After the whole fiasco with the hikers, Percy was very careful. On one foray into Nome for supplies, he saw a news van. Not good. He slipped into the library. The front clerk nodded in greeting, which Percy returned. He headed for the computers. Finding an open one, he opened the web browser and typed "nome" into the search bar. A list of articles appeared, all revolving around the same thing.

Hikers in Alaska discover a Supernatural Entity

Possible New Legend?

The Aleutian Wraith- Everything You Need to Know

The list went on and on and on. Percy clicked on one and the full article popped up. A grainy picture of him in the cloak headed the article. Riptide appeared as a gleaming beam of light. Reading over it, Percy gathered some information.

One: The hikers shared the picture and the entire country, possibly even the world, knew about it.

Two: He had a new name. The Aleutian Wraith. Percy rather liked that.

Three: The hikers remembered where it was and were offering to give tours back to the place. His home.

Closing the browser, Percy double timed it out of the library. He was running down the street when a shout nearly caused him to fall over.

"Orion!" Percy turned towards the source. Jonathan, the mortal he had helped his first day. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Jon, thanks. How are you?" It never hurt to be kind with mortals.

"Not bad. Have you heard about this wraith in the wilderness?"

"A bit," Percy replied. "Sounds scary."

"Yeah, it does. Listen, folks here aren't too worried about it. Myself, I don't believe a lick of it. Lived here my whole life and never once heard about any sort of spirit living out there," Jon said. "No, what I'm worried about is tourists, conspiracy theorists, that sort of thing. They go absolutely bonkers whenever something like this pops up and you can be sure they're gonna come here. I know you're new and that you live out there. If you'd like, you can stay with us." Jon offered. Percy blinked. Every instinct told him not to. Easier to hide. Annabeth's voice echoed in his head, a lesson he had learned from her.

Camouflaging is better than isolating

Percy nodded.

"Let me get my stuff. Meet me at the edge of the woods tonight."

Percy lay on a couch and stared up at the dark ceiling of Jon's house. The mortal family was kind and the three kids loved him. The oldest was in eighth grade and the youngest was a year old. The middle child, in fifth grade, however, was something else. When Percy was first introduced, she shied away from Mrs. O'Leary. Percy figured it was because she was scared of dogs. But whenever he got close to her, she tried to hide from him. Odd. He tried not to think about it, but it kept nagging him. Quietly, he got off the old, ratty couch and crept upstairs. He opened a door a hair and peeked in. The girl was sitting on the bed, lamp on, and reading a book. Percy knocked softly. She quickly turned off the light and hid the book, thinking it was her parents. Percy walked in.

"Lila?" he asked softly. The girl shifted and opened her eyes. When she saw it was Percy, she hid under the blanket.

"Go 'way!" she said. Percy sat on the end of the bed.

"Lila, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Scary!"

"What is?"

"You are!" Percy frowned.

"How am I scary?" Her small head popped out. She opened a drawer on the nightstand and pulled out a crayon drawing. Percy recognized it as himself. The most notable details were the green aura around him, the golden glow from his heart, and Riptide at full size, green and blue energy emanating from the blade. Percy set the drawing down. He pulled out Riptide and uncapped it. The sword sprang to life. Lila stared at it. She reached out to touch it, but her hand passed through it. Her eyes widened.

"Why can't I touch it?" She asked.

"Because there's rules. But can you see it?" Lila nodded. "What is it?" Percy asked.

"A sword,"

"That's right." On the outside, Percy maintained a calm, friendly demeanor. On the inside was pure panic. "Lila, who do you think I am?" The book she was reading was retrieved from beneath the pillow. Percy noted it was a children's book about the Olympians. Lila flipped through the pages until she stopped. The page had a very familiar face on it.

"Poseedion," Lila said. "The ocean god." Percy shrugged.

"Yes and no. He's my dad. My name is Perseus Jackson and I am the son of Poseidon."

"Why don't you live with him?"

"Because I'm not allowed. I have to live here. There's a" Percy stopped. "There was a special place I used to live in."

"What happened to it?"

"Nothing happened to it. I left,"

"Why?" Percy had forgotten the incessant asking of small kids.

"Someone I knew died. So I left and came here,"

"Who was it?"

"Her name was Annabeth. Her mom was Athena, the goddess of wisdom,"

"Did you have a crush on her?" An innocent question. Percy looked down.

"No. She was my girlfriend," Lila was quiet before asking yet another question.

"Did you love her?" she asked quietly. Percy nodded, a single tear falling onto the floor. Lila patted his back.

"Don't feel sad, Perseus. She's okay. She's in Ee-lee-s-ium,"

"Elysium," Percy corrected automatically. He sighed.

"Lila, I have to go. I can't stay here, but remember this. You are special because you can see things your family can't. If you ever need help, pray to the gods. They'll hear you."

"Do you have to go?"

"Yes, Lila. I do." Percy left the room and went back downstairs. He gathered his stuff and wrote a note thanking Jon for his kindness. Then Percy disappeared into the night, not looking back.

He headed for his cabin cautiously. It was late, but that didn't guarantee he was alone. Sure enough, he saw the smoldering embers of a campfire near his home. Those damn hikers were back. Mrs. O'Leary snarled quietly when she saw the mortals in her territory.

"Howl," Percy muttered.

Because hellhounds are most definitely not normal dogs and because they're from the Underworld, Mrs. O'Leary's howl sounded like a banshee screech. As the unearthly sound echoed off the trees, Percy slipped into the camp. The hikers were waking up in fear and when they saw the black apparition hovering over them, they screamed like children and fled. Percy sighed. He hated antagonizing mortals, but they could be really annoying.

When Percy got inside, he flopped into a chair. There was a mess to clean up. Those stupid hikers had gone inside and trashed it. Time to start cleaning up.

I'm gonna post 2 chapters every time I update. It'll make it go quicker and you guys get a 2-for-1 deal on updates. -RFA