Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase, any other future mythology series Rick Riordan writes about, or the Rich Riordan Presents series. If I owned this series, I wouldn't be writing here. I am simply a humble fan, writing this for the enjoyment of other fans. Please support the official release.

Despite it supposedly being winter, the day was hot as hell. Or maybe it was just me? Luke, Victoria, and I had been running for a good ten minutes, the giant cyclops right on our heels. I started to get some perspective on the fact that my body produced a scent that seemed to be irresistible to monsters. Where ever I went, a monster wasn't far behind me. I attracted them like moths to a flame. They just wouldn't, or could, leave me alone.

It all started on the bus. Luke, Victoria, and I took one bus to the edge of the city, while Bianca and Isaac were going to take a different bus. Bianca and me being children of the Big Three, it wasn't wise for us to travel together, and since Bianca had the group of three last time, I figured it was my turn. The driver made the announcement that this would be the last stop and he would be turning around, and he expected all of us to be off his bus by then.

I just stood up when BANG! Suddenly I was hearing ringing and I was weightless. At first, I thought I was flying, but I was sure I was the only one on the bus who could do that. Other passengers were up out of their seats. They were flying over them... Oh. Duh. The bus tipped over. They weren't flying- I crashed into solid metal, slamming my shoulder into it.

The pain was sharp, but the experience was worse. I died the first time around in a bus crash. The last thing I saw in my last life was the side of the bus as I collided with it. The same thing that just happened to me. What if I died again? Would I be given a second chance, or would I just end up in the Greek underworld?

Thankfully I survived this crash. I pulled myself up from a seat, my ears ringing and my head pounding. I looked around at the other passengers, but they were all moving. It didn't look like anyone was dead. The bus was on its side though, so it was going to be hard to get off. The bus door was on the ground now. I looked over for Luke and Victoria, hoping one of them would be able to help me up, but they weren't there. Great, I'd have to pull myself up-

They weren't there. Luke had been sitting right beside me. Victoria was in front of us. Maybe they had been thrown when the bus tipped over, but no. I couldn't find them anywhere. They had been on the bus. They had been on the bus!

I willed the wind to break one of the windows above me and to shield me from falling glass. Then I willed it to take me to the top. "There she is," a smooth voice spoke. "That's our girl."

A man was standing above me on the road. He was wearing a black and blue duster, and I could see muscles bulging through his shirt. His brown hair was spiked, like some rocker from the eighties. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, despite the early, it was in the morning. It made him look like a douche. He had his foot on Victoria's chest, holding the daughter of Apollo down. He held Luke by the throat as if he was a sake of potatoes. He smiled at me.

"My master would like to speak with you, Thalia Grace. Come with me quietly. Or I'll kill your friends." Luke started to struggle, but the man just squeezed harder. "Don't even try it, son of Hermes. With one quick FLICK of my wrist, I could kill you."

I wet for my mace, and his head jerked towards me. "I wouldn't do that, daughter of Zeus. It would be so simple to snap his neck. Or cave in this boy's chest." I froze. "That's a good girl. Take your hand away from your jacket. Hold both of them up."

I followed his instructions.

"Now, Thalia Grace, you will stay right there. My servant's approach. When they arrive, you will come with us without a fight." I nodded and used the motion to distract him. He looked me in the eyes as I nodded and I pointed my finger at him.

"What about Victoria and Luke?"

"... If you come with me quietly, I'll leave them here unharmed. They can continue with their quest to your little camp."

"How did you find us?" I asked.

The monster smiled. "Your scent, Thalia Grace. The children of the Big Three have scents so overpowering, that you attract monsters from all over. If it wasn't for that, I would have never found you. I guess we can thank Zeus for this one."

I took a deep breath and from the center of my gut, there was a surge. Electricity surged across the skin of my hand and I knew I only had one chance at this. The sensation in my gut got tighter and tighter, like a coil under stress. It was ready to burst and when I locked eyes with the monster, it frowned.

"Your eyes... Is that lightning running through your eyes-" I unleashed the bolt. It struck him in the chest and rocketed him backward. He let go of Luke before he was shot off his feet. My hand burned from where I fired, but when I looked at it, there wasn't so much as a blemish on my skin. Huh. Was I lightning-proof? Provided it wasn't one of my dad's lightning bolts, I might be lightning-proof. I expanded my spear and touched the bracelet, the replica of Aegis coming to life. Luke flinched at the sight of it, but he turned away, back to the forest where the monster had disappeared.

"What do you know what monster that was?"

"It wasn't a monster, its- gods! I hate that shied," Victoria said, looking away from it so fast I was afraid he might have thought it was medusae's head.

I ignored the outburst. The shield wasn't pretty to look at, but now certainly wasn't the time. "What do you mean that wasn't a monster?"

"That isn't a monster. That's Wayde Newgram."

"Who's Wayde Newgram?" Luke demanded to know.

"He's a demigod like us. A son of Ares," Victoria said. "He tried to approach us before. He wanted Bianca to come with him. Something about a master needing her.'

Kronos. That had to be Kronos. Before Thalia or I was discovered, the titian lord might have thought Bianca was the only Big Three kid in the world. Of course, he would want her.

I might as well have died," the voice of Wayde Newgram called. He appeared out of the trees, dusting off his duster. "That was clever, Thalia Grace. I'm impressed."

"How are you still standing?"

He gestured to his duster. "I killed the Nemean Lion. This was my spoils of war. It looks good on me, doesn't it?"

"It would look on me," I fired back. At that moment, I decided I wanted his duster. "Why don't you hand it over before I have to hurt you?"

"Hurt me? Daughter of Zeus, you couldn't hurt me if you tried." He pulled a celestial bronze sword from his back. As soon as the blade touched the air, it ignited. "Do you like it? This was a gift from dear old dad. It's the same sword I'm going to use to cut his head off."

Luke was rigid, ready to attack. His eyes were looking at Wayde's sword and I knew he wanted it as much as I wanted that duster. Wayde kept me and Luke in view.

"You're going to cut the head of the god of War?" Victoria got up slowly. I noticed Wayde wasn't looking at him. Maybe he didn't think of Victoria as a threat, or maybe he was stupid, but either way, that was a mistake. "When my master comes to power, he's promised me revenge. My father let my mom die. My brother. So I'll take vengeance for them and tear Olympus down. Who gives them the right to rule the universe? No one. The gods took it, because who was going to stop them?"

"You think your master would be a better ruler?"

"Look at the world, Thalia? Human war, disease, famine, hatred, and so many other atrocities. Look at the gods, fighting and bickering among themselves! They have a duty to the world as its rules and look what they have allowed done to it?"

"That's called free will, Wayde," Luke cut in, his own sword in his hands. "The gods can't order around like slaves."

"When the gods decided that they were the ones who would rule the universe, it became their responsibility! They've ignored the world for too long. Why shouldn't someone else sit on the throne? Let someone better rule the universe."

Victoria fired an arrow. Wayde deflected it, but it exploded on impact, releasing a purple powder into the air. He breathed in the fumes... And started coughing violently. "Where... Cough! Cough! Cough!... Did you go!"

He turned to face us, but I could see his eyes were puffy and red. He didn't see us and he started swinging his fire sword around. "He can't see or hear us!" Victoria said. "But that won't last long! We need to run!"

"Run?" Luke shouted. "Look at him? He can't see or hear us! We can take him!"

I agreed with Luke. Now was the perfect chance to take him out. Then I saw headlights in the distance.

"Are you stupid? Remember what he said about friends coming?" Victoria yelled at him.

That must be them. "She's right Luke." I took one last glance at the duster Wayde was wearing. I wanted it. I really wanted it. Oh well.

I dashed the tree line with Luke and Victoria. I didn't know how long we were running, but we didn't stop until I was ready to keel over from exhaustion. I might be a half-blood, but that was too long of a run. I leaned up against one of the trees, trying to catch my breath. Luke was likewise using a tree to prop himself up. Victoria was on her knees, heaving. "H... H... Hades," she groaned out. "I never thought I'd see Wayde Williams again. I was sure he was dead. We were all sure."

"Well... He's not," Luke said. "He's someone over there, looking for us. He had a nice sword. Did he have that the last time you saw him?"

"Yeah. It was a gift from his father the summer before he left camp. The Hephaestus kids have been trying to recreate it, but none of their swords last as long. Or burn as hot."

That's when I noticed it. The light crept through the shadows of the forest. It wasn't a mere flashlight, it was brighter than that. It was like a street light or a flashing neon light. The trees obscured the source, but I took out my spear and pointed it ahead.

Victoria looked at me. "Thalia. Wait. Don't go... Wait for us..." She could hardly speak through his gasps.

I shook my head. "I'm going to go investigate. I won't go too far. I promise not to engage." It wasn't like I felt up to engaging any enemy

Before Victoria or Luke could protest, I crept through the foliage. I moved as quietly as I could, though when I pushed the branches aside, it did make noise. Not too much though. Hopefully not enough to alert whatever it was over there. When I poked my head through the foliage, I was stunned. Right in the middle of a small clearing was a building. The large sign was lit up in neon red and green lights, displaying numbers six and nine together... Was that some kind of a joke? Really? Sixty-nine?

Next to the large sign was what looked like a gas station. The gas pumps were under an awning. With how close the trees were, I doubted any cars were going to be coming here. Not like they were ghost cars or could phase through trees. Behind the gas pumps was a mini-mart. I couldn't see anyone in the front of the mini-mart, not even behind the counter, but it looked like it was stalked. The store didn't appear to be hooked up to the power grid, so where it got its power was beyond me.

We could all use something to eat. At least to drink and if there was no one manning the store. The store is out in the middle of a forest. Where no one would find it. Where they sold gas to cars that couldn't come. It was a trap. Oh yeah, it was a trap alright. Knowing the gods were out there and one or two of them might have it out for me, I wouldn't put it past one of them to have put it here. I imagine Hera hates my guts because I was her husband's kid and after what she did to Hercules... Which I think is terribly unfair. Thalia and I weren't the ones who decided to go knock some random woman up and have children with her. Why should Zeus's kids be the ones who were punished? Maybe she should have a word or two with her husband.

Then again, didn't she try something like that? He hung her over a pit if I remembered right.

I was careful to go back to the others quietly. Just because it looked like there was no one there didn't mean there wasn't some kind of monster lurking inside. It was a trap set for us, no doubt about it. When I told the other two, they agreed.

"I want to see inside of it," Luke said. I gave him a look. "It might not be a trap. It's suspicious, without a doubt, but that doesn't mean whoever put it there might have bad intentions."

Victoria stood up and stretched. "Come on. Let's go see this sore."

Luke grabbed her. "We haven't decided that we're going to see it."

Victoria shrugged him off. "We have to investigate. I'm hungry, tired, and thirsty. We can at least see what the shop is doing all the way out here." Without waiting for us, she walked off in the direction of the shop.

"We can't let Victoria go alone."

A bell ran when we opened the door. Like I had seen, the store was empty. I could hear the freezers running at the back, and the air conditioning going, warming the room up. Yet there wasn't a soul in sight. Didn't Percy go to some strange monster store in the second book? I hope we hadn't stumbled into that place. I remember it having different brands, but when I checked them, all the brands were normal.

"You've arrived!" I rounded on the balls of my feet, pointing my spear at a man who wasn't standing in that doorway a second ago. The door looked like it led to a back area, but I would have heard him come into the room. Unless he has some kind of quiet powers. Who would need supernaturally quiet powers? A predator.

"Who are you?" I demanded as Luke and Victoria readied their weapons.

He held his hands up. He spoke with a bad stereotypical American accent: "I'm the owner, operator, and proprietor of this establishment. And you are Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus. Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes. And Victoria Walker, Daughter of Apollo. You see, I've been waiting for you. Why don't you go some of my foods before we talk?"

Did he think we were stupid? "How do we know it's not poisoned?"

The manager, owner, and operator snorted. "If I wanted to poison you, I would certainly go about it differently. Why would I lure you into a store that shouldn't be here merely to poison you? Where you would have your guards up, waiting for someone to poison or attack you? I have more creative ways to kill you if I wanted to."

I went rigid. The man looked between the three of us. "I don't want to kill any of you. I've been waiting a long time for Ms. Grace and Ms. di Angelo. I'm so glad the two of them are here?"

The two of them were here? I looked around. We were the only ones in the store.

"Why are you here?"

"What do you mean, Victoria?"

"Why are you out here? In the middle of nowhere? Close to where Wayde had attacked us."

The guy smiled. "That is easy to answer. I knew where Wayde was going to attack you."

"You knew he was going to attack us?" I demanded. "You want our help and you didn't think it was a good idea to warn us?"

"Want your help? Daughter of Zeus, you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I need you. Well, I do, but you need me. Maybe even more than I need you. This is a business transaction. I will trade you food, drinks, a safe place to sleep for the night, and guaranteed monster-free for the next two days. In return for nothing more than a single strand of your hair. Until we have agreed to do business, I owe you nothing. That said, I was confident that you would overpower the son of Ares. Or at least escape from him."

"So you want... My hair?"

"Of course, my dear. I'm not doing this for free or out of the goodness of my heart."

I snorted. I couldn't put my finger on why, but I had a feeling this guy wasn't the kind of man who had any goodness in his heart. Luke stepped forward, partially obscuring my view. I wanted to curse the idiot. If this guy was a monster, I doubt there was anything I could do to hurt him, but I didn't like not being able to see him.

"Why do you want her hair?" Luke asked.

"That's the question, isn't it? Why don't you go get some snacks and we can talk about it after?"

"Why are you so insistent that we take something?" The ghost sighed. "Well, aren't you the paranoid one? I just told you that I needed you alive to do something for me. If I kill you, your hair will be useless to me."

"There are things worse than death," Victoria said. "Are all demigods this paranoid?" the dead man asked. "Fine. Maybe your friends will help convince you. Bianca? Isaac?" the monster called.

Sure enough, Bianca and Isaac came from the back. Isaac was drinking a large bottle of coke and Bianca was munching on some chips. I stared in between the two of them. "When did you here?"

"After they were attacked," the owner said. "By three cyclopes, if you can imagine. They ran until they found my little shop. At the time, it wasn't here you see. I've only recently looked at it."

Bianca swallowed and gave us her trademark smirk. "You three look horrible."

"We were in a bus when it fell over."

Isaac laughed. "Well, you look."

The owner looked between the five of us, then back to Victoria, Luke, and me. "I take it that you three know about making an oath on the River Styx?"

We nodded. I knew about it from the books, but Bianca told me about it a few nights ago. So I had a reason to know what it is.

"I swear by the River Styx, that if Thalia Grace gives me one of her hairs, I will extend my full hospitality to her, Luke Castellan, and Victoria Walker. I will feed you no poisoned food or water. I will not try and harm you in any way, shape, or form. I will give you a night's rest here, where I promise no monsters will find you. And I will make that no monsters attack you for the next two days after you leave here. My spells won't last longer than two days, I'm afraid."

I looked at Bianca and Isaac. "What about them?"

"I had already sworn an oath to them. The same one I gave you."

"... Why do you want our hair?" I asked.

"To complete my collection. I had a strand of hair from a child of nine Olympian gods and the hair of one of Artemis's hunters. All that I'm missing is a hair from the children of the Big Three to complete my collection. Well, from a child of Zeus and Poseidon now. Bianca di Angelo was kind enough to give me one of her hairs."

This sounded creepy. Like really creepy. Bianca looked very uncomfortable, even though she had apparently given up one of her hairs to him.

"Why do you want all these hairs for?"

"They're the catalysts for a spell I wish to perform."

I gripped my spear tighter. Electricity crackled over the blade. "Let me get this straight, you want me to give you my hair for a spell? What could you do to be with a strand of my hair?"

"Your hair, willingly given? A lot, daughter of Zeus."

"Then why would I give you a single piece?"

Luke tensed at my side, ready to fight, but Victoria seemed to have decided to defer to Bianca. Like she and Isaac always did.

"I swear by the River Styx that I will not use your hair to cause you harm, Thalia Grace. Nor will I use your hair to cause anyone or anything harmful. I swear to only use it as the catalyst of my spell, one time. After which, if any of the hairs survive, I will destroy them."

"... And if you want to use them to end the world?" I asked. Sure, using hair to end the world sounded stupid, but this was a Greek fantasy world. I suppose anything could happen.

The manager sighed. "A very paranoid bunch. I swear on the River Styx to cause no harm with my spell. Harm to anyone or anything."

I looked over at Bianca and Isaac, drinking cold soda and eating my favorite flavor of chips: sour creme and onion. I couldn't see anything wrong with the way he worded his oath...

What the hell! If Bianca had given him her hair, then I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't. Plus I was hungry and I'd love a good night's rest for once. Without having to wake up to watch shifts. Plus I didn't miss the new, clean clothes that Bianca and Isaac were sporting and the fact that they both seemed to have taken a shower. A shower sounded like heaven right now...

So I, painfully, plucked a hair off Thalia's head and handed it over.

To this day, I still couldn't tell you why I gave him that hair. Why I didn't put up more of a fight or refuse? The longer he talked, the more hazy everything became, and after a while... It all sounded so reasonable. I couldn't help going along with it.

That night I dreamed of the past. The year was nineteen eighty and I was a demigod named Gus, Son of Hermes. He was driving down the street in an old sports car that looked like it was straight out of the nineteen eighties. It was the same kind of car that James Dean had driven and died in and Gus did not own that car.

"Where did you get this car from?" a very beautiful girl was sitting in the front seat next to him. She had strawberry blonde hair and she looked like she came right off of a California beach. She also looked like a model, no, that wasn't right. She was THE model. She looked like she belonged on the cover of every magazine. If Gus told me she was Aphrodite herself, I'd believe it.

Gus smirked and changed gears as he drove and pulled onto the highway. "Would you believe me if I told you I bought it?"

The girl laughed and it sounded like music. "I wasn't born yesterday, Gus."

"About one hundred miles back, there's a place called Valdez Auto. Let's just say the guy who brought this baby in was the same guy who drove my mom off the road."

"That rich asshole?"

Gus nodded. He had used his money and connections to get out of trouble. A week after his mother was driven off the road, the bastard was out of prison and free as a bird. "The very same. Unfortunately for him, this car was his only way out of Texas."

The beautiful girl circled her hair around her finger. "So he's going to have to call a cab?"

"He's going to have to make a call and have daddy wire him money."

"Why does he need to do that?"

Gus leaned across the seat and opened the compartment under the dash. Green American bills fell out, all one hundred dollar bills. They were going so fast that the money started to blow out of the car but Gus didn't seem to the car. He just laughed.

"You are a naughty boy. Isn't he going to make your life miserable?"

Gus snorted. "What is he going to do? What can he do? My mother is dead and that was the only power he had over me."

"Get you arrested? Buried under a mountain of legal debt?"

"He can try, but we're going back to New York baby!"

"That's not going to stop his money."

"His money doesn't mean crap in Camp Half-Blood. Once we cross the border, they'll never find me. Besides, Chiron taught me how to control the mist. If a mortal police officer finds me, I'll just make him forget why he stopped."

"You sound like you have everything all figured out."

Gus shrugged. "I told him what would happen if he did anything to my mom. I'm not done with him yet. I think I'll stick to camp for a year and let things cool down. Then I'll make his life miserable."

Gus meant what he said. He really was going to go out of his way to make the drunk man's life miserable, even if it killed him. Having a determined child of Hermes as your mortal enemy wasn't a good thing.

The girl pouted. "Why are you talking about Ricky so much? You should be talking about me. I came all the way from California to see you and this is how you act? Are you sure you don't have a crush on Ricky?"

I could feel Gus gagging. "No way, babe. Ricky isn't my tip. You're right up my alley."

The girl frowned. "Then why are you talking about Ricky so much? You should be talking about me!"

I thought Gus was going to get angry. He just lost his mom to this Ricky guy and this girl was trying to make it about her? That's messed up. Yet all that Gus did was laugh. His anger melted away with the breeze in his hair. It wasn't completely gone, but the anger was only smoldering right now.

"Sorry, Daphne, you're right. Enough about Ricky and his owe so important daddy."

"My mom and your dad are way more important," Daphne said. "And I'm way more important than both of them to you. Right, darling?"

"Right. So right. Some might say, too right? Can someone be too right?"

Daphne giggled. "Of course, people can be TOO RIGHT. Just not me. No matter how right I am, it's never enough, because I'm that right."

Daphne looked like she was going to continue, but something in the dash compartment caught her eye. Now that all the money was gone, at the bottom was a small black box. Daphne picked it up and examined it. It looked like a ring box.

Daphne waved the box in the air. "Were you going to purpose to me?"

"Of course, I was going to purpose to you, babe, but I haven't picked out a ring yet. Where did you get that?"

Daphne gestured to the dashboard compartment. "In there."

"In there... DI IMMORTALS!" he cursed. "I think I might have taken that from Valdez Auto!"

Daphne looked at him in surprise. "... This is the first time I think you've sounded like you regret stealing something."

Gus shook his head, his eyes snapped on the road. "I've never stolen from someone who I didn't mean to. Old man Sammy and his daughter have been very good to me."

Daphne's eye twitched. "Daughter?"

Gus hurried on: "She's nice, but if you put her next to you, I might run into her. Because as far as I'm concerned, she's part of the wall!"

Daphne nodded. "Good. You may continue."

"Old man Sammy has been very good to me, babe. I took Ricky's money from his shop, but I made sure not to take the money he already paid for his car. I didn't want to take anything from Sammy. I'll make sure to get it back to him. Will you put it back?"

Daphne shrugged and put the box back in the dash compartment.

Author's Notes:

I hope you have enjoyed Chapter 3 of TGO: The Lightning Thief!

A lot of this chapter has actually been ripped from my old fic and re-proposed for this story. Without going into spoilers, being attacked on the bus, and finding the shop are very important events down the line. I ported over this scene and altered it because of how important this scene would be. You might not know for a very long while, but down the line, this will come back. Of course, this time the shop has a different owner, and she is effectively an OC, but those changes don't matter much. Until we are ready to reveal why that is all we will say on this scene!

And a special thanks to batmanuchia, my reviewer last chapter! You're awesome!