Seven year old Samuel Jones decided a long time ago that he didn't need anyone else. He didn't need the other kids at the orphanage with their constant hatred, teasing and sneers. So what if he enjoyed reading more than playing their stupid games? So what if he was moved two grades ahead? That was no reason for them to treat him like something they scraped off the bottom of their shoe. They were just jealous that he was so much smarter than them.
He didn't need the therapist who kept saying that he could say anything and that she would listen. She listened but she didn't listen. Otherwise she would believe him about the monsters. Instead all she did was say things that didn't mean anything. The monsters were real! He knew they were. He didn't need her constant looks of concern and the medication that made him feel sick and didn't even DO anything.
He didn't need the adults at the orphanage with their constant looks of pity. He hated that look. The worst though is when they would look at him in fear. It's not his fault that strange things happen around him. He didn't set Jason's bed on fire. He didn't even have any matches and he told them so. They just didn't believe him. It's not his fault that Sarah's doll melted or that Peter tripped and fell into the wall breaking his arm. He didn't touch them! That didn't stop the adults from blaming him though and fearing how much further he would esculate.
He didn't need parents. So what if he was never chosen. So what if they always returned him within a week if he was, he didn't want them either!
No, Sam decided a long time ago that he didn't need anyone else. He would take on the world alone and he would win.
Line break...
This outlook lead to a much skinnier and dirtier Samuel Jones standing in one of the busiest streets in Philadelphia three months later.
It was a chilly Tuesday morning and I was starving. I had spent all of the cash I had on a new blanket. It wasn't cheap but it would be worth it once the cold started to properly set in.
Unfortunately this meant that I had no money left for other things. Like food.
It didn't take long after I left the orphanage for me to realize I didn't think running away through. In fact it only took about a day. After spending the night on a bus stop bench I tried to find a way to get money. Unfortunately nobody would hire a seven year old . After child services were called a third time, I stopped trying.
I then decided if people wouldn't give me money I would just have to take it.
So I started stealing. I started taking everything that wasn't nailed down. If a person left their wallets on a table for too long I would take it. If they put their shopping down for a second I would pick it up and run. If a store had bad security I would take everything I could.
The first time I successfully stole from someone I was filled with guilt. It quickly went away however once my stomach was full and I realized I needed the money a lot more than they did.
I will be the first to admit that in the beginning I was a rather poor thief. I was caught stealing more times than I was successful. Luckily I've always been good at running and my small size allows me to weave through a crowd rather well. So I would just drop whatever it is I took and sprint as fast as I could. Most times that was enough. And when it wasn't? Well, pain is a great motivator.
Although after three months of constant practice, learning through trial and error, I was starting to become pretty good. I've been successful more and more often and this has only encouraged me to become bolder.
I've been walking up and and down this particular street for about an hour now. Looking for an acceptable target that I could pickpocket. Hopefully without them noticing anything. Choosing the right person to rob is a lot more difficult than one would think. I try and choose people who look like they're on the wealthy side but not rich enough to have any extra security. They have to have a certain amount of carelessness so that they are less likely to notice anything and the most important rule was to pick someone that I could outrun. It didn't take long for that lesson to be beaten into me.
I felt a smile come to my face as I found my target. He was a middle aged, overweight businessman who was having a rather heated discussion on the phone as he walked down the the sidewalk towards me.
With a barely concealed grin I started casually walking down the street towards my target. I clenched my hands into fists and unclenched them a few times because I was filled with nervous energy.
Once I got close to my target I stumbled into him. It didn't really do anything to him because he was so much bigger than me but it did allow me to wrap my arms around him.
"Watch it kid!" He snapped before going back to his conversation on his cellphone.
I was barely listening however. I was too busy trying to hide my smile as I walked away. 'It worked.'
" Hey! Stop!"
'Or maybe not.' My grin fell away and with barely a glance back I started sprinting away as fast as I could. Slipping between people as fluidly as possible. This caused a commotion as I knocked bags out of people's hands. I didn't pay them any attention however as I quickly turned a corner, slipped through a gap in traffic and crossed the street. I then carried on running towards the docks.
I'm not sure how long I ran for. By the time i stopped however I was out of breath and my heart was pounding through my chest. I was only about a block away from the docks though.
I was panting hard when I turned back to see if anybody was still following me. That's when I noticed the street was almost completely empty. In fact the only people on the street were me and three other kids.
The oldest was a blond boy who looked like he was in his early teens, then there was a girl about a year or two younger than him with hair that was pitch black and the youngest was a girl about my age with golden blond hair.
As if she was sensing me watching she turned to look directly at me. That's when I saw her eyes. They were grey. A color I had never seen before and they seemed to pierce right through me.
She turned to whisper to the kids next to her. That's when I noticed how tense they all were. The other two also turned to look at me and I noticed how the girls eyebrows seemed to draw together. As if she was trying to solve a puzzle.
Movement down the street caught my eye. Approaching the kids were three giant wolves. The biggest was about seven feet tall, black as night and was rippling in muscle. That didn't make the other two any less scary however. Each one looked like it could rip a car to pieces. It was a monster I had seen before but they never seemed to come to close to me. They certainly never acted so aggressive before.
Before I could point out the approaching monsters the boy pulled a sword out of nowhere and charged towards them. I had never seen someone run that fast before. The boy covered about 300 feet in five seconds.
It was still too slow however as two of the monsters jumped into a nearby shadow and disappeared, leaving only the largest to fight the boy.
This is probably the time I should start running but my feet seemed to be glued to the spot.
The two monsters appeared out of a shadow about about ten feet from the two girls. I was going to scream a warning but before I could the eldest spun around so quickly it was a blur. She suddenly had a spear in her hand that she jabbed at the creature. I thought she was just trying to scare it as the monster was still out of the spears range .
That was until I saw the lightning. Out of the end of the spear a thick bolt of lightning flashed out and hit one of the monsters. With a roar of thunder, a flash of light and a squeel of pain the beast turned into golden dust. She then stepped forward and threw her spear so hard at the last monster it went straight through it's head.
That monster also immediately burst into dust. Bringing my attention back onto the boy I witnessed the alpha swing a large black paw at him. The boy ducked under the swing stepped up to the monster and rammed his sword straight into its neck.
I was in awe. I had never seen people move like that and did the one girl just summon lightning?!
Before I could stop myself I was halfway to them.
"How did you do that?!"
At my question the entire group snapped their heads in my direction. I saw that although the monsters were dead they still looked very tense. The eldest girl studied me for a moment before noticeably relaxing.
"I don't know what you mean? How did we do what?"
I was confused, was this girl seriously trying to deny what just happened? She surely knows that I saw everything and that acting confused wouldn't make me forget it.
"What do you mean what?!" I near screached. Throwing my arms up in the direction the monsters came from. "How did you move like that? You killed those monsters like it was nothing! And I saw you shoot lightning!"
The entire group stayed silent although I noticed that the youngest girls eyes had widened a lot. "He can see through the mist." She said. "He's a demigod."
"Uh...? What is she talking about? What is the mist and what is this about demigods?" I couldn't contain the excitement in my voice and my words were coming out of my mouth faster than normal.
The eldest boy walked up to the two others and looked me in the eyes. "What's your name? "
I looked at them for a few moments trying to decide whether or not I could trust them. Eventually my curiosity won out.
"Samuel. Samuel Jones." I said.
I saw the eldest look back at the older girl for a moment. After receiving a small nod he turned back to me. "Well Sam. It's nice to meet you. My names Luke, this is Thalia and Annabeth. We have a lot to talk about but we have to move somewhere safer first. Do you know anywhere we could go...?"
I knew it probably wasn't the best idea to trust strangers but I figured if they wanted to do anything to me I couldn't really stop them.
" Follow me. " I said with a wave of my hand.
Line break...
I didn't live anywhere special. In fact some might call it a hazard. I lived in an old abandoned storage building along the docks of Philadelphia. The roof had a number of holes in it meaning the bottom floor would get flooded whenever there was a storm. This lead to all sorts of moss growth. The windows, doors and support beams were covered in rust. The building was right next to the water which meant cold air blew into the building at night. Turning the place into a fridge. At night I could hear the rats scurrying in the walls and along the floor. I could hear the building groaning and creaking and just generally sounding like it was about to collapse. It wasn't much, but it was home for now.
I was just sitting on the stool I had in my bedroom, which is in the old managers office on the second floor, when Thalia broke the silence. .
"Do you live here?" She asked. I could see her eyeing the old mattress on the floor and the cooking pot I had on the small portable gas stove in the corner.
"For now. I'm going to look for a place further inland soon so that it's a bit warmer when winter comes." I said while avoiding eye contact so I couldn't see the judgement in her eyes.
That didn't stop me from hearing the sympathy in her voice however. "Where are your parents?"
I gave a small shrug. " Who knows? I was found outside the door of the orphanage when I was a few days old."
"Why aren't you there now?" She asked.
I was starting to get irritated at all the questions. "I didn't belong there. Im... different." I said bitterly.
After a moment of silence I carried on. "Look, I thought you were going to answer my questions. Not the other way around."
The three exchanged glances before Luke decided to speak. "What do you know about the Greek Gods?"
Line break...
"So your saying that you three are demigods and that those monsters earlier were hellhounds? That all the monsters I see are actually Greek monsters that hunt demigods?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.
The youngest girl, Annabeth, spoke. "You don't believe us."
I barely glanced at her before looking at the ceiling and releasing a sigh. "I'm not sure."
When I looked back at Annabeth I could see she was a bit irritated at my response. " How else do you explain the monsters? Or how fast Luke can run and the weapons or lightning?"
One thing I noticed about Annabeth was that she was a lot smarter than most kids I dealt with in the past. She casually used words that even I barely knew.
I huffed. "I don't know. But this doesn't make sense and how come I can see the monsters if the mist is supposed to hide them?"
Thalia glanced at Luke and then the truth hit me like a punch to the stomach. "You think I'm a demigod." I whispered
Thalia looked at me with sympathy. "It makes sense. You can see the monsters. You're different to other kids. You don't know who your parents are, Sam. One of them could be a god or goddess."
I felt like everything I knew was crumbling down around me. " No, no, no. It doesn't make sense. I can't be a demigod. The monsters. I see them but they have never attacked me before. You said they attack demigods. So why don't they attack me? " I was near hysterical now. I had accepted my hand in life. I thought maybe my parents were dead or were just deadbeats that couldn't care less about me. But to hear one of them were still around and were immortal all powerful gods? That they could fix my life easily but just never cared enough to. That hit me hard. It was worse when I realized how many times I prayed for help when I was younger. Before I stopped trying altogether.
"There's a way to know for sure." This was the first time Luke spoke in a while.
"Annabeth give me your dagger."
I flinched before quickly standing up and looking for a way out of the room. Unfortunately Luke was in front of the only exit that wouldn't lead to me dropping a story, getting cut with glass and possibly breaking my legs. 'Stupid. I should have sat by the door.'
Seeing my reaction he was quick to step back and put his hands up. "Woah. I'm not going to hurt you. Annabeth has a dagger that's made of celestial bronze. If you're a demigod it will be able to cut you and if you're just a clear sighted mortal, it won't." He said before looking to Thalia for help.
It was Annabeth however that spoke." It only has to be a small cut. On your hand. I'll even be the one to do it. "
I considered them all individually. Thalia and Annabeth looked anxious but didn't seem to wish me any harm. Luke looked like he was assessing me right back but didn't seem to have any negative feelings towards me either.
I looked back at Annabeth before giving a slow unsteady nod. Annabeth slowly pulled a bronze glowing dagger out of the sheath on her waist.
I only had one word pop into my head at that moment. 'Beautiful. '
She stepped towards me slowly before gesturing to my hand. Hesitantly I held it out. I held my breath as the dagger approached my skin. I honestly didn't know if I wanted it to cut me or not.
Annabeth ran the dagger along my thumb before stepping back and saying triumphantly. "See I told you he was a demigod!"
I couldn't think as I watched my blood flow out of the shallow cut and drip onto the floor. This didn't feel real.
The next words I spoke came out as barely more than a whisper. " A demigod."
Thalia was quick to comfort me. She rushed to me grabbed my arms went down to her knees and stared me in the eyes with a shallow smile on her face. "It's okay. I know how it feels. Trust me. But you don't have to be alone anymore."
Drip drip drip. I listened to the blood drip onto the floor for a few moments. I was lost in the sound. "I don't need anyone." I said. My voice was so shaky I wasn't even sure if I believed myself.
Thalia gave me a watery smile. "Everybody needs someone." She said.
Annabeth came up next to her and on her face I didn't see pity or deceit. It was such an expression of understanding and hope that I couldn't look away. "I thought that too but then I found Thalia and Luke. We're a family now. You can be apart of our family too. We all look after each other. "
In that moment all I saw was the concern that Thalia had for me, the protective look in Luke's eyes and the hope on Annabeths face.
For that moment I couldn't help but believe her. I believed I had finally found a family. I believed I had finally found where I belonged.
So what do you all think? Let me know. Criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive.