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

I woke up in the middle of the night. No dreams I could remember, besides the face of the black-haired boy, the one named Percy. No Luke, no Annabeth… Thank god. Or gods. Immediately, I glanced out the window to see the camp spread out beyond the cliff, and the mini forest only a hundred or so feet away. Everything was illuminated by the moonlight.

I was very aware of my growling stomach. I crawled out of bed and stretched. Instantly, the bed starting making itself.

I laughed incredulously. "No way!"

In barely any time, the bed was made perfectly, as if I'd never been there. I frowned. I guess, in some cases, an automatically neat bed was cool, but if I were ever... I dunno, kidnapped or something, no one would be able to tell if I'd slept in my bed or not.

I remembered Freak saying something about how the apartment changed with what you wanted. Maybe I could make my bed messy. The moment I thought that, my bed sheets ripped away and got tangled with each other, my pillows spilled over on the floor, and my comforter was pushed back carelessly.

I like it better neat, I thought to myself. My bed re-made itself, in an almost sheepish manner.

I headed downstairs for some food.

When I opened the fridge, there we mounds of stuff to choose from. I decided on a juice-box and a sandwich, which was already made. The baggie it was in even had a little note taped to it, saying "Welcome! We are your 'caretakers' while you reside in the Underground! But don't worry, we don't always watch you. We're proud of you, and we can't wait to meet you! With Love! -Kat and Klaws."

I snorted. Wow. Was my mind so deprived of motherly affection that I had to make all this up? That was one really scary thing about the apartment: I couldn't tell what was real and what I just wanted to be real.

"Mew!"

"Agh!" I almost dropped my food when I turned around and saw two tiny kittens, one orange with green eyes and white paws, and one pure black with violently blue eyes. They were eyeing me accusingly.

In a voice like a little girl's, the orange one spoke.

"MEW! Can you pass me a can of tuna? You didn't eat it, did you?!"

The black cat rolled his bright eyes (or at least tried. Cats don't really do very well at the whole 'rolling eyes' thing. They mostly just roll their heads.) and spoke in a colorful deep voice, sounding like someone who might be eighty or ninety.

"Kat, shame on you! This little devil is an intruder in the apartment! Quick! Call the others!" His fur bristled defensively.

I frowned, "Uh, I live here… And I'm gonna go now… Goodbye!" I tried to head back to bed, but I was shocked with sudden pain as I turned my back. Sharp little kitten claws, like being stabbed by toothpicks, digging into my back.

"Ahh!" I fell to the ground, as did my sandwich, which landed all disassembled.

"Oh, Klaws, detach yourself, she's the one we were waiting for!" The toothpicks retracted, but there was still a little pain. I pushed myself into sitting position and rubbed my shoulder. I glared at the little cats and willed my apartment to make them disappear.

The black cat called Klaws gave me a look of disgust, "So dirty," he muttered. "Smells like shampoo. So unsanitary. Demigods, don't they ever learn the tongue is the cleanest tool you can use to bathe yourself?"

I scowled at the kitten I'd originally viewed as cute.

Kat hopped down from her perch on the couch and said, "Welcome, Dark One! This isn't Klaws's first Guardian to watch, he is just simply... Well, I am helping him for a reason. Problems of the memory. I apologize."

I nodded, though I still didn't understand anything that was going on, in the slightest.

"S'kay. So... Who are you exactly? Are you even human?"

Klaws hissed, "Do you even have to ask? Can't you see? Holy Zeus, I've been in kitten form since the year seventeen thirty-three!"

"I take that as a no." I said, wrinkling my nose.

Kat pulled back her whiskered kitty lips and bared her teeth in what I assumed was a smile, "Well done, child of Athena, for pointing to of which is the obvious." For a moment, I wondered what was up with their english fuck-ups. Suddenly Kat frowned, but not quickly enough to stop what I was saying.

"Ah, great." I said, "So this place is perfect, if you don't include the fact that there are two sarcastic little kittens in my living room!"

"I see you've quite gotten used to calling this place yours in the time that has been short that you've been here," and then he muttered in a not-so-quiet way, "Rich brat."

I realized that with these things around, I might be forced to involuntarily wear a scowl on my face at all times.

"Child of Athena, I'm sure of it," said Kat, "Yet she smells of something more... Klaws, do you smell it?"

Klaws sniffed the air. His bared teeth became hidden once more, and somehow, his eyes became wider.

"I... I know this." He said, like he was on the verge of tears. Only, cats can't cry. Right? "Damn you, loss of brain matter!"

"Never fear," said Kat softly, "We discover this strange demigod for who is she in time, you'll see."

I frowned. "Is that a bad thing? What do I smell like?"

Kat looked agitated. She paced back and forth before glancing at me again. "See, I have not used the english language in quite some time. I was stationed in Bulgaria for years at the Guardian headquarters... I can not discover the words to tell you the smell." She meowed in frustration.

I was tired again. I was hungry. And I was confused. I couldn't take anymore loose strings and unanswered questions. Other guardian stations, the monsters that apparently attacked while I was unconscious, my extra smell (maybe it was my sweat or something?), my parents, the therapist, the secretary, Freak, Percy, Annabeth, Luke, and Gillian. All of these things that made no sense. The guardians barely made any sense, let alone the whole Greek thing.

I never liked not knowing things, either. It seriously damaged my already tiny ego. So I rubbed my eyes, wanting to crawl under the comforter upstairs again, and told them I should get back to bed.

Klaws stood in my path,"Oh, but no. Your training must begin today. You must always be on guard, child. This is the hour we wake, down here. Eat, and get dressed before the thief comes."

"Thief?" I asked.

Kat sneezed, and I almost peed my pants, it was so cute. "Awwww!" is what I said, rather than going to the bathroom on the spot.

Kat gave me an irritated look. "Kittens." she said, "Are not cute. Not once you learn their disgusting bathing habits…" With that, she stalked out of the room with her tail held high.

Klaws glared at me some more. "Hey," I said to him, "I've had kind of a sucky forty-eight hours. Could you please lay off me?"

Klaws muttered, his voice suddenly deeper and more serious, "You've had a most horrific lifetime. Quite unusual, yet common all the same."

I stiffened, but said nothing.

"You don't know me." I told him.

I held his gaze. "I do know, I do not merely think. Your eyes. They are light and sad. As well as your reactions. You flinch a lot... Too much, in fact." He shook his head, and for a second he looked bewildered.

"I apologize for being so harsh, demigod.. Well?! Are you going to get ready for training or not? There are clothes laid out on the bed of yourself for you."

"Uh-uh yeah."

"Wonderful. I'll be in our Kat Kabbana." I don't even... Did I wish for this? Or maybe my brain just enjoys torturing me. Freak was right. In some ways, this apartment was gratifying. In others, I found I didn't know what to believe or not.

I grabbed a granola bar, and nibbled slowly. I wasn't hungry, after talking to Klaws. You're too fat, anyway, said my monster, the one I manage to push deep down most of the time.

Just then, the door of my apartment burst open. For the second time that night, my heartbeat sped up and I whipped around.

In the doorway was a tall, lean boy with short, curly blonde hair.

"Another surprise!" I muttered angrily, "Lovely!"

The boy had a little smirk on his face, and he raised his eyebrow at me.

For a moment, the two of us just stood there.

"So..."

"Ah, right! My names Connor." He waited. "Oh." I said, dumbfounded. "I'm, uh, Sam."

Connor frowned. "That's kind of a boy name, right?"

I shrugged, "It's short for Samantha. I guess I just don't really like the long version."

He nodded, "So you're Athena's kid, huh?"

Again, I shrugged. "I guess. If gods exist... And I suppose it's the only logical enough explanation to believe... kind of."

"Stated like a true daughter of Athena."

"Is that a compliment?"

Connor shrugged, "Depends on who you are. It probably isn't if you're Malcolm or Annabeth, from above grounds, haha. Speaking of which, are you guys like sisters or something, you and Annabeth? You look alike, and not in the normal way. Like twins."

There was a moment of silence as I thought. Puzzle pieces.. Everything I was hearing, it was all like pieces of a puzzle, jumbled with some parts missing. I needed them all to see the big picture. I'd always like puzzles, but I felt now was a very inappropriate time for them. I just wanted to know, I didn't want to have to figure out.

I motioned for Connor to come in. I pointed to the couch, "Sit down, now." His brow wrinkled, "Why?"

"I'll tell you in a second." I plopped down next to Connor after shutting the door.

"You know-" He said, looking a little uncomfortable, "I'm only supposed to be bringing you to the arena and back."

"Just tell them you had to wake me up, or I hadn't eaten. We'll think of something. They'll go easy on me."

He looked skeptical, "Maybe."

"Connor," I said, heart beating wildly, "I need you to tell me everything you know about Annabeth and Luke."

"Wait, Luke as in Castellan?"

"I think so. Both blonde hair, Luke has blue eyes, Annabeth has grey eyes, like mine?"

"Yours but darker. I can tell you more about Luke. He's my brother."

I raised my eyebrows, "So you grew up with him?"

Connor laughed, "No, no. My half brother. You know? Our dad is Hermes."

Crap. Not as helpful.

"Well, tell me what you know."

Connor, "Why are you so interested?"

"Please! I'll explain later, I swear!" I pleaded.

He sighed and thought for a moment. "Well, both Luke and Annabeth have been at camp for like, five years. Luke has a scar on his face, from a quest he went on some time ago. Um, Annabeth is maybe your age. I think Luke is like, nineteen. But yeah, they ran to Camp Half-Blood together, along with a satyr and the daughter of Zeus, Thalia. She's the pine tree on the hill-"

"Another long story?" I assumed.

"Ohhh, yeah."

"There seems to be a lot of those."

Connor chuckled,"Trust me, you have no idea."


Gillian

I shivered in the cool late-February air. The sun was rising. We'd been waiting for hours.

I turned to the satyr next to me. His name was Carson.

"When is he calling?" I asked him.

Carson shrugged, "Soon. We think we found something pretty amazing." There was a flash of a smile on his cute face. I grinned back.

Being the only kid of Dionysus of the Guardians, I was usually called upon in the forest to do some extra work. It was tiring, but I enjoyed it. I usually helped free animals from poachers a little outside of camp borders, or saved dying plants. This was an exception.

Today, Carson had rushed me away from Sam and Freak blabbering about another satyr who'd gone on a mission and happened to find a rather powerful demigod. Like Big Three powerful. This was huge news.

We hadn't had a Big Three kid since Thalia, daughter of Zeus, and she, well.. everyone knows she died. Or I guess she's still alive, somewhere in that tree. In a sick kind of way, we wondered how this new kid would be killed, when, and who he was, anyway.

Carson was ranked pretty high among satyrs, so the two of us would oversee the meeting, and report back to my father. Chiron was already with the satyr on duty, surveying the demigod.

Suddenly, the air in front of us glowed with energy and formed a misty screen.

A soothing female voice said, "Please insert one drachma." Carson tossed in a drachma.

"Thank you," said the voice, and the screen faded into the face of an orange-haired satyr with an acne problem.

"Carson!" said the satyr, relieved. "I'm sorry it took so long. It took forever to get him out of the room!"

Carson smiled, "S'alright, Grover."

Grover turned to me. "Hey. Gillian, right?"

I nodded, "Yep. And you must be Grover?" I grinned at him. "So, big news tonight, huh?"

Grover nodded vigorously and tried to smooth down his wild curls.

He leaned closer to the screen.

"He's definitely super-powerful."

Carson raised an eyebrow, impressed. "So do you think.. Do you think he's a Big Three?"

Grover frowned, "I dunno. I really can't place it... But he smells, really really potent. Kind of salty, actually. He's got a lot of energy. He'll be a good fighter. His ADHD is really bad."

"What's his name?" I asked Grover.

Without hesitating, and with a hint of pride, Grover said, "Percy. Perseus Jackson."