Also a big round of applause to my English Major Roommate who reads through my drafts and answers my writing questions!

She is the BEST! (/-( *)/

A Normal Day

Life sucks and then you die… maybe. At least that's the impression I've been under my entire life. If you think any differently than that, please share your secrets.

People get hurt.

People feel pain.

People die.

That's just how life is. Of course, there are good feelings and people can heal over time. I've just decided that my life sucks, but I've got to keep on carrying on. You might have read my personal account of my first quest. I included my warnings there, so I won't repeat all of them, but know this: This account can put you in grave danger. I won't ask you to stop reading, but please, if you are one of us, run. Run as fast as you can because if they catch you, there is nothing that can be done.

My name is Percy Jackson, and this is the story of how I lost everything.

I have a skill check coming up. As an agent of what was formerly the world renowned S.H.I.E.L.D. with less than a year experience, I'm required to meet with my Supervising Officer (SO) every four months to have a physical, mental, and practical exam. As agents gain experience and trust in the field, tests become further apart… but if I fail anything even once at my level, I'll be out. I didn't want to expose my powers to them for fear of exposing our world. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are resourceful. Trust me, if any group of humans can find a way through the mist it would be them.

Dear Anyone-who-will-listen, please help me to not miss the target as much as I did last time. I prayed.

I practiced at the onsite shooting range for months with no improvement barely squeezing past the first set of tests without any aim whatsoever. My "unusual skill set" in the art of hand to hand combat and familiarity with the sword made up for my other deficiencies, but my SO said that I had to hit the target at least two times in a row or I would be placed on desk duty for the rest of my career. That was probably the greatest threat he could have ever given me.

"THE RANGE IS CLOSED!" The long-range weapons teacher yelled at all the desperate trainees on the range, rousing me from my daydreaming. Avis was his name, Agent Avis. Ever since meeting the man, I wondered if he changed it for alliteration's sake. Avis was the one who gave counsel to all the SOs on gun grading.

I couldn't stand the man. I was almost sure he was a monster in disguise at first, but eventually I realized that he is just a normal cream-of-the-crop jerk.

As I packed up my things to leave, I thought back to why I was even working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place. The Gods already had eyes and ears within the agency and ever since Annabeth died my father opened a drachma account with me as a co-signer that I could live off if I moved to either Olympus or Atlantis. But I had two mortal mouths to feed. After Sally's passing, Paul and I were both left to take care of my little sister Kate. Paul's salary as a teacher would never have been enough to take care of the two of them and cover their New York rent payment alone. When the gods requested that I take the job, I did the math. I was there for Kate. That was it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in New York was not what it was before the HYDRA exposure, but they were rebuilding… slowly. Just like the rest of New York. The city was still healing after the Battle for Manhattan with the aliens. Demi-deities were allowed to fight, but we were warned to have discretion. Protect what was ours are leave the rest to the humans. Our apartment building almost collapsed under the weight of a falling alien sky monster. Some idiot calling themselves a hero had killed one with no care to just how many people were going to be crushed under its corpse if I hadn't of intervened. People insisted they were some form of space whale, but I was never going to call them that. REAL whales are chill and DON'T crush people's homes when they die.

I digress. As a half-blood working for S.H.I.E.L.D., my life could never be boring and yet for some reason, my life was the most predictable it had ever been. On the drive home, I prepared my self for the inevitable monster attack that would take place in the underground parking of my building. I had riptide in my pocket and a first-aid kit with ambrosia squares in my trunk. Grover insisted that the combination of my strong scent and the underground was just too much of an attraction to pass up. After I parked the family Prius, which still had horse hoof shaped dents in the hood amidst its accumulation of other nicks and scratches, I sat back in the driver's seat and wondered why I wasn't on a beach somewhere. Ah, family. Yes, that's why.

I mentally walked through all the things that would happen once I got home. Kate would be crying furiously as Paul attempts to attend to her needs. I would do a little water show and she would be amused long enough to forget what her fit was for. Both Paul and I were immensely grateful for my godly heritage. Even with the monsters at every turn, the water shed of blessings (pun unintended) on my family was too great to regret.

Just as I had anticipated, while uncapping riptide, I found a familiar Empousai chilling outside the elevator. She was nicely dressed, as if she had some party to go to, and her make-up was slathered on liberally. I didn't bother emptying the trunk in favor of getting today's obstacle out of the way.

"Perseus, this time I WILL kill you and feast on your flesh! I really need a good talking point at the table tonight since Tiffany is serving grilled satyr. You know how prideful she gets when she finally catches food." I casually waltzed right up to her, just going through the motions at this point. It happened every day. Some monster would be there on the way to work and another would be there on the way home. I wasn't even surprised to see Tella this time. I was pretty sure I'd cycled through all the existing weak monsters and it became more of a game.

Taking a swing at Tella's head, I didn't put much bite into it. She was determined, I had to give her that. She ducked and grabbed for my legs. We both went down hard, Riptide was knocked out of my reach and she bit my thigh. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. It wasn't a clean bite either. I knew that, if not treated quickly, I would have bled out (Tella would have probably eaten me first though.)

I kneed her in the stomach and then scrambled for my sword. I barely managed to take hold of it and turn around when Tella lunged for another bite, impaling herself on my sword.

"Not again!" she wailed as she crumbled to golden dust in the middle of the underground parking lot.

Pain shot through my leg and I was forced to just sit there and take it all in. This was the worst injury I had suffered since leaving camp last summer to assist my parents. Unsteadily getting to my feet, I brushed the dirt form my pants and went to unload the trunk. Ambrosia square in mouth and bags of baby formula hanging from my arms, I began the six story hike up the stairs. It was about the time for the great battle between baby and father to begin and I was not going to miss that.

As expected, the living room was a warzone. Toys were scattered across the floor, our family pictures were crooked, and there was an unidentifiable dark stain on the ceiling. I shuddered to think what caused it. All of the furniture had been pushed against the walls to make room for a highchair whose occupant's high-pitched screams reverberated off the walls. It was obvious that Paul was at his wits end, pleading with the infant to eat.

"I'm home! Has she been about to keep anything down?" I asked loudly, trying to be heard over the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of little gums and walked over to the conjoining kitchen to set down the bags.

Paul turned around slowly, giving me a sad look. "She hates me! I have tried EVERYTHING I know of to do! Toys don't work, she refuses to have a nap, and when I pulled out the big guns and gave her her favorite bottle, she wouldn't stop screaming!" Tears started to form in my stepfather's eyes as he crumpled in on himself and started to sob. "I am a horrible father! Sally would know what to do!"

I gazed at the two living people I loved most in the world. Paul was trying his hardest to gain Kate's focus. Before she was born, Paul and Sally would sit on the couch and coo over baby clothes and toys. They had everything planned out. Since she had finished her writer's courses, Sally was going to write at home for the first few years while Paul continued teaching. Once Kate was old enough to start school, Sally had received an offer of employment at one of Apollo's editing agencies. It was her dream, and Apollo insisted it wasn't a handout. But those dreams were not to be. The coroner told us she had undiagnosed preeclampsia during the pregnancy. This caused all of the unforeseen complications and kickstarted the labor prematurely.

I kneeled down to embrace Paul and provide a shoulder to cry on. I couldn't replace my mother, but I was damn well going to try. "I miss her too."

As Paul cried, the room was strangely quiet and I turned only to see kate leaning as far as she could to peak over the lip of the highchair at me. The tracks of tears running down her face started to dry.

"How do you do it? With just one glance at you she calms down." Paul, bewildered, undid the belts on the chair and lifted her into his arms. She started to giggle with a gummy smile. This was my family and I was never going to let anything happen to them. I vowed in that moment that the people I loved were never going to be hurt again if I had anything it say about it. Never again.

Somewhere in the dark came a voice "The time is coming. I can feel it. Children, are you ready to take on this great task set before you?".

"Yes Father." Three voices answered in unison.

Something horrible was coming, and with it came the mark of a new age.