and listened on.

"It's best if civilians stay away from the downtown area until all of this gets cleaned up," Masteria told authorities. "We'll find out who's behind this right away, and will try to cover all of the damage we caused during the battle."

Right before the camera went back to the reporter, Masteria looked straight up at the camera.

Leo squinted at the screen for moment, and then took in a quick, sharp breath and pressed the "pause" button on the remote. The image froze, and the remote fell from his hands. Leo gaped at the television.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo?" he heard Miss Neena ask, but her voice was muffled, like she was speaking from far, far away. Leo brushed her hand away, his eyes not leaving the screen.

Masteria's eyes…they were gray. Stormy, intelligent gray. Leo didn't realize it at first, but he knew know. He knew that voice was familiar.

He knew Masteria, and Masteria knew him.

Masteria was Annabeth Chase.

DUN, DUN, DUN! Yay! It's finally done! This is the longest thing I've ever written: It's twelve pages and 6,121 words long. I assume the chapters will get longer and longer, assuming that I'll finish this with my goal of ten chapters. Well, I hope you guys liked this as much as I did! :)

Review and tell me what you think, por favor! It'd make my day! :)))

Thanks for reading! :D