I do not own Percy Jackson or Kane Chronicles.

TJ's PoV.

"So how do these things work?" Percy asked holding up the staff and wand we gave him. We were all back at Brooklyn House in the gym/training room (gym because that's also where we play basketball). On the floor were two circles about 20 meters apart, my brother stood in one while I stood in the other. Everyone else watched from the sidelines.

"The wand is mostly for defensive spells and the staff is for offense. You can draw power from both items to cast the spells. Drawing from your own reserves is very tiring and very risky. Use too much and it could-"

"Kill me?" he guessed, interrupting my explanation.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Great, but I don't know any spells."

"Magic is natural so it should come to you when you need or want it to." Sadie told him.

"You know what else comes naturally: dying. I don't know about you but I wouldn't bet my life on 'should' come naturally." Percy said back to her.

"Says the guy who thinks ADHD equates to battle reflexes." I rolled my eyes at him. "Now come on and let's do this. First person knocked out of the circle loses."

"Just use command words." Jazz told him from off to the side.

"No idea what that means." He replied as I sent my first spell at him. Not a big one but one that will knock him off his feet. Amazingly he ducked beneath it like we were still playing dodge ball. As it sailed over his head he pointed his staff at me and yelled, "Fire," and a bolt of flames flew at me and I barely had enough time to raise my wand to deflect the flames. "So that's how this works."

I threw my staff and before it hit the ground it turned into a rhino and charged at him. Wand raise he waited for the rhino to close on in and I had a moment of panic that it would kill him before he could do a spell. When the tip of his wand met with the rhino's horn there was a flash of green light and suddenly where there was a charging rhino there was a stuffed animal one at my brother's feet. Then he flicked his wand and an invisible force knocked me backwards and out of my circle.

"I win." I heard him say. There was some laughter as I stood back up.

"That's actually a good start." Zia said with a slight smile. "But really a stuffed toy? Was that the best you could do?"

"It worked didn't it?" He bent down and picked up the offending toy. "You're just jealous because you don't have a stuffed rhino." That brought on a new round of snickers from the younger kids as Zia rolled her eyes at him. Percy stood there for a minute examining his prize. "I wonder if I could change it back. That would be an awesome prank." One of the younger ones, Shelby I think, ran up to him.

"Can I hold it, please?" she begged and Percy smiled and gently tossed it to her. With a squeal of delight she ran back over to her friends.

"Percy, are you sure you've never done this before?" Walt asked him.

"Not that I know of. Only my water stuff." He answered twirling his staff around his fingers absentmindedly. "Everything I can do I had to teach myself."

"Ok, there is no way a self-taught beginner can beat someone with more experience on the first try. Either you're really lucky or your brother was going easy on you." Matt spoke up and he looked and sounded a bit put off.

"Maybe you should dual him then." I growled at him, tired of his attitude towards my brother.

"Fine." Sloan marcher over to my vacant circle and Percy stayed in his but raised an eyebrow at me. I moved back and stood on the sides between Jazz and Julian.

"Just so you know, Matt, training is not the same as experience." My brother told him as he waited for the dual to start. He didn't have to wait long. Matt reached into his magician's bag and pulled out a lump of clay and shouted a command word. Hieroglyphs blazed and the shabiti sprang to full size, a twelve foot long crocodile.

"Just so you know, Jackson, I follow the path of Sobek." The croc lunged.

"Crikey mate." Percy said with an Australian accent as he side stepped, still in his circle. "That's a big one." Before the croc could make another move there was a wand pointing at it and as soon as Percy said 'shrink' it turned back into a clay figurine. "Hey Croc bait, that one was like your hippo except not made of wax or disfigured." The look on Matts face was pretty great but it didn't last long. He swung his staff at my brother and since Matt also can do combat magic I knew that my brother was screwed.

Just before the magic hit my brother he raised his wand and the impact met with a force field and the force was great enough to creak the floor. Another hit like that would go through the shield and my brother would lose. Whether or not my brother knew it I had no idea because he was grinning at Matt's frustrated expression.

"You're not going to win this one, Jackson." The angry boy said.

"Oh contraire." Percy replied and threw the wand. It hit Matt right on the forehead before returning to his hand. In a flash of green where Matt had been standing there was now a crab. "Because you're in a crabby mood today." I busted up laughing and everyone soon followed. Crabby Matt crawled around in his circle.

By the time dinner rolled around most of us were still laughing. The exceptions were the adults and Matt himself (returned to human by Sadie, reluctantly). Percy looked tired from the use of magic but after a few plate of food that mostly went away.

"So tell me, Percy, how long have you been using your water powers?" Julian asked him.

"About five years now." My brother replied.

"Wow. And you had to learn them yourself?"

"Yep."

"No wonder you picked up on the staff and wand so quickly." Jeff, one of the newer kids, said.

"You really have never used the staff and wand before?" Jazz asked a little jealous and awed.

"Never."

"Isn't that dangerous to practice magic without the proper equipment and training?" my adopted mother asked concerned.

"Well I haven't died yet." He shrugged.

"Have you ever lost control of you powers before?" I asked and I saw him cringe.

"Once, two years ago. I don't like talking about It." he looked down as he replied.

"What'd you do? Matt asked, still angry about the whole crab thing. "Drowned a puppy?" Percy didn't say anything. "Probable wasn't even that bad. Just a parlor trick gone wrong."

"I should be getting home." Percy got up and started heading towards the front door. "I'll see you Saturday, TJ." He called over his shoulder as he disappeared inside. I ran after him and stopped him at the door.

"Percy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He answered, not looking at me.

"Then why do you keep running off?" No answer. "Talk to me, Percy. Please." Silence. "Don't shut me out, brother."

"I don't want to and I wish I could tell you what you want to know but now is not the time nor place." Finally he looked up at me and I saw a deep sadness in his eyes. "I'll see you Saturday." Then he was gone.

"Bye then." I whispered to the empty room.