Chapter 1

A small girl hid under the table in the broken studio apartment she lived in with her stepmom, Gina, as lightning and rain surrounded her. She hated living here - it smelled like wet wood, weed, and unwashed dishes and she had no friends to play with or talk to. It was 3:40 pm; she sighed, it would be only 20 minutes before Gina came home and brought her anger from her work with her. Gina had relied on her good looks and youthful charm to make it through in life in her 20s, but after the girl's dad had died, Gina worked at a dead-end job as a clerk at a gas station and barely made enough money to sustain herself, let alone two people. Being the idiot Gina was, she often spent most of that money on drugs and alcohol and got wasted before he came home, barely making it up the 2 sets of stairs before getting to the front door of the apartment. And the worst parts about living here were that there were some days Gina would beat her and make her starve for no reason at all.

Why did it have to be her? She looked in the mirror as if looking to find the answers in her skinny reflection - she had done nothing to deserve this. Her real mom had mysertiously disappeared when she was a baby, leaving her alone with her dad, who was a famous rockstar. Life as the daughter of a famous rockstar did come with its perks - getting to travel across the United States, missing a lot of school, and best of all, meeting lots of cute boys. But she was thrown back to reality when her dad had overdosed on drugs one day and died of a heart attack. She had no other family except her stepmom, who would have left her on the street if it were not for the support money she got from the government.

She shook her head, it has almost been 20 minutes since she was lost in thought. Gina didn't let her go to school anymore in the fear that she would run away; her only goal everday was to stay as far away from her mom as possible until she passed out drunk on her bed. She heard the stairs screaming as her overweight stepmom made it up the stairs and prayed she had brought some scraps of food to eat. "DREW!" her stepmom yelled. "OPEN THE DOOR THIS INSTANT!" Drew shivered as she thought of what her stepmom would do today. As she pondered whether delaying her arrival would make it worse, she heard another set of footsteps climbing up the stairs. Her heartbeat quickened - who would have come to a worn down apartment in the middle of backcountry New Jersey at 4 pm?

"Hello, Gina. It is so nice to finally see the face behind a name. My name is Percy." The voice said. He sounded a little bit older, maybe 15 or 16, and really confident. Drew creeped towards the sole window in her apartment to get a better look. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT? FUCK OFF!" said Gina.

"I see greetings aren't your specialty, Gina. But that's okay, because today is not about getting to meet you. Is there, by any chance, a young girl in your apartment whose name is Drew?" the boy asked. He was tall, around 6' 3'', and had the most beautiful green eyes. His had a Mediterranean complexion, black messy hair, a chiseled jawline, and a muscular, lean body that was made for fighting. Drew wondered what boy like him would want anything to do with her. Not that it was a problem of course - he was just about the most handsome boy she had ever laid her eyes on.

Of course, he would have to get through Gina first. "There ain't NOBODY here with that name. I would hate to mess up your pretty face if you don't get out of here THIS INSTANT." Drew's heart dropped - of course only Gina could ruin this opportunity where a hot guy came looking for her.

"All right, all right, just looking" The boy looked in the window for a bit until he saw no signs of life in the apartment. Resigned, the boy started to leave until Drew realized that this could very well be her only chance to escape until Gina had died. Drew crawled to the door, opened it slightly, and said loud enough for her savior to hear, "My name is Drew."

Gina's eyes became wide - "DREW, YOU'LL STAY INSIDE IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" The tall boy narrowed his eyes, "Gina, Gina, Gina. Don't you know the golden rule?" He pulled out a chain from his pants and began to swing it in his hands. "Never lie to people. Now, if you want to make it to tommorow, you are going to let that girl go. You hear me?" Gina paled at the heavy titanium chain the boy was swinging so casually. But she regained some of her old personality soon enough. "You think I'm scared of you, boy? Bring it on!" Gina said as she put on brass knuckles that were in her pocket and ran towards Percy. He calmly sidestepped her, got low to the ground, and kicked her off her feet. He swung the chain in a criss-cross motion, tearing apart Gina's clothes and leaving large gashes in her stomach.

As Gina rose again, she roared and got ready to attack again like a very fat bull, angry that someone would dare attack her. Percy walked forward and said "You don't know when to stop do you?", and gave her a powerful punch to the jaw, causing Gina to fall down and her eyes to roll up, unconscious. "I don't think anyone will be missing her" he muttered to himself as he made his way to the door.

Percy broke down the door of the aparment and saw the young girl with torn clothes shivering in the corner. He took off his sweatshirt, leaving only his damp white tank top underneath. As he helped her put on his sweatshirt, Drew could see his broad shoulders and outline of his six-pack as she tried her best to not blush. She knew that she had given it away as the boy responded with a blush of his own and his shirt dried, as if by magic. "Hey, hey, don't worry. I promise you I will make sure you get out of this hellhole. But it's going to be kind of awkward without knowing your name."

"Drew" she found herself saying. "My name is Drew Tanaka."

"I am really glad you opened the door you know, I wouldn't have wanted a nice girl like you stuck here forever."

Drew couldn't stop herself from asking "Why?"

"Why did you come here to save me? No one else cared for the last 3 years when my stepmom would beat me? Why now?"

Percy looked at her with those gorgeous eyes again as her heart skipped a beat and she saw a tear finding its way to his chin. "I'm sorry" he whispered. He looked away as he asked "Do you believe in Greek Gods?"

Drew stared blankly as she tried to rack her brains for the names she had learned at school. "Zeus and Poseidon?"

"Well, yes. But there are other gods too such as Aphrodite, Hermes, Hera, and Ares, and, well let's just saw there's a lot. Your mom was one of them." He gave her a small smile that could have lit up a stadium.

"Did you know her?" Drew asked softly.

"Well not personally; I am not entirely sure who your mom is. But I know you must be a demigod, because you have such a strong aura, and since you were living with that thing outside, who I am guessing was a lady, your dad must have died." Drew nodded furiously.

"I am going to take you to a camp for people like us," he said. Drew personally thought anywhere she could see him more often would be a great place for her. "Is that okay with you?" Drew snapped out of her trance as she realized she had been staring at him for a minute. "YES! Absolutely. Please and thank you."

"I am also guessing you must be kind of hungry - I brought you a couple of guacamole burritos and a couple of apples and bananas. Admittedly, I did make the burritos myself and my girlfriend says that a tree could cook better than me, but personally I think she is just jealous of my cooking skills. Do you still want the burritos? I mean it's -" Drew stopped him and took the burritos. Her heart had dropped when she heard about his girlfriend. "Stop" she chided herself. "Of course a hot guy like him is going to have a girlfriend."

She scarfed down the burritos and thought they were amazing. Handsome and a great cook? His girlfriend didn't know how lucky she was. After they had sat down for a while and Percy talked and made jokes about his own horrible stepfather, Smelly Gabe, as Drew laughed, Percy asked, "Are you ready to get going?" Drew nodded and fell down as soon as she tried to stand up, the welts on the sides of her legs burning.

"Gods, I hate people who physically abuse their children. I should have killed her." Percy shook his head. "Let's just get you out of here before I actually do." Percy grabbed Drew by her waist and put her head on his shoulder as he walked down the stairs making sure to give a strong kick to Gina's head as he did.

Drew could not help but notice how strong his forearms and biceps were and how he smelled like the sea when she had went to Cancun with her father once. She snuggled in to get as comfortable as possible; opportunities like this didn't come ever day. She smiled for the first time in a while as thought to herself how lucky she was to have the chance to leave this place with a nice guy like him.

She thought to herself, "I guess a small nap couldn't hurt" as she put her head on his shoulder and had happy dreams for the first time since the time her dad had left. Percy smiled as he saw some of the color in her cheeks returning and couldn't help but notice how she had such a cute breathing pattern when she slept. After making sure she was asleep, he walked to the nearest beach and willed for the water to teleport him to Camp Half-Blood.