Hey everyone and welcome to the new story I've had in mind for quite a while. Meet 12 year old Persea Jackson, a daughter of Poseidon and Sally. The pairing isn't decided yet, but it will either be Persea/Luke or Persea/Kronos. Also, I'm unsure who Kronos will take as a host. Also this story can go two ways. The first way is Persea redeeming herself, the second is Persea staying on Kronos' side, hell bent on destroying all the gods, filled with vengeance and dying in the end from Kronos' true form, or the third, Kronos spares her and Luke as they forge a new life together, alongside the Titans.

I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON

Chapter 1:

"Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise you shall taste this bolt. And it shall be your last sensation."

Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone. I was alone in the throne room with my father.

Great. Just great...after all I've done...being falsely accused, losing my mother and almost my life and the life of my friends, that's the best he can do? I mean seriously?! I felt myself growing angry and bitter.

This was unfair. I stared at my dad, then back at the floor angrily.

"I understand you are upset, girl," my father told me, "But your uncle has the flair for dramatics."

"I have a name sir," I muttered feeling depressed.

I was only met by silence, half expecting to be struck down by my own father. I felt angry and bitter.

"Child," Poseidon gently said further angering me. He had called me a wrong doing and I swore I could sense some distaste.

"Sir," I said.

"Persea, look at me."

I looked up at him and met his sea green eyes. Apparently he could tell that I resented him with what he said.

"You must not let your emotions overcome you child," he told me firmly.

"You could've visited mom and I," I bitterly said. "Instead of leaving us at the hands of Gabe."

Now, you might think I had a death wish for speaking to a god like that and at this point, I could care less. I wasn't even sure if Hades released my mother. I could understand why some half bloods would feel bitter. Was this worse than not having a father or mother? Being blatantly ignored like that?

Poseidon heaved a sigh. "I sense you have some resentment towards me."

You think? I sarcastically thought, but didn't dare say that out loud.

"You must go to your mother child, for she has returned," Poseidon told me.

Inwardly, I was happy and I wanted to express my relief and happiness, but I couldn't. It was only shrouded by bitterness and resentment. My mom had been a victim of this. She was the only person who I truly loved with all my heart and due to some BS miscommunication, she was taken from me. She was forced to live with Gabe because of my dad.

Angry thoughts that are kept in your mind are extremely unhealthy and I could feel its full effects right now.

I gave no reply.

"I know this is all hard to take in. A hero's fate is never happy and I have brought you a hero's fate," Poseidon calmly told me as my anger anger and sorrow kept building. "I have not met such a mortal woman in a thousand years. I am sorry for bringing this upon you."

"I'd like to go home now," I bitterly told him.

He heaved a sad sigh. "I can't stop you child, but now that a choice will await you at home, an important one. I know you will make the right decision."

"I won't bother you again," I told him. "I'm sorry for..."

For what? Why was I apologizing?

I began walking out.

"Persea," my father told me as I looked at him to see him glowing with pride. "Do not misunderstand me. Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true daughter of the sea god."

That didn't help my mood one bit.

As I walked back through the city of the gods, the conversations stopped. The muses stopped their concert as the satyrs and people and naiads all bowed as if I were some hero.

I cringed, shaking my head as some of them looked offended.

I wanted to go home and visit my mother.

Fifteen minutes later, still in a trance, I was back on the streets of Manhattan.

I caught a taxi to my mom's apartment, rang the doorbell, and there she was—my beautiful mother, smelling of peppermint and licorice, the weariness and worry evaporating from her face as soon as she saw me.

"Persea! Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my baby."

She was the only person I wanted to see right now, though I longed to see Annabeth and Grover's face once more and I'll admit, I cried.

"It's unfair mom," I sobbed. "They don't care about us. Dad doesn't care about us. If he did, he'd be helping us. It's just not fair!"

I was obviously losing control as I began sprouting out nonsense, letting my emotions overcome me.

"Sweetie, sweetie," mom tried to comfort me. "I understand what you must be feeling, but..."

"SALLY!" came the sound of the voice who I didn't want to hear.

That pig...Gabe. Instantly, like a wave, anger overcame me. In the month I'd been gone, the apartment had turned into Gabeland. Garbage was ankle deep on the carpet. The sofa had been reupholstered in beer cans. Dirty socks and underwear hung off the lampshades.

I heard the pounding of fat footsteps as my hand went to Riptide, but my mother took my hand and held it, shaking her head. As he came to the entrance, he saw me and instantly he had a look of rage, his face redder than lava as I gave him a nasty sneer of my own. That caught him off guard for a second as his rage came back all the more quicker.

"You got nerve coming here, you little bitch. I thought the police—"

"Se's not a fugitive after all," my mom interjected though I could hear the icy tone in her voice. She absolutely hated cursing and Gabe just called me a little bitch. "Isn't that wonderful, Gabe?"

Gabe looked back and forth between us. He didn't seem to think my homecoming was so wonderful. "Bad enough I had to give back your life insurance money, Sally," he growled. "Get me the phone. I'll call the cops."

"What did you just say?" I asked, wide eyed. "Mom's life insurance money?"

"You shut the fuck up," he warned, raising his hands as if he was trying to hit me.

I was shaking with rage as my mom went in front of me defensively.

"Gabe, no!" He raised his eyebrows. "Did you just say 'no' ? You think I'm gonna put up with this little shit again? I can still press charges against her for ruining my Camaro."

"But—" He raised his hand, and my mother flinched. For the first time, I realized something. Gabe had hit my mother. I didn't know when, or how much. But I was sure he'd done it. Maybe it had been going on for years, when I wasn't around. Even more anger started expanding in my chest and I couldn't take it anymore.

"I HATE YOU!" I snarled and lunged at him, instinctively stabbing him with Riptide, dead set on killing this monster, which shook me to my core, but of course it did nothing.

He immediately grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against the wall

"PERSEA!" mom yelled and ran to Gabe, but he smacked her right across the face as my mom went down.

"I could kill you right NOW!" Gabe snarled as he tightened his grip on my throat as I couldn't breathe. I began choking and hacking, gasping for air. "You RUIN everything!"

I faintly heard mom call out my name as his buddies peeked out from playing poker. I smelled the booze and it was disgusting.

"Gabe, STOP!" mom gave a wail. "PLEASE!"

He snarled and slammed me to the ground, hard, dazing me as my mom kept on sobbing my name. I coughed, my face burning.

"You have ten minutes to get out of here," Gabe warned. "Or else, I will kill you and your mother, consequences me damned."

He stormed back to the poker room as I lay on the floor, catching my breath, still recovering.

"WHY THE HELL IS THERE WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOR?!" I heard Gabe snarl.

"I don't know!" Eddie replied. "The sink just exploded!"

"Shut the hell up Eddie!"

Mom carried me upstairs to my room which was a total pigsty. Even more than what it was before I had left.

She lay me on the bed as I took a minute to catch my breath, my throat still burning.

"I'm so sorry Persea," mom sobbed, holding me. "I'm so sorry."

"M-mom," I croaked, which only made her sob harder. "I-it's okay. It's okay. He hit you..."

"I had hoped to conceal that from you for a long time," mom said, shaking. "I didn't want you to worry."

My eyes glanced over to my desk to find a package as I pointed at it. Mom looked over there too, with teary eyes as she brought the package over to me. I read what it said on there and I instantly knew what it was.

I instantly rose up, wincing as my throat was still burning.

"Easy honey," she told me.

"Do you want Gabe gone?" I asked, my voice still hoarse.

"Wh-what?"

"Do you want him gone?" I asked again, a bit more forcefully.

She winced. "I don't know..."

"Mom that jerk has been hurting you," I told her. "You deserve better than this, can't you see? I want you to pursue your writing career, go to college, meet a much better man, live in a mansion! I don't want you to stay with this monster. I've met too much already."

"Oh, you are so much like your father," she told me, brushing my hair as I immediately tensed, hated being compared to him. I had no love for my father at all, nor any of the gods in Olympus. "He offered to stop the tide for me once. He offered to build me a palace at the bottom of the sea. He thought he could solve all my problems with a wave of his hand."

"Yeah," I sarcastically said. "How nice of him..."

"Persea..." mom frowned.

"I'm sorry," I sighed.

"I have to live it myself. I can't let a god take care of me…or my son. I have to…find the courage on my own. Your quest has reminded me of that," mom finalized.

"I will leave this with you then, in case," I said, with poison. "But please...turn him to stone. I do not want to see him EVER again."

Mom was stunned. She probably was thinking what happened to her sweet daughter, but we were interrupted by Gabe.

"Your ten minutes is almost up!" Gabe yelled. "Get the hell out of here!"

"I have to go mom, take care, please," I begged.

"Where will you go, Persea?"

"Half-Blood Hill."

"For the summer…or forever?"

"I guess that depends." We locked eyes, and I sensed that we had an agreement.

We would see how things stood at the end of the summer.

She kissed my forehead. "You'll be a hero, Persea. You'll be the greatest of all."

I did not believe her, after all, I was supposed to have hero's fate, a tragic fate. I mean, isn't that what my own father had told me? But not wanting to upset my sweet mom, I just nodded and kissed her back on the cheek.

I took one last look around my bedroom. I had a feeling I'd never see it again. Then I walked with my mother to the front door.

"Leaving so soon, you little shit?" Gabe called after me, laughing. "Good riddance. Get the hell outta here."

I had the mind to just walk in there and show him what I truly thought of him, but I was powerless. Maybe I can do what, have sink water splash all over his face? I can't jeopardize my mom's safety like that. So, with angry, evil thoughts and a lot of tongue biting, I ignored him and walked out the apartment.

"Hey, Sally," he yelled. "What about that meat loaf, huh?"

A steely look of anger flared in my mother's eyes, and I thought, just maybe, I was leaving her in good hands after all. Her own. I smirked.

"The meat loaf is coming right up, dear," she told Gabe. "Meat loaf surprise."

She looked at me, and winked. The last thing I saw as the door swung closed was my mother staring at Gabe, as if she were contemplating how he would look as a garden statue as I gave an evil grin. A part of me was shocked, wondering who in the world I was becoming, but can you blame me? Going through all this because of some misunderstanding? Being blamed for a crime I did not commit from my uncles Zeus and Hades, being played by Ares and almost losing my life multiple times. Zeus had sent Echidna after me, that terrible monster to test me.

He wanted me to die because of a false accusation. And what do I get for returning the bolt? A gift. Life. He let me live. No apology (which I should've not expected), and no thank you. The Greek gods pissed me off and my father saying those things to me and Gabe hitting my mom and almost killing me was the last straw. I can see why some demigods turned bitter.

I was at my most fragile moment...if Kronos persuaded me, there was a big chance of me abandoning the gods. I felt so helpless...so weak. I'll continue to live for what? To die? To be played by the gods like some pawn? With that in thought, I headed back to Camp Half Blood.

We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

I could care less about this. Annabeth, Grover and Chiron asked me why there was a bruise on my neck like someone had strangled me, but I only met them with cold silence, worrying them greatly, but they didn't push it.

None of the other campers really acknowledged me which was totally fine by me. We made shrouds.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls. Being the 'daughter' of...him, I didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make my shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle. I rolled my eyes. They seemed more hostile to me, I guess it was because I beat their pathetic excuse of a father. I didn't say that out loud though which was a shame. Anyways, it was fun to burn.

Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores. I saw my old Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

I did not care one bit, all of a sudden turning apathetic. I was mostly silent throughout all this with a look of poison in my eyes. I saw Luke giving me glances. At first, he seemed upset for some reason, then he looked sorry, then ultimately worried when I avoided eye contact from anyone.

Annabeth was giving me space as was Grover and no one sat down to talk with me about my feelings, it's like they didn't care. Luke looked like he wanted to, but something was stopping him.

The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive me for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me.

I gave a look full of poison back, catching some of them off guard.

Dionysus's welcome-home speech got me even angrier. So much anger in this chapter, right? "Yes, yes, so the little brat didn't get herself killed and now she'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday.…"

I abruptly stood up and left, mid-speech.

"Sit back down!" an Ares camper yelled at me.

"Stop being so freaking disrespectful!" another said as Clarisse was glaring daggers at me.

"Shut. Up," I gave a vicious snarl as everyone stared at me. I wanted to laugh at their reactions as they looked so stupid as I headed back to my cabin.

I moved back into cabin three, feeling lonelier than ever. Only Grover, Annabeth, and Chiron tried to make talks with me, but I gave them the cold shoulder to, telling them to leave me alone. It all peaked when I yelled at Annabeth to stop being nosy and to leave me alone. She gave me a look of disgust though I could see the sadness in her eyes and she didn't speak to me anymore.

The only good that came out of this was that mom's letter arrived a week after I got back to camp. She told me Gabe had left mysteriously— disappeared off the face of the planet, in fact. She'd reported him missing to the police, but she had a funny feeling they would never find him. On a completely unrelated subject, she'd sold her first life-size concrete sculpture, entitled The Poker Player, to a collector, through an art gallery in Soho. She'd gotten so much money for it, she'd put a deposit down on a new apartment and made a payment on her first semester's tuition at NYU.

The Soho gallery was clamoring for more of her work, which they called "a huge step forward in super-ugly neorealism."

But don't worry, my mom wrote. I'm done with sculpture. I've disposed of that box of tools you left me. It's time for me to turn to writing. At the bottom, she wrote a P.S.: Percy, I've found a good private school here in the city. I've put a deposit down to hold you a spot, in case you want to enroll for seventh grade. You could live at home. But if you want to go year-round at Half-Blood Hill, I'll understand.

I folded the note carefully and set it on my bedside table. Every night before I went to sleep, I read it again, and I tried to decide how to answer her.

On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine, except me. I just stayed in my cabin the entire time. Grover showed up once to tell me good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker.

He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human.

"I'm off," he said. "I just came to say…well, you know. Persea, I don't know what's going on, but please, take care of yourself."

I tried to feel happy for him.

"Stay safe out there Goat-Boy," I gave him a fond look and a hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"Persea," he bleated. "You sound like we'll never see each other again."

I looked out my cabin to see the fireworks going up in the air.

"Just stay safe, okay?"

"You too. Take care of yourself," he replied, gave me one last look and left.

I tried to convince myself that its prophecy had come to completion.

You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. Been there, done that—even though that traitor was that jerk Ares instead of Hades, who I thought still was equally worse. I don't care if he returned my mother, he acted exactly like Zeus. No love for him at all.

You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned. Check. One master bolt delivered back the arrogant king. One helm of darkness back on Hades's oily head.

A hero's heart resentment will bend. This line still bothered me. I know I resented my father, but what did it exactly mean when it said bend? I knew that line wasn't literal or else I'd be dead, but bend to what?

And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end. I had failed to save my mom, but only because I'd let her save herself, and I knew that was the right thing. So why was I still uneasy?

The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. I didn't burn any of my food for my father, against the warnings of Chiron. Besides the glares from the Ares and Athena cabin, every one avoided me. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. I got my own leather necklace, and I wanted to just chuck that thing away, but I didn't. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Daughter of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest she undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"

Only a few people awkwardly clapped and cheered. The rest just stood up.

"How pathetic," a member of the Ares cabin laughed. "Even I could get a better reaction than that."

There was some mocking laughter as I rolled my eyes.

"I prophesize she's going to walk away, without any friends! Oh wait, did I rhyme that correctly?" a child of Athena said.

"You know what?" I asked and flipped them off. "Fuck you all."

Even Luke was stunned at my outburst. I couldn't take it anymore and marched to my cabin angrily. The next morning, I found a form letter on my bedside table. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear Perris Johnson, If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round... I ripped the note apart, not bothering to finish it.

I knew what my choice was going to be. I was going to leave this place and stay with my mom. We could be together. She was the only person who I loved and cared about.

I decided I'd go down to the arena and do some sword practice, to clear my head. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport.

Just train. I told myself. I got to the sword-fighters arena and found that Luke had had the same idea. His gym bag was plopped at the edge of the stage. He was working solo, whaling on battle dummies with a sword I'd never seen before. It must've been a regular steel blade, because he was slashing the dummies' heads right off, stabbing through their straw-stuffed guts.

His orange counselor's shirt was dripping with sweat. His expression was so intense, his life might've really been in danger. I watched, fascinated, as he disemboweled the whole row of dummies, hacking off limbs and basically reducing them to a pile of straw and armor. They were only dummies, but I still couldn't help being awed by Luke's skill. The guy was an incredible fighter. It made me wonder, again, how he possibly could've failed at his quest.

Finally, he saw me, and stopped mid-swing. "Persea."

"Um, sorry," I said, looking down. "I just—"

"It's okay," he said, lowering his sword. "Just doing some last-minute practice. Hey, what's up? I know some of the Ares and Athena cabin are giving you a hard time, they can be jerks."

Luke noticed me looking at his sword. "Oh, this? New toy. This is Backbiter."

"Backbiter?" Luke turned the blade in the light so it glinted wickedly. "One side is celestial bronze. The other is tempered steel. Works on mortals and immortals both."

I thought about what Chiron had told me when I started my quest—that a hero should never harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, but it looked absolutely beautiful. If I only I had that, I could give Gabe the ending he truly deserved.

"It's absolutely beautiful."

Luke agreed. "It's one of a kind."

He gave me a tiny smile, then slid the sword into its scabbard.

"Listen, I was going to come looking for you. What do you say we go down to the woods one last time, do you want to talk?"

"Yeah," I told him, my guard lowered and I was still absolutely miserable. "Yeah..."

He looked at me worriedly then gave me a soft smile, rummaging through his pack and taking out some Cokes. "Drinks are on me."

I stared at the Cokes, wondering where the heck he'd gotten them. There were no regular mortal sodas at the camp store. No way to smuggle them in unless you talked to a satyr, maybe. Of course, the magic dinner goblets would fill with anything you want, but it just didn't taste the same as a real Coke, straight out of the can. Sugar and caffeine.

"Now you're talking," I told him.

He laughed as he put his arms around my shoulder, which must've been awkward for him since I was much shorter and younger than he was, by seven years, but he didn't seem to care.

We walked down to the woods and kicked around for some kind of monster to fight, but it was too hot. All the monsters with any sense must've been taking siestas in their nice cool caves. We found a shady spot by the creek where I'd broken Clarisse's spear during my first capture the flag game. We sat on a big rock, drank our Cokes, and watched the sunlight in the woods.

After a while Luke said, "You miss being on a quest?"

"No, I do not. In fact, I don't want any more quests," I glared at the sky. "Especially not by them."

Luke was surprised by my outburst, but gave me an understanding smile like he agreed with me. A shadow passed over his face. I was used to hearing from the girls how good-looking Luke was, and I agreed, but at the moment, he looked weary, and angry. Some girls might've thought that made him less handsome, but to me, I thought the dark looked suited him extremely well and I was head over heels.

His blond hair was gray in the sunlight. The scar on his face looked deeper than usual. "I've lived at Half-Blood Hill year-round since I was fourteen," he told me. "Ever since Thalia…well, you know. I trained, and trained, and trained. I never got to be a normal teenager, out there in the real world. Then they threw me one quest, and when I came back, it was like, 'Okay, ride's over. Have a nice life.'"

He crumpled his Coke can and threw into the creek and it was my turn to be a bit shocked.

One of the first things you learn at Camp Half-Blood is: Don't litter. You'll hear from the nymphs and the naiads. They'll get even. You'll crawl into bed one night and find your sheets filled with centipedes and mud.

"The heck with laurel wreaths," Luke said. "I'm not going to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House attic."

"You make it sound like you're leaving." Luke gave me a twisted, sly smile. "Oh, I'm leaving, all right, Percy. I brought you down here to say good-bye."

He snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at my feet. Out crawled something glistening black, about the size of my hand. A scorpion. I started to go for my pen out of instinct.

"I wouldn't," Luke cautioned. "Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce right through your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."

"Well then," I sighed, the surprise wearing off, though I could still feel adrenaline pumping inside. "Might as well kill me then. Don't let me stop you. Better than having a hero's fate."

I took out my necklace I had received and broke it in half, then tossed it into the river. Luke looked at me stunned.

"Persea...what?" he asked.

The scorpion's eyes never left me.

"I hate my dad," I deadpanned. "And after this quest, my feelings are confirmed. First, Zeus accuses me of a crime I did not commit. My dad leaves me and my mom in the hands of GABE who hits my mother and who almost strangled me, kicked me out of the house. I'm just a pawn...I'm just a part of their games. I heard a voice calling to me, in my dreams. I didn't want to listen to him at first, but I should have. They only build us heroes up to break us down."

I was ranting, on a roll while Luke just listened to me sympathetically.

"I have no love for my father," I continued. "He said it would've been better for me to not be born, that I would be met with a hero's fate. And then what happens when I risk my life and the life of Annabeth and Grover to return Zeus' stinking bolt? He allows me to live. No apology or even a thank you, which I should have expected, but that is just total...total..."

I cursed before, why couldn't I now?

"Bullshit," Luke told me sadly.

"Yeah," I growled. "So kill me Luke. I don't care anymore."

Luke was silent for a while and I could swear he was talking with voices inside his head. He whistled as the scorpion jumped up to my shoulders and I tensed, waiting for the sting. But the sting never came.

"He won't hurt you," Luke smiled.

I extended my hand as the scorpion jumped to it. "He's kinda cute, I'm not going to lie."

Luke chuckled. "Not the usual reaction when people see him, but..."

"Who says I'm normal?" I smirked.

"True," he now gave a hearty laugh, then turned serious. "I understand how you feel though. My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides and return it to Olympus. After all the training I'd done, that was the best he could think up. Hercules did it, but where's the glory in repeating what others have done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past. My heart wasn't in it. The dragon in the garden gave me this"—he pointed angrily at his scar —"and when I came back, all I got was pity."

I shook my head. "Typical."

"Right?" Luke dryly asked. "And they've done the same to you, I think even worse. I understand why you resent the Olympians now. I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then, but I bided my time. I began to dream of Kronos. He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that winter-solstice field trip, while the other campers were asleep, I snuck into the throne room and took Zeus's master bolt right from his chair. Hades's helm of darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. The Olympians are so arrogant; they never dreamed someone would dare steal from them. Their security is horrible. I was halfway across New Jersey before I heard the storms rumbling, and I knew they'd discovered my theft."

"Wow," I said, mystified. "Well, that caused my life to become a total hell, but in the end, in made me realize the gods don't care for us, so...I hate you for making me live through that, but thanks for opening up my eyes."

Luke chuckled, then looked at me sympathetically.

"But I have one question," I said.

"Yeah?"

Meanwhile, the scorpion was just chilling on my hand. It must've been extremely bored, being given the mission to sting and kill me, but now being denied it.

"Why didn't you bring the items to Kronos?"

Luke's smile wavered. "I…I got overconfident. Zeus sent out his sons and daughters to find the stolen bolt—Artemis, Apollo, my father, Hermes. But it was Ares who caught me. I could have beaten him, but I wasn't careful enough. He disarmed me, took the items of power, threatened to return them to Olympus and burn me alive. Then Kronos's voice came to me and told me what to say. I put the idea in Ares's head about a great war between the gods. I said all he had to do was hide the items away for a while and watch the others fight. Ares got a wicked gleam in his eyes. I knew he was hooked. He let me go, and I returned to Olympus before anyone noticed my absence."

Luke drew his new sword. He ran his thumb down the flat of the blade, as if he were hypnotized by its beauty. "Afterward, the Lord of the Titans…h-he punished me with nightmares. I swore not to fail again. Back at Camp Half-Blood, in my dreams, I was told that a second hero would arrive, one who could be tricked into taking the bolt and the helm the rest of the way—from Ares down to Tartarus."

"Oh wow," I winced sympathetically. Nightmares were not fun at all, and he had been given nightmares as punishment. I hate nightmares just to tell you and waking up all sweaty.

"Yeah," he shivered, "Kronos demands perfection. It's not an easy road Persea. The quests will be super difficult without any room for error, but he promises us a new Golden Age for all of us."

"I think that'll be for the best," I replied as he nodded.

"But I have a couple more things to tell you," Luke sighed. "I summoned the hellhound to make Chiron think the camp wasn't safe for you, so that you would be given your quest."

He caught me glaring as he raised his hands. "In my defense, I didn't know where our loyalties lied and as days passed, Kronos was sure that you would help the gods so he ordered me to kill you, but...the plan has changed. And the flying shoes...it was cursed and you were supposed to wear it."

"To be dragged to Tartarus," I shivered, remembering that. That pit was extremely scary and I'd hate to think what would happen if I was dragged in there.

"You would have died," Luke told me.

I should've been pissed off at Luke. I should have killed him then and there while his and the scorpions guard was down, but I couldn't because I understood. He was just a bitter demigod like me. And losing a friend...Thalia at that all because of the arrogant, controlling gods. He had tried to help me to make the right decision, to bring the bolt to Kronos, to let the Olympians tear themselves apart like they always do, but I didn't listen.

So I was punished. My mom kept on getting abused by Gabe and then stolen. Annabeth and Grover almost died as did I...multiple times without so much as a thank you. I deserve this punishment.

I looked down sadly.

"It's okay," Luke told me, giving me a hug as I blushed profusely. I didn't care if he was seven years older than me, I thought he was extremely good looking. "Kronos will cast the Olympians into Tartarus and drive humanity back to their caves. All except the strongest—the ones who serve him. So, are you ready to forge a new life with me? I won't abandon you if you do, I swear on the Styx."

Thunder rumbled as I stared at him in shock.

Next to my mother, Luke was the only person who truly cared about me.

A part of my mind screamed Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover!

But those voices were fading away.

"Yes...yes I am ready," I told him with stark determination.

He gave me a cruel smirk which I returned. "Then let's go...together. We will be greatly rewarded, that I know."

Luke grabbed my hand and slashed his sword in an arc as we and the scorpion disappeared in a ripple of darkness.