The day his parents were taken from him started like any other day.
Charlie hated to be cliche. He really did. But cliches are cliches for a reason. He woke up, he got dressed, and he ate breakfast. Today was saturday, so no school. He was alright with that. He liked school, but sometimes he needed a break. His father thought Charlie was crazy for liking school. But according to his mom, he never liked school. Apparently, he got kicked out of several schools before they met.
It made sense. Even he had gotten kicked out of school. It was only one time, and it wasn't even his fault. He was 10, and it was his first monster, before he even knew about the world of greek monsters. His parents gave him "the talk" that day, instead of at his 12th birthday like they planned. They began his training early. His sister, Sophia, always wondered where they went when they did this. She actually got to wait for her 12th birthday. Lucky her.
Despite my fathers protests, she learned to use a bow and arrow, as well as a knife for when she ran out of arrows. How his mom managed to teach her a bow was beyond him. 'Maybe dad's cousin taught her' he thought idly. Sophia came down a few minutes later. She grabbed several ingredients and began to make pancakes. 'Lucky her', he thought, 'she inherited dad's cooking skills'. He'd never actually seen his mom cook, but his dad tells him that she's terrible at it. When Charlie had asked what moms cooking was like, his dad had started using some very… colorful words… to describe it. He didn't get very far before mom slapped his arm and told him to stop. He had the good sense to look sheepish.
While his mom had taught Sophia archery and close combat, his father had taught him how to use a sword. He also taught Sophia cooking, and his mom taught him about battle strategy. They were a weird family. He was shaken out of his thoughts by Sophia saying that the pancakes were done.
"You remembered the secret ingredient, right?" Charlie asked. "Yep!" she replied cheerily, as she started picking up blue pancakes. She was always cheery. She was like a mini-dad, if his dad was a girl who knew archery and liked to wear dresses to school sometimes. His parents walked in and his dad sniffed the air. "What smells so good?" he asked.
"Pancakes!" Sophia told him proudly.
"They're blue right?"
"Of course! How else are we supposed to eat them?" she joked. His mom just shook her head. "I had my hands full when there was one seaweed brain in my life. Now there are two!" she exclaimed, pretending to be exasperated.
After breakfast, he decided to go out with some friends. He walked to the front door and yelled a goodbye to his parents.
"I'm gonna go hang out with some friends!" he called out
"Remember to bundle up!" his mom called back
"Alright!" he bundled up in his favorite coat and some pants. He checked his pocket for his pen(it was there, as always), and headed out the door.
That evening, he came back and took off most of his layers. He walked into the family room and saw Sophia playing some CoD.
"Are you supposed to be playing that?" he asked.
She glanced at him before going back to her game."Probably not, but they don't know I'm playing so…"
he sighed. "Where are they?"
"I think they went on a date night." she replied.
"Alright, I'll be in my room." he told her.
"Reading?" she asked.
"Obviously." he went to his room and opened his latest read.
About 20 minutes into his reading session, he heard the door slam open followed by a crash. Immediately, he got up and ran out of his room to the door. He took out his pen and prepared to uncap it.
He slowed down and peeked around the corner to the entrance hall. He was greeted by a sight that he did not like.
His dad was on the floor in a pool of blood. He was still breathing, but it was ragged and uneven. He was covered in cuts and scrapes. His mom wasn't much better, with more cuts and bruises. It looked like she was trying to staunch his dad's bleeding. Charlie put his pen in his pocket and moved out into the open.
"What happened?" he asked her frantically.
"We were a-attacked by a… by a huge group of monsters. We-... we managed to kill them, but… I think there are more of them coming…" she said, pausing to take deep, rattling breaths. She looked exhausted.
Sophia ran in with some bandages, ambrosia, and nectar. "This is all we have left." she panted. My mom cursed under her breath in ancient greek.
"Damnit, seaweed brain, I told you to get some as soon as possible!" She ate some ambrosia and then took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"Alright", she said at last, "we'll buy you some time, you two get on Mrs. O'Leary and get to camp half-blood."
Charlie was shocked. "WHAT? We're not leaving you!" he yelled. "We can help you fight, we ca-" his mom glared at him, effectively cutting him off.
"You will do what I tell you. Go to your rooms and pack some clothes, then head out and use Mrs. O'Leary to shadow travel to camp half-blood. Am. I. Clear?"
he gulped. "Yes, mom" his voice broke as he spoke. While they were talking, his mom and Sophia had patched up his dad and fed him some ambrosia. He groaned and blinked his green eyes open.
"Annabeth?" he asked blearily. My mom snapped her head down.
"I'm here, I'm here." she told him frantically. He made a half-hearted smirk, his teeth still blindingly white.
"Your cutting off the circulation to my fingers, wisegirl." she blushed and hastily eased her grip on his hand.
"Sorry" she whispered. He chuckled.
He slowly got up and looked at me and Sophia. He looked at mom and she nodded her head. He looked back at us.
"Has your mother told you what to do?" he asked us. Charlie and Sophia nodded. His expression hardened. "Then why haven't you done it yet?" he said in a dangerously calm tone.
they quickly scrambled up to run to their rooms. After packing some clothes and our toiletries, they ran back into the entrance hall.
He didn't notice before but there was some broken glass on the floor from a picture they accidentally knocked down. It was of us at a beach not too far from here. He picked it up and tucked it into his pocket.
His dad was up and had Riptide out. His mom had her sword out and at the ready as well. Annabeth and Percy looked at their children sadly. They pulled them into a hug. Charlie just wanted to stay like that forever.
After what felt like hours, they heard a noise and his parents broke the hug, whipping around to face the opponent. It was a man in gold armor, with a helmet that looked like what his dad had told him was a gorgon.
"Chrysaor." his dad spit out the name like it tasted bitter.
The man, Chrysaor, laughed. "Still remember me? I'm surprised." He was surrounded by strange dolphin men, some of them more dolphin than others.
"It was smart," he continued, "hiding out here, in the land beyond the gods. But it will also be your undoing." his mom had told him about that once. They lived in Alaska, and his mom said it was the land that the gods had no control over and could not go to. She said it was to get away from everything.
Percy looked back at them. "Go!" he told us. they didn't wait to be told twice. They ran. Charlie and Sophia picked up their backpacks and ran into the backyard, where they could call Mrs. O'Leary.
"Stop them!" he heard Chrysaor yell. "The master wants them alive!" master? Since when does he have a master?
Charlie whistled for Mrs. O'Leary and pulled out his pen, uncapping it. It transformed into a sword almost identical to his father's. Cheimaros, torrent. He got into a fighting position while his sister got out a small handle. She pressed a symbol and it transformed into a celestial bronze reinforced hunting bow. Vrochopoiós, rainmaker. She pulled an arrow out of her bag and notched it.
The first dolphin-man rounded the corner and got an arrow through the eyes. It fell and disintegrated. She pulled out another and shot the next one to come around the corner. She kept going while Charlie looked out for Mrs. O'Leary.
"I'm out!" she shouted after a minute. Charlie nodded and they switched places. The dolphin-men seemed to have realized they could charge in without getting shot, so that's exactly what they did.
He held his ground as they came at him. When they were close enough to him he struck. He was like a whirlwind of death,having spent almost 6 years training with his father. Sophia covered is blind spots while they fought.
'Block, slash, stab, block, slash, stab…' he chanted over and over in my mind. Just when they were starting to get overrun, they heard a bark. A huge shadow flew over them and landed on the dolphin-men, crushing most of them. Mrs. O'Leary had arrived. Charlie had never been happier to see that dog than now.
The remaining dolphin-men took one look at her and ran away. She turned to them with her tongue out and a joyful look in her eyes. Her tail was wagging and she moved to lick them. "Ooh nonno no, no, no!" he told her sternly.
She sat back and pouted. All of the sudden they heard a man's scream of agony and their mothers voice yelling "Percy!" They quickly ran around to the front of the house and saw Chrysaor standing in front of their dad with his sword stabbed through his body.
He pulled the sword out and their dad fell to the ground. Chrysaor turned to their mom and started towards her. His dad coughed and looked at them. "Run!" he managed to choke out.
They hesitated and he turned to Mrs. O'Leary and said "t-take them t-to-" he broke into a coughing fit, "-c-camp half-blood." he finished weakly. She, too, hesitated until he yelled "DO IT!" she looked startled and grabbed the children gently with her teeth, running around to the back.
Charlie and Sophia both fought against her, but she was too strong. She threw them onto her back, picked up their bags, and jumped into a shadow. Charlie's last image of his parents was his father bleeding out on the ground and Chrysaor standing over his mom with his sword raised. Then everything went black.