Per usual, I am not the owner of Percy Jackson or Maximum Ride. All rights belong to their respective owners.

Percy-Chapter 1

Imagine this: a clear sunny day on a clean beach with the ocean slowly lapping at the sand. Beautiful and serene. Almost calm enough that you could sleep your day away here. Now imagine all of that, but picture a 90 pound bird girl coming at you with her size seven sneaker aimed directly for your face. Yeah. This was training de la Max.

We probably spent the better part of the morning on the beach training.

The flock had arrived at the camp with little trouble. Of course, after the big battle at the School, demigods didn't mind inviting them into the ranks. Travis and Connor had been the first to offer them a bed in the Hermes cabin; it wasn't as crowded as it used to be since the gods have kept their promises to me. Max refused. A: because she barely knew them and B: because I already offered them beds in my cabin. Afterall, when Tyson was with dad, I was the only person in the cabin.

Poseidon wouldn't mind.

School was also in session for me, which meant that I'd be home on weekdays. So, in reality, the cabin was free for them to use while I was gone. The only one who didn't live solely on camp was Nudge. As soon as she found out I was going to school she bugged Max to let her have another shot at being a normal teenager. I wasn't sure what had transpired between the two, but it didn't take long before I was asking mom and Paul if Nudge could live with us for a while.

Mom had no problem with having another girl in the house, especially one with as many stories to tell as Nudge. I didn't mind her being around too much. Except for when she asked me about every 'cute guy' she saw at Goode. I couldn't help her too much considering I wasn't exactly Mr. Popular. Even with the occasional girl flirting with me; Percy Jackson was still considered a 'nobody' by high school standards.

"Percy, focus." Max shouted as I narrowly avoided getting her foot plastered into my face. "I thought your ADHD helped you in battle."

"It does." I told her. "I'm just thinking."

"Uh oh." She teased before charging at me with another attack.

I deflected her fist with the heel of my hand only to be met with a foot to my gut. Max's enhanced strength sent me tumbling through the sand. It flooded through my clothing; my shirt, socks, and pants were now loaded with the stuff. As anyone who's ever gone to a beach could imagine, it's not exactly comfortable. My wings protested painfully as I rolled head over heels a good yard away from her. She laughed.

"So much for the 'Hero of Olympus' title. Come on, Fish Bait. I know you can do better than that."

I slowly got to my feet, shaking as much of the sand from my hair and clothing as possible. Was I holding back? Maybe. I didn't mind most nicknames she gave me: Water-boy, Gill-Bill, Aqueduct, but "Fish Bait"? Lame. I imagined myself having a link with the water lapping at the beach, I could almost visualize the invisible current between me and the ocean. The drain on my energy was starting to ebb off a bit, I was getting stronger. Max may have thought she knew all of my tricks, but I still had a few more up my sleeve.

I was just getting warmed up.

I let Max be the one to make a move. She pushed herself off the ground and into the air, trying to use the sun to blind me. She once again took aim and dived at me at maximum speed. Unfortunately for her, I also had enhanced speed. And I was not going to go rolling across the beach again. I sidestepped and used my wings to pull me far away from her. Max hadn't noticed yet because I left a perfect copy in my place.

Sometimes having access to an infinite supply of water and then having enhancements that, well, enhanced those powers came in handy. Somehow, I found it a lot easier to do more complex things with it. It wouldn't be a lie to say I was proud of myself. I watched as Max's fist sank into my copy's face. She could only give a half yelp in surprise as the rest of her body followed her hands lead. The copy sank into the sand with a floosh.

"Did that classify as better?" I asked as I hovered above her.

"Neat trick." She rang her drenched hair out and bushed the wet sand off her skin. "You're definitely getting good at that. Have you noticed any other change? What about you being able to telekinetically destroy things?"

My mind took me back to the School exploding. What if I had done a lot worse? I hadn't tried it since that day, I was afraid that I'd end up doing more than make a building explode. I knew that could happen if I didn't have perfect control over my abilities. Or perfect control over myself. They were still fixing things since I made Mt. St. Helen erupt.

"There's really nowhere safe to try it out, Max." I told her. I squeezed my pinkie finger in hopes that Annabeth was able to sense, how I was feeling, but I don't think Death's curse worked that way. "I could hurt someone."

Max's eyes wandered to the water, "There is the ocean. I'm sure its teaming with abandon ships and stuff. The water could absorb some of the explosion too."

"And what if I, I don't know, cause a tsunami?"

"I'm not saying do it without restraint, Percy." She huffed, her brown eyes darkened with annoyance. "But it's probably the best place to try this. Without the immortality, it could be pretty taxing on you. Besides, the world has enough problems without people thinking World War III is starting."

I frowned and stared out towards the calmly swaying ocean. How would Dad feel about me randomly blowing things up in his domain? Max was still standing on the beach, tapping her foot impatiently. She wasn't going to let up. I knew the flock always checked out their power. They wanted to know what they had at their disposal to defend themselves.

She just wanted me to be prepared.

Max would be a good daughter of Ares, or maybe Athena. Though her kick first and ask questions later ideology made me lean more towards the god of war. The look on her face told me she wasn't going to relent. With a sigh I moved to hover over the ocean and let myself drop. The waves sprang up towards me as if they were welcoming an old friend.

I sat for a moment enjoying the clarity that I seemed to feel in the ocean. It felt as if time were moving slowly. The water was cool, a refreshing change from burning energy on the surface. Max crashed into the water next to me with a flop. She smiled at me and pushed me farther down in the water before taking off.

She and the flock had gills. It was weird for me to wrap my head around even after all I've seen the School do. My mind wandered back to the fish girl I had seen at the School. What kind of lives would their victims have if the School never existed? Maybe none of the kids would have ever been born. I knew that Jeb was in fact Max's biological father.

Is there a chance she would have never been born? Or perhaps, Jeb could have been a real father.

Fang's mom had been told he died after his birth. I felt sick when I realized that could have easily been me. What had stopped Jeb from taking me? Poseidon? I imagine my dad could probably tell if something happened to me. He may have even sought Hades if he was told I was dead. Is that why Jeb hadn't tried abducting me when I was a baby?

Or maybe it was for a different reason?

I did my best to shake what if scenarios from my mind and focus on Max's form swimming ahead of me. Whenever overly curious sharks would get near her, I'd shoo them with a flick of my wrist. They'd give me an apologetic look before taking off as fast as they came. It wasn't that I thought they'd hurt her, with me around they were docile, but I doubted Max would see it that way.

We were about eighty miles offshore before Max and I found a sunken ship. It was probably an old fishing ship. There were cranes holding the tattered remains of nets, its hull was split in half. The wood was turning green with mold and it was slowly being encased in barnacles and other things you'd find on a sea shelf. Fish and sharks all circled it mundanely like traffic in the city. You know, exactly how you'd expect an old sunken ship to look.

Max made some hand motions that told me that she wanted me to blow it up. Seeing all the marine life that had turned it into their home, I wasn't sure I felt okay doing that. There must be something else. Something less…populated. I didn't want to be known as the jerk son of Poseidon.

My brunette friend saw my hesitance and sighed the best she could under water. It mostly came out as a series of bubbles and echoey grumbling noises. The two of us went off in search of another-more abandoned-boat. Or something on that order. Max and I eventually found a ship that sat on the edge of a deep fissure on the ocean floor. It was painted green and black with half of a company logo stuck to its side. It looked like one of those big shipment liners. There were even giant metal shipping units still sitting on the deck.

It was relatively abandoned.

"Let's check this out." Max mouthed and dragged me along as she swam towards it.

As we got nearer to the ship, I could tell why fish and other marine life hadn't taken refuge in it. There was a sickly bubble of filth that seemed to surround the ship. One end was letting out a small stream of oil, the water around the area was a murky gray. Max gave a disgusted grimace as we swam closer and closer to the wreck. I could sense something was leaking from some of the containers as well. It felt as if I were walking into a toxic waste dump.

I didn't know how long this had been here or what had been shipped, but I felt annoyed that no one came to retrieve whatever toxic stuff was leaking out of the ship. The disgusting feeling became even worse when we were on the deck. I didn't want to touch anything. I felt as sickened by the water around me like I did when would Gabe puff cigar smoke into my face. How much of the sea life was being exposed to the toxins?

Max tapped me on the shoulder and made a bubble motion with her hands. I obliged and surrounded us with air. Thankfully, I was dry and none of that gross water stuck to me, the same couldn't be said for Max. She shivered in disgust before we began walking to one of the nearest units. It did have some algae on the handle, but other than that nothing seemed to be interested in it.

"What do you think they were shipping?" Max asked me and tried to clear off the label on the door. "There's something familiar about the company logo…."

I let our air bubble envelope the door of the shipping container. The smell oozing from the container was sour and metallic and it left a gross taste in my mouth. It didn't make me feel as bad as I had felt around Polybotes, but it was still nauseating. She reached forward to open the container, but I stopped her; almost puking at the idea of whatever was inside being given free reign.

I had a feeling it'd be worse than the oil spill in the Golf Coast.

"Whatever they were shipping, it's not good. It has probably been scaring all of the fish off." I frowned as I eyed the other containers around us. Max scowled, giving the container an irritable punch, as if it were the container's fault it was carrying environmentally damaging stuff. "I definitely am not going to blow this up."

"Yeah, I don't think your dad would appreciate any more pollution in his domain." She agreed, "Lets…Gah!"

Before I could even process what happened, something barreled through the bubble and dragged Max out. The toxic stew around me flooded back in, but I was more worried about Max. I frantically scanned the endless ocean that surround me, searching for any signs of her. Whatever had taken Max was fast, but it didn't look like any sea life I had ever seen. A mer-person maybe?

I desperately listened for her; a struggle, a grunt, anything that could indicate where she had gone. If there were fish around, I'd ask for their help, but whatever had been carried on the boat consequently scared off all the marine life. Or worse. I dove towards the crevasse. Maybe she had been taken down there. While I didn't doubt Max's ability to defend herself, I was worried. Times like these made me wish I had Angel's telepathic abilities.

As I came closer to the pit in the ocean, a surge of water shot up the wall of the underwater valley. I felt myself pushed back towards the boat. An odd, waterlogged giggle filled my ears. I whorled around to find the source but saw nothing. I knew I wasn't alone; I could feel my stalker's eyes boring into me. It was probably a monster evaluating how good of a snack I'd be. Or if it'd be worth facing my father's wrath if it ate me.

"I remember you." A voice song-sang. It didn't sound like they were talking, more like it did when a fish and horses would speak to me. "You're that boy from the lab. The one who is shiny. Why are you so shiny?"

"It must be my glowing personality." I retorted. "How about you stop hiding and show yourself?"

"Ahhh, your voice." I could feel that whatever I was talking to was circling me. "I've longed to know what it sounds like, it's wonderful! Say more!"

A small, skeletal-framed girl swam from the darkness; she had long brown hair, luminous yellow eyes, blue scales covered her body, and fins protruded from her limbs. She looked familiar. But where had I seen her before? She grinned, her shark-like teeth gleaming as she swam closer to me. The clothing she wore was tattered and could be more accurately be described as rags.

The girl tilted her head, "You don't remember me, do you? Though I guess you had other things to worry about. But don't worry, Shiny, I won't let those monsters hurt you."

It was a bit freaky to hear her voice, but not see her lips move. That should be old hat by now, but nope, still bizarre. I raked my brain trying to remember who she was, and then it hit me. The girl back at the school, the one in the fish-tank. Why was she here? I noticed that something had been tacked to her ear. A tracker. Something like marine biologist would put on a shark to record its activity. She had to of been out here since before I destroyed the school.

That had been months ago.

"No. I remember you." I told her. Her pointed smile became even more twisted, I watched as her gold iris shrank, her already large pupil seemed to swallow all the color. Kind of like a cat that saw something it really wanted. "Have you seen my friend?"

She tilted her head to the side, "There are no friends down here. No, only food."

My gut twisted. Was her humanity dissolved by living in the ocean for so long? I doubted that she killed Max, but for all I knew, my friend was unconscious on a coral shelf somewhere. The girl giggled and circled around me, chirps and other noises escaping her. She'd swoop in close and quickly to brush her fingers through my hair. Even if Riptide could have an effect on her, she was too quick for me to react.

"You aren't food, Shiny." She cooed as if I was a cute little kid. "You are treasure. You will live with me. I will take care of you."

"Sorry, but I have a girlfriend." I told her and dodged her attempt to grab me.

I swam back up, towards the deck of the boat. The girl followed, muttering "Shiny" as she did. Maybe that was how fish saw me-glowing like a god. I remember Hazel had told me that she had thought I was one. That I had a powerful aura. Whatever that meant.

Me and the fish-girl swam relays around the containers on the boat. I was trying to get a good angle to stand my ground, but she was fast. She wasn't even bothered by the pollution that surrounded the boat. It was probably part of her mutation; they wanted her to be able to survive in even the harshest environment.

"SHIIIIINYYYYY!"

The girl pushed herself and barreled into my midsection. The two of us landed on the deck and slid towards the cabin of the boat. She tried to pin me down, but I managed to push her off. My arms earned a few scratches from the action.

She growled; bubbles rippled from her mouth like foam on a rabid animal. When she lunged once again, I kicked her in the face. Hard enough that she flew back fifteen feet and crashed into one of the containers on the boat. It gave a creek as it inched away from its original spot. The whole ship moaned and teetered on its perch. There was a horrible cracking sound as the rocks beneath began crumbling.

The shift caused the shipping crates to slide towards the dipping end of the boat.

"Oh, no." I groaned. A container gained momentum and came barreling towards me. I commanded a current of water to push me out of the way; the container flew by and zipped off the edge. The boat wailed as it leaned further and further into the fissure.