Leo

"If you ask me,he should probably plead guilty. Play the innocent guy who's just trying to support himself and his sister because our dad doesn't support us and our mom..well I don't know."

As soon as I heard this,I squirmed. I still haven't told her the truth.

"When did you get into law?" I asked her,taking an apple from the basket and playing with it,trying to avoid her eyes. Penny shrugged.

"It's kind of interesting."

"Well now at least we have something to do. Try and find a loophole. We can still get Percy out. Besides,we're a bunch of young adults about to go to college. Well,almost all of us." Piper added,nodding at Nico. "But yeah,all we have to do is talk to this Ronald chap and sort this out."

The tension in the air slightly melted.

"There's still one problem. Mostly,they'll ask for a fine. If stealing below three hundred costs one thousand dollars...then stealing ten thousand.."

"Gee,you are a real ray of sunshine aren't you?" I snorted,trying not to damage the calming air around us "First things first. Talk to the Ronald chap,like Piper said."

"Wow Leo,you almost sounded smart." Nico teased,wearing a faint smile. I puffed up my chest in pride,but my mind was wandering.

...

Years before...

"Get him!" I heard them shout. Crap. Once,just once,can't things go my way? Silently cursing,I ran as fast as I could with my bag. Believe me,that's not easy. I felt like some overgrown penguin in an army jacket.

The guys were almost at my heels. Taking a sharp turn,I skidded off the sidewalk to cross the road. The police man blew is whistle at me. I wasn't on the zebra crosswalk. Now I always do my best to avoid police men,but right then I was really trying not to become Leo pudding on the streets on New York.

A car was racing right towards me. I looked to my left,stopping dead in my tracks as everything happened in a blur.

A skidding sound. Screams. A crash. When I opened my eyes,I saw the damage that I'd created. The car had skidded and made a harp right turn,crashing into a huge lorry in the process. I managed to blend into the oncoming crowd to escape the police man. A sick feeling rose in my throat. I had to make sure the diver was okay. When I reached the front,I almost threw up.

Blood. An elderly woman's head was rammed against the steering wheel i a quick attempt to stop driving. A young boy was sitting in the back seat,screaming at his mother to get up and crying. The police took him out as an ambulance arrived. Tears stung my eyes.

"What's your mother's name son?" a kind police man asked him. The little boy was crying,ad at that moment,so was I. I turned and ran as I heard the boy reply.

"Sally...Sally Jackson."

Annabeth

Thalia took a deep breath. For a moment,I felt a twinge of sympathy. The touch girl who showed no sympathy now looked as if she was going to cry under the gaze of our eyes. She sat down on the couch and we all followed,Leo and Piper pulling up chairs to surround her as if we were about to tell campfire stories.

"After I left my family around 9 years old,I was constantly on the run from foster homes and orphanages. My dad-our dad," she added,looking at Jason swiftly before looking away again "-is a powerful man with many resources. He caught me every time. And every time I would run away again. I wanted to take Jason with me,but my dad forbid me to even look at him. He told me that if one of his children was rotten,at least he had to make sure the other one wasn't."

Jason's eyes flashed with concern. I felt myself stiffen up. I know a thing or two about a parent who hates you.

"So I ran,and this time he didn't follow. When I was about 12 years old,I bumped into..into a friend who was on the run like me. We stayed together,keeping each other alive,until we met the gang." she swallowed "We couldn't beat or outrun them,so we had no choice but to join them. My friend never grew into it..but I intense training that they gave...I grew into it. I let out all my anger out. My friend however.."

She shook her head "He ran off. He couldn't take it. But before he left,he promised that he would one day find me. And that's the last I saw of him." She looked up at Jason "I heard that he was in New York,so I've been trying to track him down. See if he's alright,living a good life. But I can't find him. That's why I've been out often."

"'Thalia.." Jason said softly "You could've told us. We could've helped you."

She shook her head violently,avoiding our eyes "There's no use. He's not in the city."

"I don't mean to sound rude and insensitive and stuff," Nico said cautiously,"but what does that have to do with..with Percy?"

Thalia took a deep breath. "Years after he left,the gang still kept recruiting more and more members. There were hardly any girls. The ones who were involved-" Thalia winced "-Anyways,I learnt to stay strong. I was able to send out a message;Don't mess with me. The others took it in their systems and I rose up the ranks."

Thalia got up and began pacing slowly around the living room,clearly agitated. "The oldest members of the gang were friends with Percy's dad," she said,looking at Penny "Your dad backed out of some plan at the last minute,which resulted in the fire at your house,years ago. I was around..twelve years old when it happened to you."

"You knew about us." Penny asked flatly. Thalia bit her lip.

"Not really. But that was a really dark time for us. Our recruits were going missing,some of us turned up dead. The police somehow linked the fire to..to us. Most of us were caught. Now here's where it gets confusing." she said,putting her hands on the coffee table. Leo scoffed.

"Only here?" he asked,clearly shocked. I had to admit it;it was confusing from the start. Thalia ignored him.

"Now the ones who were caught,they were sent to prison. We couldn't get them out,mostly because we never tried. It was too risky. Some of the guys in the prison got out and well..they formed their own gang to fight us. And that gang recruited Percy."

"What?" we all exclaimed. Thalia put her hands up.

"Whether he really joined or not,I don't know. But the guys who are still in prison;they hate all of us. They hate the guys who escaped and formed a new gang because they never got them out. The thing is...I don't know whether these people are held in prison in France..or here,in New York."

"Oh my gods," Penny put both her hands on her head,looking around frantically "That gang helped him get the ten thousand dollars."

Thalia nodded "Yeah. So if Percy gets them in trouble-"

"All the gangs would round up on him. He won't be safe out of prison." Nico concluded. The air grew cold. I stared at Thalia. It never really crossed my mind that she was the oldest among all of us. If Nico had an equally scary older sister,Thalia's the right choice. She stood still,looking at us gravely.

"Yeah,but hat's not the problem right now." she announced,her electric blue eyes crackling with power "The remaining old gang members could be in prison with him right now."

Right after that perfectly dramatic bomb,we heard a phone ring. We all jumped. Penny bit her lip as she pulled out her phone from her pocket.

"Sorry,mine." she apologized,putting the phone to her ear "Hello?

We all waited as we saw Penny's expression change in seconds,from plain poker face to fear "I-what? Okay-okay I'll be right there." she put the phone back in her pocket. Apollo jumped up.

"Penny,what's wrong?"

My heart almost turned into ice and Penny replied with a shaky voice, "It's Percy. Something happened."